What if the administrative burden was so heavy as to make the creation of companies impossible?
An asset our country has so long been proud of is the short decision channels and the easy access to decision makers. This asset is debatable and contested. Indeed, the difficulties citizens encounter in administrative procedures, notably in the authorization procedure, resemble more a crusade to a hostile territory than a fast and efficient approach.
Be it for the reclassification of an agricultural parcel into industrial land, an authorization for establishment or a “commodo et incommodo” procedure, the procedures applicants have to face are complicated and tedious. The difficulty lies in the volume of information to be provided and the procedures to be respected, as well as in their duration. For example, the procedure to follow in order to build a factory on an agricultural plot is the following: first you need to reclassify the land, and then integrate it into the PAG, then the PAP. Afterwards, one has to introduce a building application at local authority level and a “commodo et incommodo” application at ministry level. In the best cases, such a procedure takes two years.
In other countries, the period of time between the acquisition of the land and the building authorization rarely exceeds three months. If we want to attract new activities to our country, if we want to preserve existing structures and modernize them, this situation must change. For things to change mentalities must change.
We do not want to stigmatize or point the finger at anyone. The vast majority of civil servants are 100% committed to their task, respect the rules by the book and do their job. If however the sum of the parts creates a disastrous result, we have to review our copy and search for the problem at the heart of the system and change it. If the rules are too complicated, they must be modified to become more intelligible.
When the technicality of certain procedures doesn’t allow for simplification, the objective to pursue is explanation and assistance. Why not bring both parties together and put at companies’ disposal a specialized civil servant to help them achieve compliance? Such an approach requires human and financial resources, but potential gains by far outweigh the drawbacks. Personal initiative in a spirit of opening, of pragmatism and pro-activity is to be encouraged. If each of the parties takes a step towards the other, we will make progress.
Improvements which seem innocuous can also bring considerable benefits. The affiliation and the respect of norms existing abroad, rather than the definition of random norms, will allow applicants to gain time and security in their planning. A decoupling of the authorization for the building and the authorization for the installation that is inside will bring about a substantial time saving. Abroad, the extension of an existing production facility does not require a new application; it will be controlled once it is in place.
Exit the logic of prior authorization
In order to achieve significant progress and to shorten the duration of procedures to bring them closer to the level of the most competitive countries, we have to change paradigms. Indeed, we must ask ourselves whether we should not simply get out of the logic of prior authorization and move towards a system of ad-hoc control.
It is a lot easier and more effective to allow those concerned to inform about their projects and to realize them in full awareness of the laws and regulations. If installations do not satisfy the requirements, the control will allow identifying shortcomings and correcting them. Such an approach will only become possible with a cooperative and constructive attitude on both sides. The respect of the law, the environment and the impact on society is an objective shared by all. In this spirit, we will manage to preserve a dynamic economic activity in our country, to the benefit of the next generations.