Benchmarking the Administration of Business Start-ups

Autor:

European Commission, Enterprise Directorate General.

For some time, addressing the difficulties and delays experienced in setting up a new enterprise has been a policy priority. The European Commission published a Recommendation in this area in 1997.

More recently, the Lisbon European Council called for a “benchmarking exercise on issues such as the length of time and the costs involved in setting up a company”.

Under the Multi-Annual Programme for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, and in particular the Best Procedure, the European Commission responded to this call by launching a project to establish benchmarks relating to the principal performance indicators in the mandatory procedures for setting up a new business in all EU Member States.

The specific aims of the exercise were to:

• Contribute to establishing for all Member States of the European Union ‘headline’ benchmarks relating to the principal performance indicators in procedures for starting-up a business and ‘operational’ benchmarks that will define the means to deliver the main objectives of making it easier for enterprises to be established.
Assist participating organisations to identify operational improvements.