One-in, one-out principle

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's Government has decided that the One-in, one-out principle will be applied to the entire Government from the beginning of the parliamentary spring session 2024. The One-in, one-out principle refers to the Government's target that the administrative burden on companies will not increase during the government term. In future, the development of the administrative burden will be monitored in the Government's annual burden reports, which will enable the Government to decide on the necessary measures to reduce the administrative burden.

The principle is applied to national legislation or legislation exceeding the EU minimum regulation. The scope of application also excludes taxes, fines and penalties, terms of contracts, emergency legislation resulting from exceptional circumstances or for the purpose of averting danger, the opening of markets to competition, the promotion of competition and the prevention of the abuse of monopoly power. The more detailed definitions of the principle are laid down in the application manual.

The cross-administrative Steering group for deregulation and reduction of administrative burden is responsible for steering and coordinating the principle. The expert network operating under the steering group prepares the Government's annual burden reports.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has already since 2017 been applying the one-in, one-out principle on a trial basis. 

Regulatory Burden Calculator, an Excel-tool based on Standard Cost Model (SCM), was developed during the pilot project for the assessment of impacts on enterprises and for conducting One for One calculations. Regulatory Burden Calculator contains, among other things, up-to-date information on prices and salaries, standard wage categories for positions at different levels, side and overhead costs, average annual working hours and company statistics.

As a result of the pilot project in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the annual regulatory burden resulting from national legislation is estimated to have been reduced by approximately EUR 150,000 in 2017 as concerns government proposals issued by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Meanwhile, government proposals drafted in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in 2018 increased the burden by about EUR 500,000 per year. In 2019–2020, the burden fell by EUR 490,000. In 2021, the burden again increased by EUR 8,500,000 , and in 2022 by EUR 3,300,000.

The application of the One-in, one-out principle makes the impacts of government bills on enterprises more transparent and creates a mechanism for ensuring that the administrative burden on industries does not increase. However, the application of the principle requires resources and induction training. The calculator was updated to a new version on 6 March 2025. 
 

Further information: erno.mahonen(at)gov.fi, tiina.haanpaa(at)gov.fi