On June 9, the European Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on several new laws as part of the Omnibus IV reform package, aimed at simplifying administrative procedures, promoting business growth, and accelerating the digital transformation across the European Union (EU).
The agreement focuses on two main axes: establishing a legal framework for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and widening the application of digital regulations in the management of the EU’s single market.
Speaking after the conclusion of an agreement in her capacity as rotating President of the Council of the European Union (EU), Cyprus’s Deputy Minister for European Affairs, Marilena Raouna, said that this was a concrete step in efforts to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness.
According to Raouna, the new measures will continue to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but will also extend to growing and expanding businesses. It is expected to create a more favorable environment for innovation, job creation, and reduced operating costs for enterprises.
One notable aspect of this agreement is the promotion of the principle of the “digital standard” in the application of law and administrative management. As a result, many regulations currently drafted on paper will be converted to electronic format.
The new legal framework should enable the digitization of documents such as EU declarations of conformity, the information-exchange processes between the regulatory bodies of member states and businesses, as well as the expansion of the possibility to provide product user manuals in digital format instead of printed documents.
However, the EU still requires written information in cases directly related to consumer safety or presenting a serious risk to health and users’ rights.
Beyond digital transformation, the agreement also broadens the scope of support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a group considered to play a crucial role in the European economy.
According to EU figures, companies in this group currently create about 6% of total employment in the bloc and are concentrated in many strategic sectors such as electronics, aerospace, defense, energy, energy-intensive industries and health .
It should be noted that the co-legislators broadened the SME definition to be wider than the European Commission’s initial proposal (EC).
