Taking aim at bureaucratic red tape

- Time is a luxury many small and medium-sized enterprises simply don’t have. I know that many companies feel they spend too much of their time following government regulations – and the Government wants to do something about this, states Minister of Trade and Industry Sylvia Brustad.

To this end, the Government is launching its action plan today entitled "Tid til nyskaping og produksjon" ("Time for new development and production"), which outlines over 120 concrete measures for simplifications concerning private enterprise. In all, 14 ministries are involved.

- This plan is one phase of a larger simplification project that started in 2006 by first procuring knowledge about the business sector’s actual costs of following regulations. That knowledge has been very useful in designing good measures for simplification, explains Ms Brustad

The largest single measure is the continued development and refinement of Altinn. In order to run a private enterprise efficiently, it is important to have ready access to information about public schemes, regulations and required information. Businesses will eventually be able to turn to just one Internet portal for all their reporting to and communication with the authorities. As we continue developing Altinn, we heavily emphasise consolidating our information services for private enterprise.

- For individuals running a one-person business, reporting will be easier. One measure we are considering is exemption from having to submit income statements for businesspeople with gross business revenues of NOK 50,000 and under, says Ms Brustad.

Another measure is electronic reporting of sick leave and physicians’ medical statements to NAV, which will free up time for other tasks.

- This action plan is a solid basis for the Government’s efforts towards simplification. Reducing the labour involved in reporting will afford businesses more time to spend on production and value creation. We attach special importance to easing the situation of the smallest companies whose administrative resources are often quite limited, adds Minister of Trade and Industry Sylvia Brustad.