Imagine

Victor

Imagine, by 2016, our laws might be brought up to date to 1916! Soem of our law dates from the 13th century

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/isbc_preunionirishstatutes.html

http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-843208063-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FNews.htm

Government's White Paper aims to cut red tape
18/01/04 00:00
By Sean Mac Carthaigh

The government will this week unveil a plan to abolish red tape for business and consumers, doing away with thousands of petty laws and rules, and streamlining all regulations.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, will launch his White Paper on Better Regulation on Tuesday, arguing that Ireland urgently needs to update its approach.

Ireland has faced criticism in the past from the OECD, with the Paris-based think-tank saying the structures often reflected producer rather than consumer interests.

The White Paper argues that the down-the-line cost of regulation to the consumer, plus the cost to the exchequer, are crucial elements. It will also put in place a strict "regulatory impact analysis" system, described by sources as a "highly significant" part of the White Paper.

"Basically, this will shift the burden of proof onto whoever is proposing changes," one source said. "Ministers will have to see all of the consequences of the regulation change from the outset, and publish them so that the public can see everything clearly, before a decision is taken."

And in a shift designed to stop the practice of ministers making announcements that wind up being paid for from the budgets of cabinet colleagues, this transparency is also expected to extend to the consequences for other government departments.

The paper says that key questions should be asked of all regulation. These include:

* Necessity: is the regulation necessary? Can we reduce red tape in this area? Are the rules and structures that govern this area still valid?

* Effectiveness: is the regulation properly targeted? Is it going to be properly complied with and enforced?

* Proportionality: are we satisfied that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of this regulation? Is there a smarter way of achieving the same goal?

* Transparency: have we consulted with all the stakeholders prior to regulating? Is the regulation in this area clear and accessible to all? Is there good back-up explanatory material?

* Accountability: is it clear under the regulation precisely who is responsible to whom and for what? Is there an effective appeals process?

* Consistency: will the regulation give rise to anomalies and inconsistencies given the other rules that are in place? Are we applying best practice developed in one area when regulating other areas?

The paper proposes a systematic review of all current regulation, including institutions set up recently.

It is understood that the government also plans to make the decisions of regulators legally binding pending any appeal. This would prevent a repetition of the Meteor saga, where an appeal by Orange delayed the awarding of the third mobile licence for more than a year until the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of the regulator.

The paper also calls for a complete overhaul of the Irish legal code, abolishing many of the irrelevant, pre-1922 laws dating from the days of British rule.

Victor

More.

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/topstories/2384263?view=Eircomnet

Regulation plan aims to cut red tape
From:ireland.com
Wednesday, 21st January, 2004

The Government has promised to introduce "lighter" forms of regulation under a strategy aimed at cutting red tape - estimated to cost Irish business up to €600 million a year.

The White Paper On Better Regulation, which was published yesterday, recommends the use of alternative means of enforcing legislation rather than pursuing offenders through the courts.

It suggests greater use of measures such as the plastic bag tax, which helped to "modify behaviour" without the appointment of litter wardens or inspectors, or the imposition of new administrative charges.

The White Paper also commits the Government to assessing possibilities for consolidating or "rationalising" existing regulators, and says new sectoral regulators would be created only if the case for them "can be clearly demonstrated".

Either excise law, or gaming and lotteries legislation, is expected to be assessed under a pilot review scheme this year, with the aim of rolling out a new Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) regime by January 2005.

Under the process, relevant Departments or offices will assess and quantify the likely impact of new regulations whose compliance burden is above a certain threshold - expected to be in the order of €25 million.

A systematic review of existing regulation is also to take place with an emphasis on updating pre-1922 law.

In addition, a Better Regulation Group will be established within the Department of the Taoiseach this year to monitor implementation of the action plan and recommend improvements.

Publishing the document yesterday, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said: "We need to tackle the volume of regulation. We must scrutinise every proposal for a new law or statutory instrument.

"Equally we must systematically examine what is already in place to see if it is still relevant and still achieving the objective that gave rise to it."

