| The first results of the administrative reform will be announced on April 1 The first stage of administrative reform, or, as the government likes to call it, “reform of reforms,” will end on April 1. On this day, Deputy Prime Minister Boris Aleshin, responsible for its implementation, will present a report to the president. Mr. Aleshin reported to Vladimir Putin yesterday the general principles of what is to be learned in the spring. The President was especially interested in the anti-corruption component. According to him, the unresolved problems in this area are “one of the main reasons that create the basis for corruption.”
Boris Aleshin told the president that the government commission on administrative reform analyzed four out of five thousand functions of government agencies. In the process of this titanic work, more than 800 functions were recognized as redundant, 350 as duplicating, and more than 500 required reduction in the scope of execution. However, it is incorrect to believe that all this time the commission was engaged in only a mechanical study of the regulations on ministries. During the analysis of functions, the Deputy Prime Minister said, “qualitative features that required transformation were identified.”
These “transformations” are primarily aimed at the interests of small and medium-sized businesses. However, in order to put them into practice, the interests of very influential structures will have to be affected. Thus, according to Mr. Aleshin, in the activities of control and supervisory authorities, in particular the Ministry of Internal Affairs, many actions of a non-procedural nature have been identified. “Any inspector can come to an entrepreneur and demand any documents,” Mr. Aleshin complained.
There is another problem. According to Mr. Aleshin, “those regulators to which we are so accustomed turned out to be ineffective.” As an example, he cited the facts of the operation of mines after the order to close them, which led to human casualties. To change the situation, the commission came up with the idea of creating “judicial rapid response units.” Unfortunately, Mr. Aleshin did not develop this idea further, so for now we can only guess what this organ might look like.
But business support doesn’t end there. As part of the reform, government agencies will have to “take a different look at the functions of supporting national industry abroad, which is what the governments of many countries do.” Also, according to Mr. Aleshin, it is necessary to abandon the current “exhausting licensing system.” A large number of licenses can be abandoned altogether, but for the remaining types, much stricter property liability can be introduced. Some functions, including technical inventory, sanitary and epidemiological issues, vehicle inspection, tasks related to registration, assessment, certification, should be performed by business and not be considered government functions, the Deputy Prime Minister said.
But this is just the beginning. Following the first stage of administrative reform, the second will begin. “We will move to a clearer and clearer management system, all functions will be thought out and included in the relevant provisions, measures of responsibility for officials at all levels will be defined and regulated,” Mr. Aleshin promised the head of state. Vera SITNINA |
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