The Parliamentary Commerce Committee, which discussed the issue on Tuesday, requested the simplification of the Fire Service's inspection process in real estate for the issuance of an operating license.
Today, the Fire Service, following the legislation, requests a building permit and updated architectural plans from the owners of the leisure centers and tourist accommodations in order to issue the fire safety certificate, which is necessary for the issuance of the operating permit.
The President of the Committee, Member of Parliament of DISY, Kyriakos Hatzigianni, underlined that "a lot of bureaucracy has suffocated the entire tourist industry and leisure centers", as a result of which services are declared deadlocked.
As he said, one year was given to the executive power, and "finally the three Ministers (Interior, Justice and Tourism) must come to an agreement with each other and decide what the solution will be".
He added that piecemeal approaches do not benefit anyone and cannot provide a solution. "We will wait two weeks for them to tell us what is needed. We expressed our readiness, if something is needed from the Parliament's side, we are here to come and achieve corrections", he said, noting that there are no discounts on security issues.
AKEL Member of Parliament, Kostas Kostas, said that the issue is very serious and a solution should be found immediately. "We asked the Ministry of the Interior, Public Order and the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, within two weeks, to meet with the competent Ministers in cooperation with all the competent agencies, in order to find a solution, without discounting safety issues, without violating any legislation. The problem should be solved because today the fire department correctly applies the legislation that says that there must be a building permit in order to be able to inspect".
He noted that several properties do not have a building permit, so they are at risk of being closed. "A transitional period must be set, in which the owners of the properties should be licensed, so that there is no problem," he said.
In his statements, the Member of Parliament of EDEK, Ilias Myrianthous, stated that several tourism businesses have not yet received a fire safety certificate, as a result of which the health and safety of employees and customers is put at risk and at the same time they cannot issue a certificate of operation.
"It is a reality that in addition to the understaffing facing the specific department of the Fire Department, the processes and services involved in this process are too many and a quagmire is being created," he said.
He noted that there should be a simplification of the procedures, but at the same time there should be an improvement of the legislation itself, where without reducing the quality of the inspection for fire safety purposes by the competent authorities, a shorter procedure for issuing the specific certificate and for businesses to be able to obtain their operating licenses.
"We call on the competent services to give proposals so that we can improve the legislation on the one hand, but also that there are improvements in the process and that the ways in which the fire safety inspection is carried out become more flexible", he said.
The Member of Parliament of the Environmental Movement, Stavros Papadouris, said that the Parliament, in its attempt to pressurize the issue of hotel and restaurant licensing, had given a period of 5 years for them to obtain licenses. As he said, the problem was created by an amendment of the Parliament that asked for the operating licenses to go ahead, but until they are issued, to make sure that all the necessary measures have been taken for the issue of fire safety.
"This led to an impasse, as the Fire Department to check asks for permission. When you go to get a permit, they tell you that the Fire Department must have checked you, as a result of which procedures are blocked", he said.
Finally, he said, it was proposed within the Committee that the responsibility for fire safety should be transferred to the owner of the site, that the certificate from the Fire Department would not be needed, so that the procedures could proceed.
For his part, the General Secretary of the Association of Recreation Center Owners (PASIKA), Fanos Leventis, said in his statements after the completion of the Committee, that the issue arose from a change in the attitude of the Fire Department, and has to do with "the exhaustive manner control of legal recreation centers, which also operate outside, from time to time".
As he said, the state has an obligation to find those solutions in a very short period of time, so that recreation centers can be licensed, "without deteriorating", proposing to find a solution that is friendly to recreation centers.
Besides, he said, throughout time, the security in every aspect that recreation centers offer during their operation has not been raised or questioned.
"We will wait for the result of the consultation that the state has committed to carry out in the next few days, and this concerns the Ministry of the Interior, the Deputy Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Justice and we hope that they will also consult with us. We have proposals to submit, which have to do with reality, which can help in any decisions that are made", he noted.
He emphasized that no recreation center is going to be closed, but the point is that entrepreneurs can operate in a legal regime and not be exposed.
Source: KYPE