US warns Commission to ‘cut red tape small talk’

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 17/03/05

A little less conversation and a little more action is needed by the European Commission if it is to achieve its aim of reducing the regulatory burden on businesses, says John Graham, the US administrator for the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) regulatory affairs office.

Graham - who is responsible for implementing the US's better regulation initiative - is in Brussels this week (14-18 March) to exchange best practice ideas with officials from the Commission's enterprise department, particularly in the context of the EU-US roadmap on regulatory co-operation established in June last year.

According to Graham, the Commission is "definitely moving in the right direction" in slashing red tape but it needs to put in place effective cost-benefit analysis before adopting legislation.

Brussels is also hampered, Graham said, by the fact that there is no one person or body taking responsibility for ensuring that member states achieve their regulatory objectives, Graham said.

In the US the OMB oversees the work being carried out by various regulatory agencies. "My responsibility is to implement the better regulation initiative so, while the regulatory agencies are also responsible, in the final analysis I'm the one who's accountable for making sure that it happens," he said. "I think that the question of who is responsible for implementing the better regulation initiative is one that the Commission is still struggling with."

Graham's comments come as the European Commission launched its better regulation package, which will simplify existing regulation and screen pending proposals with a view to modifying them to improve competitiveness or even withdrawing superfluous ones.

Enterprise Commissioner Günter Verheugen said the EU executive would "not legislate without a proper impact assessment", for which revised guidelines will be issued next month. He also recommended that member states put in place "national better regulation strategies".

Preview of a visit of John Graham, the US administrator for the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) regulatory affairs office to Brussels, 14-18 March 2005, to exchange best practice ideas with officials from the European Commission's DG Enterprise. The talks with Graham, who is responsible for implementing the US's better regulation initiative, came in the context of the EU-US roadmap on regulatory co-operation established in June 2004.