‘Have your say on red tape’ says NW MEP

NORTH West MEP Sajjad Karim, is urging small and medium sized businesses to have their say on red tape in an European Commission consultation.

Mr Karim wants to raise awareness on the consultation to identify the “top 10 most burdensome legislative acts for SMEs.”

The consultation is running until December 21, after which EC will analyse the results and consider how the regulatory burden on SMEs can be eased.

Areas covered in the consultation include services, customs, employment and social affairs, energy, product safety, environment and taxation.

Mr Karim said: “Our small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. They should be able to spend their time working to build their businesses. Instead they spend far too much time untangling the web legislation that entangles them every day.

“I am in regular contact with micro-businesses and SMEs across the North West, many of whom urge me to get the European Commission to reduce the weight of legislation on smaller companies.

“This consultation could well be a very positive step towards more reforms, but only if companies take part and make their views known so that the Commission get honest feedback. I would urge companies to take part and get their voices heard.”

Companies can take part by visiting http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/public-consultation-new/index_en.html

The Conservative MEP is also arranging a series of forums for small businesses and their representative bodies such as the Federation of Small Businesses and Chambers of Commerce, to enable them to feed in their views direct.