Shorter duration of license and authorization issue to businessmen procedure proposed by Ministry of Economy
One month time which is approximately required for a license to be issued affects both the businessmen and the State and gives reasons to incur nearly LTL 24 million (0.02%) annual loss of the GDP during the said period. We cannot afford such losses and therefore have to create conditions which could help business function more efficiently and smoothly.
The Ministry of Economy therefore proposes to reduce the duration of the procedure required to issue licenses and authorisations and thus allow businessmen to start their activities immediately after submission of the application and other required documentation to the authority concerned,’ said Minister of Economy Rimantas Žylius.
At present, natural and legal persons who intend to engage in the licensed commercial activities are not entitled to start their activities immediately, whatever the risk, and have to wait for 30 days for the license or authorization to be issued, which results in annual loss of about 1 000 jobs in this country.
The project seeks that the businessmen who need a license or permit to engage in the risk-free licensed commercial activities (for instance, to trade in antiquarian items, perform geodesic works, etc.) be entitled to engage in these activities the next day after the authority concerned receives the application to issue a license (and other required documents when needed).
The persons engaged in high-risk activities (dairy products, for instance) the risk level of which may be efficiently reduced through advance inspection of the enterprise, should start their activities only after performing of an advance other than document inspection by a competent authority and after stating by the authority that the enterprise meets all the requirements laid down in the legislation and necessary to start the activities. In this case the launch of the licensed activities will correspond to the issue of a license or authorisation on paper or in electronic form.
The proposed amendments are aimed to reduce the losses incurred by companies and the national budget. The costs are incurred due to stringent legal requirements applicable to various licenses and authorisations disregarding the risk level of the licensed activities. Therefore, differentiation of the licencing requirements in proportion to the risk level of activities would help save the resources of the business supervision bodies.
The draft project developed by the Ministry of Economy has been circulated to the authorities concerned to achieve their agreement and comments.
