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Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Comparing Business regulations for domestiC firms in 189 eConomies

A World Bank Group Flagship Report

1 2 t h e d i t i o n

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Attribution—Please cite the work as follows: World Bank. 2014. Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency. Washington, DC: World Bank. DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0351-2. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO

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ISBN (paper): 978-1-4648-0351-2

ISBN (electronic): 978-1-4648-0352-9

DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0351-2

ISSN: 1729-2638

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Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

COMPARING BUSINESS REGULATIONS FOR DOMESTIC FIRMS IN 189 ECONOMIES

A World Bank Group Flagship Report

1 2 T H E D I T I O N

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Resources on the Doing Business website

Current features News on the Doing Business project

http://www.doingbusiness.org

Rankings How economies rank—from 1 to 189

http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings

Data All the data for 189 economies—topic

rankings, indicator values, lists of

regulatory procedures and details

underlying indicators

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data

Reports Access to Doing Business reports as well

as subnational and regional reports,

reform case studies and customized

economy and regional profiles

http://www.doingbusiness.org/reports

Methodology The methodologies and research papers

underlying Doing Business

http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology

Research Abstracts of papers on Doing Business

topics and related policy issues

http://www.doingbusiness.org/research

Doing Business reforms Short summaries of DB2015 business

regulation reforms, lists of reforms since

DB2008 and a ranking simulation tool

http://www.doingbusiness.org/reforms

Historical data Customized data sets since DB2004

http://www.doingbusiness.org/custom-query

Law library Online collection of business laws and

regulations relating to business

http://www.doingbusiness.org/law-library

Contributors More than 10,700 specialists in 189

economies who participate in Doing

Business

http://www.doingbusiness.org

/contributors/doing-business

Entrepreneurship data Data on business density (number of

newly registered companies per 1,000

working-age people) for 139 economies

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data

/exploretopics/entrepreneurship

Distance to frontier Data benchmarking 189 economies to

the frontier in regulatory practice

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data

/distance-to-frontier

Information on good practices Showing where the many good

practices identified by Doing Business

have been adopted

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data

/good-practice

Doing Business iPhone app Doing Business at a Glance—presenting

the full report, rankings and highlights

for each topic for the iPhone, iPad and

iPod touch

http://www.doingbusiness.org

/special-features/iphone

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

v Foreword

1 Overview

1 5 About Doing Business

24 What is changing in Doing Business?

33 Reforming the business environment in 2013/14

Case studies 47 Starting a business

The growing efficiency of company registries

53 Zoning and urban planning

Understanding the benefits

60 Registering property

Measuring the quality of land administration systems

67 Getting credit

The importance of registries

76 Protecting minority investors

Going beyond related-party transactions

83 Paying taxes

Trends before and after the financial crisis

90 Enforcing contracts

How judicial efficiency supports freedom of contract

96 Resolving insolvency

Measuring the strength of insolvency laws

102 Highlights from the Doing Business research conference

109 References

1 1 4 Data notes

146 Distance to frontier and ease of doing business ranking

152 Summaries of Doing Business reforms in 2013/14

167 Country tables

231 Labor market regulation data

252 Acknowledgments

Contents

Doing Business 2015 is the 12th in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 189 economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—and over time.

Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures labor market regulation, which is not included in this year’s ranking.

Data in Doing Business 2015 are current as of June 1, 2014. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where and why.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Foreword How to use Doing Business indicators and how not to

The public discourse on eco-nomic policy is overwhelmingly focused on fiscal measures, monetary interventions, welfare pro-

grams and other such highly visible

instruments of government action.

Thus when an economy does poorly, a

disproportionate amount of our debate

centers on whether or not it needs a

fiscal stimulus, whether there should be

liquidity easing or tightening, whether

its welfare programs have been too

profligate or too paltry and so on.

What gets much less attention but is

equally—and, in some situations, even

more—important for an economy’s

success or failure is the nuts and

bolts that hold the economy together

and the plumbing that underlies the

economy.

The laws that determine how easily a

business can be started and closed,

the efficiency with which contracts are

enforced, the rules of administration

pertaining to a variety of activities—

such as getting permits for electricity

and doing the paperwork for exports

and imports—are all examples of the

nuts and bolts that are rarely visible

and in the limelight but play a critical

role. Their malfunctioning can thwart

an economy’s progress and render

the more visible policy instruments,

such as good fiscal and monetary poli-

cies, less effective. Just as the Space

Shuttle Challenger broke apart on

takeoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida,

on January 28, 1986, not because (as

was later realized) something major

had gone wrong but because a joint

held together by a circular nut called

the O-ring had failed, an economy can

be brought down or held back by the

failure of its nuts and bolts. The World

Bank Group’s Doing Business report

is an annual statement of the state

of the nuts and bolts of economies

around the world and, as such, is one of

the most important compendiums of

information and analysis of the basis

of an economy’s effective day-to-day

functioning and development.

Creating an efficient and inclusive

ethos for enterprise and business

is in the interest of all societies. An

economy with an efficient bureaucracy

and rules of governance that facilitates

entrepreneurship and creativity among

individuals, and provides an enabling

atmosphere for people to realize

their full potential, can enhance living

standards and promote growth and

shared prosperity. It can also help

in creating an environment in which

standard macroeconomic policies are

more effective and course through the

economy more easily. After decades

of debate there is now some conver-

gence in economics about the roles

of the market and the state. To leave

everything to the free market can lead

to major economic malfunction and

elevated levels of poverty, and have

us be silent witnesses to, for instance,

discrimination against certain groups.

