ESRI details administration costs

Taxation, environmental legislation, health and safety regulations, and statistical returns are the biggest administrative burdens…

Taxation, environmental legislation, health and safety regulations, and statistical returns are the biggest administrative burdens for firms, a survey reveals today.

The concerns of complying with rules were revealed in the results of a survey by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) of business attitudes to regulation.

Most firms, 55 per cent, considered the overall amount of regulation was "about right", with more firms agreeing than disagreeing that the regulations were easy to understand, achieve their objectives and appropriately enforced.

But when asked which regulations represented an administrative burden for their firm, taxation, environmental legislation, health and safety regulations and statistical returns to the Central Statistics Office were most frequently mentioned.

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Firms tended to be concerned with the general burden of complying with regulation, as well as the administrative burden that refers to the cost of the paperwork, administration and supplying the Government with information.

"Business has identified, energy, taxation and banking and finance as areas where the overall regulatory system needs attention in terms of promoting national competitiveness," said Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

The Department of Taoiseach commissioned the ESRI in April 2006 to conduct a study of business attitudes to, and experience of, regulation.