This meeting was part of Aspen Institute Italia’s efforts to support business by promoting efficiency and effectiveness in public administration. For the occasion, the Institute carried out a detailed study coordinated by Professor Sabino Cassese, an innovative feature of which are the assessments and proposals contributed by various associates currently confronted with entrepreneurial and productive challenges. The study and subsequent debate aimed to analyze a series of administrative obstacles for business with a view to outlining a system-level model to be used as a resource for related undertakings, policies and laws. The discussion confirmed that unjustified administrative obstacles and murky rules continue to beleaguer business, and that legal stratification, redundant bureaucracy, a plurality of government regulators and the lengthy and uncertain timeframes of administrative procedures are among the most serious factors in creating an unfavorable business climate.
Delays in the implementation of new laws, a lack of coordination between different regulations and the interpretative uncertainties owing to contrasting judiciary orientations all combine to create a serious impediment to the normal conduction of business. Stratification in the Italian public administration makes the overall legal framework scarcely intelligible and discourages the sort of investments that are vital to Italian enterprises’ survival and success on global markets.
Legislative uncertainty and unpredictable administrative behavior oblige businesses – especially small ones – to avail themselves of the services of external professionals in order to navigate complex bureaucratic compliances correctly. Such an excessive burden on businesses makes it difficult for major foreign corporations to consider Italy a land of opportunity and/or possible investment.
The greatest administrative obstacles to doing business concern territorial administration, environmental obligations, labor relations and tax compliance. Various reforms that have aimed over the years to simplify bureaucracy have not been successful due to the multitude of hurdles they have encountered on the way to being concretely enabled and implemented. Nevertheless, despite the failure or partial success of past endeavors, one of Italy’s major strategic economic and development objectives remains that of giving enterprise the promptness, simplicity and certainty it needs.
The study conducted by Aspen Institute Italia and the debate that animated the round table discussion brought many solutions to the fore. Some examples (to cite the study’s more specific recommendations) include: more stringent timeframes for bureaucratic procedures, more public sector accountability and obligatory impact assessments for new regulatory measures. The documentation that companies are required to submit in order to obtain authorizations and permits must be reduced, the public administration needs to be digitalized and public sector officials must be placed in a position to make decisions on adapting norms to specific cases. Moreover, the discussion brought out the need for a greater degree of stability during investment amortization so that the regulator might amend the norms in relation to future investments without affecting those already in place. In general, it was suggested that administrative obligations be made more proportional and, finally, that a preferential track be provided for major strategic investments with a wider regional or national impact.