Tuesday May 25, 2010 at 9:00am
When the final Coalition Agreement was published last week, Nick Clegg announced that the government would be asking people what laws they wanted to be scrapped.
It was a manifesto pledge of both the Conservatives and Lib Dems for there to be a “one in one out” policy as far as business regulation is concerned – in other words, if a government department wants to introduce another piece of regulation, they must abolish as least as much existing regulation – and it has now become government policy.
How this will work remains to be seen (and much legislation originates in the EU where the government has little control) but I decided to take Nick Clegg at his word and asked colleagues and business contacts what their most hated business laws were.
The top five (in no particular order) are as follows:
- Much employment legislation and particularly the Working Time Directive that restricts employees to a 48-hour week unless they opt out. Because of the opt out, it is generally considered a voluntary code anyway, in which case, why have it?
- IR35 – the tax rules as to what happens when someone is deemed not to be self-employed for tax purposes. As drafted, they are confusing and uncertain and restrict the labour market. The government has already stated it will replace this with a simpler system.
- HIPs and Energy Performance Certificates. They are another cost placed on anyone who wants to sell or let a property, and buyers or tenants don’t generally take a blind bit of notice of the rating anyway.
- The need for Designated Premises Supervisors for licensed premises. It is an unnecessary piece of red tape which adds to the cost of running premises and serves no useful purpose.
- The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007. This involves companies taking apart four samples of each product sold, separating the packaging from the product and then reporting their findings to the Environment Agency. It is an unnecessary and very costly burden for companies who sell on many different products and who have no control over packaging.
What are your pet hates?
Gary Cousins
Business Solicitor and hater of unnecessary red-tape
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