Minister welcomes commercial law red tape cut

Posted 31/05/2011

The minister for business Ed Davey has welcomed a new agreement that should simplify the commercial law obligations for up to 1.5 million small UK firms by reducing the amount of bureaucracy they are forced to deal with.

As part of a new agreement drawn up in Brussels by business ministers from across the EU, small companies will be exempt from some of the accounting requirements that larger corporations must go through.

It is thought that the simplification of regulations could save UK enterprises between £150 million and £300 million a year in administrative fees.

Mr Davey said: “This is a significant step in reducing red tape and a clear signal that we will take action to stop our smallest companies being held back by excessive regulation.”

He added that it is important to build on this breakthrough in talks and include further improvements to the proposals before they are signed into law.

Recently, it was stated by Miles Templeman, director-general of the Institute of Directors, that deregulation of legislation such as employment law will be essential to helping the UK’s economy grow.