Malta's Better Regulation Strategy aims to ensure that all public entities take measures to:

• continue simplifying and improving existing regulation;
• ensure the better design of new regulation;
• reinforce the value that regulation should not only be effective but also proportionate;
• ensure that the effort is sustained in the long-term;
• design and apply better regulation tools and good practice; and
• promote a cultural change.

As part of the Medicines Authority's commitment to achieve the better regulation strategy, the following actions have been prioritised: 

• The Medicines Authority carried out a simplification exercise whereby it allowed businesses to submit applications in electronic format rather that the previous process which was that of submitting hard copy format applications. An independent entity, namely the Management Efficiency Unit within the Office of the Prime Minister, calculated the savings of this initiative using the Standard Cost Model. The savings registered were 155,327 euro and 3170 man hours. Thus, in the area of submissions of applications, there was a reduction in administrative burden to the business community of 31.5% while the man hours amounted to a reduction of 15.2%.
• The Authority coordinated the process to repeal outdated legislation.
• Review of legislation related to pharmacy register keeping obligations with an estimated saving of 2.1 million euro, which is 55% of the total information administrative burden in this area.

 More information on Malta's Better Regulation Strategy is available at http://www.bru.gov.mt/