Report a Rule (DK0059)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address?: Citizens, businesses, trade unions, etc. must be included in the work to create a more cohesive and efficient public sector. This commitment will help support the Government’s cohesion reform which through simplification of rules and de-bureaucratisation will create a more coherence service for citizens and busi-nesses.; What is the commit-ment?: The commitment will be carried out as part of a campaign from October 2017 to February 2018 where the websites of the ministries that manage citizen- and business-oriented rules will be equipped with digital mailboxes through which citizens, businesses, trade unions, etc. can submit proposals for debureaucratis-ing of the public sector. The ministries will screen the proposals and assess whether they should lead to amendments of legislation, orders, rules and proce-dures, etc. Proposals can also form part of the Government’s cohesion reform. The overall objective of this commitment is to ensure the inclusion of citizens, businesses, trade unions, etc. in the Government’s effort to create a more effi-cient public sector.; How will the com-mitment contribute to solve the public problem?: The possibility of submitting proposals means that citizens, businesses, trade unions, etc. experiencing the consequences of rules and requirements are able to contribute with relevant proposals for rule simplification and debureaucratisa-tion. When these parties become involved, it will expectedly shed light on inex-pedient government rules that ought to be simplified or abolished. The implementation of standardised digital mailboxes on the ministries’ websites will make it easy for the parties to submit proposals that can subsequently be considered by the individual ministries. The ministries’ screening of proposals will ensure that they are handled by the appropriate ministry and that the feasibility of all proposals is considered; Why is this com-mitment relevant to OGP values?: The commitment will ensure the involvement of citizens, businesses and trade unions in the Government’s work to create a more cohesive and efficient public sector. The commitment will thus increase the above parties’ possibility of influ-encing the Government’s decisions and initiatives and make it easy for the parties to point out any inexpedient government rules, for example, that makes the public administration more bureaucratic or result in incoherent services to the citizens.; Additional infor-mation: The commitment is closely connected to the Government’s work on the cohesion reform, which aims to develop and streamline the public sector in order to give the citizens the best possible welfare

Commitment 10: Report a rule

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

"The commitment will be carried out as part of a campaign from October 2017 to February 2018 where the websites of the ministries that manage citizen- and business-oriented rules will be equipped with digital mailboxes through which citizens, businesses, trade unions, etc. can submit proposals for debureaucratising of the public sector. The ministries will screen the proposals and assess whether they should lead to amendments of legislation, orders, rules and procedures, etc. Proposals can also form part of the Government's cohesion reform. The overall objective of this commitment is to ensure the inclusion of citizens, businesses, trade unions, etc. in the Government's effort to create a more efficient public sector."

Milestones:

10.1 Campaign launch

10.2 First follow-up on campaign

10.3 Final follow-up on campaign

Start Date: October 2017

End Date: February 2018

Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, see "The Danish OGP National Action Plan 2017–2019," Danish Agency for Digitisation, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/open-government/open-government-partnership-ogp-action-plan/, pp. 24–25.

Context and Objectives

The overall objective of this commitment is to include citizens, businesses, trade unions, and others in the government's effort to create a more efficient public sector, also known as a "debureaucratising" effort.^{[Note : "The Danish OGP National Action Plan 2017–2019," Danish Agency for Digitisation, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/open-government/open-government-partnership-ogp-action-plan/, pp. 24–25.]} The initiative is—like Commitment 9 on the civil society strategy—part of the government reform through which rules will be simplified for a more coherent public service.

The proposed solution involves establishing online mailboxes for those ministries that manage citizen- and business-oriented rules. This will allow all actors to submit ideas for rules. These ideas will be screened by ministries for relevance.

