Community legislation: simplifying and improving the regulatory environment

The committee adopted the second report drawn up by Manuel MEDINA ORTEGA (PES, E) in response to the Commission papers on simplifying and improving Community regulation. The second report was a shorter and, in some cases, redrafted version, although it reiterated many of the key points made in the first report (see summary dated 03/12/2003). New elements introduced into the report included a call for the European Parliament, the Council and Commission, as soon as possible after the adoption of an interinstitutional agreement on improving the quality of legislation, to compile a summary of their respective experiences and consider the possibility of defining a common methodology for the purposes of carrying out impact assessments before the adoption of a substantive amendment under the codecision process. The first report had called for Parliament to introduce its own instrument for impact analysis. Although the report again stressed the need for directives to be speedily and correctly incorporated into the systems of the Member States, it did not stipulate, as it had done in the first report, that the deadline for transposition should not be longer than two years.