The European Commission’s 2027 Work Programme doubles down on competitiveness and deregulation. Among its flagship measures is a “Pact against gold-plating,” designed to stop Member States from adding “unnecessary” requirements when they implement EU law.
But what is goldplating?
Goldplating is not a legal category. It is a political label, a judgement about regulatory burden rather than legality. The same national measure can be perfectly lawful, such as stronger protections under a minimum harmonisation directive, or incompatible with EU law where harmonisation is maximum, and still be called goldplating either way.
Treating every national addition as a burden to remove ignores its legal basis and the protection it provides.
Legal, union, campaign and academic voices will address three questions:
- What is goldplating? How to distinguish transposition proper, extension and genuine over-implementation.
- What does it take? What the Treaties allow, and what the Pact would actually change.
- What is the impact? Who gains and who loses when national room to do better shrinks.
Join us online on Thursday 19 November 2026, 16.30-17.30 CET.
This webinar is part of The Good Lobby’s Deregulation Monitor, which tracks the EU’s deregulatory agenda and its implications for transparency, accountability and evidence-based policymaking.