The aim to debureaucratise the public sector in Denmark has been discussed for several decades. The present government has made it a political priority to pursue effectivisation. The Confederation of Danish Industry supports this goal, as have some labour unions (such as the The Danish Association of Lawyers and Economists, DJØF, representing political scientists, economists, lawyers, and others). However, their support comes with various caveats. (For example, the Confederation of Danish Industry has called for an emphasis on digitisation; DJØF wishes to limit excessive firings.)^{[Note : Christian Hannibal, "Karsten Dybvad: Tænk Digitalisering ind i Reform af den Offentlige Sektor," Dansk Industri, https://di.dk/dibusiness/nyheder/pages/karsten-dybvad-taenk-digitalisering-ind-i-reform-af-den-offentlige-sektor.aspx?printType=3; and "Djøf Støtter Helhjertet Afbureaukratisering," DJØF, 4 April 2018, https://www.djoef.dk/presse/pressemeddelelser/2018/dj-oe-f-st-oe-tter-helhjertet-afbureaukratisering.aspx. ]}

The commitment is aligned with the OGP value of civic participation. Citizens are encouraged to submit ideas for debureaucratising the public sector. The government expects the initiative to allow citizens to influence government decisions and initiatives. The commitment also uses technology and innovation for transparency and accountability by placing the mailboxes online.

In terms of verifiability, the ministry websites can be monitored to assess whether digital mailboxes exist. However, Milestones 10.2 and 10.3 are not specific, as more could be said about the details of campaign follow-up. Furthermore, the feasibility considerations for the proposals are not detailed in the description of the commitment as written.

The commitment is expected to change government practices. It will allow for a continuous dialogue among civil society, businesses, and authorities about which rules stand in the way of having an effective relationship with the public sector. The IRM researcher has deemed the potential impact as minor, given the low specificity of the commitment text and milestones.

Next steps

· Ensure transparency in the publication of the proposals and how they are considered by the ministries.

· Since the initiative has already concluded, with extensive feedback received from civil society representatives, the IRM researcher recommends that it not be carried forward in future action plans, to make space for new ideas.

· It is suggested, however, that those responsible for the commitment attend the next multi-stakeholder forum to share lessons learned, particularly on how they were able to attain such a high level of civil society feedback.

10. Report a rule

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“The commitment will be carried out as part of a campaign from October 2017 to February 2018 where the websites of the ministries that manage citizen- and business-oriented rules will be equipped with digital mailboxes through which citizens, businesses, trade unions, etc. can submit proposals for debureaucratising of the public sector. The ministries will screen the proposals and assess whether they should lead to amendments of legislation, orders, rules and procedures, etc. Proposals can also form part of the Government’s cohesion reform. The overall objective of this commitment is to ensure the inclusion of citizens, businesses, trade unions, etc. in the Government’s effort to create a more efficient public sector.”

Milestones:

10.1 Campaign launch

10.2 First follow-up on campaign

10.3 Final follow-up on campaign

Start Date: October 2017

End Date: February 2018

Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, see “The Danish OGP National Action Plan 2017–2019,” Danish Agency for Digitisation, pp. 24–25, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/open-government/open-government-partnership-ogp-action-plan/.

This commitment aimed to include citizens, businesses, trade unions, and others in the government’s effort to create a more efficient public sector. [38] Specifically, the commitment called for establishing online mailboxes for those ministries that manage citizen- and business-oriented rules in order to allow all actors to submit ideas for rules.

The ministries successfully launched the campaign in 2017, after which the previous government received a total of 984 proposals. The then-government decided to move 300 proposals forward, feeding directly into its broader de-bureaucratizing effort. [39] Accepted proposals were subsequently handled and followed up by the respective ministries. It is unclear which criteria were deployed during selection of reported rules besides feasibility.

The campaign was well-received by the public, and saw the participation of citizens, municipalities, and stakeholder institutions. Proposals that qualified for amendments primarily revolved around simplifying administrative and cumbersome regulations, such as rules for elaborating student schemes and single action plans for vulnerable citizens and families. The campaign provided a direct and easily-accessible channel to raise awareness on bottlenecks within public administration.

While some proposals received from municipalities and citizens were about issues already known to the government, the ‘report a rule’ campaign added additional focus on changing unnecessary government regulations in various areas to the benefit of citizens. [40] However, the commitment constituted a one-time, short-term campaign building on existing governmental priorities, and did not lead to a sustainable mechanism with which to address ineffectiveness within public administration.

[38] “Denmark Design Report 2017–2019”, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Denmark_Design-Report_2017-2019_EN.pdf.

[39] ”Minister klar til at fjerne over 300 regler: Vi har for mange gak-gak regler i det offentlige”, DR, 25 August 2018, available [in Danish] at https://bit.ly/2xY6Scf.

[40] Martin Eskerod Nielsen (Danish Agency for Digitisation), interview by IRM researcher, 14 November 2019.