SP(2007)4733

SP(2007)4170

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted the resolution by Jan MULDER (ALDE, NL) on minimising administrative costs imposed by legislation. It fully accepted the recommendations made by the committee responsible. The main recommendations are as follows:

MEPs call on the Commission, within the framework of the interinstitutional agreement on better law-making, to adopt targeted, well-considered legislation with predictable consequences which will contribute to creating favourable conditions by providing suitable incentives for undertakings and companies, reducing superfluous expenditure and procedures, removing barriers to adaptability and innovation and generally providing legal certainty.

The Commission is urged, when proposing new legislation, to indicate the administrative burden this imposes on the various economic, social and environmental sectors in comparison to equivalent sectors outside the European Union. The Parliament proposes that this be given special attention within the newly proposed competitiveness testing, which is an integral part of impact assessments.

The Parliament welcomes the emphasis which is put on early consultation of stakeholders, including the social partners, SMEs, legislators, law enforcement bodies and NGOs. The role of social dialogue is underlined as a useful tool, contributing to better European governance by ensuring a better balance of interests through the involvement of all actors in decision-making and in the implementation process.

It agrees that the regulatory environment in which businesses operate is a determinant of their competitiveness, sustainable growth and employment performance, and that ensuring that the existing and future regulatory environment is transparent, clear, effective and generally of high quality should be an important objective of EU policy. It emphasises the importance of fully applying the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality in adopting Community legislation.

MEPs stress that the effect of simplifying and updating existing legislation should not be deregulation, diluting health and safety legislation or dismantling basic social standards. It calls on the Commission to make sure that legislation continues to deliver improvements in social standards whilst at the same time not being detrimental to business competitiveness.

Overall, the Parliament supports the Commission Action Programme to measure the administrative cost for companies in Europe and to reduce administrative burdens by 25% by 2013. It notes that the strategy cannot be perceived as deregulation. MEPs will watch to ensure that the goal of legislation is not affected by that approach. The Commission is called on to publish and present to the relevant committees a detailed scoreboard with precise targets to be achieved in a set timeline for the implementation of measures.

On a budgetary note, the Parliament is of the opinion that the introduction of the Community Action Programme for reducing the administrative burden subsequently means that the Commission has to allocate sufficient resources and appropriations. It supports, therefore, the fact that approximately EUR 19.6 million excluding VAT has been made available by the Commission services to this end. It invites the Commission however to report to the Committee on Budgets as to which budget lines the appropriations are taken from, to what extent this affects other policies, how and when that sum will be spent and what the legal bases are to justify that expenditure. The Parliament also propose that the appropriations reserved on the line 26 01 08 of the EU Budget for a pilot project minimizing administrative burdens be used to set up an independent panel of experts, comprising representatives from all stakeholder groups, to fully monitor implementation of the Action Programme 'Reducing Administrative Burdens in the EU'.

The Parliament proposes that the independent panel be granted access to the impact assessment of reduction proposals before their adoption by the Commission. The Commission is asked to appoint an independent free-thinking representative to chair the panel and have the panel fully operational by September 2007. The independent panel should also be allowed to comment on the steps already undertaken in 2006 and 2007 and which set up the administrative burden reduction policy.

As regards the role of the institutions, the MEPS stress that the Council, Parliament and the Commission have to engage fully and assume political responsibility concerning the reduction of administrative burdens. It is convinced that without ownership at the political level, the EU will be unable to succeed in changing the culture of law-making in Europe. In addition, Parliament stresses therefore that each Directorate General (DG) must be made aware of the unnecessary administrative burdens in their policy areas.

T6-0316/2007

A6-0275/2007

A6-0275/2007

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Jan MULDER (ALDE, NL) on minimising administrative costs imposed by legislation. In so doing, the committee recalls that the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to the EC Treaty provides that the Commission should "take duly into account the need for any burden, whether financial or administrative, falling upon the Community, national governments, local authorities, economic operators and citizens to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved".

