Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the EU Sectoral Reduction Plans and 2009 Actions
Date: 2009-10-22
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU law, European Union, administrative formalities, operating cost, overheads

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 22.10.2009 
COM(2009) 544 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the EU  
Sectoral Reduction Plans and 2009 Actions 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

3. 

3.1. 

3.2. 

3.3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 

Results of the EU baseline measurement and overview of the Sectoral Reduction 
Plans ............................................................................................................................. 3 

Reaching the reduction target for EU legislation......................................................... 6 

Delivery to Date - Measures adopted........................................................................... 7 

Delivery to Date - Measures proposed......................................................................... 9 

Planned Delivery - Measures under preparation........................................................ 10 

Progress at national level ........................................................................................... 11 

Recommendation on the scope of the Action Programme......................................... 11 

Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 12 

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Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the EU 
Sectoral Reduction Plans and 2009 Actions 

INTRODUCTION 

1. 
In  January  2007  the  Commission  presented  an  ambitious  Action  Programme1  to  eliminate 
unnecessary administrative burdens on businesses in the EU. The European Council endorsed 
the  Programme  in  March  20072  and  agreed  that  administrative  burdens  arising  from  EU 
legislation, including  national  measures implementing or transposing this legislation,  should 
be  reduced  by  25 %  in  2012.  The  European  Council  also  invited  Member  States  to  “set 
national targets of comparable ambition”.  

The  Action  Programme  is  an  essential  part  of  the  Commission's  overall  Better  Regulation 
Agenda  –  intervening  where  there  is  a  need  to  do  so,  involving  stakeholders  fully,  and 
keeping burdens on  public authorities, businesses and  citizens to the  minimum  necessary to 
achieve  societal  goals.  It  is  firmly  rooted  in  the  Commission's  strategy  to  promote 
competitiveness, growth and jobs3. Reducing regulatory costs imposed on enterprises is also 
in  line  with  the  Small  Business  Act  and  its  "think  small  first"  principle.  The  importance  of 
reducing unnecessary administrative burdens increased with the economic crisis since Small 
and  Medium  sized  Enterprises  in  particular  need  quick  relief.  Moreover  it  is  a  sensible 
complement to direct budgetary support, at a time where the financial capacity of the Union 
and  the  Member  States  to  intervene  is  substantially  diminishing.  For  all  these  reasons  the 
reduction of administrative burdens has been identified as one of the key areas for action in 
the European Economic Recovery Plan.  

At the beginning of 2009, the Commission made a commitment to present Sectoral Reduction 
Plans  for  all  13  priority  areas  and  prepare  additional  measures  to  reduce  administrative 
burdens before the end of its mandate4 in order to do everything within its competencies to 
achieve  the  25 %  target  in  2012.  Both  aspects  are  covered  in  this  Communication  which 
provides an overview of achievements so far, lessons learned and steps ahead. 

2. 

RESULTS OF THE EU BASELINE MEASUREMENT AND OVERVIEW OF THE SECTORAL 
REDUCTION PLANS 

With the endorsement of the European Council and the support of the European Parliament, 
the Commission launched an assessment of administrative burdens5 which businesses incur in 
meeting EU legal obligations to provide information on their products or activities, either to 
public  authorities  or  to  private  parties6.  This  EU  baseline  measurement  covers  burdens 

1 
2 
3 

4 
5 

6 

COM(2007)23, 21 January 2007. 
Presidency conclusions of the European Council (7/8 March 2007), p.10. 
On  the  impact  of  administrative  burdens  reduction  on  competitiveness,  see  European  Commission, 
"Quantitative assessment of Structural Reforms: Modelling the Lisbon Strategy", European Economy - 
Economic Paper n°282, June 2007. 
COM(2009)15, 28 January 2009. 
As foreseen in COM(2007)23 the EU baseline measurement distinguishes between administrative costs 
and administrative burdens.  
Information  is  to  be  construed  in  a  broad  sense,  i.e.  including  labelling,  reporting,  registration, 
monitoring and assessment needed to provide the information. In some cases, the information has to be 
transferred to public authorities or private parties. In others, it only has to be available for inspection or 
supply on request. 

