The bureaucracy defeated in the opening of companies across the country

By ETCO

Source: Diário do Comércio (SP), 23/06/2009

In the past, opening a company was a task that required patience and many comings and goings to different bodies. With the efforts of the federal, state and municipal spheres to make this process less bureaucratic, which was pointed out as one of the reasons for the low development of the country, the opening of a company fell from 152 days to just twenty days on average, according to a survey carried out by Sebrae in nationwide, released last March. According to the study, Maceió (AL) is the city where it is easier to open a business, with only three days for the issuance of a definitive permit, both for high and low risk activities.

In Petrópolis (RJ), Porto Velho and nine other municipalities in Rondônia, the provisional permit for low-risk businesses leaves in just two days, whereas for high-risk ones in Petrópolis, it leaves between ten and fifteen days (in other municipalities can reach 90 days).

On the other hand, Salvador (BA) is the city in which it takes the longest to open a company. There, the entrepreneur can take up to six months to obtain the document, in any activity. The capital of Bahia is followed by Recife, which spends 45 days to release low-risk activities. For those at high risk, in addition to Bahia and Pernambuco, the delay is mainly in the states of Amazonas, Amapá, Ceará, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Pará and Rondônia. In these, this period can reach up to three months.

The survey was carried out with accounting professionals, commercial boards and Sebrae units in the States, based on data from the boards, the IRS and state and municipal governments. The mapping points out that the main cause of the delay in opening a company is in the municipalities, responsible for issuing the business license. The General Law on Micro and Small Enterprises provides for the issuance of a provisional permit for low-risk activities before inspections. According to the study, many municipalities do not comply with the law and want to inspect it before the activity starts.

Other municipalities give an example of speed in sending the document for low-risk activities such as São José dos Campos (SP) and São Caetano do Sul (SP), with three days; Barra Mansa (RJ), with five days, Nova Iguaçu (RJ) and Boa Vista (RR), with seven; Belo Horizonte and 25 more municipalities in Minas Gerais with eight days; Natal, with ten, and Porto Alegre (RS) with twelve.

It takes up to fifteen days in Goiânia (GO), Campina Grande (PB), Taguatinga (DF) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ). In São Luís (MA), Curitiba (PR), Cascavel (PR), Maringá (PR) and Londrina (PR) are fifteen working days. Manaus (AM) and Coari (AM), Vitória (ES), Colatina (ES) and Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (ES) take up to twenty days. In up to 25 days is Brasília (DF). In Fortaleza (CE) and Juazeiro do Norte (CE) the wait is 25 working days.

Example of efficiency


Contrary to Sebrae's research, the government of the State of São Paulo states that it takes only 24 hours to open a company in Sorocaba, in the west of the state. This is possible after the implantation of the Empresa Fácil Program, developed by the city government in March 2007. At least four cities in São Paulo apply the same policy in order to reduce waiting time in the process. All of them serve as a mirror for the State Debureaucratization Program (PED) launched by Governor José Serra in early 2007.

In Sorocaba, a software allows the entrepreneur to consult in a few minutes the zoning law of the area in which the company will be implemented, according to the Municipal Master Plan. The measure avoids, for example, the waste of time with the visit of inspectors from the Works and Sanitary Surveillance sector. The City Hall itself communicates its respective spheres, which subsequently verify the location of the company, but this does not prevent the immediate opening of the company.


The same experience has been applied in the municipality of São Caetano do Sul, in the ABC region of São Paulo. There, the method adopted is simpler and does not involve a computer program. However, the efficiency is similar to the Sorocaban project. The city's Development Secretariat checks the basic documentation such as the owner's ID and CPF and the company's social contract regulated by the Notary's Office. The next step is to issue a provisional business license until the inspectors pass the company's address the next day. With only one stamp, the green light is given by the employees of the portfolio. “We defer the license in a short time. If there are problems in the future, the inspector will appoint and the entrepreneur has to meet the requirements ”, says the director of Economic Development of São Caetano, Ramis Sayara, responsible for the project in force since 2005.