Simplification of legislation

Simplifying legislation means rigorously applying the principles of necessity and proportionality.

The exercise involves simplifying, codifying, recasting and consolidating legislation, as well as repealing obsolete laws and rules.

In 1996, the EU launched a pilot programme (Simplification of Legislation for the Internal Market — SLIM). This was followed by multiannual programmes to simplify and update EU legislation, such as the Commission’s rolling programme for simplification, launched in 2005, which by 2012 identified more than 640 initiatives for simplification, codification or recasting.

This was followed by the Administrative Burden Reduction programme and its follow-up in EU Member States ‘ABRPlus’, which reduced the administrative burden of EU legislation on businesses by an estimated 25% by 2012.

The latest programme, REFIT (Regulatory Fitness and Performance programme), was launched in 2012. REFIT identifies opportunities to cut red tape, remove regulatory burdens and simplify and improve the design and quality of legislation, to achieve policy objectives most efficiently and effectively, at lowest cost and with a minimum of administrative burden, fully respecting the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality set out in the EU Treaties.

SEE ALSO

• Proportionality principle
• Recasting of legislation
• Codification
• Consolidation
• Subsidiarity
• The EU’s agenda for better regulation (summary)
• Better Law-Making — Agreement between EU institutions (summary)
• REFIT — making EU law simpler, less costly and future proof (website).