Legal claims for digitizing government procedures urged
Germany is falling behind in the digitalization process, even within the government and administration sectors. To rectify this, citizens, businesses, and companies should be able to legally claim digitalization, say researchers. This would make achieving set targets more attainable.
In the area of digital transformation within administration, researchers suggest creating a legal claim for citizens and companies. This would give administrative digitalization a sense of urgency and enforceability, according to a report published by the German Academy of Science and Engineering acatech. "A legal claim would increase the pressure to act and create accountability," said acatech Vice President Christoph M. Schmidt.
The study reveals that the digitalization of the administration system is progressing too slowly. The Online Access Act, implemented in 2017, stated that a total of 575 bundles of administrative services should be available online to users by the end of 2022. More than a year after this deadline expired, only 155 services are available nationwide. The new Online Access Act (OZG 2.0), which applies to federal administrations, was rejected by the Bundesrat in March and is currently under negotiation between the Bundesrat and the Bundestag.
Missed Deadlines Lead to Non-Consequences
The significant deviation from the desired goals can be attributed to the fact that, thus far, missing deadlines for the digitalization of administrative services has resulted in no legal repercussions, per the study. "If extremely ambitious goals are set, yet no consequences are established for failing to meet the target, the binding nature of the goal specifications is reduced," Schmidt, a professor at the RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research in Essen and former head of the "Economists," said.
Schmidt believes that if certain deadlines for the introduction of digital administrative services are not met, legal consequences should be expected. For example, the modernization of the registers, for which implementation is planned until 2028, involves digitalizing and connecting registers so that citizens and companies no longer have to present documents and certificates with each application.
The implementation of this register modernization is also lagging behind. "Companies, which frequently interact with public administration, should be granted a legal claim," said Schmidt. "Firms could potentially sue for damages in cases where deadlines are missed."
Fundamental Change Needed in Administration
"The public administration is incredibly concerned with legal safety, uniform procedures, and carefully executing established procedures," said Schmidt. This makes it highly effective, Schmidt continues, but the increasing number of regulations and demands, coupled with demographic changes within the administration, make it increasingly difficult to fulfill all tasks in this manner. Thus, more efficient and agile processes are needed.
In the realm of digitalization, there has been a strong emphasis on user interfaces, but without accompanying changes to the underlying processes. "If the authority then prints out the digitally submitted application and processes it manually, this does not constitute digitalization as we require it. There should instead be end-to-end digitalization that encompasses the application, processing, and decision-making process without the use of paper," Schmidt said. This would allow for significant acceleration of administrative procedures. "It's not helpful if the appointment scheduling is digital, but the visit to the office still takes a considerable amount of time."
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In the context of enforcing digitalization in administration, it's proposed to grant a legal claim to both citizens and companies. This would introduce a sense of urgency and accountability, as stated by acatech Vice President Christoph M. Schmidt.
If legal consequences were imposed for missing deadlines in digital administrative service implementation, as suggested by Schmidt, it might incentivize faster progress in completing tasks like register modernization.
