Estonian government applies brakes on bureaucracy in one-third of bills

Last year, the Estonian government applied the "one in, one out" principle—designed to reduce administrative burden—to one-third of bills submitted for coordination. The Ministry of Justice considers the rule successful, as in several cases ministries decided not to implement planned administrative measures or postponed them altogether.

Last year, the Estonian government used the so-called "one in, one out" principle—a mechanism designed to manage administrative burden—in one-third of all bills submitted for coordination. The principle means that whenever new regulatory obligations are added, an existing obligation must be removed or eased.

The Ministry of Justice has assessed the rule as effective. According to the ministry, it has forced legislators to consider their plans more carefully—in several cases, ministries have decided not to implement planned administrative burdens at all or have postponed them to the future.

Reducing administrative burden has been one of Estonia's government priorities to make the business and living environment simpler and to reduce costs resulting from state requirements for citizens and businesses. The "one in, one out" principle is a common approach in other European countries as well, where the aim is to curb the growth of bureaucracy.

The fact that the rule was applied to only one-third of the bills means, however, that in the majority of legislative proposals the principle was not followed. This suggests that managing administrative burden remains an exception rather than the rule in Estonian lawmaking, and there is still room for full implementation.