EC Launches Consultation On Cutting Red Tape

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

10 June 2005

As part of its “Partnership for Jobs and Growth” initiative, the European Commission announced on Wednesday that it has launched a public on-line consultation to ask businesses how they feel the business environment in the EU can be improved and the administrative burden can be reduced.

Through an online questionnaire, the Commission is asking companies and other interested parties to identify particularly burdensome rules and make suggestions as to how best to simplify them.

The information gathered will be compiled and examined in the Commission’s “Red Tape Observatory” and by the responsible Commission services. Comment is invited until December 31.

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso explained that

:“We are keen to hear which rules need to be simplified because they stand in the way of sustainable growth, deter business investment or hinder job creation. This Commission has already come a long way to improve the regulatory environment. We have strengthened the consultation procedures, new legal proposals have to be subject to a rigid impact assessment and we are screening existing proposals and laws for its effectiveness. But there is more concrete action to come in the next months.”

Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen added:

“Strong companies in a strong European economy will result in more jobs and more economic growth. This benefits all our citizens - and will enable us to maintain and increase Europe’s prosperity and our quality of life.”

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