Memo: Radical simplification of EU law: 5000 pages of Official Journal removed

300 legal acts representing about 5000 pages of the Official Journal were removed from the roughly 95,000 pages of the Community acquis as a result of the legislative simplification process under way since October 2005. The European Commission’s 'Second progress report on the strategy for the simplification of the regulatory environment' shows that citizens and companies, in particular small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) have already seen tangible results. And more will come when the large number of initiatives currently pending before the Council and the European Parliament are adopted. Today’s report complements the Commission 'Strategic Review on Better Regulation' which is also tabled today (see Memo/08/63).