Restaurants will be able to "compete on the world's stage" following newly-tabled legislation that will give them breaks from paying Customs duty when they refurbish their premises.

The Restaurants (Temporary Customs Duty Relief) Bill 2002, which was introduced to the House of Assembly yesterday, was heralded as a significant concession that will allow eating establishments to compete on "an equal footing" with hotels, which have already received similar breaks.

Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce restaurant division Phil Barnett said: "It's heartening to know that this dialogue is continuing. Drastic action is needed on behalf of everyone to ensure that the restaurant sector doesn't go under."

On announcing the move in his Budget speech last February, Finance Minister Eugene Cox said: "Restaurateurs argue that because restaurants in hotels qualify for relief under the Act, they thereby receive an unfair advantage. Government found their argument persuasive."

Mr. Barnett said: "We are extremely pleased that Government has seen the situation that restaurants currently find themselves in. They seem to understand the hardships that we are going through.

"In order to improve our product we have to do significant renovations and because this was announced in the last Budget, we have been looking forward to receiving it.

"The chamber has been lobbying very hard for this so we can compete on a level playing field with hotels. When you have places like Fairmont Hamilton Princess being able to host happy hour and taking some of our business, then some relief is welcome."

He added: "When you're running a restaurant you don't just spend thousands of dollars, you spend hundreds of thousands. Equipment is very expensive and that was stopping a lot of restaurants from doing rennovations."

He said establishments such as Cafe Lido and the Barracuda Grill had gone forward with refurbishments only because the managers had known these concessions would be granted.

"This is going to be good for Bermuda. We got hit so hard by September 11 that the only direction thing could go was up. Now things are looking better."

Swizzle Inn manager Jay Correia said: "This is very positive. I was one of the people that lobbied Government for this. Restaurants have seen dwindling profits and they have been hesitant to reinvest in refurbishments.

"This puts us on an equal footing with hotels. I think the Government was very wise in levelling out the playing field. This will certainly kick our business prospects up a notch. I think a lot of restaurants will take advantage of being able to renovate. It's a big bonus."

Frog and Onion manager Mark Osborne said the legislation might inspire him to consider refurbishing.

"This bill will help us raise the standard of places and we need to be able to offer customers a good product," he said.

"People have complained that some restaurants and bars are not up to what they expect. That's not a problem with the Frog and Onion but this bill might just help us do more than we originally intended."