This market is to be cut by half to get rid of middlemen and unnecessary paperwork.
The Government is preparing a new administrative reform. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a Cabinet meeting yesterday that this reform is designed to curb the sway of the bureaucracy and make the work of the bureaucrats more transparent. Most importantly, the reform is meant to change the life of each and every one of us. The times when one had to take on a quest through countless offices to collect dozens of documents will soon become history. Intermediary firms attached to government agencies are banned as of today. To prevent administrative reform being quietly sabotaged, the proposals of the ad hoc commission on administrative reform will be the subject of a fast-track procedure that excludes cumbersome interagency approvals.
At present, obtaining documents from state agencies is often an ordeal. For example, to formalise a gift of property to mother or son with a municipal registration centre, one has to collect 14 certificates, fill questionnaires and various copies. One has to spend weeks in queues to obtain the full complement of documents. Even so, the documents may be rejected on the grounds that the application does not follow the correct form (for example, is written by hand). So one has to go to a "friendly" legal office where they will do everything in an appropriate manner for a fee. These services collect thousands of roubles which never reach the state budget.
Luckily, the government is aware of this. Not sooner had the prime minister opened his mouth at yesterday's Cabinet meeting than it became clear this would mark a new departure.
"We are talking about making the government apparatus more effective, about improving the quality and accessibility of public services and lowering the administrative barriers for entrepreneurial activities," he said, reiterating some of the tasks set by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and himself at the recent United Russia Party congress.
He proceeded to explain the tasks facing those present. Named agencies should immediately start drafting legislation, government decisions and executive orders. Three of the decisions named by Vladimir Putin directly affect the lives of all people.
First, the list of paid services provided by government agencies must be cut by half. Instead of nearly 40 there will be only 19. And it will be a closed list, i.e. no one will be able to add any service rendered for a fee on pain of administrative punishment.
Officials will be forbidden to demand documents from people that are over and above the set of documents required for obtaining a corresponding government service. Violating that norm would also entail administrative punishment, for example, a fine. A draft law to that effect is ready and will be submitted to the State Duma before the end of the week, the prime minister said.
Second, commercial intermediary firms will be expressly forbidden to provide paid services.
"I would like all of you to make a note of this: I ask you to personally verify that this practice is discontinued," the prime minister stressed.
The third part of the reform would make an even greater difference to ordinary people. From 2011, government officials will be banned from demanding any certificates from people twice. In other words, a certificate will be submitted only once, after which all other agencies would gain automatic access to its content. That, of course, would require some preparation and the integration of information systems between all agencies. The law that establishes a uniform procedure for providing state and municipal services may be passed before the end of the year.
Life will also be made easier for the businessmen. Most importantly, the prime minister said, the share of goods subject to certification will drop from 78% to 54%. Instead, businessmen will merely have to declare that their products comply with safety rules. After the government meeting was over, the Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina proposed that unscheduled audits of both large and small public sector enterprises should be agreed with the Prosecutor General's Office.
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The prime minister will restore pension entitlements
Vladimir Putin will attend the second annual Pension Forum, titled Implementation of the New Pension Legislation and Topical Problems of the Development of the Pension System. The Forum will discuss broadening pension rights and eradicating poverty among pensioners, the government's press service says. It will also discuss transition to insurance-based financing of occupational pensions and the development of private pension systems. Enhancing pension entitlements corrects an injustice being done to older people who had earned all or part of their pensions during the Soviet years and whose pension rights were infringed upon in the 1990s. Pensions in Russia will rise dramatically in 2010. The ultimate goal of all these new measures is to bring pensions in Russia up to European standards (to at least 40% of the earnings at retirement). You can read about Putin's address to the Pension Forum in Izvestia tomorrow.
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Electronic privatisation
Under the privatisation programme for 2010, which was approved by the government yesterday, 449 blocks of equity capital in companies limited by shares will be sold, announced Elvira Nabiullina, the Economic Development Minister. The major companies that will see their stakes put up for auction are TsGK-5, Rosgosstrakh, Mosmetrostroi, Iskitintsement and the Taretsky Salt Mine. That will add 17 billion roubles to the government's coffers. Another 1 billion roubles will come from privatisation of small items of government property. Nabiullina stressed that in developing its privatisation plan the Economic Development Ministry sought to get rid of excessive government property, raise additional investments in the companies, make management more effective and transform FGUPs (Federal State Unitary Enterprises) into joint stock companies. "In order to sell such a large number of stakes, some amendments to the legislation are necessary: we will prepare the amendments in the next few months, submit them to the State Duma and hope that they will be passed," Nabiullina said. Discussion is underway on sale of state property by electronic auction.
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What do you make of it?
Yevgeny Gontmakher, chief of the Social Policy Center at the RAS Economics Institute:
"All the things Putin has proposed are the right ones. But how do you change the mentality of low-level bureaucrats ordinary people have to deal with? You cannot attach a supervisor to each one of them. The measures aimed at cutting red tape end up spawning more bureaucracy. In the early 2000s, a "one-stop" procedure of registration of businesses was introduced. But it made no real difference, because the bureaucrats found loopholes. So I believe that along with these sound measures a programme to renew the civil service is to be developed, in particular at the lower level where unqualified people work at present."
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Boris Titov, leader of Delovaya Rossiya:
"Of course, it is good that the number of audits for small enterprises has been reduced. But that is only half of what needs to be done. First, the restriction does not apply to tax inspections and police. Second, when all these unscheduled inspections were forbidden for small businesses, all the audits were shifted to medium-sized businesses. The net result has been, contrary to expectations, an increased pressure on business during the crisis. Today, you have to give a bribe even to obtain a service you are entitled to get free of charge. Things go to absurd lengths. In order to get permission to put your equipment in operation, you must have gas supply, but to get gas supply, the equipment must first be put into operation."
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Dmitry Abzalov, senior expert, Current Political Studies Centre:
"What we see is an attempt to remove intermediary links in the provision of services. This is very important, because today the cost of services increases and money gets washed out of the economy. That money could be invested in production or used to increase the potential of various sectors. Besides, companies are unable to plan their investment programme even two or three years ahead, because they do not know what will happen to the prices, services and the speed of document processing. The market of government services must be transparent. All this would make our economy more attractive for foreign investment. And a relieved burden on the public may boost labour efficiency and consumption, because the time that people now spend in queues could be used to work or to do shopping."
Pavel Aronov