Reducing bureaucracy

Less bureaucracy is more

President of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Commerce Wolfgang Ecker

(Bild: Rita Newman)

It has taken a long time. But now our cries that our companies are in danger of being suffocated by too much bureaucracy have finally been heard. The EU is sending the first signal.

The announced simplifications to the Supply Chain Act and sustainability reporting point in the right direction: the Supply Chain Act is to be postponed by two years and simplified, and the latter will only apply to large companies with more than 1,000 employees and an annual net turnover of 450 million euros. This means that 80 percent of companies, especially our SMEs, will be exempt from the reporting obligation.

First important steps
The new government program also points in the right direction with the measures announced. The bureaucracy reduction office and the deregulation commissioner show that the problem has finally been addressed. Concrete measures such as the announced end to the obligation to provide receipts for amounts up to 35 euros and plans to simplify tax law, especially payroll accounting, are important steps.

Too much bureaucracy slows down growth and competitiveness. This applies to us in Austria as well as to the entire EU. But time is pressing. The current announcements are pleasing, but not enough. We now need to move quickly from talk to action and continue to focus on the economy. Because we all benefit from this. Every growth-promoting measure that we take today will give us more room for maneuver tomorrow and secure the business location.