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Easy license process for retailers soon

Tuesday, March 12 15:41:58

By the end of the year, retailers will be able to apply for various licenses over the Web in a much simplified and cheaper process, Minister for Small Business, John Perry, said today.

"The new Integrated Licensing Application Portal for retailers will provide significant savings in terms of time and costs for businesses and entrepreneurs across Ireland through the simplification of the process for applying for multiple licences. This will help business competitiveness and will ultimately protect and create more jobs," the Minister said as he chaired the first meeting of the Steering Group of licensing authorities.

"Regulation is essential to ensure national standards in health and safety, consumer protection, environmental quality, competition and provision of essential services but it is imperative that unnecessary burden is not placed on Irish businesses in the process. Streamlining licence application into a single web based application portal, whereby retailers can register once and apply for up to 25 separate licences, is a positive first step and a major reform of Government licensing process for businesses."

"The new licensing system will be developed for the retail sector in the first instance by the end of 2013 and rolled out to other sectors of the economy thereafter. It is one of the Government's Disruptive Reforms in the Action Plan for Jobs 2013".

The Disruptive Reform was adopted following a Forfas review in 2012 of 159 licenses for key sectors of business across the economy. The report concluded that the burden was unnecessarily high and a rationalisation was feasible to help reduce the licensing processes for business by up to one third.