The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) has called on government agencies to follow the lead of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in reforming business processing.
ARTA Secretary Jeremiah Belgica lauded the two agencies and urged others to follow its lead.
"We are calling on all other agencies with business registrations in government to follow the SEC's example to no longer require notarization in application," he said in a statement.
In a separate statement, ARTA said the SEC did away with the mandatory requirement for notarizing the Articles of Incorporation for company registration.
In a memorandum dated April 29, 2020, the SEC said those who wish to register new businesses can authenticate their Articles of Incorporation with a form provided by the Commission before submission instead of notarizing it.
SEC Memorandum Circular No. 16, Series of 2020 or the Guidelines on Authentication of Articles of Incorporation in Applications for Registration of New Domestic Corporations became effective on 30 April 2020.
"Bolstering ease of doing business in the Philippines, particularly with respect to starting new corporate business, will be beneficial to the economy and may improve the business climate in the country," the memorandum circular read.
Meanwhile, ARTA welcomed the move of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to allow new business registrants to opt for BIR-printed receipts and invoices at the time of registration.
Based on Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 117-2019 that took effect on November 6, 2019, the reform allows "new business taxpayers to immediately start its business operations while waiting for the printing of delivery of its receipts/invoices by the BIR-accredited printers."
Before this development, those who wished to register their new businesses had to secure an Authority to Print principal receipts/invoices before they could print their own receipts and invoices.
Belgica said these reforms are seen to improve the Philippines' score in the World Bank's upcoming Ease of Doing Business (EODB) 2021 survey.
Last year, the country scored 62.8, placing 95th out of 190 countries, an improvement from its 57.68 score and 124th rank in 2019.