The EU Commission has presented a new plan to modernise EU lawmaking, with the stated objective of making legislation clearer, simpler and easier to enforce, while improving alignment with the needs of citizens and businesses.

The plan is built around five areas. First, the EU Commission wants to apply “simplicity by design” more systematically when preparing new proposals, with greater clarity on obligations, compliance and enforcement. Second, it plans to strengthen the better regulation framework, including on transparency, stakeholder engagement and efficiency. Third, it will launch a “regulatory deep cleaning” exercise through an action plan to address inconsistencies, overlaps and excessive complexity in 12 priority areas.

The package also includes work on reducing regulatory gold-plating, with the EU Commission aiming to help Member States identify and remove unnecessary complexity and barriers to the Single Market where national rules go beyond EU requirements. In parallel, it plans to reinforce enforcement of Single Market rules in selected areas and reduce the number of long-standing infringement cases.

The initiative forms part of the EU Commission’s broader competitiveness agenda and is presented as a contribution to a more effective and integrated Single Market.