Brussels, 28/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - Presenting the strategic review on “Better Regulation” to the press on Wednesday 28 January, Industry and Enterprise Commissioner Günter Verheugen hailed the great success of the operation four years after its launch in March 2005 (see EUROPE 8911). “We have already achieved impressive results and are keen to go much further by the end of this year. Better Regulation - regulating where necessary but keeping burdens on businesses and citizens to the minimum necessary - must remain an essential part of our response to current economic difficulties,” he said. He stated that the strategic review showed that ordinary citizens and companies, especially SMEs, were already feeling the benefits of the simplified measures and the reduction in their administrative costs.
The full review, begun at the end of 2005, of the acquis communautaire through the simplification and codification of rules (2nd pillar of the initiative, October 2005 programme, see EUROPE 9056) is likely to see some 1,300 acts, representing around 10 % of the acquis or 7800 pages of the Official Journal, removed. With much remaining to be done on simplification, however, the Commission will present 33 new initiatives in 2009. Following a screening of the EU legislation, a further 81 actions could be incorporated in simplification activities to be undertaken by the new Commission.
The measures taken and proposed since the start of 2007 as part of the programme for reducing the administrative burden on companies, which aims to reduce red tape by 25% by 2012 (4th pillar, January 2007 programme, see EUROPE 9351), will bring savings of more than €30 billion. The 21 fast-track actions undertaken by the Commission in 2007 and 2008 under this programme have already brought savings estimated at more than €2.3 billion for European business. The driving role played by the Commission on the 4th pillar has been emulated in most member states, with 21 having put ambitious programmes for cutting red tape in place by 2008, compared with 14 by 2007 and 7 by 2006.
The Commission says that it will continue to improve the quality of all new legislation it produces by further upgrading the quality of its impact assessments (2nd pillar). It will do this by strengthening the subsidiarity check, improving the consultation of stakeholders, and by assessing more thoroughly impacts on, for example, SMEs, administrative burdens, fundamental rights, consumers and regions. (E.H./transl.rt)