Administrative burdens evaluation: A smart perspective in the Province of Trento

Since 2006, Red Tape has been a hot topic for the European Commission. All the European Countries agreed in reducing the costs that enterprises have to face due to Administrative Burdens (AB). Each Country has implemented his own simplification plans in order to move from the Red Tape to better regulation. Trentino's local governments both 1) issued laws to cut down the total amount of information obligations that the firms have to fulfill by legislation and 2) implemented a set of new online services to simplify the communication between firms and local PAs (Public Administrations). Even if e-government has proved to be the right answer to reduce AB in several EU Countries, it hides issues and pitfalls, especially in terms of accessibility, usage and user-friendliness, that could transform a best practice into a costly (for PAs and for firms too) unused online structure. By the means of a sample investigation, this research aims to gather data about the feelings of the entrepreneurs located in Trentino concerning the simplification actions and the online services undertaken by national and local governments.