Detailed reporting requirements and endless forms – this is annoying and slows down economic growth. The Union does not think the traffic light proposals for reducing bureaucracy are wrong, but inadequate.
Shortened retention periods for receipts and around 60 other individual measures are intended to reduce the bureaucratic burden on companies and citizens. The Bundestag passed a corresponding law with the votes of the traffic light coalition and the Union faction. The Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) alliance and the Left group voted against. The AfD MPs abstained.
Employees should be able to “focus on their customers and develop new products” instead of filing receipts, said Johannes Vogel (FDP) in the final consultation. The measures contained in the Bureaucracy Relief Act IV would save companies almost one billion euros a year. The Bureaucracy Relief Act IV stipulates that tax assessments will soon generally be provided digitally if this is requested. The identity card PIN number should be able to be reset online. Companies should also be given more opportunities to digitize processes in their human resources administration.
The retention period for copies of invoices, bank statements, and wage and salary lists is reduced from ten to eight years. Germans no longer have to fill out a registration form when staying overnight in a hotel. In future, the text form will replace the written form in many areas of the German Civil Code. Employers will no longer have to hand out the terms of their employment contracts to future employees in paper form with a signature. This alone will save an amount of paper every day that is equivalent to three trees, said Vogel.
Habeck shows understanding for frustrated craftsmen
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) admitted that the bureaucratic effort that tradesmen in Germany have to undertake “can sometimes only be endured with humor.” The reason for this, however, is not only decisions made by the traffic light government, but also laws and regulations from previous federal governments as well as comprehensive reporting obligations of the European Union.
The Union called the planned relief measures sensible in part, but despondent overall. It pointed to what it considered to be too many employees in the federal administration. “So far, this traffic light government has only really attracted attention due to the growth in bureaucracy,” said Günter Krings (CDU). Stephan Brandner (AfD) called the law a “haphazard patchwork.”
Lukas Benner (Greens) said it was about simplifying annoying processes and cutting out unnecessary things. But bureaucracy is not only bad, it is also the “foundation of our constitutional state” and contributes to climate protection, environmental protection and health protection.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
