Commission launches the Fit for Future Platform and invites experts to join

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This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

The European Commission has today launched the Fit for Future Platform – a high-level expert group, which will help the Commission simplify existing EU laws and reduce administrative burden for citizens and businesses. It will also help ensure that EU legislation remains future-proof, given the need to tackle new challenges, such as digitalisation.

Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, said: “Simplification and burden reduction, especially for SMEs, is particularly needed in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. We must explore how digitalisation can help achieve it, while ensuring that our legislation remains forward-looking and fit to tackle the new challenges.”

The Fit for Future Platform – consisting of a government group and a stakeholder group – brings together Member States’ national, regional and local representatives, the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee and stakeholder groups with practical expertise in various policy areas.

Once operational, wider public and stakeholders will be able to provide input to the Platform’s work on simplification and burden reduction. Moreover, citizens and stakeholders can also share their views on existing laws as well as proposals for new EU policies via the Have Your Say portal.

Call for applications to select experts

Today, the Commission also published the call for applications to select experts for the Stakeholder group of the Fit for Future Platform. Its members selected through this call should have high expertise in implementing EU law and be able to represent the interests shared by different stakeholder organisations in their field. They shall represent business, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, social partners and civil society organisations having direct experience in the application of Union legislation.

Applications can be submitted until 19 June 2020. The documents are available here.

Background

The Commission is committed to simplifying EU law and reducing unnecessary costs as part of its regulatory fitness and performance (REFIT) programme. It is important to ensure EU legislation and its objectives continue to be relevant, given the new trends and challenges, such as digitalisation. EU laws should deliver maximum benefits to citizens and businesses, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Fit for Future Platform succeeds the REFIT platform, building on its experiences. From 2015 to 2019, the REFIT platform supported the process of simplifying EU law and reducing regulatory burdens, for the benefit of civil society, business and public authorities. It made recommendations to the Commission, taking into account suggestions made by citizens and interested parties.