Danish response to consultation on Smart Regulation

Smart regulation provides a clear way for the EU to create well thought-out,practical and proportionate responses to some of the greatest challenges the EUis facing.The Danish Government supports the approach that smart regulation should bebalanced and focus on enhancing the quality of regulation. A better quality ofregulation supports easy and flexible administration in businesses and therebyalso enhances their compliance – which, in turn, enhances protection level. TheDanish Government emphasises that administrative burdens should only be re-duced when it does not reduce the basic protection levels in regulation.Smart regulation is about maximising the benefits of regulation while minimis-ing the burdens imposed on end-users. At every stage of the European policy-and law-making process, end-users should be at the heart of how policies arechosen, designed, implemented and monitored.We need an approach that embeds the principles of smart regulation in everyintervention in all policy areas, providing a joint framework for EU institutionsand Member States to make transparent, evidence-based decisions which main-tain the focus on the end-users.The EU should further improve the framework conditions for businesses – es-pecially small and micro entities - across the European Union. By improvingframework conditions businesses can spend more time on their core business instead of paper work, thereby creating the growth that is essential to the well be-ing of the European society.In concrete terms smart regulation should:1. One way to improve the framework conditions is making regulation assmart as possible, maximising the benefits of regulation while minimisingthe burdens on

end-users.

The ultimate ambition of regulation must be forend-users to accept and comply with it. Therefore the end-users’ voice isessential so that the highest compliance can be obtained.

2. Keeping end-users – employees, consumers, businesses and other organisa-tions – in mind during policy-making, is the only way to consistently createsmart regulation. End-users are the key to highlighting a problem and tojudge whether an intervention will be effective. When end-users are in-volved at every stage of the policy-making process, interventions arethought through more clearly and better implemented from the beginning;from choosing how the Commission should intervene, to developing a pol-icy, to the Council and Parliament deliberating upon it and Member Statesimplementing it.3. It is the policy maker and civil servants’ responsibility to involve end-users. This means that policy makers and civil servants must be in directcontact with end-users, the assumption being that in the end this will leadto more concrete knowledge of the needs and practises of the end-user.4. Smart regulation should contain of a number of practical instruments thatshould be applied early in the policy-making process. These instrumentsinclude intensified use of eGovernment, improved guidance, transparency,and consultation. These instruments will make it easier for business to ac-cept and comply with the rules. The Commission’s plans for ex-post evalu-ating regulation are also highly welcomed – especially if it focuses on thereal effect the regulation has on the end-users.5.

Impact Assessments

are an important way of securing the voice of end-users throughout the policy making process. Impact assessments should becarried out by the Commission on all significant measures and be updatedthroughout the policy-making process when substantial amendments areproposed in the European Parliament and the Council.6. The EU institutions should consider how the Council and Parliament canreceive the analytical support necessary for them to carry out impact as-sessment on substantive amendments.7. The independence of the Impact Assessment Board should be reinforced.To ensure that the quality of proposals is enhanced by a demand fromhighest political level, tougher consequences should be introduced wherethe Impact Assessment Board has a negative opinion: a negative opinionby the Impact Assessment Board would require oral procedure in the Col-lege of Commissioners.8. The Commission has announced that it will report to the Spring Council in2012 on whether the target for

reducing the administrative burdens by

25 pct.

has been reached. The Danish Government will do all in our powerto ensure that the target is reached - with reductions that are real and tangi-ble for businesses across the EU. The Danish Government will work onstrengthening ownership for the smart regulation agenda, hereunder for thedifferent Council formations to adopt the current proposals for administra-tive burden reductions. It is our hope that the Commission will continue towork on strengthening the ownership across the Commission.

9. In the short run a dashboard of state of play for reaching the 25 pct. reduc-tion target would be a good way to communicate the efforts to DGs, theEuropean Parliament, Member States, and other stakeholders.10. The difficulties often experienced with businesses not noticing any changein the business climate as a result for administrative burden reductions canbe met by an enhanced focus throughout the policy- and law-making proc-ess on the end-user. Additionally, systematic “reality checks” with a num-ber of companies on whether the reductions obtained will make everydaylife easier could be a practical way forward.11. Tangible reductions in the stock of administrative burdens in Europeanregulation should continue to be pursued through substantial delivery of theadministrative burden reduction programme in all priority domains throughtargeted simplification of administrative burdens and through the evalua-tion of targeted pieces of legislation.12. Smart regulation tools with a constant end-user focus such as eGovern-ment, thorough consultation, analyses on effect for instance ex-post evalua-tion, need to be back bone tools that always apply for all institutions acrosspolicy areas.With these recommendations we believe that smart regulation can provide aclear way for the EU institutions to create practical and proportionate responsesto some of the greatest issues Europe faces. We encourage the EU institutionsto seize this opportunity to do so