Painters and varnishers demand reduction of bureaucracy

The painting and decorating trade is criticizing the plans for the Bureaucracy Reduction Act IV, arguing that the law bypasses SMEs. In a letter to members of the Bundestag, the state parliaments, and the European Parliament, it is now calling for the "reduction of senseless bureaucracy."

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

The German Association for Painting , Design, and Building Protection (Bundesverband Farbe Gestaltung Bautenschutz) is protesting the ever-increasing bureaucratic burden on businesses. Given the growing bureaucratization with its excessive reporting requirements, increasing regulatory complexity, and pointless procedures, the willingness to become self-employed and entrepreneurial in the skilled trades is declining dramatically . For this reason, the painting and decorating trade has now addressed a letter to members of the German Bundestag , the state parliaments, and the European Parliament.

The letter calls for " greater predictability and the reduction of pointless bureaucracy ." Many businesses are growing increasingly dissatisfied. "The nearly 40.000 painting and decorating businesses are getting the impression that their entrepreneurial responsibility is being undervalued and that they are increasingly being placed under general suspicion ," the association stated. The draft of the Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act, submitted by the Federal Ministry of Justice, does little to change this.

Implement a burden moratorium

The measures stipulated in the law bypassed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): "The excessive reporting and documentation requirements were not addressed. On the contrary: The planned requirements for sustainability reporting will overburden businesses and jeopardize their financing ." The association cites a survey conducted at master craftsman schools, according to which only around 30 percent of prospective master craftsmen now intend to start or take over a business. Ten years ago, 80 percent were prepared to do so.

Anyone running a company with ten or more employees today spends most of their time in the office . Painters and decorators are therefore calling for the implementation of the already agreed-upon moratorium on new regulations and a mandatory SME test for new laws at the German and European levels. They cite the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act as a negative example , arguing that it has led to large customers transferring their due diligence obligations to small and medium-sized craft businesses.

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Overregulation in all areas

"Given the unclear definitions of supply chains in the law, companies with over 1.000 employees are playing it safe and demanding that craft businesses complete extensive lists of documentation when bidding on contracts . This is causing collateral damage that the legislator never intended." The association is therefore advocating for a " general exemption for German craft businesses from all direct and indirect obligations " that the law entails.

Overregulation has now resulted in all areas of reporting and documentation requirements . "This is detrimental to those businesses caught in the grind of reporting obligations for quarterly and annual statistics." It is often unclear what purpose the data on sales, productive hours, number of employees, investments, and payroll is used for. The Painters and Decorators Association demands: "When collecting statistical data, the following principle must apply: existing administrative data must be used first; data protection concerns must not prevent the exchange of information between authorities."

"Crafts need more reliability"

Digitizing public administration could bring relief , but it is far from progressing sufficiently. One thing is certain: "The trades need less bureaucracy and more reliability." The back-and-forth surrounding the Building Energy Act has shown that planning uncertainty directly leads to a reluctance to invest. "This law offers no benefit to painters and decorators. The one-sided focus on heating technology, at the expense of investments in building envelopes, is short-sighted, technically nonsensical, and inefficient."

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