Crafts disappointed by government plans

The Federal Cabinet has approved a program for better regulation and bureaucracy reduction. The skilled trades community says the government is treading water with this.

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

The Federal government aims to improve legislation and reduce the bureaucratic burden for businesses and citizens. To this end, it has now launched the "Work Programme on Better Regulation and Bureaucracy Reduction 2018" The program contains 50 measures designed to ease the burden on businesses and citizens. In the future, those affected will be involved earlier and more intensively when ministries develop regulatory proposals. Furthermore, the government intends to test regulations in practice before making political decisions. Legal texts should be made more understandable.

In the future, new burdens on the economy will only be offset by relief granted during the current legislative period. The costs for companies to adapt to new laws will also be more effectively limited in the future. To this end, the federal government will propose that new regulations and legal amendments take effect on the first day of each quarter, unless other reasons speak against it.

"Work program no more than a minimal compromise"

"The federal government is not making any progress in reducing bureaucracy," says Holger Schwannecke, Secretary General of the Central Association of German Crafts"The long-announced Bureaucracy Reduction Act III is still pending, despite good proposals from the skilled trades." The adopted work program is also nothing more than a minimal compromise. The positive approaches of the one-in/one-out principle or the EU ex ante procedure are not being further developed. Existing potential for avoiding bureaucracy thus remains untapped.

"The urgently needed relief for our businesses requires more courage and determination to consistently implement the proposals and ideas presented. Furthermore, what has been achieved so far is not reaching the businesses. Small businesses in particular are suffering from ever-increasing demands and feel increasingly overwhelmed. Relieving the burden on micro-enterprises must finally be a priority. This issue will therefore be a focus for the skilled trades in the coming year."