Written declaration on the administrative burden on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Action Programme for reducing administrative burdens in the EU,

– having regard to Rule 123 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the overall cost of the administrative burden on businesses in the EU is estimated at EUR 123.8 billion or 3.5 % of EU GDP,

1. Calls on the Institutions to abide by Article 153(2)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;

2. Calls on the Commission to introduce a 'one-in, one-out' rule;

3. Calls on the Commission to fully abide by the 10 principles contained within the Small Business Act;

4. Calls on the Institutions to make a sincere effort to implement the proposals of the High Level Group on Burden Reduction;

5. Calls on the Institutions to update impact assessments during the policy-making cycle, in particular to take account of substantive changes to the initial legislative proposal put forward by the Commission, and to make the updates available prior to the final vote in Parliament;

6. Calls on the Institutions to play an active role in communicating EU Directives once transposed;

7. Calls on the Commission to insist that Member States abide by their 2003 agreement to publish conformity tables when transposing EU Directives;

8. Calls on the Commission to introduce compulsory post implementation reviews on all regulations affecting SMEs;

9. Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Council, Commission and other EU bodies concerned.

Malcolm Harbour, Bendt Bendtsen, Dennis de Jong, Edit Herczog, Olle Schmidt