EUU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (1. samling) - Bilag 71: Regeringens notat og høringssvar vedr. Europa-Kommissionens høring om Kommissionens bedre reguleringsdagsorden

Europaudvalget 2018-19 (1. samling)
EUU Alm.del Bilag 71
Offentligt

NOTE

28. september 2018

The Danish

Government’s

response to the public consultation on the

stocktaking of the Commission's 'better regulation' approach

The Danish Government is a strong supporter of the better regulation

agenda and is actively engaged in promoting initiatives that bring about

simplifications of EU regulation and reduction of unnecessary burdens

and costs for businesses.

The Danish Government acknowledges that the Commission has made

significant improvements on the better regulation agenda since 2015.

We strongly support the Better Regulation agenda and believe it is essen-

tial in ensuring a transparent and evidence based regulatory process. The

application of the Better Regulation principles and toolbox is therefore

necessary for an efficient legislative process. In recent years, transparen-

cy regarding upcoming legislative proposals has been increased. We wel-

come this development and see especially the publication of Impact As-

sessments and the use of public consultations as highly useful. We there-

fore urge the Commission to continue and enhance the use of the Better

Regulation principles when presenting new legislation.

Although significant process has been made since the introduction of the

Better Regulation agenda there is still room for further improvements.

Businesses are still met with increasing administrative burdens form new

EU regulation and in some areas the Single Market is getting more com-

plex, which makes it especially hard for SMEs to expand across the EU.

It is therefore pivotal that the Commission consolidates and moves the

better regulation agenda even further by focusing on the following two

pillars that are elaborated below:

1. Ensuring digital-by-default EU regulation which is fit for the digi-

tal age, enables user-friendly digital public solutions and promotes

innovation.

2. Reducing complexity by improving existing better regulation

tools and introducing new tools in order to ensure that a strong

better regulation agenda is the natural point of departure for the

next Commission.

Digital-by-default EU regulation

EUU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (1. samling) - Bilag 71: Regeringens notat og høringssvar vedr. Europa-Kommissionens høring om Kommissionens bedre reguleringsdagsorden

It is not systematically considered at the EU level whether regulation is

digitally proof and we still see proposals that are not suited to the current

digital reality of businesses or are difficult to digitalise and automatise by

public authorities. This places unnecessary burdens on businesses and

citizens and can challenge well-functioning national and European digital

public services.

The Commission should take initiative to implement further concrete

measures to ensure that EU regulation is digital-by-default. The

“Digital

Check” in the Commission’s Better Regulation Toolbox,

albeit constitut-

ing an improvement, is not sufficient by itself. It is vital to take measures

to ensure that it is considered already in the early drafting stages in the

respective Directorate-Generals and along the whole duration of the im-

pact assessment whether regulation is digitally proof. An early screening

should determine whether digital aspects are relevant, obliging the in-

volvement of the relevant unit in DG CNECT and DG DIGIT. Moreover,

improvements later in the legislative process should also be considered -

such as ex-ante digitisation check by the Regulatory Scrutiny Board. Ex-

post evaluations could determine whether regulation has been or can be

meaningfully translated into user-friendly digital solutions. We stand

ready to engage in dialogue with the Commission to develop such

measures as we have introduced similar measures at national level.

The following principles should be promoted at EU-level:

Simple and clear rules: Regulation should be simple and straight

forward, thus contributing to a more uniform and digital admin-

istration.

Digital communication: Legislation should underpin digital com-

munication with citizens and businesses.

Enable automated digital case processing: Legislation should un-

derpin fully or partly automated digital case processing.

Consistency in use of uniform concepts across authorities and

regulations and re-use of data: Data and definitions of concepts

are re-used across authorities.

The use of new technologies and technology-neutrality both for

the public solutions and for businesses in the private market

Existing and new regulation is often not designed to accommodate the

way in which new technologies and business models can create new val-

ue for businesses and society. The inclusion of the innovation-principle is

a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, there are some shortcomings

in the application and hence with the impact of the principle. The Com-

mission should initiate a dialogue with Member States to explore and

EUU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (1. samling) - Bilag 71: Regeringens notat og høringssvar vedr. Europa-Kommissionens høring om Kommissionens bedre reguleringsdagsorden

develop measures that promote more innovation-friendly and futureproof

EU regulation.

Reducing complexity: Consolidating and improving the better regulation

agenda

The better regulation agenda is delivering concrete results for European

citizens and businesses. However, businesses still find it hard to navigate

in the complexity of the regulatory environment. Legislation is not al-

ways made with the users in mind and parts of the Single Market are get-

ting more complex. This makes it hard for SMEs to expand across the

EU.

It is therefore crucial that the Commission consolidates and moves the

better regulation agenda even further. The continued central anchoring of

the agenda in the Secretariat-General is pivotal for the coordination and

prioritization of the agenda across the Directorate-Generals.

In order to make a strong better regulation agenda the natural point of

departure for the next Commission, we urge the Commission to consoli-

date the agenda by improving existing tools and introducing new tools.

