With financial support from the One UN fund and technical support from UNCTAD, Tanzania has introduced an online tool to help investors and entrepreneurs gain easy access to up-to-date information on investment-related procedures. The system currently being implemented by the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) is the "e-Regulations" programme developed by UNCTAD.
The e-Regulations system can contribute to greater transparency and efficiency in public service, improved governance and cost reduction. Through the system's online database, investors and entrepreneurs can obtain necessary business information, including how to register a company, to pay taxes, and to obtain a visa or certificate of incentives at the Tanzania Investment Centre .
"When the procedures and steps involved are known to people you should expect more people to start businesses and increased compliance in paying taxes," said Mr. Kjartan Sorensen, UNCTAD business facilitation manager in charge of e-Regulations in Africa, based in Burkina Faso.
The e-Regulations system has proven to be an important tool in improving the business climate in many countries around the world, including in neighbouring Rwanda.
Following reforms in Rwanda, investors can now register business in one day by going through 2 steps, whereas in Tanzania it takes up to 14 days going through 12 steps. In Tanzania about 18 documents are needed in total when registering a business while in Rwanda only 4 documents.
After documenting the procedures, UNCTAD experts will analyse and provide recommendations to policy makers on the best way to simplify the procedures or steps in order to make them shorter and easier for users.
"Reducing paperwork and migrating to digital systems would also greatly help reduce time and costs involved in doing business in Tanzania," says UNCTAD Expert on eRegulations Tanzania, Ms. Dank-el Nkya.After simplification of procedures experts, will have the task to promote the portal both in and outside the country so that more business persons make better use of the tool.
"We take eRegulations very seriously and we hope many Tanzanians and foreign investors will utilize it as their reference point for obtaining information on procedures of doing business in Tanzania," says TIC Acting Executive Director, Mr. Raymond Mbilinyi.