Moreover, there is a logical mistake that

underlies the market fundamentalist

philosophy. To argue that individuals

and private businesses should have

all the freedom to pursue what they

DOING BUSINESS 2015vi

wish and that government should not

intervene overlooks the fact that gov-

ernment is nothing but the outcome

of individual actions. Hence the edict

is internally inconsistent. Fortunately,

market fundamentalism has, for the

most part, been relegated to the mar-

gins of serious policy discourse.

Turning to the other extreme, it is now

widely recognized that to have the

state try to do it all is a recipe for eco-

nomic stagnation and cronyism. In any

national economy there are too many

decisions to be made, and too great a

variety of skills and talents scattered

through society, for any single author-

ity to take effective charge.

It is true that government should inter-

vene in the market to help the disadvan-

taged, to keep inequality within bounds,

to provide public goods and to create

correctives for market failures such

as those stemming from externalities,

information asymmetries and systemic

human irrationalities.1 But over and

above these, government also has the

critical responsibility to provide a nimble

regulatory setup that enables ordinary

people to put their skills and talents

to the best possible use and facilitates

the smooth and efficient functioning

of businesses and markets.2 It is this

critical role of providing an enabling

and facilitating ethos for individual tal-

ent and enterprise to flourish—which

includes an awareness of where not to

intervene and interfere—that the Doing

Business report tries to measure. There is no unique way of doing this, and there

are plenty of open conceptual questions

one has to contend with. In brief, by its

very nature Doing Business has all the

ingredients of being both important and

controversial, and it has lived up to both

qualities in ample measure.

SWITCHING SIDES As an independent researcher and,

later, as Chief Economic Adviser to the

Indian government, I used, criticized,

valued and debated the Doing Business

report, unaware that I would be at the

World Bank one day and hence be

shifted from the side of the consumer

to that of the manufacturer of this

product. This shift has given me a

360-degree view of Doing Business and, along with that, an awareness of its

strengths and weaknesses, which oth-

ers, luckier than I, may not have.

Its greatest strength is its transpar-

ency and adherence to clearly stated

criteria. Doing Business takes the same

set of hypothetical questions to 189

economies and collects answers to

these. Thus, for instance, when check-

ing on an economy’s efficacy in “enforc-

ing contracts,” it measures the time,

cost and procedures involved in resolv-

ing a hypothetical commercial lawsuit

between 2 domestic firms through a

local court. The dispute involves the

breach of a sales contract worth twice

the size of the income per capita of

the economy or $5,000, whichever is

greater. This meticulous insistence on

using the same standard everywhere

gives Doing Business a remarkable

comparability across economies.

However, this same strength is inevi-

tably a source of some weaknesses. It

means that, contrary to what some

people believe, Doing Business is not

based on sample surveys of firms. It is

not feasible, at least not at this stage,

to conduct such surveys in 189 econo-

mies. A lot of the Doing Business data

are based on careful collection of de jure

information on what an economy’s laws

and regulations require. Further, even

when, based on a study of one economy

or a cluster of economies, some measure

is found to be an important determinant

of the ease of doing business, it may not

be possible to put this measure to use

unless a way is found to collect informa-

tion on it from all 189 economies.

Nor does the fact that the same mea-

sures are collected for all economies

automatically mean that they are the

right measures. The same measure

may be more apt for one economy and

less so for another. As Ken Arrow once

pointed out, the medieval English law

under which no one was allowed to sleep

on park benches applied to both pau-

pers and aristocrats, but since the latter

typically did not consider the use of park

benches for napping, it was amply clear

that this horizontally anonymous law

was actually meant for only one class of

people, namely the poor.3

Another problem arises from the fact

that the overall ease of doing business

ranking is an aggregation of 10 com-

ponent indicators—measuring how

easy it is (in the economy concerned)

to start a business, deal with construc-

tion permits, get electricity, register

property, get credit, pay taxes, trade

across borders, enforce contracts and

resolve insolvency and how strong the

protections for minority investors are.

Further, each of these 10 component

indicators is itself an amalgam of

several even more basic measures. The

way all this is aggregated is by giving

each basic measure the same weight to

get to each component indicator, and

then giving an equal weight to each of

the 10 component indicators to get to

the final score. Questions may indeed

be asked about whether it is right

to give the same weight to different

indicators.4 Is an economy’s speed at

1. There is evidence that human beings are not just frequently irrational but have certain systematic propensities to this, which can be and has been used to exploit individuals (Akerlof and Shiller 2009; Johnson 2009). By this same logic, these irrationalities can be used to promote development and growth. The next World Development Report (World Bank, forthcoming), to be published in December 2014, is devoted to this theme.

2. This convergent view can increasingly be found in microeconomics books, such as Bowles (2006); Basu (2010); and Ferguson (2013). 3. Arrow 1963. 4. There is a lot of research on the choice of weights when aggregating and on the algebra of ranking; see, for example, Sen (1977); Basu (1983); and Foster,

McGillivray and Seth (2012).

viiFOREWORD

giving an electricity connection to a

new enterprise as important as its

ability to enforce contracts efficiently?

Further, the measures count both the

time taken to get certain permits and

clearances and also the number and

intricacy of procedures. These also

entail weights.

There is a way of doing away with

weights, an approach that involves

declaring one economy to be ranked

above another only if it dominates

the other in all 10 indicators. This is

referred to as the criterion of vector-

dominance, and its properties have

been studied and are well understood.

