Red tape is "strangling" business in the West Midlands, according to a damning new report out today.
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry says there is still a lot more that needs to be done by the Government if it is to ease the regulatory burden on businesses.
Responding to the consultation today on a Code of Practice on Good Guidance on Regulation, BCI head of policy Charlotte Ritchie said the business community requires "less regulation, not better regulation".
The British Chambers of Commerce 2008 Burdens Barometer calculates the total burden figure of cumulative cost of new regulation since 1998 at almost £66 billion.
The UK's regulatory burden is growing at more than £10 billion every year, meaning more deregulation needs to take place to ease this pressure.
Ms Ritchie said: "We agree with the Government that good guidance is essential for compliance and that it can help to reduce the costs of regulatory compliance by removing the need to pay for external expert advice or to over-comply. However, the business community is clear that it needs less regulation, not better regulation.
"We fully appreciate the immense task the Government, and particularly the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), has to deal with on the better regulation agenda.
"However, the biggest challenge is cultural, given that the very people charged with improving the regulatory burden are those who have been employed specifically to create the legislation in the first place.
"More also needs to be done to ensure regulations are absolutely necessary before they are implemented and the value of the legislation should be clearly articulated, both at consultation stage and in the regulatory guidance.
"Businesses require an understanding of why the legislation exists in the first place, the benefit to business of compliance and some demonstration from government that implementation costs have been rationally justified."
She added: "Many businesses, particularly small businesses, regularly have to employ specialists to help them to understand how to comply. This is not just in relation to employment legislation, but increasingly technical, industry-specific regulation, which is extremely complex.
"The introduction and implementation of regulation is not done in a practical way and there seems to be little or no thought as to how it will actually work within the companies and sectors they're aimed at.
"Additionally, the ruling that there has to be only 12 weeks between regulations being issued and coming into effect is unworkable. These regulations can take years to draft and at the very least there should be 12 months to enable companies to put compliance measures in place."
Ms Ritchie believes the only way the whole matter can be resolved is with better interaction between the government and businesses, which will enable firms to feel less confused and ministers to better understand the pressures companies are under to comply.
