Monday, Apr 02, 2012
Gulf News
Abu Dhabi Private companies will have to submit the necessary applications for trade licence issuance and renewal in electronic format from next Sunday, the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi (DED) said in a statement.
Abu Dhabi has seen momentum in commercial activity over the past few years, which contributed to the rise in the number of transactions and trade licences.
The number of trade licences issued reached 295,515 in the second half of 2011 compared to 79,655 in January and February 2012 alone, thus necessitating eservices to fast-track them.
Mohammad Moneef Al Mansouri, the acting executive director of the DED Commercial Affairs Division, said that this measure, which would boost Abu Dhabi’s E-government drive, is being introduced to upgrade and fast-track the trade licence process.
This will also reduce the use of paper. Al Mansouri said that the number of archived trade licence documents that were stored using the old method from January through November 2011 was 26,388 while the total number of archived pages was 484,429. In addition 188,847 pages were photocopied.
Time-consuming
He said the the old system was time-consuming, and the new one will significantly reduce the amount of time spent on the process through the implementation of the electronic archiving system. Such an approach will also increase productivity.
To ensure successful implementation of the electronic archiving system for trade licences in Abu Dhabi, DED has drawn up a plan to guide clients on how the process will work and how to interact with DED.
In connection with this, DED will organise workshops, establish contacts and distribute booklets that show how to deal with their Customer Service centre in Abu Dhabi.
To ensure smooth processing of trade licences, DED is seeking to use a variety of communication channels, through different media outlets to show clients how to deal with the Customer Service centres when inquiring about the documents necessary for their transactions. From this week, DED will start distributing guide booklets on how they can have all necessary documents issued smoothly.
This incorporates the archiving system’s general targets, general guidelines and the recommended setting for scanning a document, apart from a list of 63 file names which an applicant should abide by when saving an electronic file.
DED will start sending SMS to all clients this week to inform them of the date they would receiving their transactions electronically and information on customer service centres.
The DED’s Trade Licence Department has recently conducted a successful dry run of how the new system would work.
tally
rapid increase
79,655
licences issued in first two months of 2012
295,515
licences issued in second half of 2011
Gulf News Report
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
