§ 36. Mr. TrimbleTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to ease further the bureaucratic burdens on exporters within the single market.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe completion of the single market has led to the removal of most border formalities on trade with the European Community which has, for example, considerably reduced the burden on businesses of providing trade statistics. Under the new system, Intrastat, three quarters of United Kingdom businesses trading with other member states will have to provide only two312W statistics on their total value of trade on a quarterly basis. Larger traders will also benefit from the replacement of the previous documentation by a simpler statistical return which will only have to be provided monthly. This system, which also covers VAT returns, replaces the present one where each and every export shipment required its own separate paperwork in the form of the Single administrative document. It means that 10 million export forms will be eliminated each year with net annual saving to United Kingdom exporters estimated to be £135 million.
The Prime Minister has recently announced a scrutiny review of European Community legislation to help ensure that unnecessary burdens are not placed on business when transposing Community legislation into national law. Furthermore the Government will continue to press for policies which will further liberalise the European Community market, including breaking down any bureaucratic barriers.