No delays in rules covering Ease of Doing Business Act, says DTI official

The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) on the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Act will pass without delays, Trade Undersecretary Rowel Barba said on Monday.

Barba said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB that they were still within the 90-working day deadline given by Congress to formulate the rules for the newly-approved law.

“Meron po tayong hanggang October 22,” he said, noting that they would be conducting consultations with businesspersons and related stakeholders during this period.

However, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) noted that the deadline for the IRR is at the end of September or 90 days from the time President Rodrigo Duterte enacted the proposed law.

On Friday, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) issued a statement saying there were delays in the IRR of Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez noted that the IRR ’s working draft will be given to the PACC after the commission warned of possible consequences from the delay.

RA 11032 covers local businesses and foreign investments, as well as business and non-business transactions.

It mandates all government agencies to come up with citizens’ charters to show the length and charges of every transaction, and where permits must be submitted.

Government-to-government and private-to-government transactions are also covered by the law. —Rie Takumi/VDS, GMA News