Stoiber Group: final report

On 14 October, the Commission published an update on outgoing President's action for EU law: 

"Under the title "Smart Regulation in the EU – Building on a Strong Foundation" politicians, stakeholders and experts have been examining the achievements and persisting challenges in the field of smart regulation, administrative burden reduction and better implementation of EU legislation. On this occasion, Dr Edmund Stoiber, the Chairman of the independent High Level Group on Administrative Burdens advising the Commission since 2007, will hand over the group's final report to President José Manuel Barroso.

EC Smart Regulation: what's new?

The Communication of 12 December 2012 (see previous post) has outlined the future smart regulation (SR) initiatives of the European Commission for the next two years, in a carefully worded programme of action placed under the concept of "regulatory fitness". What new content can be found in this document (SR2), or is it a reformulation and confirmation of past proposals? To answer this question, one must compare the new text with its predecessor, the 8 October 2010 communication (SR1).
- some language shifts: the focus of the strategy is no longer "citizens and businesses" as in SR1, but adds "workers" to the addressees or benefiaries of the initiatives. This could be viewed as confirmation that the rebalancing between economic, and social, objectives, is continuing, though the overall aim of the policy is "responding to the economic imperatives";
- a new emphasis on "regulatory fitness", presented in 2010 as an exploratory dimension, now mainstream in the SR agenda;
- in keeping with the evolution in member states and the OECD, a widening of the impacts of regulation to include, beyond administrative burdens, the full "regulatory costs" or burdens, which classically include compliance costs; SR2 systematically avoids the old terminology "administrative" burdens;
- expressly declining to follow some "leading" member states in seeking quantitative reduction targets, whether sectoral or net targets, in favour of "a more tailored approach with an assessment of actual benefits and costs;"
- some further insistence on the responsibility of member states in the creation of regulatory burdens by inefficient transposition or "gold-plating" though the word is not used;
- the announcement of the REFIT programme to succeed, with a wider mandate, the action programme for administrative burden reduction (now redesignated "ABR", on the basis of the fitness check pilot schemes, with strengthened planning starting with the 2014 work programme; REFIT to include an "ABR Plus" programme focusing, with the help of the Stoiber group, on how member states have applied the recent (2007-2012) reduction measures decided at the EU level.

New directions for Smart Regulation (EU)

Experts on SR will be interested in a joint position paper published last Friday by the 5 European independent advisory boards (CZ, DK, NL, SI and UK) for cutting red tape and better regulation, in response to the Commission's consultation document on Smart Regulation. 

According to their press release, the boards "believe that the EU should continue to reinforce its programmes on smart regulation. As the Action Programme for reducing administrative burdens will end in 2012 a new programme needs to be developed in order to keep the achievements already made as well as to strive for further improvements. A new programme on smart regulation which includes an ambitious aim to reduce the overall regulatory burden should be launched in 2013. In our common position paper we highlight the following priorities:

• Carrying out impact assessments for every new regulatory proposal
• Improving the informative value of roadmaps
• Making the Commission´s Impact Assessment Board more independent
• Systematic ex post-evaluations from the end users perspective
• Strengthening the role of the High Level Group
• Consulting the public. (end of quote)."

Under these headings, the report makes some interesting practical proposals.

Smart Regulation for experts

Following the success of « smart regulation in 1200 words », your blogger updated his 2010 article on the subject, to provide an overview of the development and current achievements of the strategy in the European Union, with a critical assessment based on personal experience in the European Commission and other organisations working on the topic. « Smart Regulation in the European Union » (some 24 pages - 12,500 words) will soon be published in a book about SR experiences in Europe, along with a chapter for each major country and some smaller ones. Updates concern the report of the Stoiber Group report on best practices, the UK November report on smart regulation, the conclusions of Council under Danish presidency, the results of the Action Plan on Administrative Burdens, all reported on this blog in previous posts (see « smart regulation » category which numbers 37 items).
A summary is provided by a previous post in October 2010. Better regulation had not yet achieved its full impact: the simplification effort had not yet truly reduced the perceived overgrowth and complexity of European law, in spite of the claim that the number of legal texts had been reduced. In spite of the few major successes (the VAT reform to introduce electronic invoicing for instance) the cutting red tape program which ends with the year 2012 needs to deliver significant additional measures in a greater number of areas of legislation, like statistics, accounting, environment, etc. All in all, in no way can it be said that better regulation had already reached the objectives set for it by its initial promoters: EU law still gives an impression of complexity and bureaucracy, the decision making process has not been made that much more transparent;
In this context the innovations introduced by smart regulation can be welcome if they do not undermine or slow down the sustained delivery of ongoing better regulation results. The two main changes in SR are 1/ the broadening of the ambition of the strategy to “make markets work for people” which is wider than “simplify the regulatory environment for business”; 2/ the new emphasis on the content of policy and legislation, which must become “smart”, i.e. deliver effectively on the full range of public policy objectives, rather than reducing the volume of legislation and its burden on companies.
This new approach will have to avoid running into some well-known pitfalls. By giving more attention on the content of regulation and requiring more evidence to justify reform, it opens the way for additional bureaucratic prerequisites, running the risk of focusing more on the process, and not enough on the outcome. The shift is not exempt from technical challenges, as the evaluation methods will need to be adjusted to accommodate SR goals. By insisting on the technical evaluation of evidence in support of decision making, SR may dilute the political initiative and further insulate the regulators from the pressure of the stakeholders. These will be some of the challenges facing smart regulation and also the criteria against which to assess its future achievements.

