The participants at this roundtable event noted that, in terms of Italy’s economic development and competitiveness, regulatory simplification represents a fundamental challenge for the modernization of the country. Unnecessary red tape – the result of the application of obsolete laws – places a burden on both individuals and businesses which effectively amounts to a form of hidden taxation. Put in other terms, it represents an engaged handbrake on an economy that needs to take off again. In an economic crisis like the one currently being experienced, the resources needed for revitalizing the country are not just financial contributions or tax concessions, but also relief from administrative costs that are not strictly necessary, with the huge advantage that this latter measure would come at no cost to the public purse and would not constitute state aid for EU purposes.
It was therefore stressed that the modernization of Italy necessarily requires a significant overhaul of the country’s statute books, which are characterized by a multilayered and confusing body of legislation. Furthermore, it was noted that Italy still does not have a public database enabling citizens to look up laws currently in force. Indeed, Italians currently have to pay to use a private database – which, as it happens, is foreign-owned – in order to familiarize themselves with laws they are required to obey.
In this regard, reference was made by the participants to the so-called “taglia-leggi” (or “legislative guillotine”) mechanism, introduced by Law No. 246 of 2005, which is currently in the process of being implemented – despite its complexity and the varied reactions and objections of administrative authorities to it. It is envisaged that the planned drastic reduction of the regulatory stock will facilitate the rapid development of a free public database, known as “Normattiva”. Moreover, the legislative guillotine mechanism will not only have the task of clearing the legislative “jungle”, but will also form a basis for a legislative rationalization aimed at achieving an overall simplified codification.
Nevertheless, the participants acknowledged that the hidden taxation inherent in bureaucratic red tape will not be eliminated merely by reducing the body of extant legislation. It will also be necessary to significantly streamline many bureaucratic requirements, which in most cases will need to be identified and put forward by economic actors (including social groups and employers) and not by those charged with preparing the associated legislation.
Reference was made to estimates that the simplification measures adopted, especially in the areas of employment and the computerization of business processes, are expected to yield savings for businesses exceeding 7 billion euro. With full implementation, it could reach as much as 21 billion euro within a few years: amounts worthy of a budgetary maneuver but which would not cost the state a single euro. Numerous other simplification measures, it was observed in passing, have also been introduced in the areas of infrastructure networks, gas and banking.
Lastly, the participants noted that there are also rules aimed at eliminating or restructuring certain non-cost-effective public institutions deemed “unnecessary”. 46 institutions have already been targeted as part of this process, with a saving of around 71 million euro.
Notwithstanding these efforts, the various stakeholders in attendance concluded by calling for institutions to make even greater efforts to ensure that simplification measures – often merely “announced” on paper – produce tangible results for private citizens and businesses.