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The Ministry of Economy and Commerce has eased licensing rules for some 55 business categories including some major sectors.
The Ministry said fire safety certification from the Civil Defence can be had within 30 days from acquiring commercial licences for the above businesses.
The new rule comes into effect from today and apply only to businesses that use space of up to 250 square metres, or 2,690 square feet, a Ministry release said yesterday.
The rule until yesterday was that fire safety certification from the Civil Defence was required by these businesses before having commercial licence (CL).
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The business activities include beauty salons, photo studios, sweet and flower shops, butcheries, abattoirs, telecoms services, car and other showrooms, and law and audit firms.
Other businesses include exchange houses, grocery stores, supermarkets and cafeterias, internet cafes, ice cream parlours, massage centres (for men and women), tailoring shops, gold and jewelry shops, a/c repair outlets and laundries. The Ministry said that fire safety certification was a must from the Civil Defense Department of the Ministry of Interior for all the above businesses and that the certification could be had within 30 days from acquiring commercial licence was the only relaxation being made.
“For this relaxation we have inked an agreement with the Interior Ministry,” said the Economy Ministry statement. The idea is to provide encouragement to businesses by easing procedures.
