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News Release from: The Forum of Private Business
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 20 November 2006
EU Commission to slash red tape -
apparently
The Forum of Private Business has warned the European Commission that action must follow their latest promises to cut back on regulation in Europe.
The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has warned the European Commission that action must follow their latest promises to cut back on regulation in Europe In yet another new report, plans to slash 25% of red tape by 2012 have been published
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 13 Sep 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Vice-president Guenter Verheugen said: "We are moving ahead with an unprecedented drive to cut administrative burdens in Europe".
"We have been speaking about this for some time, now we are delivering." Chief executive of the FPB, Nick Goulding, was not convinced by the report, which also gave an update on the 2005 commitments.
He said: "These proposals are nowhere near ambitious enough.
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They concentrate on simplifying compliance; what we need to see is a commitment to repealing unnecessary regulations which are the curse of the small business." The introduction of new regulations, as well as the failures of the 2005 programme, caused Goulding to remain sceptical about the report: " A number of 2005 initiatives have not been completed and many of those slated for 2006 have not been adopted.
In addition, the ongoing production of new regulations has the effect of cancelling out the Commission's simplification efforts." He said: "Talk is cheap in Brussels.
Just this month we have seen a new report from the European Parliament encouraging more small-business friendly policies, less regulation and so on.
Yet the Commission has continued its efforts to remove the opt-out from the Working Time Directive, produced some of the most burdensome chemical regulation in years, and has produced a work programme for 2007 that contains far more legislation than simplification." The European Commission is increasingly out of touch with the practicalities of running a small business.
Goulding continued: "Our members, some 25,000 small and medium-sized businesses in the UK, are bewildered by the volume of red tape coming out of Brussels.
The Lisbon Agenda aims to make the EU the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world but with the current regulatory environment, that cannot be realised." Goulding does believe there is political will to tackle red tape at the head of the Commission.
However, he said that action must follow: "Commissioners Barroso and Verheugen are obviously deeply committed to reducing the administrative burden, but they have to be honest with themselves - their agenda is not getting through.
Commission officials, as well as member states, are undermining their efforts and until they can do something about that, the cost of red tape will not come down." * About The Forum of Private Business - The Forum of Private Business (FPB) was formed in the UK in 1977 and is a pressure group fighting on behalf of private businesses.
The FPB represents approximately 25,000 UK-based businesses, which employ in excess of 600,000 people, and is a powerful lobbying voice in both the UK and the European Union.
The FPB, as the only full UK member of UEAPME - the organisation that represents small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe - is the most prominent advocate of UK SMEs in Brussels and has a track record of positively affecting legislation prior to its introduction in the UK.
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