10 Updating and simplifying the Community
acquis
| (25776)
10742/04
COM(04) 432
+ ADD 1
SEC(04) 774
| Commission Communication: Implementation of the framework action: Updating and simplifying the Community acquis
Commission Staff Working Document: Implementation of the framework action: Updating and simplifying the Community acquis
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 16 June 2004
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| Deposited in Parliament | 25 June 2004
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| Department | Cabinet Office
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 5 July 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | Not applicable
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| Committee's assessment | Legally and politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
10.1 In its Communication on updating and simplifying the Community
acquis of February 2003, the Commission committed itself
to an Action Plan of simplification, codification, consolidation,
repeal and reorganisation of the acquis, in order to ensure
it is kept up-to-date and wherever possible avoids imposing unnecessary
burdens. The term Community acquis is not strictly defined,
but for the purposes of the Action Plan the present 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 not the treaties, the case law of the Court of Justice and
non-binding acts such as resolutions and recommendations.
The document
10.2 This Communication is the second of three six-monthly reviews
that will cover progress up to the end of 2004. It summarises
work undertaken during phase II (October 2003 to March 2004) of
the Action Plan.
10.3 The Commission's main conclusion is that work
to update and simplify Community legislation is progressing in
a satisfactory way. The results of the second phase show that
momentum has been maintained, new policy areas have been screened
for their simplification potential, and new simplification proposals
have been identified. However, there have also been some delays
in some areas.
10.4 The detailed findings of the Commission's report
have been helpfully summarised in the Explanatory Memorandum of
5 July 2004 by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor
of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr Douglas Alexander):
Simplification
"Since February 2003, 21 policy sectors have
been screened for their simplification potential; 13 of which
were screened during Phase II. During Phase III (April 2004 to
December 2004) 11 policy sectors will be screened, including 3
new target sectors in consumer protection and fisheries.
"Since February 2003, the Commission has adopted
30 proposals with simplification implications, 12 of which were
adopted during Phase II. During Phase III the Commission hopes
to finalise work on 29 simplification proposals. At the end of
Phase II, 20 simplification proposals, which have been adopted
by the European Commission, are pending before the European Parliament
and the Council.
Codification
"The Commission adopted 24 codified acts during
Phase II. No codified acts were adopted by the Council and European
Parliament, due to a nine-month moratorium (August 2003-April
2004) imposed prior to enlargement. Enlargement also resulted
in the addition of 9 new languages for codified acts to be translated
into, and this will continue to slow down the adoption by the
legislator of codified acts during Phase III.
"However at a technical level within the Commission,
work to prepare acts for codification doubled during Phase II,
by comparison to Phase I, with 549 acts representing over 10,000
pages of text currently being processed by the Legal Service in
conjunction with the relevant Directorates General.
Repeal and obsolescence
"Progress on the removal of obsolete legislation
was slow during Phase II, with only 3 acts being formally repealed
or declared obsolete, by comparison to 30 in Phase I (February
-October 2003).
"To address this situation, the Commission Secretariat
General and Legal Service have set clearer guidelines to facilitate
the work on repeal by Commission departments. As a result the
total number of acts under examination has increased significantly
from 582 announced in February 2003, to about 880. The examination
of 361 of these acts is now close to conclusion, and during phase
III the Commission plans formally to repeal or declare obsolete
nearly 900 legal acts.
Transparency and Effective Implementation
"The February Communication promised a scoreboard
to monitor progress of the various Directorates-General in implementing
the Framework for Action. This Communication attaches a scoreboard
of performance on codification and repeal.
"The Commission welcomes the commitment made
by the European Council in March 2004 to establish Council's priorities
for updating and simplifying Community legislation, which the
Commission will take into account. The Communication notes that
20 simplification proposals adopted by the Commission are pending
before the legislator, and urges the European Parliament and Council
to proceed with the adoption of simplification proposals, in accordance
with the Inter-Institutional Agreement on Better Lawmaking.
"The third and final update report is due in
December 2004. With the completion of Phase III the current approach
will end and the rolling programme for simplification will be
integrated into the ordinary annual programming of Commission
work."
The Government's view
10.5 The Minister comments as follows:
"The Government welcomes this update from the
Commission on work carried out to improve the quality of legislation,
and to improve access to it. We regret that there have been some
delays in certain key areas, such as codification and hope to
see further progress during the third phase.
"In March 2004 the Government responded to a
request by the Commission for Member States to suggest areas of
European legislation to simplify, by means of a letter from John
Grant, UK Permanent Representative to the EU, to David O'Sullivan,
the Secretary General. The Government intends to look for further
and more detailed suggestions to put forward to the Commission
for the rolling programme."
Conclusion
10.6 We thank the Minister for his helpful summary
of and comments on this second preliminary report on the implementation
of the Commission's action plan on "simplifying and updating
the Community acquis". We welcome the progress made
by the Commission so far but, like the Government, are concerned
about the delays in some key areas. We would welcome any additional
suggestions the Government may have for further simplification
of Community legislation and for ensuring that the objectives
of the Action Plan will be achieved as planned by the end of 2004.
Meanwhile, we have no further questions to ask about the Commission's
report and are content to clear it.
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