Clarifying and simplifying the rulebook

Rules which aim to protect health, safety and the environment comprise one of the most complex policy frameworks in the European Union. Divergence of procedures and implementation requirements at European or national level should not have an unnecessary impact on costs or innovation dynamics of chemical companies exposed to international competition.

Cefic’s position

Legislation at EU and Member State level needs to be improved in terms of volume, simplicity, quality and workability.

Addressing administrative burden, the EU Commission launched the Better Regulation Action Plan in March 2005. Cefic members submitted proposals but the results - reflected in the Commission’s actions - were limited. The obligation to conduct an impact assessment for each new piece of legislation is the most noticeable one.

Cefic’s contribution

Cefic took part in the High level Group on Chemicals, making seven distinct recommendations for better legislation, some of which were included in the High Level Group’s Final Report. Today renamed Smart Regulation, the policy should set competitiveness objectives for the regulatory framework of Industry. The Commission’s work programme for 2010 lists smart regulation among its five priorities.

Cefic's legal department has drafted a Manifesto on smarter regulation, as a response to the amount of legislation in the environmental sphere, and, more specifically, affecting the chemicals sector.

Manifesto's highlight:

examines the progress made so far by the Commission and the other institutions,
assesses the latest Commission Communications on Smart Regulation and Industrial Policy, and the recent report from the Court of Auditors on the impact assessment system from the institutions,
makes a number of recommendations with concrete examples for improvement.
requests regulatory framework to be more consistent and to be checked prior to a legislative proposal and also during and after its adoption.
suggests amendments to the current impact assessment system,
calls for better consultation of stakeholders.
proposes a ‘quality check' for clusters of legislation, which should systematically address a number of criteria and legal principles.

Next steps

As regards forthcoming proposals, the Commission announces it will:

examine if there is a clear EU added value in a proposal for legislation
examine if the proportionality principle is safeguarded
better apply the smart regulation instruments
better coordinate the inter-institutional work
extend the existing impact assessments system to comitology measures
improve the transparency of impact assessment work by preparing roadmaps

As regards existing legislation, the Commission will:

conduct a systematic post-evaluation to ensure consistency
undertake a ‘fitness check of legislation to identify excessive burdens, overlaps, gaps, inconsistencies and/or obsolete measures’

This is further detailed in the Communication on EU industrial policy, where the Commission clearly distinguishes between an ex-ante and ex-post assessment of legislation. It announces it will undertake a ‘competitiveness proofing’ of new legislation and continue its ‘fitness checks’ of existing legislation.