‘More efficient licensing tools needed in today’s business environment’ – Senators

Government’s decision to repeal the 1957 Liquor Licence Act and replace it with a new online system was hailed by the long-time head of the Barbados Small Business Association in the Senate on Wednesday.

As senators moved to send the new law over the final parliamentary hurdle to passage, Senator Lynette Holder said: “This is good legislation, because challenges relating to the ease of doing business has been a perennial problem in Barbados and it has affected our brand as a jurisdiction.

“In 2017 we were ranked at 132 out of 190 countries in this respect owing to the bureaucracy that surrounded the process. This bill removes a lot of those ‘bureaucratic headaches’ that plagued us in the past.”

She cited international research that spelt out four key benefits to a country, government and society that came out of making it easier for business ventures to get off the ground.

Senator Holder said: “First, businesses can improve their overall customer experience, and I believe any modern business licensing system should make all services accessible online, including application forms, the payment of fees, and keeping users up to date on how the process is faring.

“Business licensing tools also help reduce costs and increase business development. As we all know, ‘time is money’, and if a small business person has to go to three or four different departments to get a licence or other tools he needs for the business, such as health certificates, he can waste a whole day which could have been used to generate revenue.”

“These tools can also increase Government’s earnings, which means more money will be available for critical needs such as education and health care.”

Senator Holder noted that “when Government began reviewing the liquor licensing process there were over 1,000 applications waiting to be processed, which represented a loss in revenue. By switching to this method we can remove the bottlenecks in the current system which will improve efficiency”.

Another element she mentioned was that the new system should lead to greater inter-departmental collaboration, which she said was a major challenge in the public service at present.

“Many of us can attest to dealing with two Government departments, recognising that one did not share our information with the other, and as a result having to go through the whole process at the second agency again, which is a financial cost as well as a mental health cost when it leads to frustration,” she said.

Senator Lindell Nurse expressed the hope that the new system would run smoothly, as he pointed out some of the problems being faced at the Barbados Licensing Authority since that department moved to an online system.

He said: “People have been complaining about how the system at the Licensing Authority has been working in terms of getting their drivers’ licenses renewed, learner’s permits and weight certificates. It would be good if the Prime Minister can take on this challenge, but something must be done quickly to sort out these issues.” (DH)