News

Regulation Reform: Justify, then Introduce!

Regulation Reform: Justify, then Introduce!

Key conclusions

The practice of curtailing inspections should be continued at the legislative level

There were a huge number of inspections, and although about 1.5 million regulations were cancelled, our work continues. The reform is ongoing. Now we are looking at law enforcement in the regions, because the law affects all agencies. This is a new system of science,” Mikhail Romanov, First Deputy Chairman, Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on the Control.

"Supervision and oversight reform has been going on for the last few years, and during this time it has gone through several stages of development. In 2019, [there were  Ed.] 1.5 million inspections, but there were half as many by the end of 2021. This is a huge improvement, but we would like to see even fewer inspections, and today we need to focus on what else can be done. Maybe we need to work with risks more thoroughly, in a practical way," Andrey Spiridonov, Deputy Director, Regulatory Policy Department of the Government of the Russian Federation.

PROBLEMS

The large number of requirements and their interpretation

“There is a law on mandatory requirements that was approved and came into force in 2020, and the history of mandatory requirements is complicated. Businesses often say that the requirements are not clear, they are not sure how to apply them, and in general what to do. There are many documents that provide clarifications on these requirements,” Konstantin Nikitin, Vice President of the Center for Strategic Research Foundation.

"We do not know yet how to accurately calculate the cost of each mandatory requirement. I think that if we can better understand their effects, learn how to count them, the [regulatory.  Ed.] guillotine itself will probably work more effectively. As for the clarifications, we should try as hard as possible to articulate the requirements in such a way that we do not have to provide clarifications at a later date. And there is a moment of big challenge <...> We need to look at the number of clarifications we have today and find a way to reduce them, as it is very hard for businesses to work under such conditions," Vyacheslav Vitushkin, Chief of Staff, The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation.

SOLUTIONS

Preventive control and dialogue with business

“Regarding preventive visits, [Article 52. Preventive visit of the Federal Law on State Control (Oversight) and Municipal Control in the Russian Federation.  Ed.] these will not be performed by government agencies but by other entities. There are a large number of businesses who are more than willing to abide by the rules of conduct, but they simply don't understand them. They have no serious intent [to violate them  Ed.]; they are willing to comply with them, but under certain conditions. They lack the knowledge and resources, and prevention should be directed precisely at these businesses,” Vyacheslav Vitushkin, Chief of Staff, The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation.

"We conducted surveys and asked whether prevention visits were beneficial, and we received positive responses. <...> Now we see that state authorities are also starting to use this tool,” Alexander Vdovin, Director of the Department of State Policy in the Field of Licensing, Supervisory Activities, Accreditation and Self-Regulation, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

Integration of digital technologies

“We want to harness digital technologies. We have already implemented an automated monitoring system, and all violations that are identified are reported to the supervisory bodies. This system is now used for land and building inspections, and in other industries. There are over two thousand cameras in the surveillance system. As for oversight of landscaping we use computer vision to detect violations at the venues. With these technologies we can apply special oversight mechanisms and receive a constant flow of information from the facilities that we are monitoring,” Elena Klimenko, Deputy Head, Main Control Department of the City of Moscow.

For more information, go to the Roscongress Information and Analytical System roscongress.org.

Share: