Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. (Objective four of the Communication from the Commission of 11 February 2003 on updating and simplifying the Union acquis [COM(2003)71 final]). Establishing formal recognition that a certain number of acts of Union law in the field of agriculture have become obsolete

Improving the transparency of Union law is an essential element of the better lawmaking strategy that the Union Institutions are implementing as a result of the requests formulated at the European Councils of Lisbon, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Laeken. From the early stages of Union law, in the 1950s, the legislative activity of the Union has continually increased the number of legal acts, many of which were adopted without an expiry date of their validity being fixed. These acts remain, therefore, formally in force even though their legal effects have been exhausted, often for a long time.

Objective four of the Framework for Action for Updating and simplifying the Union acquis, launched by the Communication from the Commission of 11 February 2003, recognises the fact that the current Union acquis contains many texts that are obsolete and of no practical relevance or broader interest, but nevertheless apparently remain in force because an express repeal has not been carried out. Various reasons have provoked this situation. Some legal acts have time-limited application or are applied only at the time of their adoption. Other legal acts continue (formally) to exist even though their legal basis has been altered or repealed. Many acts are addressed exclusively to individual Member States or operators and are therefore of no general interest or relevance.

Whatever the reason for their current lack of direct relevance to Union citizens, such acts should no longer be allowed, by their classification as "acts in force", to complicate and obscure the overall picture of the active acquis. Their removal would allow us to have access to an “essential” acquis of those acts that are active and generally applicable, thus permitting a more user-friendly presentation and more efficient and time-saving scrutiny of those tools that facilitate access to Union law: CELEX, EUR-Lex and the Directory of Legislation in force.

In some cases the express repeal of such acts would be appropriate. In particular those acts whose contents have been taken up by successive acts, in the interest of the clarity of the legal situation, shall be removed formally from the body of the Union acquis. For other acts – the majority – their removal in some other fashion from the active acquis would be justified. The above-mentioned Communication proposes that the Institutions should actively explore how best to remove obsolete and potentially misleading information from the acquis so as to ensure a clear, logical and relevant presentation.

The acts listed in Annex II of the present Communication have exhausted their effects. The aim is therefore to formally recognise that these acts are obsolete. They were identified according to objective criteria guaranteeing that they have exhausted their effects and that, for example, all their attached obligations have been fulfilled. The justification of the obsolescence of each act is listed in Annex I.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)874: Follow the progress of this communication through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:874:FIN

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