Changes to controversial race laws proposed by Government may be afoot, according to Minister for Development, Opportunity and Government Services Terry Lister.

The Minister said there may be fundamental changes while speaking at a lunch given by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bermuda yesterday.

Mr. Lister added that while the gathering process may change, the end result would be the same.

In response to a question from Belco president Garry Madeiros about what kind of changes in the way the regulations would be implemented were afoot, Mr.

Lister said: "What I believe is that the process may change, but the outcome will be the same.'' The Commission For Unity and Racial Equality (CURE) regulations, which were stalled after the Senate voted last month to block them, were aimed at getting accurate statistics on the racial makeup of the workplace.

They required firms with 10 employees or more to register with CURE and provide detailed breakdowns by race on hiring, firing, promotions and income levels of staff.

Employees would have been asked to fill in forms giving their ethnic origin, job, pay and any perks such as housing allowances. Job applicants would have been asked to give racial details and what post they applied for.

Those companies failing to provide information could face fines of up to $5,000.

Senate blocked the action after business leaders objected to the kind of detail being asked for in the forms and complained that they were not consulted.

As part of promoting CURE to the business world, Mr. Lister was invited to speak at the accountants' annual lunch held at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

Mr. Lister gave a brief history of race relations for the last 400 years and talked about how gathering statistics was one on the prime reasons for the CURE regulations.

Mr. Madeiros said most of the controversy surrounding the regulations was in the detail and asked if there had been any progress from discussions.

Mr. Lister said most of the early consultation was done with the Bermuda Employers Council and some was done with the Bermuda International Business Association, but none was done with the Chamber of Commerce's International Companies Division or the hotel industry.

He said: "We have invited the different business groups to put forward recommendations and then we will have everybody on board and end up with something they themselves have helped come about.''