Brussels, 21 May 2025. AIM welcomes the European Commission’s renewed focus on strengthening and simplifying the Single Market. The Strategy includes a number of key proposals—particularly in the areas of regulatory coherence, digital transformation, and enforcement—which, if implemented effectively, could improve the operating environment for businesses and support Europe’s economic resilience, as well as continue to offer great choice to the EU’s 450 million consumers.
We support the measures to reduce regulatory fragmentation, enhance market surveillance, and promote digital tools such as the Digital Product Passport and once-only data exchange. These are meaningful steps toward reducing compliance costs and improving agility for businesses of all sizes. We look forward to the application of this approach, not only for future but also existing legislation.
The implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation will be an early test of the Single Market Strategy: information requirements, such as waste sorting instructions, should rely on simple, actionable text-free pictograms to avoid the increased costs and operational complexity linked to the need for country-specific packaging versions.
AIM notes the Commission’s engagement on other supply issues which impact cross border supply, including on the issue of Territorial Supply Constraints (TSCs). Any future tools in this area should be underpinned by robust and comprehensive economic analysis of the consumer goods market across Europe and how it operates, balancing consideration of all stakeholders across the supply chain, to ensure that we can continue to deliver to all markets in an efficient and effective manner.
As the EU’s third-largest manufacturing sector, Europe’s fast-moving-consumer-goods industry plays a crucial role in the continent’s economic and innovation ecosystem. The sector moves over €276 billion in goods annually and has invested more than €145 billion in EU-based research and development over the past decade[1].
“We all share the same agenda of a strong Single Market: the issue of TSCs is an inherently complex topic – the contractual relationships between each supplier and each retailer across the 27 EU markets is shaped by the diversity of the markets at local, regional and national levels. In these uncertain times, it is all the more important that we work through this complexity balancing the consideration of all stakeholders, and all EU goals, to ensure we continue to deliver effectively for all consumers across the EU. We will work with the Commission and all Member States to navigate this challenge together” remarked Michelle Gibbons, Director General of AIM.
The Single Market will benefit from a stronger focus on fairness and consistency within the internal market, particularly in relation to enforcement. Fragmented application of existing rules—such as the Unfair Trading Practices Directive—has enabled some actors to avoid scrutiny, leading to distortions in competition and negative downstream effects.
AIM stands ready to work closely with the European Commission and Member States to help realise the full potential of the Single Market. Achieving greater consistency in enforcement, reducing complexity, and supporting innovation are essential steps toward a more competitive and resilient Europe.
[1] Source: Eurostat 2022 ProdCom: Food, Beverages, Home Care, Personal Care, Tissue, Pet
