More government agencies eye repeal of outdated rules

MANILA, Philippines - More government agencies are recognizing the need to repeal or amend outdated regulations in their respective organizations affecting the ease of doing business in the country, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said.

NCC co-chairman Bill Luz said a number of agencies have joined in the NCC’s crusade to clean up regulations and legislation deemed burdensome and irrelevant to the economy since the program, known as Project Repeal, was launched in June.

“There are many agencies coming in and there’s more and more agencies that are showing interest. We’ve almost doubled the number of agencies, which is good, because that means they’re reviewing and seeing what to clean up,” Luz said.

Project Repeal started with the NCC and the Departments of Trade and Industry, Finance, Energy, Budget and Management, Tourism, Securities and Exchange Commission and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) in their commitment to reduce the regulatory costs by repealing or amending unnecessary, costly and out-dated rules in their respective agencies.

“It started with eight and now I think we’ve doubled the number. Now we’re 16.  The new ones are the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Customs is coming in, MARINA which is part of the Department of Transportation is coming in. More and more of the attached agencies of the Transport department are beginning to come in,” Luz said.

“This is good because this means they recognize they are overburdening individuals and entrepreneurs with so many rules and regulations that even the agencies themselves recognize that cleaning up is good for the entrepreneurs and is good for the agency as well,” he said.

From the initial participating agencies, the NCC has gathered17,388 laws and issuances for review by the Project Repeal technical working committee.

Project Repeal was patterned after similar initiatives in Australia, South Korea, UK and Vietnam

The program is aimed to reduce the cost of compliance for business as well as generate savings for the citizens.