Communication on completing the Better Regulation Agenda: Better solutions for better results

Further information:

The review analyses the reforms put in place to ensure that policy-making is priority-driven, evidence-based, transparent and effective and details the next steps to be taken. Better Regulation underpins the Commission's work to ensure that it acts only where the EU brings added value, and does so in the least burdensome way possible.

The Commission's review of its Better Regulation Agenda finds that the tools put in place provide a solid basis for timely and sound policy decisions. More extensive engagement with the public, systematic evaluation, high quality impact assessments, and a strengthened 'REFIT' approach haveallowed for improved appraisal of new proposals and existing legislation. This approach forces policy-makers as well as stakeholders to argue on the basis of evidence and expected impacts. It is further complemented by a new approach to enforcement to ensure swift and effective compliance with adopted laws.

Background information:

The Better Regulation Agenda adopted in 2015 was a comprehensive set of reforms covering the entire policy cycle, intended to boost openness and transparency in the EU decision-making process, improve the quality of new laws through better impact assessments of draft legislation and amendments, and promote constant and consistent review of existing EU laws so that they achieve their objectives in the most effective and efficient way.

In addition to internal reforms, the European Commission presented and successfully negotiated an Interinstitutional Agreement with the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to update and strengthen the common understanding in relation to better regulation.

The European Commission published on 24 October 2017 a Communication reviewing the reforms put in place in the framework of the Better Regulation Agenda.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: SWD(2017)675: Overview of the Union's efforts to simplify and to reduce regulatory burdens http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2017:675:FIN

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