Source: Correio Braziliense - DF - ECONOMY - 13/08/2009

Government allows citizens to present a series of documents when requesting services from public agencies. Information will be shared by the entire administration electronically. Part of the paperwork required to request a CPF, a work card, to arrange a medical examination at the National Social Security Institute (INSS) or to withdraw a passport will no longer be required by federal public agencies. A decree published yesterday in the Official Gazette of the Union simplifies the service to citizens, inverting the logic of distrust and forcing service providers to put on paper what they do and how long they are able to accomplish the task. The new law is an attempt to make the machine more agile.

The bureaucratization package provides for the federal executive branch to share information. According to the decree, documents that prove regularity, such as certificates and certificates, that have already been presented or that are part of the government database, must be requested among the entities or public bodies. In certain cases, certified copies and versions obtained by electronic means will be worth as much as the originals themselves.

Most of the rules are effective immediately, but others only after one year. Regardless of the deadlines, all public agents are already obliged to formulate their own management strategies aimed at fully complying with the decree. “We expect an improvement in the government's internal communication,” says Marcelo Viana, secretary of management at the Ministry of Planning. According to him, the law is an important step, but it does not solve everything. "As experts say, bureaucracy is like weed: you have to remove it every day," he adds.

Written goals

Another innovation incorporated by the decree is the “Charter of Services to the Citizen”. This tool will allow society to not only inspect, but also demand improvements in service. Each body will have to draw up and disseminate a list of commandments. “This concept has existed for many years in other countries,” explains Bruno Palvarini, director of the Department of Management Programs at the Ministry of Planning.

In this public commitment, the service provider will inform how and how it intends to serve society. The letter will detail what the day's priorities are and how long the person will have to wait in line. If he is dissatisfied with the result, the citizen will have the means to complain.