Better regulation should reduce bureaucracy

The European Commission aims to improve legislation and has proposed various measures to this end. The skilled trades sector welcomes this and hopes for swift action from the Commission.

This article is part of the special topic Bureaucratic madness in the craft industry

Ecological change, digital change, restart after the Corona pandemic. From the perspective of European Commission These are important reasons that to improve European legislation, not least to help companies excessive bureaucracy to save. The best possible policy-making is the goal of all EU institutions, Member States, and local and regional authorities. This should make laws at the European level as easy to understand and comply with as possible. To this end, the Commission has now published a communication proposing various measures to improve the legislative process.

The heart of the planned measures is the introduction of a "One-in-one-out principle", which aims to ensure that the impact assessment for businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, and citizens better results New burdens are to be offset by reducing existing burdens elsewhere. In practice, the principle is intended to ensure, on the one hand, that legislators are responsible for the consequences of their legislation. sensitized On the other hand, the Implementation effort at least not increase and ideally decrease.

Eliminate obstacles and bureaucracy

The Commission, in consultation with Member States, regions and stakeholders, intends to Eliminate obstacles and bureaucracy, which lead to slowing down investment in infrastructure and its development. It also wants to ensure that consultations, which the Commission uses to gather opinions, be simplified and plans to introduce a single "finding system." For this purpose, it intends to use the online portal "your opinion counts" improve. Even in the run-up to legislative processes, a "strategic foresight in policy-making" ensure that regulations are fit for the future and "take into account global trends in the ecological, digital, geopolitical and socio-economic context".

The overarching goal is better regulation Sustainability and digitalization In the consultations, the Commission intends to explicitly request environmental and digital aspects and also expand the impact assessment in this regard. Evaluations of existing laws should specifically focus on how environmental impacts can be minimized and how digitalisation can be accelerated. The justification for legislative proposals should take these aspects into account. compellingly The EU Commission also wants to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals For each legislative proposal, identify and examine the extent to which its implementation can contribute to achieving the objectives.

Paradigm shift in policy-making

"The recovery from the pandemic will Paradigm shift in policy-making and investments in unprecedented scale that will shape the world for the next generation," promises the Commission. "Therefore, all our legislative proposals should make use of the best available evidence, future proof and minimize the burden on citizens and businesses." According to the Commission, some measures are already being implemented, while others are to be implemented in the coming months.

"Any further development of the European agenda for better regulation is a step in the right direction", explained Holger SchwanneckeThe comprehensive information, documentation and reporting obligations for companies should urgent reduced and simplified so that they can concentrate on their core business, especially in the current crisis, said the Secretary General of the Central Association of German Crafts"The new one-in-one-out concept and a generally better coordination between the various legislative initiatives can help to ensure that the principlePriority for SMEs' is actually implemented."

"Announcements must be followed by actions"

Schwannecke emphasizes that a sustainable recovery only together with the craft "But this also requires the suitable framework conditionsInitiatives and regulatory proposals must be designed in such a way that companies can also implement the requirements." It is to be welcomed that the EU Commission wants to take action here, but announcements must also be followed by actions. "Bureaucracy must targeted and noticeably reduced Further efforts are necessary to consistently apply and monitor the SME test, which has been mandatory for years." Quality and feasibility should be the focus of new laws.