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Simplification

The European Commission is reducing regulatory burdens to strengthen EU competitiveness while protecting economic, social, and environmental goals. The Commission has a comprehensive set of instruments that supports the drive towards simplification.

Overview

Simpler regulation and reducing regulatory burdens are instrumental to a more competitive and attractive Europe.

To enable a more favourable business environment, the Commission has introduced targets to lower the administrative burden by at least 25% for all businesses, and by at least 35% for SMEs. 

To this end, it puts forwards omnibus proposals and other legislative initiatives with a significant simplification dimension.

The Commission work programmes include the most significant proposals. Half of the proposals for the 2026 Commission work programme are simplification proposals.

What savings can be expected?

The Commission aims to cut recurring administrative costs by €37.5 billion by the end of the 2024-2029 Commission mandate. Its omnibus proposals and other simplification initiatives have so far have resulted in €15 billion in net annual savings.

On the top of this, it has removed an additional €5.6 billion in one-off administrative costs.

Meeting this goal significantly increases the level of ambition of the ‘one in, one out approach’, in which the Commission proposed net administrative cost savings for businesses and citizens amounting to nearly €14 billion over the 2022-2024 period. 

Omnibus proposals

An omnibus proposal is a package of legislative proposals that amends multiple existing EU legal acts at the same time, usually across the same policy area. This approach ensures efficiency and coherence, enabling us to progress towards policy objectives.

In 2025, the Commission proposed ten omnibus proposals that reduce recurrent administrative costs by €11.9 billion: 

Omnibus X: food and feed safety

Overview

This cross-cutting package simplifies rules and procedures across the EU’s applicable legislation, from plant protection products and biocidal products, to feed, official controls and animal health and welfare. 

Administrative cost savings are estimated at €939 million per year.

The Commission presented this package on 16 December 2025. 

Legislative proposals

Proposal for a regulation to extend certain data protection periods

Proposal for a directive as regards the simplification and strengthening of food and feed safety requirements

Proposal for a regulation as regards the simplification and strengthening of food and feed safety requirements

Omnibus IX: automotive

Overview

This package aims to simplify the technical requirements and testing procedures for motor vehicles. 

Administrative cost savings are estimated at €50.8 million per year.

The Commission presented this package on 16 December 2025. 

Legislative proposals

Proposal for a regulation as regards the simplification of technical requirements and testing procedures for motor vehicles

Proposal for a directive to exempt certain N2 electric vehicles from the requirement to install and use a speed limitation device  

Omnibus VIII: environmental legislation

Overview

This package aims to simplify environmental legislation in the area of industrial emissions, circular economy, environmental assessments and geospatial data. 

Approximately €1 billion in cost savings, of which €890 million in administrative cost savings per year. 

The Commission presented this package on 10 December 2025.

Legislative proposals

Proposal for a regulation as regards simplification of some requirements and reduction of administrative burden

Proposal for a regulation temporarily suspending obligation to appoint an authorised representative for extended producer responsibility schemes (batteries and packaging)

Proposal for a directive temporarily suspending obligation to appoint an authorised representative for extended producer responsibility (waste, WEEE and single-use plastic waste)

Proposal for a regulation on speeding up environmental assessments

Proposal for a directive as regards simplification of certain requirements for the establishment of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE)

Proposal for a directive as regards simplification of some requirements and reduction of administrative burden

Omnibus VII: digital

Overview

This package aims to simplify existing rules on data, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. 

Administrative cost savings are estimated at €1.2 billion per year.

The Commission presented this package on 19 November 2025.

Legislative proposals

Proposal for a regulation on simplification of AI rules

Proposal for a regulation on the simplification of the digital legislation

Omnibus VI: chemicals

Overview

This package aims to cut compliance costs and administrative burden for the chemical industry, while maintaining a strong level of protection of public health and the environment.

Administrative cost savings are estimated at €363 million, of which €290 million in recurrent savings.

The Commission presented this package on 8 July 2025.

Legislative proposals

Proposal for a regulation as regards dates of application and transitional provisions

Proposal for a regulation as regards simplification of certain requirements and procedures for chemical products

Omnibus V: defence readiness

Overview

This package aims to simplify EU rules applicable to the European defence industry to facilitate investment and make it easier to design, develop, manufacture and deliver defence products and technologies.

Direct cost savings are estimated at €1.2 billion, of which €710 million in administrative cost savings.

The Commission presented this package on 17 June 2025.

Legislative proposals

Proposal for a regulation on the acceleration of permit-granting for defence readiness projects

Proposal for a regulation as regards defence readiness and facilitating defence investments and conditions for defence industry

Proposal for a directive as regards the simplification of intra-EU transfers of defence-related products and security and defence procurement

Omnibus IV: small mid-caps, digitalisation, and common specifications

Overview

This package aims to enable small mid-cap companies to benefit from some of the same lighter requirements as SMEs and removes inefficient paper format requests in product legislation.

