Bundestag votes for bureaucracy relief

The Bundestag has passed the Bureaucracy Reduction Act IV. The skilled trades see it as a positive approach, but without any noticeable relief effects.

This article is part of the special feature on bureaucratic madness in the skilled trades.

The fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act (BEG IV), now passed by the German Bundestag, is intended to reduce the burden on businesses by €944 million annually . The majority of these savings are to be achieved through four measures :

• The draft provides for amendments to the Commercial Code, the Tax Code and the Value Added Tax Act, which will reduce the retention period for accounting documents in commercial and tax law from ten to eight years.
• A central database of powers of attorney for tax advisors in the area of ​​social security (general powers of attorney) is to be set up.
• In the future, German citizens will no longer be required to register with hotels. This will significantly ease the burden on the accommodation industry and the affected overnight guests.
• Digital transformation is to be promoted, in particular, by reducing formal requirements in civil law. This will enable many legal transactions to be processed digitally in the future without media disruption, thus significantly simplifying the daily lives of both businesses and citizens. This also includes other measures, such as the digitization of utility bills and the option of digitally scanning passports for flight check-in.

"Better legislation and the reduction of bureaucracy are ongoing tasks of any government action. In times of multiple crises, sluggish economic growth and strained budgets, the elimination of unnecessary bureaucracy is particularly urgent ," the draft law states.

Liberation strike fails to materialize

The skilled trades share this view, but believe the proposed law will not address the urgent need for action . "The comprehensive reduction of unnecessary bureaucracy is essential for the competitiveness and future viability of locally based skilled trades ," says Holger Schwannecke.

"It was urgently necessary for the Bundestag to enrich the BEG IV with further relief measures . However, the major breakthrough is still lacking," said the Secretary General of the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH).

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Reducing bureaucracy too hesitant

He recognizes "correct approaches and additions" and mentions the partial elimination of the event-independent risk assessment of workplaces under maternity protection law or the adjustment of the de minimis threshold for artists' social insurance.

The law's reduction of bureaucracy is still too slow to achieve noticeable relief across the skilled trades. "Given future burdens , such as the foreseeable sustainability reporting requirements, the BEG IV can only be an interim step ."

ZDH calls for annual relief packages

The roadmap for reducing bureaucracy is clear, and the skilled trades are providing practical proposals for its implementation. Schnwannecke is calling for annual relief packages with "genuine net relief and more effective exemptions for skilled trades and small and medium-sized enterprises."

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