# Single Market Strategy Canonical URL: https://digital-acquis.eu/strategy/single-market-strategy Entry type: strategy Source edition current through: 17 July 2026 (2026-07-17). This is not a page modification date. Status: not recorded. A delivered initiative is not necessarily legislation in force. Document type: Communication Release date: 2025-05-21 ## Summary The Single Market Strategy addresses obstacles to operating, trading and working across EU borders. It combines simplification and stronger implementation with changes to company rules, public procurement, product regulation and services. Digital procedures, common standards and better recognition of qualifications are intended to reduce fragmentation. The strategy also covers worker mobility, construction and business services, communications networks and transport. Measures for SMEs and small mid-caps seek to make compliance more proportionate and improve access to markets and finance. Cooperation with national authorities and potential changes to preventive and enforcement tools support the wider programme. ## Sources - [Official source]() ## Action items (51; complete published list) ### 1. Action item 320001 Adopt simplification omnibus packages to reduce unnecessary burden to safeguard effective implementation of policy objectives such as the Digital Omnibus aimed at streamlining and simplifying certain elements of the EU digital acquis and the Omnibus to ease compliance with Extended Producer Responsibility obligations (ongoing) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 1. Digital dimension: yes. ### 2. Action item 320002 Competitiveness Checks during the impact assessment phase to ensure Single Market consistency and further innovation (ongoing) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 2. Digital dimension: yes. ### 3. Action item 320003 Review of national and European agencies in the field of the Single Market with a view to effective application of the law (Q1 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 3. Digital dimension: yes. ### 4. Action item 320004 Revise the Public Procurement framework to centralise and streamline its fragmented and complex provisions, and to mainstream the use of sustainability, resilience, social and, in certain technologies and strategic sectors, European preference criteria in EU public procurement while ensuring competitive tenders (2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 4. Digital dimension: yes. ### 5. Action item 320005 In coordination with the revision of the Public Procurement framework, revise the Directive on defence and sensitive security procurements19 to simplify and harmonise rules and procedures for defence procurements and to take into account a possible European preference (2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 5. Digital dimension: yes. ### 6. Action item 320006 Call a first meeting of the high-level Single Market Sherpas (Q4 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 6. Digital dimension: yes. ### 7. Action item 320007 Organise a first SMET annual high-level political meeting (Q4 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 7. Digital dimension: yes. ### 8. Action item 320008 Propose a Single Market Barriers Prevention Act (Q3 2027, if necessary, based on the assessment of the functioning of existing preventive tools) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 8. Digital dimension: yes. ### 9. Action item 320009 Establish common rules to facilitate the digital setup of businesses and their operations across the Single Market (Legislative proposal on ‘28th regime’ - Q1 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 9. Digital dimension: yes. ### 10. Action item 320010 Revise the Commission Recommendation on business transfers26 (Q4 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 10. Digital dimension: yes. ### 11. Action item 320011 Explore EU legislation to address barriers to the mobility of workers. Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 11. Digital dimension: yes. ### 12. Action item 320012 Make the procedures for the recognition of professional qualifications faster and more efficient through the greater use of digital tools (Q4 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 12. Digital dimension: yes. ### 13. Action item 320013 Facilitate the recognition of professional qualifications by extending automatic recognition schemes, for instance via Common Training Frameworks (Q4 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 13. Digital dimension: yes. ### 14. Action item 320014 Explore EU legislation to establish common rules for the recognition and validation of qualifications and skills of third country nationals (Q4 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 14. Digital dimension: yes. ### 15. Action item 320015 Allow the Commission to establish common specifications when needed (Omnibus proposal adopted together with the Strategy) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 15. Digital dimension: yes. ### 16. Action item 320016 Review the Standardisation Regulation (Legislative proposal - Q2 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 16. Digital dimension: yes. ### 17. Action item 320017 Harmonise labelling rules via sectoral legislation and facilitate rollout of digital Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 17. Digital dimension: yes. ### 18. Action item 320018 labelling solutions via the Digital Product Passport (DPP) (progressive introduction of DPP, including possible inclusion via the New Legislative Framework review in Q2 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 18. Digital dimension: yes. ### 19. Action item 320019 Remove unjustified authorised representative requirements from EPR schemes and reduce reporting obligations, including by limiting them to an annual frequency (Omnibus proposal Q4 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 19. Digital dimension: yes. ### 20. Action item 320020 Address the fragmentation created by heterogenous national EPR schemes through further harmonisation, simplification and digitalisation, including through a digital one- stop shop for information, registration and reporting (as part of the legislative proposal for a Circular Economy Act Q4 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 20. Digital dimension: yes. ### 21. Action item 320021 Reform end-of-waste and by-product criteria and provide a more harmonised, leaner framework in the Single Market for reaching end-of-waste and by-product status. Ease the adoption of EU-wide end-of-waste criteria and enable the adoption of such criteria for priority waste feedstocks. Facilitate cross-border shipments of waste feedstocks for recycling (as part of the legislative proposal for a Circular Economy Act - Q4 2026). Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 21. Digital dimension: yes. ### 22. Action item 320022 Take effective action to increase product compliance by tapping into synergies with capacities of the EU and national customs and market surveillance authorities and potentially establishing an EU Market Surveillance Authority (as of Q3 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 22. Digital dimension: yes. ### 23. Action item 320023 Modernise product legislation framework to harness digitalisation, promote circularity and strengthen safeguards (Review of the New Legislative Framework – possible legislative proposal Q2 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 23. Digital dimension: yes. ### 24. Action item 320024 Launch an initiative to facilitate the provision of pan-EU services by providers authorised or certified in one Member State on the basis of EU law, potentially including the harmonisation of such authorisation and certification schemes (Q2 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 24. Digital dimension: yes. ### 25. Action item 320025 Develop legal guidance and recommendations to Member States to provide clarity on the right to provide services cross-border on a temporary basis (Q2 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 25. Digital dimension: yes. ### 26. Action item 320026 Continue supporting the co-legislators to conclude negotiations on: Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 26. Digital dimension: yes. ### 27. Action item 320027 the revision of Regulations (EC) Nos 883/2004 and 987/2009 on social security coordination; Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 27. Digital dimension: yes. ### 28. Action item 320028 the proposal for a public interface for the declaration of posting of workers (COM 2024/531). Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 28. Digital dimension: yes. ### 29. Action item 320029 Launch a Fair Labour Mobility Package (2026), including – inter alia: Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 29. Digital dimension: yes. ### 30. Action item 320030 Following up to the ongoing pilot activities, proposal of a European Social Security Pass (ESSPASS) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 30. Digital dimension: yes. ### 31. Action item 320031 Proposal for strengthening of the European Labour Authority (ELA) including reviewing its mandate Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 31. Digital dimension: yes. ### 32. Action item 320032 Consider measures to make it easier to temporarily provide services cross- border, while protecting workers’ rights Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 32. Digital dimension: yes. ### 33. Action item 320033 Develop tools to act against unjustified Territorial Supply Constraints to cover situations beyond those captured by competition law, such as unilateral practices of large manufacturers (Proposal - Q4 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 33. Digital dimension: yes. ### 34. Action item 320034 Propose a Construction Services Act to lower barriers to cross-border market access for construction and installation services (Q4 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 34. Digital dimension: no. ### 35. Action item 320035 Work with Member States to simplify permitting and planning procedures to increase the supply of housing in the context of the European Affordable Housing Plan and the European Strategy for Housing Construction (Q1 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 35. Digital dimension: yes. ### 36. Action item 320036 Launch initiative to facilitate the cross-border provision of industry-related services such as installation, maintenance and repair services (Q4 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 36. Digital dimension: yes. ### 37. Action item 320037 Issue guidance and recommendations to Member States to free regulated business services from unnecessary regulation hindering investment and trade (Q1 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 37. Digital dimension: yes. ### 38. Action item 320038 Develop guidance to Member States on the