Introduction of Electronic Licensing System in the Field of Natural Resources Application (GE0044)

Introduction of electronic licensing system in the field of natural resources application. Currently, issuance of licenses for using natural resources (except for oil and natural gas) are only partially electonized by the National Environment Agency. A licensee is only able to participate in the auction through electronic means. A citizen who is willing to obtain a license and/or receive any other paid services outside the auction, within the auction or afterwards, must complete additional paperwork (for example, submission of an application and other accompanying documents, the owner’s consent and decision, statistical form, etc.) before and after the auction. This process requires additional time and financial resources both for the citizen and the agency. Sorting and analyzing information received non-electronically is another complication. The current liscensing system is problematic because it is important to distribute high quality information in a timely fashion not only for formation of the database, but to deliver virious services promptly for the the licensees, license seekers, public structures and other stakeholders. Through this commitment, the National Environment Agency shall issue licenses and render other paid services entirely in an electronic manner. The new electronic system allows for documents pertaining to the licensing field to be available electronically. As a result, the agency will be able to sort and form the statistical database of collected information in a much more efficient manner. The system will ensure prompt, high-quality delivery of the processed information. Furthermore, the customer will have simplified access to any public information (statistics, online map of resources, guidebook, etc.) available in the licensing field. It is important that and the licensees will be able to contact and share information with one another. Date of implementation: 2016-2017 Issues to be Addressed: Issuance of licenses and other type of services are only partially electronized. Most of the documents are available as hard copies which complicates the process and requires more time, additional financial and human resources. Main Objective: - Improvement of services - Simplification of relations between the government and the citizen - Avoiding risks of corruption - Optimization of human resource application - More transparency during the service delivery

3. Introduction of electronic licensing system in the field of natural resource application

Commitment Text:

Currently, issuance of licenses for using natural resources (except for oil and natural gas) are only partially electronized by the National Environment Agency. A licensee is only able to participate in the auction through electronic means.

A citizen who is willing to obtain a license and/or receive any other paid services outside the auction, within the auction or afterwards, must complete additional paperwork (for example, submission of an application and other accompanying documents, the owner’s consent and decision, statistical form, etc.) before and after the auction. This process requires additional time and financial resources both for the citizen and the agency. Sorting and analyzing information received non-electronically is another complication. The current licensing system is problematic because it is important to distribute high quality information in a timely fashion not only for formation of the database, but to deliver virious services promptly for the licensees, license seekers, public structures and other stakeholders.

Through this commitment, the National Environment Agency shall issue licenses and render other paid services entirely in an electronic manner. The new electronic system allows for documents pertaining to the licensing field to be available electronically. As a result, the agency will be able to sort and form the statistical database of collected information in a much more efficient manner. The system will ensure prompt, high-quality delivery of the processed information. Furthermore, the customer will have simplified access to any public information (statistics, online map of resources, guidebook, etc.) available in the licensing field. It is important that and the licensees will be able to contact and share information with one another.

Responsible Institution(s): LEPL – National Evironment Agency, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia

Supporting Institution(s): None

Start Date: December 2015 End Date: December 2017

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aimed to expedite license documentation processing for natural resource applications by introducing an electronic licensing system. At the time this commitment was adopted, investors in Georgia faced difficulties obtaining licenses from the National Environment Agency for using natural resources. There was significant paperwork, and the process dragged. More specifically, the commitment set out to:

• Provide licenses and other paid services entirely in an electronic manner;
• Make documents in the licensing field available electronically; and
• Give the customer simplified access to any public information in the field, including statistics, online maps of resources, and a guidebook.

Status

Midterm: Limited

This commitment saw limited implementation by the midterm. The first phase, including analyzing business processes of the new electronic system, was successfully completed in June 2017. However, the Agency decided to add two new components to the system that turned out to be more challenging to implement: 1) integrating the Environmental Supervision Department into the new system to monitor how licensees are implementing their obligations; and 2) developing more robust electronic modules for mineral resource applications. The Agency’s IT specialists were busy analyzing whether it would be possible to add those two components to the system.

End of term: Complete

The December 2017 amendments transferred natural resource responsibilities from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to the newly created National Agency of Mineral Resources under the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development. [8] On 20 February 2018, the Agency launched a new portal on the Revenue Service webpage, https://nam.rs.ge/, which allows license-seekers to register their interest to participate in auctions and to submit all necessary documents to the Agency electronically, including license implementation action plans and relevant statistics. The portal also allows the Agency to send out notifications to all registered license-seekers or licensees. It contains full and up-to-date data on the licensees, location of licensed objects, a list of natural resources for licensing as well as dates, costs, and the scope of license agreements. In order to register on the portal, interested users should refer to the service center of the Agency of Mineral Resources to obtain the necessary username and the password, after which they will be assigned a unique registration number. [9] In addition, in April 2018, the Agency launched another portal which should contain data on all geological projects implemented in Georgia, including relevant reports, cadastral maps, characteristics and photos of geological objects, expert comments on the condition of those objects, as well as minutes of relevant inter-agency meetings. [10]

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Marginal

The new electronic licensing system is not for public use since it requires the entry of username and password for registration, which must be obtained at the Agency of Mineral Resources. The system contributes to improving issuance of natural resource licenses and easing the flow of necessary documents between the Agency and license-seekers. The new geological portal, described above, is still under construction. Most of the data currently published are historical, archived documents in Russian and in scanned PDF form, which is not very useful for the reader. Finally, the Agency has not conducted any awareness-raising campaigns around its new portals. Neither has it tracked the number of users and the level of their satisfaction.

On a positive note, the Agency created a Facebook page, on 19 June 2018, which contains infographics, maps, and characteristics of natural resources in various regions of Georgia as well as new developments in the Agency and in the natural resource field. Some of this information was new to the public. Most Facebook posts were published after July, which falls outside of the reporting period. As of October, 1,129 people have liked this new Facebook page while 1,140 have followed it. [11] Based on this description, the commitment has led to only a marginal change in improving public access to information in natural resources.

Carried Forward?

The commitment was not carried into the new Action Plan 2018−2019. In line with the five key recommendations of the midterm report, the Georgian government could prioritize transparency of government contracts in the licensing of natural resources, as well as the privatization of and public procurements in infrastructure projects. Civil society representatives recommend the adoption and use of the Open Contracting Data Standard in conjunction with stakeholder collaboration. [12]

[9] Elene Kemashvili (National Agency of Mineral Resources), email correspondence with IRM researcher, 24 Aug. 2018.

[10] National Agency of Mineral Resources, “Geology Fund Catalogue,” https://bit.ly/2DB8lHk.

[11] National Agency of Mineral Resources, “National Agency of Mineral Resource’s Facebook Page” (Facebook, 2018), https://www.facebook.com/nationalagencyofmines/.

[12] Lasha Gogidze and Tamar Gzirishvili, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM): Georgia Progress Report 2016-2017 (OGP, 30 Apr. 2018), https://bit.ly/2NIr097.