Fifth High-level Regional Seminar on Strategies, Tools and Capacities for Administrative Simplification

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A high level Seminar on “Strategies, Tools and Capacities for Administrative Simplification” was organised by the OECD Secretariat in co-ordination with the host, the Ministry of State for Administrative Development of Egypt, as part of the activities of Working Group (WG) II and IV (please see the current and future programme of work on administrative simplification) of the Good Governance for Development (GfD) in Arab Countries Initiative. This two-day seminar was held in Cairo on 20 and 21 June 2007.

Participation

Dr. Ashraf Abdel-Wahab, Deputy to the Minister for Administrative Development, chaired the event, thereby demonstrating his ownership of and commitment to the success of the event. Mr. Federico Basilica, Legal Advisor to the Italian Senate and to the Unit for Simplification and Quality of Regulation, Presidency of the Council of Ministers, co-chaired the meeting as the Italian representative for both WG II and IV.
Around 130 participants attended the seminar, including more than 90 Egyptian participants from different ministries, agencies and municipalities. In total, 8 Arab countries were represented: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian National Authority and Tunisia. In addition, 12 OECD countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK, as well as the European Commission) were represented by 17 delegates. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Arab Administrative Development Organisation (ARADO) participated as well.

Objectives

Some countries in the MENA region are lagging behind others in providing efficient administrative procedures to businesses and citizens, and in facilitating compliance to regulations. Inefficient procedures and insufficient enforcement of compliance, together with a high level of individual discretion, encourage corruption. Red tape is one of the biggest constraints for countries in this region. The World Bank Doing Business Report has been showing a wide dispersion among Arab countries’ rates. The commitment of public administrations to reform and sound public policy is spreading, and that is why administrative simplification has been pointed to as one of the key elements for good governance in the Arab region in the framework of the GfD Initiative.
The seminar gave delegates the opportunity to explore priorities and build a solid framework for future discussions on the topic. The aim of this regional capacity-building seminar was to encourage policy dialogue within the region and to set up a solid network of policy makers from MENA and OECD countries currently working on issues of administrative simplification.

Policy Dialogue

Arab officials presented their innovative efforts to introduce and implement administrative simplification strategies to tackle corruption and the abusive use of discretional power, as well as to improve their business environment and reinforce evaluation mechanisms. As many OECD countries face similar challenges, the policy dialogue allowed for exchange on the various approaches taken to administrative simplification. Participants discussed the following key issues:

1) Capacities for administrative simplification: the policy strategy

As there is a shared concern about the measures needed to remove barriers to trade, investment and entrepreneurship, administrative simplification policies are a priority on the global policy agenda. In the past, most administrative simplification strategies have been client-oriented in order to make the biggest impact on reducing red tape. Authorities have invested in identifying the sectors and activities where simplification would lift the heaviest burdens on business. Focusing on industry and trade certain types of procedures have been classified according to their direct and indirect costs. However, not all burdens are necessarily subject to relevant reductions.
The sequencing of administrative simplification strategies was signalled several times as one of the key steps to successful public policy. Three main steps have been identified:
1. Planning of simplification strategies centred on the heavy burdened areas.
2. Estimation of potential savings for society.
3. Implementation of simplification programmes and measurement of administrative burdens.

2) Capacities for administrative simplification: institutional design

The institutional and organisational framework for achieving administrative simplification varies among countries. In this session, participants had the opportunity to debate how to: (i) better adapt the institutional design to policy objectives, (ii) gain political support, and (iii) ensure coordination inside government at different levels. International benchmarking is definitely helpful, but each country faces the task of undertaking a sound whole-of-government administrative simplification strategy, adapted to its own conditions and possibilities. One of the main challenges in this respect is decision-making in the allocation of resources, both human and financial.

