Curaçao less attractive for entrepreneurs due to bureaucracy and high costs

WILLEMSTAD - The bureaucracy and high costs of doing business make Curaçao less attractive for entrepreneurs than other countries in the Caribbean. This is evident from a review of the steps that must be taken to start a company.  

 

The legal framework of Curaçao is outdated, the lead time of processes is relatively long and instruments that Curaçao has implemented are not known to entrepreneurs, but also not always within the government and are therefore not widely used. 

In their final report Red Tape and Cost of Doing Business, the researchers indicate that Curaçao generally has a higher number of steps to start a business compared to the other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The researchers do indicate that there is room for improvement and reducing the number of steps by linking steps and eliminating unnecessary ones. 

 

For most indicators, the steps are not accessible (available online) or transparent (explained in detail) enough that people should call or email for more information. For most indicators, applications cannot yet be submitted online, which means that people have to go to a physical counter and physical files must be submitted. 

 

In a number of cases reference is made to laws for the assessment criteria to be used, but laws are not always transparent and legible or understandable to the average reader. 

 

The researches also indicate that in a number of cases, the assessment criteria used still leave too much room for one's own interpretation and subjectivity during the assessment, for example in Resolving Insolvency and Dealing with Construction Permits. 

The researches also believe that the website of the Permits Desk could be more user-friendly. 

 

The use of stamps for Starting a Business and Applying for Investment Incentives increases the number of steps. In addition, that the stamps are formally only for sale at the Recipient, but that a number of entrepreneurs in the vicinity of physical submission locations also provide stamps offer. These entrepreneurs charge a margin, which makes a stamp more expensive, and there are stories that counterfeit stamps are also sold. 

 

Many of the fees charged are not payable from the website. Many organizations do accept bank transfers via the bank, but ask for proof of payment before the service is provided. 

 

Some results of an application procedure are never used again (such as the Work Booklet) or do not meet the requirements for a next step (messages have been received from people who have received an unstamped decision allocation CRIB number). 

 

According to the researchers, Curaçao generally scores in the low-medium compared to the other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is better than expected, but there is no reason to sit back: there is room for improvement by digitizing processes and to define standard applications.  

 

Every application is treated equally and in the order in which it is received. At first glance, that's fair, but it also means that a 'regular application' that meets all the conditions, but which is submitted just after a complex application, has to wait until the complex application has been processed. 

 

There are only a limited number of functionalities through which (basic) data from data files can be exchanged. As a result, the same data and documents have to be supplied again to different authorities or stamped copies have to be handed in because the database (with numbers of the Tax Authorities, SVB (Social Security Bank) and the Chamber of Commerce, with address or personal data or the Topographical base map) is not available and cannot be consulted by other organizations. 

 

Ministries and organizations such as ROP, SOAW, GMN, Land Registry and the Admissions Organization are currently all separately working on the digitization of the front and/or back office processes, while the Permits Desk is technically capable of taking care of the front office for all these organizations, which means that and digital one counter for entrepreneurs can be created. 

 

Because not all information is accessible or complete online and the individual counters know little about each other or feel that they cannot or should not provide information, an applicant has to go through all 'counters' to obtain the correct information. 

 

Click here to download the report 




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