The production of state and regional standards increased by 22% in 2022, up to its highest figure in 11 years
MADRID, 17 (EUROPA PRESS)
The production of standards included in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and in the corresponding regional bulletins shot up 22% in 2022, to exceed 1.32 million pages, the highest figure in the last 11 years, according to the report ‘Regulatory production in 2022’ carried out by the CEOE.
As regards only the BOE, in 2022 849 new regulations of different ranks were approved at the state level, compared to 851 in 2021. In any case, the employer emphasizes that these 849 regulations represent “more than two legislative innovations per calendar day ”, including in this concept both the new regulations and modifications of the existing ones.
This figure places 2022 as “the sixth year with the highest regulatory production” since the maximums reached during the first decade of the beginning of the democratic period (1977-1986), and the third highest in the last 10 years, according to the business organization.
In 2022, a total of 254,757 pages were published in the BOE, which represents an increase of 5.4% compared to 2021. Sections I and III of the BOE, those in which the different state provisions are collected, accounted for more than 55 % of pages 2022, a figure that slightly exceeds the weight they had in the previous year, around 50%.
“To put the magnitude of this figure into perspective, it should be noted that in order for a person to be fully up-to-date on the legislative developments published in the BOE in 2022, they would have to read about 698 pages a day,” says the CEOE.
Considering the type of regulation, in 2022 77.3% more laws were approved, 36.4% organic laws and 10.9% more royal decrees. However, Orders decreased by 8% compared to 2021 and Royal Decree-Laws decreased by 37.5%, from 32 in 2021 to 20 in 2022.
CEOE attributes a good part of this decrease in the number of Royal Decree-Laws “to the end of various situations derived from the pandemic”. However, it warns that the total number of Royal Decree-Laws (20) continues to be “the sixth highest in the last 40 years” and almost doubles the average for this period despite the fact that this figure “is reserved for cases of extraordinary and urgent need.
The employer also points out that although the 20 Royal Decree-Laws approved last year were validated, only 9 were processed as bills in Parliament.
For their part, the regulations with the force of law (laws, legislative decrees and decree laws) approved by the autonomous communities and included in the BOE itself amounted to 340 in 2022, which is eight less than in 2021.
In addition, the different official regional bulletins registered a total of 1,075,108 pages in their publications in 2022, 15% more than the pages published the previous year and the highest figure in the last 11 years.
CEOE warns that the autonomous communities are responsible for 80.8% of the pages published in official gazettes, “which significantly affects market unity and legal certainty”.
THE REGULATORY PRODUCTION IN THE EU ALSO RISES
Within the framework of the European Union, the number of legal acts adopted in 2022 amounted to 2,249, distributed in 1,041 regulations, 28 directives and 1,180 decisions.
Compared to 2021, EU regulatory activity increased by 3.4%, but CEOE recalls that in that year there was an increase of 7% compared to 2020 and that the trend in regulatory production, since 2018, is ” growing”.
