Sol Invictus
01-09-2010, 04:40 PM
December 20, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6962829.ece
The cost of European Union regulations — ranging from restrictions on working hours to limits on the noise at which orchestras can play — is costing Britain more than £18 billion a year, a report has found.
The most expensive law is the working time regulation, passed in 1998. According to the research by the think tank Open Europe, this costs £3.5 billion annually. The regulation has also been blamed by an official inquiry for contributing to unnecessary hospital deaths.
Much EU regulation — such as the £3 billion a year climate action package to cut carbon emissions — is widely accepted as beneficial to Britain. Critics, however, believe the government has been far too willing to give in to Brussels in accepting more damaging laws.
“Far too many are overly prescriptive and unnecessarily burdensome for business, the public sector and individuals,” said Mats Persson, director of Open Europe, based in London.
“Seventy-two per cent of the cost of regulation in this country stems from EU laws. An incoming government must take a radical new approach to EU over-regulation and must be much tougher and smarter when negotiating in Europe.”
Open Europe’s calculations are based on the government’s regulatory impact assessments, which estimate the year-by-year costs of new laws. The 100 most expensive regulations cost £18.71 billion a year.
The working time regulations, passed in 1998, have been widely criticised for imposing expensive rules on working hours, rest periods, pay and holiday entitlements.
A government-funded report published last month also partly blamed the regulation for an increase in hospital deaths by breaking the continuity in NHS patients’ care and cutting the time available for training some operating theatre staff.
Other expensive legislation includes the noise at work regulations, seen as excessively intrusive, particularly for restricting the work of noisy orchestras. Its cost is forecast to hit £586m.
A spokesman for the business department said that benefits as well as costs of EU regulation had to be taken into account.
He said a government study showed that, excluding pension rules that would come into effect in 2011, “benefits of new regulations outweighed costs by four to one”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6962829.ece
The cost of European Union regulations — ranging from restrictions on working hours to limits on the noise at which orchestras can play — is costing Britain more than £18 billion a year, a report has found.
The most expensive law is the working time regulation, passed in 1998. According to the research by the think tank Open Europe, this costs £3.5 billion annually. The regulation has also been blamed by an official inquiry for contributing to unnecessary hospital deaths.
Much EU regulation — such as the £3 billion a year climate action package to cut carbon emissions — is widely accepted as beneficial to Britain. Critics, however, believe the government has been far too willing to give in to Brussels in accepting more damaging laws.
“Far too many are overly prescriptive and unnecessarily burdensome for business, the public sector and individuals,” said Mats Persson, director of Open Europe, based in London.
“Seventy-two per cent of the cost of regulation in this country stems from EU laws. An incoming government must take a radical new approach to EU over-regulation and must be much tougher and smarter when negotiating in Europe.”
Open Europe’s calculations are based on the government’s regulatory impact assessments, which estimate the year-by-year costs of new laws. The 100 most expensive regulations cost £18.71 billion a year.
The working time regulations, passed in 1998, have been widely criticised for imposing expensive rules on working hours, rest periods, pay and holiday entitlements.
A government-funded report published last month also partly blamed the regulation for an increase in hospital deaths by breaking the continuity in NHS patients’ care and cutting the time available for training some operating theatre staff.
Other expensive legislation includes the noise at work regulations, seen as excessively intrusive, particularly for restricting the work of noisy orchestras. Its cost is forecast to hit £586m.
A spokesman for the business department said that benefits as well as costs of EU regulation had to be taken into account.
He said a government study showed that, excluding pension rules that would come into effect in 2011, “benefits of new regulations outweighed costs by four to one”.