Better regulation for a competitive Europe

Predictable, evidence-based law-making is a prerequisite for effective EU action. Stakeholders rely on the Commission’s better regulation rules to plan their engagement and inform the preparation of EU law. To this end, better regulation tools must be strengthened and fully embedded across the entire policy cycle, not weakened or more selectively applied. 

DIGITALEUROPE participates extensively in the full range of stakeholder consultation mechanisms and values structured, meaningful engagement throughout the policy cycle. However, recent legislative cycles have exposed shortcomings in the application of better regulation principles, notably regarding impact assessments, stakeholder consultation and regulatory burden. These shortcomings risk undermining both the quality of EU law and the EU’s simplification and competitiveness objectives. 

In 2025, 78 per cent of DIGITALEUROPE members reported higher compliance costs in Europe, while only 8 per cent saw an improvement in the EU business environment.1 Urgent action is therefore needed to simplify rules, ensure they are applied consistently, and prioritise incentives where possible. 

To strengthen better regulation for a competitive Europe, DIGITALEUROPE recommends: 

• Restore discipline and predictability in EU law-making by strengthening legislative planning, limiting the use of urgency procedures, and confirming that necessary standards or secondary legislation are in place before laws start to apply. 

• Raise the quality of impact assessments through consistent SME and competitiveness checks, systematically assessing cumulative impacts, and realistically analysing how provisions can be implemented and enforced. 

• Make impact assessments dynamic by updating them during the law-making process and testing impacts in real-world settings where possible. 

• Improve the quality of stakeholder consultations through realistic timelines, neutral design, inclusive participation and clear feedback on how input is used. 

• Embed ‘simplicity by design’ in EU law-making through improved interservice and interinstitutional coordination, full accounting of regulatory burdens and consistent application of the digital-by-default and once-only principles. 

• Strengthen implementation and enforcement of EU law against non-compliant Member States, particularly of the single market rulebook, to ensure consistent application and legal certainty.