20 July 2000 • Licensing, Permits and Authorisations for Industry • Helmut Jeglitsch, Christine Mészaros-Knoll

This project focuses on benchmarking the process of authorising industrial investments in the EU, with special emphasis on the burden on SMEs. The aim is to identify good practice and to develop recommendations on how to implement these so that they can become the normal practice in the EU countries.

57 licensing procedures in eleven countries and regions were examined. 75 percent of the enterprises investigated had less than 250 employees and 84 percent of the investments studied amounted to less than EUR 10 million. Most firms studied had very little experience in applying for licences.

The benchmarking study found that major changes to the legal framework are not necessary to improve the licensing systems. The most important elements for firms are the time taken and the amount of work required to apply for and receive a licence and the early predictability of the result were the crucial quantitative benchmarks for the firms. The key means to this end for both the firms and the authorities are the process benchmarks:

• the "attitude" of the various stakeholders in communicating with each other;

• the qualifications and experience of the people involved;

• the organisational and project management skills.

Provide targeted information

Licensing authorities should take the communications task seriously and aim to provide targeted information on the licensing procedure. An attitude of openness and good communications should be fostered between the authorities and the general public as well as with the applicants for licences.

Facilitate informal preliminary queries to increase predictability of outcome

• Provide clear application forms on the internet and elsewhere.

• Use electronic filing and a central register of applications.

• Facilitate contacts with licensing personnel.

• Arrange special consultation meetings with licensing authority specialists.

Optimise organisational matters to minimise time-span for procedures

• Authorities should use highly qualified and motivated personnel who are aware of the impact of their decisions on firms.

• Authorities should set down maximum handling times for the processing of applications.

• One-stop shops should be established where information can be obtained and applications made for various licences.

• On-site hearings should be used. These serve to increase understanding of the planned development on all sides and to identify and resolve problems at an early stage.

• Administrations should consider the decentralisation and delegation (e.g., to regional or local licensing authorities) as well as the contracting-out of licensing services.

• On-going monitoring of licensing rules, regulations and legislation should be instituted. Existing rules and procedures might become obsolete and should then be removed.