One-stop Licensing Service for Food and Beverage Establishments

Introduction

1. Objective

In order to provide investors with the business environment and conditions that meet the requirements for social development and to promote the advancement of the food and beverage industry in Macao, the Administrative Regulation no. 36/2018 “Alteração ao Regulamento Administrativo n.º 16/2003 — Alterações do procedimento de licenciamento de estabelecimentos de comidas e bebidas” (Alteration to Administrative Regulation no. 16/2003 — Alterations to the licensing procedure of food and beverage establishments) officially came into force on 1 January 2019. IAM hopes that, after the regulation becomes effective, the whole administrative procedure can be optimised and improved, shortening the time for issue of license. Meanwhile, with the help of electronic services, the transparency, efficiency and service quality of the administrative procedure can be elevated.

As the “one-stop service agency”, IAM actively seeks innovation in current application formalities and improvement of regulations, and the whole licensing procedure for food and beverage establishments is simplified by means of legislation. On the premise of satisfying public safety, public health, environmental protection and other public interests, the one-stop service agency may issue a “document-based” temporary license to a food and beverage establishment in advance, so as to reduce the business owner's costs and pressure of business commencement during the period of application for a license. The implementation of the “onestop licensing service” helps in reducing the time for applicants to visit other departments to process different formalities and enabling them to grasp the status of the procedure rapidly. IAM upholds the “resident-oriented” spirit to continuously implement various optimisation measures with the aim of providing residents with services of higher quality and efficiency.

2. Target Group of Service

As the one-stop service agency, IAM does not accept applications for all kinds of Food and Beverage License. At present, applications for licenses for food and beverage establishments of Category 4 and Category 5 referred to in Decree-Law no. 16/96/M are accepted.
(1) Establishments of Category 4 are the ones which serve beverages as the basic business and may also offer simple food items, such as cafés, ice cream parlours and tearooms.
(2) Establishments of Category 5 are the ones which offer meal service but their facilities and equipment only meet the minimum statutory requirements and do not meet the requirements for restaurant category, such as congee and noodle shops, and bistros. 

3. Characteristics of Services

The service of one-stop licensing procedure has the following characteristics:

(1) Offering clear information and assistance in construction technique: The relevant information is explained in detail in forms such as the Guidelines, show flats and short videos. Through cross-departmental “technical meetings” between technicians from relevant departments and applicants, relatively complicated technical issues about constructions can be explained so as to allow applicants to have a clear understanding about the application details and technical requirements.

(2) Centralised processing of the whole procedure in service agency: With the authorisation from applicants, IAM, as the one-stop service agency, provides assistance in processing all required formalities, including applications for required documents from other departments on behalf of applicants, such as applications for property registration reports, use of notarised copies of operation licenses, drawings, licenses for construction works and temporary operation license for electrical installations. IAM also informs the applicants of the progress of each procedure and the co-operation required so as to save applicants' time to visit other departments to process different formalities and enable them to have a clear idea of the status of the procedure.