2. FTIB requirements under the Foreign Investment Act;

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Clara French
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1 DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES Name of approval Give the official name of approval used with investors Fresh and Chilled Tuna long line license Purpose of approval Provide a description of what the authorisation provides to investors Name of agency issuing the approval Give official title of the body with the authority to grant the approval to investors Without this license, an investor cannot fish in the Fiji Waters. Department of Fisheries Contact information for the agency Provide the title of the person that is the first contact for the approval, and their contact information: street address, mailing address, telephone fax numbers, and /website address. If the authority has several different locations, contacts should be identified for each location. Anare Raiwalui & Neomai Ravitu address: anare_raiwalui@yahoo.com Utivar.iamoen@gmail.com Phone: Fax: Process that must be followed to obtain the approval Provide a brief description of the basic steps the investor must follow in order to obtain the approval. This should include identification of other agencies that the responsible authority must consult within processing the application. Note: Written guidelines and an application form should be provided as separate documents. i. Fishing License application requirements Application for tuna long licenses must be in the prescribed form after the payment of the lodgments fees. ii. Applications of foreign investors A foreign investor, interested in fishing shall satisfy requirements according to the following priorities: 1. Fisheries licensing requirements under the criteria established by the Licensing Committee. 2. FTIB requirements under the Foreign Investment Act; 3. Other requirements stipulated by policy of Government or laws of Fiji; 4. After satisfying the above and following the issuance of an investment certificate by FTIB the applicant is then required to lodge his or her application for tuna long license directly to the Fisheries Department through its licensing and permit office at Toorak Road, Takayawa Building, Suva. iii. Applications of locals exclusively chartering foreign fishing vessels 1. Fisheries licensing requirements under the

2 iv. criteria established by the Licensing Committee; 2. Exclusive, Bareboat or Demise charter agreement; 3. Other requirements stipulated by policy of Government or laws of Fiji. Applications with no foreign interest or locals owning vessels Applications by locals are made directly to the Fisheries Department through its licensing and permit officer at Toorak Road, Takayawa Building, Suva. How decisions are made Briefly explain (a) who has the power to grant the approval, and (b) what criteria are used to approve or reject an application. If there is a lot of information used in the decisionmaking process it can be included in a separate document. The three main categories forming the basis of scrutinizing all applications are as follows: 1. The Mandatory Category This category deals with consideration of all matters directly and indirectly dealing with and affecting the management of fisheries resources and all efforts made to exploit them. This will also include compliance of the adopted policies formulated by Government. Its main emphasis is to conserve the fishery, avoid depletion and over fishing and to ensure sustainability. Mandatory Information: i. The TAC for Fiji is 15,000mt of tuna species only including Albacore, Big eye and Yellow fin. ii. The license cap is 60 distributed as 25 for indigenous Fijians category and 35 for open category. This allocation will not target fulfillment but consideration for credibility and sustainability. iii. At least 50% of the sea going officers and 50% of the sea going crew shall be locals with an increase of 12.5% per year for 4 consecutive years. In the event that local crew requirements become a hindrance to production this requirement can be compromised only after Fisheries Department through its Licensing Committee is convinced that the compromise is necessary. iv. Validity and Good Standing of Vessels under the FFA vessel and Vessel Monitoring System Registers. v. Additional information on auxiliary items and carrying capacity of vessels shall be further collected and supplied for management purposes. vi. Finally supply of wrong information will be deemed a violation of our efforts of conservation and management of fishery that could lead to the automatic cancellation of license at any point in time this is known. 2. The Corporate Strategy This category deals with considerations of all matters directly and indirectly dealing with the formation,

3 establishment, operations, relationships, authenticities, and credibility of all companies and its related entities that are participating or intends to participate in its fishery or any other fishery for that matter including all other activities related to any fishery activities in Fiji. The aims of this category are to ensure authenticity and credibility of owners, shareholders, agents, of companies operating in this fishery and most importantly ensuring commitments and the sustainability of the industry in Fiji. Corporate Information i. For on going companies with foreign interest: a) All foreign partners or investor must have valid papers and a permit to work and operate a business in Fiji. b) All foreign crew and officers must have valid papers and work permits. c) All taxes shall be cleared and confirmed by FIRCA for the past licensing period before their participation in next licensing period. d) All foreign partners shall maintain their original arrangement, which allowed their initial participation to qualify for further participation. Any change would be informed and approved by both FTIB and the Licensing Committee of the Fisheries Department and formalized through the Office of the Registrar of Companies. Only if this happens can the change be recognized by the Committee and permits the further participation in the Industry. e) All foreign partners and investors that enter Fiji through the tuna long line industry and wishes to participate in other fishery development or investments in other areas of the economy shall only be allowed to do so if they have the continuous active involvement in the long line industry to ensure sustainability and growth. This hopefully will prevent those that only use the industry for their own convenience. f) They must have a clear negative due diligence record at all times in Fiji. ii. For all companies having either foreign, local or both interests. a) Company registration certificate from office of the Registrar of Companies with a copy of share holding agreement, share holding certificates validated by a

