Senate panel chairman Santy Asanuma said that the committee will be reporting out the bill in the next coming days and will be passed on second reading.
The proposed measure endorsed by the committee was broken down into four separate categories such as the statutory definitions such as powers and duties of the Foreign Investment Board, foreign business regulatory framework and penalties.The committee endorsed the expansion of the coverage of businesses that allow foreigners to engage in practices without foreign investment regulation.The panel proposed that the practice of law, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, engineering or surveying are allowed to be operated by foreign owners.The measure also defines the front business, “which defines a business enterprise nominally owned exclusively by one or more citizens but which is actually, operated and owned by one or more non-citizens.”The bill also made changes to the FIB power and duties and it authorizes the board to adopt regulations that prescribe “monetary or administrative penalties for minor infractions of the law.”This provision was added with the understanding that regulated foreign businesses may commit minor violations such as filing of an application for foreign investment approval with an expired passport, or neglecting to pay the necessary fees for foreign employees.The bill also changed the present provision that FIB board members will not receive compensation for board meetings attended during regular government hours.The committee also amends concerns on the fundamental framework for foreign business regulation established by the Foreign Investment Act.The bill also establishes a list of five businesses that are to be reserved exclusively for Palauan citizens such as wholesale and retail sale of goods, with the exception of stores in hotels and at the airport selling handcraft goods, the sale of agricultural products grown in Palau and the sale of products manufactured in Palau, tour businesses and water transport businesses except for booking services and tour management services may be foreign owned, commercial fishing ,except for those operations fishing for highly migratory species and other businesses the board may determine by regulation should be reserved exclusively for Palauans.The bill also proposed that non-citizens are required to pay the annual fee of $250 a 50 percent reduction from the present $500.
