Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said yesterday that the wheels of Government were turning faster than ever in a bid to deal with an increasingly voluminous and complex legislative agenda.

Commenting on BIBA (Bermuda International Business Association) past chairman, Tom Davis' criticisms that the process of Government was too slow, Dr. Gibbons said yesterday that required business legislation can be expected before next spring.

It is the period of the Parliamentary year that legislators are used to dealing with proposed amendments and changes involving the Companies Act 1981.

He said, "We are about to finish off the drafting of regulations for collective investment schemes, which have been underway for a number of years.

"And the Investment Business Licensing Bill is about to be circulated to the private sector in the not too distant future. That involves getting licensing and supervision for local and international companies which are involved in the investment business.

"It's also fair to say that the Attorney General's (AG) Chambers has brought on additional staff in the last six to nine months. A number of people have been seconded specifically to deal with the increase in legislation.

"For example, for the legislation to set up the National Pension Scheme, the AG found somebody to work on that.'' He conceded that major projects, such as the Proceeds of Crime bill, required so much time and attention from Government officials that often other important matters were held up.

He said, "We recognised the need for getting this business legislation done and that is why we set up the additional post of the assistant financial secretary, Ifor Hughes, in relation to international business. We also have in place now Shauna McKenzie as legislative assistant.

"As a result of the two of them coming aboard, we've had a really good increase in the pace of legislative initiatives going forward. There are a lot of measures in the pipe-line.'' Meanwhile, the "Corporate Matters Review Committee'', noted in the last Budget Speech and mentioned by Mr. Davis, was studying the procedure for the incorporation of companies, Dr. Gibbons said.

It is yielding recommendations for expediting the incorporation procedure, after discussions with the private sector, the Registrar of Companies, the Bermuda Monetary Authority and the Ministry of Finance.

It was to review the entire gamut of measures required for the incorporation of a company, with the possibility of weeding out any unnecessary ones.

Dr. Gibbons stressed that Government officials had been hard at work trying to resolve a number of legislative issues.

He said, "It is not only in the Ministry of Finance, but also those in the AG's Chambers, who are sensitive to, and responding to, what clearly is an increasing volume and complexity of legislation.'' "It may, I suspect, be difficult for us to always proceed at the pace that the business community would like, because it is not only business legislation that the Government is responsible for.

"There are a lot of other pieces of legislation which address both social and other types of needs, which also have priority. Sometimes, one has to trade off the need to get certain things done at certain times.'' Grant Gibbons GOVERNMENT GVT