MEPs call on the Commission, within the framework of the interinstitutional agreement on better law-making, to adopt targeted, well-considered legislation with predictable consequences which will contribute to creating favourable conditions by providing suitable incentives for undertakings and companies, reducing superfluous expenditure and procedures, removing barriers to adaptability and innovation and generally providing legal certainty.

The committee welcomes the emphasis which is put on early consultation of stakeholders, including the social partners, SMEs, legislators, law enforcement bodies and NGOs. The role of social dialogue is underlined as a useful tool, contributing to better European governance by ensuring a better balance of interests through the involvement of all actors in decision-making and in the implementation process.

It agrees that the regulatory environment in which businesses operate is a determinant of their competitiveness, sustainable growth and employment performance, and that ensuring that the existing and future regulatory environment is transparent, clear, effective and generally of high quality should be an important objective of EU policy. It emphasises the importance of fully applying the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality in adopting Community legislation.

The Commission is called upon , when proposing new legislation, to give an indication as to what the costs of implementing and monitoring the proposed legislation are. The committee argues that the Commission should equate those costs with the total spending specific legislation brings about.

The committee stresses that the effect of simplifying and updating existing legislation should not be deregulation, diluting health and safety legislation or dismantling basic social standards. It calls on the Commission to make sure that legislation continues to deliver improvements in social standards whilst at the same time not being detrimental to business competitiveness.

MEPs consider it very important to counteract any unnecessary gold-plating or topping-up of legislation by Member States. They urge the Commission to take this into account when issuing regulations and directives and feel strongly that the Commission clearly states what the minimum requirements of regulations and directives are. They expect that when increasing the level of requirements and control measurements surpassing the minimum requirements issued by the Commission, Member States should

communicate and indicate this in national legislation or the implementing measures.

The Commission is urged, when proposing new legislation, to indicate the administrative burden this imposes on the various economic, social and environmental sectors in comparison to equivalent sectors outside the European Union. The committee proposes that this be given special attention within the newly proposed competitiveness testing, which is an integral part of impact assessments.

Overall, the committee supports the Commission Action Programme to measure the administrative cost for companies in Europe and to reduce administrative burdens by 25% by 2013. It notes that the strategy cannot, as the Commission itself states, be perceived as deregulation. MEPs will watch to ensure that the goal of legislation is not affected by that approach. They note the identification of the 13 priority areas in the Commission's Action Programme on the reasoning that 80% of the total administrative burden is to be found in those areas. They point out that the 25% reduction should reflect a net reduction in burdens. It is also stressed that a 25% reduction within the 13 priority areas can only be seen as a gross reduction target. The Commission is called on to publish and present to the relevant committees a detailed scoreboard with precise targets to be achieved in a set timeline for the implementation of measures, identified as necessary for achieving the 25% reduction target by 2013, and to report on its progression to the competent committees annually.

The committee is of the opinion that the introduction of the Community Action Programme for reducing the administrative burden subsequently means that the Commission has to allocate sufficient resources and appropriations. It supports, therefore, the fact that approximately EUR 19.6 million excluding VAT has been made available by the Commission services to this end. It invites the Commission however to report to the Committee on Budgets as to which budget lines the appropriations are taken from, to what extent this affects other policies, how and when that sum will be spent and what the legal bases are to justify that expenditure. The committee also propose that the appropriations reserved on the line 26 01 08 of the EU Budget for a pilot project minimizing administrative burdens be used to set up an independent panel of experts, comprising representatives from all stakeholder groups, to fully monitor implementation of the Action Programme 'Reducing Administrative Burdens in the EU'.

As regards the role of the institutions, the committee stresses that the Council, Parliament and the Commission have to engage fully and assume political responsibility concerning the reduction of administrative burdens. It is convinced that without ownership at the political level, the EU will be unable to succeed in changing the culture of law-making in Europe.

It emphasises that ownership at the political level also needs to be accompanied by practice on management and implementation levels. It stresses therefore that each Directorate General (DG) must be made aware of the unnecessary administrative burdens in their policy areas.