proportionality of their retail regulation (Q4 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 38. Digital dimension: no. ### 39. Action item 320039 Propose a new EU Delivery Act, to replace the Postal Services Directive and Cross-border Parcels Regulation (legislative proposal Q4 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 39. Digital dimension: no. ### 40. Action item 320040 Propose a Digital Networks Act to simplify the legal framework and foster the completion of a Single Market for electronic communications (Q4 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 40. Digital dimension: yes. ### 41. Action item 320041 Launch initiative for single digital booking and ticketing for rail (Q4 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 41. Digital dimension: yes. ### 42. Action item 320042 Launch initiative for paperless mobility for passengers and goods (Q4 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 42. Digital dimension: no. ### 43. Action item 320043 Launch initiative on cross-border car rentals (Q3 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 43. Digital dimension: no. ### 44. Action item 320044 Ensure harmonised implementation and enforcement of the existing horizontal legal framework (EU Services Directive57) (ongoing) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 44. Digital dimension: no. ### 45. Action item 320045 Provide an SME ID tool based on self-declaration available in all EU languages to facilitate proof of SME status, where appropriate (together with the Single Market Strategy) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 45. Digital dimension: yes. ### 46. Action item 320046 Reinforce the Network of SME Envoys, including to encourage the voluntary adoption of measures encouraging SME cross-border trade and contribute to the administrative burden reduction agenda (Q3 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 46. Digital dimension: no. ### 47. Action item 320047 Publish best practice examples of SME-friendly provisions that can be systematically considered for inclusion in draft legislative acts and negotiations (Q3 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 47. Digital dimension: yes. ### 48. Action item 320048 Adopt a definition of small mid-caps and an SMC omnibus (together with the Single Market Strategy) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 48. Digital dimension: yes. ### 49. Action item 320049 Extend the existing SME fund, implemented by the EUIPO, for 2026 and possibly 2027 (Q4 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 49. Digital dimension: yes. ### 50. Action item 320050 Adopt a Commission Recommendation for a ‘Voluntary SME’ standard (VSME) to manage sustainability requests to SMEs stemming from their value chain and financial partners (Q3 2025) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 50. Digital dimension: yes. ### 51. Action item 320051 Develop a voluntary streamlined approach to help SMEs demonstrate their sustainability efforts and improve their access to sustainable finance, including by assessing the need to amend the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act to allow financial institutions to better reflect their financing activities of those SMEs (Q1 2026 / Q2 2026) Provenance: source document doc-033, paragraph 51. Digital dimension: yes. ## Referenced entries - [Digital Networks Act (DNA)]() — status: in progress. This law will build a true Single Market for connectivity by harmonising authorisations and spectrum policy, enabling cross-border services and a coordinated path to 6G. It modernises the telecom rulebook to spur investment in fibre, 5G and cloud/edge networks, integrates satellite services, and tackles market fragmentation that keeps Europe split into various national markets. It will streamline permits, clarify open-internet rules for innovative services, support copper switch-off and cloud-based network transformation, and target up to a 50% reduction in reporting burdens. A stronger EU governance model will replace patchwork oversight, boosting resilience, security and scale for operators and users. Source document doc-033, action item 320040: > Propose a Digital Networks Act to simplify the legal framework and foster the completion of a Single Market for electronic communications (Q4 2025) - [Fair Labour Mobility Package]() — status: forthcoming. The Package will remove frictions to cross-border work while safeguarding rights, making Europe’s labour market more efficient. It will propose a European Social Security Pass for digital verification of entitlements, streamline posting procedures, and clarify social-security coordination for cross-border remote work. The package will strengthen the European Labour Authority’s mandate and data capabilities to improve enforcement and joint inspections. A Skills Portability Initiative will simplify recognition of qualifications and interoperable digital credentials, including for third-country nationals. Together, these measures cut administrative burden for employers and workers, enable service provision, and support talent circulation across the Single Market. Source document doc-033, action item 320029: > Launch a Fair Labour Mobility Package (2026), including – inter alia: - [Circular Economy Act (CEA)]() — status: forthcoming. The Act will create a true Single Market for waste and secondary raw materials, boosting supply and demand for quality recyclates at competitive prices. It will harmonise end-of-waste criteria, simplify and expand extended producer responsibility (including a one-stop producer registry), and revise e-waste rules to recover critical materials, while aligning with the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products framework. Public procurement criteria, incentives for scrap use, and digitalised demolition permits will accelerate circular design and recycling. Strong enforcement—including for e-commerce channels—will ensure compliance. Source document doc-033, action item 320020: > Address the fragmentation created by heterogenous national EPR schemes through further harmonisation, simplification and digitalisation, including through a digital one- stop shop for information, registration and reporting (as part of the legislative proposal for a Circular Economy Act Q4 2026) Source document doc-033, action item 320021: > Reform end-of-waste and by-product criteria and provide a more harmonised, leaner framework in the Single Market for reaching end-of-waste and by-product status. Ease the adoption of EU-wide end-of-waste criteria and enable the adoption of such criteria for priority waste feedstocks. Facilitate cross-border shipments of waste feedstocks for recycling (as part of the legislative proposal for a Circular Economy Act - Q4 2026). - [EU Inc. – 28th Regime]() — status: in progress. It will create an optional, EU-wide corporate framework—digital by default—to let innovative firms set up, operate, and raise capital seamlessly across borders. The proposal may rely on TFEU Article 352 or a harmonised national form via Articles 50/114, with a progressive, modular design. It targets 48-hour incorporation and “once-only” data sharing via BRIS, EUID, and an EU Company Certificate, leveraging the European Business Wallet. Investment-friendly options under consideration include simpler capital increases, flexible share classes, and standard private-equity terms. Complementing the European Innovation Act, it cuts failure costs, fragmentation, and compliance burdens. Source document doc-033, action item 320009: > Establish common rules to facilitate the digital setup of businesses and their operations across the Single Market (Legislative proposal on ‘28th regime’ - Q1 2026) - [Single Digital Booking and Ticketing]() — status: in progress. The Commission will propose an EU framework enabling passengers to buy a single ticket for cross-border rail journeys across multiple operators, with passengers’ rights applying across the whole trip. It will mandate interoperable data and open, non-discriminatory APIs for schedules, fares and reservation systems; ensure through-ticketing, real-time disruption information and seamless refunds/re-routing; and set governance for liability, revenue settlement and dispute resolution. The initiative complements paperless mobility actions and aims to make rail a convenient, default choice for long-distance travel while boosting tourism and Single Market integration. Source document doc-033, action item 320041: > Launch initiative for single digital booking and ticketing for rail (Q4 2025) - [Single Market Barriers Prevention Act]() — status: forthcoming. The EU will move from reacting to fragmentation to preventing it at source. Building on the Single Market Strategy, the Act would systematise ex-ante screening of draft national measures, reinforce notification/transparency obligations, and require Member States to self-assess EU-law compliance before adoption, curbing “gold-plating.” It would hard-wire a competitiveness/SME check for significant amendments, introduce rapid-reaction deadlines to fix non-compliant rules, and align agencies and regulators to ensure uniform application. Annual progress reporting and more decisive infringement where needed will anchor accountability, complemented by a shift to digital-by-default administration and a “1-in, 27-out” simplification ethos to keep new barriers from emerging. Source document doc-033, action item 320008: > Propose a Single Market Barriers Prevention Act (Q3 2027, if necessary, based on the assessment of the functioning of existing preventive tools) - [Review of National and European Agencies]() — status: forthcoming. The Commission will audit mandates, governance and resources of Single Market authorities to eliminate overlap, gaps and conflicting procedures. The review will benchmark performance, map workflows, and propose consolidation, clarified competences, interoperable IT, joint inspections and mutual recognition of decisions. It will align agency tasks with the ‘Terrible Ten’ barrier agenda and forthcoming Omnibus simplifications, reducing compliance friction for SMEs and small mid-caps. Deliverables include a reform blueprint and actions to streamline supervision in priority sectors. Expected outcomes: accountability, faster enforcement, consistent interpretation of EU law, lower costs, and improved consumer protection. Source document doc-033, action item 320003: > Review of national and European agencies in the field of the Single Market with a view to effective application of the law (Q1 2026) ## Citing documents - [Commission work programme 2025 + Annex]() — status: not recorded. The 2025 work programme brings together planned legislation and policy strategies covering competitiveness, the Single Market and industrial transition. Its programme includes measures on affordable energy, startups and scaleups, savings and investment, and business simplification. Digital priorities