Sri Lanka’s Export Development Board and the software industry body SLASSCOM have asked senior police officials to speed up police clearance reports for IT staff, saying administrative delays are costing firms access to international contracts.
The clearance certificates are required by ICT company employees to satisfy overseas client requirements, enter international tenders and bidding processes, and take up business opportunities abroad, EconomyNext reported.
EDB Chairman and Chief Executive Mangala Wijesinghe said delays in obtaining clearances had created difficulties for ICT firms. SLASSCOM said timely issuance matters for meeting international compliance requirements, completing client onboarding and keeping Sri Lankan professionals in global engagements without interruption.
Senior Superintendent of Police S. H. D. Jagath Chandrakumara responded positively and agreed to take steps to expedite the relevant procedures, according to Lanka Business Online, which named the full meeting.
Who attended
Alongside Wijesinghe and SSP Chandrakumara, the meeting included Chaminda De Silva, Executive Director of SLASSCOM; Omar Hassen, a SLASSCOM board director; Indumini Kodikara, Director of Export Services at the EDB; Dinesh Attanayake, Assistant Director of Export Services; and Chief Inspector J. D. T. M. Jayawardhana.
Why it matters to exports
The EDB frames the problem as an operational barrier rather than a policy one. Faster processing, it says, would help Sri Lankan ICT companies compete for international contracts and expand overseas, and the initiative is meant to strengthen collaboration between government agencies and industry across the ICT and business process management export sector.
Police clearance reports are a routine document in international IT outsourcing, where client contracts and tender rules commonly require background verification of staff assigned to a project. A delay on the certificate can therefore stall an onboarding or disqualify a bid regardless of the work itself.
Not reported
Neither filing states how long clearances currently take, what the target turnaround is, how many ICT workers are affected, or whether any contract has actually been lost. No specific measure, process change or deadline is attached to the SSP’s undertaking, and no figure is given for the ICT sector’s export earnings against which the cost might be weighed. The Sri Lanka Police have issued no public statement of their own.
