Status: 04/15/2023 5:02 p.m
Dealing with authorities at the click of a mouse – digitization should make this easier. But the digital transformation of the administration has been stagnating for years. Sharp criticism is now coming from business.
Leading business associations have sharply criticized a draft law by the traffic light government to digitize public administration. “There is still a lack of a digitization concept that encompasses all administrative levels in the sense of a master plan,” says a key issues paper from four large associations ARD Capital Studio present.
The most important administrative services for companies were already determined “years ago”. The federal government continues to rely on developing “answers to central digitization questions only in the course of the implementation process”, the paper continues. The plan does not even identify priority areas. “It seems incomprehensible why the legislature is not able to name clear priority areas in the law itself after five years of OZG implementation.”
“Germany lags behind”
In their paper, the associations emphasize that a well-functioning public administration is not only important for the citizens, but also for the German economy. With a large number of contacts with the authorities, she is the largest customer of the administration. A functioning digital administration is also an important location factor. In a European comparison, Germany lags behind.
The Online Access Act (OZG) came into force in 2017 and provided for the digitization of numerous administrative processes within five years. By the end of the implementation period in October 2022, however, only a fraction of the administrative services were available digitally across the board. A draft bill from the Federal Ministry of the Interior for an amendment to the OZG has been available since the end of January. The Federal Cabinet should adopt it in the coming weeks.
“No reduction in bureaucracy” and “inefficient processes”
The Federation of German Employers’ Associations, the Federation of German Industries, the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Central Association of German Skilled Trades have now commented on the proposed changes. The reduction in bureaucracy, for example, is not enough for business representatives. Digitization offers “considerable” potential here”. However, inefficient processes would not automatically improve through digitization, more would be needed for that.
The draft bill from January also stipulates, among other things, that the previous – and not observed – implementation deadline “in favor of a priority setting and accompanying evaluation that has yet to be regulated” will be completely deleted. The digitization of the administration is in fact a “permanent task”, explained the business associations. But “with the omission of clear deadlines, every incentive to accelerate implementation is removed.”
The National Regulatory Control Council, an advisory body to the federal government, had also criticized the draft bill. The implementation of the OZG was already “well below our expectations,” the committee said in February. With the reform, no trend reversal is now discernible. “But it is required.”
With information from Dietrich Karl Mäurer, ARD capital studio