With its Bureaucracy Reduction and Better Legislation Programme, the Federal Government on 25 April 2006 decided to measurably lower administrative costs caused by federal information obligations, to avoid the imposition of new information obligations and to vigorously work for the reduction of existing information obligations at European level.

Taking the measurement results as the basis, the Federal Government aims to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy significantly and quickly and sets itself the target of reviewing the

measured sum of administrative costs resulting from information obligations, while identifying and eliminating unnecessary costs of this kind by the end of 2011. The Federal Government aims to reduce the present administrative cost burden by 25 % until then, and to achieve about half of that amount until the end of 2009.

In these efforts, the connection to the impact of a reduction of the administrative burdens related to EU legislation is to be maintained.

Observance of the Reduction Target in New Proposals:

In order to sustain the envisaged reduction in costs, the Federal Government submits annual reports to the parliament on the burden for the Federal Government as a whole and the reduction achieved. These reports include the ministerial assessments of the administrative costs associated with new regulatory proposals, the subsequent SCM measurement of these costs and a reference to the reduction achieved in the administrative costs incurred by existing information obligations. This consideration of new regulatory proposals will also be of assistance in attaining the target of cutting administrative costs.

Monitoring:

As the burden resulting from an existing information obligation may change in the course of time, all altered or newly introduced information obligations are permanently recorded with their estimated consequences (added or reduced administrative burdens) and are measured at the latest two years after their entry into force.

Reduction results achieved so far (as of June 2009; see Second Interim Report of the Committee of State Secretaries on Bureaucracy Reduction):

So far, reduction measures amounting to EUR 7.3 billion have been adopted by Cabinet, 6.5 billion of which have already entered into force. As this amounts to a reduction of 15 percent, the interim target of a reduction of about 12.5 percent until the end of 2009 has been achieved in advance.

Other areas:

The Federal Government committed itself to consider not only the administrative burden on businesses, but also on citizens and the public administration itself.

The administrative burden on citizens is always given in time units (hours/minutes). The ministries will decide upon an additional, different type of presentation (e.g. verbally in qualitative categories or monetary evaluation) in specific cases within the scope of their examination.

First pilot measurements were conducted with the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in order to test the revised questionnaire for citizens and the standard activities that were revised as well. In addition, the Federal Statistical Office will question citizens on individual regulations on a voluntary basis.

The ex-ante assessment of information obligations for citizens started on 1 January 2009. The

Guide to the Ex-ante Assessment of the Administrative Costs was amended accordingly. Thus the identification of existing information obligations for citizens and the measurement of information obligation based thereupon will be continued – if not yet carried out – considering individual living situations, if necessary.

Pilot projects, together with the regional and local levels of government, were started in the areas of parental allowance, hosing benefits and of the Federal Training Assistance

Act (BAföG).