Annex B. Evaluating Administrative Burden Reduction Programmes and their Impacts

Since a couple of decades, OECD countries have embarked on a series of structural reforms targeting the way public administrations organise themselves and deliver. In this context, administrative simplification strategies seek to rationalise and streamline the bureaucratic machinery, and enhance the efficiency of its procedures. It is therefore one of the most diffused approaches to cope with the costs of regulatory inflation. “Cutting red tape” forms integral part of such strategies. The term red tape is generally used to refer to administrative burdens (ABs), i.e. “regulatory costs in the form of asking for permits, filling out forms, and reporting and notification requirements for the government” (OECD, 2006, p. 17). These can be harmful if they unnecessarily limit innovation, trade, investment and economic efficiency in general.