. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/W/219
30 June 2003
(03-3476)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:  English
RECENT EUROPEAN COMMISION DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELD
OF BETTER REGULATION
Submission by the European Communities
Over the past year, the European Commission has come forward with a number of initiatives
in the field of "better regulation", showing its strong commitment to simplify and improve the
regulatory environment in the European Union.
1. The Commission adopted a so-called "Better Regulation Package" on 5 June 2002.  This was
followed up by a second Governance / Better Regulation Package in December 2002.  TheCommission is now implementing the actions it has committed to in the package.
• First, the Commission has launched a new Impact Assessment  procedure.  The aim of the new
procedure is to improve the quality of the Commission's policy proposals in terms of their
efficiency, effectiveness and coherency and to provide EU politicians with the best possible
knowledge on which they can base their decisions.  It identifies the likely positive and
negative impacts of proposed policy actions, with a particular focus on economic,environmental and social effects, in line with the EU Sustainable Development Strategy.
• The main questions that are addressed in the impact assessment are:
/g167 What is the problem the proposal is expected to tackle?
/g167 What are the objectives?
/g167 What main policy options are available?
/g167 What are the likely economic, environmental and social impacts of the identified options;  and
What are their advantages & disadvantages?
2. To ensure that the efforts going into the impact assessment process are well targeted, a
two-stage process has been established with, first of all, an initial "preliminary assessment" that
identifies the level of analysis needed and provides the basis for the selection of proposals that shouldundergo a more in-depth "extended assessment".
• Second, the Commission has established a set of General principles and minimum standards
for consultation , which are also effective as of 2003.  The aim of these standards is to
streamline and improve the Commission's consultation practices and to make them more
transparent.  For example, they will help ensure:
/g167 That the consultations have a clear content;
/g167 That all interested parties - including from non-EU countries - have an opportunity to express
their opinions;
/g167 That the consultations are made widely known (e.g. through publicity campaigns and a
"single access point" on the Europa web-site);G/TBT/W/219
Page 2
/g167 That a minimum of 8 weeks is given for responding;  and
/g167 That appropriate feedback is provided to the responding parties.
• Such consultations are without prejudice to the notification of proposed technical regulations
under the TBT agreement.
3. This action is closely linked to the impact assessment procedure and will, as a first step, apply
to those initiatives subject to "extended" impact  assessments.  They may also be used for other
consultations.
4. Third, the Commission has proposed to make greater  use of more flexible alternatives  to
command-and-control legislation.  Tools such as co-regulation and self-regulation have been putforward in this context.  It should be remembered that the Commission already has substantial
experience in using co-regulatory approaches.  The 15-year experience with the New Approach to
product legislation is a case in point and the Commissi on is currently looking into how it could further
develop and expand the use of this tool.
5. Finally, the Commission has come forward with a proposal for a simplification programme
for existing EU legislation
1.  It includes actions to significantly reduce the existing volume of legal
texts and to make the texts simpler and user-friendlier.  It also covers actions to simplify the substance
of a number of EU policies to make them more efficient, flexible and proportionate.
6. The Commission has also agreed with the European Parliament and the Council an inter-
institutional agreement on better regulation.   Formal adoption and signature of this Inter-institutionalagreement is planned for autumn 2003.
Commission developments on better regulation and the documents referred to in the text can be
accessed at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/governance/suivi_lb_en.htm
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1 COM(2003)71