The Board of Investments (BOI) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently entered into an agreement to expedite the applications for registration, amendment, and dissolution of corporations and partnerships related to setting up investment projects in the Philippines.
“The signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) would further enhance each BOI’s services to existing investors and prospective investors in the Philippines,” BOI- Investments Assistance Center (BOI-IAC) Executive Director Raul V. Angeles said.
Angeles said this MOA signing is just one of the recent initiatives of the BOI in reaching out to investors in improving its services and easing the flow of doing business in the country.
He also noted that the SEC now provides a Green Lane or an express lane for its clients to reduce long queues of people transacting with the SEC.
“There is already an initiative of SEC that licensing of foreign investors will now be in the Green Lane unit, that caters to registration of corporations and partnerships, including subsidiaries of foreign corporations wherein in one day they would expect approval,” SEC Director Ferdinand B. Sales said.
Sales said that the reckoning of one day will be done when the filing fees are already paid. The applicant cannot pay the filing fees if SEC does not issue the payment assessment form. This form will only be issued if the required documents are complete.
Sales noted that the approval of application previously took 3 to 5 days. The SEC established the Green Lane unit in pursuant to the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 and Administrative Order No. 38 on ease of doing business reforms, as well as National Competitiveness Council’s ease of doing business strategies.
Sales also said that the green lane unit currently has seven staff members and an additional three are assigned to cater to the MOA’s requirements.
In line with this MOA, the BOI and SEC likewise conducted a joint awareness seminar last year that covered topics such as corporate and partnership registration under the Foreign Investments Act, foreign companies license to do business in the country, updates on SEC policies and regulations, and rules on amendments and dissolution.
The BOI and SEC, together with 26 other government agencies, are members of the Investment Promotion Unit Network (IPU net), which is committed to expedite the facilitation of investment issues and concerns.
Posted By: Edrillan Pasion
