Last year among decrees, Dpcm, laws, ordinances, resolutions, determine, circulars, etc., the Polygraphic Institute and the State Mint produced and disseminated 323 Official Gazettes to which 45 Ordinary and Extraordinary Supplements are added. Altogether these documents consisted of 31.942 pages. If they had all been printed, the weight reached by this "avalanche" of paper would amount to 80 kilograms. Furthermore, if we assumed to spend 5 minutes per page, a person with an average intelligence who had dedicated himself to reading them all, obviously also understanding their meaning, in 2020 it would have taken 333 working days, practically a year of work.
Compared to previous years, however, the situation remains stationary. If we also include the Ordinary and Extraordinary Supplements, in 2019, for example, 305 Official Journals were published; although the number of volumes compared to 2020 had decreased, the overall number of pages was slightly higher: 32.236. In 2018, on the other hand, compared to 365 Gazzette, the number of pages reached precisely 30.671, while in 2017 the record number of issues produced (371) was reached, with almost the same number of pages recorded last year. (31.959).
• Record reached on 8 January 2020 with the Supplement to the OJ of 4.617 pages
In 2020, the peak of "regulatory productivity" was recorded on 8 January. On that occasion, the State Printing Office printed the Ordinary Supplement No. 1 containing the text, tables and graphs of the ISA (Synthetic Indices of Fiscal Reliability) which for some years have replaced sector studies. Basically, businesses, accountants, trade associations and professionals found a 4.617-page folder in their hands that dissects the indicators of all economic activities with the relative territorial specificities that are subject to ISAs.
• In the South, PA inefficiency and illegality feed each other
According to the Bank of Italy, the main delay that characterizes the economy of our country is the Public Administration (PA) which must absolutely improve the performance in terms of the quality and response times of the services requested by citizens and businesses. The situation appears particularly inadequate in the South. Even if the data refer to 2014, it is reported that 55 percent of crimes against the PA occur in the South, with an incidence compared to the resident population 2,3 times higher than in other geographical areas. It should also be noted that 70 percent of the so-called “unfinished works” is located in the South, although only about 30 percent of national public works are concentrated in these regions. Data that denote how the inefficiency of the PA and illegality are two critical issues that feed each other in an important part of the country.
• What to do to improve the relationship between citizens / businesses and public offices?
First, we need to simplify the regulatory framework. Try, where possible, not to overlap multiple levels of government on the same topic and, in particular, to speed up the response times of the Public Administration. With too many laws, decrees and regulations, the first penalized are public officials who, in the uncertainty of interpretation, "defend" themselves by shifting decisions over time. Specifically, it is necessary:
- improve quality and reduce the number of laws, analyzing their impact more closely, especially on micro and small businesses;
- periodically monitor the effects of the new measures to be able to promptly introduce corrective measures;
- consolidate the computerization of the public administration, making the sites more accessible and the contents more accessible;
- to make public databases communicate with each other to avoid duplication of requests;
- allow users to fill in the applications exclusively via computer;
- proceed and complete the standardization of the forms;
- increase the professionalism of public employees through adequate and continuous training.