Licenses Across Key Sectors of the Irish Economy
As part of the Action Plans for Jobs 2012 Forfás has reviewed 159 licences for key sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, food and drink, retail, hospitality and leisure, waste management, road haulage and construction.
The key findings from the review include the relevant licensing authorities to:
- Proceed towards development of integrated licensing systems for retail, food and drink, hospitality and leisure and construction sectors and
- Rationalise the number of licences and
- Streamline processes so as to reduce the overall administrative burden on business.
SME retailers will be able to apply for all of their annual licensing requirements at a single time via a single portal by Q4 2013, as part of a Government plan to reduce the administrative burden of licensing requirements for businesses.
A series of recommendations is presented in A Review and Audit of Licenses Across Key Sectors of the Irish Economy to reduce the administrative burden on enterprises some of which are sector specific and some of which are overarching in nature that all licensing authorities need to consider and apply.
Key findings include:
- Licensing in general is recognised as essential by business, but the burden of many licences is unnecessarily high
- Risk based licensing needs to be more widely used, to reduce the burden and associated costs for low-risk and compliant businesses
- Licensing process and requirements need to be subject to regular process audit and review to increase efficiencies and reduce the burdens of processes on business