Stoiber Group report published

Yesterday the Commission made public “Europe can do better”, the report of the High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens, chaired by Dr E. Stoiber (Germany). The report, which was due since November last year, was handed in yesterday to Mr Barroso, who in a press release is reported to have said that “It shows impressive examples how Member States implement EU law in an intelligent way so that its positive effects can unfold and are not hampered by unnecessary administrative burden at national level. I call on Member States to look at these examples and learn from them. Through mutual inspiration on smart regulation we can further improve the business environment and support growth and jobs in Europe." In summary, the report, which lists 74 best practices makes the point that there is ample scope for improving the implementation of EU legislation. The online press pack includes a useful update on measures proposed and delivered under the Action Plan for reducing administrative burdens in the EU (especially figures concerning delivery).

Admin burden in EU: what next?

Last week the four European independent regulatory "watchdogs" in DK, NL, GE and UK have published an important joint paper entitled "The end of the Commission's action programme for reducing administrative burdens in the European Union - What comes next?"
These advisory bodies take the view that "in times of economic and financial crisis, political support for the EU is liable to decline. Transparent procedures and smart regulation are needed more than ever to drivecompetitiveness and support of the EU as a positive institution for growth.
They suggest that "the EU should continue to reinforce its programmes on smart regulation. As the Action Programme for reducing administrative burdens will end in 2012, a new programme needs to be developed to keep the momentum. Some progress has been made so far, but there is still quite a way to go. A change in the mindset, a cultural shift towards smart regulation as a basic prerequisite of proposed legislation has not yet been reached."
The paper draws lessons from the Smart Regulation agenda initiatives over the recent past: for admininistrative burdens, it notes the 31% reduction proposals from the Commission and recommends widening the scope of the programme to the overall regulatory burden; for impact assessments, it points at a number of "inconsistencies" of current efforts and suggests improvements in the consultation and quality check; to support progress, it recommends extending the mandate of the HLG of independent stakeholders ("Stoiber Group") to advise all three institutions on the full range of smart regulation issues.
For more see DG Enterprise and Industry site on smart regulation which includes a section on the Stoiber Group.

EC glowing update on cutting red tape

The Commission's efforts to cut unnecessary administrative burdens are progressing well, making the lives of businesses easier, in particular small and medium sized enterprises, and strengthening European competitiveness. The Commission has already tabled proposals with a reduction potential well above the target of 25 % and is preparing new proposals bringing the total reduction potential to almost 33 % or EUR 40.7 bn. That is the key message of the update about the implementation of the Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the EU, published today on the eve of the Competitiveness Council. Commission President José Manuel Barroso discussed this progress today with the Chairman of the High-Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens, Dr. Edmund Stoiber. The Group advises and assists the Commission on administrative burden reduction and will produce a report on best practice in Member States by end of 2011.

E-gov in support of better regulation

E-government is not often listed as a better regulation tool. However, when online procedures assist citizens and companies to comply with regulation, this is a direct contribution to enforcement, raises compliance rates, reduces irritation, all of which help enhance the quality of regulation as we understand it. In some cases, eServices also reinforce the Single Market. Such a contribution was clearly recognised by the Malmö Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment (November 2009) "(European governements) should use eGovernment to increase their efficiency and effectiveness and to constantly improve public services in a way that caters for users' different needs and maximises public value, thus supporting the transition of Europe to a leading knowledge-based economy.".

The European Commission's HLG AB (Stoiber-group) has emphasised the need for eGov solutions in almost all of the "opinions" by which it advises the European Commission. The opinions have also emphasised that eServices lead to burden reductions only if adapted to business needs. And without any burden reduction, no high uptake (- and lower benefits for public sector).The HLG AB (Stoiber-group) has emphasised the need for eGov solutions in almost all of the "opinions" by which they advise the European Commission. They have also emphasised that eServices lead to burden reductions only if adapted to business needs. And without any burden reduction, no high uptake (- and lower benefits for public sector).

Furthermore it is also important to make sure that new / revised legislation promotes and facilitates the use of ICT.The Commission (led by DG INFSO) is now preparing a eGov Action Plan for 2011-2015, based on the objectives in the declaration and in collaboration and coordination with the MSs. This will be part of the wider Digital Agenda for 2020 embracing wider ICT aspects. Find out more on the i2020 (the EU policy framework for information society and media) and EU2020 (Lisbon strategy successor) pages on Europa (with K. Bjorke and W. Carrara).

Stoiber group renewed with expanded mandate

Following a working meeting today with Mr Edmund Stoiber, president of the high level group on administrative burdens (HLG), Mr Barroso issued a public statement which is interesting in that it charts a way forward for this key component in the consultation process which underpins the smart regulation agenda. The statement addresses five major points:

• extension of mandate of HLG until 2012 to fully exploit the savings potential of the Action Programme on cutting admin burdens;
• the HLG will prepare a report by November 2011 on best practice of Member States to implement EU legislation in the least burdensome way;
• the HLG will help the Commission to pilot Commission proposals through the legislative process in the Council and the European Parliament;
• the Group will be involved in the Commission's simplification efforts;
• Informal cooperation between the HLG and the Impact Assessment Board.

This represents a significant widening of the competences of the HLG, showing appreciation for the work done since September 2007.