Sabil, the administrative simplification platform presented in Nawaf Salam on 9 November 2026, puts the digitization of Lebanese services at the forefront. On the same day, the Minister of Labour examined the computerization of the CNSS and its liaison with pharmacies. These approaches are aimed at reducing travel and delays. They do not mean that all formalities are now remotely accessible.
Sabil, first step in digitizing Lebanese services
The Minister of State for Technology and Artificial Intelligence, Kamal Shehadeh, presented Sabil’s advancement to the President of the Council. The platform should help administrations simplify their procedures. According to the Minister, artificial intelligence will be used to propose improvements and identify unnecessary steps.
The project also includes an information component. It must direct citizens to the necessary documents and procedures in different administrations. Shehadeh presents it as a first step towards a progressive digital transition, not as the completion of it.
The 9 November Government communiqué does not provide a date for generalization or a list of fully dematerialized formalities. Nor does he announce the deletion of all paper pieces. The immediate objective outlined by the Minister remains to make administrative pathways simpler and more readable.
Administrations consulted prior to deployment
This presentation comes after a first round of consultations announced by the Ministry on 26 October. Representatives of ministries and public institutions were invited to test the platform. These sessions were to collect their observations and verify administrative requirements, particularly for the most used services.
The Ministry wishes to provide information on the required documents, conditions of access and applicable fees. The issue therefore goes beyond putting a form online: it is also a question of clarifying what each authority is asking for. Consultation with the services concerned should contribute to the reliability of this information.
Information available online and a fully feasible distance approach remain two different services. The ads on Sabil describe above all a tool of guidance and simplification. They do not yet indicate to a user that he or she can forgo any movement.
CNSS wants to link pharmacies to its services
At the National Social Security Fund, the project deals with the processing of cases. On 9 November, the Minister of Labour, Mohammad Haidar, met with Béchara Asmar, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Mohammad Karaki, Managing Director. The discussions concerned computerisation and speeding up the process of insured persons.
Officials discussed the connection between CNSS and pharmacies. They also discussed end-of-service allowances and the need to speed up treatment. The report does not provide any new time frames against the services or a technical connection schedule.
This work extends a meeting on 28 October between Haidar, Karaki and the President of the Order of Pharmacists, Abdel Rahman Merkabaoui. The Minister’s office then presented a specific objective: to electronically transmit records from pharmacies. Participants agreed to seek technical assistance to review implementation.
The announcement therefore concerned the steps necessary to implement the scheme. It did not confirm its operation in all pharmacies. Accelerating transmission must facilitate instruction and payment, but does not in itself constitute a new repayment decision.
At Customs, a separate yard
The modernization of customs follows another path, explained by Yassine Jaber during his visit to Cairo ICT 2026. The Minister of Finance wants to strengthen control tools and expand electronic services. In particular, it refers to international price data to examine reported import values.
These announcements, already detailed in his statements in Cairo, do not describe a customs connection to Sabil. Work on customs declarations, public administrative guidance and the transmission of medical records meets different needs. No single system is announced for these three projects.
The next expected clarifications relate to the actual steps taken, the participating administrations and the dates of commissioning. For both insured and departmental users, they will make it possible to distinguish between already avoidable travel and those that projects still seek to eliminate.
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