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Better Regulation Seminar

Better Regulation Seminar

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About this Event

31 Mar 2004

Better Regulation – A European and Irish Perspective


Telecoms Regulation Seminar
As part of a series of regulation seminars, the Institute of European Affaris held a seminar on Regulation of the telecom sector on 31st March 2004. The keynote speaker was Minister for Finance Mr Charlie McCreevy, TD.

Speech by the Minister for Finance,
Mr Charlie McCreevy, T.D. at the Institute for European Affairs to open the Seminar Series:
Better Regulation – A European and Irish Perspective
31 March 2004


Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me first say how pleased I am to be here, and express my gratitude to the Institute for having invited me to open this series of seminars.

… Introduction …

I remember reading a newspaper headline a couple of years back which said: “Red tape holding up new bridge? … While I’m not sure I would like to cross that particular bridge, the headline illustrates well what I am going to talk about today: over-regulation and bad regulation stifles economic activity and growth whereas well designed regulation can have a positive impact.

It is clear from studies carried out by the OECD, the IMF and the European Commission that improving the quality of regulation and removing potentially harmful regulatory obstacles can have a positive effect on growth. For instance, the Commission has quoted research indicating that better regulation could save businesses based in the European Union up to €50 billion a year.

The IMF has reported that raising the level of competition in the euro area to the American level through better regulation could add up to 4% of GDP in the long run, and an OECD study arrived at a similar figure.

Studies also suggest that the regulatory burden on SMEs is disproportionately large, and that those companies stand to gain the most from better and lighter regulation. Last year, the Commission reported that small businesses considered excessive administrative and regulatory burdens the main obstacle to growth in many European countries. According to calculations in the Netherlands, the overall cost of regulation – almost 4% of Dutch GDP – is nine times as burdensome to the smallest companies as it is to the largest companies.

… Irish Presidency …

The Lisbon Strategy calls for lower costs of doing business in Europe and for the removal of unnecessary red tape, domestically as well as at European level. Together with Finance Ministers from the three incoming Council Presidencies - the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom – I, as President of the ECOFIN Council of Ministers, launched an initiative last January on regulation. Under this highly innovative initiative, each of the four Presidencies is committed to the pursuit of measures designed to ease the administrative and regulatory burden on business over the next two years.

At our meeting in March, we agreed a programme of actions involving specific and concrete recommendations for the Council, the Commission and the member states. The objective is to release the growth potential locked up by harmful regulation. The actions relate to regulating better both at national and EU level.
They include better assessment of the potential impact on competitiveness of proposed regulation, simplification of existing regulation, and looking at ways for reducing the administrative burdens on business.

At the recent European Council the Heads of State and Government recognised the contribution that better regulation can make to enhancing competitiveness and productivity and welcomed the four-Presidency initiative in this area.

… Ireland …

Let me finally say a few words about the situation here in Ireland. I think it is fair to say that, in general, companies face less red tape here than in many other European countries. However, there is still room for improvement within the context of the Government’s overall strategy of enhancing Ireland’s competitiveness, especially in the current, more uncertain global economic environment.

This is why the Government, last January, published the White Paper “Regulating Better?. This White Paper sets out the core principles of good regulation and then a programme of actions to give effect to these principles. These actions include commitments to reduce red tape, to regulate as lightly as possible given the circumstances, to consult more widely before regulating, to make regulations straightforward, clear and accessible, and so on. The full set of actions will be implemented over the next couple of years, but I am pleased to report that many of them have in fact been launched already.

… Conclusion …

Better regulation, both at EU and at national level, is an important challenge ahead of us which can lead to important economic benefits. Both the four-Presidency initiative and the Government’s White Paper set out an agenda for work to address this challenge.
While some progress is being made in this area, a lot remains to be done, here in Ireland and in the wider EU context.

It is therefore very timely and encouraging that the Institute has launched this seminar series on regulation, and I wish you well in this work and I look forward to hearing the outcome of your deliberations.

Thank you.

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