Simplification of the rules of the EU single market under preparation
On 21.5.2025 the European Commission presented a new Strategy for a Single, Simple and Strong EU Single Market., which is structured in five main parts focusing on specific aspects of the functioning of the single market
The strategy focuses in particular on
- The 10 worst ("Terrible Ten") obstacles to the Single Market,
- promoting the free movement of services,
- support for small and medium-sized enterprises,
- supporting the effective digitalisation of the Single Market,
- support for digital solutions such as the digital product passport - a basic tool for sharing product information, digitisation of public procurement, notification or standardisation procedures,
- preventing the emergence of new barriers, including and reducing differences in national implementations of the common rules,
- Creating the possibility to market products for which there are no harmonised standards by giving the EC the power to establish common specifications that can be used to demonstrate compliance with legislative requirements,
- Simplification of EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility),
- reducing the number of regulators and supervisory bodies at national level,
- removing the divergence of legal regimes for the operation of businesses in the 27 Member States - by creating a new so-called 28th legal regime for businesses applicable in all Member States,
- unifying market surveillance and management from the EU level,
- unification of the customs service and its management from the EU level,
- increasing labour mobility - removing obstacles to posting workers from one Member State to another,
The Strategy was published together with IV. simplifying omnibus to simplify administrative burdens, containing several legislative proposals implementing the measures listed in the strategy, such as mitigation measures for SMEs, simplification and digitisation of operators' obligations in the area of product legislation, allowing the adoption of common specifications to demonstrate the conformity of products with legislative requirements, deferral of "due diligence" obligations for businesses in the case of batteries and waste batteries. All these proposals have been published by the EC on its "Have your say" portal, which allows the general public to comment on these proposals by the deadline of 25 July 2025.Details can be found at
Omnibus Regulation Aligning product legislation with the digital age