Friday 26 / April / 2024
Muscat: Minister of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Ali bin Mas'oud Al Sunaidi, has issued a ministerial decision No. (157/2017) concerning regulations relating to Remote Work through "Invest Easy" portal.
The decision for Remote Work aims to enable employees of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) to complete work outside their work place, either at home, from public places or even during holidays on the condition of increasing the productivity of employees, the speed of transactions' completion, the accuracy of their performance and the optimal utilisation of modern technology through the Invest Easy System.
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In this regard, Al Sunaidi stated that the Ministry has taken this decision after a successful Remote Work experience previously when a number of employees completed their work while sitting in different shopping malls in all governorates of the Sultanate.
Technically and administratively, the ministry has exceeded the issue of providing services from offices, which means the One-Stop Shop is not confined to a specific place or time. This experience will gradually move to virtual sites in computers’ memories to provide commercial registers services, and other services on the Internet from any location and time.
He explained that MoCI will be the first authority in the Sultanate to use the application of a Remote Work System.
This decision will assist employees, who cannot attend to their work place for health or emergency conditions, provided that they can perform work transactions for investors remotely, in case the nature of their work does not require meeting them. This decision includes some of the positions authorised to complete transactions through the "Invest Easy" system, which means it does not include all the administrative positions in the Ministry. The decision also included four articles on the employee's rights and duties. Articles (1) and (2) included some definitions and terms in the decision. The third article discusses Remote Work Regulations. The most important Regulation is that the job functions of the employees can be performed through the Invest Easy System and through means of modern communication. The Ministry also provides all necessary means for the employees to do their work, such as tools and devices and providing maintenance to ensure their continuity. These tools and devices are entrusted and cared for by the employees. Employees are also allowed to work during non-working hours and during holidays.
The Fourth Article discusses that employees will be subjected to supervision and guidance by officials in the Ministry, as well as follow-up their transactions that are done during the day and their output and speed of performance. The Ministerial Decision also specifies that the employees must adhere to the number of working days and the number of transactions that need to be completed on a daily basis in the work schedule.
The Invest Easy portal provides 77 electronic services to investors and can be performed independently or through the offices of Sanad or law firms. The number of transactions done through Invest Easy System in the first half of 2017 was 106,413, and they were completed through the ministry’s offices, self-service, Sanad offices and law firms.
