Programme for the simplification of administrative procedures and regulations ‘e-PAPER’ adopted

On 11 July 2019 the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Programme for the Simplification of Administrative Procedures and Regulations ‘e-PAPER’ for 2019-2021.

The Programme is a public policy document which further develops objectives defined by:

• Strategy for Regulatory Reform and Improvement of the Public Policy Management System 2016-2020
• Strategy for Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness 2015-2020
• National Programme for Countering Shadow Economy
• Action Plan for the Implementation of the Government Programme
• Action Plan for the Implementation of the ‘Partnership for Open Government in the Republic of Serbia 2018-2020’ Initiative

The Programme is the first document that boasts a comprehensive and systemic approach to the public administration reform in the domain of more efficient administrative procedures, i.e. higher quality public services provided to the business sector. The reform will result in a systemic simplification of administrative procedures (optimisation and elimination of redundant administrative procedures) as well as the establishment of a Single registry of administrative procedures and other business conditions. In this way the security, transparency, and predictability of the business environment will be improved, the share of total administrative costs in GDP reduced, and the room for corruption narrowed.

Measures set out by the Programme will be enforced in line with the timeline defined by the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Programme which is an integral part of the adopted Programme (Appendix 1). Apart from the Action Plan, the Programme also contains Appendix 2 – Overview of Agreed Recommendations that contains the first group of agreed recommendations for the elimination or optimisation of 592 administrative procedures carried out by 24 bodies and organisations, out of which as many as 100 procedures will be fully digitalised.

Pursuant to provisions of Article 38 of the Law on the Planning System of the Republic of Serbia, the Programme with its accompanying documents is published on the website of the Government and the e-Government portal as well.