The trouble with this criterion is that

it leads to incompleteness in rankings.

For many pairs of economies it will not

be possible to treat either as ranked

above the other; nor can we, in such

cases, declare the 2 to be equally good

in terms of the ease of doing business.

This is illustrated in the figure, which

ranks a small cluster of economies by

using vector-dominance in terms of the

10 indicators. A downward line between

2 economies represents dominance, and

2 economies that cannot be connected

by a downward line cannot be compared

with each other. Hence Singapore is

unequivocally ranked above Ireland,

which is ranked above Cyprus and so on.

Singapore is also ranked above Latvia.

Similarly, New Zealand is ranked above

Latvia, which is above Morocco and

Benin, and so on. Singapore and New

Zealand, which are this year’s winner

and runner-up in our ordinal ranking,

cannot, however, be ranked in terms of

vector-dominance; nor can we rank New

Zealand and Ireland.5

It is true that the figure shows only

a small segment of the quasi-order

over the 189 economies; but even if we

showed the full set, the picture would

be populated with pairs of economies

that cannot be ranked. That is indeed

the disadvantage of vector-dominance.

When it pronounces judgment, it does

so with great authority, but it achieves

this at the cost of total reticence over

large domains.

What I suspected when I was a user

of Doing Business, and now know, is

that a significant number of the top

30 economies in the ease of doing

business ranking come from a tradition

where government has had quite a

prominent presence in the economy,

including through the laying out of

rules to regulate different dimensions

of the activities of the private sector.

However, all these economies have

an excellent performance on the

Doing Business indicators and in other international data sets capturing

various dimensions of competitiveness.

The top-performing economies in the

ease of doing business ranking are therefore not those with no regulation

but those in which governments have

managed to create rules that facilitate

interactions in the marketplace without

needlessly hindering the development

of the private sector.6 Ultimately, Doing

Business is about smart regulations that only a well-functioning state can

provide. The secret of success is to

have the essential rules and regulations

in place—but more importantly to have

a good system of clearing decisions

quickly and predictably, so that small

and ordinary businesses do not feel

harassed.

To get to an evaluation of this, one has

to make choices, such as what to include

and what to exclude and what weights

to use. This has been done in creating

the Doing Business measures, and effort

is being made to improve on these.

Excessive taxation, for instance, can

dampen incentives and adversely affect

an economy’s functioning. But this

does not mean that the lower the tax

rates and collections, the better. There

are economies where the tax revenue

to GDP ratio is so low that it hampers

the government’s ability to regulate

efficiently, invest in infrastructure and

provide basic health and education

services to the poor. With that in mind,

the Doing Business team changed the

indicator that used to treat a lower

tax rate as better. Three years ago a

threshold was set such that economies

with tax rates below this threshold are

not rewarded. This has reduced the bias

in favor of economies that choose not

to levy even a reasonable tax on private

companies.

Our attention has been drawn to many

critiques by the Independent Panel

on Doing Business, chaired by Trevor

Manuel, which submitted its report in

2013.7 Following this report a decision

was made to set a 2-year target to

improve the methodology of Doing

Business without damaging the overall

integrity of this valuable publication.

The Doing Business team is in the midst

Ranking by vector-dominance

Singapore

Ireland

Cyprus

Senegal

New Zealand

Latvia

Morocco

Benin

5. This example of vector-dominance is based only on the top 2 economies in this year’s ease of doing business ranking. The figure was constructed as follows: First, all economies were sorted by their ranking, and the first economy for which all 10 indicator rankings are lower than those of Singapore was identified: Ireland. The process was then repeated for Ireland, and so on for all 189 economies. Second, the analysis was replicated, this time starting with New Zealand. Third, all pairs of economies in the figure were compared (for example, the horizontal line between Singapore and Latvia means that Singapore vector-dominates Latvia and all economies connected with a vertical line under Latvia).

6. See Besley and Burgess (2004). 7. The report by the Independent Panel on Doing Business is available on its website at http://www.dbrpanel.org/.

DOING BUSINESS 2015viii

of such an exercise, and it is hoped that

independent researchers, wherever in

the world they happen to be, will join in

the task of refining and improving this

important document.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES While the 2-year task of improving the

methodology continues, it is worth being

clear that there is no such thing as the

best, all-encompassing indicator. As

a consequence, responsibility rests as

much with the users of the ease of doing

business ranking as with its producers

to make sure that it is a valuable

instrument of policy. Controversy has

often arisen from reading more into

the ranking or indicator than what it

actually captures. It has been pointed

out, critically, that there are economies

that do poorly on the Doing Business

indicators but that nevertheless get

a lot of foreign direct investment

(FDI) from global corporations. These

examples are usually nothing more

than a reminder that an economy has

many more aspects than the features

that are tracked and measured by the

Doing Business report. The flow of FDI into an economy is facilitated by having

a better doing business ethos, true, but

FDI flows can be thwarted by other

policy weaknesses; and, conversely, an

economy with poor performance on the

Doing Business indicators may make up

for it in other ways so as to attract

large FDI inflows. The fact that there

are examples of economies that do not

do well on the Doing Business indicators

but continue to receive flows of FDI

shows that private corporations do not

make this mistake; they will decide on

the basis of a range of factors.

