§ Mr. SproatTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the estimated total compliance cost to all businesses and as to(a) the setting up cost and (b) the typical cost for a small business on-going annual cost arising from the regulation sponsored by his Department giving effect to EC directive 89/336 on electromagnetic compatibility; and what is the estimated public expenditure cost of enforcing this measure annually.
§ Mr. Leigh[holding answer 14 December 1992]: The United Kingdom regulations on electromagnetic compatibility arise from an EC treaty obligation to implement a 484W directive. Approximately 60,000 manufacturing companies with 200 or more employees and another 9,000 each employing fewer than 200 people will be affected. It is not possible to calculate the cost for a typical small business and difficult to estimate costs to industry as a whole as companies will not all choose to comply at the same time during the transitional period running to 31 December 1995. It will, therefore, be some time before a reliable estimate of compliance costs can be made. Enforcement will be carried out from within existing resources and no significant extra cost is expected.