4 notarized officer in Fiji. b) A copy of Memorandum and Articles of Associations of the Company as registered with the Registrar of Companies validated by a notarized office in Fiji. c) A copy of an audited consolidated financial statement of accounts for the year before the last licensing period validated by a notarized office in Fiji. d) A scorecard of business performance according to plan and a copy of a 3-5 year strategic plan along with operation, financial and cash flow forecast. e) A bank declaration both by Company s Bank and the Reserve Bank of Fiji to confirm that all remittances relating to all exports are current with clear indications of what is outstanding. f) All Customs and Inland Revenue requirements are fulfilled and satisfied. g) All Trust accounts (FNPF, PAYE, VAT) due must be confirmed by relevant authorities are fully settled and current. h) All indigenous Fijians must produce his certificate of registration from the Native Lands and Fisheries Commission, Vola ni Kawa Bula validated by a Justice of Peace within that Office. i) All locals must produce a naturalized certificate validated by JP in the Immigration Department to confirm the period of their naturalization in Fiji. j) Any company applying for license or have been issued licenses that are undergoing liquidation, receivership, bankruptcy or are implicated for any violation of the laws of Fiji shall have their application or licenses be automatically rescinded unless the company produces a letter of comfort from the Courts to demonstrate that such action will not lead to the closure of the company s operation. 3. Statutory Category This category deals with considerations of all matter directly and indirectly dealing with the monitoring, enforcement and total compliance of all actions of the company and its owners, shareholders and agents against any implied or written laws of Fiji including those that are undergoing revisions, updating, upgrading or intended to under this actions in the future. The aim

5 of this category is to ensure that we have a sustainable industry that is credible and respectful operating under good governance in Fiji. Statutory Information i. All vessels coming into Fiji after approval of a fishing license shall be subjected to all clearance and tax requirements under the laws of Fiji. This will include the payment of VAT based on the valuation of the vessel by a registered valuer in Fiji. ii. All vessels participating in the tuna long line fishery are to be flagged and registered in Fiji unless there is debt to be serviced against the vessel before full ownership is assumed. In such case the grace period given before the enforcement of flagging and registration will only be for a reasonable period allowing for full debt servicing. iii. All fishing vessels must be registered with the Fiji Islands Maritime and Safety Administration. iv. Hull and Machinery Surveys are to be done in accordance with FIMSA Regulations whilst the safety certification of the vessel shall be done annually. v. Only vessels that are under exclusive charter arrangements with very clear provisions of owner s totally relinquishing control and with the chartered fully assuming that control in the operation of the vessel in return for a specifically stated amount of charter fee equitable to the discharging of the risk of the owner shall be acceptable to participate in the Fiji fishery. Any vessel outside this arrangement can be allowed to be re-flagged and based in Fiji but will not be permitted to fish in Fiji zone but can participate in the high seas or other neighboring member states. A nominal fee for using services and infrastructure in Fiji will be considered and charged. vi. All companies, vessels, owners, officers skill competence shall have good standing under the Laws of Fiji. Records pertinent to the facilitation of law enforcement activities must be maintained in English. vii. All companies, vessels, owners, officers and crew must comply, respect, cooperate, supply facilitate and observe all legal requirements relating to boarding, sampling, observation and collection of company shore based data, catch and effort and environmental data including exports and shipment data.

6 viii. All vessels and companies are compelled to report to all enforcement agencies any observation of practice that is in violation of the laws of Fiji during the conduct of their fishing business activities. Processing time of the Approval Identify how long in days or weeks it takes from the point of submission of an application by the investor until a decision is made. This should be the average processing time. The authority should avoid stating a processing time they know cannot currently be met. Any incomplete application will be rejected and re-apply with payment of appropriate lodgment fees. Full compliance of Application Requirements does not constitute an automatic approval for licenses. The Licensing Committee reserves the right to refuse where the CAP that is being set by Government is reached. Cost of the approval Identify the official cost(s) the investor is required to pay the agency in order to obtain the approval. Basic Management Fee - $6,000 Fishing License Fees Less than 20 meters (Foreign) - $15,000 Greater than 20 meters (Foreign) - $20,000 Indigenous Fijian owned - $0

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