The committee proposes further that the independent panel, as well as fully supervising the implementation of the European Action Programme, also assess the findings and outcome of the Internet and local level consultations. It proposes that the independent panel be granted access to the impact assessment of reduction proposals before their adoption by the Commission. The Commission is asked to appoint an independent free-thinking representative to chair the panel and have the panel fully operational by September 2007.

Lastly, the Commission is asked to allow the independent panel also to comment on the steps already undertaken in 2006 and 2007 and which set up the administrative burden reduction policy.

PE390.588

PE374.082

PE376.344

PE362.672

PURPOSE: to minimize administrative costs imposed by legislation.

CONTENT: Concern for regulatory costs imposed by EU legislation is not new. The Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community already provides that “any burden, whether financial or administrative, falling upon the Community, national governments, local authorities, economic operators or citizens needs to be minimised and proportionate to the objective to be achieved”. In the EU’s approach to better regulation, the preparation of new legislation and simplification of existing legislation take into account the overall benefits and costs.

Therefore, regulatory costs, of which administrative obligations are just one element, must be analysed in a broader context, encompassing in an integrated way the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits of regulation. This is why the assessment of administrative burdens must continue to form a part of the Commission’s integrated impact assessment procedure. Measuring administrative costs can help to improve the regulatory environment, but it cannot take a disproportionate weight in that broader analysis. Nor can EU legislation be presented as a mere cost factor, in particular as it often replaces 25 different national legislations and thus decreases operating costs at EU level.

It is also necessary to recognise the benefits of reporting and information obligations of EU legislation. Without the resulting data streams for public authorities and companies, enforcement and implementation will be severely restricted to the detriment of economic, social and environmental objectives. It is therefore a question of ensuring a proper balance where reporting and information costs are proportionate to the benefits they bring. Moreover, some of these benefits accrue directly to businesses. Business can, for example, benefit from having a better understanding of how it uses its resources and can use this information to identify process innovations that increase productivity.

The Commission already evaluates administrative costs when assessing the possible impact of new initiatives and when simplifying existing legislation. However, it may be possible in the broad EU framework for better regulation to ensure that administrative costs arising from EU legislation are better evaluated, controlled and minimised, while ensuring proper enforcement of public rules.

This is one of the objectives set by the “Joint Initiative on Regulatory Reform” adopted on 26 January 2004 by the countries holding the presidency of the Council in 2004-5.

The Commission agreed to examine the feasibility of developing a common approach with the other institutions and with Member States to quantify and minimise administrative costs in a proportionate manner. Without questioning the need for regulatory authorities to pursue policy objectives through legislation, there is scope for considering more carefully the design of EU regulations at all stages of the legislative procedure and implementation by Member States.

However, the Commission also stresses that before embarking on a common endeavour, some serious questions need to be addressed. Different approaches to quantifying administrative costs exist, but there is not necessarily a one-size-fits-all approach to data collection that is applicable for all policies at the EU level. A flexible approach therefore needs to be developed. Moreover, a common approach needs to be accompanied by recognition of the shared responsibility of EU institutions and Member States and be consistent with the balanced and integrated approach endorsed inter alia in the Interinstitutional Agreement on “Better Lawmaking”. Lastly, the Commission will continue to exercise its right of initiative based on its own best judgment of the impacts of its proposals.

The pilot phase to be launched builds on the experience of Commission services in assessing administrative costs in the context of impact assessments, work of various Member States and international organisations in this domain, as well as on the recent analysis of the Economic Policy Committee and the conclusions of the Council (ECOFIN) of 21 October 2004. It starts by examining the need for a common approach at EU level and the criteria that such an approach should meet. It then outlines a possible approach, its scope of application and some preconditions for its possible introduction and use. Lastly, this Staff Working Document sets out the launch of a pilot phase to test the feasibility and value-added of a common approach.

SEC(2005)0175
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COM(2005)0097