The Lipa Taxpayers’ Association proposes the formation of the Office for Smart Regulation, which would report directly to the Prime Minister or his inner cabinet, and would have the authority to prepare, coordinate, and directly oversee all activities related to the development and application of EU principles and policies of smart regulation, as well as the education of officials, they reported on Tuesday from Lipa.
‘Lipa’ believes that the Prime Minister should commit and oversee ministers through the Office to ensure compliance with the rules of freedom of the internal market for services and goods, as well as market competition in the EU, which are applied in Croatia. “Ministers must be obligated and responsible for removing barriers for investors and facilitating business conditions,” the association states.
They note that Croatian taxpayers – citizens and businesses, are burdened by excessive and costly regulation, and in addition to relatively high tax burdens and parafiscal levies, they also face high costs of lost time and money due to fulfilling all administrative obligations. Taxpayers lose money and time fulfilling a series of unnecessary administrative obligations and bureaucratic requirements, Lipa emphasizes, adding that the result of such a situation is fewer investments and fewer open jobs.
Smart regulation, as they state, means new standards of quality in public administration – eliminating regulations where the public interest they serve is unclear and retaining regulations that are in the public interest (environmental protection, health, etc.), but with a relatively manageable burden on citizens and the economy.
