The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Registrar General’s Department is aiming to slash the time required to record deeds and documents by more than 75 per cent, with the Bahamas bidding to break into the world’s top 10 for ‘ease of doing business’.

Allyson Maynard-Gibson, the attorney general, told Tribune Business that the Department was focused on reducing the period taken to process real estate conveyances and associated documents, such as mortgages and other liens/charges, from an average 30 days to just seven.

She disclosed that this was part of the Government’s wider initiative to boost efficiency and turnaround time at the Registrar General’s Department, the key goal being to place essential services “entirely online”.

Emphasising that the Christie administration was focused on delivering “21st century efficient service” through the Registrar General’s Department, the Attorney General indicated that the focus was on ‘straight-through processing - from application to payment/receipt of service.

Recognising that the Registrar General’s Department is the hub around which the private sector functions, with all Bahamians and businesses coming into contact with it at some point, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said the agency was a vital cog in the ‘ease of doing business’ in this nation.

“We’re working on five sections in the Registrar General’s Department: companies, deeds and documents, births and deaths, intellectual property and maritime marriages,” she told this newspaper.

“We would like to have them all entirely on line, applications and everything. I look forward to the day when you can sit at your desk, pay a small fee and do a search from your desk at the Registrar General’s Department and get whatever it is you want. That’s 21st century efficient service, and that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Noting the wider importance of enhancing efficiency and service quality, the Attorney General said such improvements were vital to improving the Bahamas’ overall standing in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings.

“We want to get from 87th position before this term ends [in 2017] into the top 10,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson said of the Government’s ambitions to improve its ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings.

“It’s a good time at the Registrar General’s Department. We are full throttle.”

Outlining the progress made in each area, Mrs Maynard-Gibson said Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines was already applying online for marriage certificates relating to weddings scheduled for its vessels in Bahamian waters.

The electronic recording of every life birth at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) and Freeport’s Rand Memorial Hospital is another government goal, with space for this venture already identified at the PMH.

As for intellectual property, a World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) consultant is assisting the Registrar General’s Department with sorting out its registry and permitting online patent, trademark and copyright applications.

“We’re making great progress in getting that up to date,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson said of the Bahamas’ intellectual property (IP) registry. This also ties into the multi-Bill package of legislation designed to upgrade the Bahamas’ wider IP rights regime and prepare the country to meet its World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) obligations.

“In relation to companies, we have already designed a system where companies incorporated under both the Companies Act and International Business Companies (IBCs) Act can be done online, all the way through from name reservation and registration to printing out the certification of incorporation,” the Attorney General added.

And, “on a go forward basis”, Bahamas-based companies and service providers will also be able to obtain Certificates of Good Standing online. The relevant fees will also be payable electronically,

When it came to the recording of real estate-related deeds and documents, and related mortgage charges and other liens, Mrs Maynard-Gibson pledged that the Registrar General’s Departmentwas “trying to get things down from 30 days to seven days”.

She confirmed that a private sector committee, headed by attorney Sharlyn Smith, had been formed to provide advice and feedback to the Government on reforming the Registrar General’s Department’s deeds and documents section.

Similar committees have already been formed to assist with the companies and intellectual property (IP) upgrades, Mrs Maynard-Gibson adding that the Government was seeking “to involve the private sector in everything that we do”.

Pointing to the two-way partnership between private and public sectors, the Attorney General said: “There are financial and corporate services providers that have agreed, as part of training, to take Registrar General’s Department staff for a day or two, so they can see from the customer side why it’s important to give service in a particular way, and understand what the customer desires and why.”