13 services and 16 registers should be made available online now, – EBA

06/ 04/ 2020

The situation with the coronavirus in the country has once again demonstrated the importance of establishing electronic communication with the state so that, in case of emergency, both business and the state could continue their work. According to the express survey of the European Business Association, a third of companies (35%) have already transferred 75-90% of their employees to remote work, 22% of respondents said that all their employees work remotely, only 1% of respondents did not transfer workers to remote work, and the remaining respondents have 50% or fewer employees working online. Therefore, given the pandemic, the business suggests the state switching to the online mode to provide services wherever possible. Svitlana Mykhailovska. EBA Deputy Director for Advocacy. At this time, we are getting requests from companies about authorities refusing to issue permits as it is classified as providing an administrative service. The life makes us put words into action and finally implement A State in a Smartphone concept, where we can distinguish two aspects - services and registers/open data. As of today, 13 services and 16 registers need to be digitalized. Although those numbers should be certainly much higher and, in the future, we hope that most of the services provided by the state will be available electronically. At the same time, it is also important for public authorities to switch to electronic document flow in order to modernize communication and efficiently monitor the requests processing. In addition, the business needs a communication channel / hotline to make appeals and get prompt clarification, as there are many restrictive measures and it is not always clear how to interpret them correctly. The business proposes to consider 13 initiatives as potential online services. These involve the application of BankID and MobileID to accelerate the registration and the use of government services, to provide administrative licensing services in electronic format, and the possibility to pay for government administrative services remotely with all available payment tools and forms. Besides, other initiatives are the submission of electronic reports to government authorities using the electronic digital signature, online filing of documents in the Single Window without the participation of the customs broker and the customs declaration without a special paid program, the upgrade of the e-cabinet at the customs, the possibility of issuing guarantee coupons for household appliances and electronics digitally. At the same time, the list of more specialized issues includes the online filing of application for payment of excise tax stamps, introduction of electronic prescriptions for the treatment of animals, the possibility of online registration of international phytosanitary certificates, online documentation for the registration of ships arriving and leaving the port, establishment of applicants e-cabinet that show all stages of clinical trials approval, etc. In the context of registers, the following is to be considered: - Opening access to the register of issued permits for international road cargo transportation; - Making information on licenses for the wholesale and retail sale of alcohol drinks and licenses for manufacturers and importers of alcohol drinks available online; - Digitalizing the circulation of warehouse documents on grain; - Creating a register of animals, both domestic and agricultural (for example, to control the spread of infections); - Introducing a national electronic register of felling licenses and a national system of electronic records, to be mandatorily kept by all permanent forest users; - Ensuring the proper operation of a single database of the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the State Service on Medicine and Drugs Control; - Establishing a single database of medicine in the Ukrainian market, also with a view to fight the gray imports; - Implementing fully the register of disability certificates; - Creating a register of food additives, food enzymes, flavors, etc. For its part, the European Business Association has already shared its proposals with the CMU and is ready to provide comments on their development, as the process of optimization and digitalization of services is one of the aspects that will foster business activities, especially at a time when almost the whole country works remotely.

According to the express survey of the European Business Association, a third of companies (35%) have already transferred 75-90% of their employees to remote work, 22% of respondents said that all their employees work remotely, only 1% of respondents did not transfer workers to remote work, and the remaining respondents have 50% or fewer employees working online.

Therefore, given the pandemic, the business suggests the state switching to the online mode to provide services wherever possible.

Svitlana Mykhailovska EBA Deputy Director for Advocacy

At this time, we are getting requests from companies about authorities refusing to issue permits as it is classified as providing an administrative service. The life makes us put words into action and finally implement "A State in a Smartphone" concept, where we can distinguish two aspects - services and registers/open data. As of today, 13 services and 16 registers need to be digitalized. Although those numbers should be certainly much higher and, in the future, we hope that most of the services provided by the state will be available electronically. At the same time, it is also important for public authorities to switch to electronic document flow in order to modernize communication and efficiently monitor the requests processing. In addition, the business needs a communication channel / hotline to make appeals and get prompt clarification, as there are many restrictive measures and it is not always clear how to interpret them correctly.

The business proposes to consider 13 initiatives as potential online services. These involve the application of BankID and MobileID to accelerate the registration and the use of government services, to provide administrative licensing services in electronic format, and the possibility to pay for government administrative services remotely with all available payment tools and forms. Besides, other initiatives are the submission of electronic reports to government authorities using the electronic digital signature, online filing of documents in the “Single Window” without the participation of the customs broker and the customs declaration without a special paid program, the upgrade of the e-cabinet at the customs, the possibility of issuing guarantee coupons for household appliances and electronics digitally.

At the same time, the list of more specialized issues includes the online filing of application for payment of excise tax stamps, introduction of electronic prescriptions for the treatment of animals, the possibility of online registration of international phytosanitary certificates, online documentation for the registration of ships arriving and leaving the port, establishment of applicants’ e-cabinet that show all stages of clinical trials approval, etc.

In the context of registers, the following is to be considered:

– Opening access to the register of issued permits for international road cargo transportation;

– Making information on licenses for the wholesale and retail sale of alcohol drinks and licenses for manufacturers and importers of alcohol drinks available online;

– Digitalizing the circulation of warehouse documents on grain;

– Creating a register of animals, both domestic and agricultural (for example, to control the spread of infections);

– Introducing a national electronic register of felling licenses and a national system of electronic records, to be mandatorily kept by all permanent forest users;

– Ensuring the proper operation of a single database of the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the State Service on Medicine and Drugs Control;

– Establishing a single database of medicine in the Ukrainian market, also with a view to fight the gray imports;

– Implementing fully the register of disability certificates;

– Creating a register of food additives, food enzymes, flavors, etc.

For its part, the European Business Association has already shared its proposals with the CMU and is ready to provide comments on their development, as the process of optimization and digitalization of services is one of the aspects that will foster business activities, especially at a time when almost the whole country works remotely.