The purpose and objectives of the EU's "better regulation" policy are, while adhering to the principle of proportionality, to simplify and improve existing legislation, improve the drafting of new (non-)legislative proposals and to assure the observance and effectiveness of regulations relating thereto. Organised and effective public administration is one of the objectives of the current EU Council Presidency. The Slovenian public administration respects the principles of legality and legal certainty, political neutrality and professional independence, user-friendliness and openness, expertise and quality, as well as compatibility, rationality and efficiency.

One of the main tasks of the Ministry of Public Administration is the implementation in full of the Lisbon strategy and related economic, social and environmental measures at the national level and, in the context of policy on better regulation with a view to improving competitiveness, to deal with framing better regulations, reducing administrative burdens, including measuring administrative costs and analysing the impact of regulations on citizens and the economy.

During the Presidency, Slovenia will build on the work done by the preceding presidencies in the four key areas of better regulation policy:

• Simplifying secondary Community legislation: The main purpose of the simplification process is to ensure benefits for market operators and citizens and to strengthen the competitiveness of the European economy.  It is aimed at promoting innovation, eliminating administrative barriers, and supporting flexible legislative approaches and changes in the legislative culture. The simplification procedure includes codification, recasting, annulment and repeal of Community legislation and the replacement of Directives with Regulations. Under the renewed Lisbon strategy, the Commission is working on simplifying and reducing the volume of Community legislation. During its Presidency, Slovenia will particularly endeavour to increase the involvement of the Competitiveness Council in the simplification process in terms of assuring regular progress reporting by the Commission, including specific information of the impact to date on the competitiveness of the European economy.
• Regulatory Impact Assessment: Impact assessment helps to formulate and develop policies, defines and analyses problems and goals, identifies key possibilities for achieving goals, analyses the impact of political decisions on the economy, environment and social area, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each option. During its Presidency, Slovenia will endeavour to continue the work done by the preceding presidencies in this area.
• Eliminating administrative barriers: The Commission and Member States have committed themselves to reducing administrative costs at EU level by 25% by 2012 and the Member States have committed themselves to setting appropriate, similarly ambitious goals in this area on the national scale. In line with the conclusions of the 2007 Spring European Council, the Commission has established an independent expert committee to assist the Commission and Member States with the implementation of the Action Plan on the Reduction of Administrative Burden. Slovenia will endeavour to pursue as intensively as possible all activities in relation to the elimination of administrative barriers.
• Consulting: The purpose of consulting all interested parties is to assure their involvement in the framing of Community policy. Additionally, it helps develop policy of a better quality and establish closer cooperation between all interested parties and the general public. During its Presidency, Slovenia will strive to support the highest possible involvement of all interested parties and the public in the process of drafting legislation and Community policy.

During its Presidency, Slovenia will focus on the following priorities:

• Pursuing efforts to reduce administrative costs, including efforts to realise the second package of “fast-track” proposals (“fast-track proposals”);
• Speeding up procedures for the adoption of the procedure simplification programme (“rolling Simplification Programme”);
• Ensuring the ongoing collection of proposals for simplification of procedures and reduction of administrative burdens;
• Consistently implementing procedures to prevent the creation of new administrative burdens and barriers when adopting new legislation (ex ante);
• Paying greater attention to the exemptions for small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly “micro enterprises” (employing less than 10 people), in procedures to reduce administrative costs, eliminate administrative barriers and simplify regulations;
• Ensuring higher levels of transparency in procedures to implement the programme on reducing administrative barriers and procedures to simplify the regulatory environment;
• Continuing cooperation with European Union institutions and Member States with a view to augmenting the use of regulatory impact assessment in decision making processes.