CIPER 'faces uphill battle' in Brussels

CIPER, the government's new consultative body for regulations affecting the construction industry, will face an uphill battle to succeed in its objective of influencing legislation at its inception, according to the automotive industry, for which the government set up the equivalent body VIPER 18 months ago.
It suggests the new forum has provided a means to mitigate the impact of forthcoming regulations. However, it has done little to resolve problems at source by influencing legislation when it is being drawn up.
"So far it's been making a bad situation better," said Paul Everitt, head of policy at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. "It's not a panacea. We need to take a step further and open up the process in Brussels.
"We need to be able to encourage ministers and officials to listen to alternatives to proposed regulation, or even persuade them that regulation may not be necessary. The frustration is that we could and should do more, but we've not got there yet," Everitt said.
Although the industry has been largely enthusiastic, even dealing with impending legislation has had its challenges. The biggest hurdle has been overcoming an uneven reaction from government departments. "The buy-in from the government has been patchy," Everitt cautioned. "The Department of Trade & Industry and the Department for Transport are fully on board, but the Department of Environmental, Food & Rural Affairs doesn't like having to justify itself.
"This is important because it's not just the impact of one piece of legislation that we're talking about. It's cumulative and therefore goes across the board."
Nevertheless, John Tebbit, industry affairs director at the Construction Products Association, maintained preventing problems arising rather than dealing with their consequences was the focus of the new group: "Essentially it's forward looking, to deal with issues when they're a gleam in a civil servant's eye. The best advert for CIPER will be fewer stories about the industry being incandescent over the impact of new legislation,"
Tebbit said.
However, CIPER has already come in for criticism from the Strategic Forum for creating more bureaucracy, and the Freight Transport Association and various other haulage bodies, which were neither aware of nor involved with the
VIPER forum.
CIPER's first meeting to deal with live issues is set to take place before parliament goes into its summer recess. Subsequent meetings are likely to be held every quarter.