The European Commission is simplifying and streamlining EU laws across all policies, including in the areas of food and feed safety, animals and plants. This is part of its broader strategy to make EU regulations more efficient, while maintaining high safety and welfare standards. 

The Simplification Package was proposed by the Commission to streamline and simplify food and feed legislation in specific areas. It focuses on reducing unnecessary administrative costs and burdens for agri-food producers and operators and national authorities. 

Among the key measures proposed are: 

• faster procedures to give bio-control products market access 

• more targeted and efficient renewal procedures for pesticides and biocides 

• more targeted and efficient renewal procedures for feed additive authorisations 

• digital labelling options for feed additives 

• streamlined measures for fermentation products produced using GMMs. 

• stronger import rules for pesticide residues, to ensure a level playing field 

• simplified accreditation rules for official laboratories 

• a more pragmatic approach to border controls for plant products 

• adapted bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance and risk mitigation requirements. 

In a recent press release, the Commission stated that the simplifications proposed could save over €1 billion in administrative and compliance costs, including over €428 million annually for EU businesses (€227 million for SMEs), as well as €661 million annually for national and EU administrations. This includes annual administrative savings amounting to €939 million for both businesses and national administrations and €150 million in compliance costs for business. 

You can read more here: Food and Feed Safety Simplification Package