Fully online set-up process for new businesses expected by year's end

The Government has announced the introduction of new online services which should halve the time needed to set up a business in Malta by the end of 2016.

Addressing a press conference at Castille this morning, Principal Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar said that the new measures are part of the reform of the public service and were intended to reduce the disheartening bureaucracy associated with setting up a business in Malta.

The new portal is intended to automatically and seamlessly submit the information to the various stakeholders, in parallel.

Businesses will be set up electronically by following only two procedures, by the end of September 2016, a process that should take "just over three days," Cutajar said, explaining that the focus is to “have a single interactive portal that would guide the user itself.”

Although the number of new businesses opened per year has nearly doubled from 6500 in 2012 to 11,700 in 2015, the current registration process still takes 28 days from start to finish. The introduction of the new system is expected to immediately slash this time frame by more than half, to 12 days.

The new system represented a shift in point of view to a client-focussed public service from one that was focussed on the service itself, Cutajar said. Clear, precise and public Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) had been introduced in the public service, he said, proudly announcing that “from a Public Service that would  decide without deadlines we are making a Public Service that delivers on deadline and on budget.”

He pointed to the report from the last NAO audit, saying it “is a witness to the new regime of accountability.”

Cutajar said he disagreed with those who say the streamlined measures were actually deregulation and a relaxation of controls by stealth. Only the excessive controls have been removed,” he said adding that "in any case, no matter how many bureaucratic measures are removed, accountability is untouchable.”

Malta enterprise COO Marika Tonna explained that the remit of the Business First scheme had been widened to help entrepreneurs to open businesses. “In spite of improved growth, we were not content with the situation,” Tonna explained, “so we analysed the process of registering a new business.”

She was proud of advising government to take the “bold decision” to remove general trade licences entirely. She said she expects that this measure alone will reduce business costs by over €1,000 annually. Also to be slashed are the processing times for applications - Transport Malta trenching permits from 30 days to just 7; connecting to the WSC water supply to shrink from 42 to 26. “There is no reason to give local councils a month to decide on whether to open a trench.”

Cutajar also announced that a mobile application, allowing a single sign-in to access various government online services, was at an advanced stage of development. “We mean business in what we are doing.”