Reducing regulatory burden, supporting the heartlands
Meanwhile, the government continues to reduce the compliance burden on companies, he said, announcing three commitments by a pro-enterprise inter-ministerial committee.
These were developed in consultation with regulatory agencies, after engagement with the business community.
First, agencies should publish service standards for the processing of business regulatory applications. Applications should be processed within 30 working days, where feasible.
Second, business licences should be made valid for at least three years, and preferably up to five years. Agencies should provide reasons if a three-year validity period is not feasible.
Agencies can continue issuing provisional licences to new businesses, before awarding a longer validity period upon renewal.
Third, the government will continue to streamline processes to minimise sequential regulatory approvals and duplicative information requests from multiple agencies.
Separately, the earlier-announced Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Pro-Enterprise Office (SME PEO) will be fully operational from 26 March.
It will be the government’s main coordination unit for improving regulations. SMEs can give feedback via an online form, hotline or by visiting SME Centres.
Two other initiatives aim to make the heartlands more vibrant.
From 1 April, a one-year Vibrant Heartland Programme will encourage heartland merchants’ associations to hold placemaking activities. There are two tiers. A standard package offers bite-sized and pre-scoped activities – such as children’s craft workshops and games – from pre-qualified vendors. Merchants’ associations can get funding support for qualifying costs of S$3,000 per application.
For more “unique, creative and impactful” ideas, there is an upsized package for larger-scale, customisable placemaking events, with support for qualifying costs of up to S$200,000 per application.
Second, the Visual Merchandising Programme will be enhanced to help heartland shops develop stronger content and visual merchandising strategies.
To support heartland shops that wish to pursue larger-scale projects, it has increased the cap on supportable qualifying projects costs to up to S$60,000, from S$12,000 previously.
It will also support customised projects, with a wider range of eligible makeover items, and include more training on digital and visual merchandising.
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