The Federal Ministerial Bureaucracy, the Legislative Process and Better Regulation

Sabine Kuhlmann,Sylvia Veit

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-53697-8_20

Abstract

AbstractOver the last decades, Better Regulation has become a major reform topic at the federal and—in some cases—also at the Länder level. Although the debate about improving regulatory quality and reducing unnecessary burdens created by bureaucracy and red tape date back to the 1960s and 1970s, the introduction by law in 2006 of a new independent institutionalised body for regulatory control at the federal level of government has brought a new quality to the discourse and practice of Better Regulation in Germany. This chapter introduces the basic features of the legislative process at the federal level in Germany, addresses the issue of Better Regulation and outlines the role of the National Regulatory Control Council (Nationaler Normenkontrollrat—NKR) as a ‘watchdog’ for compliance costs, red tape and regulatory impacts.

Highlights

Since the end of the 1990s, against the backdrop of increasing international competition, growing regulatory density and demands on the output legitimacy of legislative action, there has been a debate around the concept of ‘Better Regulation’ in Germany and Europe
The amendment to the NKRG in 2011 comprised a widening of its audit mandate from ‘pure bureaucracy costs’ to total compliance costs of legislative proposals
Of the 330 proposals examined between July 2018 and June 2019, 127 projects (38 per cent) had a significant impact on one-off and/or annual compliance costs, whereas 203 (62 per cent) incurred only minor or no compliance costs

Summary

Introduction

While the fundamental debate surrounding reducing red tape, Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) and evaluation is by no means new, some facets of the more recent discourse are innovative This concerns, on the one hand, the influence of the European Union (EU) on national legislation and the bureaucratic burdens caused by adopting EU law. Innovative forms of RIA institutionalisation have evolved, for instance by way of establishing independent advisory bodies by law, such as the National Regulatory Control Council (Nationaler Normenkontrollrat—NKR) in Germany, which brings a new quality to the discourse and practice of Better Regulation. This chapter addresses these developments and outlines the role and functions of the NKR in this context

Better Regulation as Reform Concept

Better Regulation and the Federal Ministerial Bureaucracy

The National Regulatory Control Council

Institutionalisation of the NKR as an Independent Advisory and Supervisory Body

Mission and Mandate

Activities and Results of Regulatory Scrutiny5

Future Outlook and Lessons for Transfer