Reports from advisory groups on regulatory streamlining

Since 1997, three successive groups, with representatives from the financial sector and unions, have advised the government on regulatory streamlining. Four reports were submitted between 1998 and 2003.

Published in May 1998, the first report focused on regulations that most impeded business. Fifty-seven recommendations were made, many regarding labour-related regulations, including Article 45 of the Labour Code, the application of tax rules, and various industry-specific regulations.

The second report, which was presented during the Groupe conseil’s second mandate, focused on simplifying administrative obligations imposed on business by current regulations. Published in June 2000 under the title Simplifier les formalités administratives, it provided 58 recommendations to eliminate the main administrative irritants of the current regulatory framework.

The third report, drafted at the end of the second Groupe conseil mandate and entitled La simplification des formalités administratives : une nécessité pour l’économie, was published in May 2001. It included a list of formalities imposed on business and offered 44 new recommendations, including a two-year moratorium on all new administrative requirements (permits, reports, forms, etc.) as well as a 20% reduction to the number of requirements listed in 1998-99.

In September 2003, the advisory group chaired by Raymond Dutil published its report under the title Une Administration plus attentive aux entreprises : pour créer plus d’emplois et de richesse, which evaluated response to the 2000 and 2001 reports. It noted that “businesses are already benefiting from the tangible results of 35 recommendations which are practically or fully realized.” The advisory group added that “companies are also benefiting from 33 [other] recommendations, which are producing tangible results or at least have been subject to explicit appropriation” by the key ministries and agencies.

The advisory group also reminded government that “businesses could benefit from 22 recommendations that have not been acted upon in any significant way.” It concluded that, despite progress, the government should strengthen its efforts to ensure that its initiatives create a new business-friendly culture within all ministries and agencies.

• Le rapport du Groupe conseil de mai 1998 (PDF, in French, 74 pages, 430 ko)
• Le rapport du Groupe conseil de juin 2000 (PDF, in French, 65 pages, 619 ko)
• Le rapport du Groupe conseil de mai 2001 (PDF, in French, 82 pages, 421 ko)
• Le rapport du Groupe conseil d’août 2003 (PDF, in French, 99 pages, 972 ko)