Warsaw: The Anti-Gold-Plating Pact, a Commission initiative to stop member states from adding requirements on top of EU law, was put to national leaders on 12 October 2026 in a letter from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The letter follows her announcement in the September State of the Union address and arrives just before the European Council meets on 15 and 16 October.

Gold-plating means national rules that go beyond what an EU act demands once it is transposed or implemented. Von der Leyen’s premise is blunt: “A rule agreed at European level must not become more complex when transposed or implemented at national level.” The Anti-Gold-Plating Pact is meant to turn existing commitments into coordinated action at European and national level, because simplification in Brussels loses its value if capitals pile on obligations afterwards.

The Commission points to its own record first. It cites twelve Omnibus simplification packages and other measures with potential savings of €22.3 billion a year, along with proposals such as EU Inc. and the Public Procurement Act. Von der Leyen argues that member states must now share the effort so that burdens are not added at national level.

The first commitment concerns transposition. Under the Anti-Gold-Plating Pact, member states would declare and justify any additions beyond EU law and state their impact on businesses and the single market. The letter lists possible tools, including comply-or-explain approaches, public statements, systematic risk assessments and explicit political endorsement. The Commission, for its part, will favour regulations over directives, reduce national options that could fragment the single market, and provide guidelines and roadmaps for transposition.

The second commitment targets rules already on the books. The Anti-Gold-Plating Pact would add a review and removal mechanism within the European Semester that lets the Commission and member states identify priority areas where national requirements burden or hinder cross-border activity, and governments would commit to simplify or remove them. Targeted consultations would give businesses, particularly SMEs, a direct say. The results would feed into European Semester country reports and, where appropriate, country-specific recommendations, with annual reviews.

Enforcement stays in the background of the Anti-Gold-Plating Pact but is not absent. Where national requirements breach EU law, the Commission says it will act, including through infringement proceedings. Success will be measured by the amount of red tape cut and the time and money saved by businesses.

Work on the Anti-Gold-Plating Pact begins at this week’s European Council, and the declaration is due to be signed at a meeting before the end of 2026. Leaders now have to decide whether they will accept public scrutiny of their own national additions, which is the real test of the pact.