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Egypt: Adding a million taxpayers
With 37% of Egypt’s workforce in the informal sector, the government realized reform was the way to broaden its tax base and increase revenues. Tax rates were high, the process of making payments was cumbersome, and tax evasion was the norm. Change was necessary.
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Serbia: Faster, more orderly exit
Serbia was plagued by a bankruptcy process that was susceptible to corruption—including an infamous group known as the “bankruptcy mafia.” Something had to change, especially when winding up a failed Serbian enterprise could take 10 years or more.
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Nigeria: Repairing a car with the engine running
Commercial cases in the Nigerian state of Lagos can now be resolved in about a year—in stark contrast to the situation during 16 years of military rule. In 1997 the average duration of commercial cases before the court was over 4 years. This case study tracks how Nigeria modernized court rules, dismissed corrupt judges, and introduced alternative dispute resolution to improve its legal system.
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Georgia: Need land administration reform? Start a revolution
In 2004, a newly elected, reform-minded government revolutionized Georgia’s land administration system—just a matter of months upon taking office. The goal was a new land registry that guaranteed transparency and efficiency. In June 2004, Georgia established a new National Agency of Public Registry, which was to be independent in its budget.
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Georgia: Licensing 159 activities—not 909
Georgia’s old byzantine system of construction licenses and permits used to deter entrepreneurs from building legally. But as the construction sector was heating up in Tbilisi, Georgia’s government decided to lift bureaucratic hurdles by passing 2005’s Law on Licensing and Permits and Regulation 140 (on issuing construction permits) just a few weeks later. The re¬sult: the number of activities requiring a business license fell from 909 to 159.
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Mexico: Protecting investors from self-dealing
In 2004 Mexico’s securities market was a tiny fraction of what might be expected for an economy of its size. And while Latin America received 9% of global private equity flows, Mexico, with more than a third of the region’s income, received only a tenth of that. More companies were delisting rather than issuing new shares on the Mexican stock exchange. It was time for reform.
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Panama: Reforming the credit bureau law
Many of Panama’s 300,000 small and medium businesses—employing 68% of workers in the country—were cut off from loans under previous credit bureau regulations. And more than 40% of Panamanian adults, mostly the poorest, had no formal credit options. This was in spite of Panama’s advanced financial markets.
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Pakistan: Speeding up trade
Trading across borders is now easier in Pakistan, thanks to its recent reforms in which reformers learned from past mistakes. In 2003, the reform strategy was to implement the short-term, less costly, quick-win reforms immediately while preparing the ground for the medium to long-term reforms, which were perhaps more complex and costly. This strategy paid off.
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El Salvador: Starting a business (quickly)
Starting a business, often the first contact between an entrepreneur and the government, was intimidating in El Salvador before its recent reforms. As a result, 38% of entrepreneurs simply started their businesses informally, never registering or paying taxes. Something had to be done.
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Serbia: How to double business entry in two years
For decades, starting a business in Serbia was time consuming and burdened with unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, as rules inherited from Serbia’s communist past were not business-friendly. Some of the biggest problems: the $5,000 minimum capital requirement, cumbersome inspections, and the commercial courts checking every document.
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Macedonia: Employing Macedonia’s youth
Macedonia suffered from chronically high unemployment: rates hovered above 30% throughout the 1990s, partly due to rigid employment laws. In 2003, the government decided that it was time for a major reform. Part of the cure was a new labor law that could better respond to the economy’s needs.
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Peru: Bringing more credit to the private sector
Most entrepreneurs in search of a loan go to the bank. But in countries with inadequate collateral laws, banks are less willing to lend—as in Peru before the 2006 reform of its secured transactions law. For recording security interests, Peru used to have 17 registries for different kinds of assets, each with its own regulations and requirements.
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Italy: Repaying creditors without imprisoning debtors
In 2003 Italy’s bankruptcy law was over 60 years old—not ideal to keep up with economic transformation. Judges, lawyers, businesses, and creditors all knew that the law needed to change, but the process was slow. Then, in 2003, the wake of the crisis caused by Parmalat’s demise, the Italian government finally shifted focus to implementing structural reforms to enhance Italy’s competitiveness.
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Rwanda: Pragmatism leads the way in setting up specialized commercial courts
After the 1994 genocide, Rwanda recognized that it had to reform its commercial justice institutions. But the country faced a more immediate challenge from the genocide: bringing thousands of perpetrators to justice.
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Tonga: Enforcing contracts quickly, with help from the neighbors
The efficiency of contract enforcement was especially poor in Tonga: it ranked 126 of 175 countries. What could be done? Bringing technology to litigation was the suggested answer. And it worked.
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Poland: Fighting entrenched interests to enforce judgments faster
In Poland, going through a lawsuit and enforcing a judgment had the potential to be a nightmare. The average judgment took close to half a year to enforce, and hard-to-enforce judgments could take years.
