smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

All businesses, large and small, are being asked to respond to the Government’s new action plan to cut ‘red tape’.

The Regulatory Reform Action Plan, announced earlier this month, sets out in all 260 proposals for better regulation and reform aimed at helping businesses, charities, the wider public sector and individuals, says the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Welcoming the plan, the Prime Minister Tony Blair said that "The Regulatory Reform Action Plan is a clear sign of our commitment to better regulation – legislating only where necessary, doing so in a light touch way and deregulating wherever possible."

The proposals range from major innovations to be delivered through Bills to "sensible adjustments to regulatory regimes that can be made by Parliamentary Order," said Lord Macdonald, minister for the Cabinet Office.

Of most interest to smaller businesses is that some of these reforms could come from changes in guidance on present laws and in working practice, according to Lord Macdonald.

Culture minister Kim Howells, said, "Regulatory reforms may sound dry but removing unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles saves the industry time, headaches and money."

Large-scale proposals include the Communications Bill, currently before Parliament, which will replace the five media regulators with one super-regulator, Ofcom. The report claims this streamlining will create "significant cost savings for business."

Another measure, that might affect all sizes of business, is the proposed E-commerce European Union Directive. This will ensure that e-commerce traders operating across the EU will only need to comply with consumer protection law in their home member state.

The report says this directive, which should go through during the summer, will create a framework that maintains consumers’ confidence in e-commerce and provides legal certainty for information-society service providers.

Making more of the radio spectrum available for commercial use, and providing small businesses with specific guidance in each industry sector, are two further proposals.

The Independent Publishers Guild, which has a membership of around 400 small- to medium-sized publishers, commented that their members would be very interested to read about the proposals.

A spokesperson said since publishing is "way ahead" in the field of e-commerce, the implementation of e-commerce proposals in particular would have an impact on their members’ businesses.

John Emmins, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, commented that the "publication of the Government’s Regulatory Reform Action Plan is something that small businesses have long been waiting for," applauding the start of such action as a move ‘in the right direction’.

For a copy of the plan, visit www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/regulation .

With thanks to Lloyds TSB Success4Business. For more news and information visit www.success4business.com.

(15/2/02)