Integrative One-Stop Online Business Licensing Service For Business Users

For the inexperienced entrepreneurs, enduring the convoluted licensing application process used to be a necessary evil before jump-starting their businesses. As more than one licence is usually required for a particular business activity and the approval of one licence is sometimes contingent on the approval of another, it is little wonder that in some cases, the final approval might materialise only after several months. The worst-case scenario for an applicant would be, after months of waiting and numerous rounds of paperwork, is still not able to start his business because the application for a critical licence has not been approved.

That was the grim reality facing potential business start-ups in the past. The turning point came in August 2001, when in the spirit to foster a pro-enterprise environment in Singapore, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) together with 30 governmental agencies developed the Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS) at www.business.gov.sg/licences to reduce the burden and hassles that businesses face in obtaining licences.

For the convenience of the users, the Internet is tapped on to provide an integrative platform to accommodate all agencies' licensing requests under one URL. What's more, licensing processes were reviewed to simplify procedures and to shorten processing time for the users. For instance, the Energy Market Authority's (EMA) licence to generate electricity used to take six months; now with the e-platform, approval can be secured within six weeks.

Furthermore, an applicant will have to complete just one integrated form for the application of numerous licences, as opposed to a series of forms for different agencies. A consolidated payment mechanism also facilitates one-time payment for multiple licence fees, eliminating the need to make separate payments to various parties. With the processing of applications done concurrently, applicants can also benefit from reduced frustrations of lengthy waits associated with sequential approvals.

In moving forward, business applicants can look forward to having licence renewals, updates as well as terminations done through the OBLS. In this way, business users can just access one-single point of contact throughout their business licensing cycle.

For more information on the Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS), please refer to www.business.gov.sg/licences.