As interpreted by the European Commission, the term of gold-plating represents extension of requirements set forth by the European regulations, especially directives, when being transposed into the national laws of EU member states.
In practice, it could mainly be recognized when a transposed regulation:
- provides an opportunity to deviate from regulations of such EU regulation in a stricter or more extensive or more burdening form/version,
- does not provide opportunity to deviate from regulations of such EU regulation in a less strict or less extensive or less burdening form/version,
- does not provide a choice of selecting the least strict or burdening alternative to such regulation from among several alternatives, and
- provides voluntary extension of the scope of such regulation so that it also covers situations/entities that are not exactly defined.
More information regarding gold-plating in Slovak practice and methods of combating it not only by us but also by other EU member states could be found in our article.
List of SME Tests, within which gold-plating in Slovak regulations was reviewed by BRC
Analyses of costs and benefits of new duties for employers posting their employees