Training course on "new comitology"

(Announcement) "How the EU Impact Assessment is changing advocacy: focus on 'New Comitology' (16-17 May)": as impact assessments are increasingly being performed by the Commission on delegated and implementing acts, new opportunities for substantive lobbying emerge. This one-day training will offer a unique opportunity to understand how your organisation may ask the Commission to run an Impact Assessment and also how to use it in the decision-making process. Our case studies will be based on the most recent and controversial risk regulatory decisions such as Bisphenol A and Neonicotinoids.
With a guest speaker from the European Parliament's newly created Impact Assessment unit, and former EU Commission officials and Court of Justice of the EU you will get a unique insight to the latest developments and get practical tips on how to work with IA in regulatory affairs.
To see the detailed programme, click here: http://www.eu-academy.eu/training/impact-assessment-comitology-stakeholders-and-advocacy/

New permit policy in Jakarta

The Jakarta Post dated 15 May reports on a commitment by the governor of Jakarta to establish a special body to handle all investment permit-related processes under one roof, following complaints about the red-tape surrounding the setting up of a business. The Doing Business ranking of Indonesia is poor (128th) and particularly weak on "Starting a Business" (166th), a fact that the article does not mention, though it quotes other DB figures. Though welcome, this one-stop-shop only concerns one of the cities likely to attract foreign investment, but it will contribute to regulatory reform measures suggested by the October 2012 OECD review.

Smarter rules for safer food (Commission)

The European Commission adopted on 6 May a package of measures to strengthen the enforcement of health and safety standards for the whole agri-food chain. Smart regulators will be interested in the claim that the proposals have been inspired by the principles of better or smart regulation, more than in the relation with the horsemeat scandal which is undoubtedly in the back of the minds of the Commision:
According to the press release, "the package of measures provide a modernised and simplified, more risked-based approach to the protection of health and more efficient control tools to ensure the effective application of the rules guiding the operation of the food chain. The package responds to the call for better simplification of legislation and smarter regulation thus reducing administrative burden for operators and simplifying the regulatory environment. Special consideration is given to the impact of this legislation on SMEs and micro enterprises which are exempted from the most costly and burdensome elements in the legislation. The current body of EU legislation covering the food chain consists of almost 70 pieces of legislation. Today's package of reform will cut this down to 5 pieces of legislation and will also reduce the red-tape on processes and procedures for farmers, breeders and food business operators (producers, processors and distributors) to make it easier for them to carry out their profession." Yes, the elements are there: simplification, risk-based approach, reduction of aministrative burde:s, impact assessment, SMEs test, consolidation. For more on the package, see press pack.

To combat bureaucracy, use emails (France)

In France, the smart regulation policy has for many years relied on measures specifically aimed at improving "the relationship between the government and the citizens". See for instance the seminal text of Law 2000-321 of 12 April 2000 which introduced several lasting improvements. On 2 May, the governament tabled a bill in Parliament empowering the government to further simplify the relationship, as part of the modernisation policy announced on 18 December. See official media release after the Council of Ministers.
Subject to a go-ahead from Parliament, the Government will be empowered to draft and enact a code on relations between the administration and the public. This code will consolidate all of the rules of administrative procedure which are now difficult to access or ascertain because they are jurisprudential or scattered among various texts. In addition, the Government will be allowed to simplify the current rules to harmonise and simplify them. The bill also carries three specific measures. Perhaps the most significant one is the creation of a right for citizens to file an administrative claim or request by electronic means. Of course, the facility is already largely available, but in France, it is deemed better to make it into an additional right to ensure proper and uniform implementation, even at the cost of one more regulation.
For some good background on the measures, see Acteurs Publics comment entitled "emails against bureaucracy" which deems that in spite of its brevity, the new rule could introduce a revolutionary change in dealing with red tape.

France: official report on normative inflation (must-read)

Just released: a new take on an old subject, well served by an innovative and attractive format, very exceptional for an official report in France. Commissioned by the Government, two MPs who happen to belong to two of the highest administrative courts, have produced a comprehensive document full of funny anecdotes and sound proposals to usher in a "legal competiviness shock" (adding to the "simplification shock" and "competitiveness shock" already reported here.) Illustrated by famous French caricaturist Plantu (known for his daily drawings in "Le Monde") the Lambert/Boulard report on normative inflation manages to stay entertaining (in French only) on a notoriously boring topic, for instance by granting "prizes" for the most absurd regulations. But its import goes well beyond France, as many of the complexity sources can be found in most foreign countries. It classicly addresses both stock and flow, and contributes both on doctrine (a new definition of smart law, droit intelligent) and 44 practical measures, see pages 51 and 98 for summary respectively for stock and flow. For background on the parliamentary mission, see previous post of 26 March.
On the same topic, the ministry of interior has calculated that in spite of the moratorium on such new legislation, regulatory burdens on local authorities will be increased by €1 bn on average in 2013 and 2014. The bulk of the expenditure however comes from wage and pension rises, rather than new regulation.

New Transparency Grades Issued for States (US)

U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG, a consumer advocacy group) has been reviewing online transparency initiatives since early 2010. Its fourth annual report finds that many States have made significant improvements in the area of online transparency. The report scrutinizes the extent to which states posted a range of expenditures and made information easily accessible, issuing grades to each state government. For the first time, this year, all 50 states maintain some form of a spending transparency website, all of which were searchable except for California and Vermont. When U.S. PIRG first began reviewing online transparency initiatives in early 2010, only 32 maintained such websites. See also comment by media platform GOVERNING.

Enactment of major Act on regulatory reform (UK)

On 25 April, BIS Department announced that following adoption in Parliament the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act had received Royal Assent. This text aims to support long term growth through a range of legal, managerial and institutional measures:

• company law reforms to make sure there is a link between directors’ pay and long-term company performance by giving shareholders of UK quoted companies binding votes on directors’ pay;
• a better employment tribunal system encouraging parties to come together to settle their dispute before an employment tribunal claim is lodged;
• improved whistleblowing protection for company employees;
• new Competition and Markets Authority, bringing together the competition functions of the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission; strengthened legal basis for the UK Green Investment Bank;
• implementing ideas collected via the Red Tape Challenge;
• modernise the UK’s copyright regime while strengthening copyright protections. New possibility to license orphan works; new system for extended collective licensing of copyright works;
• improve consumer protection: right to view and download the data businesses hold on them in an electronic format;
• simplify regulation through reduced inspection burdens; repeal unnecessary laws and time-limit new laws so that there are only ever relevant and necessary laws in place and extend the Primary Authority Scheme to provide consistent regulatory advice to thousands more small firms.

See the Gov site for details.