Burden of bureaucracy higher than ever before
The bureaucratic burden caused by new laws reached a record level last year. This is the conclusion reached by the German Regulatory Control Council (NKR) in its latest annual report, which was submitted to the German government. Every year, the independent body examines the time and costs incurred by new laws.
The report now presented, which covers the period from July 2022 to June 2023, states: "Compared to previous years, the burden on companies, authorities and the population resulting from federal law has increased significantly - by 9.3 billion euros per year and one-off costs of 23.7 billion euros." The biggest cost driver here was the Building Energy Act, although this is also associated with major future benefits. The gas and electricity price brakes were "incredibly complicated", criticized Sabine Kuhlmann, deputy chairwoman of the NKR.
Federalism reform urgently needed
If overly complex laws were to be implemented by an administration suffering from a lack of staff and delays in digitalization, the overload would take on worrying proportions, warned NKR Chairman Lutz Goebel. He called for "more courage to leave gaps" in legislation and explained: "If we had more efficient structures, more regulation would perhaps carry less weight." A new reform of federalism is also urgently needed.
On a positive note, Lutz emphasized that the Federal Ministry of Economics has at least now recognized that simplified processes are necessary in order to implement the "green transformation" that the government is striving for. However, NKR Vice Chairman Kuhlmann said that there was a lack of practical implementation rather than recognition when it came to reducing bureaucracy.
Lack of transparency
She was critical, for example, of the federal government's initial considerations regarding basic child insurance. These did not amount to a simplification, at least for the administration, as the current plans would involve "a large number of authorities" with the implementation.
Lutz accused the Federal Ministry of the Interior of a lack of transparency when it comes to the digitalization of administrative services for which it is responsible. The Online Access Act and its implementation had "disappeared into the basement", so to speak, in the view of the Council for the Review of Legal Norms.
Source: www.dpa.com
