Saturday

4th Sep 2021

New EU laws to pass 'regulation test'

  • The commission has promised to reduce the amount of regulation on businesses (Photo: europarl.europa.eu)

New EU laws will have to get the green light from an independent scrutiny panel to make sure they do not impose unnecessary burdens on businesses before they can be tabled, according to a leaked document from the European Commission.

A six-person Regulatory Scrutiny Board will be tasked with scrutinising impact assessments for new bills and evaluating the costs of existing laws. All impact assessments will require a positive opinion from the Board before the draft law is considered by the 28 commissioners.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Three of the Board members will be hired from outside the EU institution.

The paper, obtained by EUobserver, is part of the so-called ‘Better Regulation’ initiative, which is set to be launched in mid-May. The blueprint is the brainchild of Dutch commissioner Frans Timmermans, the first vice-president of Jean-Claude Juncker’s EU executive, who has been tasked with reducing red tape for businesses.

With governments and businesses critical about the volume of new laws being adopted by the EU institutions, the Juncker commission’s work programme for 2015 spanned just five pages and included just 23 new initiatives, far fewer than usual.

Timmermans’ paper plans to expand consultations will cover the entire lifecycle of a policy.

Three month public consultations will be held when preparing new proposals and assessing their impact on businesses, and when existing laws are evaluated by the EU executive. After being published, a further two months of consultation will allow feedback to be sent to the European Parliament and Council, representing member states.

Meanwhile, the commission will also hold public consultations for technical implementing measures - known as delegated acts.

Under the commission proposal, the draft texts of delegated acts will be published on the commission's website for a month before being voted on by governments.

Originally intended to be reserved solely for technical measures to implement laws, EU lawmakers increasingly use delegated acts to deal with highly political issues, often in a bid to speed up the legislative process. The volume of delegated acts has led some to question whether legislators have the capacity to cope with the flood of acts that flow from the Commission.

The paper also calls on governments to refrain from ‘gold-plating’ EU laws when implementing them at national level, accusing MEPs and ministers of being “hesitant to agree to measures which would reduce administrative burdens”.

It also promises that fresh legislative proposals will be accompanied by “a more thorough explanation of how the initiative meets the twin tests of subsidiarity”.

“Numerous pledges to cut EU red tape have come from Brussels over the past years – but then not much happened,” Vincenzo Scarpetta, political analyst for the Open Europe think tank, told EUobserver.

“Only time will tell if the new commission is serious about substantively reducing the regulatory burden on businesses across Europe as opposed to just tinkering around the edge,” he added.

For his part, Finance Watch spokesman, Joost Mulder, told this website, “more transparency on delegated acts is welcome but in practice likely to give the financial industry an even bigger say on the supposedly technical implementation of political agreements.”

Interview

Timmermans: 'The toughest job I've ever had'

"In terms of trying to really change things - it is the toughest job I have ever had", says EU commission vice-president Frans Timmermans as the executive approaches its first 100 days in office.

EU piles on pressure for new military units

The EU wants a force of some 5,000 troops that won't need the unanimous support of all 27 member states. The ideas were discussed at a defence ministerial and will feed into a bigger strategic plan in November.

EU medicines agency: booster shots not urgent

The European Medicines Agency said that there is no urgent need to administer booster shots to the general population, pointing out that the priority now should be to vaccinate the one-third of Europeans who are not fully vaccinated.

One-third of world's trees now in danger of extinction

According to a new study, many actions can be taken to avert the extinction of thousands of trees. Top among them is funding for preservation and tree planting programs of the tree species most at risk.

News in Brief

  1. EU and AstraZeneca reach vaccine deal, avoid court
  2. Italy backs mandatory Covid vaccines
  3. Bulgaria to have third national elections this year
  4. No 'nuclear Gibraltar' in Scotland if it leaves UK
  5. UN says Ethiopia war risks causing famine
  6. Ukraine: Nord Stream 2 makes Europe dependent on Russia
  7. Google appeals €500m French fine over news content
  8. Poland declares state of emergency on Belarus border

Podcast

A hunger strike at the heart of Europe

This summer some 450 undocumented workers and migrants in Brussels refused food during two months. They were protesting Belgian immigration rules that human rights officials and campaigners say arbitrarily obstruct them from legal and stable residency.

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersNineteen demands by Nordic young people to save biodiversity
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersSustainable public procurement is an effective way to achieve global goals
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic Council enters into formal relations with European Parliament
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersWomen more active in violent extremist circles than first assumed
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersDigitalisation can help us pick up the green pace
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCOVID19 is a wake-up call in the fight against antibiotic resistance

Latest News

  1. EU piles on pressure for new military units
  2. EU medicines agency: booster shots not urgent
  3. Rule-of-law issues still hold up Hungary-Poland recovery plans
  4. One-third of world's trees now in danger of extinction
  5. A hunger strike at the heart of Europe
  6. Romania tries meal-vouchers and lottery in vaccination push
  7. Scholz would be foolish to rule out a left-wing coalition
  8. Russia-Ukraine war has 'global' importance, Biden says

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us