During the webinar Socio-political standards at risk? The EU Commission´s policy on “bureaucracy and administrative burdens”, Brigitte Pircher (Södertörn University, Stockholm) presented her recent study on Better Regulation. The presentation was followed by a discussion on the questions of whether the Better Regulation agenda is putting important sociopolitical standards at risk and how better regulation could be shaped.

Do we need better regulation?
Brigitte Pircher explained that this discussion has been taking place in various forms for a long time. In the 1990s, EU legislation was often described as too technical and complicated. Over time, it has been increasingly portrayed as a burden, particularly for businesses. Business representatives have been calling for the reduction of so-called administrative burdens for years. Under EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, a focus was placed on simplification from 2014 to 2019. In the course of this, policy instruments such as the REFIT platform and the Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB) were created.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also pursuing a Better Regulation agenda with the aim of reducing the administrative burden on companies. Her political guidelines 2019-2024 and 2024-2029, as well as the recently published Draghi Report, deal with Better Regulation. The aim is to make the EU more competitive and more resilient to crises. The tenor is that legislation should be simplified and bureaucratic burdens should be removed to ensure that companies, and in particular SMEs, can operate under simpler conditions.

Pressure on socio-political standards
When reducing the burden on companies, care must be taken to ensure that reporting obligations and regulations to protect workers and the environment are not undermined. MEP Evelyn Regner, member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary affairs of the EU Parliament (S&D), noted that reporting obligations are very important, for example with regard to gender equality: only with accurate data can comparisons be made about existing problems such as the gender pay gap. Companies must not be allowed to shirk their responsibility; rather, existing regulations must be better implemented.

Kenneth Haar (Corporate Europe Observatory) described Better Regulation as a problematic deregulation agenda and the RSB as a mechanism for watering down important legislative initiatives by the EU Commission.

Sophia Zakari (SMEUnited) did not necessarily see a contradiction between regulation and Better Regulation. She stressed that companies are not calling for reducing the protection for workers and the environment. However, SMEs want regulations that are feasible for them. Communication between authorities should also be improved so that companies do not have to submit the same information multiple times.

Reducing bureaucracy and administrative burdens: less is not always more
One proposal that is repeatedly discussed in the context of Better Regulation is that when a new regulation is introduced, an existing one should be repealed, the so-called One-In-One-Out principle. However, a study by AK Vienna  shows that this approach is not a universal remedy. Although it may be possible to reduce administrative costs for businesses, socio-political issues will not be dealt with in a meaningful and future-oriented way. The benefits of regulation for society as a whole must not be neglected in the pursuit of cost savings for businesses. Furthermore, almost all companies in the EU (about 99 %) are SMEs and therefore in many cases exempt from various obligations.

What could Better Regulation look like without socio-political setbacks?
A revision of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board is necessary. It significantly influences EU legislation in favour of companies and ensures that proposals from the EU Commission are watered down even before they become public. This was the case with the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), for example. Its working methods lack transparency, also in respect of the influence of lobbyists. Moreover, Better Regulation could be achieved with better technical solutions for various reporting obligations for companies and with more transparent processes, without undermining social protection provisions.

Further information
EU Commission: Better Regulation
EU Commission: Better regulation: guidelines and toolbox
AK Study: EU Better Regulation - Creating a playing feld for businesses at the expense of social and environmental policies
AK EUROPA: One-In-One-Out Prinzip – Weniger ist nicht immer mehr!
AK EUROPA: AK EUROPA: "One-In-One-Out” principle – Less is not always more!
AK EUROPA: Policy-making behind closed doors? Fundamental revision of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board indispensable
AK EUROPA: The European Commission's Regulatory Scrutiny Board: Better Regulation or biased influence on legislation?
AK Studie: The EU's Commission Regulatory Scrutiny Board: better regulation or biased influence on legislation?