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stemming from EU legislation and from national measures implementing or transposing it. It 
uses  the  EU  “standard  cost  model”  (SCM)  which  draws  on  the  specific  experiences  of 
Member States. The qualitative and quantitative results of this exercise have been a valuable 
input for setting reduction priorities and designing reduction proposals. 

The  EU  baseline  measurement  has  been  finalised  for  the  72  acts  covered  by  the  Action 
Programme and its 13 priority areas7. The overall administrative burden imposed by these acts 
at the beginning of the legislature (2005) is estimated to be around EUR 123.8 billions8. 
The exercise has identified a total of 486 EU information obligations9, and more than 10 000 
national  obligations  which  transpose  or  implement  these  EU  obligations.  More  than  700 
national  obligations  go  beyond  EU  legal  requirements.  The  burden  for  businesses  of 
complying with each information obligation has been estimated, taking into account the fact 
that in many cases businesses would perform the required tasks even in the absence of legal 
obligations (“Business As Usual” costs). 

Table  1  provides  estimated  administrative  burdens  per  priority  area  as  well  as  sectoral 
reduction  figures.  The  latter  are  the  sum  of  the  reduction  potential  of  measures  adopted, 
proposed and, in a few cases, under preparation. They provide a clear indication of the state of 
the reduction effort, and show that certain sectors have significantly out-performed the 25 % 
target.  The  sectoral  reduction  plans  presented  in  Annex  C  show  concretely  why  the 
Programme matters, who is being helped and how. 

The  main  findings  of  the  EU  baseline  measurement  and  flanking  studies  conducted  for  the 
Commission are that:10 

•  A  very  high  proportion  of  administrative  burdens  stems  from  a  limited  number  of 
information obligations in a couple of policy areas (Taxation and Company Law account 
for  more  than  80 %  of  the  total  burden  measured  -  a  logical  consequence  of  the  level  of 
European  harmonization  reached  in  these  areas  and  of  the  large  number  of  companies 
affected  by  these  legislations11;  the  ten  most  important  information  obligations  overall 
account  for  more  than  77 %  of  the  total  burden  of  EU  origin).  This  confirms  that  the 
decision  to  focus  measurement  and  reduction  efforts  on  a  limited  number  of  acts  in  key 
priority areas was appropriate.  

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10 

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Agriculture and agricultural subsidies, Annual accounts/Company law, Cohesion policy, Environment, 
Financial  services,  Fisheries,  Food  safety,  Pharmaceutical  legislation,  Public  procurement,  Statistics, 
Taxation / Customs, Transport, Working environment / employment relations. 
For sectoral figures, see Table 1. The figures provided in COM(2009)16 correspond to the 42 EU acts 
initially in scope of the Action Programme. The figures presented here also cover the 30 EU acts added 
by the Commission in January 2009. While the Member States were to measure in parallel exercises the 
burdens  stemming  from  purely  national  rules,  only  a  minority  of  them  has  so  far  done  so.  Total 
administrative  burdens  in  the  EU  (i.e. resulting  from  all  obligations  of  international,  EU  and  national 
origins) can therefore not be determined firmly at this stage. Annex A provides details on the data and 
methodology used. 
EU legal texts include different types of provisions that can lead to information obligations at national 
level:  some  impose  obligations  on  businesses  (directly  or  via  compulsory  transposition  by  Member 
States); others merely open up the possibility for Member States to impose an obligation on businesses. 
on 
For 
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/better-regulation/ab_studies_2009_en.htm. 
Harmonized  rules  are  indispensable  in  these  areas  because  indirect  taxes  may  create  an  immediate 
obstacle to the free movement of goods and the free supply of services and because it is essential for 
creating a Single Market for Financial Services and products. More over these rules apply to all sectors 
and they impose frequent actions – for example the annual number of invoices is much higher than the 
annual number of authorization procedures in a sector. 

see  Annex  A. 

contracted 

Externally 

available 

details, 

studies 

are 

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Table 1 – Burden and Reduction (72 legal acts in scope) 

Priority Area 

Administrative Burden 
(in €) 

