President Wavel Ramkalawan, chaired a scheduled meeting of the Cabinet yesterday, Wednesday 13th December in which a number of legal memoranda were approved.
Cabinet approved amendments to the Licences (Amendment) Bill (2023). The amendments seek to address certain provisions of the law that were erroneously removed upon the enactment of the Licenses Act 2010 with the repeal of the Licenses Act (1986); remove the overarching control that the Licenses Act retained over licenses issued by other regulatory bodies; transfer the parent Ministry of the SLA from the Ministry responsible for finance to the Ministry responsible for investment; introduce fixed penalties. The amendments will also introduce a Provisional License framework to cater for activities deemed suitable by the authorities to be done under a proper regulatory framework but for which such framework does not exist.
Cabinet approved 5 commitments to be included in the second Open Government Partnership (OGP) action plan for 2024-2026 as follows: Implementation of FiTi; Creation of National Integrity Coalition; Digital Transformation and Connecting People; Employee Wellness and Empowerment Policy; Managing Alcohol Consumption for a Healthy and Productive Nation.
Cabinet approved for the setting up of a Government Accelerator Unit as one of the tools for implementing Results Based Management (RBM) in the Public Service. Government Accelerator (“GA”) is a focused and time-limited project designed to achieve significant outcomes or improvements on an identified challenge in Government within a short period.
Cabinet approved the 2025 Result Based Management Planning and Budget Calendar.
Cabinet also approved the National Development Strategy 2024-2028 for dissemination.
Cabinet also made the following decisions in its meeting of Wednesday 6th December 2023.
Cabinet approved for the drafting of a new regulation for import and export of food and the repeal of the Food Import (Health Certificate) Regulations. The aim of the regulation is to increase public health protection and increase fair trade. The regulation will cover the requirements for importation of high risk food products, exportation of food products and the related fees.
Cabinet approved the Seychelles' Intellectual Property Legislations Review. The review will cover the Copyright Bill, Industrial Property Bill and the Plant Variety Protection Bill. Cabinet has also approved to put on hold previous decision to have an Intellectual Property Office in Seychelles.
Cabinet approved for the ratification of the Provisional Application of the Partnership Agreement between the European Union and its Member States; and the Members of the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States. This new partnership agreement will take effect as of 1st January 2024 and will replace the Cotonou Partnership Agreement which will come to an end on 31st December 2023. The signing of the Agreement will allow Seychelles to continue to benefit from the ongoing EU cooperation.
Concerned about the serious impact of alcohol abuse in the country, Cabinet approved for the drafting of regulations to regulate the advertising and promotion of alcohol. Cabinet additionally urged State media to stop the advertising alcohol immediately.
