Jordan Integrated Business Registration and Licensing Reform

completed

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is supporting the Government of Jordan (GoJ) in implementing its Investor Journey program which is intended to improve the business environment and reduce business costs across the business lifecycle. IFC will provide technical assistance to GoJ in improving regulatory requirements and procedures for business registration and licensing, which will be achieved by supporting legal and institutional reforms for business registration and selected business licenses and implementing an integrated regulatory delivery system. This system will entail an integrated business registry with a streamlined and transparent business registration process. The integrated business registry will facilitate further reforms in business licensing and other regulatory procedures as it will provide the platform for integrating and combining regulatory requirements and procedures through the same point of single contact, which would help achieve major cuts in regulatory procedures. The initial costs for establishing the integrated registry and interoperability framework will be offset by the ability to re-use the same platform to streamline and automate as many licensing, permitting, and other regulatory procedures at minimal costs. This project is designed to focus on reforming business registration at the foundation phase, as well as support streamlining and automation of up to five licenses (using the same integrated platform) which will be selected based on readiness and in agreement with GoJ priorities, taking into account GoJ’s Licensing Reform Policy Paper and its implementation progress. The main client for this project is the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply (MoITS) which oversees the Investor Journey program in Jordan. The main stakeholders include the Commercial Registry Department at MoITS and the Companies Control Department, which are the entities responsible for registering sole-proprietors and companies, respectively. The project will also be coordinating with all relevant stakeholders involved in the business registration process, as well as the stakeholders involved in the pilot licenses. During the first year of the project, two pilot licenses have been identified, namely the licensing of private schools and KGs, and licensing of nurseries providing childcare. The project will be designating a single business registration authority for all types of business using an integrated and interoperable business registry as the official repository of data for all businesses in Jordan. This will involve a complete transition of businesses into the new integrated registry and promote the Companies Control Department as the single business registration authority for Jordan.