EN
EESC-2015-02968-00-01-INFO-TRA (EN) 1/6
Workers' Group
Extraordinary Meeting
24 June 2015
BETTER REGULATION AND REFIT PROGRAMME
(Summary of the relevant EC documentation)
The new European Commission package on Better Regulation was adopted on 19 May 2015 and, as
explained in a communication of the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, with
this agenda the Union legislation will be able to focus on areas where it has the greatest added
value. It will become efficient and effective to deliver the common policy objectives, it will become
clear, simple and easily understandable, it will minimise the regulatory burden of stakeholders and
strengthen competitiveness and sustainability of the Union economy1.
Reinforcing the Union's annual and multiannual programming2, the three institutions will agree
annually a list of proposals that will receive priority treatment in the legislative process, including
proposals to update or simplify existing legislation and reduce the regulatory burden for small and
medium enterprises. There will be a regular update of this planning throughout the year.
In addition, the Commission is bound to carry out impact assessments of its initiatives that are
expected to have significant economic, environmental and social impacts, in consultation with
stakeholders, followed by a quality check made by the Commission's Regulatory Scrutiny Board3.
This Board, consisting of seven members appointed by the Commission, will issue opinions on draft
impact assessment reports, fitness check reports and major evaluation reports in accordance with
Better Regulation guidelines. These opinions, along with the impact assessment reports, will be
published on the website of the Commission.
Moreover, whenever the European Parliament and the Council wish to make a substantial
amendment that brings a significant change to the Commission proposals, they are now obliged to
carry out an impact assessment concerning its environmental, social and economic effects prior to
1
2
3
COM(2015) 216/2.
Article 17(1) of the Treaty.
C(2015)3263/2.
EESC-2015-02968-00-01-INFO-TRA (EN) 2/6
EN
Better regulation and REFIT programme
the adoption of the amendment. Each institution may ask from an independent panel to carry out
the impact assessment.
Furthermore, it is mentioned that stakeholders will have the opportunity to give their opinions
within eight weeks after the adoption of each proposal and its impact assessment, in parallel with
the consultation process for national parliaments related to issues of subsidiarity. The Commission
mentioned that stakeholders will have the opportunity to give their opinions over the entire lifecycle
of a policy through ''roadmaps'' and ''inception impact assessments''4. All stakeholders shall be able
to give their feedback regarding acts setting out technical or specific elements necessary for the
implementation of the legislation. On the occasion of new proposals and fitness checks of the
existing legislation, a public consultation period of 12 weeks is envisaged.
Proposals for significant amendments or development of the Union legislation should be based on
extensive prior evaluation of their efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, coherence and added value
by establishing monitoring, evaluation and reporting requirements and measurable indicators.
Review clauses will be adopted as well.
Moreover, regarding delegated acts, it is mentioned that consultation of experts from Member
States and the public should take place prior to their adoption and new procedural requirements
should be avoided. In the interests of better cooperation amongst the three institutions, strict
timetables will be included and the legislative procedure will be accelerated. For the first time, draft
texts of delegated acts and important implementing acts will be open to the public for four weeks.
Furthermore, transposition of Directives to national law shall not exceed two years. When Member
States adopt measures to transpose or implement Union legislation or implementation of the Union
budget, they should make a clear distinction between what is necessary according to Union
legislation or budget rules and what the additional elements they wish to add at a local, regional or
national level are. Prior to the adoption of additional substantial or procedural rules, Member States
should now make an impact assessment addressing the administrative burden on businesses,
administrations and citizens and provide a well-reasoned explanation. The fact that many Member
States often go beyond what is necessary at a Union level when they transpose legislation at a
national level (gold-plating) adds unnecessary costs for businesses and public authorities, mistakenly
associated with the EU.
The Commission further stressed that each proposal would be followed by an explanatory
memorandum, clarifying the purpose of every measure, why an initiative is needed, what tools the
EU should use, what stakeholders think, whether subsidiarity and proportionality criteria have been
met and what the social and economic impacts are, particularly those on competitiveness and small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Commission has reiterated that very often the legislative
framework is too complicated, too burdensome and too bureaucratic for small businesses to follow
4
COM(2015) 215/3
EESC-2015-02968-00-01-INFO-TRA (EN) 2/6
Better regulation and REFIT programme
and therefore we should apply the principle ''Think Small First'', envisaging a lighter regime for them
and whenever this is not possible due to the social, environmental and economic objectives,
carefully explain why.
In order to continuously update and simplify legislation and relieve regulatory burdens for business,
administrations and citizens, the Commission has decided to use programmes such as REFIT
(Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme5) to identify legislation that needs simplification
and burden reduction, repealing obsolete acts, recasting and replacing acts where necessary. The
REFIT Platform is expected to reply to any Commission request for information and evidence on the
prospective impact of any REFIT proposal or the actual impact of the application of any REFIT
initiative that has been implemented.