span AI, quantum technology, electronic communications, business wallets and the space sector. The programme also identifies work on defence, preparedness, internal security and hospital cybersecurity. Skills, quality jobs, consumer protection and democratic resilience sit alongside these economic and technological measures. Each listed initiative carries an indicative timetable, and the programme distinguishes legislative proposals from non-legislative plans. Source document doc-005, action item 60002: > Single Market Strategy (non-legislative, Q2 2025) - [Competitiveness Compass]() — status: not recorded. The Competitiveness Compass brings together work on innovation, industrial transition and the conditions for businesses to grow in Europe. Its agenda spans startups, strategic technologies, research and investment, alongside affordable energy, cleaner industry and circular production. Measures on the Single Market, simpler rules, procurement and standardisation accompany this sectoral work. The programme also includes trade partnerships, raw-material supplies, security and preparedness. Skills, labour mobility and quality jobs connect the economic agenda with workforce needs. The programme combines strategies, legislative proposals, investment initiatives and coordination measures across these policy areas. Source document doc-019, action item 180041: > Single Market Strategy [Q2 2025] - [The 2026 Annual Single Market and Competitiveness Report]() — status: not recorded. Source document doc-087, action item 610001: > A new impetus is underway to remove barriers in the Single Market at both national and European level and to reduce administrative burdens. The Single Market Strategy has identified the ‘Terrible Ten’ as the most significant barriers for businesses, workers and citizens in the Single Market, to be addressed as a top priority. These barriers originate at both the European and national level and therefore require bold action at both levels. The Commission is working with Member States to unpack and address the most pressing barriers at the national level. The first annual Single Market Enforcement Agenda lines out the enforcement priorities for 2026. ## Current developments Latest updates from Digital Policy Alert and Global Trade Alert. No reviewed developments available; this does not establish that no developments exist. ## Associated policy priorities - [Infrastructure & Strategic Resources]() - [Competitiveness, Innovation & Strategic Investment]() - [Human Capital, Skills & Talent Mobility]() - [Single Market Deepening & Harmonisation]() - [Implementation, Simplification & Better Regulation]() ## Broader policy context (shared priority; not a direct citation) - [Action Plan on Affordable Energy]() — status: delivered. The Affordable Energy Action Plan seeks to lower energy costs while supporting competitiveness, security and sustainability for households and businesses. Its actions cover electricity bills and supply, gas markets, energy efficiency, completion of the Energy Union, tripartite agreements for industry, security of supply and price-crisis preparedness. The Commission presented the plan as part of the Clean Industrial Deal, and says delivery also depends on measures by EU countries. - [Battery Booster Strategy]() — status: delivered. Battery Booster plans use Innovation Fund and InvestEU support to reinforce the European battery value chain from raw materials to cell manufacturing. Measures include EUR 1 billion in grants for electric vehicle battery-cell projects, EUR 1.5 billion in interest-free Battery Booster Facility loans, and funding of up to EUR 300 million for critical raw-material projects. It also covers strategic-project calls, investment conditions, supply-chain diversification, EU content requirements and research on battery concepts, materials and manufacturing technologies. - [Chips Act 2.0]() — status: in progress. The review will sharpen Europe’s semiconductor strategy for the AI era, addressing gaps in leading-edge capacity and ecosystem resilience. It will prioritise energy-efficient, secure AI chips; streamline State-aid pathways; improve monitoring of supply-chain vulnerabilities and technology-leakage risks; and better coordinate EU-national programmes. Leveraging the Chips Joint Undertaking and EuroHPC, it will back new fabs and advanced packaging lines and tie support to strategic projects. The review aligns with the AI Continent agenda (i.e. powering AI Factories and forthcoming Gigafactories and setting requirements for European AI semiconductors) within a renewed, more coherent EU funding framework. - [Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA)]() — status: in progress. This law will close Europe’s compute gap by tripling data-centre capacity within 5–7 years and meeting economy-wide needs by 2035, underpinning AI development and sovereign cloud services. It will harmonise cloud policy, set minimum criteria (including for a narrow set of highly critical use cases run on highly secure EU-based cloud), and streamline permitting, site designation and access to energy/water, ensuring geographically balanced rollout. The Act will spur R&I in resource-efficient data centres, enable targeted support consistent with State-aid rules, and complement AI Factories/Gigafactories and the Chips Act ecosystem. - [Electrification Action Plan]() — status: delivered. This plan will accelerate cost-effective, system-friendly electrification to lower energy costs, boost competitiveness and cut emissions. It tackles supply and demand across industry, transport and buildings, and will run in parallel with a Heating & Cooling Strategy. Delivery focuses on reliability and flexibility, expanding and digitalising grids, scaling storage and demand response, deepening cross-border integration, and encouraging new demand near clean generation. Policy levers will improve the electricity-to-fossil price ratio (i.e. energy taxation, network tariffs, removing non-energy charges) while mobilising financing, manufacturing capacity and skills along the value chain. Progress will be tracked using KPIs, including raising electricity’s share of final energy toward 32–33% by 2030. - [Energy Digitalisation Forum]() — status: forthcoming. EU digitalisation work on energy focuses on deploying digital solutions and European sovereign AI for grid optimisation, efficiency in buildings and industry, and demand-side flexibility. The strategic roadmap also addresses data centres' integration into the energy system and challenges linked to AI in critical infrastructure. It is accompanied by work on AI models for power grids and data sharing between energy and digital stakeholders. - [Energy Union Package]() — status: forthcoming. The EU will deepen its Energy Union to deliver affordable, clean energy through stronger governance and integration. Therefore, the Commission will launch an Energy Union Task Force, publish a White Paper on electricity-market integration, revise the Governance Regulation, and present a Clean Energy Investment Strategy, a Nuclear Illustrative Programme (PINC), and a Fusion Strategy. It will table an Electrification Action Plan, a Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in the Energy Sector, and a Heating & Cooling Strategy to accelerate electrification, flexibility and efficiency. A revised energy-security framework will enhance stability and resilience, informed by lessons from the energy crisis. - [EU Critical Raw Materials Centre]() — status: forthcoming. The EU will establish the Platform to aggregate industrial demand, coordinate tenders, and secure diversified supplies for strategic value chains. Building on AggregateEU and complementing the Critical Raw Materials Act, the platform will align procurement across sectors, lower transaction costs for SMEs, and leverage EU and national de-risking tools. A dedicated EU Critical Raw Materials Centre will provide the purchasing backbone, organising joint buying for interested firms with Member States, coordinating strategic stockpiles, monitoring supply chains, and designing financial products for upstream projects in the EU and partner countries. - [EU Framework for Simplified Cross-Border Energy Data Exchange]() — status: forthcoming. The Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in the Energy Sector, adopted by the Commission on 3 June 2026, lists as a flagship action the establishment of an EU framework for simplified cross-border energy data exchange for smart energy services and AI model training. The Commission says the core challenge is the absence of a coherent EU approach for trusted, cross-border energy data exchange. It says it will coordinate actions to streamline and simplify energy-specific data exchange in order to support cross-border smart energy services and sovereign AI, and that better exchange of energy data can help activate flexibility from electric vehicles, heat pumps, batteries and controllable demand. The roadmap says the work will build on stakeholder recommendations on data exchange for smart energy services published on 20 May. - [EU Open Internet Stack]() — status: not recorded. The Open Internet Stack Initiative will fund development of end-user applications and underlying technologies for European sovereign digital commons. It has over €40 million dedicated within two Horizon Europe calls worth €307.3 million under the 'Digital, Industry and Space' cluster. The calls also support trustworthy AI, data services, robotics, quantum technologies, photonics and virtual worlds. Businesses, public administrations, academia and other entities from Member States and partner countries can apply until 15 April 2026. - [EU Space Act]() — status: in progress. The law will establish a single, harmonised regulatory framework for the safety, resilience, and environmental sustainability of space activities across the Union. It aims to overcome the fragmentation caused by 13 divergent national space laws across Europe, ensuring a predictable internal market for space services and space-based data. The Act introduces uniform authorisation and registration rules, tailored cybersecurity and debris-mitigation obligations, and a common environmental footprint methodology. By providing legal certainty and reducing regulatory complexity, it will strengthen the competitiveness of EU space operators, foster innovation in the New Space sector, and position Europe as a global standard-setter in space governance. - [EuroHPC Amendment for AI Gigafactories and Quantum]() — status: in progress. Proposed changes to the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking would provide a legal basis for AI Gigafactories and broaden its quantum remit. The facilities would support the development, training and deployment of large AI models for researchers, public-sector users, start-ups and industry, subject to access conditions. The quantum provisions cover research, innovation, infrastructure, skills, industrial