II Quarterly report: Beacon of regulatory reform
In the latest publication, NALED Executive Office provides a reflection and critical review of the most significant regulations adopted in the second quarter of 2020. This period was marked by limited regulatory activities, bearing in mind the emergency situation due to COVID-19 pandemic, and the parliamentary elections that were held on the national, provincial and local level. Even though the overall impression is that there were more regulations in preparation than those adopted, the new or amended regulations have brought about some signfiicant novelties.
The eGovernment Development Program for 2020 – 2022 with Action plan stipulates the introduction of 300 new electronic services for citizens and businesses which are to be developed in the following two years. In the field of property issues, parties no longer have to physically visit the RGA counters, as they can complete all tasks related to property transfer at public notary office, being governed by the Decree on the conditions for issuing excerpts for real estate certificate and utility lines certificate. Amendments to the Decree on the award of incentives for agriculture and rural development in 2020 have reduced the initially planned amount of incentives due to the need to reallocate budget funds to post-COVID-19 measures. In the field of healthcare, export ban for medications has been lifted, which was highlighted for reconsideration by NALED on several occasions, proposing the introduction of a transparent mechanism for issuing medication export permits, primarily in the region. Finally, the Decree governing the plan for reducing the packaging waste for 2020-2024 stipulates an increased recycling rate, so that 60% of the annual amount of packaging waste is recycled by the end of 2024.
When it comes to Grey Book recommendations, the enforcement of the Law on Public Procurement starting from 1 July 2020 resolved the recommendation for establishing electronic public procurement procedures. All future procurement processes will have to follow an entirely electronic form, through a new Public Procurement Portal, meaning that all participants will have access to all information at a single click. The Law has partially resolved the recommendation ensuring that the lowest price is not the only evaluated criteria in public procurement procedures for certain areas, by introducing an additional criterion of ‘’price vs. quality’’. Unofrtunately, both quarters missed the opportunity to enable gradual integration of the public and private healthcare sectors, which was one of key recommendations of NALED's Grey Book of Healthcare, particularly in light of limited capacities of public health institutions during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Read more about the regulatory novelties from the second quarter of 2020 in the latest Quarterly report on regulatory reform status (in Serbian) prepared by NALED Executive Office.
