A legislative package has been prepared with a view to simplifying the operation of metropolitan and county government offices. The goal is to provide fast and effective public administration based on trust, the Minister of State for Public Administration of the Prime Minister’s Office announced.

At a press conference held on Tuesday in Budapest, Bence Tuzson said in the interest of simplification they have compiled and will submit to Parliament a one-thousand-page legislative package which will amend more than 80 laws.

Administration will be simpler and more convenient, he said, mentioning as an example that in the future it will be possible to apply for certificates of good conduct also via government windows.

The pre-retirement verification of data will also become simpler. While today the state contacts the individuals concerned 5 to 8 years before retirement and verifies data in multiple rounds, in the future there will only be a single data verification three years prior to retirement.

He mentioned that parents raising permanently ill children and children with disabilities – provided that their children’s condition is “final” – will not be required to submit new certificates up to the age of 18 years with their applications for the family allowance.

In the case of persons with altered working capacity, the annual reviews will not be required if the health impairment is significant and they are unable to look after themselves or only with assistance, Mr Tuzson said.

Those eligible for public health care services due to chronic medical conditions on a non-means-tested basis will be entitled to ongoing care for four years instead of two, while those eligible for services on a normative basis will be entitled to ongoing care for two years instead of one, he said.

Mr Tuzson also said the regulations relating to individual entrepreneurs will be simplified as well. In the future, they will only be required to report with the national tax authority, and any parallel records will be done away with. Additionally, the obligation of verification within 30 days of the commencement of business will also be terminated.

He said there will be major changes in construction-related affairs as well. While today partly the government offices and partly the mayoral offices proceed in cases related to construction, from March only the government offices will deal with them.

Procedures will be made faster and simpler, and in a number of cases planning permission will be replaced with a simple obligation of reporting, the Minister of State said, mentioning as an example that earlier if a small local government wanted to build a pavement, they were required to conduct a planning permission procedure; by contrast, in the future they will only have an obligation of reporting. The same will also apply to forestry facilities, he added.

Two-tier administration will be done away with in territorial public administration. There will be single-level decisions, following which it will be possible to submit appeals to the courts.

He said they will standardise the district office system. The so-called county-seated districts will cease: citizens will have to contact the district office regarding local affairs, while the county government offices will be competent to proceed in county affairs.

(MTI)