Gold-plating 847043 87385511 2006-11-12T19:46:05Z Skysmith 6995 revert nonsense {{dablink|This article deals with the economic term. For the technique, see the article [[Gold plating]] or [[plating]].}} '''Gold-plating''' is a term relating to [[European Union law]], used particularly in the UK. Gold-plating refers to the practise of national bodies exceeding the terms of [[European Community]] [[European Union directive|directives]] when implementing them into national law. In the [[United Kingdom]] business lobbyists argue that the government and its agencies often tag additional measures on to the back of European Directives which place UK business at a competitive disadvantage in relation to other EU states where directives are implemented more literally. In [[Italy]], gold-plating has often been used as a device to pass through controversial measures and to ensure a lower degree of parliamentary scrutiny, particularly in periods of weak government. EU governments committed themselves to a [[deregulation]] agenda at the Lisbon Summit in [[2000]], and as a consequence the [[European Commission]] has supported more [[maximum harmonisation]] measures in recent years, which effectively prohibit gold-plating. ==See also== * [[minimum harmonisation]] U.S. Government- The tendency of Pentagon officials to ask weapons contractors to meet excessively high requirements. [[Category:European Union law]]