Referring to health and safety and road safety as regulatory areas that might benefit from review, the Taoiseach said it was "not effective" if the only way a regulator could deal with breaches was by criminal prosecution.

He said there was potential for greater use of tax incentives to correct problems in certain sectors but it would be "totally counter-productive" if these were transformed into revenue-raising mechanisms.

The White Paper cited a European Commission finding that the burden of red tape on business was between 4 per cent and 6 per cent of GNP, and that 15 per cent of this burden was avoidable.

It said, based on such estimates, unnecessary regulation cost Irish business at least €582 million last year.

The Government action plan follows a 2001 OECD review of Ireland's regulatory environment which concluded it was one of the less regulated states in the OECD with "policy biases of producer over consumer interests" in several areas.

Welcoming the White Paper, the employers' group IBEC said a recent survey of members indicated that the cost of regulation compliance was their third biggest concern after insurance and energy.

Mr Brendan Butler, director of enterprise at IBEC, said its view was that new regulations should only be implemented if "a substantial benefit over cost" was identified.

He urged the Government to "very quickly" roll out the RIA process to all departments, adding that the findings of each analysis should be published.

IBEC also called for a series of changes to existing regulations including environmental and employment laws as well as the Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Act 2003, which introduces new compliance requirements on business.

The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland also welcomed the White Paper, saying regulation was implemented in many cases "without any forethought as to what its consequences may be".

Main points:

Under its action plan on regulatory reform (further details at www.betterregulation.ie), the Government promises to:

Create a high-level Better Regulation Group to carry out an audit of Ireland's regulatory framework.

• Consolidate or streamline regulatory bodies where desirable.

• Subject all major regulations to Regulatory Impact Analysis, a new means of assessing their effectiveness.

• Conduct systematic reviews of regulation, including a Statute Law Revision to update pre-1922 legislation.

• Regulate as lightly as possible, given the circumstances, and use more alternatives.

• Introduce new legislation that will ensure fines imposed by regulations are kept up to date through indexation.

• Develop better mechanisms for appealing regulatory decisions.

• Publish explanatory guides alongside new regulations to ensure they are better understood.

• Institute broader consultation with consumers and other groups over new regulations.

• Streamline administrative processes, using new technology where possible, to reduce form-filling and make services faster and more accessible.

ishmael whale

Some of those 13th Century laws make perfect sense, like the one preventing the King from billeting his troops in your house without your permission. (Did anyone actually insist on this right when confronted by the King and his army looking for a bed for the night?)

Sparks

Anyone else thinking of the policy seen from large corporate lawsuits of hiding damning evidence in a mountain of paper?

shotamoose

Business always wants less regulation, with the desirable end-point being having none at all. Obviously regulations should be examined for effectiveness, transparency, etc, but I would hope that any move towards deregulation is always given exactly the same scrutiny in terms of impact assessment.

Victor

Oh, this is relevant Statute Law (Restatement) Act, 2002.

Syth

Soem of our law dates from the 13th century

I think there should be a time limit on laws, say 10 or 20 years. After that it must be repassed by the oireachtas. One reason we respect out laws is because they are passed by democracy, not imposed by a king or Fuhrer. But some laws date from when either the people who voted from them are long dead, or they are nearyl all dead. This means laws are being imposed from the dead as opposed to from a ruler.

Victor

Originally posted by Syth
I think there should be a time limit on laws, say 10 or 20 years. After that it must be repassed by the oireachtas. One reason we respect out laws is because they are passed by democracy, not imposed by a king or Fuhrer. But some laws date from when either the people who voted from them are long dead, or they are nearyl all dead. This means laws are being imposed from the dead as opposed to from a ruler.

There is an argument that if a law has lasted for centuries, then it isn't too repugnant to current values and is a good law. For example the Statute of Frauds 1695 is a perfectly good law for it's purpose - that land transfers must have a written contract (albeit abused in gazumping, etc.)

However, having such a vast array of different law is quite unwieldy.