capability, competence centres and links with classical high-performance computing. - [European Critical Communication System (EUCCS)]() — status: forthcoming. The Commission will propose legislation to interconnect Member States’ next-generation critical communications used by police, civil protection, emergency medical, border and security authorities. EUCCS will set harmonised requirements for operational mobility, strong resilience and strategic autonomy, enabling secure cross-border voice/data, priority services and roaming, including satellite back-up via IRIS². It will modernise national systems, ensure interoperability and encrypted communications, and support crisis coordination from terrorism to large-scale disasters. Governance will link with the Preparedness Union’s all-hazards approach and ERCC, with EU-funded pilots building capabilities using European providers. - [European Grids Package]() — status: delivered. The European Grid Package will fast-track expansion and modernisation of transmission and distribution networks, deepening market integration and lowering bills. It streamlines TEN-E, accelerates permitting — including environmental assessments — and mandates integrated, cross-border planning with effective cost-sharing, focusing on interconnectors and distribution grids. It prioritises digitalisation, flexibility and efficient use of existing assets, while increasing visibility of manufacturing supply needs. An EIB “grids manufacturing package” (≈€1.5 bn) will underpin EU component capacity, and an “Energy Highways” effort will tackle critical bottlenecks. Together, the measures unlock renewables and storage, strengthen security of supply, and support electrification at least cost. - [European Tech Sovereignty / Open-Source Strategy]() — status: delivered. The EU Open Source Strategy positions open source as a component of European technological sovereignty, especially for public administrations. It seeks to reduce dependency on single vendors and lock-in, while making digital assets easier to discover, reuse and maintain. Planned work includes procurement guidance, operational guidance for open assets, support for open-source bodies and networks, collaboration on key shared assets, and common repository security baselines. - [RESourceEU Action Plan]() — status: delivered. RESourceEU is intended to reduce critical-raw-material supply risks through finance, faster permitting, recycling, diversification and international partnerships. A CRM financing hub aims to mobilise EUR 3 billion within 12 months, while Horizon Europe calls of EUR 593 million and EUR 100 million of blended European Innovation Council finance support its objectives. The plan also backs projects in Greenland and Germany, raw-material matchmaking, stockpiling, export-scrap measures, foreign-investment controls and standards-based markets. - [Smart Meter Regulation]() — status: forthcoming. EU requirements for smart meters are intended to give consumers timely access to consumption data and dynamic electricity-price contracts, while helping networks manage changing supply and demand. The Commission has established interoperability requirements and procedures for non-discriminatory, transparent data access to support customer switching, retail competition and consumer choice. Smart meters also give network operators better information for investment planning and infrastructure management. - [Strategic Roadmap for Digitalisation and AI in the Energy Sector]() — status: delivered. The roadmap would connect digitalisation and AI with energy-system performance, data-centre integration and security. It proposes a model tripartite agreement for data centres, an EU rating scheme, smart-grid indicators, greater smart-meter coverage and AI models for grid management and permitting. It also envisages a framework for cross-border energy-data exchange, risk assessment for solar installations, an Energy Digitalisation Forum, a Fuel Observatory and a Better Energy Data initiative. - [Vision for the European Space Economy]() — status: delivered. Vision for the European Space Economy proposes common technical standards, more coordinated single-market procedures and assistance for operators complying with EU rules. Delivered through the EU Space Act, measures include support for space-traffic-management services, mutual recognition of rules with third countries and strengthened space research and innovation. A long-term plan addresses multi-source supply for 47 identified critical space technologies, alongside updated roadmaps intended to strengthen the security and resilience of EU satellite and space infrastructure. - [Competitiveness Coordination Tool (CCT)]() — status: not recorded. The Competitiveness Coordination Tool joins the EU, Member States and industry to deploy major investment projects and pursue reforms supporting strategic value chains. Current projects range from AI Gigafactories and clean-transport corridors to batteries, energy connections, chemicals, med-biotech, bio-based materials, offsite construction, circularity hubs and advanced chips. Examples include €20 billion being mobilised for AI Gigafactories and €10 million of initial EU funding for the European Med-Biotech Accelerator. The Tool is testing a new way to coordinate investment across Member States. - [Definition of Innovative Enterprises, Startups and Scaleups]() — status: delivered. The Commission will propose a harmonised EU definition of startups, scaleups and innovative companies, building on existing SME and new small-mid cap (SMC) categories to ensure coherence across policies and datasets. This closes today’s patchwork of national and programme-specific definitions that hinders measurement and targeted support. The common taxonomy will underpin a European Startup & Scaleup Scoreboard and KPIs, enable tailored financing and simplification measures, and align eligibility across EU instruments and Member State schemes. It complements the Single Market Strategy’s formal SMC definition so high-growth companies can benefit from rules as they scale across borders. - [EU Antitrust Procedural Rules Reform]() — status: forthcoming. The Commission will revise Regulation (EU) 1/2003 and its implementing act to make antitrust enforcement faster, digital-ready, coherent. Options include stand-alone data-preservation orders; inspection powers covering all business records regardless of storage; the ability to summon individuals; streamlined interim measures and time-bound commitment proceedings; and a modernised access-to-file regime via confidentiality-bound external advisors. The review may harmonise complainant and third-party participation and strengthen coordination where Member States use stricter unilateral-conduct laws, safeguarding single-market consistency. The initiative seeks effective application of Articles 101/102 while reducing administrative burden, incorporating case law, and clarifying rules. - [European Competitiveness Fund (ECF)]() — status: in progress. The EU’s investment engine for 2028–2034 will consolidate 14 programmes under a single rulebook and access point to back projects from research to scale-up, deployment and manufacturing. It will operate through four policy windows—clean transition, digital leadership, health/biotech/bioeconomy, and resilience/security/defence/space—and mobilise the full EU financial toolbox, including an ECF InvestEU instrument, alongside project advisory and SME services. The Fund’s indicative envelope is €234.3 billion, with Horizon Europe tightly connected for a seamless journey from idea to market. Overall, the ECF de-risks private capital, cuts fragmentation, and accelerates high-impact investments with EU value added. - [European Innovation Investment Pact]() — status: forthcoming. The Pact will mobilise long-term institutional capital for Europe’s most innovative companies and funds. In coordination with the EIB Group, the Commission will convene pension funds, insurers and other asset owners to make voluntary allocations to EU funds-of-funds, venture capital vehicles and direct investments in unlisted scaleups. Commitments will be benchmarked, transparent and aligned with strategic technologies, complementing InvestEU, the EIC and the Scale-Up Europe Fund. The Pact will drive pan-European deployment, crowd-in private capital through de-risking structures, and deepen capital markets by expanding late-stage equity supply and patient growth finance. - [European VC Funds Regulation Reform]() — status: forthcoming. The Commission is preparing a review of the European Venture Capital Funds (EuVECA) Regulation as part of its savings and investments union strategy, with adoption envisaged later in 2026. In January 2026 it opened two consultations, a targeted one for fund managers, businesses, investors and public authorities and a public one, seeking feedback on the obstacles faced by EU venture and growth capital funds and on possible measures to address them. Both consultations remained open until 12 March 2026. The Commission says it is also considering a possible broader policy initiative beyond the EuVECA framework, which would cover a wider range of venture and growth capital fund managers. It says the feedback will inform its policy work on venture and growth capital funds, which it links to the savings and investments union and to the EU startup and scaleup strategy. - [General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) Review]() — status: forthcoming. The Commission will overhaul the GBER to cut red tape and streamline compatibility conditions while preserving a level playing field. The review fixes textual inconsistencies, updates definitions, and reflects new priorities (i.e. social-economy finance, training/employment aid, and SGEI/affordable housing) to ease use by SMEs, start-ups and granting authorities. It will reduce notifications, improve readability, and give Member States more design flexibility, with transparency and monitoring maintained. As the current GBER expires end-2026, the revision will also prolong its application. - [Industrial Accelerator Act]() — status: in progress. This Act will accelerate industrial decarbonisation by clearing permitting bottlenecks, strengthening clean-product demand and de-risking investment. It streamlines access to energy and infrastructure (i.e. building on NZIA, TEN-E and the emergency permitting toolbox) through acceleration areas, one-stop shops and, where allowed, tacit approvals, while maintaining environmental safeguards. It introduces resilience and sustainability criteria (clean, circular, cybersecure) across EU/national programmes and procurement, and pilots a simple carbon-intensity label—starting with steel in 2025, followed by cement—to unlock targeted incentives and enable international alignment. Coupled with the Clean Industrial Deal and related affordability measures, it aims to lower costs, shorten lead times and scale EU clean manufacturing, with a legislative