Better regulation: Commission wants to simplify 1,250 EU law

Publication date: 25 October 2005

The European Commission has taken another step to deliver on its commitment to cut unnecessary red-tape and over-regulation. It has presented a three year programme to simplify the existing thousands of pages of EU legislation (“acquis”) adopted since 1957.

Following a broad consultation of Member States and stakeholders, the Commission proposes to repeal, codify, recast or modify 250 basic legislations and 1,250 related legal acts in the next three years. The programme will be regularly updated. It kicks off with the most heavily regulated sectors, such as cars, waste and construction. Other sectors such as foodstuffs, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals or services will follow. The Commission also intends to tackle administrative burden, especially for small business, by simplifying cumbersome statistics form-filling or by modernizing the customs code to facilitate electronic exchange of information. Simplification can only be achieved if the European Parliament and Member States as co-legislators support it.

For more information:
- COM (2005) 535 final (including a full list of the legal acts under consideration)
- Memo/05/394: Simplifying EU legislation makes life easier for citizens and enterprises

com2005_535_better_regulation.pdf (185 KB)

memo_05_394_better_regulation.pdf (125 KB)

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