Progress of the Burocracia Cero initiative

Despite being defined as the organizational system in charge of managing state affairs, following a set of procedures or rules, bureaucracy has been -since the beginning of our republican life- the evil that has opened the doors to our worst social problems, for example: corruption.

Bureaucracy, without any doubt, has been -for decades- the ideal excuse to delay processes, to violate rights and to hurt the citizen through the apathetic behavior of those who occupy public functions of lower or higher rank. Bureaucracy not only delays, but also hinders any attempt at economic growth based on investment for development and, in addition, minimizes us as a country in front of the rest of the community.

Now, it is fair to recognize that the reason to be of bureaucracy is not only in the people who hold one or another public office and who have in their hands the making of certain decisions, but there is an additional element that has kept bureaucracy as a tool used to harm: the excess of rules. Socially we demand that everything is determined by law, because, as citizens we understand that what is not legally regulated, can be subject to chaos and, evidently, time has shown that the more detailed the regulatory regime is, the more processes exist and the more the door is open to bureaucratic obstacles.

Many attempts have been made by the State to increasingly simplify the procedures to which the administered are subjected at the time of interacting with the Public Administration. To this effect, our Constitution of 2010 paved the way for the battle against bureaucracy to begin.

Because of the foregoing, Law No. 107-13, on the Rights of Persons in their Relations with the Administration and Regulatory Procedure, dated August 8, 2013, raises as its main purpose the regularization of the rights and duties of persons in their relations with the Public Administration, emphasizing the definition of measures of administrative modernization, discharge and bureaucratic simplification.

In this sense, Law No. 107-13 dedicated the "Eighth Title" to the administrative simplification and bureaucratic discharge, ordering a series of measures that aim to avoid the multiplicity of documentary management of the people at the time of carrying out any procedure before the Public Administration.

Despite the above, document simplification is not the key to "Burocracia Cero", understood as a fundamental axis of the pro-competitive State conceived in line of action 3.3.1.1 of the National Development Strategy, which seeks to reduce costs, procedures and transaction and authorization times, eliminating the duplication of institutions and functions, through the coordination of procedures among public institutions at all levels, with a view to a climate of legal certainty.

The above described is -exactly- what is provided for in Decree No. 640-20, issued on November 11, 2020, through which the Efficient Government Program was created, under the Ministry of Public Administration (MAP), with the support of the Government Office of Information and Communication Technology (OGTIC) and the National Competitiveness Council (CNC), with a view to promote the efficiency of the Public Administration.

For the implementation of this program, priority was given to those public institutions with the highest demand for services, the greatest impact and regulatory burden, which, of course, have a negative impact on citizens and businesses. To this effect, MAP’s initial idea was to intervene in at least 60 procedures to simplify them for the benefit of users, thus improving the quality of public services, facilitating and speeding up the issuance of permits, licenses and authorizations issued by the Public Administration.

The tools proposed by the MAP included the analysis of current regulations, the simplification of procedures, as well as the automation and creation of single windows. All this with the intention, on a large scale, of improving the business and investment climate in the Dominican Republic, trying to reduce the time required for procedures, the activities required to obtain administrative acts, as well as the documents requested by the Public Administration for each stage.

Progress has not been slow in coming. At the end of 2020, the President of the Republic submitted to the National Congress a bill on regulatory improvement and simplification of procedures, through which public policies aimed at administrative simplification or "Burocracia Cero" are to be implemented.

Likewise, last July 2022, the Presidency of the Republic announced the collaboration of a team of specialists from the World Bank who, together with the MAP, would be identifying areas of cooperation for the Burocracia Cero program, in connection with the consultancy requested to that international organization by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs to improve the procedures corresponding to the free zones regime.

The evident results will have to wait for the consensus of the legislators, however, there is a manifest political will to achieve the bureaucratic discharge in the Dominican Republic. This will translate into growth and development in all areas, since, in this way, we would open our doors -with ease- to safe investment, both local and foreign, as well as to re-launch our country as the most attractive, relevant and balanced island space for the management of capital.

Rita Pilar Soriano
Senior Attorney and Administrative Law Director
Estrella & Tupete, Abogados