By Martin Banks - 26th May 2010
The danger is that policymakers are seen all too often as merely talking to each other
Damian Nussbaum
MEPs have been urged, in a new report, to strengthen their oversight of "smart", or better, regulation.
The report, by the UK, Danish and Dutch governments, also recommends that each European parliamentary committee should "as a matter of course" consider how to "deliver smart regulation."
This, it argues, will "enhance the sense of ownership, in particular when dealing with the administrative burden reduction programme."
Publication of the report on Wednesday comes amid the European commission's public consultation exercise on better regulation.
The consultation closes on 24 June and the commission is expected to come forward with new proposals on how it plans to reduce red tape in the autumn.
It coincides with several parliamentary initiatives in the same field, notably reports on better lawmaking and on independent impact assessments from the legal affairs committee.
The commission has set a target of cutting administrative burdens on business by 25 per cent by 2012 and the executive's president Jose Manuel Barroso has made this one of the top priorities of his five-year term in office.
The report, "Smart regulation: a cleaner, fairer and more competitive EU," says the EU's "smart regulation agenda" assumes "even more importance" at a time of economic downturn.
Damian Nussbaum, a UK government representative, told a briefing on Wednesday, "We are saying to the commission that it needs to consider the people who are most directly affected by regulation at the heart of its policy-making."
Speaking at the offices of Eurochambres, he said, "The danger is that policymakers are seen all too often as merely talking to each other without taking into account the impact their policies have on those affected.
"We say every parliament committee should consider, as a matter of course, how to deliver smart regulation as part of their oversight and policy-making process.
"This engagement by all relevant committees will enhance the sense of ownership, in particular when dealing with concrete reduction proposals as part of the administrative burden reduction programme.
"Parliament should also consider how it can more systematically promote smart regulation and explore whether to establish a 'better regulation committee' to focus on reviewing all of the better regulation programmes or to give responsibility to the conference of committee chairs for agreeing better regulation commitments."
The report, compiled by three of Europe's strongest national advocates for better regulation, identifies what it says are four "essential" elements in the EU's next phase of regulatory reform.
These includes "striving to be world-class in how the EU deals with regulation" and offering employees, consumers and businesses – the "end-users" of regulation – the chance to highlight problems from the start of the policy-making process.
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