24 January 2003
The commission is consulting on ways to lighten what it says has become a 'regulatory burden'.
The workload has quadrupled in ten years and some 200 schemes are now audited, at an annual cost of £25m.
It suggests that claims worth less than £50,000 should no longer be certified and that more limited procedures should apply up to £100,000.
Last year, auditors detected errors of £120m, almost five times the cost of the certification process.
'Less certification work would inevitably increase the risk that some errors would go undetected,' the commission admitted.
PFjan2003
