Commission uses web to consult firms

Date: 10/06/1999

By Peter Chapman

INTERNAL market officials are set to use the Internet to consult small businesses on the likely costs of complying with proposed new EU legislation before it becomes law.

Under the plan, information about draft directives will be put on to the European Commission's 'Dialogue with business' website and companies will be invited to comment on the proposals.

The new initiative will give those affected by a particular plan the chance to say if they believe the proposed new rules - including measures designed to fill the gaps in the EU's single market - would do them more harm than good.

" The idea is that small and medium-sized businesses use the site to point out some of the problems they might face with directives," said one Commission official.

He added that the web site would be particularly useful for companies which do not have the financial might to employ strong lobbying teams or links with powerful trade associations to have a voice in the Union's decision-making process.

The exercise will kick off in the autumn with an investigation into the likely impact of the proposed new rules on electronic waste recycling which have proved highly controversial. However, officials in the Directorate-General for the environment (DGXI) deny talk of a rift with their counterparts in the internal market department (DGXV) over the decision to choose this sensitive issue as the first topic to be addressed under the new system.

They say any controversy stirred up by consulting industry in this way is unlikely to be any hotter than that prompted by the debate within the Commission itself before the proposals are formally launched.

" DGXV said it was very interested in looking at controversial issues. There has been no problem for us; we even helped them to write the sections on the directive which will go on the Web," said one environment official responsible for the planned waste directive.

" It is quite clear that the Commission's own inter-service consultation will be controversial," he added.

Keyword: Dialogue with business.