Less administrative burden for the Austrian economy

The Austrian federal government has agreed to unburden the Austrian economy by more than 1 billion EUR.

Aims

to increase the attractiveness of Austria as a business location
to substantially relieve the burden on Austrian businesses
to create potential for future investments
to enhance the interaction between public administration and businesses
to create more transparent and efficient legal provisions

The next important step of the initiative is to develop simplification plans for each ministry. This will ensure that the ambitious aims of the initiative are achieved. Several interest groups will take part in the planning process in order to enable a broad approach.

Implementing regulations and laws entails costs for businesses, which can be divided into financial costs and compliance costs (please refer to the graph below).

When reducing administrative burdens, one needs to take into account the overall objectives and benefits of a regulation, especially with regard to ensuring adequate consumer, health and environmental protection.

The simplification plans will focus on optimising processes and procedures.

Examples are:

to offer time-saving transmissions of information by using e-government solutions
to improve data sharing within the administration
to eliminate irritation factors for businesses
to simplify complicated legal provisions and harmonize definitions