In November 2023, the government launched a public consultation on administrative simplification, asking entrepreneurs what they would like to change and improve. On January 24, Bruno Le Maire announced some of the initial results of the ideas voted for and debated during the consultation, and the beginnings of some responses.
Businesses are fed up with red tape, giving the same information ten times over to the authorities. They want simplification.
- Bruno Le Maire (@BrunoLeMaire) January 23, 2024
Administration must be at the service of businesses and the French, not the other way round. It must trust them.
I... pic.twitter.com/W9MIjJ56Ho
Over 5,400 concrete proposals
The aim of the nationwide consultation, which ran from November 16 to December 29 2023, was to identify the main administrative issues and obstacles facing French VSEs and SMEs.
It brought out ideas and proposals on various themes:
- rationalization of standards,
- theuse of digital technology in administrative procedures,
- support needs...
Numerous entrepreneurs took part, giving their opinions on the proposals to identify priority measures. In fact, 29,047 participants, 5,447 proposals and 734,276 votes were recorded.
Ideas divided into 5 main areas
The Make.org startup selected the proposals that met with broad approval (over 75% positive votes) and classified them into 5 major themes.
1. Simplifying procedures
On this theme, entrepreneurs voted in favor of :
- overall simplification of business management procedures(setting up, opening a business account, tax and payroll management, etc.),
- simplifying access to grants and subsidies (making the system easier to understand and reducing payment times),
- simplified modification of certain information (type of company, registered office address, filing of accounts, etc.),
- speeding up procedures at commercial court registries,
- easier access to public procurement contracts,
- simplified procedures for transferring a business or ceasing trading.
2. Simplifying day-to-day business
Simplifying the daily lives of entrepreneurs means :
- simplified methods for calculating and declaring charges,
- consolidation of the right to error,
- a guarantee on a service provider's payment terms,
- simpler, easier-to-read pay slips.
"Entrepreneurs: what concrete measures can be taken to simplify your life?" Nearly 30,000 people answered this question on https://t.co/P4rhsDXHSn. @Economie_Gouv has published the results of this major online consultation.@LesEchos https://t.co/AT0zJekbxH
- Make.org (@Make_org) January 25, 2024
3. Adapting the administration to users
Business leaders believe that the administration needs to better adapt to users by :
- extending its contact details,
- unifying its number of sites and their content,
- reinforcing its support role,
- adopting a language that is easier to understand on all media.
4. Streamlining and eliminating standards
Rationalization and elimination of standards are among the improvements requested by companies. The aim is to limit the piling up of new rules, and to adapt standards to the size of companies.
5. Social rights
With regard to social rights, participants in the consultation asked for :
- better social protection (unemployment, pensions),
- enhancing the value of vocational training schemes,
- better control over the issuing of sick leave.
The Minister of the Economy will have to draw on these proposals to complement those made by trade federations and the work of parliamentarians carried out in parallel. These elements will feed into the future PACTE II law.