Cutting Red Tape: National Strategies for Administrative Simplification

ISBN Number: 92-64-02978-8
Publication Date: 18/12/2006
Pages: 108
Number of graphs: 10

Cutting Red Tape: National Strategies for Administrative Simplification

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.