The Anti Red Tape Authority (ARTA) is launching two digital platforms that will require all government agencies to upload their regulations online and map out their compliance to requirements on heightened efforts at further reducing bureaucratic red tape alongside with its move in forging a series of agreements with local and foreign business chambers to further push for ease of doing business in the country.

ARTA Director General Ernesto V. Perez told the press at the opening Wednesday, Nov. 29, of the three-day ARTA 2023 Ease of Doing Business Convention, that the Anti-Red Tape Electronic Management Information System (ARTEMIS) and Philippine Business Regulations Information System (PBRIS) will strengthen will boost the government’s fight against bureaucratic red tape.

The PBRIS is in line with Republic Act 11032, also known as the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Law, to ensure the transparent dissemination of information and public access related to the Philippine regulatory management systems (RMS) and the changes in laws and regulations affecting stakeholders.

PBRIS gives the public, government agencies and private stakeholders access to proposed and existing government regulations to avoid overlapping and conflicting regulations.

It also serves as an integral component of the National Policy on Regulatory Management System (NPRMS) to work towards bolstering the Philippine government’s capacity to formulate, coordinate, implement, and assess regulations. The NPRMS and PBRIS are part of ARTA’s commitment to continuously enhance the quality and coherence of government regulations while reducing associated burdens and costs.

Perez explained that only government regulations that passed the regulatory impact assessment and public consultation should be uploaded in PEBRIS.

Meanwhile, ARTEMIS is a web-based platform that houses all government services. ARTEMIS harmonizes the submission, evaluation, and monitoring of Citizen’s Charter (CC), a list of requirements of each government agency for the transacting public, for improved efficiency.

This initiative seeks to expedite both CC submission and evaluation, ultimately establishing a real-time, on-demand database and mapping system for all government agencies. Government agencies are rated according to their scores in terms of public service.

Already, four frontline government agencies including Social Security System, and Water Board, are already onboard in the PBRIS.

Perez said they are looking at onboarding over 300 government agencies in one year, out of the 10,000.

Both platforms, which are funded by the USAID and offered free of charge to all government agencies, have also a functionality where the public with questions or complaints against a particular agency or their regulations can use to file their issue.

In addition, ARTA has started signing a series of memorandum of agreement with local and foreign business chambers to make them champions for their respective businesses in the fight to eliminate bureaucratic red tape.

At the opening of the convention, ARTA signed the MOU with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, German-Philippines Chamber of Commerce Inc., and Nordic Chamber of Commerce. Earlier, ARTA also signed MOUs with the Korean and Malaysian business chambers. To follow are the US, Australia and Canada.

“When government agencies, the private sector, and foreign counterparts converge, they form a powerful force capable of addressing shared challenges and driving collective progress,” he said.