Following the completion of the OECD Review of Regulatory Reform in Ireland, the White Paper, Regulating Better, was prepared and published by the Department of the Taoiseach in 2004.
The White Paper sets out the six principles of Better Regulation and an action plan to facilitate their implementation. These actions cover the full spectrum of Better Regulation initiatives, including RIA and consultation, Statute Law Revision and Restatement, accessibility of legislation and administrative burden reduction. A Progress Report on the implementation of these actions was presented to Government in 2007.
Considerable progress has also been made in relation to Better Regulation in the period since the publication of that Progress Report.
An independent Review of the Operation of RIA was completed and published in 2008. In line with the findings of the Review, the formal division between screening and full RIAs has now been removed. The RIA Guidelines and other supports have also been amended to reflect the Review's findings.
A further Statute Law Revision Bill was published in June 2009. It provides for the repeal of more than 1,350 obsolete Acts pre-dating independence and is the third Bill brought forward as part of the Statute Law Revision Programme. It builds on the Statute Law Revision Acts of 2005 and 2007 which combined resulted in the repeal of almost 3.500 obsolete pre-1922 Public and General Acts. This Bill deals specifically with Private Acts up to 1750 and Local and Personal Acts up to 1850. Private Acts are those which are concerned with the affairs of a single individual or body, and Local and Personal Acts are concerned with matters affecting a very limited section of the community such as a single local authority or company.
The Law Reform Commission is also undertaking a programme of Statute Law Restatement which will make legislation more accessible by providing, in the case of selected Acts, a single text that incorporates all amendments made to date. In this context, the Commission proposes to complete Restatements of some 45 Acts. This work is expected to be finished by the end of the year and the Commission proposes that these Restatements will be made available on-line free, in line with the Government's eLegislation policy.
The On-Line Statute Book now includes all Primary Legislation and Statutory Instruments passed since 1922. The introduction of the electronic Statutory Instrument System and the publication of Guidelines in 2007 has enabled the Statute Book to be updated more efficiently.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment is leading the Government programme to reduce administrative burdens on business by 25% by 2012. In addition, the High-Level Group on Business Regulation, which is chaired by her Department and which includes representatives of key Departments as well as business representatives and ICTU has been mandated to examine opportunities for administrative burden reduction in the areas of Taxation, Environmental Law, Health and Safety, Statistics and Company and Employment Law. These areas were identified as most burdensome for business in the 2007 ESRI Business Regulation Survey.