DEPUTY Prime Minister for the Economy Ivan Mikloš has announced new measures for granting licences for business activities. Under his proposal, the granting of state licences for activities such as imports, exports and registry should become a faster and more transparent process.
Under Mikloš' plan, which should go into effect by March 15, licences granted by all state organs will be divided into three basic groups, each with strict criteria. A number of licences are to be sold through auction.
In addition to simplifying the process, Mikloš is also seeking to reduce the number of licences required by 25 per cent. As a measure of transparency, a list of granted and rejected licence requests will be published at www.licencie.sk by March 30.
An estimated 25 per cent of licences granted by the Slovak state in 2001 were acquired through corruption, with an average bribe of Sk14,000, according to government figures.