It is composed of two big groups, namely the government group consisting of representatives of
Member States (each State appoints one high-level expert from its public administration, with
expertise in Better Regulation) and the stakeholders group of experts with practical experience in
Union policy areas consisting of up to 20 members, of which two are from the EESC and the CoR and
the rest from business including SMEs, social partners and civil society organisations. It is the
Commission that will appoint members of the stakeholders group. However, the EESC and the CoR
will be invited to nominate their representatives. All members shall be appointed for the duration of
the Platform mandate, meaning the Commission's terms of Office, and although their membership
will not be remunerated, their travel costs will be reimbursed. It is envisaged that the suggestions or
supplementary remarks coming from one group should be forwarded to the other group. Each group
may invite experts and create working groups. The Commission Secretariat-General shall be the
secretariat of the Platform and its work will be supported by CIRCABC site.
The REFIT platform launched in 2015 relies on the joint effort of the Commission, the Parliament and
the Council. It evaluates the efficiency of the existing stock of legislation and whenever regulatory
costs are found to be disproportionate to the goals pursued, it seeks to find alternative approaches
to reach the same ends. All relevant documents that it produces are made public.
The main tasks of this Platform are to invite and collect suggestions from all sources on regulatory
and administrative burden reduction, arising from Union legislation and its implementation in
Member States with special attention to the needs and interests of micro-enterprises and small and
medium enterprises, assessing whether these suggestions will put at risk the objectives pursued by
this legislation, filtering these suggestions and forwarding to the Commission and to Member States
those most worthy of attention, responding to individuals. The suggestions, the remarks and the
comments received by Member States or the Commission are published.
5
C(2015) 3261/2.
EESC-2015-02968-00-01-INFO-TRA (EN) 3/6
Better regulation and REFIT programme
The Commission may consult the Platform on any matter related to its better regulation work and
the REFIT programme in order to allow measurement of the prospective impact of REFIT proposals
or the impact of the application of initiatives under REFIT.
REFIT includes various actions such as initiatives to reduce burdens, repealing outdated legislation,
evaluations and fitness checks, better implementation, simplifying EU funding. More concretely,
since its inauguration in 2012, 58 legislative initiatives have been proposed by the Commission under
REFIT that contain 17 exemptions or lighter regimes for SMEs, the Commission withdrew 141
proposals which were pending legislative procedure and initiatives under the Administrative Burden
Reduction Programme (ABR) have brought considerable savings to businesses in 11 areas.
As far as the initiatives that the Commission is currently working on are concerned, a standard data
form to address the difficulties of SMEs when they need to fill in complex public procurement
documentation is about to be proposed. The Commission also wishes to measure and deliver costsavings for business under a Framework Regulation Integrating Business Statistics (FRIBS) and Single
Market Statistics (SIMSTAT). In addition, the Commission also tries to simplify the rules for chemical
substances used in small quantities and deliver an action plan that would help SMEs to meet the 1
June 2018 registration deadline for these quantities, simplifying the authorisation procedure.
Moreover, annual exercises to identify obsolete acts are carried out in the areas of agriculture and
fisheries. Reviews and fitness checks are currently concentrated in fields such as late payments,
pesticides, food nutrition, health claims, motor insurance, the EU Derivatives Regulation and the
Capital Requirements Regulation. The Fitness Check of the General Food Law will evaluate whether
its principles have been implemented effectively or whether new responsibilities are fit for purpose.
Regarding the evaluation of the Occupational Health and Safety that is meant to be concluded by the
end of 2015, the Commission wishes to relieve the burdens for SMEs so that they can comply more
easily with the EU requirements and action will be taken in order for the Occupational Health and
Safety legislation and chemicals legislation to have more coherence and consistency.
Concerning the implementation of legislation, the Commission wishes to review implementation in
areas such as agriculture, energy, environment and financial services. It also wishes to reduce the
complexity of the legislation in cooperation with Member States, make a database of requirements
for food labelling in order to help SMEs, monitor the transposition of Directives and their
enforcement in Member States and scrutinise their ability to allow citizens and businesses to benefit
from the opportunities of the single market.
In addition, the Commission wishes to simplify the management of the Common Market
Organisation by merging 200 existing Commission Regulations into 40 implementing and delegated
acts, to simplify the European Structural and Investment Funds and the Horizon 2020 programme.
The people of Europe are expected to have their voice heard in the new REFIT Platform and the
website ''Lighten the Load-Have Your Say''.
EESC-2015-02968-00-01-INFO-TRA (EN) 4/6
Better regulation and REFIT programme
_____________
EESC-2015-02968-00-01-INFO-TRA (EN) 5/6