The Ministry of Economy and Finance on September 1 is due to deploy Phase II of its online business registration platform, also known as the “Single Portal”, it said in a press release.
Six ministries and state-run institutions were integrated into the business registration portal in its initial phase, which was launched on June 15, last year by government representatives.
Those were the finance, interior, commerce and labour ministries as well as the General Department of Taxation (GDT) and Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC).
The finance ministry said four new agencies would join the Single Portal in Phase II, adding more classes of business licences and permits available for application on the platform.
These agencies are the Non-Bank Financial Services Authority’s Real Estate Business and Pawnshop Regulator, and the industry, tourism and telecoms ministries, it noted.
“This is part of a sweeping reform package of the upper echelon of the Royal Government of Cambodia, which was unveiled at the 18th Royal Government-Private Sector Forum on March 29, 2019,” the finance ministry said without elaborating.
The ministry earlier alluded to the possibility of the Ministry of Health or General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia joining the Single Portal in the future, but the press release made no mention of whether plans to integrate them were postponed or scrapped altogether.
Chhea Layhy, director of the industry ministry’s General Department of Small and Medium Enterprises and Handicraft, told The Post that the rollout of the platform’s Phase II was an important accompaniment to national policies and plans related to e-government, as well as ASEAN strategic plans.
Now with the industry ministry enlisted, Layhy said he anticipates an uptick in small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) registrations on the platform.
“We expect that the system will make things a lot easier for local and foreign businesses, especially SMEs, streamlining the business registration process and saving both time and money,” he said, voicing confidence in Phase II’s success.
As of June 14, some 6,164 applications had been approved with a total capital of $2.631 million, and 810 more were under final review, the finance ministry said in a press release issued in conjunction with the Single Portal’s first anniversary.
As of the same day, 5,637 applicants had cleared a preliminary review and were “registered for reservation”, awaiting the final review. Another 270 are under preliminary review and one other was declined.
The Single Portal can be accessed at registrationservices.gov.kh.
