The document summarizes Mauritius' best practices in facilitating business registration and operations. Key changes introduced in 2006 include legislation streamlining the registration process, launching an online central business registration system (CBRIS), and adopting scanning technology. These measures reduced registration times from half a day to half an hour, allowed online applications and payments, and enabled electronic document filing and retrieval. As a result, the number of registered businesses in Mauritius increased significantly between 2005 and 2013.

1. BEST PRACTICE BY MAURITIUS
M R S P R A B H A D . C H I N I E N
R E G I S T R A R O F C O M P A N I E S & B U S I N E S S E S

Making IT e@sy to Start a
Business
Regional Doing Business Conference
Johannesburg 2013

2. AGENDA
 Evolution from to 2006 to 2013
 Stages of progress
 Salient features of changes
 Benefits of changes
 Present situation

3. START OF THE CHANGE
Decision of the Government of Mauritius in
2006 -


Source: Budget Speech 2007/2008

4. YEAR OF THE CHANGE - 2006
 World Bank “Doing Business Report
 Focus on the facilitation of doing business
 Introduction of two legislation which changed
the way of doing business in Mauritius:
 Business Registration Act
 Business Facilitation Act 2006
 Launch of the CBRIS
 November 2006-ISO Certification 2000-9001

5. WORLD BANK DOING BUSINESS
REPORT
Various indicators for doing business
 Starting a business
How to make easier to do business?
Key component in the process
 Legislation concerning doing business
 Office of the Registrar of Companies introducing new technology for
facilitating business registration

6. LEGISLATION FOR MAKING EASIER TO
DO BUSINESS
 COMPANIES ACT 2001
 BUSINESS REGISTRATION ACT
 BUSINESS FACILITATION ACT
 INSOLVENCY ACT (CLOSING BUSINESS)

7. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW
 COMPANIES ACT
 New approach for setting up companies
 Innovative provisions e.g
 No need to have constitution
 No par value shares
 No minimum capital
 Concept of one person company

8. BUSINESS REGISTRATION ACT
 Obligation to be registered - section 6 of the Business
Registration Act 2002
“no person shall carry on any business in Mauritius
unless:-
 he is registered under this Act”
 “business” and “person”
“Business”
 every form of trade, commerce or
 manufacture, craftsmanship, calling
 profession, vocation or occupation or any other
 activity carried on by a
 person for the purposes of gain or profit

9. BUSINESS FACILITATION ACT
 To facilitate business – no requirement under the
Companies Act 2001 to reserve a company name
 Setting up a Central Business Registration Database for
ease of communication
 Statutory obligation by the Registrar to communicate
information to all departments/agencies

10. LIMITATION OF PREVIOUS
COMPUTERISED SYSTEM
 Text Based interface
 Manual inputting of data
 Manual vetting of Applications
 No facility to print Certificates
 No interface between Filing, Company
Monitoring and Cash Office Modules
 Too many movement of Documents
 Time Consuming Processes e.g. Printing of
Documents at Cash
 Manual affixing of signature
 Impact on time for incorporating companies

11. Manual Filing Process
File No.:3000
Name of Company:
ABC Ltd
Incorporated: 01.01.90
11
File No.:3000
Name of Company:
ABC Ltd
Incorporated: 01.01.9
File No.:3000
Name of Company:
ABC Ltd
Incorporated:
01.01.90

12. INTRODUCING NEW APPLCATION
SOFWARE
 The Companies and Business Integrated
Registration System (CBRIS)
 Replaced the existing legacy application
developed on Oracle Forms 3.0 and Oracle 7
as RDBMS to Oracle 11g for more features

13. Previous workflow
ABC Ltd
Incorporated

14. Implementation of the CBRIS-
Phased approach
 Online application for incorporation and Business
Registration Number (October 2006)
 E-payment of yearly registration
 Online search for corporate information
 E-filing of corporate information

15. FEATURES AND BENEFITS
On line application software providing
access of Central Population Database
(CPD) for the validation of National Identity
Number
Possibility of establishing the link with
other departments through the Central
Business Registration Database (CBRD)
Establishing the interface with public
through the MNS

16. FEATURES AND BENEFITS
 Full Graphic User Interface
 Easy and fast access to on-line information on
Company, Business and Partnership
 On line application for incorporation of companies and
registration of businesses
 Limiting movement of people in line with policy of
government
 Maintenance and Query of current/history of Information
is easier through the use of a single and central point of
entry.
 Integrated modules
 Recording & Vetting of Applications
 Printing of Certificates and Business Registration Card

17. PROCESS FLOW
APPLICANT
Central Database
BOI MRA
LOCAL
AUTHORITY
SOCIAL
SECURITY
SMEDA
MINISTRY
OF
COMMERCE

18. Domesti
c
Partnershi
p
GBC 1
GBC 2
Total No. of Companies
incorporated in 2005
Total No. of Companies
incorporated in 2006
GBC 2
27% Domestic
40%
Partnership
22%
GBC 1
11%
Domestic 38824
Partnership 16006
GBC 1 9593
GBC 2 20669
Total 85092

19. ROC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM
Overview of the System

20. ROC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM

21. 1. Document Filing
3. Scanning
2. Automatic
Serial No
Generation
CBRIS Server
Image Server(DMS)
4. Data
Validation
Public
Officers
Public
NEW WORKFLOW- SCANNING

22. Scanning Technology Introduced
Scanning technology introduced for data capture from standard
forms, faxed and supporting documents received daily.
Main Objectives
 Time to incorporate a company reduced from 1/2 day to 1/2 hour
 Filing of returns, accounts and other documents reduced from 14
days to 8 days
 Delivery of certified copies reduced from 2/3 days to same day
Possibility for public to consult up to date info, following scanning
 A minimum of 90% of data captured automatically at completion
 0% error in database at completion

23. BENEFITS OF SCANNING
 Provides electronic filing, searching and retrieval of documents
 Integration of the Core Application (CBRIS) and the EDMS to
enable easier and secured access, and faster movement of
documents for timely processing and decision making
 Provides platform, software and peripherals for the
Capture, Scanning, and imaging of documents
 Provides for Electronic Extraction of Information from Specially
Designed forms used in ROC business processes
 Enables stakeholders to have on-line access to relevant documents
in electronic format stored under the EDMS
 Provides ROC administration with a modern tool
for ensuring effectiveness in providing services to the community.

24. REGISTRATION PROCESS
• Processing of documents at
office
• Use of scanning technology
• Issue of certificate
manual
• Online application through
the MNS
• Issue of certificateonline

25. MODES OF PAYMENT
 Bank transfer
 Debit from Deposit Account
 Cheque payment
 Cash
 Credit card payment at Cash Counter (POS)
 E-PAYMENT/ Payment through mobile (June
2013)

26. NUMBER OF COMPANIES REGISTERED AS
AT 31st March 2013
Domestic 53213
GBC1 11455
GBC2 13952
Partnership 18834
Businesses 172130
total 269584
Domestic
20%
GBC1
4%
GBC2
5%
Partnership
7%
Businesses
64%
Domestic
GBC1
GBC2
Partnership
Businesses

27. PROJECTS
RECENT
 SCANNING TECHNOLOGY
 INFORMATION CENTRE
 FIBRE OPTIC
FUTURE
 XBRL
 MOBILE PAYMENT
 DISASTER RECOVERY ENHANCEMENT PLAN

28. COMPANIES DIVISION……
LEADING THE WAY
http://companies.gov.mu