Tough new rules imposed across Whitehall have stopped government departments adding to UK business costs by 'gold plating' EU legislation with additional regulations.

In the past, Whitehall departments added additional burdens to EU laws - including rules on energy efficient buildings, and health and safety at work - which imposed extra costs and restrictions on business.

But new figures assessing the impact of a government regime introduced in 2011 to prevent gold-plating show that from July 2011 to December 2012, there has been almost no gold-plating of EU legislation.

Fallon says the government will continue to withhold agreement for any new regulations that gold-plate legislation. Ministers are also monitoring how other EU countries transpose legislation, in order to ensure the minimum necessary is implemented in the UK.

There may however be implications for accounting standard setters in the UK. 'It might mean in future that we cannot amend accounting or auditing standards to suit the way we operate, if the government strictly applies the rule,' says Julia Penny, audit and accounting content manager at CCH.

Business minister Michael Fallon told business leaders at the Centre for Policy Studies: 'I want to redefine how regulation works, placing regulators on the side of the majority of law-abiding businesses.'

He also pledged to re-double government efforts to slash UK red tape.

There are also calls for the European Commission to publish an annual statement of the net cost of EU legislation, to help business see what burden of regulation stems from the EU; and making sure that business have an opportunity to influence EU proposals at an earlier stage.

So far government action has saved business around £1bn in reduced costs, but more radical action is required to remove barriers to growth and to promote a culture of enterprise.

New reforms include a 'growth duty' on over 50 different regulators, ensuring that enforcement is consistent with minimum restraints on economic development.

A second phase of the Red Tape Challenge will launch this spring, giving businesses another opportunity to tell the government where action is most required.

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