Stepped up inspections of business premises by the Department of Health is apparently raking in new money for ASG.
Staff at the Department of Commerce report that the inspections are discovering several different business activities operating under one business license when each separate commercial activity should have their own license.
For example if a supermarket has a snack bar or operates its own ice making machine. under changes to the business licensing law enacted a few years ago which included an increase in business licensing fees, the supermarket should have a different license for each of those activities, separate from the license for the supermarket.
The basic fee for a retail business is $150 for the whole year, and the fee is gradually reduced depending on the number of months of the year that it will be good for.
Staffers say that the DOH inspections have helped identify many unlicensed business activities that were operating under a single business license.
Many of those previously unlicensed business operations sold food.
DOH staff is requiring that before a food business is issued a health certificate they must get a business license. And this has resulted in more revenues for ASG.
DOC’s second quarter performance report states that their Economic Development Division and DOH’s Environmental Heallth Services Division agreed to conduct a workshop for all revelevant agencies concerning this requirement.
A letter was sent to the Department of Education advising that school canteens require a business license with DOH inspection. This also applies to catering businesses across the territory.
