23
FIEC
CONSTRUCTION EUROPE
DECEMBER 2013-JANUARY 2014
Progress in reducing
legislative burdens
FIEC
Avenue Louise 225,
B - 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Tel: +32 2 514 55 35;
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While regulation at EU level is important and a necessity in many areas, it is
often accused of hindering businesses.
FIEC
examines efforts to tackle this
A
t the beginning of October
2013,
the
European
Commission presented a
new Communication introducing
some further steps to make EU
legislation better and lighter.
This Communication is part of
themore general smart regulation
approach, or Regulatory Fitness &
Performance Programme (REFIT),
from the European Commission,
initiated in 2012.
The aim is to review the entire
stock of EU legislation, in order to
identify burdens, inconsistencies,
gaps or ineffective measures, and
to make the necessary proposals
to follow up on the findings of
the review.
The completion of the EU Single
market led to the adoption of
various marketing standards. In
the case of fruits and vegetables,
for instance, the aim was to
facilitate trade on the basis of fair
competition, help producers to
meet consumer expectations and
keep unsatisfactory products off
the market.
Many rules were adopted over
the years, and by 1996 a total
of 36 fruit and vegetables were
regulated by specific marketing
standards.
These,
however,
were heavily criticised for being
unnecessarily complex and
leading to food waste, with
fruits and vegetables with non-
conventional shapes and sizes
being excluded from the market.
This led the Commission
to review and simplify the
existing rules. As a result of the
simplification efforts undertaken
in 2008, these marketing
standards have been brought
down to a set of 10 specific rules
in force today.
It is clear that, whereas
regulation at EU level is important
and a necessity in many areas,
it is often accused of hindering
businesses, especially SMEs, and
of interfering in citizens’ daily
lives by generating too much red
tape.
POLICY REFORMS
In response to these concerns,
the Commission initiated major
policy reforms, leading to more
than 600 initiatives since 2005,
aimed at simplifying or recasting
existing legislation and to the
withdrawal of over 5,500 legal
acts.
This,
according
to
the
Commission,
corresponded
to a reduction of 26% in the
administrative
burden
for
enterprises between 2007 and
2012, equivalent to savings of
€32.3 billion per year.
These initiatives included the
adoptionof theServicesDirective,
which has led to the elimination
of hundreds of discriminatory,
unjustified or disproportionate
national requirements hindering
the principle of free provision
of services within the Internal
Market.
It also fuelled the move towards
a fully electronic VAT invoicing
system, which will save time and
money for enterprises.
There are also other important
legislative
initiatives
for
simplification
and
burden
reduction for enterprises which
are of particular relevance for
the construction sector. These
initiatives include the revision
of the Public Procurement
Directives.
This revision included, among
others, provisions to require the
acceptance of self-declarations
for selection purposes – and only
the winning bidder will have to
submit complete evidence – as
well as a gradual transition to
e-procurement.
Companies would be able to
consult tender opportunities
online and submit their offers
electronically, which simplifies
the process and increases
transparency.
As part of this overall screening
exercise,
the
Commission
launched a number of so-called
fitness checks – studies on
existing
legislations.
Such
checks are comprehensive policy
evaluations assessing whether
the regulatory framework for
a specific policy sector is fit for
purpose.
They aim in particular to identify
excessive regulatory burdens,
overlaps, gaps, inconsistencies
and/or obsolete measures which
may have appeared over time.
Their findings serve as a basis
for drawing policy conclusions on
further legislative developments.
One of these fitness checks
covers the entire EU legislation
on Occupational Safety and
Health (OSH) – that is the
Framework Directive and its
23 related directives, which are
currently being submitted to a
full evaluation.
The
conclusions
of
this
assessment should be available
towards the end of 2015.
While waiting for these
conclusions,
the
European
Commission
decided
not
to table for the moment new
legislative proposals which were
being prepared, such as the
ones in the fields of Muscular-
Skeletal Disorders (MSDs) and of
Respirable Crystalline Silica.
Other fitness checks concern
legislation about equal treatment
in social security as well as waste
and chemicals not covered
by REACH, the Directive on
Renewable energy.
Of course, part of the legislative
burden depends on how EU
legislation has been transposed
and applied at national level.
Therefore, the Member States
will be invited to contribute to
the initiative by providing all the
relevant information.
MONITORING
In future, any legislative proposal
from the European Commission
should be accompanied, together
with the implementation plan,
by an assessment containing the
objectives and the indicators for
the monitoring and evaluation of
the performance of the proposed
measure.
The Commission is also
committed to collaborating
with Member States during the
transposition phase, in order to
facilitate the exchange of best
practice.
Finally, this REFIT initiative has to
be seen as a rolling programme.
Therefore, in order to keep track
of the proposals throughout
the legislative process, the
Commission will publish an
annual REFIT scoreboard.
Theaimistomonitorthecontent
of the amendments decided
at EU level, and the impact at
Member States level with regard
to effective simplification and
burden reduction.
The scoreboard will show cases
where the co-legislator – in other
words, the European Parliament
and the Council of Ministers –
deviates from a real simplification
proposal as submitted by the
Commission.
In addition, it will show cases
where the implementation
by the Member States adds
regulatory burden or does not
allow business to reap the full
benefits of burden reduction
decided at EU level.
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