Purpose

This independent blog collects news about projects or achievements in regulatory reform / better regulation. It is edited by Charles H. Montin. All opinions expressed are given on a personal basis.
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08 March 2011

Local authorities seek reduction of national red tape (UK and FR)

The UK government has just launched a new offensive to reduce specifically the numerous "statutory duties imposed on councils by primary legislation"
In an announcement yesterday, decentralisation minister Greg Clark, in a review of councils' red tape, is consulting local authorities whether to scrap many of the 1294 such information obligations. For more see LocalGov article.

The same approach has been in place in France for some time. The principle that the transfer of competencies must be accompanied by corresponding tax resources was raised to constitutional status in the 1980s but it remains a very technical matter, and is intensely discussed whenever an additional responsibility is delegated. In 2004, a major reform of local government listed all the "delegated competencies" and defined principles for calculating the corresponding "financial compensation". The scrutiny of possible new burdens is required for every new item of primary legislation. But in October 2010, the Senate, a traditional advocate of local authorities, expressed new concern and tabled legislation to make compensation of new regulatory burdens obligatory.

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