SAFP authority on e-gov matters widened

The Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) will have, from Sept. 1, added powers to promote and monitor the development of electronic governance (e-gov) with the introduction of a recommendation mechanism, the Executive Council announced Friday in an amendment to the e-gov law.

In addition to issuing instructions to public services, the SAFP will also be responsible for issuing recommendations directly to public services in the event of non-compliance with the law, regulations, or instructions within the scope of e-gov, becoming legally empowered to urge the other services or departments to carry out the necessary corrections.

The new regulation also notes that if public services refuse to accept recommendations without a duly substantiated reason, the SAFP also has power to communicate this fact to the regulatory entity.

Additionally, the regulation improves the legal provisions relating to the electronic notification service, determining that public services must indicate, in the agreement for receiving electronic notification to be concluded with interested parties, the scope of the notification service.

In cases where the public services change the scope of their duties, they must disclose these changes to interested parties in advance so they can decide whether to continue using the electronic notification service.