3) Tools for administrative simplification

During the meeting, participants explored the different policy tools available to officials and citizens for moving forward with administrative simplification. Arab and OECD delegates stressed the role of information and communication technologies as tools to achieve administrative simplification and burden reduction. ICT can help streamline existing processes and reduce duplications (e.g. through identifying common business procedures). ICT can also enable an administrative environment favourable to businesses and investors (e.g. through facilitating data reporting from businesses to government).
Synergy creation is exponential when integrating e-government with administrative simplification strategies. On the one hand, digital applications and solutions can be used to bring about administrative simplification (e.g. burden reduction achieved through electronic data sharing). And on the other hand, administrative reduction policies can provide an impulse in the development of new e-services (e.g. the result of burden measurement and user profiling can be used to identify new services). Some e-applications can also be used to review and simplify legislation to make it “e-government friendly”. However ICT is only one of the many enabling tools for simplifying administration procedures. Further, countries should not underestimate the risk of “automating dinosaurs” when embarking in process digitisation without sufficient prior attention to process rationalisation and re engineering.
When applying policy tools, it is crucial to thoroughly understand the problems that are being addressed. Countries around the table shared their experiences and the results they have obtained, as well as their estimations for the future. The main challenge is to augment use of the policy tools available and to enhance the capacity to use them. Public administrations need to decide where their efforts will best benefit society.

4) Implementing simplification strategies: the case of one-stop shops

As it is one of the most effective and widespread tools for administrative simplification, one-stop shops were discussed in a special session. Countries presented their experiences and exchanged ideas on how to successfully unify different demands into one or into a reduced number of communication channels in the functioning of public administrations.
Because public administrations are complex, creating channels of easy access for citizens can be burdensome if there is no clear coordination. One-stop shops allow citizens to quickly access public services provided by different public institutions through only one contact point, which facilitates the information flow inside administration. These efforts require a great deal of commitment and a whole-of-government perspective, necessarily including different levels of government in the process.

5) Implementing simplification strategies: the case of licenses

Licensing is the practice of requiring prior approval by a government authority for the establishment and conduct of businesses or other activities. Since it is a key element of administrative procedures, licenses are the clearest example of how economic activity can be cut out as a result of barriers to new start-ups and anti-competitive damaging elements. Practical approaches to licensing were presented which aimed at saving time and costs to those requesting licenses. These efforts have helped to invigorate the economies of OECD and Arab countries and make them more dynamic.

Outcomes and future work

This high-level regional seminar was an excellent opportunity to move forward with the policy dialogue on administrative simplification within the framework of the GfD Initiative. In particular, participants expressed their interest in a variety of activities envisaged within the framework of the Working Groups II and IV:
1. With the support of the Egyptian authorities, the GfD Initiative has moved forward by launching a network of policy makers on administrative simplification among Arab and OECD countries.
2. The planning of concrete and practice-oriented activities regarding administrative simplification was encouraged by delegates. Arab countries have expressed their interest in deepening policy exchange with OECD countries in specific areas of administrative simplification strategies.
3. Several Arab countries highlighted their interest in deepening knowledge and capacity building on regulatory reform, in particular with regard to the role of oversight bodies and Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA).
4. Some OECD countries expressed an informal interest in organising peer-to-peer learning activities on administrative simplification techniques in their home countries. These activities would provide an opportunity to learn more about concrete applications/projects.

Documentation

• Agendas (English, French, Arabic)
• List of Participants

Session 1: Capacities for administrative simplification: the policy strategy

• OECD Secretariat: The Role of the OECD in Administrative Simplification
• United Kingdom: Measuring Administrative Burdens
• Tunisia: Administrative Development Strategy for the Simplification of Procedures (Arabic)

• France: La Modernisation de l’Etat et l’Administration Electronique (French)
• Denmark: Policies and Institutional Frameworks for Administrative Simplification in Denmark

Session 2: Capacities for administrative simplification: institutional design

• Italy: The Italian Institutional Design for Administrative Simplification

• Bahrain: Decentralisation and Partnership with the Public Sector – Reform Strategy in the Civil Service Sector in Bahrain
• Hungary: Better Regulation Priorities and Activities in Hungary

Session 3: Tools for Administrative Simplification

• Sweden: Tools to Simplify the Legislation – the Swedish Experience

• France: Mesures et Réductions des Charges Administratives (French)

• Tunisia: Simplification of Administrative Procedures (Arabic)
• Denmark: Digital Administration Tools – Preparing the Law for Digital Administration
• The Netherlands: Integrating E-Government in Simplification Strategies – the Dutch Case