The European Union has set as one of its key priorities to promote economic growth, to stimulate employment and to improve the business environment. In order to achieve this, the European Union has been predominantly interested in securing a unified set of business regulations that would be applicable across the economic area.
F. A. Hayek Foundation in Slovakia and the Lithuanian Free Market Institue have conducted two case studies analysing the problems related to the transposition and implementation of the EU legislation in Slovakia and Lithuania from the perspective of the phenomenon of gold-plating.
It should be noted that due to the increasing impact of European decision-making on nationl legislature, improper transposition or implementation of EU law can have a detrimental effect on national business. The United Kingdom and Sweden offer some good practices for dealing with gold-plating:
- The national governments should use copy-out for transposition of the legislation as much as possible, except where doing so would negatively affect interests of national entrepreneurs compared with their European counterparts.
- The national governments should ensure that national businesses are not put at a competitive disadvantage compared with their European counterparts.
- The governments should seek to implement EU legislation through the use of alternatives to regulations.
- The governments should ensure that legal acts are enforced on the latest possible deadline specified in the EU law, unless earlier implementation would benefit national business.
- The governments should ensure a statutory duty for responsible bodies to review legislation every five years according to the Regulatory Impact Assessment principles.
Find the full publication here.
