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Staatssekretariat für WirtschaftSecrétariat d‘Etat à l‘économieSegretariato di Stato dell'economiaState Secretariat for Economic Affairs

Site Autorisations

Simplifying licences and permits:

Inventory and evaluation

Anne de Chambrier

State Secretariat for Economic Affairs,

Switzerland

Cairo, 21.06.2007OCDE, High level regional seminar on « Administrative Simplification »


An effort with two aims !

Inventory

« Licences and permits »

Administrative simplificationE-government


Plan

I INVENTORY in 1998 « all permits by national laws»Definition Goal and steps

Internet site Advantages and disadvantagesExperiences with federal and cantonal offices

II EVALUATION in 2005Government mandateResults


Five types of state interventions

E) Exception: limited quantity/ e.g. due to market failure or

political choice

A) Authorization: unlimited quantity/ preserving a level of

quality and security

N) Notification duty: same as A, but with no waiting period

(silence is consent)

P) Prescriptions: legal standards to be respected / control

afterwards

I ) Information duty: making information available

(e.g.: quality label)


Definition

Authorization procedure

« Mandatory submission to an authority generally related to an economic activity requiring explicit or implicit approval by the said authority»

Exception: concession, licence, quota, exceptional authorization, numerus clausus

Authorization: authorization to practice, permit, patent, certificate

Notification duty : registration


Inventory 1998-2004

Basic goal

Reducing administrative paperwork for companies (request made by the Swiss Parliament)

Procedure • Inventory => contact with 34 federal offices out of 50

=> contact with several cantons => first analysis and some 40 measures

• Creation of the Internet site (by-product)


Situation in 2005

All licences and permits (federal legislation)

1. 345 permits at the federal level

2. 160 permits at the cantonal level

3. Cantonal permits carried out at the cantonal level

=> 2005 report «Authorizations: Present situation and trends 1998-

2004»


Permits: view by main sectors

010203040506070

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Internet site: background

2000 (creation)

2003 1st content update; site development: links on a legal basis and through forms

2004 Increase of 160 permits by the cantonsnew concept and design:http://autorisations.pmeinfo.ch

2005 2nd update; 2005 report


Site: Advantages / Disadvantages

User

+ Portal « licences and permits » (by key word)

• Information level: around 10-15 fields • Communication level: contact tel. / e-mail / web site

• transaction level: online forms (30%)

- Risk of obsolete information

Administration+ Ease of evaluation and international comparisons + Direct access for updates possible (by office/by canton)

- Regular updates necessary (1-2 years)- SECO depends of the offices for the content of the files…


Experience with federal offices

34 offices involved

What works well today:

• Regular updates• The procedure is known and appreciated

More difficult: • Identifying new authorizations • Evaluating the usefulness of the authorization• Justifying the role of SECO by the federal offices


Experiences with the cantons

26 cantons

• 2 cantons have not provided information • Minimal information on cantonal files (law/contact)

• Differences in application (according to the cantons)

Examples of cantonal sitesZurich: http://www.bewilligungen.zh.ch (one-stop shop for permits)http://www.workpermits.zh.ch (site for work-permits)Vaud : http://www.camac.vd.ch/ (site for building authorizations)





EVALUATION of licenses & permits

Following the 2005 report,

The Government decided in 2005 to:

=> Eliminate 20% of the authorizations


Evaluation: method

1st stage: postulate: Eliminate all authorizations that have been granted less than 50 times a year

3 questions: 1) If so, way to follow

2) If not, justification according to criterias

3) If >50x/year, can the procedure be improved?

2nd stage: Detailed analysis of all the most frequent

authorizations (<5,000/year) through SECO


Evaluation: Question 2

Criterias justifying the continuation of the authorization:

Multiple choices :

1 (44%) public interest (insufficient subsequent control)

2 (31%) granting of a specific right

3 (10%) legitimization before a heavy investment

4 (17%) exemption from a measure/ban

5 (10%) possibility to appeal/opposition by a third party

6 (33%) easier legal action in case of an offence

7 ( 9%) confirmation of an administrative law

8 (30%) demands of international law

9 (24%) others


Evaluation: Question 3

Criteria for improving authorizations:

1 Speeding up procedures

2 Co-ordinating procedures

3 Optimisation of legal measures

4 Easing procedures (e.g : E => A => N => P => I) )

5 Use of ICT / NPM (customer orientation)


Permits at the federal level

0

10

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30

40

50

60

70

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to be removedto remainwith international obligations


Permits at the cantonal level

0

10

20

30

40

50

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to be removedto remainwith international obligations


Evaluation: result

Result in 2006:

15% of licences and permits

were eliminated or simplified!


An effort with two aims !

Inventory

« licences and permits »

- Transparency, free of charge, information 24h a day

- On-line forms

- Ease of international comparisons

- Reduce the administrative load on companies- promote the free market economy- Simplify tasks inside the federal administration

Administrative simplificationE-government


Challenge

Propose « one-stop shops where each provider can complete all administrative procedures relating to his activity, in particular authorizations by electronic means».

(conforms to Art. 6 of the project of the EU directive on services)


Thank you for your attention !

Staatssekretariat für WirtschaftSecrétariat d‘Etat à l‘économieSegretariato di Stato dell'economiaState Secretariat for Economic Affairs Administrative simplification :

useful links

Site des autorisations : http://autorisations.pmeinfo.ch

Mesures d’allègement administratif : http://www.evd.admin.ch/themen/00129/00419/index.html?lang=fr#sprungmarke1_20

Questionnaire et article «Évaluation des autorisations 2006»:

http://www.seco.admin.ch/themen/00374/00459/00461/index.html?lang=fr

Publication SECO (autorisations 2005-06 / professions réglementées):

http://www.seco.admin.ch/dokumentation/publikation/00004/00018/index.html?lang=fr -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Portail suisse E-gov et Guichet créateur (pour fonder entreprise online) :

http://www.ch.ch et http://www.pmeadmin.ch

La stratégie E-gov en Suisse (avec lien sur Evanti.ch) : http://www.isb.admin.ch/intranet/egovernment/index.html?lang=fr

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