Another common criticism is implicit

in the question, If economy x is grow-

ing fast, why does it not rank high on

the ease of doing business? First, if

the ease of doing business ranking

were constructed in such a way that

it had a very high correlation with

GDP or GDP growth, there would be

little reason to have a new ranking. We

would be able to get our result from

looking at GDP or GDP growth tables.

Second, this question is often rooted in

the common mistake, already noted,

of treating the ease of doing busi-

ness ranking as an all-encompassing

measure of an economy’s goodness.

It is not. An economy can do poorly on

Doing Business indicators but do well in

macroeconomic policy or social welfare

interventions. In the end, Doing Business

measures a slender segment of the

complex organism that any modern

economy is. It attempts to capture a

segment that is representative of other

general features of the economy (and

effort will be made to improve on this),

but the fact remains that an economy

can undo the goodness or badness of

its performance on Doing Business indi-

cators through other policies.

Moreover, economic efficiency is not

the only measure by which we evalu-

ate an economy’s performance.8 Most

of us value greater equality among

people; the ease of doing business

ranking is not meant to measure suc-

cess on that scale. We value better

health, better education, literature

and culture; the ease of doing business

ranking is not meant to capture these

either. It is a mistake to treat this as a

criticism of the ease of doing business

ranking; it is simply a reminder that life

is a many-splendored thing, and the

Doing Business report tries to capture

one aspect of the good life. The need is

to resurrect that once-popular expres-

sion, “ceteris paribus.” Other things re-

maining the same, an economy should

try to improve its score underlying the

ease of doing business ranking.

In putting the ease of doing business

ranking to use in crafting policy, it

is important to keep in mind these

caveats, strengths and weaknesses.

Ultimately, the Doing Business indicators

are meant to simply hold up a mirror to

economies. A poor score should alert a

government that it ought to examine

its regulatory structure. On the basis of

this it may decide to change some regu-

latory features and policies in ways that

may not even directly affect its ease of

doing business ranking but nevertheless

improve the economy’s performance. If

this happens, and there is some evidence

that it does, the Doing Business report

would be serving its purpose. There are

governments that attract a lot of talent

into their bureaucracy but nevertheless

do not have an efficient administration

because the bureaucrats get trapped in

their arcane rules of engagement. This

is a report that can be of great value to

such governments. And it is gratifying

that a large number of governments

have put it precisely to such use.

Promoting a well-functioning, competi-

tive private sector is a major undertak-

ing for any government, especially for

one with limited resources and techni-

cal capabilities. It requires long-term

comprehensive policies targeting mac-

roeconomic stability; investment in in-

frastructure, education and health; and

the building of technological and entre-

preneurial capacity. A well-functioning

political system—one in which the gov-

ernment is perceived to be working in the

public interest while managing scarce

resources in a reasonably transparent

way—plays a central role. Removing

administrative barriers and strengthen-

ing laws that promote entrepreneurship

and creativity—both of which are within

the power of governments to do—can

set an economy on the path to greater

prosperity and development. There is

compelling evidence that excessively

burdensome regulations can lead to

large informal and less-productive sec-

tors, less entrepreneurship and lower

rates of employment and growth.

8. See Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi (2009); World Bank (2014a); and World Bank and IMF (2014).

ixFOREWORD

CARDINALITY, ORDINALITY, RANKINGS AND RATINGS One feature of the report that has

received a lot of attention is its use of

rankings. Ultimately, what the report

does is to provide a table with a simple

ordinal ranking of all 189 economies.

After a lot of debate and discussion

a decision was made to stay with the

overall ranking, even though other,

cardinal features of the exercise are at

the same time being strengthened, as

will be explained shortly.

It was in 2005 that the World Bank

Group management decided to start

ranking economies on the ease of

doing business because it recognized

the value of benchmarking exercises

in generating interest among policy

makers in reform.9 In an area that

had received little attention from

policy makers before the publication

of the first Doing Business report, the

rankings proved to be an important

catalyst in raising the profile of

regulation as a central element of a

good investment climate. The rank-

ings also proved effective in moving

issues of performance and progress

in business regulation to the center of

policy discussions in a large number

of economies. By capturing complex,

multidimensional realities in a simple

quantified framework, the rankings

also helped to facilitate communica-

tion between different stakeholders

and made possible meaningful inter-

national comparisons of the regula-

tory performance of economies, con-

tributing, along the way, to increasing

the accountability of political actors.

Members of the business commu-

nity, for instance, could point to the

existence of less complex and costly

procedures or better-functioning insti-

tutions in other economies in the region

in their dealings with governments,

which, by and large, had been slow to

see their own Doing Business data in an

international perspective. The overall

ranking has value in addition to the

topic-level indicators. The overall rank-

ing combines a wealth of information

that serves as a summary measure

and allows governments to benchmark

their economy’s performance against

that of other economies.

Notwithstanding the important ben-

efits of rankings, the disaggregated

data are also a clear strength of the

project. Policy makers frequently

become aware of the measurements

through the ranking but then use the

disaggregated data to shape reform

programs. The data identify best prac-

tices globally and identify where each

economy’s practices hold inefficiencies

or inadequate legal protections. For

example, governments find it useful

to compare their own procedures lists

for firm start-up with those of other

economies that pursue the same goals

with less procedural complexity and at

lower cost.

Having noted these advantages, we

would be remiss if we did not point to

some of the disadvantages of ordinal

ranking. When an economy is given a

rank, there is no sense of how far it is

from its closest contenders. Consider

an economy that is ranked at 95,

with no other economy at that rank.

