Europe’s competitiveness depends on ambitious regulatory simplification – experts discuss at the EC Representation in Warsaw
Europe’s ability to remain competitive in the global digital economy will depend on how effectively it simplifies its regulatory framework. This was the key message from experts participating in the debate “Poland in Digital Europe – How to Simplify Regulation and Accelerate Growth”, organized by the Digital Poland Association in cooperation with the European Commission Representation in Warsaw.
Compliance with digital rules should ultimately give companies operating in Europe a competitive advantage. We have not yet reached that point, but a new regulatory approach and efforts to simplify the EU’s legal environment can help us get there, participants stressed during the meeting.
Experts from EU institutions and representatives of the private sector discussed how innovation-friendly regulation, a realistic assessment of the impact of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and stronger regional and international cooperation could translate into tangible growth impulses for Poland and the Central and Eastern European region, while strengthening the competitiveness of the entire European Union. The event provided an opportunity to confront current EU digital regulatory proposals with the business community’s expectations regarding simplification.
Digital Omnibus – a good start with room for greater ambition
The announcement of the Digital Omnibus initiative has raised high expectations among European companies and industry stakeholders. Representatives of the digital sector emphasized that the private sector strongly supports efforts to reduce administrative burdens, simplify the legal environment, and further harmonize the European digital rulebook.
According to experts participating in the discussion, the Digital Omnibus package presented by the European Commission represents a positive step, but further work will be necessary.
“The Digital Omnibus package presented by the European Commission is a step in the right direction, but in some areas, it lacks the level of ambition needed to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness. EU institutions should pay particular attention to realistic timelines for compliance with AI transparency requirements and obligations for high-risk systems, the browser-level consent mechanism – which may be harmful for the entire digital economy ecosystem – and the need for fully harmonized enforcement of GDPR rules for both personal and non-personal data within a single, coherent mechanism,” said Michał Kanownik, President of the Digital Poland Association.
Participants in the debate accompanying the keynote remarks also pointed to the ongoing challenge of so-called “gold-plating” in national implementations of EU law and the continued need for deeper legal harmonization across Member States.
“It is crucial that regulatory simplification proposals contribute to greater consistency of rules across the EU and that national authorities remain aware of how local modifications introduced during the implementation of EU legislation can affect the integrity of the Single Market,” participants noted during the discussion.
Avoiding negative impacts on SMEs
During the meeting, speakers highlighted that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often the most affected by the costs and complexities of adapting to a highly restrictive and fragmented regulatory environment. At the same time, SMEs could be among the primary beneficiaries of meaningful simplification of EU legislation.
Experts also examined the impact of the Digital Markets Act on European companies and the broader EU economy. Key findings from the report “Economic Impact of the Digital Markets Act on European Businesses and the European Economy” by LAMA Economic Research were presented by Maria Teresa Stecher, Senior Policy Manager at CCIA Europe.
“The negative effects of DMA provisions on commonly used digital platform services translate into measurable economic losses for businesses. According to the analysis, the DMA could lead to potential revenue losses of up to USD 114 billion for service-sector companies across the EU due to reduced efficiency of widely used digital platform services,” the CCIA Europe representative noted.
