Dual tasks, dual requirements in administrative procedure reform

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang: We must not mechanically cut down on administrative procedures, but must meet two requirements: ensuring good implementation of State management work and creating convenience for people and businesses - Photo: VGP/Hai Minh

This is the request of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, Head of the Prime Minister's Working Group on Administrative Procedure Reform, in an online meeting with 63 provinces and cities across the country, which took place on the morning of September 8.

Reforming internal processes and procedures will contribute to improving the efficiency of handling administrative procedures for people and businesses, overcoming the situation of avoiding and shirking responsibility, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that administrative procedure reduction should not be carried out mechanically, but must meet two requirements: ensuring good implementation of State management work and creating convenience for people and businesses.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested ministries, branches and localities to focus on promoting decentralization of administrative procedures; increase digital transformation efforts to publicize and transparently handle processes, procedures and results of administrative procedures.

For procedures that cannot be reduced due to legal regulations, the Deputy Prime Minister requested that by September 30, ministries, branches and localities must send reports to the Standing Committee of the Working Group to propose solutions to competent authorities.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang assessed that the efforts to reform administrative procedures in recent times have really had "positive" changes, gradually creating trust for people and businesses - Photo: VGP/Hai Minh

The Deputy Prime Minister affirmed that the Working Group always listens to opinions and recommendations from associations and the business community, and hopes that representatives of associations and the business community will continue to accompany the Working Group in carrying out the task of administrative procedure reform.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Government Office - the standing agency of the Working Group - to issue a document clarifying the specific tasks and deadlines for completion of each ministry, branch and locality from now until the end of the year; emphasizing that the results of implementing these tasks will be one of the bases for assessing the level of completion of year-end tasks of each ministry, branch and locality.

The Government and the Prime Minister identified administrative procedure reform as one of the important solutions to create momentum for economic recovery and growth, improve the investment and business environment, thereby contributing to improving competitiveness and production and business efficiency, reducing costs for people and businesses...

Up to now, 385/1,086 administrative procedures have been reduced and simplified according to 19 specialized resolutions of the Government and more than 2,300 regulations related to business activities; 28 legal documents have been amended to implement decentralization of handling 139/699 administrative procedures, reaching 20% according to Decision No. 1015/QD-TTg dated August 30, 2023 of the Prime Minister, in which many administrative procedures are decentralized from the Central to local levels.

The meeting was held online with 63 provinces and cities across the country - Photo: VGP/Hai Minh

Ministries, branches and localities have actively published the list of internal administrative procedures for review and proposed simplification options. The innovation in implementing and resolving administrative procedures has been focused on, with initial results, specifically: The rate of files resolved on time or early by ministries and branches reached 40.16%, and by localities reached 87.31%, according to statistics on the National Public Service Portal.

The rate of digitization of records, results of administrative procedure settlement and issuance of electronic results reached 25.06% at ministries and branches and 37.25% at localities; 61/63 localities have merged the Public Service Portal and the Electronic One-Stop Information System; more than 4,000 online public services are provided on the National Public Service Portal and the integration of 25/25 essential public services under Project 06 has been completed.

Besides the achieved results, we must also frankly acknowledge the shortcomings and limitations that need to be promptly overcome to make this work more substantial and effective.

Specifically, some leaders at all levels have not really paid attention to, resolutely directed, and prioritized resources for administrative reform. The reduction of administrative procedures and business regulations is still a coping measure, sometimes and in some places it has not really created favorable conditions for people and businesses, and has not met the requirements set out by the Government and the Prime Minister in terms of both quality and progress.

The work of assessing the impact of administrative procedure regulations and consulting with subjects affected by the policy has not been focused on; the announcement and publicity of administrative procedure regulations have not been strict, and some ministries and localities have not updated the National Database on Administrative Procedures in a timely, complete, and realistic manner.

Administrative procedures in many fields still have many barriers; the process of implementing administrative procedures is not yet connected between State agencies; the components of the dossier are still cumbersome and complicated, sometimes there are also additional procedures and licenses that cause difficulties for people and businesses. There is still a situation of harassment, and the processing of administrative procedures is still slow in some agencies.

The provision of online public services has not been user-centric and has not promoted the reuse of existing information and data through connection and data sharing.

The work of receiving and handling feedback and recommendations from people and businesses in some ministries, branches and localities is not yet timely, and the responses are sometimes unsatisfactory, leading to incomplete resolution of people and businesses' recommendations.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and members of the Working Group - Photo: VGP/Hai Minh

The Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that the reform of administrative procedures is still slow due to many reasons such as: Administrative procedures are regulated in decrees and circulars, so when amended, it takes time; some places do not want and do not support transparency; some places are afraid of difficulties and changes; or some places give priority to solving other tasks without taking the task of reforming administrative procedures seriously...

In order for administrative procedure reform to make more substantial progress, the Deputy Prime Minister requested each ministry, branch and locality to be more determined and responsible, especially the heads and members of the Working Group; to avoid leaving things to their subordinates and only reading reports prepared by their subordinates when attending meetings.

At the meeting, leaders of business associations and the Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform welcomed the Government's establishment of a Working Group on Administrative Procedure Reform in the context of many businesses being in dire straits; believing that the Working Group will resolve "hot bottlenecks", including regulations on fire prevention and fighting and specialized inspections, to accompany and help businesses overcome difficulties.

Vice Chairman of the Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform Truong Gia Binh said that administrative procedure reform will be more effective when carried out in parallel with digital transformation; affirming that Vietnam's information technology community today has enough capacity to solve problems of administrative procedure reform.

Vice President and General Secretary of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises To Hoai Nam suggested that there should be a mechanism to assign responsibility to officials and enterprises in implementing administrative procedures, considering it a breakthrough solution; at the same time, research a mechanism to encourage the non-state sector to participate in providing public services.

Source: baochinhphu

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