Better regulation: the numbers that get tested, dated to your cut-off

What better regulation is

Better regulation is the Commission's method for preparing and reviewing EU law. In the Commission's words, it 'helps the EU deliver evidence-based policies and laws that achieve their objectives in the most efficient way'. Its main instruments are evaluations and fitness checks of existing law (under the 'evaluate first' principle), impact assessments of new proposals, stakeholder consultation through the Have Your Say portal, quality control by the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, and simplification, including the 'one in, one out' approach.

The figures come from four documents: the 2021 communication COM(2021) 219, the better regulation guidelines of 3 November 2021, COM(2026) 380 of 28 April 2026, and the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016. The toolbox page still lists the 2021 guidelines and the toolbox dated 1 December 2025 (checked 26 October 2026).

Consultation lengths: 12, 4 and 8 weeks

COM(2021) 219 set the model: public consultations were consolidated into a single 'call for evidence' on Have Your Say, normally in all official languages, and 'people will have 12 weeks to respond'. The Commission's better regulation page gives the same pair today: feedback on calls for evidence 'open for a period of 4 weeks', a public consultation 'open for a period of 12 weeks'.

COM(2026) 380: the 12 weeks can be cut by up to six

On 28 April 2026 the Commission adopted 'A Simpler, Clearer and Better Enforced EU Rulebook', COM(2026) 380. In its section on a smarter consultation system it adds one condition-bound change to the 12-week standard:

• The 12 weeks remain the standard. The cut is optional ('may') and applies only when other consultations run for the same initiative.
• The Commission will, whenever possible, avoid counting the main holiday periods in the consultation time.
• The new approach is 'effective immediately but implemented gradually until the revision of the guidelines and toolbox'.
• The communication comes with an Action Plan for Regulatory Deep Cleaning covering 12 priority areas.
• A new high-level expert group, the Simplification Platform, builds on the Fit for Future Platform, 'which operated between 2021 and 2024'. COM(2021) 219 dates that platform's launch to May 2020.
• The call for evidence on better regulation drew some 288 submissions from 27 countries.

One in, one out, and the burden-reduction targets

'One in, one out' was announced in COM(2021) 219: new burdens from the Commission's legislative proposals are offset by equivalently reducing existing burdens in the same policy area. It is not applied mechanically, act for act. The Commission piloted it in the second half of 2021, started implementing it with the 2022 work programme, and reports on it in the Annual Burden Survey. It complements REFIT, the regulatory fitness programme launched in 2012.

The current targets come from COM(2025) 47 of 11 February 2025, 'A simpler and faster Europe'. The Commission applies its targets of at least 25% for all companies and 35% for SMEs to a baseline of all administrative costs, which Eurostat approximated at EUR 150 billion in the EU in 2022.

These figures sit in the priorities area too; see simplification and the omnibus packages.

The Regulatory Scrutiny Board

The Commission describes the Board as 'an independent body of Commission officials and experts from outside the Commission' that reviews impact assessments and selected evaluations. Under paragraph 13 of the 2016 agreement it carries out 'an objective quality check' of the Commission's impact assessments. COM(2021) 219 explains that a report falling short of the guidelines gets a negative opinion and has to be revised. COM(2026) 380 extends the Board's quality control to a wider range of assessments, and asks for an impact assessment reviewed by the Board for urgent initiatives with significant impacts, where feasible.

The 2016 Interinstitutional Agreement: programming, impact assessment, delegated acts

The Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making was done at Strasbourg on 13 April 2016 between Parliament, the Council and the Commission, on the basis of Article 295 TFEU (OJ L 123, 12.5.2016). Its numbers:

• Programming: after the Commission work programme, the three institutions agree a joint declaration on annual interinstitutional programming, signed by their three Presidents (paragraph 7).
• Requests from Parliament or the Council under Article 225 or 241 TFEU: the Commission replies within three months (paragraph 10).
• Impact assessments are 'a tool to help the three Institutions reach well-informed decisions and not a substitute for political decisions' (paragraph 12).
• Delegated acts: a Common Understanding is annexed (paragraph 28), and a joint register of delegated acts was to be set up by the end of 2017 at the latest (paragraph 29).
• Objection period for a delegated act: in principle two months, extendable by two months (Annex, point 18).
• Report on a fixed-term delegation: not later than nine months before the end of the period; opposing tacit extension: not later than three months before (point 17).
• Revocation: the other institutions are informed at the latest one month before the decision (point 28).

The delegated-act rules are explained in full in delegated vs implementing acts.

The Joint Declaration on the EU's legislative priorities for 2026

The joint declaration foreseen in paragraph 7 for 2026 was published in the Official Journal on 23 December 2025 (C/2025/6793). Drawing on the Commission work programme for 2026, it sets six key policy objectives:

1. Usher in a new era for European defence and security.
2. Secure Europe's sustainable prosperity, competitiveness and simplification.
3. Strengthen our societies and our social model and quality of life.
4. Ensure a comprehensive approach to border management and migration.
5. Protect our democracy and uphold our values.
6. Leverage our global influence and partnerships.

Better regulation appears under the second objective, which promises 'an ambitious and horizontally-driven simplification and better regulation agenda'. The attached list of proposals to prioritise in 2026 includes Omnibus IV, V and VI and the digital omnibus. The declaration is a political text agreed under paragraph 7 of the 2016 agreement, not an interinstitutional agreement in its own right. It predates every 2026 cut-off.

The numbers, flagged by cut-off

How it is tested

Better regulation belongs to the Commission's procedures, one of the three content areas the Commission's guidance to candidates names. Two things make it a numbers topic. Every period is short and similar (4, 8, 12 weeks; 1, 2, 3, 9 months), so distractors are easy to build from neighbouring rules. And one figure moved in 2026, so which answer is right depends on your content cut-off.

Worked example 1 (our own)

Under the Commission's better regulation guidelines of 2021, for how long can stakeholders give feedback on a legislative proposal once the College has adopted it? A. 4 weeks. B. 8 weeks. C. 12 weeks. D. 14 weeks.

Answer: B. Better regulation guidelines, SWD(2021) 305, Box 4. A is the period for draft delegated and implementing acts; C is the public consultation; D is the usual summer extension in COM(2021) 219.

Worked example 2 (our own)

Under the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016, within what period does the Commission reply to a request from Parliament or the Council under Article 225 or 241 TFEU? A. One month. B. Two months. C. Three months. D. Nine months.

Answer: C. IIA of 13 April 2016, paragraph 10. B and D are delegated-act deadlines from the same agreement's annex.

The free 30-question test mixes items like these with the other two areas, under Commission or open-competition rules, with AD or AST timing, in English, French or German. Each question carries its source and its cut-off. For the competition with the latest cut-off, see COM/AD/111/2026 (AD6).