Well-executed administrative digitization is best combined with simplifying the underlying administrative processes, offering services from a single source and collecting data and evidence on the part of the administration instead of burdening citizens and businesses. Digital processes also simplify administrative work. This becomes particularly apparent in times of crisis. Whether it’s registering hundreds of thousands of refugees, recording incidence values or paying out aid payments and energy premiums in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic – many a crisis response would be faster, more effective and cheaper with a functioning state IT system interacting seamlessly at the municipal and state level right up to the federal government.

The fact that government and administration can be successfully digitized and that there are savings and service effects to be achieved as a result is not only underlined by inspiring examples from leading digital nations, but also by a number of reports from previous years. However: Germany is struggling to gain a foothold in digitization and to quickly and convincingly implement measures that have long been recognized as necessary. Every international ranking placing Germany in the lower midfield of the developed countries grows the awareness of this national problem and underscores that this is not a problem of knowledge, but rather a problem of implementation.

Sobering OZG balance sheet

The ambitious Online Access Act (German: Onlinezugangsgesetz, abbreviated OZG ) has not changed this assessment. It is true that in its current form, the OZG has caused the federal, state and local governments to focus more intensively on the digitization of administrative services than in the many years before. In the five years of its implementation, however, it has not come close to achieving the goal of nationwide digitization of all essential administrative services as stated in the Online Access Act. In view of this sobering OZG balance sheet, the NKR believes that the experience and knowledge gained to date must be incorporated much more intensively into the intended OZG Amendment Act.

No administrative digitization without modern registers

Modern registers based on the once-only principle ensure that businesses and citizens do not have to repeatedly present their data and evidence in official matters. The administration can access the data records that are kept in different state-run registers. For example, instead of repeatedly requesting and submitting birth certificates, this data can simply be retrieved from the civil register with the consent of the individual. In this respect, register modernization is a crucial prerequisite for simple, digital and low-bureaucracy administrative procedures and is comparable in its importance to the Online Access Act.

The NKR has looked at different approaches to modernizing the register landscape. In 2017, it published a report entitled "Mehr Leistung für Bürger und Unternehmen: Verwaltung digitalisieren. Register modernisieren” (“Improved performance for citizens and businesses: Digitizing administration. Modernizing registers.”). The report estimated a relief potential of around 6 billion euros per year resulting for businesses, citizens and the administration from better use of public sector register data.