The EU wants to reduce bureaucracy in medium-sized companies

BrusselsFrom the obsession with regulation to the obsession with reducing bureaucracyBrussels is now obsessed with reducing the paperwork that companies must manage and boosting the competitiveness of the private sector, even if this means reducing all types of controls that the European Commission itself has been promoting in recent years. In this regard, the latest measure the European Commission has put on the table is to reduce the administrative procedures and controls that what it calls "medium-sized companies" must face.

The European Commission wants to create a new label for companies, those that fall between large and small companies. These will be those with more than 250 employees and fewer than 750, with a turnover of no more than €150 million, and no more than €129 million in assets. According to data from the European Commission itself, there are approximately 38,000 companies with these characteristics in the European Union as a whole.

The intention of this proposal is to save medium-sized companies a total of approximately €400 million annually in administrative procedures, a figure that will be added to the €8 billion from other initiatives to reduce bureaucracy that the European Commission has already presented in recent months. Thus, Brussels argues that it is another measure to contribute to the goal of reducing paperwork costs by 25% for companies overall and 35% for small and medium-sized enterprises during this European legislature, which ends in 2029.

In this regard, the European Commission assures that by 2026, some 10,000 fewer companies will no longer be required to register on the greenhouse gas emissions monitoring portal. However, Brussels asserts that the requirement for green controls and compliance with green regulations will not be reduced. In fact, it argues that these types of companies have "limited business volume" and, therefore, are not as decisive in contributing to the European Union's climate objectives.

Another proposal from the European Commission is that these companies no longer be required to register all personal data processed and only have to process those considered high-risk. Furthermore, Brussels proposes eliminating the requirement to provide declarations of conformity, instructions for use, and other paper documents, allowing those classified as medium-sized companies to provide all this information digitally. According to the European Commission, this would reduce costs for companies and, in turn, make it easier for state authorities to verify compliance with regulations.

With this measure, Brussels believes it will boost the competitiveness of these companies compared to competition from the United States or China. In this sense, the European Commission believes that medium-sized companies are no longer limited to national markets and are generally exporting worldwide, so they should be supported in their internationalization.

Strengthening the single market

The European Commission also presented a roadmap this Wednesday to try to strengthen the European single market. "Currently, companies internationalize before becoming European. In a geopolitical context like the current one, it should be the other way around," argued the vice president of the EU executive and head of industry, Frenchman Stéphane Séjourné. Therefore, Brussels proposes further unifying standards for professional and student qualifications, facilitating trade operations between member states and eliminating the obstacles faced by companies exporting to other EU countries, and, among other things, promoting the harmonization of regulations in various fields.