Brussels, 24/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the Commission adopted an action programme aimed at a 25% reduction in unnecessary administrative constraints and burdens on businesses by 2012. The programme focuses on information obligations in 13 selected priority areas including company law, employment relations, taxation/VAT, statistics, agriculture and transport. In concrete terms, the Commission suggests calculating, with member states, the cost of existing administrative constraints in the above sectors in the 27 member nations and to determine the information obligations to be removed. This analysis will concern not only obligations arising from Community legislation but also national measures taken for their implementation. Furthermore, the Commission has now retained ten concrete measures which, in the context of expedited procedure, may be adopted at the European Council in March. The ten measures concern: - making information requirements voluntary for stockholders in case of merger and division; - reducing the reporting obligations for farmers, collectors or processors of energy crops in order to receive support; - easing the requirements of proof for receiving export funds for agricultural produce; - reducing the frequency of certain agricultural statistics to once a year; - lowering the number of statistical questions posed to businesses in the information society; - removing outdated documentation obligations for transport companies within the EU; - introducing electronic registers for the exchange of data in the transport sector, thereby reducing administrative burdens; - simplifying administrative procedures and information obligations in the maritime sector; - exempting small businesses like local butchers and bakers from certain hazard analyses in the field of food hygiene, without lowering standards, by taking a more proportionate approach and applying less burdensome requirements on small butchers, bakers, etc. compared to large supermarkets, without affecting the safety and health considerations imposed by the regulation; - and simplifying administrative requirements for certain fishing vessels.
According to Commission estimates, the burden on businesses could be reduced by €1.3 billion annually through the above measures alone. The action programme also encourages member states to launch operations of the same kind at national level, given that the largest part of administrative constraints arises from national legislation. “Businesses should be free to spend their time producing and innovating - not filling in forms or reporting in overly bureaucratic ways”, commented Günter Verheugen, responsible for enterprise policy. For information: http: //ec.europa.eu/enterprise/regulation/better_regulation/index_en.htm. (hb)