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Most OECD countries have made policies to reduce administrative burdens - cutting red tape - a political priority. Red tape is particularly burdensome to smaller companies and may inhibit entrepreneurship. These effects are more costly in global markets, where competitiveness can be affected by the efficiency of the domestic regulatory and administrative environment. But citizens and large firms also complain about unnecessary reporting requirements. Results are wanted.
What can governments do? Strategies include setting quantitative targets to reduce administrative burdens when new regulations are drafted and by reviewing older regulations; codification; better multi-level co-ordination; and rapid introduction of e-government services. Supported by taskforces and advisory committees, governments increasingly locate responsibility in a central administrative unit. This "whole-of-government" approach represents a major step in recent years, embedding administrative simplification in the overall regulatory quality system at the national level.
The OECD is undertaking a series of activities to assist governments in simplifying regulation and cutting red tape.
In December 2006, the OECD published the report Cutting Red Tape: National Strategies for Administrative Simplification. This publication is available in French, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. A Policy Brief is also available.
Bookmarks on this page linked to work on cutting red tape:
Tuempresa.gov.mx: A One-Stop Shop for Quick and Easy Business Start-ups in Mexico
The OECD Mexico Centre has made available to the public the booklet “Tuempresa.gob.mx: A One-stop Shop for Quick and Easy Business Start-ups in Mexico”. It provides an analysis about the benefits of this initiative, which positions Mexico at the forefront of worldwide efforts to simplify procedures for business start-ups. Given the achievements in administrative simplification and regulatory reform implied by “tuempresa.gob.mx”, its implementation was welcomed by the Working Party on Regulatory Management and Reform held in Paris on 21 September 2009. The one-stop shop “tuempresa.gob.mx” is one of the results of the co-operation initiative to strengthen Mexico’s competitiveness between the OECD and the Mexican government, represented by the Vice-ministry for Competitiveness and Standardisation of the Ministry of Economy, with the support of the Federal Commission for Regulatory Improvement (COFEMER).
Overcoming Barriers to Administrative Simplification Strategies: Guidance for Policy Makers
Governments face the challenge of rationalising and minimising administrative burdens imposed by bureaucratic requirements. At the same time, they need to use administrative procedures as a source of information and a tool for implementing public policies. Administrative simplification strategies are designed to streamline procedures, reduce complexity, paperwork and uncertainty. This helps to make public sector delivery more accountable and efficient, and to foster a regulatory environment that enables economic and social activity.
This report draws on the experience of, and policy dialogue between, member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Middle East and North African countries (MENA). It reviews common barriers to designing and implementing a strategy for administrative simplification and offers 22 approaches to overcome them, providing a synthesis of good practices among policy makers and practitioners working on cutting red tape.
Cutting Red Tape: Comparing Administrative Burdens across Countries
The viability of business activities depends on the market opportunities present, but it is also influenced by legislation, regulations and the administrative requirements governments impose in implementing public policies. The regulatory framework designed by governments is a major factor in the competitiveness of businesses. Recent years have seen efforts to gain a greater understanding of the impact of regulation as a government tool. They have also seen efforts to ensure that that tool is not poorly designed or outdated when it comes to market intervention to protect public interests. The report Cutting Red Tape: Comparing Administrative Burdens across Countries, published in 2007, measures and compares administrative burdens in the transport sector across eleven member countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Turkey. The aim of the exercise is twofold: to identify good practices and provide input for national simplification strategies, and to develop and test a method for cross-country comparison.
Documents
The International working group on Administrative Burdens published the report: The Standard Cost Model: A framework for defining and quantifying administrative burdens for businesses.
From Red Tape to Smart Tape (2003) reviews policies and tools used in OECD countries to reduce administrative burdens. It also looks at different institutional solutions used to pursue administrative simplification, and examines the interaction of administrative simplification with broader regulatory reform policies.
Businesses’ Views on Red Tape (2001) is a report based on the results of a survey of almost 8 000 small and medium-sized businesses, and is a step towards more detailed, systematic, and comparable information on business environments in OECD countries. A data base containing the data collected and further information on the survey is available.
For further information please contact daniel.trnka@oecd.org
Administrative Simplification in the Netherlands
The OECD and the World Bank Group were invited to review the Dutch programme for administrative simplification which aimed to reduce administrative burdens on companies and citizens by 25% over 2003-07. In October 2007, the OECD published its review, Cutting Red Tape: Administrative Simplification in the Netherlands which appraises the Netherlands as a leading country in the field, seeks to give explanations for this success in order to enable other countries to benefit from the Dutch experiences, and sets out recommendations on how the Netherlands can continue improving regulation by deepening and broadening the burden reduction programme.
On 1 March 2007, the Dutch Ministry of Finance organised an international conference called 'Challenges on Cutting Red Tape'. At this conference, Josef Konvitz of the OECD gave a keynote speech presenting the main findings and recommendations of the two organisations. You can download the slides for Mr. Konvitz's presentation and his speaking notes. You can find further information on the conference, including presentations in three workshops, by followning this link.
Administrative Simplification and e-Government in Portugal
OECD carried out a peer review of administrative simplification and e-government as part of its contiuned development of the SIMPLEX programme for public sector reform. This is the first fully integrated study of the synergies between e-government and strategies to cut red tape. The report was published in January 2009. Read more about the Portuguese SIMPLEX programme.
As preparation for this review, and to launch the current phase of the programme (SIMPLEX 2007), the OECD assisted the Portuguese unit for co-ordination of public sector reform (UCMA) in arranging a workshop on administrative simplification and e-government in Lisbon on 22 February 2007. The programme for the event and slides of the presentations can be found below.
Read more about e-government.
Workshop on administrative simplification and e-government, Lisbon, 22 February 2007
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