The European Commission on Wednesday proposed changes to its environmental regulations to ease the bureaucratic burden on businesses.

The commission hopes that the proposed amendments to six existing laws could cost companies around €1 billion ($1.16 billion) annually.

“This legislative simplification provides a careful balance, facilitating businesses to operate more efficiently while preserving our core environmental and health goals,” said EU Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera.

Environmental impact assessments for permits are to be simplified and accelerated.

The commission said digitalisation is intended to speed up environmental audits while simultaneously ensuring access to analyses and their processing into reusable data.

Additionally, companies will have more flexibility in implementing environmental regulations under the plans.

Certain reports will no longer be mandatory, and farmers and aquaculture companies will be exempt from certain reporting obligations.

Businesses in the battery, packaging, electronics, single-use plastics, and waste sectors will no longer be required to appoint a separate representative for waste or recycling obligations in each EU country, aiming to save both time and money.

The proposals to simplify the EU’s own environmental regulations must now be discussed and approved by the member states and the European Parliament before they can enter into force.

Wednesday’s proposals are part of a wider effort to cut red tape in the EU and to improve Europe’s competitiveness.

Earlier this week, an agreement was reached to weaken the EU’s supply chain law designed to protect human rights, which will only apply to a few large companies.

(dpa/NAN)