Remarks on the specific tools are elaborated below. However, a first step

should be to fully respect the better regulation principles and not propose

legislation without presenting either a full accompanying Impact Assess-

ment as has happened on some proposals.

Improving existing better regulation tools

The focus on stakeholders and the burdens they experience should be

strengthened by continuously improving consultation procedures and

providing more systematic feedback to stakeholder input. The representa-

tiveness of public consultations should be enhanced and the results from

consultations should be represented in a consistent and unbiased way in

impact assessments without drawing too firm conclusions. To further

improve, public consultations could be accompanied by a cover letter

explaining where in the legislative process the consultation takes place

and how feedback will be included in the process. Also, in order to ensure

a proper and comprehensive feedback from public consultations, suffi-

cient time should be giving to provide input.

We consider the REFIT Platform as an important step forward. The add-

ed value of the REFIT Platform is its focus on concrete stakeholder sug-

gestions for simplifying EU-legislation and reducing burdens for citizens,

businesses and public authorities. It is an important channel for the input

of stakeholders, but for this channel to add real value to the stakeholders,

better and more swift follow-up to the suggestions and opinions must be

ensured. The best branding of the Platform is when businesses and citi-

EUU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (1. samling) - Bilag 71: Regeringens notat og høringssvar vedr. Europa-Kommissionens høring om Kommissionens bedre reguleringsdagsorden

zens experience concrete burden reductions

–

hence the follow-up on the

impacts of the opinions should be more tangible (see also the Danish

Government’s

response to the recent evaluation of the REFIT Platform).

The Commission’s impact assessments are providing real value

and we

welcome the continued improvements in this field. All significant pro-

posals should be accompanied with high-quality impact assessments. Ex-

ceptions should be limited to minor proposals and sound explanations

should be provided in these cases. As stated

in the Council’s latest annual

report on impact assessments, there are quality concerns related inter alia

to the insufficient quantification of impacts, inconsistent links between

calculations and policy choices and insufficient consideration of different

options for EU action. Moreover, the Commission should strive to en-

hance the usefulness of the impact assessments in the later stages of the

legislative process.

The Regulatory Scrutiny Board has an important and positive contribu-

tion to the better regulation agenda and its work should be continued. In

order to enhance the Board’s scrutiny, its independence and mandate

need to be strengthened. This could be done by ensuring the following.

Firstly, the RSB should have a dedicated secretariat with sufficient re-

sources and be guaranteed complete operational independence. Secondly,

it would only be natural for the RSB to scrutinise the legislative proposals

that are drafted on the basis of impact assessments, verifying the link be-

tween evidence and policy options. This could be achieved by including

the RSB in the inter-service consultation process.

Clear quantitative measurement of burden reductions in the REFIT

Scoreboard can help monitor and visualise progress and to communicate

with stakeholders about the results of the agenda. This would also facili-

tate the formulation of burden reduction objectives in specific sectors,

which the Commission committed to asses in the Interinstitutional

Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making.

Ex-post evaluations is

a key part of the Commission’s better regulation

agenda but as the recent report from the European Court of Auditors on

ex-post review shows, there is a need to improve the quality of ex-post

reviews, ensure better use of the evaluations in impact assessments and

enhance the collection and use of data. We also find it problematic that

despite recent improvements,

the “evaluate first”-principle

is not respect-

ed in around a quarter of cases cf. the report from the European Court of

Auditors.

As mentioned above, ex-post evaluations could determine whether regu-

lation has been or can be meaningfully translated into user-friendly digi-

tal solutions and activities under the REFIT Programme to remove barri-

EUU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (1. samling) - Bilag 71: Regeringens notat og høringssvar vedr. Europa-Kommissionens høring om Kommissionens bedre reguleringsdagsorden

ers to digitisation and innovation could be undertaken. In general, we

invite the Commission to clarify and rethink the REFIT Programme and

fitness checks in order to revitalise the simplification efforts with a

stronger focus on the end-users which will contribute to a more targeted

and proactive better regulation agenda.

The Danish Government is in general satisfied with the work that the

Commission has done as regards subsidiarity, proportionality and added

value. It is highly important that the Commission stays committed to this

agenda, and that the work is continued under the next Commission. At

the same time, there is room for improvement. The Commission must

continuously question whether EU legislation takes into consideration

national circumstances, legislative traditions and models sufficiently, and

whether EU legislation is unnecessarily complex, hindering compliance

and increasing administrative costs. Suggestions for improvement can be

found in the Danish non paper on subsidiarity and proportionality which

was forwarded to the Commission in the spring of 2018.

Introducing new better regulation tools

The Danish Government supports the introduction of general burden re-

duction targets at EU level focusing on areas that are particularly burden-

some for small and medium-sized enterprises. The targets should prefera-

bly be set in monetary terms so as to not require a baseline measurement

and should where possible consider at the same time the cost and benefits

of regulation. The need for new legislation should always be assessed in

light of evaluations and the potential for further implementation of exist-

ing legislation.

Finally, the Danish Government recommends that more effort be put into

the implementation and enforcement of EU legislation. Without proper

implementation across and within all Member States, the level playing

field created by the Single Market is undermined resulting in unnecessary

compliance costs and burdens.