The government is looking to ensure that firms can become incorporated online through its e-government site by June.
Speaking at the Ministry of Finance's E-Government and Business Forum yesterday, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson told attendees that the Registrar General's Department is in the process of ensuring that deeds and documents can be received, scanned and indexed within a 30-day period.
She pointed out that it was a system that the previous Christie administration had in place before leaving office in 2007. The initiative was cancelled under the Free National Movement's (FNM) government, she said. Now, the attorney general has pledged her government's commitment to re-instate that process.
"We started a project that we're hoping that by June of this year will be able to conduct the entire process from name, registration to incorporation and the printing of the certificate of incorporation entirely online," she explained. "We have situation here in place where documents were received, recorded, scanned, indexed and returned within 30 days.
"The team at the Registrar General's Department has committed to reinstate this process but this time around even more effectively and efficiently over a 30-day period."
Late last year, a Companies Advisory Committee was formed to improve efficiency and the ease of doing business in The Bahamas. The committee's formation coincided with The Bahamas' eight-point drop to 77th place in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business report. At the time, she said the number "really disturbed" her.
She also pointed out that it can take anywhere from 10 to 11 days to form a company in The Bahamas. Maynard-Gibson called that timeframe "simply unacceptable".
"The committee's primary mandate is to advise the attorney general on ways to improve company registration, thereby enhancing the ease of doing business in The Bahamas. The fact of the matter is it's possible to form a company in minutes. So we all ask ourselves: If it can be done in minutes, why is it taking sometimes as much as 11 days or more?
"IBM has indicated with proper support that this project is expected to be operational within the next six months. It is a focused attempt to heighten the levels of efficiency at the Registrar General's Department and to let the world know and the entire Bahamas know that we are very serious about ensuring that The Bahamas' ranking in the world is what we believe it ought to be, which is in the top 10," the minister said.
Maynard-Gibson further shared plans to draft amendments to the Companies and IBC Acts to create a "scheduled company", or a standard form that can be filled out for the immediate incorporation of a company.
"Financial and corporate service providers will be able to incorporate a company within minutes by filling in the required fields and paying online. This will result in obtaining a certificate of incorporation online," she added.
"We will also be able to provide newly formed companies with the option of filing its annual returns online, resulting in the ability to obtain certificates of good standing online in seconds as opposed to days or weeks, which is now the case."

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