Italy’s government recognizes regulatory simplification as a strategic priority.
Managing regulatory proliferation is one of the most complex challenges that advanced democracies must face today. In Italy, the annual costs incurred by businesses for paperwork range from €57.2 billion to €80 billion. Meanwhile, delays in the provision of administrative services cost households and businesses a total of €225 billion.
In addition to the measurable costs, which are already extremely high, there is another, even more dangerous factor: the erosion of trust in institutions, competitiveness, and entrepreneurial spirit stemming from the fact that citizens and businesses are forced to deal with ambiguous, contradictory, and complex regulations that hinder daily life and economic activity.
Since 2022, the Italian government has adopted an approach to manage the structural causes of regulatory excess based on a paradigm shift from simplification as a one-off measure to simplification as an ongoing process.
For a long time, measures aimed at better regulation were limited to one-off initiatives rather than becoming permanent processes. Governments occasionally launched ambitious simplification campaigns, but these were often only stopgap measures that failed to take into account the fact that lawmaking is an ongoing process and that, as a result, the body of legislation is constantly growing.
Efforts at simplification, even the most commendable ones, have often been short-sighted, focusing on streamlining individual procedures without addressing structural problems: overlapping responsibilities across administrative levels, lack of interdepartmental coordination, and lack of consistent regulatory impact assessment. Regulations have been scrapped, but the system that generates them stays the same.
The speed of technological change represents a crucial challenge. Innovation is advancing exponentially—artificial intelligence, digitalization, and new business models are springing up in a matter of months—while regulatory processes often follow patterns that are decades old. By the time a regulation is approved, the circumstances that the regulation was intended to address have often already changed. This asymmetry between the speed of innovation and the slowness of regulation is now unsustainable.
When faced with complex problems—as we live in an age dominated by conflict and exposed to global challenges—lawmakers may be tempted to draft even more complex and detailed regulations in an attempt to anticipate every possible scenario. This risk can result in pages and pages of regulations that are difficult to understand and even more difficult to enforce. Often, the more complex the rules, the less understandable and adaptable to changing circumstances they are, and the greater the risk that they can be bypassed.
The complexity of the world cannot justify regulatory excess. On the contrary, it is precisely because the world is complex that we need simpler, clearer, more flexible, and therefore more easily applied rules. A change of approach is needed to go from attempting to control every detail to defining principles and from rigid prescriptions to flexible guidelines. Faced with the impossibility of regulating every single case, it is necessary to set objectives, grant autonomy to achieve them, and ensure that goals are met.
In 2022, when Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government came to power, Italy decided to make regulatory simplification a priority, giving responsibility to a dedicated minister to move away from the purely technical and administrative approach of the past. Furthermore, this minister was also given responsibility for institutional reforms, which are linked to simplification due to their shared capacity to drive the country’s development, boost economic competitiveness, and promote modernization. I am very honored to have been entrusted with this task.
Although I had virtually no counterparts at the time, I am pleased to note that today, several governments around the world have appointed ministers specifically responsible for simplification, and, thanks in part to Italy’s efforts, the current European Commission also features a commissioner in charge of simplification, Valdis Dombrovskis, who has been in office since 2024 and is currently engaged in an ambitious project to simplify European legislation.
On October 29, 2024, the Italian Parliament gave final approval to the annual law on regulatory simplification. Far from being yet another sector-specific measure, the law introduces systemic reform that changes the very way in which regulations are drawn up and managed. The law provides for a permanent mechanism of rationalization by sector: Each year, the government, through a widespread network of designated representatives in all central administrations, identifies priority areas—including renewable energy, disability, and foreign affairs—on which to focus through draft legislation or codes.
This innovation institutionalizes simplification as an ongoing process that is incorporated into the state’s administrative framework with clear responsibilities, dedicated resources, and political accountability.
Better lawmaking to respond adequately to the needs of our society is essential, but it is not enough. We need “regulatory insight,” which requires anticipating consequences, preventing discrimination, and building a sustainable and inclusive legal system.
We must ensure that new laws do not become tomorrow’s problems. To this end, the Italian government, through the regulatory simplification law, has introduced two innovative tools: the Generational Impact Assessment and the gender impact assessment.
The Generational Impact Assessment system requires that every draft law be assessed in terms of intergenerational sustainability. It is necessary to be aware of the consequences that a new law is likely to have on young people and future generations.
This tool is a direct response to the problem of uncontrolled regulatory proliferation, imposing a paradigm shift from a mindset focused on solving short-term problems to one of responsibility towards those who will bear the consequences of today’s legislative choices.
The gender impact assessment system adopts the same systematic approach to the impact on women, ensuring that every regulation is assessed from the perspective of gender equality— a goal that is still far from being fully achieved but to which Italy wishes to contribute, starting with a forward-looking and inclusive regulatory approach.
Under Law Number 56 of 2025, Italy singlehandedly repealed 30,709 legislative acts dating back to the period between 1861 and 1946—28 percent of the entire stock of state legislation in force. Many of these laws were already de facto obsolete but kept cluttering up the legal system, causing legal uncertainty.
The impact of this measure was not only practical but also cultural and symbolic. The message was clear: enough with endless stratification. We must have the courage to recognize that certain regulations have served their purpose and must be removed, rather than allowing them to linger in the legal system “for the sake of memory” or “just in case they might be useful one day.”
Italy’s experience is a commitment to changing the way things are regulated. It rests on political courage, which is necessary to change a culture that has been shaped by decades of regulatory stratification, and on perseverance, because results come only after years of systematic work. But it is a necessary commitment: The alternative—uncontrolled regulatory overload—is neither socially nor economically sustainable.
The goal is to have a state that regulates wisely: fewer rules, but clearer, more effective, and fairer ones. A state focused on tangible results rather than formal compliance. A state that truly protects citizens and businesses, rather than creating the illusion of protection through a proliferation of paperwork.
In a rapidly changing world, where the speed of technological change exceeds the ability of traditional regulatory systems to adapt, this evolution can no longer be put off. Regulatory simplification must be recognized as a strategic priority to ensure economic competitiveness, trust, and social prosperity.
This essay is part of a series, titled “Regulatory Simplification Around the Globe.”
