Ministers maken werk van vermindering regeldruk (en)

At today's meeting of the Competitiveness Council under the chairmanship of the German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Mr. Michael Glos, considerable progress could be made to strengthen the internal market and to lay down the main features of the future economic policy.

First immediate measures to reduce administrative burdens were adopted by the Competitiveness Council at today's meeting: Comprehensive information obligations in the case of company mergers and restructuring should be abolished. The need for reporting obligations for small food traders is planned to be reviewed. The fields of statistics, transport and agriculture will also be examined.

Federal Minister Glos: "Although it is not easy to simplify legislation and reduce administrative burdens in the EU, today's Council has shown that these goals are not merely claims in theory, but will in fact be pursued." In the Action Programme the European Spring Council had agreed on a reduction of the administrative burdens on enterprises resulting from EU legislation by 25 % by the year 2012.

"Improvements in the free movement of goods", says Minister Glos, "are a central element of the internal market. Owing to today's discussion on the Regulation concerning the mutual recognition in the non-harmonised area we have already set the course in favour of companies without any risk of disadvantages for consumers. It has now been clarified that the Member States rather than the companies must in each individual case provide evidence that products do not meet the required national safety standards. This will reduce the burden on enterprises, give new impetus to the internal market and result in a broader range of products. Until a final decision is taken, access of disputed products to the market can preliminarily be prohibited in order to protect consumers." Minister Glos, however, made no secret of his opinion that it would have been possible to make even further progress on the dossier if all parties concerned had accelerated their activities.

Furthermore, Minister Glos underlined that he was pleased with the political discussion on the European industrial policy: "We unanimously agreed that the initiatives to strengthen the international competitiveness of the European industry that we have taken in the last few years are now very fruitful. The efforts, however, must be continued vigorously as the competitive pressure on the global markets for goods is increasing and companies are faced with new challenges, for instance in connection with the containment of the climate change. The participants agreed that the European Union must pursue a coherent overall strategy that guarantees competitiveness and secures jobs and at the same time takes account of social and environmental-policy objectives. This means, for instance, with regard to the reduction of CO2 emissions of cars that all parties involved, i.e. not only the car manufacturers, but also the mineral oil industry and the car drivers themselves must make contributions. And this also applies to all European car manufacturers. The Commission clearly pointed out that the forthcoming Commission proposal on the reduction of CO2 emissions of cars must take account of the differences regarding European manufacturers."

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Date: 23.05.2007