It is finally here. For those of you, and there have been plenty, that are fed up to the back teeth of red tape, it appears the government has been listening. Last month, it opened a new website, www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk, asking for consumers and businesses to give an opinion on unnecessary regulations, with a view to ultimately reducing the 21,000 UK regulations currently in force.

Before anyone starts getting too excited, though, remember that the wheels of Westminster move very slowly and the consultation is scheduled to last until April 2013. However, it is a modular process and results will filter through over the course of the two years.

The government has split the consultation into sectors, starting with retail on 7 April. The key date for print is currently 14 July (after being put back from 16 June), when manufacturing gets its opportunity to respond, while it is also worth noting that media and creative services will have its turn from 11 August, which could throw up some relevant regulations to cross-media marketing service providers.

Regulations relating to each sector will be published on the website when the relevant consultation opens, while non sector-specific regulations will also be published throughout the process.

On the scheme, the government said: "It is about harnessing the experience and ideas of those who deal with regulation day in, day out to help us cut red tape. Through this site we’re gathering your thoughts on which regulations should stay, which can be merged and which can be scrapped."

At the conclusion of the process, ministers will have three months to decide which regulations to ditch, with the presumption at this stage being that all burdensome regulations will go unless the government departments can justify why they are needed.

For Larkbeare managing director Neil Oakley, widespread culling of regulations is not the answer, rendering the site irrelevant in his opinion.

He says: "It is not a question of cutting; trimming the edges would be more appropriate. There are a lot of things that I don’t mind doing, I understand that they need to be done, but it is the level of attention that is needed. I couldn’t honestly name something right now that I don’t like, but it is the niggely things that grate.

"I think the website could end up being very much like the government petitions website. You go on and make your comment and get a belittling email response back. There is a real apathy in this country about enforcing change and I think this website will be seen in the same light."

Technoprint managing director Mark Snee believes the intentions behind the site may be well meaning, but having to plough through reams of detail will not make it easy for respondents to voice concerns.

"You need to read through so you can make an educated comment as to why a regulation should go," he says. "But, that can take some time; I was on the site for two hours and I only made two comments. That could put people off and in the end the government will turn around and say ‘we didn’t get any comments’ and that would be a terrible waste."

Snee also believes that the website could be used for the wrong reasons, citing an article in a national newspaper that focused on a 600-year-old regulation that was technically still in place.

He says: "It was some rule about killing a Welshman in Chester after midnight. But who the hell cares about rulings that have no bearing in this day and age, that’s not the point. Far more important to fix is the 2005 fire safety reform, which has had a devastating effect on small businesses across the UK."

Snee’s fear that the bulk of business owners will find the process too onerous and time-consuming to justify taking part is a genuine concern. As the BPIF’s Andrew Brown points out (see opinion), given print’s many more pressing problems, the regulatory burden isn’t exactly topping most print bosses’ list of concerns.

Already the scheme is being talked about by some as a coalition government PR exercise.

Unfortunately, just three weeks into the campaign we have no idea if it will prove effective. However, setting aside cynicism for a moment, it is a rare occurrence for business owners to be given the opportunity to play a part in the scrapping of needless legislation and as such we all have a responsibility to get involved in the scheme. As Snee says, to pass up this chance would be a terrible waste.

FACT FILE: THE REGULATON REVOLUTION
• Respondents have around a month to comment
• The exercise will not examine regulations in relation to tax or national security
• Separate arrangements are in place to simplify the tax system
• EU regulations are open for discussion, but the UK government can only relay these concerns to the EU, it has no power to scrap them
• The government is, however, working alongside the EU to strengthen the small and medium-sized enterprise test in order for businesses with fewer than 10 employees to be exempt from new European legislation
• The government welcomes suggestions of other sectors that can be examined
• Progress reports for each sector will be added three months after the comments for that sector have closed
• At the end of the three-month review, departments will set out which regulations will be repealed and when