Luxembourg, 21/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Monday, the ministers managed to identify the elements to be used as a basis to draw up a common assessment methodology for the administrative burden on business. In Scheveningen, The Netherlands obtained the support of the ministers for a common, uniform and objective method, in order to guarantee to reduce the administrative formalities imposed by Community legislation. This improvement could bring about a 1.7% increase in growth in the EU, according to a document presented by the Dutch Presidency at the informal (see EUROPE of 11 September). In their conclusions, the ministers stated that "the method could be similar to the Standard Cost Model (SCM) used in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. The Member States are, however, still divided on the implementation of this methodology, which provides for pilot actions as soon as early in 2005.
The essential elements to be applied when the common methodology is being developed are as follows: a) the methodology will have to consist of a micro-economic evaluation (on a case-by-case basis), of the existing European legislation (ex post) and that under preparation (ex ante); b) the methodology must be applied flexibly, depending on the difficulties and costs its use will represent. The Commission is invited to present guidelines to decide what variations should be used; c) the work carried out and the degree of analysis must be in proportion to the scale of the proposal in question, and of the administrative burden it can be presumed to entail; d) all analyses must be transparent, presented clearly, concisely and make the logic behind the process easily for even the non-specialist to understand; e) the criterion of administrative burden must not be the only one taken into account. The benefits of a piece of legislation could far outweigh this, despite entailing a greater administrative burden than an alternative option: g) interested parties and experts should be consulted, to collect information or verify data, for example; h) the Member States will work together with the Commission, but the ministers asked the latter clearly to state its expectations with regard to the sending of information which may be useful to Community legislation.
The countries which will carry out these pilot actions, probably in the first half of 2005, have not yet been listed; nor have the fields in which the pilots will be carried out. They are likely to include agriculture, the structural funds, VAT, and the formalities involved in setting up a business. If these schemes are to start next year, the Member States do not even agree on the period for the methodology to be developed. According to Pedro Solbes of Spain, sights should not be set too high if they cannot then be reached, but his British colleague said the opposite, recommending an ambitious line to be taken as of next year. In its conclusions, the Council hoped that this would be the case "as soon as possible in 2005", and called upon the Heads of State and Government to come back to the subject at the Spring European Council, in March 2005.