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European Business Test Panel

Register on the EBTP to express the views of your business on proposed EU legislation.

Originally launched in 1998 as a pilot project, the European Business Test Panel is now back in action. Initiated as a means of gauging the response of the business community to new proposals at a Commission level, the EBTP is currently seeking new panellists to take part in the forthcoming surveys. Businesses who register to participate in the pan-European survey will have a unique opportunity to register their views on proposed legislation. In this way, policy makers will be made aware of the direct impact of their policy proposals on business. The businesses will be taken from a sample which will reflect the UK industry as a whole (taking care to represent firms of all fields and sizes) and will get their say on the costs, administrative burdens and benefits of proposed new European legislation.

The Department for Trade and Industry will be co-ordinating the panel in the UK. You can email them directly with your queries.

The standing panel's first consultation is due to take place in the next couple of months. It will consist in one short questionnaire of 10-15 questions. There will be 6-8 consultations per year.

For those businesses and individuals who wish to express their views on proposed legislation without participating in the standing panel, the Commission welcomes views on its Your Voice website.

The new standing panel's first consultation will be on business tax compliance costs in the Internal Market.

Four consultations have been carried out to date, these were on the 6th VAT Directive, the 4th Accounting Directive, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment and the Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive. The results of all four consultations indicated that businesses support the exercise and welcome the chance to have their views taken in to account by the European Commission.

Following the evaluation of the consultation on the Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive the Commission decided to modified the functioning of the European Business Test Panel in order to enhance its effectiveness, to increase the value of the results and provide rapid feedback to participants. A standing panel is now being set up which will remain in place for three years.

You can find more information about the Test Panel on the Commission website.