This is the main message of the seminar “Business Inspections: Key Challenges After the Moratorium” held today with the participation of the SRS, BRDO, EasyBusiness and supported by the USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine program.
Business owners still complain about the complexity of the inspection process, and after the moratorium on inspections, they need more support and more legal awareness of requirements, procedures and own rights when being inspected. This year, as compared to 2018, the number of complaints about inspectors’ actions filed by business entities has doubled.
“One of the SRS’s main objectives is to raise the legal awareness of businesses about inspections of economic activities conducted by state supervision and control bodies,” Kseniya Lyapina, Head of the State Regulatory Service of Ukraine, said.
According to Kyrylo Kryvolap, Vice Chairman of the Board of EasyBusiness NGO, most entrepreneurs do not know their rights when being inspected, and this creates opportunities for abuse by state supervision (control) bodies. Overcoming this problem will allow to reduce corruption risks and help create a positive business climate for businesses.
The BRDO’s role in this process is to develop and fill an Inspection Portal with information to maximize the effective interaction of regulatory bodies and businesses, as well as create opportunities to provide entrepreneurs with all necessary information. In particular, it implies helping them answer the following questions:
- Are there any scheduled inspections of my business in 2019?
- When will such an inspection begin and how long will it take?
- What aspects will be inspected and how to prepare?
- Is the enterprise risk level properly determined?
“The number of visitors to the Inspection Portal shows a high demand for this service. Currently, the functionality for state supervision and control bodies is almost developed, and useful functions for entrepreneurs (in fact, entrepreneurs personal accounts) are in the process. Such actions as rejecting comprehensive measures and filling a complaint about inspection procedure violations to the SRS should be possible online,” Yana Horiunova, Head of the Software Development Department at the Better Regulation Delivery Office, said.
The next step to increase the ability of SMEs to manage their activity risks and reduce corruption risks when interacting with regulatory authorities is to develop a guide on business inspections and create an online business portal.