Government promises to ease admin burden at home...
Document Actions
Move to cut 29 business regulators to 7 and change routine checks to risk-based approach
The Road Haulage Association has for some time been lobbying both the UK government and the EU on the negative effects that the demand to adhere to a wide and varied assortment of regulations and the accompanying administration and inspection regime of same are having on the vast majority of small and medium sized enterprises.
At last, the government has announced that it too is keen to bring in a risk-based approach to regulations, to break down the barriers of a business sector that is faced with reams of administrative paperwork and regular inspections of premises, practices and procedures, irrespective of known risks or past results.
The government has therefore put in place the Better Regulation Executive, replacing the Regulatory Impact Unit, to ensure that regulations are kept to a minimum.
The government has promised to introduce two new bills, one to streamline the existing 29 regulatory bodies into just seven, followed by a bill in the next parliamentary session to remove redundant regulations.
The association welcomes any reduction in the levels of regulation. We will reserve judgement until firm actions are put in place. Until that time we will continue to press all the various government bodies to consider a better system of self-regulation and adherence to agreed codes of practice, rather than continually pushing for additional regulations.
...and abroad
As President of the European Union from July 1 until December 31, Tony Blair has committed to address the volume of rules and regulations that regularly cascade down from Brussels to the member states. To find out more about the UK EU presidency go to the official website at www.eu2005.gov.uk
