REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 9-2021 issued on January 11, 2021 circularizes Administrative Order No. 23 titled “Eliminating Overregulation to Promote Efficiency of Government Processes”.

All national government agencies covered by Section 3 of Republic Act (RA) No. 9485, as amended, are directed to hasten the reform of their processes in order to eliminate overregulation. They shall retain only such steps, procedures and requirements as may be necessary to fulfill their legal mandates and policy objectives. All processes in excess thereof, including those which are redundant or burdensome to the public, shall be deemed manifestations of overregulation and shall be removed accordingly.

The entirety of an agency’s processes for the availing of its services shall be subject to scrutiny, from the most established and longstanding aspects thereof to the most recent. The imposition of tedious or time-consuming regulations on socially beneficial activities, as to render such activity impossible or extremely difficult to undertake, shall be especially targeted for reform.

The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), pursuant to its mandates under RA No. 9485, as amended, in coordination with the Anti-Red Tape Unit established per covered agency, shall monitor and ensure compliance with this directive to eliminate overregulation.

Within sixty (60) working days from the effectivity of this Order, all national government agencies covered under Section 3 of RA No. 9485, as amended, shall provide the ARTA, copy furnished the Office of the President, with a Compliance Report on how their respective Citizen’s Charters conform with the requirements of RA No. 9485, as amended. In particular, the Compliance Report shall contain the following:
a. List of regulations issued by the covered agency that govern each type of service offered to the public;
b. Particular steps or procedures, requirements and processing times necessary to be accomplished per service, as indicated in the agency’s revised/updated Citizen’s
Charter;
c. The legal basis for each regulation, as well as the legal or policy justification for each step or procedure and requirement; and
d. Relevant provisions of its Citizen’s Charter which comply with RA No. 9485, as amended, especially on Section 5 (Reengineering of Systems and Procedures), Section 7 (Zero-Contact Policy), and Section 9 (Accessing Government Services) including the prescribed processing times and limitation on the number of signatories.

For processes applicable to energy-related projects, the timeliness provided by RA No. 11234 shall be complied with.

The ARTA shall review and evaluate the Compliance Reports submitted by the covered agencies, and within six (6) months from the deadline of submission of the said reports, shall submit to the Office of the President, through the Office of the Executive Secretary, its findings and recommendations, including the compliance of covered agencies to the requirements of RA No. 9485, as amended, as well as data on the total number of regulations repealed, percentage of rules cut or simplified, and estimated amount of regulatory costs saved by the Government per covered agency as a result of implementing this Order.

With respect to covered agencies with processes falling within the scope of RA No. 11234, the ARTA shall review and evaluate their Compliance Reports, and formulate its findings and recommendations, in coordination with the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop Steering Committee.

Failure to comply with the Order shall result in the filing of appropriate administrative cases pursuant to the Civil Service Commission Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service, and other relevant laws, rules and regulations.