German government accelerates bureaucracy reduction with second relief cabinet

Approval fiction and EU law

In addition, the government wants to put an end to the tradition of implementing EU directives in Germany more strictly and more bureaucratically than required. New regulations are to be transposed one-to-one into national law, and existing laws – for example in the energy sector – are to be reduced back to the necessary EU minimum. The conclusion of contracts with caretakers should also be possible informally by email in the future.

In the healthcare sector, the planned Act for Data and Digital Innovation (GeDIG) is to reduce the paper backlog in practices and clinics, enable the sending of digital messages, introduce electronic referrals, and massively expand the scope of services of the electronic patient record. In addition, obstacles to the use of modern cloud infrastructures in hospitals are to be removed. According to the government, GeDIG accounts for the largest single share of the planned relief.

GeDIG: Digitalization in healthcare

For job seekers, the package provides for simplifications in contact with the Federal Employment Agency: applicants should in future be able to be interviewed easily by video instead of having to appear in person at the job center. Owners of electric cars with an E-license plate are to be exempted from the obligation to attach an additional environmental sticker to the windshield.

A new Reporting Relief Act is also intended to introduce an extensive reversal of the burden of proof: in the future, not every company would have to laboriously explain why a regulation is superfluous, but the state would be obliged to justify why certain reporting and documentation obligations should remain. The coalition wants to noticeably reduce the bureaucratic burden for companies with this.

Business demands more consistency

Business representatives fundamentally welcomed the deregulation efforts but warned of a lack of consistency. Helena Melnikov, Chief Executive of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), said: „Beim Bürokratieabbau ist in der Vergangenheit zu viel versprochen und zu wenig umgesetzt worden.“ She added: „Der Handlungsdruck ist enorm“. The relief cabinet could be the starting signal for the long-awaited bureaucracy turnaround if announcements were now followed by action.

Critics from the business community complain that in practice more new bureaucracy is being added than is being removed. The DIHK leadership is therefore demanding clear monitoring that makes actual reduction measurable. With the new package, the German government is focusing primarily on speed and tangible relief for businesses and citizens.

With the decisions planned for Wednesday, the black-red coalition wants to send a signal to business and administration that bureaucracy reduction will now be consistently pursued. Whether the announced relief will actually take effect broadly now depends on concrete implementation in the ministries and authorities.