Gov’t launches consultation on multitude of law amendments, from cybercafés to vehicle repair shops

[Photo: Renato Marques]

The government has launched a wide-ranging public consultation on proposed amendments to laws affecting a multitude of businesses, activities, and events.

In general, the amendments aim to promote changes in the way businesses are registered and operated in several sectors and activities, as well as regulate public events to restructure and improve the supervision system and optimize bureaucratic procedures, acting director of the Legal Affairs Bureau (DSAJ) Ng Chi Kin said in a press conference held yesterday.

In his presentation, Ng emphasized that this legislative review is of great significance for optimizing the business environment and for Macau’s socioeconomic development.

He noted that these changes are also expected to reduce unnecessary administrative constraints and ease review and approval processes. At the same time, the revisions are intended to respond to shifts in the social environment and specific needs, aiming to strengthen “interim oversight” and “post-hoc oversight” to improve the management system.

“The objective is, without compromising public safety and order, to alleviate the operational burdens on businesses and further optimize the business environment,” Ng reaffirmed.

The proposed amendments will affect a very wide range of activities, including public events, charity events, auctions, fairs, markets, and bazaars, as well as the activities of hair salons, barbershops, bowling alleys, billiard halls, amusement arcades, beauty salons and massage parlors, saunas, karaoke venues, laundries, gyms and health clubs, lotteries, vehicle repair shops, cybercafés, cinemas and theatres, film productions, photo and video shooting in tourism hotspots, and sale of pornographic materials, among others.

The ongoing public consultation, which runs for 45 days, ends on August 19. During this period, a total of 10 public hearing sessions will be held: seven dedicated to the business sectors, lawmakers, and other civil society groups and organizations, and three open to the general public.

Billiard halls open to youth as ‘sport promotion’

Another of the changes proposed in the public consultation document concerns lowering the entry age at billiard halls.

Government officials have explained that the idea is to eliminate restrictions on the operating hours of these facilities, as well as to “strike a balance between the healthy physical and psychological development of young people and the need to promote sports participation.”

Currently off-limits for those below 16 years of age and those wearing school uniforms, the newly proposed regulation would allow access to those as young as 8, as long as those aged between 8 and 12 enter the halls between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and are accompanied by a parent or a person exercising parental authority, or a person duly authorized by one of these individuals (for example, a coach) for the purpose of practicing the activity as a sport.

Those aged 12 to 16 will be allowed to enter and remain on the premises on the same schedule but without the need to be accompanied.