proposal. - [InvestEU Amendment (Omnibus II)]() — status: not recorded. Lifts the EU guarantee by EUR 2.5 billion, provisioned from EFSI surpluses and reflows, to mobilise EUR 25 billion. It is paired with extended combinations of legacy instruments and targets EUR 50 billion additional investment in this MFF. It adds an InvestEU financial instrument under the Member State compartment, enabling funded equity and deployment in non-euro currencies, and encourages swift national transfers. Simplifications reduce reporting and adjust SME rules, delivering EUR 350 million in cost savings. The extra capacity will back higher-risk equity, debt and guarantees for Clean Industrial Deal priorities (i.e. clean-tech manufacturing, grids and energy infrastructure, clean mobility, and recycling) including a Clean Tech Guarantee Facility via the EIB Group. - [Lab to Unicorn Package]() — status: not recorded. The Lab to Unicorn Initiative will turn Europe’s scientific excellence into scaled companies. From 2026, the Commission will back a network of leading university-rooted startup and scale-up hubs to collaborate across borders, opening shared access to services, infrastructures and corporate demand. A common blueprint will standardise licensing, royalty/revenue-sharing and equity models for universities and inventors, while capacity-building strengthens technology-transfer offices and embeds venture-builder roles in research organisations and universities. The Initiative will issue guidance on State-aid and IP rules so public institutions can grant IP and infrastructure access lawfully. Together, these measures compress time-to-market and raise Europe’s scale-up success rate. - [Merger Guidelines Review]() — status: forthcoming. The Commission will modernise the Horizontal and Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines to reflect dynamic, innovation-driven competition and Europe’s strategic needs. The review will better weigh innovation, resilience, investment intensity in strategic sectors; recognise supply-chain security and scale economies where relevant; and clarify treatment of ecosystem and data-driven effects. The update will codify recent case law and practice, streamline evidence standards, and provide faster procedures, including clearer safe harbours and remedies guidance. While preserving a level playing field, the revised approach will align merger control with the competitiveness agenda, closing the innovation gap, enabling efficient European scale, and supporting decarbonisation. - [Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-34]() — status: not recorded. The Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028-2034 is the Commission's proposal for the next long-term EU budget, presented on 16 July 2025. The Commission proposes a budget of almost €2 trillion, or 1.26% of the average EU gross national income between 2028 and 2034. It says the budget would invest in people, EU countries and regions, drive prosperity through competitiveness, research and innovation, protect people and build preparedness and resilience, build partnerships for a stronger Europe in the world, and bring in new own resources. The Commission says the design includes more flexibility across the budget, national and regional partnership plans, and simpler, more streamlined and harmonised EU financial programmes. The framework will run for seven years and should come into force in January 2028. The proposal is being negotiated with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU before final adoption. - [New Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI)]() — status: ongoing. Important Projects of Common European Interest enable Member States to fund cross-border innovation and infrastructure projects with benefits for the Union, the internal market and society. They bring public and private sectors together on large-scale projects that address market or systemic failures and societal challenges. Member States define the scope, select participating companies and projects, and fund them from national budgets. The Commission provides guidance and assesses proposals, while the Joint European Forum supports discussion of possible future IPCEIs. - [Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines]() — status: not recorded. The Commission will recalibrate state-aid rules so viable startups and scaleups can access temporary support without being misclassified as “undertakings in difficulty.” The review will update static financial tests that penalise high-growth, R&D-intensive firms, clarify eligibility, and enable bridge financing, liquidity support or restructuring aid where appropriate. Safeguards against propping up non-viable firms will remain, with stronger proportionality, time-limits and burden-sharing. Clearer guidance for universities and research organisations complements the effort, reducing uncertainty when IP or infrastructure is involved. The reform removes unintended barriers to growth while preserving a level playing field. - [Savings and Investment Account (SIA)]() — status: not recorded. Savings and Investment Accounts are presented as a voluntary route for individuals to invest alongside everyday bank or savings accounts. They may hold shares, bonds or funds, use simple tax rules and offer tax benefits. The Commission encourages Member States to establish or improve these accounts, while regulated providers must operate within EU investor-protection rules and give clear, comprehensible product information. - [Savings and Investments Union (SIU)]() — status: in progress. The Savings and Investments Union programme seeks to increase retail participation, channel savings into productive investment and strengthen EU capital markets. It includes a blueprint and tax recommendation for savings and investment accounts, a financial-literacy strategy, pension measures and measures on institutional equity investment. Further work covers venture and growth capital, cross-border investment barriers, trading and post-trading rules, supervision, banking integration and a mid-term review. - [Scaleup Europe Fund]() — status: not recorded. A market-based, privately managed vehicle deployed via the EIC Fund to bridge Europe’s late-stage equity gap for deep-tech scaleups. It will mobilise substantial private capital and make direct equity investments in strategic sectors (i.e. AI, quantum, advanced semiconductors, biotech, clean tech, defence and space) reinforcing technological sovereignty and economic security. Operating without prejudice to the next MFF, the Fund will coordinate closely with InvestEU and complement the European Tech Champions Initiative (including ETCI 2.0), alongside EIB Group instruments. By tackling fragmented capital markets and financing needs with ticket sizes above €100 million, it will help Europe retain and scale its most promising companies. - [TechEU Investment Programme 2026]() — status: not recorded. The Commission, together with the EIB Group and private investors, will deploy TechEU to close Europe’s late-stage financing gap for disruptive innovators, using debt, equity and quasi-equity delivered directly and via financial intermediaries. It targets scale-ups in AI, clean tech, critical raw materials, energy storage, quantum, semiconductors, life sciences and neurotechnology, complementing InvestEU and the Clean Industrial Deal. TechEU will also support exit pathways and late-growth rounds, and anchor a deeper pan-European market through ETCI 2.0 to crowd-in institutional capital. The programme aims to build industrial capacity, de-risk strategic projects and mobilise significant private investment at scale. - [Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBER)]() — status: not recorded. The Commission is revising the TTBER and accompanying Guidelines to modernise EU rules for IP licensing and speed the diffusion of innovation. The draft updates clarify market-share safe harbours (including a longer grace period), address data licensing, strengthen soft safe-harbours for technology pools, and introduce guidance for licensing negotiation groups, alongside updated case-law on settlements and no-challenge clauses. The aim is greater legal certainty for pro-competitive collaboration (especially in data- and AI-intensive sectors) while safeguarding competition. - [2030 Roadmap on the Future of Digital Education and Skills]() — status: forthcoming. The roadmap will steer Europe’s digital education transformation, building on the review of the Digital Education Action Plan. It will promote equal access, build a digital education ecosystem, and forge partnerships with EU-based EdTech. An accompanying AI in Education initiative will set an AI literacy framework, support safe, ethical AI uptake in classrooms, and address online safety, wellbeing and misinformation. The Roadmap complements the Union of Skills and the STEM Plan, enlarging Europe’s AI-capable talent pool. The Digital Competence Framework will be updated by end-2025 to reflect emerging technologies. It will strengthen teacher capacity through targeted support and guidance. - [Action Plan on Basic Skills]() — status: delivered. The plan will lift literacy, numeracy, science, digital and citizenship skills, tackling underachievement. A Basic Skills Support Scheme will pilot interventions with EU funding, from early identification and tutoring to school-level improvement plans. A European Innovative School Award will recognise innovation and partnerships with businesses and local authorities. The Commission will pilot university–business partnerships via Erasmus+, Digital Europe and EIT to train for shortage sectors and co-develop micro-credentials. The plan will expand the European Alliance for Apprenticeships to 700 pledges and streamline the Pact for Skills (linking EU Skills Academies, CoVEs and European Universities) to double 25-million upskilling commitments. - [Digital Competence Framework (DigComp 3.0)]() — status: not recorded. DigComp 3.0 provides a common framework for identifying and describing the key areas of digital competence. Its use spans employment, education and digital-skills training across the EU, with adoption in at least 22 Member States and use as a basis or guide for 27 digital-skills certification schemes in 25 countries. The Joint Research Centre presented the new version in an online event for policymakers, employers, educators and researchers working on digital competence development. - [Digital Skills Academies]() — status: not recorded. The EU will deploy a targeted network of Skills Academies anchored by a flagship AI Skills Academy and complemented by a Quantum Skills Academy, a Cybersecurity Skills Academy (with an Industry–Academia network and cyber-campuses), and Net-Zero Industry Academies. Academies will offer one-stop training, apprenticeships and fellowships, returnships for women, and competitions. Building on Large-Scale Partnerships, a rollout will serve strategic sectors: defence, automotive, grids, wind, food, AI, quantum, virtual worlds and semiconductors. Coordinated under the Union of Skills and linked to the Clean Industrial Deal, the EIT will equip 1 million learners by 2028, with gender and mobility targets across Europe. - [EU Literacy Coalition]() — status: forthcoming. The EU Literacy Coalition is an initiative announced under the Union of Skills and the Action Plan on Basic Skills. The Commission says the Coalition will be established in autumn 2026. In preparation, the Commission held a conference on reading and literacy in Warsaw from 5 to 7 May, followed by a two half-day stakeholder workshop to lay the ground for the Coalition. The Commission presents the initiative as a joint approach across education and culture that brings together the cultural, creative, education and book sectors in response to declining literacy competences and reading habits. - [EU Teachers and Trainers Agenda]() — status: forthcoming. The Teachers and Trainers Agenda is an initiative within the Union of Skills aimed at tackling shortages, improving conditions and strengthening careers for educators. The wider strategy seeks to help people access quality jobs, help companies find talent and make skills portable across the EU. It includes action on basic skills, STEM, vocational education and training, upskilling, reskilling, skills intelligence and talent attraction. - [EU Visa Policy Strategy]() — status: delivered. EU Visa Policy Strategy sets out changes to make visa tools more responsive to readmission, security and border-management cooperation. In 2026, the Commission plans a new framework for visa-exemption assessments, a Visa Code revision and the launch of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System. The measures cover restrictive visa options, digitalised procedures, travel-document security, longer-validity multiple-entry visas, support for innovation talent, border-management IT and a proposed EU Visa Support Office within a revised Frontex mandate. - [European School Alliances]() — status: forthcoming. The programme will knit Europe’s education and innovation fabric into a single, high-performing network. Universities alliances will launch joint programmes (especially in AI, quantum, semiconductors, data and cybersecurity) under a European degree/label, backed by an EU legal status and an investment pathway that secures long-term cooperation, shared infrastructures, and partnerships with business and research. In schools, a 2026 pilot will create European School Alliances to boost pupil and teacher mobility, enable cross-border cooperation between schools and authorities, and serve as testbeds for pedagogy, curricula and competence frameworks. Alliances will help schools become learning organisations focused on mastering basic skills. - [European Skills High Level Board]() — status: not recorded. The Board will be the steering hub of the Union of Skills, chaired by the Commission and uniting business leaders, education and training providers, and social partners. It delivers cross-sector insight and guidance on skills issues, drawing on evidence from the European Skills Intelligence Observatory and aligning action with the competitiveness steering mechanism. It will support a new EU-27 Recommendation on human capital and inform country-specific recommendations, while taking into account the Digital Decade Board’s advice on digital basic skills. With a dynamic, agile set-up, the Board can convene stakeholders quickly and accelerate implementation across sectors. - [European Strategy for VET]() — status: forthcoming. The Strategy upgrades VET into a first-choice pathway for competitiveness, cohesion and generational renewal. It tackles skills shortages by modernising curricula with employers, expanding work-based learning, and boosting mobility and internationalisation (via Erasmus+ and a pilot European VET diploma/label in 2025–26). It raises excellence and inclusiveness, combats gender stereotypes, and sets a 2030 STEM target: at least 45% of initial medium-level VET enrolment, with one in four women. Centres of Vocational Excellence will scale transnational partnerships and drive national reforms, while recognition frameworks ease cross-border learning and careers, making VET as valued as higher education across the Union. - [Intergenerational Fairness Strategy]() — status: delivered. The Commission will present the first EU-wide strategy to embed long-term, intergenerational perspectives across policymaking. It will: (1) strengthen intergenerational democratic participation and scrutiny; (2) tackle cross-cutting challenges (i.e. climate, housing, fiscal sustainability, skills and lifelong learning) through an intergenerational lens; and (3) empower all ages, combating ageism and protecting children’s rights. The strategy is being co-created via a 2025 four-phase process and may include a monitoring tool for intergenerational fairness. It will align with the Union of Skills agenda and related education actions, ensuring no generation is left behind. It will propose metrics and mainstream youth participation. - [MSCA Choose Europe for Science]() — status: not recorded. Choose Europe will co-fund recruitment programmes that link MSCA grants to long-term positions, tackling precarity and drawing top researchers to Europe, including in AI. It sits within a wider talent-magnet approach: a new Visa Strategy to better use the Students & Researchers and Blue Card Directive, pilots of Multipurpose Legal Gateway Offices, and an EU Talent Pool plus a 2030 target to host at least 350,000 non-EU tertiary graduates annually. Complementary quantum actions include a European Quantum Talent Mobility Programme and a Pilot for Researchers-in-Residence in quantum startups. Together, this integrates R&I careers, mobility and immigration tools into one offer. - [Quality Jobs Act]() — status: forthcoming. Developed with EU social partners in 2025, the Quality Jobs Roadmap will set a coherent EU strategy to raise job quality alongside competitiveness. It will back fair wages, high health-and-safety standards, decent working conditions, work-life balance, gender equality and wider collective bargaining; strengthen enforcement of work-related rights; and support access to training and fair job-to-job transitions, drawing on the European Pillar of Social Rights. It will align with the Competitiveness Compass, Union of Skills and the Clean Industrial Deal so decarbonisation creates attractive jobs and regional cohesion, and may announce targeted legislative and non-legislative actions with robust monitoring and evaluation. - [Recommendation on Human Capital]() — status: delivered. The Commission will introduce a recommendation on education and skills within the European Semester to anchor the Union of Skills in the competitiveness steering mechanism. It will be underpinned by the European Skills Intelligence Observatory and advised by a European Skills High-Level Board, ensuring timely, granular evidence and guidance. The recommendation will target structural reforms across the skills pipeline (i.e. basic education, VET, higher education and lifelong learning) linking them to labour-market needs. It will inform Council debates, the Joint Employment Report and country reports/CSRs, and promote whole-of-government coordination across education, employment and economic portfolios, nationally. - [Skills Portability Initiative (SPI)]() — status: forthcoming. The initiative will remove barriers to cross-border work by making skills and qualifications usable across the Single Market. It will consider a legislative proposal to ease mobility and promote common EU formats for interoperable digital credentials, building on EQF, Europass and ESCO. Recognition in regulated professions will be expanded and modernised using digital tools, while simpler common rules will be explored to recognise third-country nationals’ skills. In parallel, the EU will develop a framework for automatic recognition of qualifications and learning periods in school, VET and higher education, and examine accession to the Lisbon Recognition Convention. - [STEM Education Strategic Plan]() — status: delivered. The EU will reverse declining STEM performance and close talent gaps by 2030 through enrolment targets (45% of initial VET in STEM, 32% tertiary, and 5% ICT PhDs) with gender goals (≥25% women in VET, 40% tertiary, 33% ICT PhDs). It will modernise curricula via a STEM competence framework, pilot STEM education centres, and launch Advanced Digital Skills Competitions. Universities and Centres of Vocational Excellence will offer joint programmes and micro-credentials aligned with industry, moving toward a European degree for engineers. A Teachers & Trainers Agenda and actions under the Union of Skills will boost capacity and attractiveness. - [Union of Skills]() — status: delivered. Union of Skills measures span basic education, digital learning, science and technology education, vocational training, higher education and labour-market mobility. The programme lists action on basic skills, a Skills Guarantee, skills academies, university-business partnerships, portability and recognition of qualifications, a European degree or label, and talent attraction. Its timetable includes pilots, strategies, frameworks and legal arrangements. - [Action Plan against Cyberbullying]() — status: delivered. The Commission will present a comprehensive EU approach to prevent, detect and respond to cyberbullying, with a primary focus on minors and youth. It will set a common EU definition, promote national strategies and focal points (e.g. trusted flaggers), and prioritise vulnerable groups including girls and women, LGBTIQ youth, migrants and persons with disabilities. Actions span prevention and digital well-being, safer product design, streamlined reporting and takedown (scaling good practices like France’s App 3018), victim support, and proportionate responses to perpetrators. Delivery will leverage and enforce the DSA, BIK+ and victims/VAW directives, with progress monitored through Safer Internet Centres, BIK policy reports and DSA enforcement. - [AVMSD Revision]() — status: forthcoming. The Commission will run the AVMSD ex-post evaluation under Article 33 by 19 December 2026, followed, where appropriate, by proposals to review the Directive. Council conclusions (May 2025) suggested key reform priorities: clarify scope (incl. influencers/professional creators), ensure coherent interplay with DSA/EMFA, strengthen protection of minors and rules for VSPs, safeguard prominence/access to general-interest content and major events, and improve cross-border enforcement through the new European Board for Media Services. The exercise should keep the Single Market as the anchor (country-of-origin), avoid overlapping obligations, and de-risk regulatory fragmentation via clear definitions and digital-by-default, once-only procedures. - [Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation (CPCR) Reform]() — status: forthcoming. The Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation provides a framework for national authorities to work together on cross-border breaches of consumer rules. The authorities can seek information from domain registrars and banks, use mystery shopping, and order the immediate removal of websites hosting scams. The Commission coordinates cooperation and can coordinate EU-wide action, while authorities may accept business commitments to correct practices and provide remedies and compensation. - [Cybersecurity Act 2 & Simplification Package]() — status: in progress. Cybersecurity Act 2 would repeal the current Cybersecurity Act and reform ENISA, the European cybersecurity certification framework and ICT supply-chain security rules. The proposal aims to strengthen EU cyber capabilities and resilience, improve coordinated governance, speed certification schemes and reduce fragmented compliance requirements. It would provide a harmonised framework for non-technical ICT supply-chain risks, including measures addressing high-risk suppliers, while a related directive would simplify scope, definitions, ransomware reporting and supervision of cross-border service providers. - [Digital Fairness Act (DFA)]() — status: forthcoming. Based on a fitness check of EU consumer law in 2024, the Commission plans to propose a Digital Fairness Act that curbs manipulative design (“dark patterns”), addictive features and subscription traps; clarifies rules for influencer and AI-driven marketing; strengthens protections for minors; and streamlines information duties so consumers face less overload and can cancel easily. Options include amending the Unfair Commercial Practices and Consumer Rights directives or proposing a new regulation, ensuring coherence with the DSA, DMA and the AI Act. It will drive harmonised, high-impact enforcement with clear duties for platforms and advertisers, easy redress for consumers, and deterrent penalties. - [E-commerce Toolbox]() — status: delivered. The E-commerce Toolbox combines customs, product-safety, consumer, digital and market-surveillance measures for online retail. It calls for progress on customs reform and proposes controls on imports shipped directly to consumers, coordinated enforcement and safety actions. The Commission also plans action on product passports, interoperable enforcement databases, web crawlers, marketplace cooperation, consumer awareness, professional training, cooperation with countries of origin and investigation of possible dumping or illegal subsidisation. - [Energy Labelling Omnibus]() — status: in progress. On 24 June 2026 the Commission proposed a regulation simplifying the EU rules on energy labelling and tyre labelling, one of its omnibus simplification packages. The Commission says the simplified rules will make requirements easier for suppliers and retailers of home appliances, electronic devices and tyres, while ensuring that consumers still receive the information they need when buying a product. The proposal keeps the energy labelling framework, which the Commission says has proven effective in reducing energy use, and streamlines the rules to make them easier to apply, cut costs and facilitate enforcement. It widens digital options, such as electronic shelf displays, a QR code in related documentation or on the product, and displaying the label as part of the contractual offer. The Commission estimates administrative savings of up to €125 million annually over the next 10 years. Some newer labels, including those for smartphones, will also give information on durability and repairability. - [EU Action Plan on Online Fraud]() — status: forthcoming. The EU Action Plan on Online Fraud is a forthcoming Commission initiative announced in the 2030 Consumer Agenda and action plan for consumers in the single market, adopted on 19 November 2025. The Commission says online fraud schemes are among the fastest growing crimes online and are causing significant harm to consumers. To strengthen the ability to combat online fraud in the EU, it will publish an action plan on online fraud. Its goals will include boosting prevention measures, making law enforcement action more effective and strengthening support for fraud victims in recovering their funds. The Consumer Agenda does not give a date for the action plan's publication. - [EU Digital Travel Application]() — status: in progress. The EU Digital Travel application would let travellers create a digital travel credential and submit travel data for checks before reaching an external border. The proposal aims to reduce bottlenecks while helping border authorities verify documents, identity and security risks in advance. It provides for single or repeated use, secure validation against the travel document's chip and possible storage in the European Digital Identity Wallet. - [European Business Wallet]() — status: in progress. It will provide a legally recognised digital identity for economic operators, enabling companies to share verified data and credentials across borders and receive notifications in a secure channel. Built on BRIS and the European Unique Identifier, and aligned with the EU Digital Identity Wallet rollout and the Once-Only Technical System, it replaces document-heavy compliance with interoperable, data-based exchanges. The Wallet is a cornerstone of the Single Market simplification agenda and the EU Startup & Scaleup Strategy, lowering costs for SMEs, easing licensing and reporting, and making cross-border operations seamless, turning digital-by-default rules into practice across the EU business lifecycle. - [European Product Act (EPA)]() — status: forthcoming. The European Product Act would update three parts of EU product law: the new legislative framework of product rules, market surveillance and compliance, and standardisation. The Commission work programme 2026 schedules the legislative measures for Q3 2026. It cites Article 114 TFEU for the framework and standardisation updates, and Articles 33 and 114 TFEU for market surveillance and compliance. - [MDR/IVDR Reform]() — status: in progress. The MDR/IVDR reform proposal seeks a leaner, less costly framework for medical devices and in vitro diagnostic devices while retaining a high level of patient health protection. It would improve oversight and coordination of notified bodies, widen the expertise and advisory role of expert panels, and provide further support through the European Medicines Agency. The proposal also aims to improve the single market and reduce risks of device shortages. - [Multimodal Digital Mobility Services]() — status: in progress. The proposed Regulation on multimodal booking aims to make it easier for travellers to search for, compare, combine and book travel options across transport modes. It would set common requirements for multimodal digital mobility services, including neutral display and ranking, marketing-information data, emissions information and certain data sharing. The proposal excludes SMEs from its scope, repeals the computerised-reservation-systems code of conduct, and provides for national enforcement, complaints, penalties, monitoring and reporting. - [One Europe, One Market Roadmap]() — status: delivered. The Commission will set milestones to finish the Single Market where it matters most (i.e. capital, services, energy and telecoms) while advancing a 28th regime and a ‘fifth freedom’ for knowledge and innovation. The roadmap will tackle the “Terrible Ten” barriers, codify digital-by-default procedures, and use the Competitiveness Coordination Tool to align national reforms and EU investment. A delivery scoreboard will track progress, backed by faster infringement action and “once-only” data sharing for firms. Measures include deepening the Capital Markets/Savings & Investment Union, grid and interconnector build-out, the Digital Networks Act, and service-sector opening, turning commitments into measurable outcomes. - [A Simpler, Clearer and Better Enforced EU Rulebook]() — status: delivered. The Commission's communication seeks to make EU law easier to design, implement and enforce, with a strategic focus on the single market. It introduces simplicity by design, more focused impact assessments, clearer access to legislation, realistic implementation deadlines and digital drafting and acquis-management tools. It also calls for enforcement to be considered in legal design and accompanies these measures with an Action Plan for Regulatory Deep Cleaning. - [Administrative Burden Reduction Targets of 25/35%]() — status: ongoing. The Commission will deliver quantified, mandate-wide cuts to red tape: at least 25% for all firms and 35% for SMEs, applied to all administrative costs, not only reporting. Using Eurostat’s €150 billion estimate of recurring administrative costs (2022), this implies €37.5 billion in annual savings by end-mandate. Progress will be tracked in yearly enforcement and implementation reports, with dedicated SME measures and avoidance of national “gold-plating”. The drive complements “one-in, one-out” and will be executed via prioritised simplification packages and Omnibus proposals, while co-legislators preserve savings in negotiations and Member States streamline transposition and application. - [Annual Enforcement and Implementation Progress Reports]() — status: ongoing. Annual Enforcement and Implementation Progress Reports provide the Council and European Parliament with updates on simplification, implementation and enforcement within each Commissioner's area of responsibility. The 2025 Annual Progress Reports cover 1st January to 31 July 2025. They address simplification and stress testing, implementation support, enforcement, progress made and concrete next steps across the Commission's portfolios. - [Better Regulation Guidelines Update]() — status: forthcoming. Just like the EU’s rules, its better regulation framework must be simplified to enable a simpler and faster Europe. The Commission will therefore apply a more rigorous and structured application of the proportionality principle in better regulation and put forward a communication to that effect in the first half of 2026. - [Digital Fitness Check]() — status: forthcoming. The Commission will stress-test the EU’s digital rulebook to cut costs, remove overlaps and improve coherence, with results due in Q4 2025. It will assess cumulative burdens on businesses across data legislation, cookies and tracking, cybersecurity incident reporting, AI Act implementation, and the European Digital Identity framework, feeding simplification proposals. The exercise will complement the Digital Omnibus and examine cross-border fragmentation and costs, without lowering protections. Each Commissioner will review laws in remit under the steer of the Commissioner for Implementation and Simplification, drawing on “reality checks” with practitioners to ground changes in practice. - [EU Treaty Change]() — status: ongoing. To