President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), Noel daCosta (right), addresses journalists Tuesday on concerns that Government was taking too long to pass legislation, including bills to facilitate business transactions, at the chamber's board room at Office Centre Building, 12 Ocean Boulevard, Kingston. With him, from left, are JCC vice-presidents Milton Samuda and Mark Myers. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

The retailers lobby on Tuesday demanded that Parliamentary sessions be boosted to four days per week and that the private sector be tapped for expertise to help draft legislation, to help correct what it said was an ineffective legislative system.

The Kingston-based Jamaica Chamber of Commerce also wants a review of the process from drafting to enactment of laws to identify and remove the bottlenecks.

"Parliament is still taking too long to pass legislations," said JCC president Noel daCosta, reiterating a complaint the chamber had made more than a year ago.

The current backlog in Parliament was about 35 per cent and it now takes 9-10 years on average to pass laws, the chamber said following its monthly board meeting.

In the legislative year ended March, it said, 21 laws were passed, compared to 38 in the year prior; 34 were awaiting passage, compared to 28 at the end of 2005; and 146 were being being drafted, compared to 108 the year prior.

"It is untenable that our Parliament is passing 21 pieces of legislation annually, down from approximately 60 pieces in earlier years," said daCosta.

Boost House sittings

Part of the solution, the group suggested, was to boost upper and lower House sittings from one to four weekly, and to increase capacity at the Chief Parliamentary Counsel.

The chamber made mention of the 12 weeks of recess taken annually, but did not say whether it should be amended.

The backlog includes two bits of legislation that the business lobby considers crucial to business development - the Electronic Transactions Bill to safeguard online transactions, and the Credit Reporting Bill which will establish a credit bureau, both remained in draft form.

The chamber is also lobbying for legislation to deal with bounced cheques, saying CARICOM trading partner Trinidad and Tobago had already done so several years ago, while Jamaica was yet to draft the bill.

The chamber said it wanted greater priority on legislation that support Jamaica's economic performance.