Standard Unit Costs System for the quantification of administrative burdens

The reduction of the administrative burden imposed by regulation is crucial for competitiveness of businesses, especially for SME’s (usually, when a big company spends €1 per employee in connection with regulations, a small business has to spend €10 on average). It is also an essential element of good regulatory policy. Because of this, administrative burdens measurement is mandatory in the Catalan Regional Administration for all primary and secondary legislation proposals. Administrative burden impact for businesses is systematically evaluated since 2008 with the introduction of a specific regulatory impact report on the rule-making process to assess administrative burden and simplification of procedures for businesses (Decree 93/2008), and the Standard Cost Model methodology. This measurement is now part of a more comprehensive and integrated regulatory impact assessment (RIA) which must include the analysis of relevant impacts (Law 26/2010).
The SCM methodology calculates the administrative cost of complying with a specific regulation by adding up the internal time cost of each activity required to ensure compliance. To assist civil servants in the application of SCM, the Good Practice Guide for the preparation and revision of regulation affecting economic activity (2010) introduced standard labour costs (Price) for businesses in Catalonia.