Smart Regulation Is a Shared Commitment of All the EU Institutions

On March 7th, 2013, the European Commission adopted the Communication on Smart regulation – responding to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. The document reviews the progress in applying the micro-enterprise exemption, introducing lighter regulatory regimes for SMEs as well as SME scoreboard and ensuring regulatory fitness. The Communication also lists the top 10 most burdensome pieces of EU legislation such as REACH regulation, EU Waste legislation or Working time directive identified by stakeholders in an online questionnaire (ran from Oct. 1st–Dec. 21st 2012).

European business organizations welcomed the SME scoreboard and the list of the most burdensome EU legislative acts for SMEs. They also positively assessed that the smart regulation has become a top priority for the Commission. Positive assessment is also given to the move away from automatic exemptions for micro-enterprises, as it is not always possible to exempt micro-enterprises from a regulation. However, smart regulation can only be achieved if Parliament and Council are equally committed. Unfriendly provisions added during the legislative process by both bodies or during the implementation phase must be avoided.

On the negative side, the Communication lacks proposals for further enforcement of the “Think Small First” principle, which is the key principal devoted to the needs of European SMEs. Last but not least, the Commission must carefully treat results from SME Panel consultation and SME feedback database mentioned in the Communication as they do not reflect the view of the whole business community and SMEs often lack a holistic approach to a particular issue. For this, a close cooperation with business organizations, not only social partners, is needed.