All services are available through a single window on the Internet. For instance, by bringing most services for businesses to a single window that integrates services for government procurement, businesses can benefit from the enhanced convenience and transparency. All the procedures from export or import, loading and unloading, customs to delivery will eventually be brought online. Additional services such as patent application and payment will also be electronically processed for the purpose of protecting intellectual property rights of the businesses, which further contributes to their competitiveness.
The MIC said the government can work more efficiently thanks to the digitalization of core work procedures. The time and money saved by this can further contribute to the improvement of civil services for people. Real-time open processing of civil applications and a bilateral communication system between the people and the government will develop a more transparent and democratic government, it said.
Among the services available includes the one-stop service system for export and import cargo (PORT-MIS). To provide a one-stop service in port logistics, information systems were to the entire port logistics process. This enables systematic information sharing among related agencies ranging from the arrival to departure of vessels and cargos. Due to separate, consecutive administration processes of customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) agencies, as well as ports suffered from chronic congested logistics costs soaring drastically. The entire workflow of import/export logistics needed to be re-engineered to reduce the logistics costs incurred in the import/export process and to mitigate the investment burden in social overhead capital (SOC).
The computerization of port management systems was initiated in 1986. By 1992, Busan port started to process administration of shipping-in and shipping-out of vessels online. From 1993 to 1999, a total of 8.1 billion won was invested in implementing the information sharing system for CIQ agencies including the electronic data interchange (EDI) system. All required forms for vessels' entry/departure have been standardized and the clearance process can be completed with a one-stop declaration.
About 10,000 companies including shipping companies and agencies are using the EDI system for import and export processes including the arrival and departure of vessels (5 million request per annum). The PORT-MIS Web site (http://portmis.momaf.go.kr) integrates diverse information, which has been collected during the system operation on the arrival/departure of vessels, cargos and ships. This information is provided to domestic and global users in various languages (English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, etc.) on the Internet.
As revenue collection and port administration documents are now processed electronically, the number of required documents has been reduced to 16 from 75 and the processing time decreased to two minutes to two hours.
One-time declaration is enough to complete the import and export process as related agencies now share necessary information through computerized networks, thus reducing the processing time to two minutes from the previous three hours. With the PORT-MIS system in place, the estimated cost saving is about 490 billion won per annum.
To develop a paperless patent administration system to handle all IP-related administrative procedures including filing, examination, registration and payment of fees, and to improve the quality of service and operational efficiency, the Korea Intellectual Property Office has established a network (KIPOnet). With the establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995, the international economy entered into the era of globalization. Accordingly, applications for patents and disputes on patent infringements are increasing greatly. Therefore, more investments are made in technology development. In the 1990s, the number of intellectual property applications received at KIPO including patents, new utility designs, design rights and trademarks exceeded 200,000 per annum. It was 100,000 in 1989. KIPO realized that it could not handle the workload by the traditional method as response time lagged, efficiency dropped and publication costs increased. In 1992, KIPO mapped out the Patent Administration Informatization Plan and began to implement the KIPOnet system in order to streamline patent-related administration procedures. In 2000, the online fee-payment system was established and online services such as newsletter publication service and remote video consulting service were adopted to provide a wider range of online services.
Applicants are now able to file their IP applications such as patents, new utility designs, design rights and trademarks online through KIPOnet in their living rooms or workplaces. KIPOnet set up an automated electric distribution and management system of documents ranging from online applications, internal documents and publications of official reports. Anyone can tap into and search through more than 20 million entries of both foreign and local IP information via the Internet for free. The international electronic exchange of patent related documents such as priority certificates was made possible through the networks interconnecting the world's top three intellectual property offices.
The usage rate of KIPOnet shows continuous growth due to thorough preparation in terms of laws and regulations, user-friendly applications, and a stable system from the outset. About 240,000 applications (81.4 percent) out of 290,000 were filed online in 2001. After patent-related information services were provided on the Internet in 1999 and became free of charge in 2000, the number of people using patent information increased by an average of 430 percent annually to 3.3 million users.
All in-house IP administration procedure was computerized and a total of 1,650,000 applications out of 1,660,000 are being electronically approved (99.1 percent as of 2001) and the operational efficiency has greatly improved. The examination process has been reduced by more than six months from 28.1 months to 21.3 months.
The e-government program also features computerization of customs administration. This is geared towards establishing information systems that streamline customs administration and establish effective smuggling interdiction, to reduce logistics costs in the import and export industry and improve the quality of services offered.
