Mexico’s Federal Government Announces Contest to Identify the Least Useful Government Procedure

On September 26, 2008 the rules for a Contest to identify the least useful government procedure were published in Mexico’s Official Journal of theFederation (Diario Oficial de la Federacion). At the request of President Felipe Calderon and the non-governmental organization TransparenciaMexicana, the contest seeks to determine and identify those federal, state and municipal governmental procedures that should be eliminated or revised inorder to better serve the general public, all within the framework of Mexico’s Procedural Improvement Program (Programa de Mejora de la Gestion). It ishoped that the contest will generate a broad-based response. In our view, this would also be a good opportunity to recognize the “Best Procedure”(Tramite Ejemplar) in order to balance the contest proposed by the government.