European Commission Advances Simplification Agenda: 12 Omnibus Proposals and Regulatory Deep Cleani…

Key points

• The Commission has tabled twelve major Omnibus simplification proposals across policy areas, with potential savings of at least €17 billion in annual administrative costs for European businesses and national administrations.
• The simplification agenda rests on five pillars: simplicity by design, a strengthened better-regulation system, regulatory deep cleaning, action against Member State gold-plating, and faster, more robust enforcement.
• The Regulatory Deep Cleaning Action Plan covers 12 key areas; its first result is this month's Public Procurement Act, cutting procurement procedures from five to three and consolidating three existing directives into a single regulation.
• The Commission calls for a 'Pact Against Gold Plating' and is developing a toolkit and pilot projects to identify regulatory overlaps.
• Enforcement will rely on faster procedures, greater automaticity and more dissuasive penalties, with 11 focus areas identified for Single Market enforcement.
• Von der Leyen reaffirmed the commitment in the State of the Union address; the letter of intent sets out simplification proposals for banking, housing and transport in 2027, plus a proposal to accelerate permitting.
• An annual overview report on progress across all these elements is due on 20 October.