Sectoral Reduction 
Figure (in €) 

Reduction 
as % of Burden 

Agriculture / Agricultural 
Subsidies12 

Annual Accounts / 
Company Law 

5 289 700 000 

-1 891 400 000

-36 % 

14 589 100 000 

-8 274 500 000

-57 % 

Cohesion Policy 

929 100 000 

-222 600 000

-24 % 

Environment 

1 180 600 000 

-242 100 000

-21 % 

Financial Services 

939 600 000 

-141 600 000

-15 % 

Fisheries 

Food Safety 

Pharmaceutical 
Legislation 

73 900 000 

-33 400 000

-45 % 

4 073 300 000 

-1 281 800 000

-31 % 

943 500 000 

-154 600 000

-16 % 

Public Procurement 

216 300 000 

-60 100 000

-28 % 

Statistics 

779 500 000 

-328 100 000

-42 % 

Taxation / Customs 

87 005 300 000 

-26 334 200 000

-30 % 

Transport 

3 861 700 000 

-748 200 000

-19 % 

Working Environment / 
Employment Relations 

3 879 200 000 

-659 600 000

-17 % 

Total 

123 760 800 000

-40 372 200 000

-33 % 

•  Information  obligations  generally  impose  a  proportionally  higher  burden  on  small  and 
medium-sized  enterprises.  Because  of  their  size,  SMEs  don't  often  have  access  to  most 
advanced  and  efficient  Information  and  Communication  Technologies.  Neither  can  they 
have in-house staff with specialized knowledge on all regulatory matters, obliging them to 
rely  more  heavily  on  sometimes  expensive  service  providers.  Special  emphasis  should 
therefore  be  on  reducing  burden  on  SMEs.  The  "Think-Small-First"  Principle  must  be 
systematically applied when designing information obligations.  

•  The  degree  to  which  businesses  consider  an  information  obligation  to  be  irritating 
(irritation factor) is very often uncorrelated to the administrative burdens imposed13. This 

12 
13 

For details on the specific approach taken for agriculture, see Annex C.1. 
The irritation factor depends on the acceptance of the policy objective, on the perceived usefulness of 
the  information  for  the  policy  objective,  the  integration  of  the  legal  requirements  into  the  business 
processes and the ease of interaction with the respective authorities.  

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vindicates  the  decision  to  include  also  acts  that  are  more  irritating  than  burdensome. 
Dealing with perceptions is indeed one key pre-condition for securing the involvement of 
stakeholders in the longer run. 

•  It  is  estimated  that  32 %  of  administrative  burdens  of  EU  origin  are  the  result  of  the 
decision  of  some  Member  States  to  go  beyond  what  is  required  by  EU  legislation  (gold-
plating)  and  of  the  inefficiency  in  their  administrative  procedures.  This  broadly  tends  to 
confirm  previous  assessment  of  the  origin  of  administrative  burdens14  and  is  why  it  has 
proved  possible  to  cut  administrative  burdens  without  jeopardising  the  objectives  of  the 
legislation, which should remain a requirement till the end of the Programme. Significant 
differences  in  the  burdens  imposed  by  national  measures  implementing  EU  legislation 
indicate that the exchange of best practices would greatly reduce the level of administrative 
burdens in many Member States. 

REACHING THE REDUCTION TARGET FOR EU LEGISLATION 

3. 
While the reduction of administrative burden did not start in 200515, it was in the mandate of 
this Commission that major steps have been taken to reach the EU target of 25 % set in March 
2007.  The  Commission  has  already  identified  possible  reductions  of  burdens  that  go  well 
beyond that target. Reduction measures put in place by the Commission or proposed by the 
Commission  and  already  adopted  could  bring  a  reduction  of  EUR  7.6  billion.  Measures 
proposed  by  the  Commission  and  pending  adoption  could  add  EUR  30.7  billion  to  that 
amount. Preparatory work on further reduction could lead to the presentation of 31 additional 
measures bringing further reduction of at least EUR 2.1 billion. All in all this could represent 
a  reduction  of  EUR  40.4  billion  out  of  EUR  123.8  billion,  i.e.  -33 %  of  total  estimated 
burdens of EU origin. 

