Plan de simplificación administrativa 25-29 reducirá la burocracia en Rioja y el sector público.

The Government Council approved the administrative simplification plan, quality of regulations, and open market for Rioja for the period 2025-2029, which is set up «as an ambitious strategic tool to strengthen economic growth, establish sustainable and resilient foundations for the future, and enhance the quality of life and well-being of citizens.»

All of this, by reducing bureaucratic red tape and making administrative procedures more efficient throughout the government of Rioja and its public sector.

However, «the plan goes far beyond a mere decrease in the number of procedures: it will make Rioja one of the most agile and efficient communities in Spain with higher regulatory quality.»

This was explained by the spokesperson and councilor for finance, public governance, and digital society, Alfonso Domínguez, who emphasized that it is «the greatest effort made by the community in its history.»

«A reform that becomes unpleasant and imperative in a globalized and extremely competitive environment of economic uncertainty and volatility,» which will promote «the proactive action of the Rioja government in adopting measures that foster competitiveness, promote investments, and encourage job creation and economic and social prosperity in the region.»

Domínguez added that this planning «aims to become the overall framework and roadmap for simplifying Rioja’s administration over the next 4 years, establishing the strategic lines and specific measures or actions deemed necessary.»

The challenge is to «design, with the necessary participation of social and business organizations through a working group, a global strategy to transform the culture of the public sector, so that the new organizational and functional principles effectively guide the path of administration, its relationships with society, and its service for the common good.»

In response to this overarching purpose, the councilor detailed the specific objectives that emerge:

– Promoting competitiveness and economic development: administrative and regulatory complexity «can act as a barrier to businesses, especially for SMEs and entrepreneurs. Simplifying procedures and reducing regulatory burden will facilitate business creation and growth, stimulating economic activity, generating employment, and boosting Rioja.»
– Government efficiency and cost reduction: excessive and complex bureaucracy «not only hinders the lives of citizens and businesses but is also a financial burden for the government. By streamlining administrative processes, the operating costs of the public sector will be reduced, freeing up resources that can be allocated to priority areas.»
– Improving the quality of public services: simplification «not only involves reducing the number of procedures but also improving the efficiency and quality of public services. By optimizing internal processes and adopting innovative technologies, the government of Rioja can provide more agile, transparent, and personalized services to citizens, increasing public trust in institutions.»
– Promoting innovation and citizen participation: excessive and sometimes outdated regulations can stifle innovation and creativity in all sectors of society. Simplification, on the other hand, will facilitate collaboration between the administration, the productive sector, and the academic field to promote innovation and develop creative solutions for social, economic, and environmental challenges.

Alfonso Domínguez added that «simplification measures will be addressed from a comprehensive and cross-cutting perspective, designing a global strategy to transform the organizational and operational principles of administration to achieve efficiency and facilitate its relationships with society and service for the common good.»

In this regard, the plan is structured into four strategic lines: administrative organization for simplification, administrative simplification, regulatory quality, and training of public personnel, promotion, and communication to citizens.

Among the main cross-cutting measures, these include: implementing as a preferential administrative intervention regime, responsible declarations and communications to acknowledge a right or power or the start of an activity.

This will allow certain activities to commence without the need for prior authorization, making it easier for citizens to exercise rights or carry out activities, providing greater autonomy to citizens, and reducing administrative burden.

It will also address the general use of communication and responsible declaration to replace licenses and authorizations.

Open market: allowing agents from other autonomous communities to carry out economic activities in La Rioja without additional requirements.

Promoting positive administrative silence to achieve greater administrative efficiency. Promoting immediate response procedures that allow citizens to obtain the necessary document simultaneously.

Promoting the reduction of automatic resolution response times to applications submitted and mitigating administrative work tasks related to automated efforts.

Developing a data model that allows for the development of the citizen folder as a unique data exchange, files, and documents of each person or company; improving personalized and proactive services; allowing individuals and companies to manage their data and avoid being citizens or companies who must submit documentation that the administration already has.

Using clear language, communicating with citizens in a simple manner. Implementing simpler and more usable identity and signature mechanisms.

The development of this new plan is part of a comprehensive modernization and economic development strategy in La Rioja and is aligned with the entrepreneurship promotion plan in Rioja 2024-2027, recently approved. In addition, the new electronic administration platform for the public sector of the government in Rioja will be completed, «which is currently being developed within the GLERA project, to strengthen a simpler, more straightforward, and closer electronic administration that focuses on the citizen with minimal administrative barriers.»

The economic cost of the plan amounts to 3,109,912.36 euros and is determined by the number of digital measures, as the rest of the actions will be carried out by the administration’s own means. For monitoring, a commission will be established with the participation of the Federation of Companies in La Rioja (FER) and the Association of Family Businesses in Rioja (ARF).

This planning will be regulated by Law, a regulatory project that the government in Rioja intends to approve before summer and will be sent to the Parliament in Rioja for full debate among the political groups that make up the Regional Chamber.

FUENTE