e-Notice Board (RS0037)

COMMITMENT 10: Establishment of an e-Notice Board for all state administration and local
self-government bodies
Q2 2019 – Q3 2019
Lead implementing agency Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government
Description of Commitment
43
Problem addressed by the
commitment
The Law on General Administrative Procedure sets for the
procedure and ways of public service of writs on parties.
One of the ways is publishing of writs on the websites and
notice boards of authorities.
However, many administration bodies do not have a dedicated
e-notice board on their websites, which makes it difficult for
parties in proceedings to find information. In addition, there is
no legal certainty for parties in administrative procedures
(natural and legal persons) who are served writs in this way,
because they are unable to find the required documents on the
websites, while deadlines begin on the date of publishing of a
writ on a notice board.
Furthermore, state administration bodies and LSGUs also have
an obligation to publish on their notice boards other documents
relating to various public calls, amendments to planning
documents and public procurement; individual documents,
general bylaws of local self-governments etc.
At present, the only way to publicly serve other documents and
gain access to them is on the notice boards placed inside the
buildings of the relevant administration bodies, which are in
practice not readily accessible to natural and legal persons and
are often difficult to read due to the sheer number of documents
posted.
Main objective Implement e-Notice Boards on the websites of all state
administration and local self-government bodies
How will this commitment
contribute to problem solving?
In accordance with the principle of legality, protection of rights
of parties and effectiveness and cost-efficiency for parties in an
administrative procedure, natural and legal persons will be able
to see in one place (on an e-Notice Board), free of charge, all
documents served by a body on the parties. Administration
bodies will be able to serve more efficiently those writs that
must be publicly served under the law. Citizens and businesses
will have access to all documents published in hard copy on
internal notice boards by state administration bodies and
LSGUs, when they exercise delegated state administration tasks
within the scope of rights and duties of the Republic (including
information relating to various public calls, amendments to
planning documents and public procurement; individual
documents, general bylaws of local self-governments etc. will
also be posted). All of these will be available in one place – on
an e-Notice Board.
44
The way in which this commitment
is relevant to further advancing
OGP values
This commitment concerns improved access to information and
freedom of information.
It is relevant for transparency and contributes to legal certainties
(a party in an administrative procedure will know they can find
a document addressed to them on the website of the relevant
authority). Based on documents served in this way, the party
may initiate further proceedings, file complaints etc.
This commitment will contribute to openness and accountability
of government through the use of new technologies and
innovation.
Additional information
Activity with a verifiable
deliverable and completion date
Start Date: End Date:
1. Working Group formed Q2 2019 Q2 2019
2. Amendments to the Regulation
on Office Operations of State
Administration Bodies prepared or
a new Regulation drafted
Q2 2019 Q3 2019
3. Amendments to the Regulation
on Office Operations of State
Administration Bodies adopted
Q3 2019 Q3 2019
Contact information
Name of a responsible person in the
implementing agency
Natalija Pavlović Šiniković
Title, Department Assistant Minister, MPALSG – Sector for Development of
Good Governance
Email and phone number natalija.pavlovic@mduls.gov.rs
Other
actors
involved
Administration
Office for Information Technologies and e-Government
45
Civil sector
organisations, private
sector, working
groups
CSOs that are members of the OGP Working Group

10. e-Notice Board

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

Title: Establishment of an e-Notice Board for all state administration and local self-government bodies

Implement e-Notice Boards on the websites of all state administration and local self-government bodies.

1. Working Group formed
2. Amendments to the Regulation on Office Operations of State Administration Bodies prepared or a new Regulation drafted
3. Amendments to the Regulation on Office Operations of State Administration Bodies adopted

For full commitment text, please refer to the National Action Plan at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Serbia_Action-Plan_2018-2020_EN.pdf

Start Date: Q2 2019

End Date: Q3 2019

Context and Objectives

Public administration bodies are mandated ^[133] to publicly deliver administrative documents to parties in administrative proceedings (in case no other method of delivery is possible) through their web pages and notice boards. In practice, web-based notice boards are scarce, especially on the local level, which hampers access to information. As an example, a review of web pages of a sample composed of approximately 74 government bodies revealed that only four contain an easily accessible e-notice board. [134] The web page of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection [135] and the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency [136] stand out as models of information access. Without an e-notice board, old-fashioned analog notice boards inside of each building are all that is available, which is particularly burdensome for the elderly and persons with disabilities. [137] This practice impedes legal certainty for parties and limits the time for appeals, as the time allowed to appeal starts counting down toward a deadline once that notice is attached to the analog board. This can have serious consequences for cases such as a house demolition without prior notice. [138]

To address the problem, this commitment aims to amend a bylaw regulating administrative work in the public bodies [139] and to legally require e-notice boards on the web pages of state- and local-level administration bodies. As it provides for more accessible information through modern tools, the commitment is relevant for the OGP values of access to information and technology and innovation for transparency and accountability.

However, the commitment outlines actions to be taken in a vague manner, and the IRM researchers consider that its completion and impact will be hard to verify. A MPALSG representative stated that it is still uncertain whether the Regulation would be only amended or fully replaced with a new one, which depends on the scope of modifications. [140] The commitment also does not specify the composition of the working group tasked to draft the amendments and imposes rules through a bylaw with no sanctions prescribed. It further fails to envision monitoring of implementation and taking corrective measures or providing support to the administration bodies. Finally, the commitment does not take into account consultations with end users (civil society, citizens, companies, etc.) to improve the state of play. Therefore, if fully implemented as designed, the commitment could have a minor impact on data availability, legal certainty, and transparency of administrative procedures by enabling the service seekers to make appeals.

Next steps

The IRM researcher suggests the following measures be included in the implementation of this commitment:

• Specify the content and scope of the amendments to the regulation and whether amendments to the regulation will be followed by modification of the Instructions on Office Operations of State Administration Bodies. Provide more details on the composition of the Working Group for drafting/amending the bylaw and include non-governmental stakeholders.
• Develop compliance enforcement mechanisms, such as the following:
  • Provide support to bodies by direct communication and creating instructional material.
  • Prescribe obligation for administration bodies to include online questionnaires on their web pages, which would measure the satisfaction of visitors, including the question for users of e-notice boards, and collect suggestions and proposals for improvement of the page.
  • Share examples of best practices across the administration.
  • Work on promoting and increasing visibility of e-notice boards.
  • Establish annual grading of web pages of administration bodies. This can be done by the Office for IT and eGovernment, according to the regulation on the web pages of the public administration bodies. [141]

10. E-notice board

Completion: Limited:

The e-notice boards on the webpages of public bodies were not introduced. Instead, the government took a different course of action than what the commitment proposed. In March 2020, the government enacted a new bylaw regulating document management in the state administration bodies. [60] A representative of the PM’s office pointed out that this decree envisaged the transition to electronic document management and that its application would ensure that the commitment is completed. [61] A Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government representative specified that the decree introduced an eMailbox for each registered user of the eGovernment Portal, through which bodies would electronically deliver administrative documents to users. [62] This approach represents a deviation from the initial idea. Although the decree will facilitate delivery, none of its provisions specifically relate to the e-notice boards. It is therefore unclear how it will bring more legal certainty for parties in administrative proceedings which are not registered users of the portal.