European Commission presents a regulatory simplification package to strengthen the single market

The European Commission has presented a new regulatory simplification package under the title “A Simpler, Clearer and Better Enforced EU Rulebook,” aimed at modernizing how EU laws are designed, implemented and enforced, while ensuring they remain clear, agile and fit for purpose, thereby supporting the achievement of “One Europe, One Market.”

The main objective, therefore, is to reduce bureaucracy, improve European competitiveness and strengthen the single market through clearer, more coherent legislation that is easier to comply with for both businesses and public administrations.

The Commission acknowledges that regulatory accumulation, regulatory fragmentation and differences in application between Member States are generating legal uncertainty, additional costs and obstacles to investment.

The package is structured around several major pillars:

“Simplicity by design”: new European rules will need to be drafted more clearly, with understandable obligations, realistic deadlines and reduced regulatory complexity.

Regulatory clean-up: the Commission will review existing legislation in 12 priority areas — including transport, energy, climate, digitalization, taxation and housing — to eliminate duplications, inconsistencies and unnecessary administrative burdens.

Fighting national over-regulation (“gold-plating”): Brussels aims to prevent Member States from adding extra requirements when transposing European directives, something that fragments the single market and creates competitive inequality between European companies.

Stricter and more consistent enforcement of European law: control and compliance mechanisms will be strengthened against national delays or non-compliance, particularly in strategic single market matters. A proposal to the Court of Justice for more deterrent financial penalties against Member States.

Digitalization and the use of artificial intelligence to improve legislative drafting, detect regulatory inconsistencies and monitor the correct transposition of European rules.

CCIES particularly welcomes the fact that Europe is placing essential principles such as legal certainty, administrative simplification, regulatory harmonization and the removal of unnecessary barriers affecting investment and the development of infrastructure and public services at the center of the debate.

A strong single market requires clear, stable rules applied consistently across all Member States.

Link (English version): https://lnkd.in/em2krtnC

The Communication is accompanied by an Action Plan (Annexes 1 and 2).