Commission cleans up its acts

Date: 23/11/1995

THE European Commission has withdrawn 61 proposals this year and intends to jettison more in the coming months as it pursues its campaign to reduce and simplify EU legislation.

The spring-cleaning exercise involves exchanging Union-wide rules for broader framework measures which leave individual governments as much latitude as possible in implementing the actual details of the action programmes, or offer the possibility of voluntary agreements.

In parallel, the Commission is attempting to make legislation more accessible to business and public alike. By the end of this year, it aims to have consolidated 1,500 separate items of legislation covering 140 different areas of EU law.

In a report to be presented to next month's Madrid summit, the Commission pledges it remains “on the look-out for rules that are cumbersome, excessive and archaic, rendering Community law obscure and impairing its implementation”.

The process of rolling back the frontiers of EU legislation began in 1993 and is being pursued with even greater enthusiasm by Commission President Jacques Santer and his colleagues. Next year, they will table just 19 legislative proposals.

The report to be discussed at Madrid, entitled Better Law-Making, clearly sets out the new philosophy. “What the Union needs is a body of legislation that is enacted at the right levels, is accessible, offers no loopholes for the fraudsters, provides the solutions that are least costly to the citizen, the firm and the public authority and secures a high level of protection for health, safety, the consumer and the environment,” it states.

By the end of this year, the Commission will withdraw plans for EU rules on zoos following complaints that, under the subsidiarity principle, standards should be set nationally rather than at the EU level.

Another highly technical proposal which has already been consigned to oblivion concerned “frequency bands to be designated for the coordinated introduction of digital short-range radio”.

In the coming year, the Commission intends to improve and simplify existing legislation in such diverse areas as veterinary medicines, agricultural tractors, machine tools, fertilizers, collective dismissals and dangerous substances. On other subjects it is planning to rationalise rules covering waste, water, food law and state aids.

The process will extend to the introduction of a fast track procedure for marketing certain pesticides and a review of turnover thresholds which activate EU vetting of planned mergers.

Although cutting back on unnecessary rules, the Commission still intends to press legislation where it believes this is necessary.

This explains its proposals for improving safety on ferry services, setting quality standards for ships' equipment, and common rules for postal services.

The Commission has also issued a challenge to other EU institutions and governments, insisting it has done its share and that now they must “play their full part”.