Reducing Administrative Burdens as Part of the »Better Regulation« Programme – the Case of Slovenia

The reduction of administrative burdens is an essential component of the Better Regulation programme in almost all EU Member States. The first part of the paper presents the BR programme as an attempt to modernise public administration, and it tries to define what good regulation means in accordance with various substantive and formal standards. It also describes the principles and standards of good regulation, together with the tools to achieve it. The following is a general and Slovenia-specific presentation of the removal of administrative burdens and barriers in terms of procedure simplification and deregulation (with particular emphasis on differences between process optimisation and deregulation), highlighting innovative solutions. The results, impacts, and shortcomings presented here are critically evaluated as a basis for further research. KEYWORDS: • better regulation • reduction of administrative burdens/barriers • EU • Slovenia • regulation quality • principles • standards • tools