THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it is fast-tracking the drafting of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the newly signed Ease of Doing Business law and has a 90-day timeline for its approval.
“The future gameplan calls for the immediate organization of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA). I direct the DTI Competitiveness Bureau, which is the Temporary Secretariat of the ARTA, to ensure that the implementing rules and regulations are approved within 90 working days,” Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said during the 6th Ease of Doing Business Summit (EODB) Wednesday in Pasay City.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed on May 28 the Ease of Doing Business law which mandates all government agencies, including local government units, to slash processing time for business permits and official documents.
The law requires that government agencies, including local government units, slash processing time for business permits and other official documents.
The implementation of the law is also part of the government’s push in improving its ranking in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Ranking wherein the country plunged 14 notches to 113th among 190 countries surveyed in the 2018 report.
The DTI hopes that the signing of the law will be factored into this year’s rankings.
“I don’t know if the passage of the law will be credited, but it just made the cutoff. But again it will all depend on the reforms being felt,” Mr. Lopez added.
Mr. Lopez said the government has passed a total of 19 reforms across all 10 indicators measured by the report of the World Bank — International Finance Corp.
These reforms resulted in a reduction in the number of procedures, processing time, cost, payments, and documentary requirements. Some have also helped improve access to information, or promoted transparency and improved governance.
“If we expect a better ranking that will come out in 2019 the surveys that are taking place or have taken place in the first half of the year should have been felt already by the respondents,” Mr. Lopez said. — Janina C. Lim
