Better Regulation - Food Labelling, Data Protection &
IPPC Directive
On 7 December 2004, the Better Regulation Task Force (BRTF)
published a report (Make
it Simple, Make it Better) which recommends:
- Urgent adoption of ad hoc mechanisms to progress
simplification proposals
- New legislative proposals should be flexible enough to allow
future amendment if necessary
- The introduction of a common sense check to ensure that new
legislation is consistent with existing laws, practical and will
not impose unnecessary administrative burden
Th report looks at three specific areas of EU legislation, on which it makes recommendations for simplification
- Data Protection, Food Labelling and Integrated Pollution
Prevention and Control (IPPC). It draws some general lessons from
the case studies and makes further recommendations on how the need
for simplification could be avoided in future.
Some of the key disadvantages of over-complex regulation found in
the report are:
- People may concentrate on paperwork over meeting the spirit of
the law
- Conflicting or confusing regulation is harder to enforce
- Many will ignore the law
- Small businesses in particular may struggle to comply
- Where it is intended to promote a 'level playing field' across
the EU, this may not be achieved
The report can be viewed on the
Better
Regulation Task Force website
