Brussels, 17 October 2024
Today, the EU Commission’s Fit for Future Platform, a high-level expert group composed of stakeholders and representatives of all Member States, held its final plenary meeting under it’s current mandate.
The Platform consists of a high-level expert group of national, regional and local authorities, civil society organisations, businesses and members of the RegHub network of the Committee of the Regions. It was set up in 2020 to complement the Commission’s regulatory simplification work.
Over the course of its four-year mandate, the Platform has adopted 41 opinions, containing some 260 specific suggestions to help the European Commission to simplify and modernise EU laws and to reduce related unnecessary burdens for citizens and businesses.
Achievements of the Fit for Future Platform in 2024
In 2024, the Platform put forward suggestions on simplifying and streamlining EU legislation, reducing regulatory burdens, notably on reporting requirements, further digitalisation, better enforcement and implement ability of EU laws and programmes.
The opinions on organic production and labelling of organic products and on unfair trading practices in the food supply chain proposed several suggestions to streamline the complex acquis, eliminate double reporting and bring in more transparency, clarity and legal certainty.
Digitalisation potential was raised in various opinions but was most prominent in the opinion on QR codes on products. Such QR codes would address horizontal aspects and guiding principles related to labelling requirements.
The Platform continued to play an important role in helping the Commission to deliver on the objective of reducing burden coming from reporting obligations by 25%. In 2024, it produced 3 opinions on this topic:
- Automated sustainability reporting: suggesting improvements in the quality, accessibility and exchange of data needed to report on sustainability;
- Actions and methodology to avoid the build-up of unnecessary reporting obligations: suggesting horizontal ideas to avoid that the reporting burdens keep increasing and to help stakeholders comply with them efficiently;
- Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation: suggesting ways to make financial disclosure less burdensome and more meaningful.
The Platform also provided substantial evidence and valuable insights to the evaluations of several European funds, including the implementation of the European Social Fund Plus, the European Regional Development Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the Cohesion Fund.
Background
Over its four-year mandate, the Platform has greatly contributed to making EU laws fit for the future helping increase coherence and transparency and improve implementation and enforcement. Through its recommendations, the Platform contributed to many Commission initiatives like, amongst others, the Late Payments Directive, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, the Gigabit Infrastructure Act, the Interoperable Europe Act, the Banking Union package and the Listing Act, and the VAT in the Digital Age proposal.
More information
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Over the past four years, the Fit for Future Platform has delivered valuable input to the Commission’s simplification and burden reduction agenda. Through the collective efforts of its members and its 41 opinions and 260 specific suggestions, the Platform has also helped us future-proof EU regulations, to anticipate and embrace emerging trends, technologies, and societal changes. As the Platform concludes its mandate, its legacy will continue to inspire future efforts to simplify and modernise EU legislation, and this will remain high on the Commission’s agenda.
Source – EU Commission