Press Release: EU Action Programme starts cutting unnecessary administrative burdens

The Commission further steps up its efforts to reduce unnecessary burdens on businesses. An Action Programme, presented by the European Commission on 24 January 2007, demonstrates in concrete terms the way in which the Commission intends to work with Member States to cut administrative burdens on businesses by a quarter by 2012. The Programme focuses on information obligations in thirteen selected priority areas including company law, employment relations, taxation/VAT, statistics, agriculture and transport. Its aims are to measure the cost of the administrative burden in these key sectors and identify information obligations for which proposals will subsequently be adopted to remove unnecessary burdens. In addition, the Commission has already identified ten concrete reduction measures for unprecedented fast track action which could be decided upon at the March Spring Council. These measures alone could, in one fell swoop, reduce the burdens on businesses by €1.3 billion on an annual basis.

European Commission: DG Communication: MEMO/07/25 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/25&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr

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