The regulatory framework in which enterprises operate is a key aspect of the business climate and is crucial to their competitiveness, growth and employment performance. A key objective of the European Union's enterprise policy is therefore to ensure that the regulatory environment for enterprises is of high quality. That is why "better regulation" is a centrepiece of the European Commission's "Partnership for Growth and Jobs" (the renewed 'Lisbon Strategy', spring 2005). The avoidance of unnecessary administrative burdens for enterprises is part of this strategy to improve the quality of regulations. Administrative burdens are the costs to enterprises of time spent filling in forms and reporting on a wide range of regulatory issues that would not be needed if no legal provision existed.

The major research topics of EIM Business & Policy Research, a member of Panteia, cover assessments of, and advice on, the impact of (potential) changes in legislation, ICT applications etc, as well as studies and advice on the set-up and efficiency of organisations and operating procedures.

Back in the early nineties EIM Business & Policy Research developed a model to measure to administrative compliance costs for enterprises and institutions, known as Mistral®. The Standard Cost Model (SCM) used by international organisations (e.g. the European Commission and the World Bank) as the basis for baseline measurements at the international level originates from the Mistral ®model.

Should you require any further information, please contact us.
We will be happy to help you.

Example international projects:

Possible effects on administrative burdens due to the intended Change of the Market Abuse Directive
Client: DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission
Implemented by EIM in cooperation with Consortium Economisti (lead), The Evalua-tion Partnership and
Center for Strategy and Evaluation Services (CSES) and ENSR
Year 2011
Reference Multiple framework service contract for the procurement of studies and other supporting services on Commission impact assessments and evaluations: lot 2 Impact assessments on enterprises and mi-croeconomics
DG Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission (EC) has asked EIM Business & Policy Research, the Netherlands to conduct a study as part of the review of the Market Abuse Directive. The focus of the study is on the impact of this review on administrative burden. In addition a costs assessment is made of all the envisaged policy options likely to have an impact on the administrative burden.

Baseline measurement of administrative costs
The Dutch government aims to reduce the administrative costs to enterprises by 25%. The objective of this project is to deliver a contribution to reducing the administrative costs to enterprises by providing a clear insight into the size of the administrative burdens and the perception of entrepreneurs. On the basis of this information, the different ministries must be able to develop concrete cost reduction programmes.

The project covers the complete legal and regulatory framework for enterprises in the Netherlands. Hence, it covers the framework at the national as well as the regional and local level, and also the obligations set by governmental organisations responsible for the implementation of the legal and regulatory framework.

The project was carried out in 3 months (January - March 2008) and had a budget of almost 3 million euros. EIM Business & Policy Research carried out this project in a consortium with Cap Gemini, Deloitte and Ramboll.

Standard Cost Model - Business Licensing Reform in Zambia
The overall objective of this assignment is to identify and measure regulatory compliance costs associated with business licenses in Zambia on the basis of the Standard Cost Model (SCM) methodology. The use of the SCM will serve the dual purpose of providing policy makers with a quantitative measure of the impact of the current licensing regime, and of guiding priorities for specific revisions and eliminations.

Quick Scan of Administrative Costs, Brandenburg
Using a quick scan provided an insight into the administrative costs of all legislation and regulations in the German Federal State of Brandenburg. In addition to the costs incurred by businesses, the costs to government implementing institutes and educational institutions were charted. The Parliament of Brandenburg used the results of this study to set priorities for their programme to reduce the administrative burden of Brandenburg laws.

Quick wins reduction of administrative costs EU legislation
At the EU level also, more attention is being paid to the problem of increasing administrative costs and possible ways of reducing these. Within this framework EIM has been asked to provide 'quick-wins' to reduce the administrative costs of EU legislation. Quick wins are examples of EU rules (policies or directives) that can be simplified and for which the reduction is substantial without any controversial decisions having to be made. This involves EU rules that the CIE can simplify (i.e. not only for the Netherlands) by adapting an EU policy or directive.