House Commerce Committee Chairman Zacharias Zachariou has called for a better translated copy of a casino legislative draft proposal on regulations after the Greek version baffled parliamentarians.

Both Zachariou and the other committee members have said they will submit specific opinions and suggestions at the next parliamentary committee session on Monday. Also present at the House meeting on Tuesday was Energy and Commerce Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis.

But thrashing out the new regulations have already hit a stumbling block after it was observed that a drafted legislative proposal had adopted many chapters from other bills from abroad but was not translated clearly into Greek.

“No political party or colleague has held back with suggestions and opinions after the new  regulations were put forward. But the regulations that have been put forward have been translated from English into Greek and there are some provisions and legal wordings that remain unclear. The translation into Greek is lacking.”

Despite the setback, Zachariou said that his committee was working closely with the Ministry of Commerce and that he hoped the new regulations “would be ready by next month.”

Last month, the General Director of the Ministry of Commerce, Stelios Himonas, asked MPs to approve the final rules and regulations concerning the operations of Cyprus’ first casino resort by February.

The move is necessary in order to prepare for the next round of the tender competition in which only three participants will remain out of the eight candidates.

The Ministry of Commerce estimates that a casino resort could add up to 500,000 more tourists in Cyprus, compared with around 2.4 million today whilst also create hundreds of jobs.