Fed up with years-long processes, mountains of bureaucratic paperwork and millions of euro in fines, a group of entrepreneurs in Pisa, mainly farmers and others in the agriculture business, have decided that enough is enough. They have established the National Victims of Bureaucracy Association to stop the wasteful use of paper and the inefficiency of lengthy and tedious administrative practices. The move comes after a protracted, three-year certification process left two businesses in Pisa with a 23,000-euro fine for not having the required certification to function legally.
The newly launched association will make a large staff of professionals and consultants available to the victims of red tape, typically entrepreneurs, families, the elderly, employees, and contract workers. The bureaucratic system accounts for 4.5 percent of Italy’s yearly gross domestic product, says a spokesperson for the new association.
‘Every year each small or medium-sized business produces enough paper due to bureaucratic requirements that if placed in a line, it would measure 3.5 kilometres. Entrepreneurs in Italy pay a total cost of 14.9 million euro a year in administrative paperwork. We want to fight this situation. We will fight for the weakest: the small business owners who do not have scores of lawyers and accountants on staff and those who have to pay fines due to the inefficiency of the system in Italy’.
