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Public hearings on 'de-regulation' initiative
Public hearings on the moves being taken to de-regulate the economy will be held in order to explain the reasons for the changes and to win support for the initiative, according to Dr. Bandula Perera, chairman of the government's de-regulation committee.

"De-regulation does not mean the removal of regulations," he said. "It means fine tuning the regulations to retain the good ones, remove impediments and introduce new ones to help speed up the decision making process and make it more effective."

Work under the de-regulation initiative was proceeding following the conference on de-regulation held in February, he said.

The de-regulation committee was set up under the Industrial Development Ministry with the aim of reviewing laws and other impediments that inhibit competition or impose high compliance costs on businesses as well as to make the markets more efficient.

"You must understand the enormity of the job," Dr. Perera said in a recent interview. "It is a long drawn out process that has to be done in stages."

The de-regulation committee had decided to "identify the easy ones first" and de-regulate these sectors of the economy because of the radical nature of the changes that are contemplated and the need to win public support for the initiative, he said.

"We never expected things to move extremely fast but we know the government is keen to get it going," he said.

The government had already initiated moves to liberalise the civil aviation sector and is working on financial and labour market reforms, he said.

"De-regulating the labour market is no easy task," he added. The ministry has already begun a dialogue with the business chambers and labour union leaders.

The Customs Department, critical to the smooth flow of import and export goods, would be "one of the most difficult departments to de-regulate," he said.

Dr. Perera, who is the head of the Industrial Development Board (IDB), said another critical issue was the land market.

"I have a big problem with land," he said. "Industries want it, land is available, I want to give it. But I can't because of restrictions on the sale or lease of state land.

"Those who want to buy land should be allowed to buy it at market rates," he added.

He said he sees the IDB as a combined private sector-government organisation whose aim is to facilitate business development.

The IDB is "gifted with a lot of skilled people, many of them graduates, and has a very strong islandwide network with nine regional offices and 16 district offices," he said.

Mobile banking unit by Seylan Merchant Bank
Seylan Merchant Bank (SMB) has launched a mobile banking unit branded "Thawalama" to extend its banking facilities to rural areas in the country.
The unit was launched at the formal inauguration of the bank's innovative Fortune 2002 campaign. Through this mobile bank customers would be able to invest, receive business loans and leasing facilities and enjoy personal banking facilities.

SEC studies role of auditors
The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to appoint a special committee to study and make recommendations on the role of auditors.

The matters that would be taken up by this committee are the composition, scope, powers, responsibilities and duties of audit committees; the rotation and change of auditors; adequacy of requirements relating to disclosures to be made by auditors; desirability of auditors holding shares/office/directorship or positions of influence in companies they audit; continuing professional education and training of auditors and other matters of relevance in ensuring the independence and integrity of auditors. The SEC has invited interested individuals and associations to make representations on this issue by August 15.

New quality assurance outfit
The Ministry of Economic Reforms, Science and Technology plans to set up a National Accreditation Board (NAB) with Swedish assistance to strengthen the institutional infrastructure of quality assurance.

It will focus on conformity assessment systems in laboratories in line with the Sri Lanka Standards Institute and is one of the main proposals included in the National Quality Policy of the government.

''This is essential to assure the quality of goods and services both for the domestic and the export market,'' Deputy Director General, Sri Lanka Standards Institute, B.S.P Mendis, told The Sunday Times Business.

The use of well-defined national quality infrastructure, especially for laboratory testing, is an urgent requirement, he said.

Currently, few labs possess recognised accreditation such as ISO 17025 certification on laboratory quality management.

This new body would issue accreditation certificates to laboratory testing units, including medical testing. It also monitors all accreditation holders in order to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of their testing, he added.

The proposed body would evaluate the competency of the labs to determine the quality of products and services of various organisations.

The NAB will grant accreditation, in accordance with national standards based on the relevant international standards, to laboratories, certification and inspection bodies, training institutions and other persons required to carry out conformity assessment.

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