To combat bureaucracy, use emails (France)

In France, the smart regulation policy has for many years relied on measures specifically aimed at improving "the relationship between the government and the citizens". See for instance the seminal text of Law 2000-321 of 12 April 2000 which introduced several lasting improvements. On 2 May, the governament tabled a bill in Parliament empowering the government to further simplify the relationship, as part of the modernisation policy announced on 18 December. See official media release after the Council of Ministers.
Subject to a go-ahead from Parliament, the Government will be empowered to draft and enact a code on relations between the administration and the public. This code will consolidate all of the rules of administrative procedure which are now difficult to access or ascertain because they are jurisprudential or scattered among various texts. In addition, the Government will be allowed to simplify the current rules to harmonise and simplify them. The bill also carries three specific measures. Perhaps the most significant one is the creation of a right for citizens to file an administrative claim or request by electronic means. Of course, the facility is already largely available, but in France, it is deemed better to make it into an additional right to ensure proper and uniform implementation, even at the cost of one more regulation.
For some good background on the measures, see Acteurs Publics comment entitled "emails against bureaucracy" which deems that in spite of its brevity, the new rule could introduce a revolutionary change in dealing with red tape.

Czech POINT "All in one place"

The Czech ministry of the interior has recently published a short report on the success of its initiative to help citizens in their relations with the administration: Czech POINT is a network of assisted public administration centres where each citizen can view and update, from a single access point, their personal information as stored in official registers as well as file applications.
Czech POINT (a kind of one-stop-shop) stands for "Czech Filling and Verification Information National Terminal. "

“Main objective of the project is the motto All in one place!. In the future, citizens will have access to Public Administration services not only at the Czech POINTs, but also via the Internet. Czech POINT is the most comfortable way of communicating with the authorities and institutions from a single place. The system is well-designed and I hope that it becomes quickly and spontaneously used by citizens and subsequently also requested,” said Minister of the Interior Ivan Langer.

Costa Rica tackles red tape by egov

An interesting article posted today in Tico Times sumarizes the Costa Rican government's project to apply technology to help improve the business environment. The policy is implemented by CINDE, a nongovernmental organization in charge of investment promotion, which relies primarily on introducing egov solutions. But, notes the article, "there is a huge gap in Costa Rica between the well-paved regulatory highway that CINDE and the government have set up for deep-pocketed foreign companies, and the pothole-filled obstacle course that ordinary Costa Ricans who just want to start up a mechanic's shop or a restaurant are forced to navigate... Costa Rica is drowning in red tape." The Doing Business index remains very low: Costa Rica ranks 121st of 183 countries. In Latin America and the Caribbean, Costa Rica ranks 25th out of 32 countries, behind every other Central American country except Honduras. Called the Digital Government project, the project is operationally a division of ICE, the country's power and telecommunications utility, but answers to a government commission presided over by the Prime Minister. It seeks to leverage the information technology expertise of ICE to put as many government processes online as possible. The basic building block, the "digital signature," is already developed. Tico Times also develops the recently introduced silence procedure: law 8,220, the Law (n°8220) for Protection of Citizens against Excessive Requirements and Administrative Processes introduces the concept of Positive Silence: that once all paperwork is presented, the government authorization requested will be deemed granted if the government institution does not respond within three days. Unfortutaly, Tico Times notes, this reform "has been a dead letter because ordinary citizens cannot drag a notary around to certify presentation of every paper required in bureaucratic processes." But if presentation is online, digitally documented by means of a digital cédula, the government authorization game could change radically in favor of ordinary citizens."
See also a presentation of the better regulation policy on the ministry's website and a news item on the National Plan for Simplification and Cutting Red Tape.

           

How can Open Government and E-Rulemaking contribute to BR?

Members of this network are invited to contribute by 15 December to an interesting discussion about how Web 2.0 technologies can contribute to making the regulatory process more accessible, transparent, comprehensible and participatory. The discussion is opened by an OECD note on Open Government and E-Rulemaking which as presented at the October 2010 Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) meeting.

The Commission's Digital Agenda

Among the tools for improving the quality of regulation, e-gov is often mentioned as one of the most powerful. With this in mind, BR experts should take a look at the Commission communication on the Digital Agenda, published 19 May, as it concerns the infrastructure and standards of the building blocks of e-gov.This programme is one of the seven flagship initiatives of the EU2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Of particular interest to us is the digital single market component. There is still a lot to do to de-fragment national digital markets, for instance by creating a single legal download solution for music. Europeans would also greatly benefit from improved cross-border on-line shopping. This could have significant impacts on the simplicity and enforcement of EU law: until now, dealing with red tape of 27 digital markets has prevented many companies from expanding across borders. There is a lively debate going on at present on the possible contribution of this strategy, see for instance the Euractiv page as entry point.

E-gov in support of better regulation

E-government is not often listed as a better regulation tool. However, when online procedures assist citizens and companies to comply with regulation, this is a direct contribution to enforcement, raises compliance rates, reduces irritation, all of which help enhance the quality of regulation as we understand it. In some cases, eServices also reinforce the Single Market. Such a contribution was clearly recognised by the Malmö Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment (November 2009) "(European governements) should use eGovernment to increase their efficiency and effectiveness and to constantly improve public services in a way that caters for users' different needs and maximises public value, thus supporting the transition of Europe to a leading knowledge-based economy.".

The European Commission's HLG AB (Stoiber-group) has emphasised the need for eGov solutions in almost all of the "opinions" by which it advises the European Commission. The opinions have also emphasised that eServices lead to burden reductions only if adapted to business needs. And without any burden reduction, no high uptake (- and lower benefits for public sector).The HLG AB (Stoiber-group) has emphasised the need for eGov solutions in almost all of the "opinions" by which they advise the European Commission. They have also emphasised that eServices lead to burden reductions only if adapted to business needs. And without any burden reduction, no high uptake (- and lower benefits for public sector).

Furthermore it is also important to make sure that new / revised legislation promotes and facilitates the use of ICT.The Commission (led by DG INFSO) is now preparing a eGov Action Plan for 2011-2015, based on the objectives in the declaration and in collaboration and coordination with the MSs. This will be part of the wider Digital Agenda for 2020 embracing wider ICT aspects. Find out more on the i2020 (the EU policy framework for information society and media) and EU2020 (Lisbon strategy successor) pages on Europa (with K. Bjorke and W. Carrara).

MP report highlights limits to French Reform

3 March 2010: Mr F. Cornut-Gentille, MP, delivers his report on modernisation and the quality of service to the minister in charge, E. Woerth. The report is critical of the lack of progress on quality of public services, in spite of recent improvements in e-government. Statistical annexes to the report show that the public is not impressed: 2/3 of citizens believe state reform is just another word for staff cuts. Reacting to this news the next day, the minister announced the creation of a "quality barometer", a project which had been on hold for some time. This shift to greater emphasis on the expectations of the end users of regulation confirms the trend inaugurated in February with the announcement of 15 measures to enhance egov procedures for citizens. It may also be a wider tendency in Better Regulation policies to devote more attention to implementation and enforcement issues, rather than endlessly review legal texts.
Background: French 2008 plan to cut red tape.