France

France has made significant efforts to place the quality of its regulatory policy system at the forefront of its priorities. Since 2009, impact assessment has been a constitutional requirement for all draft laws prepared by the executive. In 2013, the government introduced a simplification movement that involved the creation of a Business Simplification Council (January 2014) and the appointment of a Minister of State for State Reform and Simplification attached to the Prime Minister (June 2014). A first package of 124 business simplification measures was announced in July 2013 and 50 new business simplification measures have been announced every six months since April 2014. Measures include the Tell us once programme designed to reduce the provision of redundant information requested from businesses and the silence means consent principle for first 1 200 procedures.