The REFIT programme

About REFIT

REFIT is part of the Commission’s Better regulation agenda. Under this programme, the Commission ensures that EU laws deliver their intended benefits for individuals and businesses, while simplifying existing EU laws and cutting red tape, whenever possible. REFIT aims to make EU laws simpler, more targeted and easier to comply with.

Citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises - representing 99% of all businesses in the EU - benefit particularly from REFIT as they can be particularly affected by burdens and complexity of the rules.

The Commission regularly monitors the progress under REFIT through REFIT Scoreboard, which follows its initiatives throughout their full life cycle and presents the overall progress since 2015. The Annual Burden Survey presents a yearly overview of EU’s efforts for simplification and burden reduction, including highlights of the main REFIT initiatives, the Fit for Future Platform activities and since 2021, the ‘one-in, one-out’ approach.

How REFIT works

All Commission proposals to change existing EU laws should aim to simplify and reduce unnecessary regulatory costs, while achieving the underlying policy objectives.

The ‘one-in, one-out’ approach complements the REFIT programme, by considering the impact of compliance costs to citizens and businesses. Adjustment costs will be quantified and compensated to the greatest possible extent, while administrative costs will be offset.

In practice:

Impact assessments look at options available to deliver policy objectives in the most efficient way and analyse the REFIT potential of the preferred option.
All evaluations and fitness checks investigate the potential to simplify existing EU laws and eliminate unnecessary regulatory costs.
The Regulatory Scrutiny Board pays special attention to the application of the ‘one-in, one-out’ principle, assesses the quality of cost estimates and the proportionality of the preferred option, including if burden reduction is sufficiently explored.
The simplification and burden reduction potential are quantified, wherever possible.
The Commission presents the REFIT dimension in the explanatory memoranda of its proposals.

Simplifying and reducing the regulatory burden of EU laws is a shared responsibility that can only be achieved through close cooperation with the other EU institutions, Member States and stakeholders.

As part of efforts to boost competitiveness and reduce burdens for businesses and administrations, the Commission has committed to rationalise reporting obligations and reduce such burdens by 25%, and at least 35% for SMEs, without undermining the related policy objectives.

The SME relief package complemented this strategy. In addition, the ‘Simpler and Faster Europe’ Communication set out our new course to simplify EU rules, making our economy more prosperous and competitive.

Background

2025 – Commission publishes the Competitiveness Compass & the Communication on Simplification and Implementation. Both initiatives aim at improving competitiveness, boosting EU’s economy, reducing administrative burdens and ensuring better implementation.

2024 – Political Guidelines for the period 2024-2029 give a new stimulus to the simplification efforts.

2023 – Commission publishes the 2022 Annual Burden Survey which reports among others on the first year of full implementation of the ‘one in, one out’ approach and announces further efforts by the Commission to rationalise and simplify reporting requirements for companies and administrations.

2022 – Commission publishes the 2021 Annual Burden Survey, which reports for the first time on the ‘one in, one out’ pilot project carried out in 2021.

2020 – Commission sets up the Fit for Future Platform, a high-level expert group bringing together Member States, the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee and stakeholders. It also includes a collaboration with the SME Envoys Network and the REGHub. Its mandate expired on 30 November 2024.

2017 – Commission publishes the first Annual Burden Survey.

2017 – Commission enhances REFIT by ensuring that issues of simplification and burden reduction are always taken into account when legislation is evaluated and revised. All revisions of EU legislation are included under REFIT and strive to achieve burden reduction and simplification.

2015 – Commission sets up the REFIT Platform; its mandate expired on 31 October 2019.

2015 – Commission publishes a study (ABRplus) which examines how 12 measures from the action programme have been applied in the EU countries and to what extent the promised benefits have been achieved.

2012 – by the end of the action programme, the Commission reaches its target of cutting by 25% the administrative burden for businesses stemming from EU legislation (estimated annual savings EUR 30.8 billion).

2007 – Commission launches action programme to reduce administrative burden of EU regulation. High‑level group is set up to advise on implementation. Its recommendations include facilitating electronic invoicing and exempting micro‑enterprises from EU accounting rules.

2005 – Simplification rolling programme covers 164 measures for 2005-2009 and becomes part of the annual work programme.

2002 – Better regulation programme is a first step in simplifying and improving EU legislation. It introduces obligatory impact assessments and stakeholder consultations for all new initiatives proposed by the Commission.