Independent report

Reducing administrative burdens in the EU: next steps

Combined paper from 4 European regulatory bodies offering recommendations for a new action programme, 2011.

Documents

The End of the Commission's Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the European Union - what comes next?

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Details

The EU needs to reduce administrative burdens to help competitiveness and growth. Clear procedures and smart regulation also help support the idea of the EU in times of economic and financial crisis.

The action programme for reducing administrative burdens raised awareness of the topic and showed how it could be achieved by setting targets for reduction. The new action programme should expand to include the whole regulatory burden and allow for effects to measured.

Impact assessments have improved significantly but they need to be carried out for every new legislative or regulatory proposal, stakeholders need to be involved early on and, at some point, there should be an independent impact assessment institution.

Smart regulation has been pushed mainly by the Commission and member states of the EU, and while the European Parliament has agreed to be part of the process, the High Level Group of independent stakeholders on administrative burden needs to be involved, becoming a a more general body able to moderate between the various institutions on smart regulation issues.

Published 2 September 2011