NNR Newsletter 1 2015

NNR is pleased that better regulation has been given a renewed and stronger focus at EU level with the appointment of a commissioner in charge of better regulation, first Vice-President Frans Timmermans. The Commission has started work according to its ambitious better regulation agenda and has already presented several new initiative welcomed by business. The Commission’s work plan is more focused and contains many fewer initiatives than those of previous Commissions and it has announced a new body, the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, which will scrutinise the quality of impact assessments in a more independent way than before.

It will also intensify work on the REFIT scoreboard where gold-plating by member states when implementing EU legislation will be reported. NNR welcomes these initiatives but would also like to see a stronger focus on the simplification proposals that business has submitted in the Commission’s REFIT agenda and that impact assessments are carried out for all new proposed legislation and of major amendments in the European Parliament and the Council.

NNR Has a New President

On 1 September 2014, Andrea Femrell succeeded Jens Hedström as President of NNR. Mr Femrell was previously a Senior Advisor at NNR, a position which he had held since 2006. Prior to that he worked for the confederation of Swedish enterprise covering issues such as the single market and technical obstacles to trade. At NNR, Mr Femrell has been responsible, among other things, for better regulation at regional and local levels, information obligations on business and impact assessments.

– I am pleased to have been entrusted with the task to lead and further develop the work of NNR. Effective and less costly regulations are an important part in creating a good climate for business and growth. NNR and its members have an important role to play, said Mr Femrell.   

Andrea Femrell,
President of NNR
 

NNRs latest report ‘More Effective Regulations within the EU’ contains priorities for Simplification of regulation both from Swedish business and ones that have been put forward by BusinessEurope. The report has been submitted to the first Vice-President of the EU Commission, Frans Timmermans, as well as the Secretariat-General of the EU commission. The Commission was quick to respond and within months NNR received full feedback on the simplification proposals. The Commission will consider the proposals within the framework of its REFIT programme.

NNR’s report is available here.

The Commission’s comments on the simplification proposals are available here.

NNR Provides Input to Eurostat

In October 2014, a peer review was carried out of Statistics Sweden by a group of accountants appointed by the EU statistical office Eurostat.

The aim of the peer review was to investigate to what extent the guidelines for European statistics are followed in Sweden. The team of reviewers held talks with representatives from Statistics Sweden, other state agencies responsible for national statistics, users of statistics and stakeholders who are required to provide information. NNR, together with the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, represented the stakeholders in talks with the review team. NNR underlined that submitting information to government has to be easy and cost efficient for business.

The review has now resulted in a report with recommendations for improvement. Eurostat has identified a number of areas where reforms could be made to reduce the burden on business of submitting information to government. Eurostat suggests an overview of the overall framework for national statistics with specific focus on the fact that Sweden has a number of small independent statistical agencies. Among the recommendations is also a suggestion to increase the use of web based questionnaires as well as a joint web portal for the collection of information. A government review on the creation of such a portal will present its findings in March 2015. The Eurostat recommendations could, if implemented, have a positive impact on the overall cost for business of submitting information.

Read the Eurostats report here.