Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-09-13-Speech-4-063-000"
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"en.20120913.8.4-063-000"2
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"Madam President, thank you for the opportunity to comment on Parliament’s draft report on the 18th report on better legislation. First, allow me to thank the Committee on Legal Affairs for its work in preparing this report. It is a welcome contribution to the smart regulation agenda, which the report acknowledges as a shared responsibility. It also highlights some very important issues concerning relations with national parliaments. The Commission will respond more formally to the report in due course but, for now, I would like to make a few general remarks on the smart regulation agenda, which remains a key priority for the Commission.
We have also strengthened the voice of stakeholders by extending the minimum period for public consultation from 8 weeks to 12 weeks, as of the beginning of this year. The Commission has also initiated a review of its consultation policy.
Furthermore, a follow up to the 2010 Smart Regulation Communication, taking stock of the progress made and drawing lessons from experience, is planned for adoption around the end of this year. A 12-week public consultation was launched on 27 June.
Your report emphasises the importance of respect for the principle of subsidiarity when drawing up legislative proposals and stresses the importance of the participation of regional parliaments with legislative powers in this process.
Subsidiarity issues are key aspects taken into account by the Commission when carrying out its impact assessments and on which the Impact Assessment Board focuses when scrutinising the quality of impact assessments. The Commission is fully committed to ensuring that in future, subsidiarity justifications are better reflected in the explanatory memorandum of its proposals.
Concerning relations with national parliaments, let me reassure you that the Commission pays very close attention to the work of regional parliaments and even receives opinions directly from some of them. After all, we regularly encourage national parliaments to consult regional parliaments with legislative powers, where appropriate, in the process of subsidiarity scrutiny, as set out in the Treaty.
The Commission is committed to making progress on smart regulation and looks forward to working with Parliament, the Council and the Member States to ensure effective delivery as a joint responsibility.
First, your report correctly indicates that impact assessment is a core element of smart regulation. The European Court of Auditors and other independent studies found that the Commission’s impact assessment system compares favourably to other systems in the European Union. The Commission strives to continuously improve its impact assessment system, for instance, by providing services with further operational guidance on the assessment of specific impacts such as sector competitiveness, fundamental rights or SMEs. The President has reinforced the role of the Impact Assessment Board so that, in principle, a positive opinion from the IAB is needed before a proposal can be put forward for a Commission decision.
The Commission welcomes Parliament’s initiative in setting up an Impact Assessment Directorate and, in particular, the renewed commitment of Parliament to carry out impact assessments prior to the adoption of substantive amendments.
The Commission is willing to exchange views, share methodology and background to its assessments with the Parliament, as already agreed in the common approach to impact assessments. We should all bear in mind, of course, that an impact assessment is not an end in itself. It should lead to better policy at the end of the decision-making process and is a joint responsibility.
Your report rightly places considerable emphasis on the need to minimise regulatory burdens for business. The Commission has proposed measures to reduce the administrative burden by 33%. We invite Parliament and the Council to approve pending proposals rapidly to bridge the small remaining gap and so ensure that we reach the 25% reduction target by the end of the year.
We consider that all future legislative proposals should be based on the premise that micro-enterprises, in particular, should be excluded from the scope of the proposed legislation, unless the proportionality of their being covered can be demonstrated. When they need to be covered, we should seek to find adapted solutions and lighter regimes for both micros and SMEs, and their impact should be analysed as an integral part of the impact assessment process.
We are also strengthening the implementation of the Commission’s
evaluation policy. Now, all significant proposals must, in principle, be based on an evaluation of what is already in place. We are working on further developments to improve the way we do this.
We are also focused on further improving implementation and consultation. The Commission will produce a scoreboard to show that proposals it has produced are having a significant impact on smaller business, to show what changes Parliament and Council adopt in the legislative procedure and how Member States implement the adopted regulatory measure, identifying best practice and any ‘gold plating’. The scoreboard will be updated on a yearly basis.
A central element of the Commission’s approach is a strengthening of the involvement and consultation of small businesses in better law making. Conferences are already being held in Member States with small businesses and an EU-wide consultation process has been launched to identify the ‘Top Ten’ burdensome EU regulatory measures for review."@en1
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