The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) said it will assist in the streamlining of processes and requirements and harmonizing the overlapping mandates on importation and exportation in the processed food sector.
ARTA Secretary Ernesto Perez said in a statement this will involve the drafting of a joint administrative order (JAO) with other agencies.
Perez and officials of the Better Regulations Office (BRO) and Compliance Monitoring and Evaluation Office (CMEO) met with Philip Young of the Export Development Council’s (EDC) – Networking Committee on Agri-Policy (NCAP) who brought up the bottlenecks the group’s members have encountered in transacting with concerned agencies.
The EDC- NCAP tapped ARTA’s help in coming up with solutions to ease out these regulatory constraints.
The EDC created by virtue of Republic Act (RA) 7844 or the Export Development Act of 1994, has the mandate to identify bottlenecks affecting the export industry and call the attention of government agencies to attend to these problem areas.
“The concerns and issues raised and brought to ARTA’s attention will be addressed by the Authority’s streamlining programs, as well as its digitalization initiatives in collaboration with the Department of Information and Communications Technology . These are spearheaded by BRO and CMEO, as enabled by the Ease of Doing Business Law,” Perez said.
The BRO will lead the review of relevant regulations to avoid undue burden to the stakeholders. The CMEO will head the monitoring of mandatory compliances of the concerned agencies, in particular, the provision of an updated Citizen’s Charters reflecting an accurate list of requirements and processing times, under RA 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
Perez said the eventual integration of the regulatory agencies in the TradeNet to allow a more simplified and end-to-end processing of licenses and permits through a single, online portal. – Irma Isip
