Industries Department starts issuing industrial permits

The Department of Industries has started assessing all permit applications from businesses that have applied and will start issuing industrial permits this week and next week, after the deadline of January 3, 2015.

The assessing of the applications aims to comply with the provisions of the new Industrial Development Act in Part 3, Section 4 and subsection (3) of the Act which states that the Director (of the Department of Industries) is to issue an industrial permit within 15 working days from the receipt of the application.

Since the close of the deadline for submission of the applications on January 3, 2015, the Department has reported receiving more than 30 applications.

When advice from the Department went out to industries following the issuing of Orders 232 and 233 of 2014 by the State Law Office on December 19, 2014 that the businesses are requested to apply before the January 3 deadline, the owners and operators of some of these industries refused to comply. They cited reasons of insufficient time to fill in the 14-page application form (prescribed form) due to the holiday season.

The Department insisted they comply as it is law and the Department was only implementing the Act of Parliament, and it said that those existing businesses that have received the advice and have not applied before the deadline will now have pay the full prescribed fees whereas if they had complied they would have been exempted from paying the fee industrial permit fees which are Vt100,000, Vt150,000 and Vt50,000 depending on the type and size of their business.

The Department has also received advice from the State Law Office that as an administrative matter, the office of the Department can be flexible with those who have not received the information to apply before January 3 until after the deadline had passed and allow them time until February 28 to fill in the prescribed form and send in to the Department. The Department is now acting in line with this advice, according to Joe Iauko of the Department

As issuing of Industrial Permits is taking place this week, Iauko has again appealed to people involved in industries to seek information from the Department.

‘‘It must be clear to Industries that they must come and get the right information from the office of the Department and not to get the information from somebody else, if you are not happy about something. The office exists to help industries and to serve their needs,” he urged.

“It must also be clear to everyone that the permit they get is for five years and it is different from the business license which people get for one year.”

Iauko explained that any new industry that is set up must first get the industrial permit before it gets the business license. An Industrial permit will allow a business to operate an industrial undertaking or internationally traded services undertaking.

If an industry does not get an industrial permit, it is an offence as outlined in Part 3 of the Industrial Development Act Section 4 Subsection 5 which says “It is an offence for a person to operate any industrial undertaking and internationally traded services undertaking in Vanuatu without a valid industrial permit.”

“This is why we are appealing to the people concerned to come to the office to get the right information regarding the duration of the validity of the industrial permit,” Iauko continued.

“At the end of each year during these 5 years,the owner must report the progress of the business so that government can consider its program of support for the business if required as stipulated under the Act and to consider use of exemptions.”

Exemption will only be given to businesses with a valid industrial permit.

“Existing businesses will not pay the industrial permit fee, only new businesses. Those who receive notices and have not responded at all will pay the fee because it is already law and the department is implementing an Act of Parliament that was passed by the Government of Moana Carcasses in 2014 when Port Vila MP Willie Jimmy was Minister of Trade, Industry and Commerce,” Iauko added.

He said that any new industries that have just come in must fill the form.

“If we see that the applicants require an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) exercise and if we think that they must set up in a particular zone, we will advise accordingly,” he added.”And if an application is from a company that is in the province, we must ensure they get the approval of the province and provincial planner is aware of this project.”