1. Position Paper of the 4 independent watchdogs Dr
Position Paper of the 4 independent watchdogs Dr. Philipp Birkenmaier Secretariat of Nationaler Normenkontrollrat Nicosia, 2 April 2012

2. The FIVE Independent regulatory watchdogs
Nationaler Normenkontrollrat (Germany)
ACTAL (The Netherlands)
Regelradet (Sweden)
Regulatory Policy Committee (United Kingdom)
Regulatory Impact Assessment Board (Czech Republic)

3. Task and Composition of NKR
Established by a formal federal law (August 2006)
Support and Advice to the Federal Government in the reduction of bureaucracy and better regulation
Avoid the creation of new compliance costs including administrative burdens I.
Model: The Netherlands
Independent advisory body
Perceivable reduction of existing administrative burdens
II.
Appointment of 10 members for a term of office of 5 years
Start of second term: 20 September 2011

4. Position Paper “The End of the Commission‘s Action Programme for Reducing AB in the EU – What comes next?“
Adopted 10 November 2011
Sent out to MS, Commission, EP, Stakeholders
Positive Feedback from various MS
Discussed with MEPs 29 February 2012

5. General Conclusions and Recommendations for the next steps
In the last five years, there has been a growing awareness in the EU of the need to reduce administrative burdens and to adhere to smarter regulation principles
As the Action Programme to reduce AB is coming to an end 2012, the Commission should present an ambitious work programme by summer on how to continue the work to ensure smart regulation and achieve the necessary change in culture. Such a programme should focus primarily on actions to be taken by the Commission, but should be able to be used as a basis for a common approach by the Parliament and the Council

6. Action Programme for Reducing AB
Lessons Learned
Recommendations
No full baseline measurement
Further areas should be assessed
25% target is a GROSS target
Mechanism to ensure that the total burden decreases
Limited on AB
Overall regulatory burden

7. Impact Assessments (IA)
Lessons Learned
Recommendations
Not for all proposals an IA is carried out
IA for all legislative or regulatory proposals
No stakeholder consultation on draft proposals and draft IAs
Stakeholder consultation on draft proposals and draft IAs
Enlarge the IAB by independent experts or closer link to the Stoiber-Group
No independent scrutiny of IAs
IAs should be carried out for major amendments in EP and Council
No IAs in EP and Council

8. Institutional Setup Lessons Learned Recommendations
Stoiber-Group plays an important role
Prolong and reinforce the mandate
No common independent institution to assess IAs
Independent body to scrutinise IAs across all institutions