https://www.destatis.de/EN/FactsFigures/Indicators/BureaucracyCosts/Current_BurreaucracyCostIndex.html

The bureaucracy cost index concretises the bureaucratic burden on businesses and shows its development over time. Typical paperwork is what the index is aimed at. This includes requests, reports, labelling, statistics and evidence.

The focus is on burdens arising for businesses which, due to federal legislation, „have to provide, transmit or keep available data or other information“ (Section 2 (2) of the Act on the Establishment of a National Regulatory Control Council). Such duties are referred to as information obligations. To represent the burdens arising for businesses, the Federal Government decided in 2012 to introduce the bureaucracy cost index as part of the Programme for Bureaucracy Reduction and Better Regulation. The index is based on the bureaucracy costs incurred by businesses as at 1 January 2012. If the Federal Government initiates legal regulations that will reduce the bureaucracy costs for businesses, the index will decrease. If it adopts regulations creating new bureaucracy burdens for businesses, this will cause the index to rise.

The Federal Statistical Office updates the bureaucracy cost index on its website in the month following the relevant quarter. Also, the Federal Statistical Office stores the bureaucracy costs and their development regarding all information obligations in the database WebSKM, which is available to the general public

Bureaucracy cost index

Bureaucracy Cost Index; January 2012 = 100

Year	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
. = Numerical value unknown.  … = Not to be disclosed.
January	100.00	100.28	100.32	100.02	99.10	98.99	99.19
February	.	100.29	100.33	100.02	99.10	98.97	99.19
March	.	100.25	100.33	100.23	99.01	98.97	99.11
April	.	100.26	100.33	100.22	99.08	98.94	99.11
May	100.27	100.30	100.31	100.22	99.07	98.94	99.13
June	100.30	100.30	100.40	98.99	98.97	99.16	99.13
July	100.24	100.32	100.40	99.00	98.98	99.21	99.12
August	100.25	100.33	100.41	98.72	98.71	99.18	99.15
September	100.21	100.32	100.35	98.70	98.71	99.03	99.24
October	100.23	100.32	100.36	98.79	98.73	99.17	…
November	100.25	100.31	100.08	99.10	98.72	99.17	…
December	100.27	100.31	100.13	99.10	99.00	99.11	…