15 proposals for reduced administrative burdens – VBO FEB – Federation of Belgian Enterprises

Over the past decade, the focus on administrative simplification has weakened. The COVID-19 crisis further strengthened that movement. This is already evident at a macro level from the most recent figures from the Planning Bureau (February 2024) for the year 2022. They show that the administrative burdens for companies and self-employed people have risen again from just under 5 billion euros in 2020 to 6 billion euros in 2020. 2022, which represents an increase of more than 20%.

The unfavorable development of the administrative burdens is also confirmed by a number of surveys conducted by the FEB in the period 2022-2023. So it’s time to put the fight against Kafka high on the agenda again, as in the past!

Our proposals? Do better with less

The FEB wants to provide the necessary inspiration for this and proposes an e-guide that has been drawn up on the basis of extensive surveys and exchanges of ideas with companies and its sector federations. After explaining the results of those surveys, it makes 15 concrete simplification proposals. For each of those 15 simplification avenues, it describes the (regulatory) context, the current administrative burdens, recent developments and each time formulates a concrete simplification proposal.

By realizing these 15 proposals one by one, we could reduce the administrative burden for our companies by approximately 50%. The FEB therefore hopes that our policymakers will take these proposals to heart in the next legislature through a concrete and closely monitored action plan.