Por Redaccion 
The board of directors of the region of Murcia approved on Thursday the Decree of the Law of Administrative Simplification, a key measure to improve competitiveness, stimulate commercial activity, and attract new investments.
The new text, which after its approval by the Board of Directors will be sent to the Regional Assembly, integrates and rejects the three simplification initiatives approved in 2014, resulting in a single text that facilitates its application and understanding. Additionally, it establishes a new model of public management based on agility, digitalization, and transparency.
The new law, agreed upon with the employer of Croem, meets the requirements of the productive fabric, reducing bureaucratic burdens that hinder economic growth.
The Minister of Business, Execution, and Social Economy, Marisa López Aragón, emphasized, in the press conference following the Board of Directors meeting, that «this law is a direct response to what our companies support, which is nothing other than continuing to reduce bureaucratic burdens.»
Among the main practical measures considered by the law, positive administrative silence is seen as a general rule, allowing the administration not to respond during that period, understanding the application, which speeds up processes and generates confidence to invest; Responsible statements instead of authorizations for various procedures, allowing companies to start activities faster without waiting for previous permits.
In the specific case of the commercial sector, the possibility to accept this formula is extended, as until now only retail stores located in spaces could have a useful area for exhibition and sales of less than 300 square meters. With the new law, this limit is extended to 1,000 square meters, making it easier to open new businesses.
Additionally, another novelty is the replacement of responsible declaration as a means to demonstrate requirements, without the need to provide documents.
This tool, along with the business folder, a single digital point for interaction with the administration, assumes that citizens of the region of Murcia no longer have more than a million documents for the regional administration, with an estimated savings of six million euros and efforts.
Another measure is the simultaneity of reports, facilitating that everything needed in a procedure is issued at the same time, instead of in a chain, drastically reducing the terms.
The approved text this morning also includes the number of entities or technicians collaborating in certification, who will be able to verify and certify the legally required requirements. Among the news is also a new basic license in urban planning, which together with the simplification of environmental and heritage procedures will speed up housing construction and attract investments.
There is also an important measure in the field of tourism, as the activity of the hotel is promoted, compatible with the use of the hotel with residential land, «thus facilitating new investments in the sector.»
Additionally, there will be a compensation for administrative charges in the autonomous field, allowing a new obligation for companies to impose an equivalent cost, «ensuring that bureaucratic burden does not increase,» according to the counselor.
On the other hand, López Aragón explained that «according to the principle of good regulation, the law aims to expressly repeal regulations, laws, and decrees, thus contributing to the purification of the regional legal system and the consolidation of legal certainty.»
«Simplification is not unprotected»
The counselor also emphasized that «simplification does not mean unprotected. On the contrary, a more agile and transparent system better protects citizens and companies, reducing uncertainty and ensuring more efficient controls. Quality standards, safety, the environment, and rights are maintained.»
«Control mechanisms not only remain, but in many cases are strengthened due to the use of digital tools and greater traceability of procedures,» she adds.
In this regard, López Aragón explained that the regulation includes a fine article that can reach 600,000 euros in the case of very serious offenses related to collaborating entities or up to 300,000 euros in the case of very serious offenses related to responsible entities and previous communications.
She also indicated that the simplification law has already yielded concrete results. For example, in a project to expand renewable oil production capacity, coordination between administrations allowed processing times to be reduced by over 50 percent, resolving in just nine months.
In solar photovoltaic installations, regulatory simplification saved up to nine months in the process, facilitating investments of over 500 million euros. In the case of a nursing home, the exclusion of unnecessary procedures accelerated the project by up to 24 months.
Finally, the counselor emphasized that the new simplification law «was agreed upon with the employer of Croem and has the approval of extensive regulatory experience in the region.» «It is a decisive step to modernize administrative functioning, with a direct impact on improving regional competitiveness and attracting productive investments,» she says.
The objective of this rule is «of course, that citizens, self-employed individuals, and entrepreneurs can allocate less time and resources to bureaucracy and more to creating jobs and wealth in the region of Murcia,» concluded the counselor.