Executive Summary

The need to strengthen the economy and its competitiveness is reflected in policies to promote effective regulatory quality and management. The General Policy Statement of the federal Minister for Economy and Administrative Simplification of April 2008 specifies the modernisation of regulation as one of the actions to be undertaken to promote the competitiveness of the economy, and defines the elimination and simplification of regulations as strategic objectives. The Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels governments have also linked Better Regulation to their efforts to sustain economic competitiveness and development. Belgian enterprises have lent their strong support to these objectives. The Federation of Belgian Enterprises has underlined that tackling the volume, as well as the quality of regulations, is an “absolute necessity” for competitiveness.