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 feature on bureaucratic madness in the skilled trades.

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's not just the numerous reporting obligations that craft business owners have to fulfill to the government that take up a lot of time and detract from their actual work. The effort required to comply with all the regulations also has to be factored in. And that is considerable," says Tischner. The Institute for SME Promotion has calculated that the bureaucratic burden costs German businesses approximately 46 billion euros annually . Tischner believes that the legal regulations are pushing small and medium-sized enterprises to the limits of their capacity.

The local chamber of skilled crafts, cooperative banks, and savings banks in the Steinfurt district therefore used the 2017 election year to send their packages to businesses, the press, and politicians. Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel received the mail, as did SPD member of parliament Thomas Oppermann , FDP leader Christian Lindner , SPD chancellor candidate Martin Schulz , and the new North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Armin Laschet of 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."

You might also be interested in:

The Chambers of Skilled Crafts in Germany - HWK Münster

Three prizes for final projects of designers (HWK)

The Chambers of Skilled Crafts in Germany - HWK Münster

Welcome, trainees!

The Chambers of Skilled Crafts in Germany - HWK Münster

New AI funding also for craft businesses

According to Tischner, the joint initiative has already achieved a major initial success . The new state government of North Rhine- Westphalia, for example, withdrew the controversial law on the transparency of control results, also known as the hygiene traffic light system , partly due to this initiative. According to Frank Tischner, the issue has also received widespread attention in the press and banking circles. The CEO of the Chamber of Commerce considers it a great success to have brought "such a complex issue to the forefront of public awareness" and to have drawn attention to it. "Whether any of the solutions are promising can only be assessed once we see a tangible success with the measure."

ueberreglementierung-abbauen.de 

Graphics and photo: © KH Steinfurt-Warendorf