The latest British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) Burdens
Barometer has shown that the cost to British business of
implementing major regulations has risen by almost a third since
2004.
The Barometer, which tracks the cost of 46 major regulations
introduced since 1998, shows that the total cost of regulations now
stands at £39bn, or more than £15m annually.
The Burdens Barometer is extracted from the BCC’s database of
over 1,000 Government Regulatory Impact Assessments that evaluate
the risks, costs and benefits of any new regulatory proposal. These
show the government’s own estimates of the compliance costs of new
regulations affecting business up to 1 July 2005.
More than half of all RIAs claim that new regulations provide
benefits to businesses or other parties, but less than a quarter
quantify these benefits.
BCC director general, David Frost, said, “British businesses are
fed up with the spiralling costs of regulation. Businesses must be
free to compete in the global economy, and the government must
ensure that new regulations are well targeted and business
friendly. Unnecessary burdens are not a sustainable option.”
The Burdens Barometer is compiled for the British Chamber of
Commerce by independent experts from the London and Manchester
Business Schools.
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