Advance in the fight against bureaucracy

With an unusual campaign, the Steinfurt-Warendorf Chamber of Crafts, Volksbanken and Sparkassen in the region are drawing the attention of the public and politicians to the over-regulation.

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

Around 500 packages have Frank Tischner, Chief Executive Officer of Steinfurt-Warendorf Hospital, Franz-Josef Konermann from the VR Bank District Steinfurt, Dietmar Dertwinkel from the Volksbank Greven, Hermann-Josef Stascheit from the Emsdetten-Ochtrup Savings Bank and Rainer Langkamp from the District Savings Bank Steinfurt Packed. Included: a brochure and an explanatory video on the topic of "bureaucracy."

Using the example of a joineryFor a family who is tasked with renovating a window in an old building, the film shows which guidelines and requirements must be met, which applications must be submitted, and which formalities must be observed for the window to be renovated. If the business needs a loan, further formalities and bureaucratic hurdles arise. 

At the limit of resilience

Hospital General Manager Frank Tischner presents the explanatory film about too much bureaucracy to SPD Chancellor candidate Martin Schulz (vr) Photo: © KH Steinfurt

"It is not just the diverse information obligations that tradesmen have to fulfill towards the state that take up a lot of time and come at the expense of the actual work in the business. The compliance costs of implementing all the regulations must also be taken into account. And that is considerable," says Tischner. Institute for Small and Medium-Sized Business Promotion has calculated that the Bureaucratic burden on German companies about a year 46 billion euros costs. Tischner believes that the legal regulations are pushing small and medium-sized businesses to their limits.

The district trade association, Volksbanken and Sparkassen from the Steinfurt district therefore used the 2017 election year to send their packages to businesses, the press and politicians. Bundeskanzers Angela Merkel received the mail as well as the SPD MP Thomas Oppermann, FDP leader Christian Lindner, SPD candidate for chancellor Martin Schulz or the new one NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet from the CDU.

Much response from politics, the press and companies

"We've received a lot of feedback on the documents from politicians and the press, but especially from businesses," Tischner says happily. "In discussions, letters, and initial actions, politicians have signaled to us that the issue must be addressed."

A first major success According to Tischner, the joint initiative has already achieved success. NRW state government the controversial Control Results Transparency Act, also known as Hygiene traffic light known, among other things, due to the initiative. According to Frank Tischner, the topic has also been widely addressed in the press and in banking circles. The hospital's managing director considers it a great success to have "brought awareness to such a complex issue" and drawn attention to it. "Whether one of the answers is promising can only be assessed when we achieve visible success with the measure." 

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Graphics and photo: © KH Steinfurt-Warendorf