Overregulation in the EU? How to Boost Competitiveness with Smarter Legal Frameworks

In recent years, the EU has significantly shaped framework conditions in areas such as data protection, consumer health and safety, environmental protection, the supply chain, and antitrust law. However, the EU’s overregulation in some areas is seen not as beneficial, but as a detrimental factor limiting innovation, competition and growth. The EU now needs better, evidence-based regulation ensuring that its legislation is drafted in a transparent and inclusive manner and is as simple and targeted as possible to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy burdens and costs. 

In this issue of EconPol Forum, our authors critically assess the negative economic impact of complex regulations and bureaucracy in the EU. They make policy suggestions on how the EU can improve the quality of legislation and enforcement performance. In particular, they look at institutional aspects related to the single market and the enforcement of EU rules by member states, which have been neglected in previous initiatives.