What is Red Tape?

Red Tape is a short-hand term for unnecessary or excessively complicated regulations and administrative processes that have financial as well as opportunity costs for enterprises when complying with national and local laws and regulations and administrative processes.

Why do we assess Red Tape?

Red Tape is assessed to shed light on excessively complicated regulations and administrative processes and institutional bottlenecks, to identify policies and laws that are particularly complicated for enterprises to comply with, to give enterprises a voice for constructive dialogue with government in legal and regulatory reform processes and to provide a platform for ILO constituents to advocate for a more enabling environment for sustainable enterprises.

How do we assess Red Tape?

Red Tape is assessed using a mix of secondary and primary data. The most important information is obtained through an enterprise survey using a standard questionnaire
to identify red tape issues that allows the quantification of compliance costs that enterprises incur annually. To find out more about the ILO's product offer on Assessing Red Tape, please visit the product description.

What are examples?

The ASSESSING RED TAPE methodology was piloted in South Africa where two municipalities in the Free State Province were assessed and compared. For more details, please see the report of that pilot.