In order to indicate clearly what has been achieved so far, the Communication distinguishes 
between reduction measures which are adopted (e.g. adoption of legal acts by the European 
Parliament  and  the  Council  or  adoption  of  executive  acts  by  the  Commission);  which  are 
proposed (e.g. legislative proposals pending with the European Parliament and the Council); 
and which are under preparation16. 

Some reduction measures are addressed exclusively to the EU level, while others require joint 
action  of  the  EU  and  the  Member  States.  In  cases  where  the  reduction  measure  is  mainly 
addressed to Member States, the role of the Commission is to facilitate these changes. 

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15 

16 

COM(2006)691. 
Ten reduction measures adopted by Parliament and Council (and amounting to EUR 6.8 billion) have 
their origin in a legislative proposal tabled by the previous Commission. This Commission started its 
mandate by screening pending proposals. It decided to maintain these 10 proposals and defended them 
throughout the legislative deliberation. 
For  details  on  reduction  measures  presented  for  each  priority  area,  see  Sectoral  Reduction  Plans  in 
Annex D. 

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Table 2 – State of progress / Sectoral Reduction Plans (72 legal acts in scope) 

 Priority Area 

Measures adopted 

Measures proposed 

Measures under preparation 

#  

in € 

% 

#  

in € 

% 

#  

in € 

% 

Agriculture / Agri-
cultural Subsidies 

Annual accounts / 
Company law 

Cohesion policy 

Environment 

Financial services 

Fisheries 

Food safety 

Pharmaceutical 
legislation 

Public 
procurement 

Statistics 

Taxation / 
Customs 

Transport 

Working 
environment17 

7 

5 

4 

1 

5 

1 

5 

2 

1 

7 

4 

4 

2 

-1 891 400 000   -36% 

0 

0 

0% 

1 

0 

0% 

-1 362 900 000  

-9% 

2 

-6 911 600 000 

-47% 2 

0 

0% 

-117 600 000   -13% 

1 

-50 000 000 

-5% 

1 

-55 000 000

-6% 

-3 600 000   -0.3% 5 

-238 500 000 

-20% 4 

-142 500 000 

-15% 

1 

900 000

0.1% 

1 

-19 000 000   -26% 

2 

-14 400 000 

-19% 0 

0 

0% 

0 

0% 

0 

0% 

-24 600 000   -0.6% 1 

103 800 000 

3% 

2 

-1 361 000 000 

-33% 

-40 100 000 

-4% 

1 

-61 000 000 

-6% 

2 

-53 500 000 

-6% 

-12 500 000  

-6% 

0 

-328 100 000   -42% 

0 

0 

0% 

0 

0% 

2 

6 

-47 600 000 

-22% 

0 

0% 

-3 133 100 000  

-4% 

2 

-23 201 100 000 

-27% 

3 

0 

0% 

-403 800 000   -10% 

3 

-344 400 000 

-9% 

1 

0 

0% 

-92 600 000  

-2% 

0 

0 

0% 

6 

-567 000 000 

-15% 

TOTAL 

48 

-7 571 800 000 

-6% 

18 

-30 716 300 000 -25% 31 

-2 084 100 000

-2% 

3.1. 

Delivery to Date - Measures adopted 

Since the  beginning of the legislature, major steps have been taken to reduce burdens in all 
priority areas. Parliament and Council have so far adopted 33 legislative proposals presented 
by  the  Commission  with  an  estimated  reduction  of  EUR  5.7  billion.  The  Commission  in 
parallel has put in place 15 measures (e.g. executive acts, guidance documents and IT tools) 
that could bring a reduction of EUR 1.9 billion. Some of these measures have been presented 
as part of the 2007 and 2008 packages of technical measures aimed at generating immediate 
and significant benefits or reduce irritation (so-called "fast track actions"). The Commission 

17 

For  this  priority  area,  the  figure  in  the  column  “Measures  under  preparation”  also  takes  into  account 
“Measures under consideration”. 

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regrets  the  slow  pace  of  adoption  by  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  for  some  of 
these measures18. 

