Brussels, 17/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - The High Level Expert Group on Administrative Burdens will hold its first meeting on Thursday 17 January in Brussels. The group was set up at the request of the European Council and is chaired by Edmund Stoiber. It has a three year mandate and consists of 15 experts representing companies, SMEs, unions, NGOs, academia and politicians (for details about its composition, see EUROPE 9546). It aims to explore ways of best helping the European Commission in implementation of the action plan for reducing, by 25% by 2012, the administrative burden which hampers European companies, and to cut down on bureaucracy in Europe. The group's work is part of the extension of the exercise for measuring the administrative burden, carried out by Cap Gemini, Deloitte and Ramboll Management in 13 priority areas defined by the action plan. On Thursday, the group for reducing the administrative burden is expected to hold an exchange of views on a European Commission progress report on work so far accomplished, particularly on progress involving implementation of the first pact of rapid actions adopted in July 2007 for reducing bureaucratic red-tape to the tune of nearly €1.3bn. So far, five of the ten actions proposed have already been officially adopted, the others are expected to be adopted in the next few months. The group is also expected to assess the consortium's progress, which is currently completing the administrative charges in the EU measuring exercise. Finally, the group is expected to hold an initial exchange of views on the second package of rapid actions the Commission will be proposing in 2008. (E.H.)