Standardisation of Procedures for Public Utility Status (RO0078)

Description of the problem

Although the current normative framework includes legal provisions regarding the conditions to be met in order to obtain the status of public utility by legal entities without a patrimonial purpose, the authorities and institutions of central public administration initiating draft government decisions granting utility status identified a number of difficulties/problems in the uniform application of this framework. At present, within each authority and institution initiating draft Government Decisions, there is no structure designated for the management of applications for granting public utility status. Given that the procedure for granting, monitoring and evaluating the status of public utility is carried out by the officials of each initiating institution subjectively, in a non-unitary manner, it is necessary to clarify the stages of procedures for obtaining public status. Representatives from the structures of responsible administrative authorities and institutions need to acquire new tools, knowledge, skills and connections to help them explore appropriate possibilities for interaction with the general public. In the absence of uniformity in the application of the provisions on the status of public utility of Government Ordinance No. 26/2000 (https://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument /20740), a standardised model, accompanied by criteria or indicators, becomes useful for the central public administration authority that assesses the application and initiates a draft Government Decision granting public utility status. This is even more the case, as currently there is a perceived subjectivity in the processing of applications for granting public utility status. The staff of public authorities and institutions signaled the need for inter-ministerial collaboration, such as the creation of a working group between the co-initiators of H.G. projects to provide public utility for organisations carrying out complex activities pertaining to the domains of two or more authorities and institutions.

Description of the commitment

What the commitment includes 1. Development and implementation of working tools at the level of public authorities and institutions in order to harmonise practices regarding the recognition of public utility status. 2. Develop a single digital tool aimed at supporting the community of expertise interested in drawing up decisions on the management of applications for public utility status and officials of the central executive dealing with civil society.

what are the results pursued - encouraging representatives of legal entities without patrimonial purpose to participate in the digitisation of the application process for granting public utility status and facilitating interaction between public administration and civil society; - uniformisation, transparency and digitalisation of the practices of central public authorities and institutions in the field of public utility; - better coordination of public decisions within the time limits laid down for applications for public utility status according to the provisions of Government Ordinance No.26/2000, amended and supplemented; - the possibility to track the status of the submitted applications; - increasing the quality of processes by facilitating NGOs’ access to the necessary information and structures responsible for managing applications for public utility status within public authorities and institutions; - building skills of civil servants for a unitary and transparent approach to the instruments used in the process.

what is the major objective Development of a coordination mechanism at SGG level to support central public authorities and institutions to manage the processes of granting public utility status, in order to optimise interaction with representatives of legal entities without patrimonial purpose that wish to obtain the status of public utility by: - ensuring the possibility of online submission; - simplifying and enhancing the quality of inter- institutional communication on the one hand and between institutions and civil society on the other; - implement digital solutions to make the work of public authorities and institutions more efficient on all three plans: at inter-institutional level, institutionally and externally, in relation to civil society (given the large volume of documentation submitted by NGOs and its cumbersome management at inter-institutional level).

Measurable activities Responsible (institution/partner) Start date Date of completion

Organising regular meetings with representatives of the institutions of the target group for the uniformisation of practices and implementation of working tools at the level of public authorities and institutions SGG/Public Institutions/ 2022 2023

Organising regular meetings with representatives from civil society and associative environment — collecting and centralising their proposals on improving the standardised working tools proposed by Representatives of civil society and associative environment/NGOs 2022 2023 SGG on the one hand and platform functionalities on the other hand

Assessment within the target group of central authorities and institutions of the level of civil society involvement processes and of the quality of the administration- non-governmental sector relationship. (questionnaire/meeting with public institutions) SGG/Public Institutions/ 2023 2024

Establishing and implementing functionalities for the online application platform that will be created for the submission of public utility status requests. (questionnaire/meeting with public institutions, questionnaire/meeting with NGOs) SGG/Public Institutions/NGOs 2022 2024

Creation of the database with access to the sections of the websites of public authorities and institutions where standardised tools are found and the publication of data in open format on the data.gov.ro portal, including the unique register of legal entities without patrimonial purpose with the status of public utility with the insertion of the final form of the Government Decision granting/withdrawal of the public utility status SGG/Public Institutions 2022 2024

Development of the guide for the online submission of the application and the upload of documentation on the SGG website (questionnaire/meetings with NGOs, questionnaires/meetings with public institutions) SGG/Public Institutions/NGOs 2022 2024

Informing and disseminating the Guide to public administration and civil society authorities and institutions, as well as monitoring the use of the digital instrument (information sessions with NGOs and public institutions) SGG/Public Institutions/NGOs 2024 2024

Information and training sessions with representatives of the institutions of the target group on uniform practices, implementation of working tools at the level of public authorities and institutions using the digital tool (platform) SGG/Public Institutions/ 2023 2024

Action Plan Review

Commitment 1. Standardization of administrative procedures for the recognition of the public utility status

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest