AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Business Registrations and Licensing Agency (Brela) will mount a countrywide operation to inspect trading licences. The agency said the operation was necessary since their spot survey had indicated the majority of traders were using middlemen to register online, who most issued fake licences.
Brela Business Officer Peter Riwa urged traders to register their businesses themselves direct online instead of using middlemen to avoid unnecessary inconveniences.
“We will start the countrywide operation to inspect those with fake licences,” Mr Riwa said.
The online registration offers an opportunity for businesspeople to register and get their licences online and cut time for getting certificates.
“The process doesn’t need a middleman and thus by using them one violates the country’s laws and regulations,” Mr Riwa said.
The agency said using middlemen in most cases led to getting fake certificates and also was against the country’s laws and regulations of doing business.
The online registration platform to do away hassles and tussle of meeting face to face. Mr Riwa said further that the introduction of online registration was a success since it had eliminated fake handwritten licences.
“Through the electronic licensing system, it has helped the government and relevant authorities to obtain statistics on licensed traders and the types of businesses they conduct,” he said.
Moreover, it has also increased the number of licensed traders and will also enable them to be recognised, for example, in the private sector as banks if they want to get loans to develop their businesses.
Mr Riwa added that electronic business licences had helped to overcome obstacles, including bureaucracy in licensing as the system was transparent