Administrative cost savings are estimated at €380 million per year.

The Commission presented this package on 21 May 2025.

Legislative proposals

Proposal for a regulation as regards obligations of economic operators concerning battery due diligence policies

Proposal for a regulation as regards the extension of certain mitigating measures to small mid-cap enterprises and further simplification measures

Proposal for a directive as regards the extension of certain mitigating measures to small mid-cap enterprises and further simplification measures

Proposal for a directive as regards digitalisation and alignment of common specifications

Proposal for a regulation as regards digitalisation and alignment of common specifications

Omnibus III: common agricultural policy

Overview

This package aims to reduce complexity and excessive administrative burden for farmers and national administrations in managing, monitoring and reporting, and leverage the potential of digitalisation.

Annual administrative cost savings are estimated at €1.58 billion for farmers and €210 million for administrations.

The Commission presented this package on 14 May 2025. 

Legislative proposal

Proposal for a regulation as regards the simplification of the 2023-2027 CAP and the rules for financing, management and monitoring of the CAP

Omnibus II: investment simplification

Overview

This package aims to facilitate deployment and reporting of InvestEU and the European Fund for Strategic Investments.

Administrative cost savings are estimated at €350 million, of which €324 million in one-off savings. €50 billion to be mobilised for additional public and private investments.

The Commission presented this package on 14 May 2025.

Legislative proposal

Proposal for a regulation as regards increasing the efficiency of the InvestEU programme and simplifying reporting requirements

Omnibus I: sustainability

Overview

This package revises the corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD) and the corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD). It also simplifies the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).

The Commission presented this package on 26 February 2025. 

CSRD and CSDDD simplification

These measures aim to simplify rules on sustainable finance reporting, sustainability due diligence and taxonomy. 

Administrative cost savings are estimated at €4.5 billion per year.

Legislative proposals

Proposal for a directive as regards the postponement of certain corporate reporting and due diligence requirements
Proposal for a directive as regards certain corporate reporting and due diligence requirements

CBAM simplification

These measures aim to remove obligations for approximately 182,000 (or 90%) of importers.

Administrative cost savings are estimated €1.2 billion per year.

Legislative proposal

Proposal for a regulation as regards simplifying and strengthening the carbon border adjustment mechanism

Upcoming omnibus proposals

  1. Q2 2026
    • Energy product legislation omnibus
    • Taxation omnibus
  2. Q4 2026
    • Citizens omnibus

Simplifying existing legislation

Stress testing

Taking a critical look at the existing legislative burdens is crucial for advancing the Commission simplification agenda and ensuring that the EU regulatory framework remains relevant, proportionate and efficient in achieving its goals. To this end, each Commissioner has been tasked with systematically reviewing EU law to simplify it, prioritising the areas where the burden is most significant. 

As part of this process, evaluations and fitness checks look at the overall impact of the laws to make sure the rules remain clear, efficient, and fit for purpose. The findings shape future simplification packages. 

The Commission is also screening its delegated and implementing acts, which constitute a significant portion of the regulatory framework, to prioritise those that that are necessary to implement the main acts and those that ensure simplification.

Reality checks

The Commission is conducting reality checks with those implementing or directly affected by EU law to better understand how it works on the ground. These direct interactions enable the Commission to identify hurdles or positive outcomes, assess the validity of the assumptions behind EU legislation, and determine if the expected benefits have been delivered.

Reality checks have helped shape the proposals for simplification, including omnibus proposals, such as the reality checks organised with practitioners on sustainability, on fertilisers, cosmetics and classification, labelling and packaging, on industrial decarbonisation accelerator, and on defence.

Examples

  • Reality check on state aid rules for affordable housing
    We solicited input and information from stakeholders and Member States on real-life situations and practical difficulties in the affordable housing sector, in particular on the main current and potential obstacles to implementing state aid rules.
  • Reality check on medical devices
    We identified obstacles in implementing the legislation with the help of patients, healthcare professionals and manufacturers.
  • Reality check on implementation of the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP)
    We explored together with beneficiaries and business support organisations the use of the STEP portal, and the benefits and obstacles to receiving funding for STEP projects.

Improving how we make new legislation

SME and competitiveness checks

To ensure that new legislation boosts the competitiveness of EU companies, SME and competitiveness checks are systematically applied during its preparation.

This process identifies any potential issues related to the competitive position of affected EU companies and helps formulate appropriate mitigating measures as well as present more clearly the impacts on SMEs.

Digital policies

The Commission assesses the digital aspect of its policy initiatives and promotes the principles of ‘digital by default’ and ‘once only’, in partnership with national, regional and local authorities and the relevant EU agencies. 

This approach ensures policies are digital-ready and guarantees that citizens, institutions and companies need to provide standard information to authorities and administrations only once.