08/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - The regulatory reforms in simplification of the administrative burden within the EU, which regularly appeared on the agenda of the Ecofin Council under the UK Presidency, will continue to be dealt with in 2006 by Austria and Finland. At the Ecofin Council of 6 December, the two forthcoming Presidencies of the Council of the EU presented a document in which they detailed their orientations for 2006, with seven fields in which progress is targeted: (a) an impact assessment in terms of competitiveness; (b) simplification and follow-up of the legislation; (c) assessment of the administrative burden, with the possible establishment of quantitative objectives; (d) a risk-based approach to assess the costs of the implementation of a piece of legislation; (e) consultation of interested parties; (f) the importance of using alternatives to regulation, (g) international cooperation (regulatory dialogue with Japan and the United States) to remove pointless differences, which harm growth and competitiveness.