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Ghana: When enough is enough (land registration)
Since independence, the citizens of Ghana have dealt with a dysfunctional land administration system. Long and expensive procedures took up to 5 years and involved 6 different agencies. Many preferred to avoid the headache, keeping their land issues within clans or tribes—unrecorded, but simpler and cheaper for them.
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Czech Republic: Creating a new profession from scratch
Until 2007, all construction permits in the Czech Republic were governed by a 1976 law. As in many other Eastern European countries, land allocation and construction were based mostly on administrative decisions and a planned economy, not supply and demand.
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Portugal: One-stop shopping
In 2005 it took 11 procedures and 78 days to start a business in Portugal—slower than in the Democratic Republic of Congo. An entrepreneur needed 20 forms and documents, more than in any other European Union country, and the cost came to almost €2,000. The planning for reform began as soon as new Prime Minister Jose Socrates took office in March 2005.
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Egypt: How to raise revenues by lowering fees
Over the last decade, Egypt’s economy grew rapidly. But its property market remained far below its economic potential—for government revenues and as an investment vehicle for citizens. In fact, as recently as 2005, 90% of properties in Egypt were either unregistered or registered at underestimated values.
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Honduras: Slashing the time to register property from 18 months to 15 days
Honduras’s property-registry system was obsolete and created instability in the real estate market. The same property could be registered 2 or more times by different owners, leading to painful litigation. Furthermore, the system was inefficient. It could take 1 to 2 years to complete a property registration. The system was ripe for reform.
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Vietnam: Protecting minority shareholders to boost investment
Investors used to be afraid to put their money in Vietnam. Why? Fear that company management would misuse funds for personal benefit. The previous laws lacked clear rules for transparency and directors’ obligations. And the regulatory system governing companies was fragmented and opaque.
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Jordan: A public-private partnership brings order to Aqaba’s port
The port of Aqaba, Jordan’s only sea port, was the country’s biggest hindrance to trade in mid-2003. Waiting times for ships at berth were long, and congestion at the container terminal severe. Major international shipping lines suspended their dealings with the Aqaba Container Terminal. But by the end of 2005 the congestion had disappeared, and the congestion charge was gone—thanks to reforms.
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Azerbaijan: How to reform in 3 months
Before 2008 entrepreneurs looking to start a business in Azerbaijan had to register at 5 different agencies, complete 15 procedures, and file 33 documents. It took more than 2 months. But in 2008 Azerbaijan launched a new company registration system—and the reform went through in just 3 months.
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Saudi Arabia: Competitiveness from innovation, not inheritance
Starting a business in Saudi Arabia used to be limited to those who could afford one of the highest minimum capital requirements in the world—$125,000 for limited liability companies. The need to transform the Saudi economy was clear—from one based on inherited wealth to one based on innovation.
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Singapore: Harnessing the Internet to streamline procedures
Before 2003, the process to start a business in Singapore was long, tedious, and too dependent on clerical staff entering data by hand. The result was dissatisfaction and delays. Now Singapore’s Internet-based system for registration, filing, and information retrieval—known as Bizfile—is making business startups easier, more efficient, and less expensive.
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Turkey: Giving a facelift to the Turkish tax system
Almost all tax reforms aim at a single goal: to increase revenue. But Turkey’s 2007 reform was different—simplifying and modernizing the tax system were the key goals. The government had been concerned that an antiquated corporate tax law was hindering foreign direct investment. It wanted to align its system with international standards.
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Colombia: Private help for a public problem
In 1995, Colombia became the first country in all of Latin America to privatize its building-permit review process. Fourteen years after its initial implementation, the system’s impact on the construction process is palpable. This case study looks at the reform and its impact.
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Macedonia FYR: Court reform — Sustained multitasking
In November 2004, the government of Macedonia passed its far-reaching National Strategy for the Reform of the Justice System (2004–2007). Macedonia’s Ministry of Justice then set itself performance markers—an extensive list of goals to be achieved over the short and medium term. The government also provided budget requirements for the program.
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Trinidad and Tobago: Bringing credit reform to the Caribbean
Before 2004, getting comprehensive credit information was a challenge for lending institutions in Trinidad and Tobago. But some saw an opportunity to innovate and create the first fully automated credit bureau in all of the Caribbean .
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Serbia: Cross-border trading reforms in post-war Serbia
Serbia has made much progress in streamlining its customs procedures to be in line with EU practices, developing an electronic customs clearance system, and modernizing its cargo risk management system. This case study shows how Serbia reformed its trade practices.
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Bolivia: Finance for all, Integrating microfinance to credit information sharing
In 2001, Bolivia’s borrowers had taken out too many loans and they could not pay them back. Amidst an economic crisis, people were demanding that their debts be forgiven. In July 2001, the situation got so bad that hostages were taken at the Superintendence of Banks and Financial Entities, Bolivia’s financial regulator. What could regulators do?
