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The following is issued on behalf of the Business Facilitation Advisory Committee Secretariat:
The Business Facilitation Advisory Committee chaired by Mr Anthony Nightingale held its first meeting today (February 14). The committee is set up to take forward the business facilitation efforts of the former Economic and Employment Council.
The committee reviewed the work progress of the four task forces - Pre-construction Task Force, Task Force to Review the Construction Stage of the Development Process, Town Planning Task Force and Retail Task Force - and agreed that the review of regulatory regimes should continue under the respective task forces, which include representatives from the trade and trade associations. The Economic Analysis and Business Facilitation Unit under the Financial Secretary's Office will provide secretarial support to the task forces and will also follow up with other business facilitation work for sectors not covered by the task forces.
Some of the ongoing studies are the review of approvals for plumbing design and installations in new buildings, private certification of building submissions and review of places of public entertainment licence application.
Legislative Councillor the Hon Tommy Cheung will lead a new task force to oversee a review on the regulatory regime of food premises licences.
The committee also discussed with representatives of the Hong Kong Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry the association's concerns and proposals on the regulatory activities affecting the business environment of the pharmaceutical industry.
Ends/Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:41
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