Legislation review project set to improve the ease of doing business locally
The government this week launched a corporate legislative review project to modernize outdated business laws and improve the ease of doing business in the country.
The purpose of the project furthermore is so to simplify and promote the digitalization of the process of registering a business and to encourage investments and innovation through an effective and predictable regulatory business environment.
“The Ministry of Industrialization and Trade together with its various stakeholders and partners have done various assessments of the economy and have engaged the business fraternity at length over the past 3 to 4 years. I believe that we are aided by the fact that the business and investment sector require a push in the right direction to yield the required results for a prosperous economic trajectory now and in the future,” said the Minister of Industrialization and Trade, Lucia Iipumbu at a roundtable discussion in Windhoek.
Iipumbu said, for this to happen, what is required is the construction of a robust legal and regulatory framework that allows for guidelines on the conduct of business in Namibia.
“Because our current laws are outdated, the processes and procedures do not speak to the current environment and have thus been a hindrance toward the Ease of Doing Business in Namibia. Namibia has generally not performed well on the ease of doing business ranking due to several challenges, of which one was the number of days it takes to start a business,” she said.
With the amendment of the laws, it would also consider simplifying the process of business registration including making the law flexible for the electronic filing of applications and other related documents, required to be lodged with the Registrar, Ipumbu added.
“Reducing the number of days is most certainly a near future reality, but we must first ensure that all the hindrances are addressed. Some of the hindrances to the realization of that potential include the apparent ‘bureaucratic red tape,’ ‘unfavorable regulatory framework for doing business,’ archaic business law concepts and processes, corruption and its related vices,” she said.
The roundtable and its emanating discussions will invariably lead to the development of the Corporate Laws Bill and Regulations, which will replace the current Companies Act, of 2004, and the Close Corporations Act, of 1988.