We know that its closest contenders

are at 94 and 96 and this would be

unchanged no matter how far or how

near those other economies are. This

means that when economies are very

densely packed, a small improvement

can lead to a vast jump in ranking and

a small worsening can lead to a large

drop in ranking. To see this, consider

an extreme case where 50 economies

have exactly the same scores on the

indicators underlying the ease of doing

business ranking and so each of them

has the same ranking, say 95. If one

economy does slightly worse, with no

change in the performance of all the

other economies, it will drop not to 96

in the ranking but to 145. On an ordinal

ranking scale this will show up as a

seemingly alarming drop, but noth-

ing alarming has actually happened.

Similarly, if an economy is far behind

the economy ahead of it, it can make

a large improvement and yet show no

gain in the ordinal rank measure.

In response to this, there are 2

comments in defense of the methods

used. First, the Doing Business team

worked over the past 3 years to deepen

the indices by adding a “distance to

frontier” measure. This measure has

certain cardinal qualities because it

tries to capture the actual distance

each economy has to go to reach the

frontier of “best performance.” This

puts on display how each economy

performs not only vis-à-vis other

economies but also in absolute terms.

Further, the distance to frontier score

can shed light on the progress made

by individual economies over time in

comparison with their own regulatory

practices of previous years. This makes

it transparent that an economy can

make actual progress and still lose

ground in the ranking when rank-

neighboring economies do even better.

Recent Doing Business reports have

given increasing attention to long-term

trends in the data—with an emphasis

on economies’ performance with

respect to their past performance—to

balance the short-term perspective

that the ranking provides. Further, for

reasons of transparency Doing Business

makes the disaggregated data

available on its website. This allows

users to construct alternative rankings

with any set of weights they may wish

to attach to individual indicators.

Second, the ranking issue crops up

for both the final aggregate score and

the basic indicators that go into the

9. See World Bank (2006).

DOING BUSINESS 2015x

creation of this final score. Here, the

use of ordinal ranks is more problem-

atic because they get absorbed in the

final measure and economies making

small improvements or regressions

in densely packed areas can have a

disproportionate gain or loss in rank-

ing. This information being buried in

the basic indicators makes it harder to

discern. For this reason from this year

we decided to switch from using the or-

dinal ranks of basic indicators to using

absolute or cardinal measures before

they are aggregated in the final rank-

ing. There are also other options. One

is to switch from rankings to ratings,

which would have economies appear in

clusters that are then ranked. But this

method too comes with its own share

of strengths and weaknesses.

CONCLUSION The economy is a complex machine, be-

yond the full comprehension of any per-

son. Over the years meticulous research,

collection of increasingly sophisticated

data and the advance of economic

theory and innovative modeling have

given us a better understanding of this

machine. Nevertheless, one has to ap-

proach economic policy making with a

certain humility, keeping an eye on the

fact that what we, all this time, took to

be an established feature of economics

may be open to question. In brief, the

discipline is evolving and we must be

willing participants in the process.

The World Bank Group’s Doing Business

initiative is no exception to this. It tries

to track and measure one of the most

important features of an economy—

the ease with which it is possible to

do business, trade and exchange. It

provides governments, administrators

and researchers with valuable data and

analysis to promote a better regula-

tory framework for development, job

creation and growth. There are econo-

mies that have benefited greatly from

this and it is hoped that Doing Business

will continue to provide this service. At

the same time, as this foreword has

argued, we are aware that we still have

some distance to go in our understand-

ing of an economy. For that reason we

welcome research and criticism and

hope that this will lead to a better Doing

Business report. This year’s report is a

small, first step in that direction.

Kaushik Basu Senior Vice President and

Chief Economist

The World Bank

Washington, DC

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Overview

Great ideas for new business ventures happen every day and everywhere. Some go far, while others never take off. Great ideas are

at the heart of development; they allow

economies to grow, and they improve

people’s lives. So it is important to un-

derstand why some great ideas never

come to fruition even as others thrive.

What do entrepreneurs need to pursue

a great idea? First of all, they need the

ability to give legal form to the idea—

that is, to start a business—simply,

quickly and inexpensively and with the

certainty of limited liability. They also

need the certainty of a well-designed

insolvency system, in case the idea fails

to work out. In addition, they will need

to hire people to help realize the idea,

will probably need to obtain financing

(both equity and credit) and, in today’s

increasingly interdependent global

economy, may in many cases need a

simple way to import and export. And

they will need a straightforward way to

pay their taxes.

Sound business regulations are funda-

mental to all this. The right business

regulations enable good ideas to take

root, leading to the creation of jobs

and to better lives. But where business

regulations make it difficult to start

and operate a business, good ideas may

never see the light of day and important

opportunities may be missed. Budding

entrepreneurs, daunted by burden-

some regulations, may opt out of doing

business altogether or, if they have the

resources, take their ideas elsewhere.

Doing Business looks at how business

regulations determine whether good

ideas can get started and thrive or will

falter and wither away. Many other di-

mensions of the business environment

also matter but are outside the scope

of Doing Business. For example, Doing

Business does not capture such aspects

as security, market size, macroeco-

nomic stability and the prevalence of

bribery and corruption. Nevertheless,

improving in the areas measured by

Doing Business is an important step

toward a better business environment

for all.

WHAT DOES DOING BUSINESS MEASURE—AND HOW IS IT CHANGING? This year’s Doing Business report

launches a 2-year process of introduc-

ing important improvements in 8 of the

10 sets of Doing Business indicators.

