Press Release: Better regulation: Unnecessary rules on knots in wood get the chop

The quality and size of wood in the rough is regulated in detail at EU level in Directive 68/89/EEC. The European Commission has proposed to repeal this directive and to leave the necessary definition of wood criteria to standardisation organisations. This is another step to deliver on the Commission’s work programme to simplify legislation under its better regulation initiative. The Commission has already withdrawn 68 pending proposals, introduced impact assessments for all new and important proposals, tabled proposals to simplify EU laws and has been working on a model to reduce administrative costs coming from EU legislation. The proposal to remove Directive 68/89/EEC has now to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council.