The European Commission is expected to adopt a communication aimed at improving the European Union’s legislative process, with a view to making European legislation more efficient, proportionate and better tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises and citizens.
The initiative will take the form of a communication, a legal instrument without binding effect, intended to lay down practical guidance and clarify the interpretation and application of concepts of EU law.
This priority is included in the Commission’s 2026 work programme. In that document, the Commission undertakes to base its initiatives on concrete evidence and to propose new legislation only where strictly necessary.
In this context, the Commission is expected to assess whether EU regulations and implementing rules minimise implementation costs and avoid excessive or cumulative burdens for those to whom they apply.
These principles are also enshrined in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making, signed on 13 April 2016, whose stated aim was to ensure that policy decisions were prepared in an open and transparent manner, based on available evidence and supported by the broad participation of stakeholders.
Beyond the EU, international organisations such as the OECD have been developing standards to improve the quality of regulation. Between 2018 and 2021, according to the OECD Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance, the EU was the member with the strongest legislative practices.
On 13 January 2026, the Commission launched a public consultation, which closed on 4 February, on the future “Better Regulation” initiative, focusing on three key questions:
How to reconcile evidence-based policymaking with the need to act swiftly;
How to ensure a more holistic and efficient approach to stakeholder consultation;
What practical measures could make EU legislation simpler and easier to apply in practice (so-called “simplicity by design”).
The Commission has been emphasising the need to increase the efficiency and speed of the legislative procedure, in view of geopolitical volatility and the need to adopt decisions rapidly, without, however, undermining stakeholder participation and the robustness of legislation.
At the same time, the Commission states that the public consultation process should be more flexible and adapted to the nature of each initiative, distinguishing, for example, between technical measures and policies of a more general nature.
Stakeholders’ contributions have shown broad support for administrative simplification. However, some contributions warn of the risks associated with the growing use of emergency measures, underlining the need to apply the “Better Regulation” framework more consistently.
Along similar lines, the European Court of Auditors, as the EU’s external auditor, recommended in a 2020 report that the European Commission reduce the number of exceptions to the general rules on the need for public consultations, impact assessments and ex post evaluations.
The same report also identified shortcomings in the way the Commission communicates the results of public consultations, namely the lack of a clear explanation as to how the contributions received influence legislative proposals. Around 40% of respondents stated that they were dissatisfied with the communication of information on consultation outcomes.
Among other proposals, stakeholders advocate making preparatory work, studies and surveys that may influence legislative proposals and specific decisions more widely available in an accessible and equitable manner, as well as increasing monitoring and external auditing of the European institutions’ compliance with the principles of “Better Regulation”.
In this regard, the communication scheduled for the 27th may consolidate guidance for the European institutions and Member States aimed at improving quality, transparency and public participation in the decision-making process, thereby ensuring legislation that is more proportionate and has fewer adverse impacts on individuals.
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