1. Prof. Dr. Gisela Färber Administrative Simplification in Germany Presentation at the 3rd Controlling Conference of International Public Organisations of the European Court of Auditors Luxemburg, June 8th, 2009
(C) Gisela Färber 2009

2. Administrative simplification in Germany
Structure
Introduction
Concept and definitions
Administrative simplification in Germany
History of administrative simplification
Critical summary of all efforts of administrative simplification in Germany
Reduction of administrative burdens since 2006
Standard cost model for information obligations
Cultural change of federal regulation
Chapter III: Administrative burdens of administrations
Future perspectives of administrative simplification in Germany
(C) Gisela Färber 2009

3. 2. Concept and definitions
public administration:
providing public goods on the base of legal regulations
financed by taxes and other compulsory charges
in addition: information and compliance costs for citizens/enterprises to follow laws and other regulations
administrative simplification in multi level government systems
administrations
citizens/enterprises
too many regulations
too complex regulations
costly burdens of administrative procedures
costly burdens of complying . with regulations
within administrations =‚rationalisiation‘
between/among administrations
complex ‚material‘ regulations
regulation of adminstrative procedures
(C) Gisela Färber 2009

4. The German ‚executive‘ federalism
2 levels with ‚state quality‘ + local governments with right of self-administration (with regard to EU: four level government system)
executive federalism: the power of legislation and execution is systematically separated
legislation competence in general at the Länder level ( art. 70 BL) and only strictly defined legislation competences of the Federation (exclusive and concurrent legislation competences)
Länder execute federal laws as their proper responsibily (art. 83 BL); often: further delegation of execution to the local level
high degree of regulation of the execution of laws by a so-called ‚regulation cascade‘ to
secure a more or less uniform execution of federal laws
guarantee the ‚political intentions‘ of the Federation
tends to too many and over-complex regulations as well as the same administrative procedures,
permanent need of adaption of new efficient administrative procedures,
longs ‚ways‘ for new efficient solutions or even re-decentralisations,
(C) Gisela Färber 2009

5. The ‚regulation cascade‘ in Germany (ideal typical)
European Union
Federal Parliament
Federal government
State Parliament
State government
decrees, administrative enactmens
decrees, administrative enactmens
municipalities
Federal laws
state laws
decrees
local statutes, administrative enactmens
enterprises/citizens
(C) Gisela Färber 2009
source: Bertelsmannstiftung

6. 2. Administrative simplification in Germany
History of administrative simplification
1942: ‚Verwaltungsvereinfachung im großdeutschen Reich‘
standardisation of law = centralisation
shortening of administrative court procedures
1950: Rhineland-Palatinate: commission of administrative simplification
long list of proposals
decentralisation of executive reponsibilities in favour of districts and municipalities
amalgamation of municipalities (territorial reform!)
standardisation of state law with regard to internal administrative procedures
various proposals concerning internal administrative rationalisations and particular laws
Continuing annual proposals until the late 1960‘s
(C) Gisela Färber 2009

7. 1983 – 1994: Waffenschmidt commission:
[1970‘s: no special reforms of administrative simplification after big constitutional and territorial reforms in the late 1960‘s and early 1970‘s]
1983 – 1994: Waffenschmidt commission:
‚clear up‘ of regulations, reduction and simplification of statistical burdens
1993/94 public call for proposals for reduction of administrative burdens
[ : Donges commission for deregulation]
: Schlichter commission for simplification and accelaration of public authorization procedures for big infrastructure and investment projects
: Scholz commission „lean administration“
: Bavarian expert commission for reduction of bureaucracy, deregulation and more flexibility
[ and : federalism reform commssions I and II]
(C) Gisela Färber 2009

8. 2). Critical summary of all efforts of administrative
2) Critical summary of all efforts of administrative simplification in Germany
‚eternal‘ debate on administrative simplification in Germany
‚eternal‘ goals:
faster, less complex, more transparent, less burdening
new regulations and a growing need of control (recipients of subsidies, securing the tax base, public security)
substantial changes by techniques of electronic data processing and electronic government (more efficient internal administration, broader and beter information, direct access to public administrations)
organisational reforms (partly cooperative, partly collaborative of different governmental tiers)
‚one-stop-agencies‘
Federal Labor Administration (with local administrations – unconstitutional!)
territorial reforms and decentralisation of executive tasks
despite many changes of regulations only poor effects with regard to remaining critics
(C) Gisela Färber 2009

9. 4. Reduction of administrative burdens since 2006
Standard cost model (SCM) for information obligations
importation of the Dutch model in 2006
restriction on information obligations of enterprises, citizens, and administrations by Federal regulations (including European directives transfered into German law)
baseline measurement by SCM and ex-ante-evaluation of all regulations of Federal government
revision of the ex-ante estimation and whether the less burdening alternative was chosen by the National Board of Regulatory Control before cabinetts decision
baseline measurement for enterprises: 47.7 bln €
reduction of administrative burdens of enterprises by 25% until 2011
ex ante estimation of admin burdens for citizens started since January 2009, no baseline measurement
(C) Gisela Färber 2009

10. (2) Cultural change of federal regulation
Ex ante SCM has changed federal regulation!
Ministries focus administrative procedures with regard to information costs during the formulation of new regulations
dramatic increase of knowlegde of administrative procedures
administrative burdens have become part of ex ante federal IA
experiment of the Federal Ministry of Finance: ex ante estimation of correspnding administrative costs of tax regulations by SCM
new project of Federal and state governments together with NBRC:
evaluation of 3 federal laws: housing subsidies, parents income transfers and students‘ promotion with regard to
reduction of information obligations, transparence and simplification of administrative procedures
discovers need of change of certain ‚material‘ prescriptions of the laws for efficient and less burdening execution
(C) Gisela Färber 2009

11. (3) Administrative burdens of administrations
third part of reducing administrative burdens from information obligations of public administrations in preparation
list of the Federal Ministry of Interior in discussion
politically sensible part of the program because of inter-federal information obligations
calculation of a certain part of administrative costs from federal legislation
discussion of consequences for tax sharing and fiscal equalisation
diverging results for different Länder?
touches also financial relations between states and local governments
brings new knowledge about administrative costs of European regulation ( 50% for enterprises, ?% for national public administrations)
(C) Gisela Färber 2009

12. 5. Future perspectives of administrative simplification in Germany
SCM and its institutional implementation in a clear and transparent (restricted) impact assessment of all federal regulation provides effective incentives to consider the costs of execution of laws for enterprises/citizens and administrations
quantification as an ‚unpolitical‘ base of discussion
not only efforts all several years to eliminate burdening regulations, but a regular and professional consideration during all regulation procedures
provides knowledge not only about admin burdens of enterprises but also costs of (sub-national) public administrations
reduction goal of 25% by 2011 needs further substantial efforts after the ‚harvest‘ of the most simple measures until now
discussion about enlarging the application of SCM on compliance costs and costs of administration
all dimensions are relevant for Europen legislation and can bring here substantial improvements
(C) Gisela Färber 2009