4. UPDATING AND SIMPLIFYING THE COMMUNITY
ACQUIS
(24287)
6591/03
COM(03) 71
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Commission Communication on updating and simplifying the Community acquis.
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| Legal base: | —
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| Document originated: | 11 February 2003
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| Deposited in Parliament: | 24 February 2003
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| Department: | Cabinet Office
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| Basis of consideration: | EM of 10 March 2003
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| Previous Committee Report: | None
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| To be discussed in Council: | No date fixed
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| Committee's assessment: | Politically important
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| Committee's decision: | Cleared
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Background
4.1 In its action plan on better regulation of June 2002
the Commission committed itself to simplifying and reducing the
volume of the Community acquis, with the support of the Council
and the European Parliament. The term Community acquis
is not strictly defined, but for the purposes of the action plan
and the present Communication the Commission adopts a narrow definition
which includes all binding acts referred to under Article
249 EC, i.e. regulations, directives and decisions (including
general decisions and decisions with individual addressees), but
excluding the treaties, the case law of the Court of Justice and
non-binding acts such as resolutions and recommendations. This
Communication provides details of how the Commission proposes
to implement the objectives of the 2002 action plan.
The document
4.2 The Communication highlights work already done across
the Commission services and sets out a future framework for action
with six objectives. These, together with the rest of the Communication,
have been helpfully summarized in the Explanatory Memorandum of
10 March 2003 by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor
of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord McDonald of Tradeston):
"— To simplify the acquis, or total body of European
law, by removing complexity and unnecessary burdens — to
be a rolling program;
- to consolidate the acquis by grouping related texts together
— to be completed by mid 2003;
- to codify the acquis by bringing together into one legally
binding act all the provisions of an act and any subsequent amendments
- to be completed 2005;
- to review the organisation and presentation of the acquis
to make it more user friendly;
- to ensure transparency and effective monitoring at political
and technical levels; and
- to establish a strategy to ensure the above points are implemented
effectively and work is kept up to date."
4.3 Some of the above actions will be carried out in
one exercise by re-casting the legislation. When fully implemented,
they should result in a reduction in the volume of Community law
by about a third (a reduction of 35,000 pages — exceeding
the target of 22,500 needed to meet the 25% target in the Commission's
action plan); less complex and burdensome legislative requirements;
a removal of obsolete legislation; and easier and more user- friendly
access to legislation via a variety of databases, including CELEX
and EUR-LEX.
4.4 In order to monitor the action taken, the Commission
will establish a scoreboard, which will also serve to maintain
momentum and provide direction to the work. It is proposing to
carry out a six-monthly review of progress up to the end of 2004.
4.5 The Commission asks the Council and European Parliament
to support the framework by signalling their agreement to the
proposed actions and their related methodologies, and by concluding
an inter-institutional agreement on simplification so that suggestions
for simplification put forward by the Commission can be 'fast-tracked'
through the legislative process. Such agreements are already in
progress for codification and for re-casting.
4.6 The Commission is intending to use its interactive
policy making (IPM) online consultation mechanism to provide information
and receive feedback on the Communication, in particular on its
proposed "rolling simplification" programme.
The Government's view
4.7 The Minister comments as follows:
"The Government welcomes the work carried out by the Commission
to improve the quality of legislation, and to improve access to
it. We particularly welcome proposals for a new rolling programme
of simplification. It is particularly important that legislation
conforms to the five principles of better regulation and is not
overly burdensome or complex.
"The Government supports the indicators the Commission is
proposing in order to determine priority policy areas for simplification,
and specific legislative proposals currently being considered
by Commission services, to be put forward to the Council and European
Parliament for agreement under a fast-track procedure. We are
also pleased that future Commission work programs will highlight
work to be carried out on updating and simplifying the acquis.
"The Government intends to put forward suggestions to the
Commission for the rolling program and will commit the necessary
resources to this and to monitoring the codification programme,
where the Commission is also due to put forward proposals. We
are also encouraging the conclusion of an inter-institutional
agreement on better regulation before the end of the Greek Presidency.
Once agreed, this will signal the willingness of the three institutions
to conclude a similar agreement on simplification."
4.8 The Minister adds that the Government does not intend
to carry out a formal consultation on this Communication.
Conclusion
4.9 We thank the Minister for his helpful summary
of the document and comments on it. We especially welcome the
Government's plans to put additional suggestions for better
regulation to the Commission and look forward to further
information on this point. We will discuss with the Government
how proposals for legislative simplification should be handled
as regards parliamentary scrutiny. Meanwhile, we have no further
questions to ask in relation to the document and are content to
clear it.
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