Presentation by Professor Licínio Lopes Martins, Center for Studies in Public Law and Regulation, Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, at the 9th Conference on Measuring Regulatory Performance - Closing the Regulatory Cycle: Effective ex post Evaluation for Improved Policy Outcomes which took place in Lisbon on 20-21 June 2017. Further information is available at www.oecd.org/gov/regulatory-policy/measuring-regulatory-performance.htm.

1. Centre for Public Law and Regulation Studies/Law School of the
University of Coimbra
“Administrative burdens created by the national transposition of EU
legislation”
Pedro Costa Gonçalves
Licínio Lopes Martins
Maria do Céu Colaço
José Carmona
Rafael Ribeiro
Coordination: Pedro Costa Gonçalves e Licínio Lopes Martins

2. The project
Analysis of the transposition impact of 33 EU directives/regulations
Objectives: ex post measurement of the administrative costs that businesses
have in following a specific set of regulation
Methodology adopted: PT Standard Cost Model (with appropriate
adaptations)

3. “3 stages”
Original national
regulation
Directive/Regulation
National
transposition

4. Standard Cost Model
• Identify information obligations imposed by EU/national legislation
“Information obligations (IO) are the obligations arising from regulation to provide
information and data to the public sector or third parties. An IO does not necessarily
mean that information has to be transferred to the public authority or private persons,
but may include a duty to have information available for inspection or supply on
request. A regulation may contain many information obligations”.
Examples of IO: returns and reports; applications for authorization; notification of
activities; entry in a register; cooperating with audits/inspections; providing statutory
information for third parties; framing complaints and appeals.

5. Standard Cost Model
• Split information obligations into data requirements
“Each information obligation consists of one or more data requirements. A
data requirement is each element of information that must be provided in
complying with an IO”.
Examples of data requirements: identity of business; description of the
adopted technology; attach reports of public entities; business’s turnover.

6. Standard Cost Model
• Identify administrative activities
“To provide the information for each data requirement a number of specific
administrative activities must be undertaken. The SCM estimates the costs of completing
each activity. Activities may be done internally or be outsourced (i.e. done externally). It
may be necessary to make acquisitions to complete a specific activity and where these
are only used in complying with the requirement they are included in the estimate”.
“For each administrative activity a number of cost parameters need to be collected”.
Examples of administrative activities: familiarization with the information obligation;
calculation; presentation of figures; description; internal meetings; reporting/submitting
information.

7. Standard Cost Model
• Identify the population of businesses affected and the frequency that the
activity must be completed each year
“The population indicates how many businesses are affected by the
regulation in question”.
“The frequency indicates how many times a year a data
requirement/information obligation has to be complied with”.

8. Contribution of public institutions and representative
associations
Information can be taken from:
• Departments that have information on how many applications for
authorization have been received, how many businesses have been
registered, how many inspections have been carried out, etc.
• Statistical material.
• Representative associations that have data sorted by sector of activity.

9. Standard Cost Model
Business interviews (preparation of interview guides based on legal
analysis)
Note: i) Administrative activity = Time (hour) x Tariff; Tariffs (cost per profiles); iii) Profiles: 1) manager/director; 2) specialized technical; 3) administrative/worker

10. Standard Cost Model
• Extrapolation of validated data to national level
“This is generally done by multiplying the standardized time and resource consumption
(time x pay costs) for a normally efficient business in a segment by the population of the
segment and by the frequency”.
• Reporting and transfer to database
“The report communicating the results from a standard cost analysis must also explain
how the analysis was carried out, what problems were encountered in the course of the
analysis and how these problems were handled”.

11. Transposition
What’s the cost of the administrative burdens created by the national
transposition?
Which ones, amoung those, can we say that are “beyond the spirit” of the
Directive/Regulation?