- The body, in cooperation between the Central Administration, the Autonomous Communities and EELL, takes stock of the Market Unit Guarantee Law
- The application of the Law will result in additional GDP growth of around 1.6% in the long term
- In Council gives a new impetus to the norm with the removal of recurring obstacles for economic operators
The Council for Market Unit, the highest body for cooperation between Administrations provided for in the Market Unit Guarantee Law (LGUM), has met for the second time since its constitution in early 2015 to take stock of its application. To date, 117 state regulations have been modified and, thanks to the economic operator protection mechanism, more than 200 cases have been resolved. In turn, a work plan has been drawn up to give new impetus to this standard.
The LGUM guarantees free access to economic activities and their free exercise in general. In turn, it establishes a series of principles of good economic regulation, basically those of necessity and proportionality of public intervention in economic activity, that of national effectiveness of regulation and that of simplifying burdens, whose application will result in more productivity, more growth and more employment. The latest government estimates actually estimate additional GDP growth of around 1.6% in the long term.
The Vice President of the Government, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, chaired the meeting, in which the Secretary of State for Economy and Business Support, Irene Garrido, on whom the Secretary of the Council, the Secretary of State for Territorial Administrations, Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, the Undersecretary of the Presidency, José Mª Jover, as well as Councilors and other representatives of the Governments of the Autonomous Communities and of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces.
The Council, constituted at the beginning of 2015, has approved the report of its Secretariat, which reflects recent progress in the application of the LGUM and which realizes the adaptation to the principles of good economic regulation of 117 State regulations, among others, the hours of business hours, the prevention of occupational hazards, public sector contracts, support for entrepreneurs, cinema, sports, mountains, patents or telecommunications. The process of regulatory adaptation to the LGUM has also continued at the level of the CCAA.
The mechanism for protecting economic operators, which allows them to submit claims or information about the barriers to their activity, works satisfactorily, as evidenced by the fact that more than 200 cases have already been resolved, for which information is available on the web of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.
The Council agreed on the need to give new impetus to the application of the LGUM, focusing attention on the removal of certain recurring obstacles. To this end, a work plan will be prepared that, backed by the Council of Ministers, will be carried out with the encouragement of the ministerial departments in their respective areas of competence, especially through sectoral conferences.
Likewise, the Board has seen it necessary to promote the analysis of the effect of any new regulation on the market unit, through the Regulatory Impact Analysis Reports.
Cooperation between Public Administrations, especially through sectoral conferences but also through various platforms that have been enabled for the exchange of information and managed by the Ministry of the Presidency and for Territorial Administrations, plays a fundamental role in the application of LGUM, which the Council has set out to strengthen.
The Council has approved a Catalog of good and bad practices for the application of the LGUM, which aims to promote mutual learning between Administrations. It has also taken note of the Guide for the application of the LGUM, which the Council of Ministers commissioned from the Council Secretariat. Both documents will, like the Report of the Council Secretariat, be published.
The Government has recognized the effort of the CCAA and has summoned them to advance with more momentum in the application of the LGUM, something that will also be done by the General State Administration.
In the reform process that it has been promoting, the Executive gives special importance to the principles of good economic regulation of the LGUM. In this sense, the European Commission has also indicated that it is one of the most important laws among those promoted by the Spanish Government.
