In recent years conflicting regulations have been dealt with, permits scrapped or simplified and administrative burden reduced. The reductions are however barely noticeable to businesses. The Dutch government will therefore continue to tackle the burden of regulations.
 
The government presented its ambitions in the 'Actionplan Business Regulations' as approved by the Council of Ministers and sent to the Parliament. One of the most important issues in the actionplan is to reduce the costs of administrative burden by 25% nett during the current cabinet. This target has been set by the cabinet in the coalition agreement.

The Council of Ministers has determined that a new standard measurement is necessary in order to gain insight into what future measures will contribute to the coalition agreement. A new zero base measurement will therefore be carried out regarding the current administrative burden on businesses due to government regulations and legislation. 'Regiegroep Regeldruk' is responsible for the central coordination of the zero base measurement. The 'Regiegroep Regeldruk' is a collaboration between the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. The zero base measurement will be carried out by a consortium of 4 companies consisting of EIM, Capgemini, Deloitte and Ramboll. Approximately 85 consultants within the consortium will work together in order to successfully complete this extensive project before April 1st 2008.

Signing the contracts, from left to right:
P. Hofstra (Deloitte), Ch. de Monchy (Capgemini), J.C.M. Nijland (min. Financien), Y.M. Prince (EIM), E. Kok (Capgemini)