Reduction measures with immediate effect 

In  order  to  produce  trade  statistics  (Intrastat),  enterprises  have  to  report  on  their 
import  and  export  of  goods  within  the  Union.  By  increasing  the  threshold  under 
which enterprises do not have to report, it is estimated that the number of contributing 
enterprises  has  been  reduced  by  half  since  2004  (from  720  000  to  around  350  000). 
SMEs are the main beneficiaries. 

Special  attention  has  been  given  to  address  areas  imposing  a  large  part  of  administrative 
burdens,  such  as  VAT  legislation  and  Company  Law.  Special  focus  has  also  been  put  on 
allowing enterprises to make maximum use of the cost saving potential of new technologies 
and  e-government  solutions  and  on  alleviating  the  burden  on  SMEs.  Examples  of  measures 
already adoped include:  

•  Formalities for farmers benefiting from the "Single Payment Scheme" and other support 
schemes, such as payments for energy crops and durum wheat, have been simplified. In the 
past, farmers had to leave a part of the land unused (“set-aside”) in order to be eligible for 
support.  With  the  suppression  of  this  requirement,  farmers  no  longer  have  to  report  on 
areas they want to set aside and verify that their surface matches the percentage set by EC 
law. This concerns more than 12 million applications per year.  

•  Thanks  to  better  "Guidance  on  Risk  Assessment"19  and  the  European  campaign  of  the 
European  Agency  for  Safety  and  Health  at  Work,  more  companies,  especially  smaller 
ones,  should  be  able  to  carry  out  risk  assessments  required  by  law  in  a  simple  and  less 
time-consuming way, with savings estimated at EUR 92.5 million per year in the EU. 

•  The Modernised Customs Code20 will introduce a fully electronic customs environment 
and streamline customs procedure. Considering the cost of lodging more than 170 million 
customs  declarations  annually,  the  reduction  potential  is  immense  (roughly  EUR  2.4 
billion per year). 

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20 

For the list of pending proposals, see Annex G. 
http://osha.europa.eu/en. 
Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 laying 
down the Community Customs Code (Modernised Customs Code). 

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Reducing administrative burdens: a dynamic process 

Tachographs  are  used  to  record  the  driving  and  rest  time  of  truck  drivers.  Where 
analogue tachographs impose many manual operations, digital ones reduce the average 
time needed to record information. The EU decided that the digital tachograph should 
be  the  rule  for  transport  companies  (Regulation  561/2006).  This  switch  reduces 
administrative burdens by EUR 37 on average per driver and per year. Considering that 
74 %  of  drivers  are  still  using  the  analogue  tachographs,  the  measure  will  eventually 
bring  savings  up  to  EUR  286  million  per  year.  However  accidentally  this  regulation 
results  in  some  inconsistencies  as  regards  the  working  and  rest  times  for  non 
professional drivers, putting more burdens on craft businesses compared to farmers. 

In  July  2009  the  Commission  presented  a  draft  executive  measure  containing  12 
concrete  ways  to  simplify  the  use  of  digital  tachographs.  Time  spent  by  each  driver 
should be cut on average by 10%. As 6 million drivers are concerned and the average 
cost of one working day is EUR 147, the savings could fetch EUR 234 million a year. 

Finally, as part of the planned revision of Regulation 3821/1985, the Commission will 
eliminate  the  above  mentioned  inconsistencies  and  exempt  both  for  a  distance  of  100 
km from the EU rules on driving and rest times and will consequently also exempt them 
from the obligation to use a tachograph for a distance up to 100 km. This should provide 
a substantial reduction of administrative burden for both farmers and craftsmen as non-
professional drivers while continuing to fully ensure a high level of social protection of 
drivers and the safety on roads.  

It is also worth noting that the "new legislative framework for marketing of products" which 
comes into effect in 2010 will diminish costs stemming from national legislation21. This new 
framework  foresees  in  particular  the  extension  of  the  principle  of  mutual  recognition  to 
sectors  that  fall  under  the  non  harmonised  approach.  This  will  represent  significant  cuts  in 
burdens for businesses. 

3.2. 

