After the liberalisations, the Monti government continues "phase two" with the chapter dedicated to simplifications. The new decree was prepared by the Minister of Public Administration, Filippo Patroni Griffi, and arrives today in the Council of Ministers. The latest draft of the provision (63 articles on 44 pages) contains a flood of measures that should make life easier for businesses and citizens, even if the main purpose is naturally to cut costs borne by the administrations. Are approximately 330 the rules cut by the decree, a figure that even rises to 430 thousand if we also consider various provisions and regulations.
Instead, we will have to wait until next week for the decree for tax simplification. The procedures for paying taxes will become less long and stressful, all thanks to a series of interventions that will not cost the State a penny. But for taxpayers, the time savings will soon turn into cold comfort: in the spring the government will exercise the mandate for tax reform, which will give a nightmarish cut to the forest of deductions (there are 720, for a cost of 250 billion a year). The goal is to cut 4 billion this year, 16 in 2013 and another 20 from 2014 onwards. The money saved will go towards reducing the deficit and, if we are optimistic, also income tax rates. If it is not possible to raise cash in this way, yet another increase in VAT is already planned.
Let us now return to the decree which will be examined tomorrow by the CDM. Here are the main changes contained in the draft:
UNIQUE CERTIFICATION FOR COMPANIES
1. Single authorization in environmental matters for small and medium-sized enterprises. To "simplify procedures and reduce burdens for SMEs", the Government is authorized - within six months of the entry into force of the decree - to issue a regulation "aimed at regulating the single environmental authorization and simplifying administrative small and medium-sized enterprises". The single authorization will replace "every act of communication, notification and authorization required by current environmental legislation" and will be "issued by a single subject". The procedure will not involve additional costs for the companies.
2. Single declaration of conformity of heating systems. With a decree of the Ministers of the Environment and Economic Development “the single declaration of conformity model is approved” which must be kept “at the interested party's headquarters and exhibited, at the request of the administration, for the relative checks. The obligation to communicate for the purpose of issuing the certificate of usability by the municipality or in the event of connection to a new supply of gas, electricity or water remains unaffected”.
NATIONAL DATABASE OF PUBLIC CONTRACTS
The "National database of public contracts" will be established within the Authority for the supervision of public contracts for works, services and supplies. The aim is to "promote the reduction of administrative burdens deriving from information obligations and ensure the effectiveness, transparency and real-time control of the administrative action for the allocation of public expenditure in works, services and supplies". From 1 January 2013, the database will contain all the documentation proving possession of the general, technical-organisational and economic-financial requirements in public contracts for works, services and supplies".
MUNICIPAL ONE-STOP COUNTERS
The activation of "databases which can be consulted through the sites of the municipal one-stop shops" is envisaged, through "agreements between Anci, Unioncamere, Regions and the national enterprise portal in one day", so that it is possible "to know at the same time the charges, the prescriptions and advantages for each intervention, initiative and activity in the area”.
AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES
Easier contributions and reliefs for agricultural entrepreneurs, who will no longer have to present the documentation that the public administration already possesses. "In order to simplify and speed up the administrative procedures for the disbursement to those entitled to aid or contributions provided for by the European Union legislation in the context of the Common Agricultural Policy - reads the draft of the decree -, the Agency for the disbursements in agriculture (AGEA), for the acquisition of the necessary information, uses without charges, according to the standard protocols envisaged in the public connectivity system, also the IT databases of the Revenue Agency, INPS and the Chambers of Commerce, Industry , crafts and agriculture”.
DISPOSAL: FASTER CHECKS OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
To speed up the disposal of state real estate assets, within 60 days of the entry into force of the decree, the ministers of cultural heritage and the economy will define "the technical operating methods, including IT ones, suitable for speeding up the procedures for verifying the cultural interest” of the goods to be sold.
TOURIST DESK
The Department for the development and competitiveness of tourism, together with the provincial Chambers of Commerce, promotes the establishment of decentralized tourist desks. Their operation will be “assisted by a centralized database accessible via the telematic network of the chambers of commerce. The decentralized branches must be self-financing and their management can be entrusted to cooperatives”.
PUBLIC COMPETITIONS
The draft decree provides that "applications for participation in selections and competitions for employment in central public administrations" are "sent exclusively electronically". Furthermore, “in cases in which a Community-level discipline has not intervened, the Department of Public Administration will provide for the equalization of educational and professional qualifications, after consultation with the Ministry of Education, University and Research. The equivalence between the relevant academic and service qualifications for the purposes of admission to the competition and for appointment is established with the same procedure”.
BLUE STAMP
From this year, "the obligatory check of the combustion and exhaust devices of motor vehicles and motorcycles is carried out exclusively at the time of the obligatory periodic inspection of the vehicle".
UNIVERSITY: TELEMATICS REVOLUTION
University enrollment procedures will be "carried out exclusively electronically". The Ministry of Education will develop "a single portal, at least in Italian and English, such as to allow enrollment in all universities and the retrieval of all useful data for students to make their choice". From the 2012-2013 academic year, "the recording and recording of the results of the exams, profit and degree, taken by university students" will take place "exclusively by computer".
SCHOOL BUILDING
To guarantee the rationalization of the school real estate assets, "also in order to achieve a structural reduction of current operating expenses", the Cipe, on the proposal of the Minister of Education and in concert with the Minister of Infrastructure, will approve "a National Plan of school building". The objective is to carry out "modernization and recovery interventions of the existing school assets, also for the purposes of making the buildings safe, and the construction and completion of new school buildings, to be carried out with a view to rationalizing and containing current expenses functioning" while "in compliance with energy efficiency criteria".
