The art of making laws
and regulations readable, easily applicable, and unwaveringly aligned with the
best interests of its beneficiaries (who are none other than the citizens of
this country), seems to be completely lost on the authors behind Jordan’s relatively-new
guidelines for “
home-based businesses” (HBBs).
اضافة اعلان
As a freelancer combing
through online literature related to the country’s 2017 “Home-Based Business
Regulations,” one is greeted with bottleneck after bottleneck in what feels
like a deliberate attempt at making “freelancing” in this country as convoluted
and difficult to achieve as possible.
These
USAID-backed regulations,
available on the website “Startup Guide Jordan,” with background offered on
Jordanlens.org, are communicated through a so-called “step-by-step” guide. From
what I have seen, the regulations, and their communication tools, seem to be unnecessarily
complicated, lacking the nuance of differentiating between creative freelancing
and other types of home-based businesses. They also expose an obsession with
monitoring and quantifying informal businesses rather than “supporting” them.
Startupguidejo.com’s
downloadable e-booklet alone is a case study in ambiguity and convolution.
In what serves as
ironic foreshadowing, the website does not allow users to download the PDF
unless they input their full name and phone number as an invasive prerequisite,
one of many bottlenecks to come. This offers a window into the mentality behind
this effort, as unnecessary roadblocks are placed in the way of getting public
information, which is supposed to be available to all citizens, unconditionally.
Never mind the fact the same guide is obtainable via direct download from the
Greater Amman Municipality’s (GAM) website (check out the left side-bar)!
To be clear, the part
I am critiquing here is pertinent to “freelancers,” which I believe are a breed
of self-employed individuals that should fall under a specific set of rules,
tailored for them, while also offering them solutions to problems particular to
them. However, the HBB regulations not only complicate the freelancers’ lives,
but also make freelancing an almost impossible endeavor to undertake in Jordan.
On this note, I have written two
previous articles about the challenges facing freelancers that readers
can find on JordanNews.jo.
Let me start with an
interesting example: There is this inexplicable stipulation that requires
freelancers (along with the other home-based business categories like food
preparation and house repair services) to report their new residence to their
municipality in case they move homes. In other words, once you get entangled
with the home-based business regulations by licensing yourself as an
“individual business,” your license is tied to your place of residence, not to
you as a freelancer.
Although in practical
terms you could do your freelancing from a coffee shop with an internet
connection or from under a tree for that matter, these rules need you to
display your license in a “visible place” in your home in case of a “site
visit”! Has anyone ever heard of a freelancer, anywhere in the world, having to
inform their local government of their whereabouts so as to receive a
freelancing license? Highly doubtful.
A site visit makes
sense for a home business that makes chocolate or meat pies and requires periodic
health-code visits by health inspectors. But for freelancing (which often
involves a computer, some software, creative or intellectual skills, and
deliverables that are often sent via email or a file-sharing website), no site
visit should be required. Oddly enough, a fellow freelancer recently told me he
has received not one, but three to four site visits already! To do what? See if
the laptop is sitting properly on the table?
Why would the home of
a graphic designer, illustrator, writer, copywriter, researcher, or
proofreader, need to be inspected? For what exactly? What code are we supposed
to live up to? My worktable is in my bedroom; am I supposed to let a stranger
in just to declare me eligible for a home-based license? The absurdity of the
notion (i.e. checking for “compliance” to some unspecified standard) is beyond
surreal!
In light of this and
to add to one’s mounting frustration, there appears to be no mechanism to allow us, the affected, to directly dispute inaccuracies and
problems with the regulations, as one would expect from institutions concerned
with good governance. There is, however, an invitation in the booklet to send in our suggestions for new “types” of HBBs.
Speaking of which, we now arrive at another
problem that reaffirms the notion these rules are out of touch with the reality
of freelancing; whoever came up with the types of jobs, under the “intellectual”
category, seems to have no idea that in real life a “copywriter” can also be a
“proof-reader.” A “graphic designer” can most certainly “design ads” and
provide the visual side of “ad campaigns.” An “illustrator” can be a “fine artist,”
too.
These are not wild assumptions, in real
life, freelancers tend to wear several hats at once, and there are a trillion examples
of such multi-faceted professional combinations across Jordan and the globe!
Yet, in these regulations, these job types
are listed as standalone specializations, each with its own proposed fees,
licence type, and other bureaucratic requirements. A friend recently told me he
had to declare one specialization, although his freelancing activities involved
several other types, another supporting evidence these rules are rooted in theory
and not in practicality.
But it is never too
late. Although these regulations were created a couple of years before the
pandemic, they are not set in stone. It is high time we gave them a serious
re-think, especially that these trying times have shown us we need to do better
than just mediocre.
As we strive for
excellence, we do have an example to follow. Jordan’s leadership has categorically refused the
concept of “herd immunity” in its approach to pandemic control, because as a
matter of spiritual principle, every soul in our beloved homeland matters. Why
then do we find it easy to adopt a “herd mentality” when it comes to laws and
regulations that leave so many of us behind?
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