Importers and exporters needed to appear in customs houses and financial institutions to clear their goods, pay customs duty and apply for tax refunds. Clearance, surveillance and control over airports and ports were not systematic and not efficient enough to cater to travelers' needs. In 1998, the entire procedure including customs declaration for import or export, port entry, unloading, transportation, storage and refunding activities were computerized. In 1999, the EDI clearance system was interconnected to the networks of 64 import/export related agencies and 17 major banks to establish paperless clearance procedures that electronically processed cargo inspection and customs duty payments. To provide effective surveillance of illegal trading that takes advantage of simplified clearance procedures, accumulated information on clearance, refund and foreign exchange were automatically analyzed by computers since the year 2000.
A total of 1,631 entities including 11,894 trading companies and 808 offices utilize the EDI clearance system to perform import/export clearance tasks. A network was established to interconnect 81 institutions including Korea Food and Drug Administration and quarantine offices for customs, Korea Apparel Industry Association for various kinds of tax and quota, and local banks.
By establishing the world's first end-to-end import/export declaration, acceptance and release system, transparency of customs administration has enhanced and people can clear their goods at their offices with a simple click of the mouse. In the case of complicated import clearances, what used to require two days in the past requires only 2.5 hours now, four hours faster than the UNCTAD recommendation. It takes only eight days from port to entry for goods delivery at tax withholding areas, a huge drop from the previous 23 days; and the export clearance takes only two minutes compared to the previous four hours. Annual savings of 2.5 trillion won was achieved by establishing the paperless clearance system and by interconnecting relevant agencies via networks, thus necessitating personal visits to customs offices and reducing the duration of clearance processes.
The public cyber services also feature the government procurement services (G2B). When Korea joined the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) in 1994, there arose a need to overcome the inefficiency caused by redundant manual processing methods. Thereby, proactive adaptation to the rapidly changing trading environment has risen. Government procurement processes used to be time-consuming and painstaking as they required a lot of paperwork and involved multiple agencies. The number of paper documents processed reached 4 million in 1997. It took an average of three to four working days to process each document. The business culture that preferred personal contacts to electronic interaction has been pointed out repeatedly as a major cause of corruption and has impeded active use of procurement information systems.
In 1997, exchange and authentication systems were implemented for the introduction of the EDI system. By 1999, the introduction of domestic procurement and accounting systems were completed. In 2001, electronic government procurement system was selected as one of the main pillars of e-government in Korea. Strategies for government procurement, business process reengineering (BPR) and information strategy planning (ISP) for G2B were formulated. Development of a G2B portal was completed to serve as a single window that provides bidding information in the public sector and processes various operations from purchase requests to payments.
Procurement processes that used to rely on mail registration and personal visits became computerized. This created a paperless government procurement system as convenient as the best e-marketplaces in the private sector. Procurement information including receipt of purchase requests, public announcement of biddings, award of contracts and contract status is provided real-time on the Internet. This insures fair and transparent procurement processes and provides services that are open to all. The G2B system is expected to play a key role not only in the public sector but also in the private sector as well as by stimulating online trading markets.
The e-Government project also includes the national financial information system. The national treasury was not managed efficiently due to the lack of common standards for collecting financial information and the unavailability of real-time monitoring of financial activities. With little or no sharing of information between financial agencies, certain information did not conform to each other and redundant work processes were handled manually.
A total investment of 6.2 billion won was made from 1997 to 1999 to build a national financial information system centered on the single-entry bookkeeping on the cash basis. The government's accounting offices became connected to the central network of the Ministry of Finance and Economy for automatic summation and settlement processes. A new information strategy planning (ISP) was prepared in 2001 in preparation for accounting principle changes to a double-entry bookkeeping on the accrual basis in 2003. As stipulated in the current ISP, a total investment of 19.8 billion won will be made to build a national financial information system by 2003 to accomplish the following: Successful transition to the double-entry bookkeeping on the accrual basis, to streamline financial affairs ranging from budget allocation and settlement to audits and inspections that are being redundantly carried out by different agencies. And real-time management of national revenues and expenditures and electronic transfer and receipt.
The National Financial Information System in compliance with the accounting principle of single-entry bookkeeping on the cash basis has improved productivity by automating settlements. The entire administration process shows greater efficiency as the accounting period was reduced to a monthly basis from the previous yearly basis and all required reports now take one to three days to complete from the previous five to 10 days. Operation of the National Financial Information System in compliance with the double-entry bookkeeping on the accrual basis will enable the following: Real-time management of import, export, earnings and expenses, enabling the leveraging of unspent fund and thus realizing nontaxable earning of 200 billion won annually. Electronic notification and money transfer enabling citizens to pay taxes and fees at home or in the office. And to enable businesses to receive payments for goods and services in their bank accounts.
Thus, through such system, the government aims to enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability of financial activities in such areas as budget allocation, execution, accounting, settlement and auditing through the construction of information systems that enable real-time management of national fiscal activities.
Quelle: The Korea Herold
