Better lawmaking, single market: making rules more effective. Annual report 1997

OBJECTIVE: the purpose of this annual report to the European Council is to describe the action taken by the Commission to help the Community achieve 'better lawmaking'. SUBSTANCE: The report shows that the considerable effort made by the Commission since the Edinburgh European Council has borne fruit. It confirms its approach of doing less but doing it better, consulting interested parties more extensively, improving the drafting quality of its texts, simplifying and consolidating existing legislation and seeking to provide easier access to Community law. The Commission is equipping itself to continue work in this direction through major internal reform initiatives such as MAP 2000 (modernization of administration and personnel policy for the year 2000) and SEM 2000 (better financial coordination between departments in the Commission and the Member States). However these initiatives will not produce the desired effect unless there is greater support by the European Parliament and the Council which must, for example, adopt the many proposals for simplification and formal consolidation which are pending. The Member States have a major role to play in this area. Having a major legislative role, they must transfer to national level the efforts being made at Community level. The Commission considers that the improvement of the quality of legislation must continue to be a priority for the European Union and its Member States. �