equip a larger, more contested Union, the Commission will pursue institutional reforms, up to targeted Treaty changes where they clearly improve capacity to act and democratic accountability. It couples faster, simpler law-making with rigorous implementation: stress-testing the acquis, reducing administrative burdens, and renewing an interinstitutional pact on better lawmaking. Each Commissioner will hold biannual implementation dialogues and publish annual progress reports, while enforcement against Single Market fragmentation is stepped up. The objective is a Union that legislates less and delivers more so Europe can decide and act at the speed today’s challenges demand. - [European Commissioner for Implementation and Simplification]() — status: not recorded. The Commissioner will lead a whole-of-Commission drive to make EU rules simpler, faster and better enforced. The agenda prioritises early implementation strategies with Member States, hands-on “reality checks” with practitioners, and twice-yearly implementation dialogues in every portfolio feeding annual progress reports and resolute enforcement against fragmentation and gold-plating. New quantified targets will cut recurring administrative costs by at least 25% (35% for SMEs), underpinned by omnibus simplification packages, streamlined permitting, and digital-by-default delivery. A rolling stress-test of the entire acquis will consolidate and clarify rules; reinforced SME/competitiveness checks, proportionate use of delegated/implementing acts, and digital tools (such as a European Business Wallet and once-only interoperability) will lower costs and speed compliance. - [Greater Focus on the Subsidiarity and Proportionality Principles]() — status: ongoing. This measure is part of the Commission communication A Simpler, Clearer and Better Enforced EU Rulebook, adopted on 28 April 2026, under the heading of regulatory discipline. The Commission says that regulatory discipline is a means to ensure that the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality are applied consistently in EU law, so that the Union can focus its efforts and resources on areas where EU-level action is necessary, brings the most added value and is proportionate. It says the same discipline must apply when laying down implementing rules, to prevent EU legislation from becoming too long, complex and costly. In upcoming legislative proposals the Commission will seek to propose only well-designed empowerments for delegated and implementing acts which are strictly necessary to implement and enforce EU rules or international obligations. It calls on the European Parliament and the Council to apply the same discipline throughout the legislative process. - [Implementation Strategies and Dialogues for all Laws]() — status: ongoing. For every major EU law, the Commission will prepare a structured implementation strategy that maps legal, administrative and practical challenges, sets timelines, and defines targeted support. These strategies will use explanatory templates and national transposition roadmaps, track progress, and flag “gold plating” that fragments the Single Market. Delivery will be backed by expert-group peer support and EU agencies, plus investments in administrative capacity, digital tools and data (e.g. TSI, ComPAct, IMI, Single Digital Gateway). The Commission will hold twice-yearly implementation dialogues with stakeholders and publish annual progress reports to surface hurdles and simplification opportunities. Hands-on “reality checks” with practitioners will verify costs and fix bottlenecks early; where dialogue fails, swift infringement action will follow. - [Innovation Stress Test for Member States]() — status: forthcoming. The proposed innovation stress test would examine legislation while it is being prepared or revised, with the aim of making the regulatory framework more innovation-friendly. It forms part of the planned European Innovation Act, which seeks cross-sectoral conditions for bringing innovative ideas to market. The Act is intended to address commercialisation, collaboration, market access, finance, talent, infrastructure, procurement, regulatory sandboxes and coordination of national and EU policies. - [Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Lawmaking Update]() — status: forthcoming. The Commission will seek a renewed agreement with Parliament and Council to embed simplification and implementation across the full legislative cycle. It will align subsidiarity/proportionality checks, apply a shared methodology to estimate the costs of significant amendments, and integrate SME/competitiveness tests up front. Co-legislators will commit to fast-tracking simplification packages, limiting gold-plating and streamlining empowerments for delegated/implementing acts. Annual progress reporting will create accountability on enforcement and burden-reduction targets, while “digital-by-default/once-only” delivery and interoperability requirements are designed in from the start. Together, the institutions will stress-test the acquis to cut administrative costs without lowering standards. - [Methodology for the Co-Legislators’ Amendment Assessment]() — status: forthcoming. In its communication A Simpler, Clearer and Better Enforced EU Rulebook, adopted on 28 April 2026, the Commission proposes a common methodology so that the European Parliament and the Council each assess the substantial amendments they make to Commission proposals. The Commission says that in practice the institutions proposing such amendments do not assess their impact, despite their commitment to do so, and that this leaves the analysis of a law's expected impacts incomplete. It proposes three strands of joint work. First, the institutions should reach a shared understanding of what constitutes a substantial amendment, for example extending a proposal's scope to micro-companies or SMEs or adding compliance costs or reporting requirements. Second, the institution tabling such an amendment would assess its impacts and quantify costs or savings using a simple cost calculation method, with the standard cost model for administrative costs. Third, the impacts would be presented in a concise template covering expected costs and benefits, affected stakeholders, and effects on competitiveness and innovation. - [More strategic Enforcement against Non-Implementation and unlawful Gold-Plating]() — status: ongoing. This measure forms part of the Commission communication A Simpler, Clearer and Better Enforced EU Rulebook, adopted on 28 April 2026. The Commission defines gold-plating as a Member State introducing, when transposing or implementing EU law, a wider scope, stricter rules or obligations that go beyond the EU legal act. It says it will work with Member States on a toolkit of best practices and criteria to identify and avoid gold-plating, support them during transposition of directives, use implementation dialogues, reality checks and the European Semester to detect gold-plating, and take the risk into account when drafting proposals. On non-implementation, the Commission notes that in 2025 almost 70% of new infringement procedures stemmed from late transposition. Where a Member State notifies no transposition measure, it will as a rule issue a reasoned opinion within six months of the letter of formal notice, and it will be systematically more stringent in calculating the penalties it proposes to the Court. - [Reality Checks]() — status: ongoing. Reality Checks are hands-on diagnostics that bring Commission services to practitioners to test whether EU rules work in real life. Through targeted technical exchanges, teams identify hurdles in authorisations, permitting, control and compliance, capture good practices, and map where national transposition or “gold-plating” adds cost or fragmentation. Findings verify the assumptions behind legislation, quantify burdens and expected savings, and assess if planned simplifications are realistic. Results feed directly into evaluations and fitness checks, the gradual stress-test of the acquis, and the design of future simplification packages, ensuring evidence-based fixes and quicker, cheaper compliance without lowering standards. - [Regulatory Deep Cleaning Action Plan]() — status: not recorded. The Regulatory Deep Cleaning Action Plan aims to address inconsistencies, outdated, overlapping and redundant provisions, as well as overly complex rules that may hinder competitiveness and innovation. The Commission identifies priority areas including goods and services, financial services, customs, taxation, health and food safety, agriculture, transport, energy, climate, environment, digital matters, housing and permitting. It accompanies wider measures on simpler lawmaking and stronger implementation and enforcement. - [Simplification Platform (High-Level Expert Group)]() — status: not recorded. Simplification Platform will advise the Commission on reducing unnecessary burdens and modernising EU law across national, regional and local application. It will examine gold-plating that can fragment the single market, encourage coordination on simplification, consider digital solutions to reduce red tape, particularly for SMEs, and assess legislative complexity and density. The Platform comprises individual experts, Member States, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee, supporting the Better Regulation agenda. - [Stronger Scrutiny of Delegated and Implementing acts]() — status: ongoing. Delegated and implementing acts allow the Commission, and exceptionally the Council for implementing acts, to update EU law or secure uniform implementation. Implementing acts normally involve a committee representing every EU country and public feedback on draft texts. Delegated acts cannot change essential elements of a law; Parliament and Council may revoke the delegation or object, after public feedback and expert consultation. - [Well-timed evaluation clauses and the use of sunset clauses]() — status: ongoing. This measure is part of the Commission communication A Simpler, Clearer and Better Enforced EU Rulebook, adopted on 28 April 2026, in the section on future-proof and adaptive regulation. The Commission says EU and national rules must leave room to adapt to rapid technological and geopolitical change, and that it will ensure rules are re-examined and updated where necessary. It says it will use sunset clauses where appropriate so that laws lapse on a specified future date. Used together with well-timed monitoring and evaluation clauses, the Commission says, sunset clauses can help prevent the unnecessary proliferation of rules and reporting requirements and ensure that laws that are no longer relevant do not linger on the statute books. It adds that the language used for sunset, monitoring and evaluation clauses will be standardised and harmonised. The communication gives no implementation date for this measure. --- [Reading guide and interpretation notes]() · [Methodology]()