ECJ enforces Environment impact assessment directive

A recent ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) says that Austrian legislation on impact assessments breaks EU rules. In case 244/12 the ECJ ruled on 21 March that European Union members states must conduct an environmental impact assessment for any project likely to have significant effects on the environment. The Court was ruling on Austrian legislation, which requires green impact assessments on proposed modifications to airports only if the modification will increase traffic by at least 20,000 flights per year.
Salzburg Airport had taken the case to an Austrian court after the government had ruled retroactively that a modification made in 2002 should have required an impact assessment. The airport said that under Austrian law no assessment was needed. The ECJ ruled that this law contravenes EU rules.
According to a comment by European Voice, the ruling will have major ramifications for projects across the EU. Member states will no longer be able to place a quantitative size threshold to decide which projects need an assessment. Instead, the threshold must be based on the potential effect on the environment.
The Commission recently published a report summarizing the rulings of the ECJ on the application of Directive 2011/92/EU of 13 December 2011 which prescribes the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, as amended, known as the "EIA" (environmental impact assessment) Directive, requires that an environmental assessment to be carried out by the competent national authority for certain projects which are likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue, inter alia, of their nature, size or location, before development consent is given. For other useful documents, go to DG Environment page on EIA.

"Why regulations never seem to disappear?"

An interesting summary of an issue well-known to smart regulators: the tendency of all bureaucracies to secrete new regulation, and the difficulty of curbing that trend, by great expert Patrick McLaughlin, co-creater of RegData. Also note the creation in Kansas of an "office of the Repealer" as reported by The Economist.

Remise d'un rapport sur l'allègement des normes

English translation follows text in French
Selon diverses sources, un rapport préconisant des solutions pour lutter contre "l'inflation normative" a été remis mardi 26 mars à Jean-Marc Ayrault, selon l'agenda du Premier ministre, au moment où le gouvernement dit vouloir empêcher que le respect des normes ne ralentisse son action. Le site privé Weka.fr commente comme suit cette information: "Ce rapport avait été confié début janvier par le Premier ministre à deux élus de tendances politiques différentes, le sénateur Alain Lambert, président du conseil général de l'Orne, et le maire (PS) du Mans Jean-Claude Boulard. Dans sa lettre de mission, M. Ayrault demandait notamment aux deux élus de dresser "une liste de" normes à abroger" et de "recenser des normes complexes ou inadaptées". Le champ de cette étude concerne uniquement les normes applicables aux collectivités locales, dont s'étaient une nouvelle fois plaints presque tous les élus lors des "états généraux de la démocratie territoriale" organisés en octobre dernier.

RIA and Evaluation of Inclusiveness (UNESCO conference)

Organized within the framework of UNESCO's Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme, an expert workshop on the measurement and evaluation of social inclusion policies was held from 25 to 26 March 2013, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, with the aim of developing the study and mapping of indexes and methodologies available to measure social inclusion and assess the level of inclusion of public policies.
The 100 or so experts from governments, international organisations (OECD, EC and others) and NGOs drew up together a long list of available tools and data sources, then examined their contribution to impact assessment and evaluation processes seeking to improve the relevance and efficiency of inclusiveness policies. A concept note and all contributions are available online on the conference website, thereby providing from a single link a vast array of methodological resources for Social Impact Assessment and related issues.

"What the Budget means for business" (UK)

A good idea to present "What the Budget means for business, innovation and skills" on the occasion of this very important day. It's well worth visiting the Budget 2013 page on the official site, which summarizes seven measures, among which the last one concerns red tape:
"Cutting red tape: The government will launch a second phase of the Red Tape Challenge to help cut red tape for businesses. 1500 regulations have already been identified to be amended or scrapped. This second phase will look at the whole regulatory system – including laws, guidance, compliance, and enforcement, through short targeted reviews. We will ask businesses what specific problems we should look at before the launch in the summer of 2013."

Chinese gvt to free economy from red tape

According to an article titled "China's new cabinet vows to cut red tape" published by People's Daily of March 19, the newly-elected State Council has given top priority to modernising "government functions". Premier Li Keqiang had chaired an executive cabinet meeting on the day before, "advocating that transforming government functions is the key to further reforming administrative systems and developing a market economy and an economy ruled by law. Cutting red tape will be a breakthrough in achieving the transformation of government functions, according to a statement from the meeting. In a bid to let the market play its role and empower social forces, the government has vowed to take drastic action to reduce items that demand official approval or transfer such power to lower levels, the statement said. To invigorate the economy and society, the government has also vowed to refrain from intervening in micro issues, the statement said. The government will strengthen macro management and focus more on key influential issues in a bid to improve its scientific management levels, the statement said." Behind the rather emphatic language, the determination to continue liberalising the economy seems genuine.

One-stop-shop for sporting events (France)

Who would have thought that it would be so complex to organise a Sunday cross country race or a childrens' basket ball competition? A good example of simplification experimenting is provided by a French département deciding to tackle what is a national issue and set up a "web-platform" for a single access to the various administrative procedures set up by different agencies, thereby also reducing the official response time to organisers' requests. Both specific sporting requireements and general rules such as those applying to events in public spaces are catered for, in this region where one quarter of the population are registered in one or several sporting clubs. This type of solution now apparently needs to be developped at the national level. For more, see Acteurs Publics.