http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/admin-burdens-reduction/index_en.htm
The European Commission has launched a website to allow entrepreneurs to suggest ideas for how to reduce the administrative burdens they face. What is this Online Consultation ? The European Commission is aware of the concerns surrounding the administrative burdens which result from EU legislation. Inspired by the Belgian website *www.kafka.be* <http://www.kafka.be/>, this *Online Consultation* offers you the opportunity to contribute directly to improving the quality of legislation. Building on best practices at Member State level (Belgium, Netherlands and the United Kingdom in particular), this Online Consultation was created precisely for the purpose of giving EU businesses the possibility to voice their concerns directly to the European Commission. This *Online Consultation* is part of the *"Action Programme for reducing administrative burdens in the European Union"*<http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/regulation/better_regulation/index_en.htm>launched in 2007 (-25% by 2012). This Programme is meant to identify and suppress unnecessary administrative burdens. It will not undermine the underlying objectives of EU law. There are indeed many cases where information obligations are indispensable, inter alia, for reasons to do with the protection of public health, protection of workers' rights or the environment or the need to protect EU financial interests and ensuring sound financial management. Who should use this Online Consultation? This *Online Consultation* has been created for businesses. It targets their concerns and aims to collect contributions that will help the EU to design more efficient business legislation. This website does not aim at receiving complaints from private citizens and cannot cater for contributions concerning private administrative issues. What can this Online Consultation do for you? Businesses often voice concerns over the burdens imposed by legislation and red tape in general. By highlighting concrete cases and providing practical solutions, you will directly contribute to improve the regulatory environment for all businesses. What is an administrative burden? EU rules mainly impose two types of costs on business: substantive costs and administrative costs. Substantive costs are induced by obligations for businesses to change their products and/or production processes. Administrative costs are defined as costs incurred by businesses in meeting obligations to provide information on their activities or production, either to public authorities or to private parties. Information is to be construed in a broad sense, i.e. including costs of labelling, reporting, monitoring and assessment needed to provide the information and registration. In some cases, information has to be transferred to public authorities or private parties. In others, it only has to be available for inspection or supplied on request (see EU Standard Cost Model used by the European Commission * http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/docs_en.htm*<http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/docs_en.htm>). In some cases, most businesses would continue to collect and provide information even if legal obligations were suppressed (information on what they sell and what they buy, information to shareholders, etc.). Other administrative activities are only pursued because of legal obligations. These are called administrative burdens. Situations where administrative burdens are unnecessary These situations occur, among other things, when ** - information requirements relate to substantive requirements that have been dropped or modified (e.g. information obligation in road transport introduced when special permits were required for international transport) - the reporting frequency is too high compared to the pace of events - the reporting frequency and submission date set by different obligations are not aligned, for no good reason - the same information is asked by different authorities - the same information has to be submitted in different formats (e.g. in electronic and paper form) - information requirements apply indiscriminately (i.e. even to those who play a very minor role in a domain) - legal requirements are so complicated that you cannot understand what information you are supposed to collect and/or how to transmit it How can I submit problems and suggestions on administrative burdens? This *on-line questionnaire*<http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/admin-burdens-reduction/form_en.htm>has been designed to register your problems and suggestions on administrative burdens. Your input will be taken into account in the preparation of EU measures reducing administrative burdens. Contributions and feedback from the Commission will be summarised in periodic *reports*<http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/admin-burdens-reduction/reports_en.htm>published on this site.
