Reducing Administrative Costs
Less burden for the Austrian economy
In spring 2006 the Austrian government launched an initiative to reduce administrative burdens for businesses by 25 per cent. This will increase the attractiveness of Austria as a business location and create potential for future investments within the Austrian economy.
The results of the baseline measurement completed in June 2007 showed that the Austrian economy faces administrative burdens of 4.3 billion Euros. This equals 1.6 per cent of the GNP (data 2007).
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 administrative burden shall be reduced. Currently, 165 simplification measures are planned, will be implemented or have already been realised. One of the flagship measures is the Austrian Business Service Portal (Unternehmensserviceportal – USP).
Citizen programme
In April 2009 the Austrian Government initiated a programme to reduce administrative burdens for citizens, too. The programme includes a focused baseline measurement, accompanied by fast-track-actions in the areas of birth, marriage and death. Approximately 4.000 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. Concrete measures started in 2010.
Ex-ante measurement
New regulatory policies are covered by ex-ante measurement and newly added burdens or reductions counted against the overall amount of administrative burden (net-target). According to §14a BHG, all new legal provisions have to be evaluated with the Standard Cost Model (SCM):
- Impact on administrative burdens for businesses (since 9/2007)
- Impact on administrative burdens for citizens (since 9/2009)
- Overall administrative burden/year
- Targets: more transparency and minimum quality
- Easy tool to use for public servants, available as download (German only!)
The Ministry of Finance is in charge of enacting guidelines and monitoring their correct appliance in accordance with the SCM. Since September 2009, the Ministry of Finance provides an improved IT tool (administrative burden calculator). The use of the administrative burden calculator is compulsory.
For further information
The Ministry