Delivery to Date - Measures proposed 

In  addition  to  measures  already  adopted,  the  Commission  has  drafted  18  measures  that  are 
still  pending  adoption.  The  reduction  potential  of  these  proposed  measures  is  estimated  at 
EUR 30.7 billion22.  

Special efforts were made on the legislation covered by the Action Programme. Two of the 
proposals already presented in 2009 are particularly important: they concern invoicing rules 
set  by  VAT  legislation  (see  box  on  electronic  invoicing)  and  the  scope  of  EU  accounting 
directives (exemption of micro-enterprises from EU accounting rules). 

Further  horizontal  and  sectoral  measures  proposed  by  the  Commission  before  2009  and 
pending  adoption  by  the  EC  legislator  include  new  rules  that  would  considerably  facilitate 
reporting  linked  to  pharmaco-vigilance23.  Pharmaceutical  companies  would  only  have  to 
present  a  simplified  "pharmacovigilance  system  master  file"  in  support  of  the  marketing 
authorisation, provided a detailed file would be maintained on site. Adverse reaction reporting 
would  be  simplified,  resulting  in  fewer,  more  relevant  periodic  safety  updated  reports 
(PSURs)  being  prepared  by  firms  which  are  marketing  authorisation  holders.  Resources 
currently  spent  on  reporting  obligations  would  be  better  employed  analysing  the  data 
concerning the measurable effects of medicines, for safer medicines. 

In  the  Third  Strategic  Review  on  Better  Regulation  of  28  January  2009,  the  Commission 
made  a  commitment  to  present  additional  measures  to reduce administrative burdens before 

21 
22 
23 

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newapproach/index_en.htm. 
See Annex G. 
Proposal  for  a  Directive  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  as  regards  pharmaco-vigilance, 
COM(2008) 665. 

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the  end  of  its  mandate.  The  Commission  has  since  proposed  or  put  in  place  7  reduction 
measures and 7 more should come before the end of the year24. 

Proposals with very large potential 

In January 2009, the Commission proposed to foster e-invoicing, i.e. to remove obstacles to company’s 
electronic billing. The current rules on invoices in the VAT Directive allow Member States to impose 
additional  requirements  on  invoices  to  make  them VAT  compliant.  These  additional  requirements  and 
the lack of harmonization among Member States in this regard, prevent enterprises from making full use 
of  cost  saving business practices  such  as  electronic  invoicing. Given  that  17  billion  VAT  invoices  are 
annually issued in Europe, the switch to a fully electronic invoicing system would significantly save time 
and money to more than 22 million taxable enterprises. The maximum mid-term reduction potential is 
estimated at EUR 18.4 billion if all businesses would send all their invoices electronically. 
This  is  by  far  the  biggest  reduction  proposed  by  the  Commission.  It  is  therefore  vital  that  Council 
quickly adopts equal treatment of paper and electronic invoices. 

The  Commission  also  proposed  a  significant  simplification  of  authorisation  procedures  for 
biocidal products, with an estimated administrative burden reduction of EUR 140 million per 
year25. With the completion of the pilot phase of the Pan-European Public eProcurement On-
Line (PEPPOL), a major step will be made towards allowing any company to communicate 
electronically with any European governmental institution for the entire procurement process.  

The  Commission  is  in  addition  examining  the  possibility  to  present,  before  the  end  of  the 
year, a proposal based on the EU "Best Idea for Red Tape Reduction Award" of May 200926 
which recommends exempting craft businesses from the obligation to use a tachograph when 
providing their services within a reasonable distance27.  

Reduction measures falling outside of the scope of the Action Programme were however also 
pursued.  The  proposal  concerning  the  Prospectus  Directive28  would,  for  instance,  suppress 
duplicating  tasks  imposed  on  issuers  with  listed  securities.  Similarly,  new  measures  in  the 
pharmaceutical sector would also suppress unnecessary obligations regarding substances used 
as  a  diluent  or  vehicle  for  a  drug  (excipients)  and  broaden  the  use  of  "automatic  mutual 
recognition" in the field of marketing authorization.  

3.3. 

