One Stop Shop Commences

Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has commenced the operations of a one stop-shop (OSS) during the last quarter of 2004. The new OSS is operating on the quiet in order to test-run it. It is located on the ground floor of GIPC.

The OSS will make registration of investments faster and more effective and give better co-ordination between the administration authorities and investors.

It is envisaged that with the OSS registration of foreign investment will be reduced from the current 68 days estimate to 20 days in 2006, in comparison to the World Bank's assertion of 92 days in 2000.

The core institutions involved in the OSS are Registrar General's Department (RGD), GIPC, Bank of Ghana (BoG), Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS). The other supporting institutions are the National Communication Authority (NCA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), utility providers, Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA), Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), and the Town and Country Planning Department.

According to GIPC, the respective status of the institutions is not likely to change. What is involved is that in the case of the core institutions that are physically represented in the shop, their representatives will assist in speeding up the processing, instead of the investor moving from one department to another.

However, there is still no increase in the minimum capital requirements for registration of business yet, although the investment law is currently being reviewed after operating it for the past 10 years.