Methodology

Regulations, while necessary, impose high costs on individuals, businesses and the public sector alike.

Better regulation can help to:

• reduce burdens induced on citizens and businesses
• accelerate procedures (e.g. issue of permits)
• improve the provision of information
• promote faster and better services for citizens and businesses
• create higher client orientation

 

Reducing administrative burdens for businesses

In the year 2006 the Austrian Federal Government launched a programme on the reduction of administrative burdens for businesses. In November 2007 the Austrian government set net reduction targets of 25 per cent for each ministry. The reduction target of more than one billion Euros will be achieved in two steps: in 2010 the first part of the target – 564 million Euros - was met. By 2012, another 512 million Euros of admin burden shall be reduced. Currently, 165 simplification measures are planned, will be implemented or are already realised. One of the flagship measures is the Austrian Business Service Portal (Unternehmensserviceportal – USP) portal, please read more here.

Reducing administrative burdens for citizens

In April 2009 the Austrian Federal Government launched a programme on the reduction of administrative burdens for citizens, including a focused baseline measurement, accompanied by fast-track-actions in the areas of birth, marriage and death. Approx. 4000 interviews have been conducted from September 2009 until February 2010. After the extrapolation of the results and the analysis of the qualitative questions, workshops aiming at the identification of tangible reduction measures for citizen were organized. More than 150 measures identified in these workshops have been reported to the Council of Ministers on 24 August 2010 where the next steps for the programme have been decided on. The next step will be the implementation of concrete measures starting from fall 2010 onwards.