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Chile: Increasing transparency in insolvency proceedings
Before 2005, the receiver profession in Chile was poorly regulated and vulnerable to corruption. Scandals challenged the public’s faith in the system. To root out corruption, Chile worked to ensure that private receivers were specially trained, licensed, appointed, and paid through a transparent system.
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Tunisia: Transition to open markets and an improved insolvency process
As the first country in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to sign a European Union Association Agreement (EUAA) in 1995, Tunisia saw the need to strength its business environment in the face of increased competition from the European Union. Furthermore, Tunisia’s insolvency system needed to be improved as banks and other enterprises were privatized in the opening economy.
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Albania: Seizing the opportunity for effective legal reform
In 2006-2007, Albania’s government, legal, and business communities all felt the need for a new commercial legal framework. To this end, Albania’s government, in 2008, passed a company law designed to make a difference in the long term.
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Belarus: The story of property reform
In the late 1990s, the Belarusian government set out to streamline the nation’s onerous property registration system. To this end, a “one-stop shop” was created to help make Belarus’ property registration system one of the most efficient and sophisticated in the world.
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China: New property rights law
After a record 14 years of consultation, China’s long awaited new Property Rights Law was finally passed on March 16, 2007. For the first time the law offered equal protection to socialist public property and private property.
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Yemen gets serious about starting businesses
Yemen, a low-income country, sought to reach middle-income prosperity levels. In its “Strategic Vision for 2025,” the government put private-sector development at the top of its agenda. It started off by reforming business registrations—and that made Yemen one of the top reformers in the Doing Business “starting a business” category in 2009.
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Azerbaijan: How to create a world-class taxation system from scratch
The government of Azerbaijan took on the challenge of creating, from scratch, a transparent tax administration system, as was necessary. The country’s tax administration was revolutionized by creating a state-of-the-art online system.
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Madagascar: Trade reform gives country a competitive edge
Madagascar’s trade reform strongly emphasized the role of the private sector in spurring economic growth. As part of this program, Madagascar reformed its trade policies and procedures, and the results have been impressive. This case study follows the process.
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Korea: Better business regulation and improved competitiveness
In Korea the Presidential Council on National Competitiveness, created in 2008, identified regulatory reform as 1 of 4 pillars to improve the economy’s competitiveness, along with public sector innovation, investment promotion, and legal and institutional advancement. Reviewing Korea’s business regulations, the council found that 15% had not been revised since 1998. The council applied sunset clauses to more than 600 regulations and 3,500 administrative rules.
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Macedonia FYR: Major changes spurred by regional integration
Regional integration efforts such as the accession process of the European Union can
help drive reforms in business regulation. This has been the case in FYR Macedonia, which launched a comprehensive reform agenda after applying for EU membership. Its reform agenda has been driven largely by requirements to ensure that the country’s laws are in line with the EU legal framework. Equally important has been the desire to attract investment and develop business activity to create jobs and achieve economic growth.
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Mexico: Unleashing regulatory reform at the local level
Mexico’s 31 states and 2,441 municipalities, along with Mexico City, have extensive
regulatory powers, allowing them to design, implement and enforce regulations. So regulatory reform has required not only horizontal coordination among ministries, agencies, and legislative and judicial bodies at the federal level, but vertical coordination with entities at the state and municipal levels. The regulatory reform initiative in Mexico has used an exercise of benchmarking business regulation in all 31 states and Mexico City to support this coordination and stimulate change.
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United Kingdom: Rethinking regulation
In the United Kingdom in 2005–10 a program reduced the burden of regulatory compliance on businesses by 25% according to the government. That amounted to savings for firms equivalent to £3.5 billion. New initiatives are under way, such as the "one in, one out" system and the Red Tape Challenge.
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Does Doing Business matter for foreign direct investment?
This case study presents evidence suggesting that Doing Business matters for FDI, supporting a broader claim that economies that provide a good regulatory environment for domestic firms tend to also provide a good one for foreign-owned firms.
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Rwanda: Fostering prosperity by promoting entrepreneurship
Since 2004 Rwanda has substantially improved access to credit, streamlined procedures for starting a business, reduced the time to register property, simplified cross-border trade and made courts more accessible for resolving commercial disputes.
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How transparent is business regulation around the world?
A growing body of empirical research suggests that while transparency alone might not be enough to increase government accountability, it is certainly necessary.
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Latvia: Maintaining a reform state of mind
Despite being substantially affected by the financial crisis starting in 2008, Latvia continued its reform agenda, adapting it to the new challenges the country was facing. Learn what lessons can be learned about this “reform state of mind” demonstrated by Latvia.
