Dec 2009 17

Beyond Repeal0

One of the pledges repeated by Commission Presidents is to cut back on the EU’s red tape burden by repealing directives that were past their sell by date, and simplifying future laws. A document that passes our desk shows the current abject failure of the policy.

Regulation 492/2009 (which actually dates back to May, but there you go with these things) identifies what it terms "14 obsolete Regulations in the field of the Common Fisheries Policy". But this is obsolescence in the sense of the musket or the biplane, in their application rather than in their relevence.

Of the 14 laws still to that point legally in force;

One was an interim measure for projects for 1982

One was an interim measure for 2001

One covered a period around 2001 for an agreement from 1999 that then ended

One was intended to cover just 2003, another just 2004, and a third just 2006

One related to the aftermath of an oil spill in 2002

Three were for a transitional period after Spain joined

Three were succeeded by another directive covering in part the same thing

and

One was an interim measure for the former East Germany after unification

These measures were repealed "for reasons of legal security and clarity". Well and good. However, the original intent was to cut back on red tape because it was excessive across the board, not to prune it simply for management purposes.

It’s a pity that this bare palmful of laws out of the tens of thousands on offer will now inevitably be touted as a symbol of the reasonableness of the Commission instead. In the meantime,the acquis communautaire remains sacrosanct, and the regulations continue to flow.

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Lee is a Research Fellow at the TPA. Co-author of the hit Bumper Books of Government Waste, he is an extensively published EU expert and front bench adviser.