Planned Delivery - Measures under preparation 

Preparation  of  further  reduction  measures  is  under  way  in  almost  all  priority  areas.  These 
measures  focus  in  particular  on  removing  irritants  to  ensure  that  enterprises  feel  the  burden 
reduction. The timing of the preparatory work takes into account the fact that measures need 
to be adopted by 201229.  

24 

25 
26 
27 

28 

29 

For details, see Annex D. These measures concern in particular environment, transport, statistics, public 
procurement, and food safety legislation. 
COM(2009) 267 final, 12 June 2009. 
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/admin-burdens-reduction/competition_en.htm. 
For details, see Press release IP/09/754 of 13 May 2009. The Commission is also ensuring the necessary 
follow-up, including liaising with the Member States, for the two other ideas nominated for the award 
(registration of food producers producing small amounts and data collection on Intra-EU Trade). 
Directive  2003/71/EC  on  the  prospectus  to  be  published  when  securities  are  offered  to  the  public  or 
admitted to trading. 
See  Annex  C:  Sectoral  Plans  for  reducing  administrative  burdens  –  detailed  presentation.  It  will  of 
course be for the next Commission to decide on how to use this preparatory work.  

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It could result in 31 additional measures and concern inter alia the following areas: 

•  further  adapting  EU  accounting  and  auditing  rules  to  the  needs  of  SMEs  and  their 
stakeholders  for  instance  by  possibly  simplifying  the  requirements  for  the  layout  of  the 
balance  sheet  and  the  profit  and  loss  account,  as  well  as  by  reducing  the  disclosure 
requirements concerning the notes to the accounts.  

•  reducing  the  administrative  burden  for  pharmaceutical  companies  producing  veterinary 
medicines by streamlining the procedure for the marketing application, making easier the 
reporting of variations, and modernising pharmaco-vigilance requirements.  

•  easing recognition as “a regular shipping service” for enterprises shipping goods between 
two ports in the customs territory of the Community (using a new European data-base will 
in particular make the initial registration procedure and subsequent assignment of vessels 
to the service significantly less burdensome).  

4. 

PROGRESS AT NATIONAL LEVEL 

All Member States have followed the invitation of the European Council (March 2007) to set 
an  ambitious  national  reduction  target  in  view  of  abolishing  unnecessary  administrative 
burdens.  Moreover  better  regulation  is  part  of  the  economic  recovery  programmes  of  many 
Member  States.  This  proves  the  strong  commitment  of  all  EU  Member  States  to  ease  the 
business environment, notably for SMEs. 

However,  there  is  still  some  room  for  improvement.  A  couple  of  Member  States,  such  as 
Austria, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom30 are clearly 
frontrunners  in  admin  burden  reduction.  But  even  these  Member  States  are  not  on  equal 
footing when it comes to the concrete achievements in admin burden reduction so far. 

It is therefore important to sustain Member States efforts insofar as, in many cases, businesses 
will only experience in their daily operations the benefits of EU action if national authorities 
use to the full new possibilities to dispense some companies to provide certain information, 
refrain  from  gold-plating  and  reduce  administrative  burdens  stemming  from  purely  national 
origin. The Commission stands ready to share experiences with Member States and help them 
developing  methodologies  and  identifying  possible  reduction  measures.  Given  the  overall 
importance  of  better  regulation  the  Commission  will  continue  to  closely  cooperate  with 
Member  States  and  to  monitor  their  achievements  in  the  context  of  the  post  Lisbon  2010 
agenda31. 

5. 

RECOMMENDATION ON THE SCOPE OF THE ACTION PROGRAMME 

While  this  Communication  demonstrates  that  a  lot  has  already  been  achieved,  the 
Commission considers that there is scope for more. It has already extended the original list of 
42 acts in the programme by 30 acts in January 2009.  

It has also carefully reviewed the additional suggestions made by the Member States and by 
the  stakeholders,  both  through  the  High  Level  Group  of  Independent  Stakeholders  and  the 

30 
31 

See Annex E. 
Completing national measurements and adopting the associated reduction measures in a larger number 
of Member States is indispensable to have a meaningful overview of progress in the European Union 
(i.e. what has been done to tackle burden of EU origin and of purely national origin) and to ensure that 
enterprises see the difference in their day-to-day operations. The Commission could start reporting in 
more detail on national progress to the European Council. 

