Barroso welcomes best practice report and calls on EU countries to learn from each other

The EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso met with the chairman of the High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens, Edmund Stoiber, who handed over the report "Europe can do more" on best practice in Member States to implement EU legislation in the least burdensome way.

The High Level Group on Administrative Burdens advises and assists the Commission on the implementation of the Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the EU since 2008.

Barroso said the report shows impressive examples how member countries 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."

Barroso called on all 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."

The best practice report was requested by the EU Commission in August 2010. The report lists 74 best practice examples - including initiatives on e-government, on intelligent solutions in particular for small businesses, direct stakeholder involvement, good guidance and cross-border initiatives.

Barroso added that the report shows that there is ample scope for improving the implementation of EU legislation. "Since almost a third of the administrative burdens on businesses deriving from EU legislation stem from inefficient national implementation of EU requirements, reducing such burdensome implementation is vital to improving the life of businesses and to boosting the EU's economy and its competitiveness."

The report includes a checklist with recommendations and invites readers to comment. Barroso said that the target to reduce administrative burdens for businesses in the EU by 25 % by 2012 and the corresponding Action Programme were proposed by the Commission in January 2007, and endorsed by the European Council in March 2007. "The improvement of the business environment by cutting red tape is a joint objective which can only be attained on the basis of a shared responsibility of the European Institutions and the Member States."

The European Commission added that it has made good progress in implementing the Action Programme. "The Commission has already proposed measures that reduce administrative burdens by up to 33 % or more than €40 billion. Out of this, Council and Parliament have so far adopted measures amounting to a reduction of 22 %."

The Commission also said that with the recent agreement on measures reducing accounting red tape for more than 5 million small companies the total reduction figure received a further boost towards achieving the target of reducing administrative burdens by 25 % by 2012.