BELGRADE, October 20, 2006—Serbia will further improve efficiency and the transparency of regulations and its legislative process to boost growth, employment and the standard of living of its citizens.. This will be supported by a new project, worth 2.8 million US dollars that will be financed largely by the Swedish International Development Agency and implemented by the World Bank and Government of Serbia. Serbia was among the top reforming countries two years in a row according to the World Bank Doing Business Report. Reforms noted in the Doing Business Report improved substantially business and investment climate in the country. At the same time two other World Bank studies (the Investment Climate Assessment Report and FIAS Administrative Barriers Study) show that regulatory burden is one of the key constraints to long-run growth and competitiveness in Serbia. Building on the momentum of the earlier reforms, the Government of Serbia wants to take the reforms further with this new project. The essence of the project – known as Regulatory Reform in Serbia: Regulatory Impact Analysis – Improvement of efficiency and transparency in legislative process – is to build capacity for better regulation in Serbia. What is Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA)? It is a method used by most OECD and increasingly non-OECD countries to assess the impact of regulations and administrative procedures before they are adopted and implemented. Recent studies have shown that excessive regulations and administrative procedures can lead to lower investment and innovation, corruption, and reduced income and economic growth. The RIA method helps reduce unnecessary burdens on consumers and businesses, especially small businesses. It also strengthens consultation channels between the public, private sector and government, providing greater opportunities for public and private sector input into the regulation and policy-making process. RIA helps improve the quality of governance, enhance openness and participation, ensure adequate consideration of both social and economic objectives and will foster Serbia’s integration into EU. The first case of RIA application in Serbia was the business registration reform. While a RIA is required now for all new regulations and legislation in Serbia, there is very limited capacity in the government to undertake high quality RIA. Therefore, improved capacity of the Council for Regulatory Reform and other government agencies in regulatory impact analysis is crucial for better regulation, and the Government of Serbia views the implementation of this capacity building project as a top priority. The project will be implemented through six components:
1. Preparation of the Regulatory Reform Strategy to be adopted by the Government
2. Strengthening the capacity of the Council for Regulatory Reform and its Secretariat to take the new role of coordination and provision of quality control of RIA
3. Capacity building and RIA training program
4. Performing detailed RIA on 8 draft laws (at least two per year)
5. Preparation and publishing of an operational manual for government officials on preparation of the RIA
6. Establishment and management of RIA Web Portal The Regulatory Reform Strategy will consider the application of some of the international best-practice approaches like:
a) the “regulatory guillotine” (a technique that can speed up the process of reviewing, eliminating, and streamlining unnecessary regulations by creating a central regulatory registry with positive security)
b) “delegislation” (a mechanism by which a primary law is downgraded to a secondary level regulation such that Parliament’s approval is no longer required)
c) “simplification” (the Government sets up an annual simplification plan with a list of administrative procedures to be streamlined through the annual simplification bill, presented by the Government and enacted by the Parliament)
d) “codification” ( a mechanism that empowers the Government to create consolidated texts of laws that substitute all previous regulations, deregulate a specific subject, and harmonize and simplify procedures in specific sectors)
e) “silence is consent” approach (when administrative offices do not respond to the businesses’ or citizens’ requests a permission is automatically granted) During the implementation of the project all interested parties – from consumers, private businesses, parliamentarians to civil society organizations – will be involved. It is expected that the implementation of this important project will help Serbia to improve its investment climate and competitiveness. For more information on the World Bank activities in Serbia go to: www.worldbank.org.yu
|
RSS