RMC No. 9-2021: Circularizes Administrative Order No. 23 titled “Eliminating Overregulation to Promote Efficiency of Government Processes”

Key points

1. Removal of excess processes. Covered agencies keep only the steps, procedures and requirements needed for their legal mandates and policy objectives. Redundant or burdensome processes count as overregulation and are to be removed.
2. Scope of the review. All of an agency’s processes for its services are scrutinized, old and new. Rules so tedious that a socially beneficial activity becomes impossible or extremely difficult are especially targeted.
3. Monitoring by ARTA. The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), with the Anti-Red Tape Unit of each covered agency, monitors compliance under RA No. 9485, as amended.
4. Compliance Report. Agencies give ARTA, copy furnished the Office of the President, a report on how their Citizen’s Charters conform with RA No. 9485. It lists the regulations per service, the steps, requirements and processing times, the legal basis for each, and the charter provisions on Sections 5, 7 and 9 of that law.
5. Energy-related projects. Processes for energy-related projects must follow the timeliness set by RA No. 11234. ARTA reviews those reports with the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop Steering Committee.
6. ARTA findings and non-compliance. ARTA reports its findings and recommendations to the Office of the President within six (6) months from the reports’ submission deadline. Failure to comply leads to administrative cases under the Civil Service Commission Rules.

Who is affected

• National government agencies covered by Section 3 of RA No. 9485, as amended

Deadlines and effectivity

• Compliance Report: within sixty (60) working days from effectivity of the Order
• ARTA findings: within six (6) months from the report deadline