These improvements provide a new

conceptual framework in which the

emphasis on the efficiency of regula-

tion is complemented by an increased

emphasis on its quality. In the area of

dealing with construction permits, for

example, Doing Business will measure

the quality of building regulations and

the qualifications of the people review-

ing the building plans in addition to the

efficiency of the process for completing

all the formalities to build a warehouse.

With a few exceptions, the original

Doing Business indicators focused

mainly on measuring efficiency, such as

This year’s Doing Business report launches a 2-year process of introducing improvements in 8 of the 10 Doing Business indicator sets—to complement the emphasis on the efficiency of regulation with a greater emphasis on its quality.

New data show that efficiency and quality go hand in hand. Insolvency cases are resolved more quickly, and with better outcomes, where insolvency laws are well designed. Property transfers are faster and less costly in economies with good land administration systems. And commercial disputes are resolved more efficiently by courts using internationally recognized good practices.

For the first time this year, Doing Business collected data for 2 cities in large economies. The data show few differences between cities within economies in indicators measuring the strength of legal institutions, which typically apply nationwide. Differences are more common in indicators measuring the complexity and cost of regulatory processes, where local jurisdictions play a larger role.

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 5 of the 10 top improvers in 2013/14. The region also accounts for the largest number of regulatory reforms making it easier to do business in the past year—75 of the 230 worldwide. More than 70% of its economies carried out at least one such reform.

Business regulations such as those measured by Doing Business are important for new business creation and for the performance of small firms.

DOING BUSINESS 20152

by recording the procedures, time and

cost to start a business or to transfer

property. These are very important

aspects to measure. But as the proj-

ect’s importance grew, it became clear

that there was a need to expand what

was being measured to include more

aspects of regulatory quality. Many of

the improvements in methodology were

inspired and informed by the report of

the Independent Panel on Doing Business

as well as by input from policy makers

and data users.1 They also benefited

from discussions at the Doing Business

research conference held in Washington,

DC, in February 2014. (For more details

on the changes in methodology, see the

chapter on what is changing in Doing

Business.)

Doing Business continues to focus on

regulations that affect domestic small

and medium-size enterprises, operat-

ing in the largest business city of an

economy, across 10 areas: starting a

business, dealing with construction

permits, getting electricity, registering

property, getting credit, protecting

minority investors, paying taxes, trad-

ing across borders, enforcing contracts

and resolving insolvency. Doing Business

also measures labor market regulation,

which is not included in any of the

aggregate measures. The indicator

sets for 3 of the 10 topics are being

expanded in this year’s report; those

for 5 others will be expanded in next

year’s report (figure 1.1).

In another change starting in this year’s

report, Doing Business has extended its

coverage to include the second larg-

est business city in economies with a

population of more than 100 million.

These economies are Bangladesh,

Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,

Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian

Federation and the United States.

In addition, while Doing Business contin-

ues to publish the ease of doing business

ranking, this year’s report introduces a

change in the basis for the ranking, from

the percentile rank to the distance to

frontier score. The distance to frontier

score benchmarks economies with

respect to a measure of regulatory best

practice—showing the gap between

each economy’s performance and the

best performance on each indicator.2

This measure captures more informa-

tion than the simple rankings previously

used as the basis for the ease of doing

business ranking because it shows not

only how economies are ordered on their

performance on the indicators but also

how far apart they are.

The distance to frontier score also

provides an important complement

to the ease of doing business ranking

in analyzing changes in an economy’s

business regulatory environment. An

example at the global level suggests

why: the time series of the distance to

frontier scores overwhelmingly shows

improvements in business regulations

around the world, while in the ease

of doing business ranking, for every

economy that goes up another must go

down. (For more details on the differ-

ences between the 2 measures, see the

chapter on the distance to frontier and

ease of doing business ranking.)

While the changes being implemented

this year are substantive, there is a

strong correlation at the aggregate

level between this year’s data under the

old methodology and the same data

under the new one (figure 1.2). This is not

surprising, since changes are being in-

troduced for only 3 of the 10 topics this

year. But even with a high correlation

there can still be relatively large shifts in

ranking in some cases. This is particu-

larly likely for economies in the middle

of the distribution, in part because they

are more closely bunched and small

shifts in their distance to frontier scores

will therefore tend to have a greater im-

pact on their positions relative to other

economies. Another reason is that these

are the economies that historically have

made more intense efforts to reform

business regulation.

The Doing Business website presents

comparable data for this year and last,

making it possible to assess the extent

to which there has been an improve-

ment in business regulation in any

economy as tracked by the distance

to frontier measure. Moreover, because

most of the changes in methodology

involve adding new indicators rather

than revising existing ones, data for

more than 90% of the previously exist-

ing indicators remain comparable over

time. The full series are available on the

website.

FIGURE 1.1 What Doing Business continues to cover and what it is adding

What Doing Business

continues to cover

What this year’s report adds

What next year’s

report will add

3OVERVIEW

WHERE ARE REGULATIONS MORE BUSINESS-FRIENDLY? Singapore continues to be the economy

with the most business-friendly regu-

lations (table 1.1). And while there was

some reordering of economies within

the top 20 in the ease of doing business

ranking, the list remains very similar to

last year’s: 17 economies stayed on the

list, while 3 entered this year—Estonia,

Germany and Switzerland. Economies

in the top 20 continued to improve

their business regulatory environ-

ment in the past year. For example,

Switzerland made starting a business

easier by introducing online procedures

and strengthened minority investor

protections by increasing the level of

transparency required from listed com-

panies. And Sweden made registering

property easier through a new online

system that became fully operational

in the past year. The system provides

comprehensive coverage, allowing us-

ers to conduct searches and file regis-

trations from anywhere in the country.

