The paints and coatings industry, which directly employs 100,000 people, is increasingly affected by a growing regulatory burden that is holding back innovation and investment. CEPE emphasises that it is not calling for deregulation, but for smart, efficient rules that achieve their objectives without creating unnecessary complexity. The Association welcomes the European Commission's aim to reduce administrative burden by 25 % and proposes targeted measures to help achieve this. These include staggered implementation timelines to give downstream users more time to comply, and binding deadlines for guidance documents so that businesses can prepare early and reliably. CEPE also calls for ...