BUSINESS REPORTER -
MUSCAT, MAR 3 -
In its efforts to improve and develop services, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) launched Invest Easy gateway for licensing of the professional offices. This contributed in transformation from manual system to the electronic system leading to increase in the number of transactions and reduction of time taken for it.
MoCI said that the number of licenses of engineering consultancies, consulting firms, accounting, auditing offices and translation offices, registered between January 2017 and the end of December 2017, reached to 2,525.
These licenses included 1,146 for engineering consultancy, 1022 for other consultancies, 172 licenses for accounting and auditing offices, and 185 for translation offices.
Engineering consultancies:
The terms and conditions of the engineering advisory offices are regulated by the law issued under the Royal Decree No 27/2016.
It requires the applicant, according to the article 5, that he or she must have at least a bachelor’s degree in engineering and at least three years of experience after it, or two years of experience after obtaining a master’s degree, and should be free only to practice this profession.
He should have never been convicted for an offence against honour or honesty.
Legal translation offices:
MoCI said that for the terms and conditions of the legal translation offices are regulated by law issued under Royal Decree No 18/2003.
It requires the applicant, in accordance with the article 10, to be an Omani citizen and has never been convicted for an offence against honour or honesty, must be fluent in Arabic reading and writing, has a higher degree from a university or recognised institution of higher education where the language he has studied should be the required language for translation or he should have specialisation in it from a college or an institution of higher education. He must have an experience of not less than five years after passing out. Those who have graduated from the specialised colleges or institutions of translations are exempted from this condition.
The article 7 of the law does not allow combining of the profession of legal translation with public sector jobs or any other work which is against the nature of the profession.
Accounting and auditing offices:
The ministry has said that the accounting and auditing offices and auditors are regulated by the law promulgated by Royal Decree No 77/86.
It requires the applicant to be an Omani national and should be free to practice the profession full-time.
He should have a university degree or an internationally recognised legal accounting certificate or its equivalent, no court order or disciplinary judgment has issued judgment against him in an offence against honour or honesty.
According to article 9 of the law, foreign companies and accounting firms can establish a firm in partnership with an Omani provided that the Omani partner is licensed to practice the profession and that he has at least 35 per cent of the share in the firm, and they have previously worked for at least ten years without interruption.
Free professions:
MoCI said that the terms and conditions of the offices of consultants for practicing free professions were stipulated in the ministerial order issued in the year 1991. It requires the applicant to be an Omani and to have a university degree in the same specialisation which he wanted to practice, and that he has not been convicted in a crime against honour or honesty.
The ministerial order allows foreign companies or offices to practice free professions in the Sultanate provided they have a partnership with an Omani who has a university degree in the same specialisation which the company wants to practice and the Omani should have at least 35 per cent share in the company.
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