The British Regulatory System - Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, UK

Welcome to our sixth annual Impact Assessment report The British regulatory system published in collaboration with the London and Manchester Business Schools. In February we released our 2008 Burdens Barometer, which shows that the cumulative cost of new regulation to business since 1998 is now £66 billion. What is striking about this figure is not just its enormity, but also that 71 per cent of it is EU sourced. EU Impact Assessments still tend to be highly conceptual and it is questionable whether they influence policy. Furthermore, few Directives or Regulations have Impact Assessments.

However, it would be too easy to lay the blame at the door of the European Commission for whom Impact Assessment is an important tool, but one with which they will struggle without the support of member states who must be relied upon to conduct their own parallel Impact Assessments. Without this, the Commission has little or no data on which to base their own analysis while member states will miss a key opportunity to influence EU policy.

The Government has invested heavily in the UK Impact Assessment. However, their focus has been on the UK end of the legislation by which time it is too late to influence the Brussels stage which drives the whole process. We know from this year’s research that too often officials are focused on transposition as the moment at which to conduct an Impact Assessment. To have real influence then a partial UK Impact Assessment should emerge immediately after the Commission makes a legislative proposal.

The Government must be fully engaged with policy making in Brussels and shine a spotlight on new legislation at the formative stage. At present the EU and UK Impact Assessment systems are totally disconnected. The Government must establish a coherent linkage between the two if they are to make good on their commitment to provide a lighter regulatory environment for our members.

David Frost
Director General
British Chambers of Commerce

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