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Participation in external events Considering the burden of bureaucracy concerning small businesses

"Policymakers should focus even more on reducing bureaucracy in small businesses. Part of this is to give much more consideration to indirect costs in legislation," demanded Dr Annette Icks in her presentation to the Association of Machinery and Plant Manufacturers in Frankfurt at the end of March. Even though individual regulations do not formally affect smaller companies, many of them must provide comprehensive data for their major customers, for example, if they are suppliers.

In a study entitled "Bureaucratic costs for companies in the mechanical and plant engineering sector", the project team led by Dr Annette Icks found that around 3% of the turnover of a company with 125 employees in the mechanical and plant engineering sector is tied up annually by the fulfilment of bureaucratic obligations. In the case of a large company with a turnover of 239.5 million euros, the figure is just over one per cent.

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