Bermudian Government 'Non-Friendly' towards Business

by Amanda Banks, Tax News.com, London

18 March 2003

The Bermuda Chamber of Commerce and the Bermuda Employers Council have jointly criticised what they see as an unhelpful approach to commerce by the government, supporting the findings of the CEO survey published last week.

According to a report in the Bermuda Sun, the government's attitude was branded "non-friendly". Commenting on the government's apparent propensity to interfere in the regulatory environment Chamber of Commerce President Charles Gosling observed: "I think it is quite considerable that of the three major issues in the Bermuda CEO survey, local regulatory issues such as labour relations and immigration is highlighted," adding: "Normally this issue would be far down the list of issues. The one thing to come out of this survey is that Government has got to learn to be more business friendly and stop looking at business as the bad guy."

"It is a widely held view that Government departments and Government boards have stepped outside of their mandate and are looking at things that should not concern them," Gosling added. Particular disdain was expressed for the government's insistence on firms proving themselves to be 'good corporate citizens' in order to speed up work permit applications, which he argued ran counter to common law and the 'innocent before proven guilty' principle.

Andrea Mowbray of the BEC conveyed similar sentiments. "We understand there need to be rules and regulations, but we are going the route of over regulation. The government appears not to be business friendly," she told The Bermuda Sun.

Mowbray cited a raft of legislation introduced in recent years that had placed extra regulatory burdens on Bermudian business, namely the Pensions act, Employment act, CURE regulations, Unemployment Insurance, mandatory overtime and new immigration rules requiring an employer to write a statement of employment with each permit.

In a statement from the Bermuda Finance Ministry, a spokesperson sought to refute some of the conclusions drawn from the CEO survey. "The Ministry considers that the comment the Bermuda Government is not constructive toward business from the CEO of a Bermuda-based financial services company is not representative of the views of business."

"The Ministry of Finance said it is reasonably clear that many of the CEOs are positive about Bermuda’s future economic prospects. For example, four out of 10 participating CEOs expect to increase capital expenditure in 2003. This reflects long term confidence in Bermuda’s business environment."

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