2007/623/EC: Commission Decision of 31 August 2007 setting up the High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens

28.9.2007 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 253/40
COMMISSION DECISION
of 31 August 2007
setting up the High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens
(2007/623/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Whereas:
(1) On 24 January 2007 the Commission adopted the Communication entitled ‘Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the European Union’ (1), in which it announced its intention to take a transparent approach towards implementing this Action Programme by involving stakeholders from all over the European Union and continuously benefiting from their input.
(2) The Action Programme was endorsed by the 2007 Spring European Council which underlined the goal of reducing administrative burdens by 25 % by 2012.
(3) The Commission is already consulting and cooperating on this topic with Member States' experts through the High Level Group of National Regulatory Experts on Better Regulation, but with a view to ensuring an equally effective interaction with the other stakeholders, whose input is indispensable for reaching the ambitious reduction target, and in accordance with the aforementioned Communication, the Commission may need to call upon the expertise of specialists in an advisory body.
(4) It is therefore necessary to set up a group of experts in the field of reduction of administrative burdens and to define its tasks and its structure.
(5) The group should advise the Commission with regard to the Action Programme, in particular on administrative burden reduction measures suggested by the consultants, through internet consultation and local workshops in the Member States.
(6) The group should be composed of high level independent stakeholders selected on the basis of their expertise in Better Regulation and/or the policy areas covered by the Action Programme. The Commission should ensure that the interests of small and large businesses, social partners, consumer and environmental organisations, including non-governmental organisations, are adequately represented.
(7) Rules on disclosure of information by members of the group should be provided for, without prejudice to the Commission’s rules on security as set out in the Annex to Commission Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom (2).
(8) Personal data relating to members of the group should be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (3).
(9) It is appropriate to fix a period for the application of this Decision. The Commission will in due course consider the advisability of an extension,