The Commission tabled on Wendesday the better regulation package designed to cut red tape, to tackle excessive regulation and to help to strike the right balance between costs and benefits of legislation.

The new EC's initiative involves:

Improved impact assessments: key legislative proposals are already the subject of integrated impact assessments which analyse the economic, social and environmental aspects of EU proposals. The Commission says the economic analysis of these impact assessments will be substantially improved to boost competitiveness.

Screening and possible modification or withdrawal of pending proposals: the Commission will screen the hundreds of Commission proposals currently pending in the European Parliament and Council. The Commission will consider modification, replacement or even withdrawal of these proposals. It says it will focus on proposals which have not made progress in the legislative process for some significant time and/or for which impact assessments were not carried out.

More simplification: where legislation is considered too burdensome, again its modification or even repeal be considered.

Pilot projects to reduce administrative burden: the Commission is to launch pilot projects to measure and reduce administrative burden for construction products and statistics, two complex fields of EU law.

Alternatives to legislation: the Commission intends to promote the use of European standards as technical support to European legislation, as well as the better use of co-regulation and self-regulation.

Consultation: EU citizens, business and NGOs will be able to have their say on how to achieve better regulation via the Internet.

Member States: the Commission recommends that EU Member States set up national better regulation strategies, including impact assessment systems and simplification programmes.

Finally, the Commission proposes to set up a group of high-level national regulatory experts, to develop a common 'Better Regulation' agenda.