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Commission's online consultation32, and further examined the results of the screening of the 
acquis presented in January 200933. 

As  a  result  of  these  exercises,  the  Commission  has  identified  28  acts  where  potential  for 
further  reduction  could  exist  and  which  may,  for  all  or  some,  be  part  of  new  initiatives  for 
reducing administrative burdens during the next Commission. These would either extend the 
scope of the current 13 priority areas or add new areas to the Action Programme in the field of 
civil  law  /  commercial  law,  internal  market  for  goods,  R&D  funding  programmes  and 
tourism34. This would also ensure that administrative burden is fully considered as part of the 
simplification programme. 

6. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The  Commission  made  determined  efforts  to  deliver  its  part  in  the  Action  Programme. 
Significant progress achieved by the Commission towards the reduction target of 25 % is the 
result  of  a  constructive  partnership  with  the  European  Parliament  and  Council,  the  Member 
States  and  stakeholders.  The  Commission  has  benefited  in  particular  from  concrete 
suggestions  from  the  High  Level  Group  of  Independent  Stakeholders  on  Administrative 
Burdens. Those suggestions  which  relate  to the 72 legal acts already covered by the  Action 
Programme  have  been  integrated  into  the  Sectoral  Reduction  Plans35.  Further  suggestions 
received  from  stakeholders  have  also  been  proven  invaluable.  These  suggestions  have  been 
used as an input for a possible extension of the Action Programme to be decided by the next 
Commission36.  

The High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders proved extremely useful in examining the 
feasibility  of  draft  reduction  measures  and  finding  new  ideas  to  reduce  administrative 
burdens. President Barroso has therefore announced that he would like the new Commission 
to  extend  its  mandate  (which  ends  in  August  2010).  Equally  the  public  of-  and  on-line 
consultation across the Member States has been useful. 

Measures tabled by the Commission until now could deliver savings of EUR 38.3 billion per 
year for European businesses. This would correspond to a reduction of 31 % in administrative 
burdens. Translating this progress into concrete benefits felt by businesses will now depend, 
however, on the determination of the European Parliament and the Council to adopt pending 
measures quickly and on how Member States decide to implement these changes. In addition 
Member States should make full use of the possibilities which EC legislation already offers to 
waive  obligations  for  certain  types  of  businesses  such  as  SMEs,  and  should  avoid  going 
beyond what is required by EU information obligations. 

Better  Regulation  needs  permanent  political  leadership  and  commitment.  It  is  a  continuous 
exercise and all involved in legislation making are challenged to ensure that the results from 
the administrative burden reduction programme are felt by companies. This is also a matter of 
sustaining public acceptance of the European integration. Therefore it is of crucial importance 
to ensure that any new information obligations and new administrative burdens are kept to the 
minimum  necessary,  while  to  continue  to  reduce  existing  administrative  burdens  in  view  of 
achieving a real impact in every sector on the ground. 

32 

33 
34 
35 
36 

The  Commission  received  more  than  800  contributions.  See  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/admin-
burdens-reduction/online_consultation_en.htm. 
COM(2009)17. 
See Annex F. 
See section 3 and Annexes B and C. 
See section 4 and Annex F. 

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Therefore  the  Commission  will  continue  its  efforts  on  two  fronts.  First,  by  reviewing  pro-
actively  existing  legislation,  it  will  ensure  that  obsolete  obligations  are  identified  and  their 
removal  is  proposed.  Second,  it  will  ensure  through  its  impact  assessment  system  that 
requirements  introduced  by  new  policies  are  kept  to  the  minimum37.  All  in  all,  the 
Commission  will  regularly  verify  whether  legislation  has  delivered  the  intended  result  and 
whether  burdens  arose  which  were  not  intended  by  the  legislators.  With  ambitious  aims, 
innovative  thinking  and  new  technologies,  the  Union  will  benefit  from  lighter  rules  while 
maintaining high social, economic and environmental standards. 

37 

See http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/index_en.htm 

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