Long-awaited simplification proposals on the table in Brussels - important for the tech industry and a success for TechSverige 

For a long time, reforms to EU digital legislation were difficult to achieve. Rules such as GDPR and the AI Regulation were defended tooth and nail. For a long time, however, TechSverige - together with the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, other business actors and our European partners - has pushed for the rules to be more appropriate and easier to apply in practice. Therefore, it is now very welcome that the European Commission finally comes up with regulatory simplification proposals in the digital sector in a so-called omnibus proposal with changes to several legislations.  

The proposals are also in line with several of TechSweden's proposals in our report from spring 2024 A tech agenda for the EU on regulatory simplification, readiness to adapt the AI regulation and make it easier to manage the security regulations. We also know that the government and some Swedish MEPs have been driving these issues, and it has been very important and produced results. 

In the Digital Omnibus, the Commission identifies three key areas for simplification 

These are areas of concern. Regulatory compliance costs rose by 12% last year for European businesses, according to Digitaleurope - and half of the organization's tech company members are consequently trying to grow outside the EU. Sweden is one of the countries with the most to gain from making regulatory simplification a reality. 

The Swedish labor market has the highest share of IT specialists in the EU. Sweden has more than twice as many data provider companies per inhabitant as the EU average. In Finland and Sweden, around 72% of companies buy cloud services - 26 percentage points higher than the EU average. So far, smaller and more digitized Member States have been hit harder by the big wave of data and digital regulation in recent years. During the last Commission's mandate alone, there were almost two regulatory proposals a month related to digital, totalling 116 regulatory packages.  

The Commission has now put its proposals on the table. The political process in Brussels is far from predictable and it is therefore important to create clarity. Uncertainty and regulatory gray areas also hamper development. It will require deep and sustained commitment from the Swedish government, Swedish MEPs and many of us to protect Swedish interests. The government must roll up its sleeves. Really. There must also be resources at the Swedish representation in Brussels to pursue Swedish issues and build alliances with other Member States in the negotiations. There is a lot at stake. For the EU, for Sweden and for the tech industry.

Åsa Zetterberg, CEO TechSverige