The 20 economies at the top of the

ease of doing business ranking perform

well not only on the Doing Business

indicators but also in other interna-

tional data sets capturing dimensions

of competitiveness. The economies

performing best in the Doing Business

rankings therefore are not those with

no regulation but those whose govern-

ments have managed to create rules

that facilitate interactions in the mar-

ketplace without needlessly hindering

the development of the private sector.

Moreover, even outside the top 20

economies there is an association be-

tween performance in the ease of doing

business ranking and performance on

measures of quality of government and

governance. For example, in a sample

of 78 mostly low- and lower-middle-

income economies the distance to

frontier score is strongly correlated

with the International Development

Association (IDA) Resource Allocation

Index, which measures the quality of

a country’s policies and institutional

arrangements.3

The distance to frontier scores under-

lying the ease of doing business rank-

ings reveal some regional patterns.

OECD high-income economies have the

highest distance to frontier scores on

average, indicating that this regional

group has the most business-friendly

regulations overall (figure 1.3). But best

practices in business regulation can be

FIGURE 1.2 Distance to frontier scores remain similar under the new methodology

100

30 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Distance to frontier score under new methodology (0–100)

Distance to frontier score under old methodology (0–100)

Note: The figure compares distance to frontier scores based on this year’s data computed using the old (Doing Business 2014) methodology with scores based on the same data computed using the new methodology. The differences between the 2 series are in protecting minority investors, resolving insolvency, the depth of credit information index in getting credit and the distance to frontier calculation for the total tax rate in paying taxes. It is not possible to isolate the changes in the strength of legal rights index in getting credit. The 45-degree line shows where the scores under the old and new methodologies are equal. The correlation between the 2 scores is 0.99. For analysis of the effect of the change in ranking calculation, see figure 3.1 in the chapter on what is changing in Doing Business. Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 1.3 Big gaps between the highest and lowest distance to frontier scores in some regions

