Every year, the European Commission publishes a report on the regulatory burden on companies and citizens. In its latest report, the Commission writes that EU legislation adopted in 2022 will reduce the administrative burden by 7,3 billion euro annually. The report states that of the 52 legislative initiatives adopted by the Commission in 2022, and which are covered by the one in, one out principle, 30 (58 %) are expected to generate administrative costs or savings för citizens or companies according to the impact assessments accompanying the legislative proposals. Among the 22 initiatives which are not expected to lead to administrative burdens or savings, 15 were expected to generate other compliance costs. The Commission objective of, to the greatest extent possible, compensating administrative and other compliance costs associated of legal initiatives by reducing existing costs within the same policy area were thus, with one exception, achieved by substantial margin according to the report. The importance of the Fit for Future (F4F) Platform to reduce regulatory burdens was also highlighted in the report.

In its opinion RegWatchEurope welcomes the ambition of the Commission to reduce reporting costs by 25 percent and that the introduction of the one in, one out principle has increased focus on quantitative information in impact assessments. RWE underlines, however, the importance that all compliance costs are covered by the principle and requests more transparency in future reports on how the objective of reducing administrative burdens are shared between authorities and businesses. In the opinion, the RWE questions how compensating measures are described in the report. The RWE agrees with the Commission and stresses the need for the Council, Parliament and member states to also contribute to the overarching objectives of reduced burdens, in the negotiation as well as in the implementing phases of EU legislation.

Read the RegWatchEuropes opinion (pdf)

Read the Annual Burden Survey 2022