The European Commission's Regulatory Scrutiny Board has issued a negative opinion on the impact assessment for the Omnibus to simplify energy product legislation, requiring the Commission to resubmit a revised version. The Board found that the impact assessment fails to establish a clear baseline, lacks a sufficiently justified problem definition, and provides an inadequate analysis of options, including a weak comparison of costs, benefits, and trade-offs. The assessment of impacts on SMEs, competitiveness, and simplification was also deemed insufficient. The document, dated 26 June 2026, concerns interinstitutional file 2026/0169 (COD). No new date for resubmission has been given.
The negative opinion is a procedural setback for the Commission's effort to streamline energy product rules under the broader simplification agenda. The Omnibus proposal, introduced as part of the Commission's competitiveness drive, aims to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses while maintaining environmental and consumer protections. The Board's criticism focuses on the lack of a robust evidence base, particularly regarding the baseline scenario against which options are measured. Without a clear baseline, the Board argued, it is impossible to assess whether the proposed simplifications would achieve their intended effects or create unintended consequences.
The Board also highlighted that the options analysis did not adequately compare the costs and benefits of different regulatory approaches, nor did it sufficiently consider trade-offs between simplification and other policy objectives such as energy efficiency or market integrity. The assessment of impacts on SMEs was deemed particularly weak, given that smaller firms are often most affected by regulatory complexity. The Board requested that the Commission address these shortcomings in a revised impact assessment before resubmitting it for approval.
This development delays the legislative process for the Omnibus, which was expected to be adopted by the Commission later this year. The negative opinion does not block the proposal outright but forces the Commission to invest additional time and resources into revising the impact assessment. The delay may affect the broader timeline for the simplification agenda, which includes several other omnibus proposals across different policy areas. Stakeholders, including business groups that have pushed for faster deregulation, may view the setback as a sign of the Commission's struggle to balance simplification with rigorous policy analysis. Environmental NGOs, on the other hand, may welcome the Board's insistence on thorough assessment, as they have raised concerns that simplification could weaken environmental protections. The Commission must now decide how quickly it can produce a revised impact assessment that meets the Board's standards, with no fixed deadline for resubmission.