Govt launches business consultation

The Gibraltar Government has today released a consultation paper on key legislation affecting business and commerce, in a bid to improve the legal and policy framework in which businesses operate in Gibraltar.

To this end, the Government is eliciting views from businesses and the general public through a series of 18 targeted questions.

The questions cut across diverse topics, including the licensing of business activity linked to intoxicating liquor, the designation of leisure areas, the loading and unloading of goods by commercial/non-commercial vehicles in demarcated areas, and the placing of tables and chairs outside restaurants and other eating establishments.

The said it would Government will carefully consider all respondents’ views before deciding on next steps.

Albert Isola, the Minister for Commerce, said: “We have an incredibly strong entrepreneurial culture in Gibraltar, and we need to make sure it is nurtured and supported.”

“One way to do that is to listen to businesses so as to understand which laws, policies or practices might be acting as a drag on their efforts – especially those laws, policies and practices that may not be advancing a clear or compelling public policy purpose.”

Mr Isola has been joined in the project by Paul Balban, the Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, and have co-written the foreword to the Consultation Paper.

They want respondents to feel free to raise issues or concerns not specifically addressed in the paper itself.

“We have made a sincere effort to consult on the areas that raise their head often or that we have otherwise identified as important,” Mr Balban said.

“But we make no claim to omniscience. Respondents are very welcome to use this as an opportunity to express additional concerns or views in connection in with the legal and policy environment in which business in Gibraltar operates.”