Dr. John CunninghamTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister which regulatory proposals have been abandoned because of their failure to meet the compliance cost assessment. [37755]
§ Mr. FreemanThe purpose of compliance cost assessments is to ensure that regulatory proposals are introduced only where they are justified and that costs to business arising from such proposals are taken into account as the policy proposal develops so that the resulting regulation imposes the least cost burden necessary. This enables different options to be considered at the policy-making stage with a choice of abandoning the proposal or amending it to reduce costs to the minimum. This is part of the Government's approach to "good regulation", making sure we get regulation right first time.
An example of a regulatory proposal that has been abandoned because of excessive cost is an EC directive which would have required tactile danger warning symbols to be placed on certain liquid petroleum gas containers. The Commission agreed to revise the directive in the light of estimated compliance costs to United Kingdom business of £289 million per annum.