Cambodia’s Online Business Registration System (OBR) has expanded its scope with five more ministries joining the platform with business owners now able to apply for eight more professional licenses through registrationservices.gov.kh.
There are now 11 ministries involved with the portal covering the majority of small and medium-sized business activities.
A ministry announcement said the second phase expands the scope of the online application for licenses or permits based on business activities, with specialized ministries in charge of sector-based technical supervision.
The Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, the Real Estate Business, and the Pawnshop Regulator of the Non-Bank Financial Services Authority.
Ministry of Tourism: (1) Tourism license for tour operators and travel agents (2) Tourism license for hotel-accommodation service (3) Tourism license for restaurant, canteen.
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications: (4) Licenses / Certificates / Licenses for Transactions in Information and Communication Technology Services (5) Licenses / Certificates / Licenses for Transactions in Postal Services.
Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation: (6) Prakas on the Establishment of Small and Medium Enterprises.
Non-Banking Financial Services Authority: (7) Mortgage business license and (8) Grant licensing license.
Phase 1 included the Ministry of Commerce, the General Department of Taxation, the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, the Ministry of Interior, the Council for the Development of Cambodia and the Ministry of Economy and Finance were participating.
Through the new registration process, applications take up to eight business days while the service can be fee far cheaper costing around $500, compared to the $1,700 and more charged by some agents.
In addition, business owners can pay for all online business registration services using credit or debit cards and after successful business, registration will receive their digital license and certificate through the Information Technology Nursery.
The cross-ministry process has been made possible by the data exchange between relevant ministries/institutions on the Cambodia Data Exchange Platform.
The data exchange platform allows for great user experience in filling out the application form but also stands as the positive feature that allows relevant ministries/institutions to reduce the review period and to ensure data consistency across relevant ministries/institutions.
As of June, this year it was reported that more than 6,000 businesses with over $2.6 billion in capital had been approved using the portal in the first 12 months.
It is hoped this new portal will improve the ease of formally registering a company in Cambodia. In an Doing Business 2020, a World Bank Group flagship publication listed Cambodia as 187 out of 190 countries for Starting a business which was defined as Procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital to start a limited liability company.
