In an online survey, the federal government found out which bureaucratic procedures bother and plague entrepreneurs, employees, freelancers and associations in Germany the most.
With the help of the Federal Statistical Office, the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Benjamin Strasser (FDP), who is responsible for reducing bureaucracy, has now drawn up a list of 442 proposals from the responses of the 57 associations that took part, which are intended to provide as much relief as possible.
This wish-you-what of bureaucracy reduction is sorted according to criteria such as compliance costs, acceleration potential and range. In addition, it was examined to what extent those affected experience the legal requirements or the procedure to which a proposal refers as incomprehensible.
One proposal that was included in the list published in Berlin, for example, envisages granting companies that operate mobile networks the right to inspect the land register. This would allow them to approach private owners of land and buildings that are suitable locations for radio towers more quickly. As a result, the mobile network expansion would probably progress more quickly.
procedure so far complicated
The Federal Association of German Bus Companies would like procurement procedures to be designed in such a way that every private bus company can participate in tenders in the future. According to the association, these procedures have so far been so complicated that companies in the industry often cannot manage them without the help of a law firm or a specialist consultant.
According to the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), if the procedures for applying for rehabilitation measures were less complicated, a reduction in earning capacity or early retirement could be avoided in a number of cases. Instead of obliging the employees concerned to find out who is responsible for the respective measure before submitting an application, the DGB believes that a basic application for rehabilitation should be introduced. According to the proposal, this would facilitate access to rehabilitation measures.
However, the evaluation of the proposals received also reveals some general problems. The Federation of German Industries (BDI) as well as the German Farmers’ Association and the Association of Municipal Companies are calling for authorities to be obliged to at least check within certain deadlines whether all the necessary documents have been submitted or whether something is still missing. “Often the examination of the application documents is drawn out even more and more by only piecemeal subsequent requests for documents,” complains the farmers’ association. He proposes a time window of three months for the subsequent request for documents. After the end of this period, the application should be considered complete.
Homework for all ministries
Of the 442 suggestions, the Federal Statistical Office sorted 157 suggestions into Category 1. That means they are considered “potentially suitable for direct legal measures by the departments or in a further bureaucracy relief law”.
A look at the list shows that there is homework for all ministries. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP), in whose house the coordination of bureaucracy reduction for the entire government is based, says: “Of course it’s clear to me that many politicians are particularly fond of bureaucracy reduction when the plans are still rather abstract. If it is becomes concrete, the circle of friends unfortunately becomes smaller quickly.”
Where EU law sets requirements that cannot be changed nationally, one should not sit back and tackle the issue with the EU Commission, says Buschmann. He would therefore also wish “that we in the Federal Government could agree on starting a European initiative to reduce bureaucracy with other interested member states and European decision-makers such as the European Commission and the European Parliament”.
