Europe set to simplify corporate regulation, EU's digital chief says

By Essi Lehto

HELSINKI (Reuters) -The European Commission will propose at least five sets of legislation this year to spur investment and simplify regulation on companies, including in the field of artificial intelligence, the European Union's digital chief said on Thursday.

The executive Commission is under pressure from EU member countries such as France to ease regulations, and also faces challenges from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

A draft European Commission paper reported by Reuters last month showed AI, biotech and affordable clean energy were areas of focus as EU policymakers seek to make the bloc globally competitive.

"I personally think that we have too much of a heavy administrative burden and bureaucracy," European Commission Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen said on Thursday.

"That is why the Commission will this year present at least five legislative simplification packages, which will cut down on the extra bureaucracy, above all in order to promote investment and innovation in Europe," she told reporters in Helsinki.

Virkkunen last month said the European Union continues to enforce its big tech regulation despite some U.S. companies calling on Trump to stop the bloc from fining them.

One of the five packages, expected to be introduced late this year, would address overlap between the EU's artificial intelligence act, the digital services act, the digital marketing act and the union's general data protection regulation, Virkkunen said.

"But that does not mean that the goals of these legislations would not be enforced," she said.

She added the aim was to streamline legislation to make operating easier for companies because often the same companies have to make sure they comply with several different acts.

Other packages would be designed to ease regulation covering sustainability, small companies and agriculture, Virkkunen said.

(Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Terje Solsvik and Barbara Lewis)