A new “one-in, one-out” system of regulation is to be introduced by the Government from 1 September.
The new rule has been designed to apply initially to domestic legislation – including employment law – affecting businesses and the third sector. When ministers seek to introduce new regulations that impose costs on employers, they will have to identify current red tape with an equivalent value that can be removed.
The policy was a Conservative manifesto pledge made at last year’s Tory Party conference.
The Government has also asked the independent Regulatory Policy Committee – a panel of business experts – to scrutinise the evidence supporting new regulatory proposals, prior to policy decisions being made.
Ministers will also look to end the so-called “gold-plating” of EU regulations so that when European rules are transposed into UK law it is done without putting British business at a competitive disadvantage to other European-based companies.
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Business secretary Vince Cable said: “Together these measures represent a fundamental shift in how Whitehall has traditionally used regulation as a way to command and control.
“We have to move quickly delivering credible and meaningful reductions in the burdens that hinder hard-pressed businesses and charities. We have to create a common sense approach in the way we think about new laws.”
