Administrative Simplification in France: a long-term effort

1. Administrative Simplification in France: a long-term effort Charles-Henri Montin (France)* www.smartregulation.net charles-henri.montin@finances.gouv.fr * These slides are for information and discussion and do not present an official French position. They cannot validly be interpreted without complements given at delivery.

2. Contents • The key concepts of the French approach • The actors, objectives and the techniques • Recent developments with the “choc de simplification” (2013) • OECD remarks

3. Simplification: the French approach Concepts (specific) applied in France: • Modernisation de l’action publique • Quality of the Law (qualité du droit) • Simplification of the law, including reduction of administrative burdens • Reduction of normative inflation • Codification • Administrative simplification (for users, businesses) including curbing bureaucratic language • Relations between the administration and users (law of 12 April 2000) • Quality of Service

4. Actors of the simplification policy • The Legislator • Enacting simplification laws (6 since 2003) • Main user of Impact assessment scheme (constitutional reform 2008) • The Executive • Comité interministériel pour la modernisation de l’action publique (CIMAP) since December 2012 • The Conseil d’Etat as guardian of the quality of normative texts • The senior official in charge of simplification (within SGG): mandate in circulaire 19/2/2013 • All ministries contributing (ex: law on modernisation of the economy, egovernment projects)

5. Objectives of the simplification policy • The overriding concern: contain normative inflation • Legal certainty (see 2006 public report of the State Council), less emphasis on the pursuit of economic efficiency (according to OECD) • Competitiveness of the economy • Simplification as a component of the overall review of public policies (RGPP) then of Modernisation of Public Action (MAP):   transformation of government from the inside, reducing the fiscal cost, optimizing the efficiency of the administration • Integrated with the user-relations dimension, through innovative public services and quality • In technical terms, France distinguishes simplifying legislation and simplification of formalities (cutting red tape)

6. Identifying promising simplifications Three techniques to select simplification themes • Offer ministries a « vector » to achieve rapid legislative changes, sometimes as a « habilitation » (delegation of legislative authority to government) • Main risk: use by ministries of the vector to promote substantive agenda • Advantage: ministries cooperate • Downside: a heavy process: annual reports, proposal fiches, PM arbitration, parliamentary procedure, etc • Large scale sustainable consultation of stakeholders: • « Assises de la simplification » 2006 and 2011 • Experience of standing consultative body (COSA) • Web-based consultation: « ensemble simplifions » from DGME ); • New consultation manual (2013) « Consulter pour mieux réglementer » • Wide-scale measurement and reengineering of administrative procedures according to the SCM, to achieve significant economic results (2006-2011).

7. Legal techniques to simplify the body of legislation • Legistics and good legislative drafting (“qualité du droit”) as core competence of policy makers • Drafting in plain language: simplification du langage administratif • Elimination of obsolete or outdated standards ("anti-law") • Extensive codification operations • Exemptions from formal obligations for specific end-users • Reducing the number of advisory bodies (circulaire 30/11/2012) and 101 suppressions (council of ministers 22 May 2013) • Extension of tacit decision (lex silencio) : “le silence de l’administration vaut accord” 10/7/2013 • “Interprétation facilitatrice”, circular 2/4/2013 • Consolidated access to the body of norms (Légifrance site) and circulars

8. « Le choc de simplification » • Headline goal of the Comité interministériel pour la modernisation de l’action publique: see second meeting 2 April 2013 • Wider scope than previous policy (RGPP), to include social security and local authorities • Attuned to the expectations and support of the civil service • Supplement to the « choc de compétitivité » under the same growth strategy

9. Priorities for delivery Quote from the mission of the senior official in charge: • “Drive the moratorium on new regulation on local authorities (since July 2010) • Make sure RIAs are conducted on new regulation affecting local authorities and businesses • Assist ministries in quantifying the impact of new regulations • Apply common commencement dates (January 1st or July 1st) on regulation concerning business • Make sure a delay of two months is given between enacting and enforcing new legislation.”

10. Key current policy circular dated 17/02/2011 « on simplifying norms concerning business and local government » Objectives of Parliament and Government : • Better control of normative inflation. • Preserve the competitiveness of businesses by simplifying and stabilizing the legal framework. • Reduce public spending by controlling the cost imposed by the regulations. Implementing the policy : • Identify measures to reduce burdens on companies and local authorities • Avoid gold plating of EU directives or national laws (for implementing decrees).

11. Recent developments CIMAP of 18 December 2012 Decision 15: - Extension of RIA to all regulatory texts - Develop and open online consultation Decision 18: pluriannual simplification programme CIMAP of April 2, 2013 Decision 16: “One-in, one out” to curb normative inflation (circular to be published second half July) Decision 17: Apply regulatory best practice: - avoid gold plating of EU directives - apply the principle of proportionality/ boost legal security - involve local services in drafting implementing instructions Decision 18: Strengthening RIA • closer scrutiny of burden on local government and services • better scrutiny of impact of EU texts - better implementation of proportionality

12. Future trends ? Two parliamentary reports to inspire the Government: • Rapport de la mission de lutte contre l’inflation normative (26/3/2013) MPs Alain Lambert & Jean-Claude Boulard: “hunting down absurd regulation” • Rapport « Mieux simplifier: la simplification collaborative » (7/2013, not yet published): • Start from business expectations • Set 3-year target for -80% of burdens on business • Close central monitoring by PMO • Associate Parliament in the Better Regulation policy • Court of audit to evaluate results annually

13. OECD « Better Regulation France 2010» (flow) • RIA scheme imposes stringent constitutional requirement; first months are encouraging • The system does not clearly incorporate public consultation procedures and does not sufficiently draw attention to the option of maintaining the status quo. • The right balance must be struck when determining the system's scope and the proportionality of the effort devoted to impact assessment. • Integrate economists into the teams in charge of impact assessment. Regularly update method. Set up a common training programme for ministries to promote culture change. • Evaluate the implementation of impact assessment in a regular and detailed way. Publish these evaluations.

14. OECD « Better Regulation France 2010» (stock) • Establish a clear and comprehensive strategy to address the challenges of legislative simplification • Review practical arrangements, multi-level coordination, common approach, communication • Net target for reduction of burdens • Better communication with business • Evaluate effectiveness of the scheme to deliver results • Continue the roll out of one-stop-shop network for business

15. Further study This presentation is online with hyperlinks on blog: http://smartregulation.net/p/publications.html With 84 posts giving news about France (to 15/7/2013) Full-text article on “Better Regulation in France” in “Verso la Smart Regulation in Europa” Maggioli, 2013 Documents quoted • OECD Better Regulation in Europe 2010: France • Report from Conseil d’Etat 2006 • Guide de Légistique