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APEC: Sharing goals and experience
The APEC Ease of Doing Business action plan identifies “champion economies” to share information and experience and to assist other members through tailored diagnostic studies. The plan seeks to implement APEC’s view of capacity building as a central part in enhancing cooperation and accelerating progress.
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Colombia: Sustaining reforms over time
Colombia’s commitment to regulatory reform has led to substantial improvements in the quality of the business environment and a more solid foundation for private sector development. While the country has more development hurdles to overcome, the measures taken over the past years have greatly improved its competitiveness.
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Egypt: Boosting trade
Rachid Mohammed Rachid, Minister of Trade and Industry, describes his experience as a member of the new economic reform team appointed in 2004 by President Mubarak. The team was tasked with reviving the Egyptian economy to achieve economic growth levels of 6 percent, provide employment opportunities to the 650,000 new entrants to the job market and double both the foreign direct investment inflows and total trade through more integration into the world economy.
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Tonga: Electronic case management and mediation
A low ranking in the ease of contract enforcement in Doing Business in 2006—Creating Jobs prompted Tonga’s government to seek remedial action. In this Smart Lesson, Anthony D. Ford, Chief Justice of the Kingdom of Tonga, describes the range of activist measures—in particular, the introduction of electronic case management and mediation—that were instrumental in drastically improving the legal process.
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Ghana: Establishment of commercial courts
This lesson is part of the Doing Business series, written by "star reformers." An often-repeated remark about George Kingsley Acquah, Ghana’s Chief Justice from 2003 until 2007 and driver of his country's major judicial reforms, was that "it took a man like him for this to happen." Sandra Cofie, author of "Ghana—Establishment of Commercial Courts," says she subscribes to this view. She observed him from her position as Director of the Judicial Reform, Project Development and Implementation Unit at the Judicial Service of Ghana.
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Italy: Modernizing Italy’s bankruptcy law
Reforming bankruptcy laws can be difficult for many reasons. In Italy, first of all, attitudes toward bankruptcy made it a difficult subject to generate support for. Secondly, bankruptcy reforms are often complex and lengthy: They require changes not only to the bankruptcy law, but also to other important parts of the legal framework—such as the codes of civil procedures and, in the case of Italy, the penal code. Finally, they require support from those that must implement them. This paper outlines Michele Vietti's experience in leading Italy's Commission for the Reform of the Bankruptcy Law and the lessons he learned from it.
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Portugal: One-stop shopping
This lesson is part of the Doing Business series, written by “star reformers.” In 2005, entrepreneurs were required to complete 11 procedures that took an average of 78 days to start a business in Portugal, making it a slower process than in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As soon as new Prime Minister Jose Socrates took office in March of 2005, the planning for reform began.
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Egypt: How efficiently Is capital created? Evidence from property registration reform
Many developed countries, and countries on their way toward development, have simple, inexpensive and fast property registration processes. Low property registration fees encourage every property holder to receive a formal title. The poor especially benefit, because they can use their property as collateral, start doing business and work to achieve their dreams. This paper discusses the property registration reform in Egypt that focused on two areas: the cost and quality of procedures.
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Poland: Taking on the bailiff monopoly
Krzysztof Józefowicz, Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice in Poland between December 2005 and March 2007, talks about difficulties in breaking up the bailiff monopoly. “Bailiffs are enforcement officers charged with executing judgments by seizing and selling the goods of debtors who do not pay their debts on time,” he explained. “In Poland, the bailiffs enjoy a quasi-monopoly because just one bailiff per enforcement precinct is allowed, prices are fixed by law and entry into the profession is nearly impossible. Shielded from any competitive pressures, Polish bailiffs deliver poor service and the execution of judgments in Poland is patchy at best.”
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Mexico: Creating competition to reform among states
Publishing comparative data on the ease of doing business across various states in Mexico inspired many local governments to introduce swift reforms. The Doing Business in Mexico study proved to governors and mayors that they can improve competitiveness and create more jobs with simple reforms.
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Nigeria: Data collection at the subnational level: Lessons from Nigeria, Africa’s giant
Benchmarking local commercial regulations is useful, not only for assessing the impact of the regulatory environment, but also for stimulating public debate on reform. Producing a rigorous set of primary quantitative micro data can be challenging even in the best of circumstances.
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Mexico: Compare, compete, cooperate: How subnational Doing Business helps Mexican states to improve commercial regulations
Over the past three years, the experience in Mexico has demonstrated the impact of the Doing Business in Mexico 2009 report (available in Spanish only) on state and municipal policy reforms.
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Philippines: Laying the ground for regulatory reforms for national and local competitiveness
The business environment in the Philippines is costly and overregulated, with wide variations observed in the implementation of national regulations among local government units. This case study looks at the challenges of pursuing reform and research in such an environment.
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