The Anti-Red Tape Authority – ARTA – in collaboration with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), launched the National Business One-Stop Shop (NBOSS) located at Function Rooms A and B at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Building in PICC last February 28.
The NBOSS is a physical co-location and integration of the processes of the SEC, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth), and the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) for a streamlined business registration process for One Person Corporation applicants. It also features the usage of a Unified Business Application Form which will provide convenience to the public by accepting application of business permits in a central location and promoting the use of the electronic payment systems for registration and filing fees.
The NBOSS is an initiative of ARTA, in collaboration with DICT and the abovementioned national government agencies, to improve the Philippines’ score in the Starting a Business indicator for the World Bank’s Doing Business Report. This is pursuant to Rule XI Section 4 (a) and (b) of R.A. 11032’s Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), which mandate ARTA to implement and oversee a national policy on anti-red tape and ease of doing business; and to implement various ease of doing business reform initiatives aimed at improving the ranking of the Philippines.
Furthermore, it is also pursuant to the adoption of a whole-of-government approach in the streamlining of government services, which is also stated in the IRR. In the 2020 Doing Business Report, the Philippines improved its ranking to 95th out of 190 economies from the 124th spot in 2019. The country, however, dropped to the 171st from the 166th in 2019 on the Starting a Business indicator. In order to address this slip in ranking, ARTA has sped up the establishment of the NBOSS among other initiatives.
The NBOSS is to be complemented by the Central Business Portal (CBP), which is being developed by DICT. The CBP shall serve as a central system to receive applications and capture application data involving business-related transactions, and may provide links to the online registration or application systems established by national government agencies.
With the implementation of the NBOSS and CBP, ARTA projects that starting a business can be completed in 9 steps in 7 and a half days, an improvement from 13 steps in 33 days in the 2020 Doing Business Report.
The NBOSS launched today in SEC will be the first among many locations that would soon be made available in other parts of the country. (ARTA)
