“The federal government has finally ‘cut’ the bureaucracy,” the German Bildzeitung reported on the 15th. On the same day, the cabinet held a meeting focused on reducing cumbersome administrative procedures aimed at eradicating the stubborn disease of bureaucracy. The meeting is expected to approve more than 20 regulatory-related streamlining measures.
German public opinion believes that the German economy has long been in trouble, growth is weak, the number of corporate bankruptcies has set a record, and the willingness of multinational companies to invest in Germany is also declining. “We are no longer the export champion, but the bureaucratic champion,” said the Bild. The German government wants to remove this “title,” and has convened a meeting on the 15th for this purpose.
According to German media reports, the most prominent proposal at this meeting is the drafting of the “Medical Health Data and Digital Innovation Act”, which aims to address the problem of paperwork congestion that is common in many clinics, including efforts to promote digital transmission of information, introduce electronic referral systems, and greatly expand the scope of electronic medical records. In addition, the law will also remove barriers to hospitals using modern cloud infrastructure. Some of the proposed measures are closely related to the lives of German citizens, for example, owners of “E-shaped license plates” (electric vehicle exclusive licenses) will no longer need to display additional environmental signs on their windshields.
The German government‘s list of bureaucratic reduction measures also includes items aimed at businesses, such as the widespread elimination of corporate mandatory reporting requirements to the government, with the ultimate goal of eliminating at least 70% of such obligations. Carsten Wildberger, the German Minister for Digitalization and National Modernization responsible for streamlining regulatory measures, said that the work to reduce cumbersome administrative procedures has now “accelerated”.
Wildberger explained that to ensure the smooth implementation of these measures, Germany will introduce two complementary mechanisms: first, the “default approval” mechanism, which means that if the responsible department does not make a decision within 4 months, then the relevant bureaucratic clearance measures will be automatically considered as approved; second, the Reverse onus mechanism, which means that in the future, if companies question the “bureaucracy” of a regulation, they do not have to make the effort to explain, instead, the government must prove why it maintains the relevant obligations.
Moreover, all measures will follow a basic principle: any EU regulations that have been further encoded by Germany, adding complex processes, will be uniformly returned to EU standards.
Business representatives welcomed the German government‘s efforts to reduce bureaucracy, but also pointed out that the strength of the related measures was still insufficient.
The German news agency reported that the delegates also considered the move to add new administrative burdens. “The pressure to take action is enormous,” said Helena Melnikov, general manager of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the past, the German government has made many promises to reduce bureaucracy, but has rarely actually implemented them. She added that if subsequent measures can be implemented, this will become an important turning point in purging bureaucracy.
According to the German newspaper Die Welt, the German government‘s latest bureaucratic cuts are expected to save about 600 million euros annually.