New e-Government services make it easier to do business and reduce regulatory requirements
By AmChamPublished On 15/06/2021
E-Government has recently taken centre stage. This topical issue is important for both businesses and the day-to-day lives of the general public. Public administration services currently available online, as well as those expected to be introduced shortly, were presented by Svetlana Jovanović, Senior Advisor for Information Technology and E-Government in the Office of the Prime Minister, and Dragan Pušara, who heads the inspections reform team on a project implemented by the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED) with support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Serbian Ministry of Public Administration and Local Government. The panel was moderated by Marko Jovanović, Senior Regulatory Affairs Manager at AmCham Serbia.
The first topic was the e-bolovanje (‘e-Sick Leave’) service, which allows online registration of employee medical leave. The objective is to ensure general practitioners, employers, and the National Health Insurance Fund are able to communicate online. Once the planned amendments to the Health Insurance Law have been enacted, this will mean physical medical leave documentation and associated payroll forms will be abandoned, and the Health Insurance Fund will process leave cases using data retrieved from official registers. To be able to use this service, businesses will have to register as e-Government users and open an inbox on the e-Government portal.
The e-konzulat (‘e-Consulate’) system will allow foreign nationals to apply for Category D Serbian visas, whereas e-stranac (‘e-Foreigner’), once fully rolled out, will permit foreign citizens to receive Serbian digital identity certificates, which they will then be able to use to access other e-Government services.
E-Inspektor (‘e-Inspector’) will facilitate co-ordination and automation of inspections services, make oversight more efficient, help standardise practices, and make information available to all inspections services, whilst cutting costs for businesses. This online tool was first introduced in June 2018 and is continuously being extended, upgraded, and integrated with inspection services’ own computer systems.
Video of the roundtable and answers to questions from the audience is available here (in Serbian only).
Official opinions issued by line ministries at AmCham’s initiative that confirm public administration is required to communicate with businesses and the public electronically can be downloaded in Serbian here and here.
