The Simplification of Procedures in Portuguese Administrative Law

The present paper intends to provide an overview and a critical assessment of the administrative simplification policies implemented in Portugal over the past 20+ years. Throughout these decades, the major instruments for administrative simplification have been: (i) Decree-Law n. 135/99, of 22 April; (ii) the Simplex programme; (iii) the 2015 new Code of Administrative Procedure and its 2021 amendment; and (iv) the COVID-19 legislation. Although Decree-Law n. 135/99 (i) was the first attempt to specifically address simplification, it was a very thin one. The Simplex programme (ii), created in 2006, was the first cross-sectoral robust policy of simplification; its motto is “the simpler the better” and it encompassed reforms in all government areas aiming at cutting red tape, promoting administrative efficiency, and making the citizens’ and the corporations’ lives easier when dealing with State. The new Code of Administrative Procedure (iii), approved in 2015, brought about specific normative solutions to simplify procedures, namely, prior communications, administrative assistance, procedural conferences, and the electronic one-stop shop. Finally, the COVID-19 legislation (iv) was made necessary by the COVID-19 pandemic and by the fact that public health restrictions made it impossible for citizens to establish personal contact with the administration in many cases.

Maturing an Information Technology Privacy Program

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was initially enacted as an administrative simplification to standardize electronic transmission of common administrative and financial transactions. The program also calls for implementation specifications regarding privacy and security standards to protect the confidentiality and integrity of individually identifiable health information or protected health information. The Affordable Care Act further expanded many of the protective provisions set forth by HIPAA. Since its implementation, healthcare organizations around the nation have invested billions of dollars and have cycled through numerous program attempts aimed at meeting these standards. This chapter reviews the process taken by one organization to review the privacy policy in place utilizing a maturity model, identify deficiencies, and lead change in order to heighten the maturity of the system. The authors conclude with reflection related to effectiveness of the process as well as implications for practice.

Public Administration Performance and Nation Branding

The scope of the chapter is to analyze the relationship between the performance and the competitiveness of the public sector in Greece and the image of the country abroad, focusing on the critical importance for the Greek economy sector of investments attraction. Through the comparative evaluation of bureaucracy's and administrative burdens' impact on national entrepreneurship's competitiveness and the analysis of the administrative barriers and obstacles facing the investments' attraction, the performance of the existing investment policy in Greece is analyzed. Based on the evaluation of the administrative obstacles and pitfalls on national entrepreneurship and according to international experience's recent development on administrative simplification, a comprehensive and specialized action plan for the reform of the national investment policy and the emergence of a new international brand name for Greece were realized.

Administrative simplification strategy with reference to the Egyptian case

Purpose This paper aims to clarify the added value to governments when adopting an Administrative Simplification Strategy (ASS) to reduce administrative burdens, and its impact on both citizens and investors satisfaction. The paper highlights the difference between the traditional and strategic concepts of simplifying administrative procedures, Moreover, the paper discusses the most important steps and tools for the implementation of ASS. The paper, also, sheds light on the efforts of the Egyptian Government to simplify administrative procedures and adopt ASS. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts the descriptive analytical approach to describe and analyses the basic features of the subject data from different resources includes journal articles, published papers and books, to conclude a theoretical framework of ASS. (concepts, Implementation steps, Tools, Objectives, operations and content). For the Egyptian case, the researchers uses historical perspective to analyze the efforts of the Egyptian government to simplify administrative procedures in the last decades and the content of the available ministerial decisions, presidential decrees, for example The last ministerial decisions concerning the one-stop supreme committee, were chosen as evidence of the government's interest in this matter and the analysis of the tasks entrusted to the committee to do, The decision of transfer the dependency of the ERRADA was also chosen and analyzed to indicate the extent of the government's interest in it and to what extent there is an enhancement of its role .The authors also analyzed some recent conferences and seminars and compared the administrative reform efforts with the theoretical framework of the ASS to clarify the dimensions related to ASS in Egypt. Findings On the theoretical level, the ASS is an umbrella term that includes various simplification projects at all the levels of governmental units. ASS leads to the improvement of governmental services provided to both citizens and investors. It is a defensive exploratory strategy that involves multiple goals and processes and requires political support, institutional framework and the comprehensive review of all related legislations, to ensure the successful implementation. Studying the Egyptian case, it is noted that the Egyptian government has not directly adopted an ASS. Yet, it has approved some stages within the framework of the adapted administrative reform plans. Originality/value This paper represents a framework for administrative simplification as an integrated strategy at the macro level. The strategy focuses on the overall view of the government, its integrated goals, innovation and the added value, by providing high-quality services and reducing the administrative burdens, as to improve services provided to society and ease of life, as well as to increase the level of living and citizens’ satisfaction.

Maturing an Information Technology Privacy Program

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was initially enacted as an administrative simplification to standardize electronic transmission of common administrative and financial transactions. The program also calls for implementation specifications regarding privacy and security standards to protect the confidentiality and integrity of individually identifiable health information or protected health information. The Affordable Care Act further expanded many of the protective provisions set forth by HIPAA. Since its implementation, healthcare organizations around the nation have invested billions of dollars and have cycled through numerous program attempts aimed at meeting these standards. This chapter reviews the process taken by one organization to review the privacy policy in place utilizing a maturity model, identify deficiencies, and lead change in order to heighten the maturity of the system. The authors conclude with reflection related to effectiveness of the process as well as implications for practice.