"Blame Britain not Brussels for 'over-regulation'", says report

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 7th Dec 2004

Whitehall civil servants rather than Brussels-based commissioners are responsible for many of the problems created by extra regulations, according to a new report published today.

The length of EU regulations can triple during the process of putting them on to the UK statute book, it is claimed, posing an unnecessary risk to British competitiveness.

Fault lies with the British habit of 'gold-plating' EU laws, adding bits to them never originally suggested, claims the European Movement in its pamphlet 'Regulation by Brussels? Myths and Challenges.' [to read this pamphlet, please look in the 'downloads' section of this website]

One reason is that EU directives set out the targets but leave it to national governments to decide how to achieve them in a 'proportional' manner. Britain is accused of being over-zealous in its interpretation of many of the rules.

UK farmers, for example, are required to register the birth of calves within 27 days or face a penalty, but the same EU law applied in Spain gives farmers six months in which to comply.

Sarah Ludford, MEP for London and Liberal Democrat European justice spokeswoman, said that civil servants were wrapping the rules in red tape and then blaming Brussels for the size of the package.

She commented: "We are part of the huge EU single market and while there must be common standards account is taken of national circumstances. Every MEP has come across instances of British gold-plating.

"For instance, farmers are being told by the Foods Standards Agency that they must buy new equipment costing thousands of pounds if they want to dress meat for farmers' markets, but the EU rules amount to nothing more than the basic hygiene requirements taught to every student of domestic science!

"It's crazy, and unnecessary, and it gives the European Union a bad reputation for no good reason at all."

ENDS

Notes:

Other EU directives that have been allegedly 'over-implemented' include those in the field of telecoms regulation (affecting Ofcom), solvent emissions (the subject of complaints by the Federation of Small Businesses) and food supplements (mentioned by the National Association of Health Stores).

In addition, UK 'gold-plating' has resulted in the unnecessary closure of many small abattoirs. While EU law calls for regular inspections by qualified professionals, Whitehall translated that into a requirement for a vet to be in attendance: the consequent need for animals to be transported long distances was apparently a factor in the spread of foot and mouth disease.

Regulation by Brussels? The Myths and Challenges, written by David Stephen is released by the European Movement on 7th December 2004.