Key points for a law to reduce bureaucracy

The next Bureaucracy Reduction Act aims to shorten retention periods and reduce written form requirements as far as possible.

Together with the Growth Opportunities Act, which was the subject of the last issue, the Federal Cabinet also adopted key points for a new Bureaucracy Relief Act. The draft for this fourth Bureaucracy Reduction Act is now being prepared by the Federal Ministry of Justice and will then enter the legislative process. In addition to a reduction in information, documentation and storage obligations, the law is intended to enable electronic forms in many areas that previously required paper copies. In particular, the following measures are planned:

• Retention periods: The retention periods for accounting documents under commercial and tax law are to be reduced from ten to eight years.

• Duty to provide information: The information obligations in energy law, foreign trade law, metrology and calibration, economic statistics, trade and craft regulations as well as industry and profession-specific ordinances are to be reviewed in terms of up-to-dateness, harmonization options and other starting points to ease the burden on SMEs.

• Written form requirements: The electronic form is to become the standard form in the German Civil Code. For this reason, numerous written form requirements that currently require a paper copy with a handwritten signature are to be abolished as far as possible. In addition, legal transactions are to be simplified and digitized as far as possible.

  

• Employment contracts: The employer's obligation to provide proof of the essential contractual conditions in the case of written employment contracts should no longer apply if an employment contract has been concluded in a statutory electronic form that replaces the written form. The same should apply to amendment contracts concluded in electronic form in the event of changes to essential contractual conditions. However, the economic sectors and industries listed in the Act to Combat Clandestine Employment remain exempt from this.

• Employment references: The electronic form is also to be made possible for the regulation on issuing employment references.

• Working hours: In future, employers will also be able to fulfill their posting obligations under the Working Hours Act and the Youth Employment Protection Act by making the required information available electronically via the information and communication technology commonly used in the company or office (such as the intranet), provided that all employees have free access to the information.

• Parental leave: The written form requirement in the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act for applications to reduce working hours and their rejection as well as the assertion of parental leave entitlements is to be replaced by text form.

• Accommodation: The hotel registration requirement for German nationals is to be abolished.

• Food labeling: The digital form is to be made possible for the written records to be kept of allergens contained in loose goods. This also applies to mandatory information on food additives and flavorings contained in bulk goods.

In parallel to the national efforts to reduce bureaucracy, the government has also launched an initiative to reduce bureaucracy at European level. The focus is on small and medium-sized enterprises. For example, the European definition of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is to be expanded to include an additional company category of "small mid-caps" (250-500 employees) and the financial thresholds of the SME definition are to be reviewed again.