Towards better and less costly EU legislation
Better impact assessments and focus on implementation
As more and more legislation is adopted on a European level addressing important transna-
tional challenges, it becomes increasingly important to ensure cost-efficiency. Rising costs
related to EU legislation is a significant burden for Member States and businesses and poses
a risk to European competitiveness as well as popular support for common European initi-
atives. This calls for structural solutions.
Impact assessments play a key role in ensuring evidence-based policymaking and minimizing
costs related to EU-legislation by identifying the most cost-efficient measures to deliver on
common European priorities. It is therefore essential that the Commission provides high-
quality and timely impact assessments, that takes into account also the cumulative effects, of
new legislative proposals.
However, impact assessments are not always presented, notably for delegated and imple-
menting acts, and seldom contain estimates for the economic consequences at Member State
level nor updates where proposals are significantly altered during negotiations.
This means that proposals are often negotiated without sufficient information about the eco-
nomic consequences for businesses, authorities and citizens. We propose the following two
initiatives aimed at mitigating the challenges and fostering a more evidence-based and cost-
effective legislative process:
1. A Commissioner for impact assessments and implementation
A dedicated Commissioner responsible for impact assessments and implementation of EU
legislation to oversee the entire lifecycle of EU legislation and ensure a stronger political
ownership of impact assessments as the basis of evidence-based decision-making.
The role would entail a specific responsibility to make sure that consequences of proposed
EU legislation are thoroughly assessed and updated during the negotiations, if needed. A
commissioner would be a focal point for Member States and the European Parliament on
these matters and should participate in Council meetings on a regular basis. It also entails a
focus on streamlining the implementation process by monitoring whether adopted pro-
posals are implemented and enforced, and on evaluating whether the adopted legislation is
effective in achieving the political goals.
2. Better impact assessments with cost estimates at Member State level
The guidelines on Better Regulation should be updated requiring impact assessments to con-
tain information on economic consequences at Member State level. This includes impacts
on national budgets and businesses in order to address Member-State specific challenges
from the outset, reducing the likelihood of delays and cost overruns. The requirement
should apply to all impact assessments and could be introduced through a standard annex,
drawing inspiration from the Financial Regulation, which sets requirements for legislative
financial statements relevant for the EU budget
If a proposal is not accompanied by an impact assessment, the Commission should issue a
publicly available explanation, including an indication of the timeline for issuing the delayed
impact assessment. In the spirit of shared responsibility, we should work together as co-leg-
islators and look into dynamic impact assessment mechanisms so that impact assessments
can be re-evaluated during the EU legislative process, when proposals are significantly al-
tered during negotiations.
While the cost estimates for authorities and businesses are subject to data being made availa-
ble by the Member-States, the Commission can draw on existing knowledge in EU agencies
and collaborate with relevant experts. A certain margin of uncertainty can be accepted, as
long as the methods for calculations are presented, allowing Member States to conduct their
own assessment based on the similar methodology. To reduce the administrative burden on
the Commission, less crucial parts of the Better Regulation guidelines could be identified
and made optional.