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Progress of EU countries: simplifying start-up procedures in 2016

28 March 2017

(From ec.europa.eu)

Simplification of administrative procedures remains high on the EU political agenda. The European Commission regularly monitors the progress of EU countries in simplifying start-up procedures and reducing time and cost to start a company.

In 2016 the average time to start a private limited company in the EU was 3.3 days and the average cost was €320.

Malta and Poland introduced changes that allowed them to reach the 3 objectives for start-up procedures.

A major part of the reduction in average time is due to simplifications implemented in Malta, France, Ireland and Slovenia.

The reduction of average cost is mostly due to a decrease of costs in the Czech Republic, Malta, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.

Currently, 12 EU countries offer 2 options for registering a company: an accelerated (electronic) registration procedure and a traditional one – on paper. The time and cost are dependent on the procedure that an entrepreneur chooses.