100

Sub-Saharan Africa

South Asia

Middle East & North

Africa

Latin America & Caribbean

East Asia & Pacific

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

74.81

Best scoreWorst score Average score

66.70

76.47

86.91

48.57

66.67

79.46

43.55

63.19

88.27

41.41

60.66

72.29

33.35

59.23

76.81

41.16

54.56

61.36

33.16

51.87

Distance to frontier score

Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 20154

TABLE 1.1 Ease of doing business ranking

Rank Economy DTF score Rank Economy DTF score Rank Economy DTF score

1 Singapore 88.27 64 Cyprus 66.55 127 Mozambique 56.92

2 New Zealand 86.91 65 Croatia 66.53 128 Lesotho 56.64

3 Hong Kong SAR, China 84.97 66 Oman 66.39 128 Pakistan 56.64

4 Denmark 84.20 67 Samoa 66.17 130 Iran, Islamic Rep. 56.51

5 Korea, Rep. 83.40 68 Albania 66.06 131 Tanzania 56.38

6 Norway 82.40 69 Tonga 65.72 132 Ethiopia 56.31

7 United States 81.98 70 Ghana 65.24 133 Papua New Guinea 55.78

8 United Kingdom 80.96 71 Morocco 65.06 134 Kiribati 55.48

9 Finland 80.83 72 Mongolia 65.02 135 Cambodia 55.33

10 Australia 80.66 73 Guatemala 64.88 136 Kenya 54.98

11 Sweden 80.60 74 Botswana 64.87 137 Yemen, Rep. 54.84

12 Iceland 80.27 75 Kosovo 64.76 138 Gambia, The 54.81

13 Ireland 80.07 76 Vanuatu 64.60 139 Marshall Islands 54.72

14 Germany 79.73 77 Kazakhstan 64.59 140 Sierra Leone 54.58

15 Georgia 79.46 78 Vietnam 64.42 141 Uzbekistan 54.26

16 Canada 79.09 79 Trinidad and Tobago 64.24 142 India 53.97

17 Estonia 78.84 80 Azerbaijan 64.08 143 West Bank and Gaza 53.62

18 Malaysia 78.83 81 Fiji 63.90 144 Gabon 53.43

19 Taiwan, China 78.73 82 Uruguay 63.89 145 Micronesia, Fed. Sts. 53.07

20 Switzerland 77.78 83 Costa Rica 63.67 146 Mali 52.59

21 Austria 77.42 84 Dominican Republic 63.43 147 Côte d’Ivoire 52.26

22 United Arab Emirates 76.81 85 Seychelles 63.16 148 Lao PDR 51.45

23 Latvia 76.73 86 Kuwait 63.11 149 Togo 51.29

24 Lithuania 76.31 87 Solomon Islands 63.08 150 Uganda 51.11

25 Portugal 76.03 88 Namibia 62.81 151 Benin 51.10

26 Thailand 75.27 89 Antigua and Barbuda 62.64 152 Burundi 51.07

27 Netherlands 75.01 90 China 62.58 153 São Tomé and Príncipe 50.75

28 Mauritius 74.81 91 Serbia 62.57 154 Algeria 50.69

29 Japan 74.80 92 Paraguay 62.50 155 Djibouti 50.48

30 Macedonia, FYR 74.11 93 San Marino 62.44 156 Iraq 50.36

31 France 73.88 94 Malta 62.11 157 Bolivia 49.95

32 Poland 73.56 95 Philippines 62.08 158 Cameroon 49.85

33 Spain 73.17 96 Ukraine 61.52 159 Comoros 49.56

34 Colombia 72.29 97 Bahamas, The 61.37 160 Sudan 49.55

35 Peru 72.11 97 Dominica 61.37 161 Senegal 49.37

36 Montenegro 72.02 99 Sri Lanka 61.36 162 Suriname 49.29

37 Slovak Republic 71.83 100 St. Lucia 61.35 163 Madagascar 49.25

38 Bulgaria 71.80 101 Brunei Darussalam 61.26 164 Malawi 49.20

39 Mexico 71.53 102 Kyrgyz Republic 60.74 165 Equatorial Guinea 49.01

40 Israel 71.25 103 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 60.66 166 Tajikistan 48.57

41 Chile 71.24 104 Honduras 60.61 167 Burkina Faso 48.36

42 Belgium 71.11 104 Lebanon 60.61 168 Niger 47.63

43 South Africa 71.08 106 Barbados 60.57 169 Guinea 47.42

44 Czech Republic 70.95 107 Bosnia and Herzegovina 60.55 170 Nigeria 47.33

45 Armenia 70.60 108 Nepal 60.33 171 Zimbabwe 46.95

46 Rwanda 70.47 109 El Salvador 59.93 172 Timor-Leste 46.89

47 Puerto Rico (U.S.) 70.35 110 Swaziland 59.77 173 Bangladesh 46.84

48 Romania 70.22 111 Zambia 59.65 174 Liberia 46.61

49 Saudi Arabia 69.99 112 Egypt, Arab Rep. 59.54 175 Syrian Arab Republic 46.51

50 Qatar 69.96 113 Palau 59.50 176 Mauritania 44.21

51 Slovenia 69.87 114 Indonesia 59.15 177 Myanmar 43.55

52 Panama 69.22 115 Ecuador 58.88 178 Congo, Rep. 43.29

53 Bahrain 69.00 116 Maldives 58.73 179 Guinea-Bissau 43.21

54 Hungary 68.80 117 Jordan 58.40 180 Haiti 42.18

55 Turkey 68.66 118 Belize 58.14 181 Angola 41.85

56 Italy 68.48 119 Nicaragua 58.09 182 Venezuela, RB 41.41

57 Belarus 68.26 120 Brazil 58.01 183 Afghanistan 41 .1 6

58 Jamaica 67.79 121 St. Kitts and Nevis 58.00 184 Congo, Dem. Rep. 40.60

59 Luxembourg 67.60 122 Cabo Verde 57.94 185 Chad 37.25

60 Tunisia 67.35 123 Guyana 57.83 186 South Sudan 35.72

61 Greece 66.70 124 Argentina 57.48 187 Central African Republic 34.47

62 Russian Federation 66.66 125 Bhutan 57.47 188 Libya 33.35 63 Moldova 66.60 126 Grenada 57.35 189 Eritrea 33.16

Note: The rankings are benchmarked to June 2014 and based on the average of each economy’s distance to frontier (DTF) scores for the 10 topics included in this year’s aggregate ranking. For the economies for which the data cover 2 cities, scores are a population-weighted average for the 2 cities. An arrow indicates an improvement in the score between 2013 and 2014 (and therefore an improvement in the overall business environment as measured by Doing Business), while the absence of one indicates either no improvement or a deterioration in the score. The score for both years is based on the new methodology. Source: Doing Business database.

5OVERVIEW

found in almost all regions. In 6 of the

7 regions the highest distance to fron-

tier score is above 70. The difference

between the best and worst scores in

a region can be substantial, however,

especially in East Asia and the Pacific,

the Middle East and North Africa and

Sub-Saharan Africa.

WHO IMPROVED THE MOST IN 2013/14? Since 2004 the Doing Business report

has captured more than 2,400 regula-

tory reforms making it easier to do

business. In the year from June 1, 2013,

to June 1, 2014, 123 economies imple-

mented at least one reform in the areas

measured by Doing Business—230 in

total. More than 63% of these reforms

reduced the complexity and cost of

regulatory processes, while the oth-

ers strengthened legal institutions.

Twenty-one economies, including 6 in

Sub-Saharan Africa and 6 in the OECD

high-income group, implemented 3 or

more reforms reducing burdensome

bureaucracy or improving legal and

regulatory frameworks.4 Globally, more

than 80% of the economies covered by

Doing Business had an improvement in

their distance to frontier score—it is

now easier to do business in most parts

of the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa, the region with

the largest number of economies,

accounted for the largest number

of regulatory reforms in 2013/14,

with 39 reducing the complexity and

cost of regulatory processes and 36

strengthening legal institutions. As in

previous years, however, Europe and

Central Asia had the largest share of

economies implementing at least one

regulatory reform, with some 85%

doing so (figure 1.4). Sub-Saharan

Africa had the second largest share

of economies implementing at least

one reform and the second largest

average improvement in distance to

frontier scores. Latin America and the

Caribbean and South Asia remain the

2 regions with the smallest share of

economies implementing regulatory

reforms as captured by Doing Business.

Among the 21 economies with the most

reforms making it easier to do business

in 2013/14, 10 stand out as having

improved the most in performance on

the Doing Business indicators: Tajikistan,

Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal,

Trinidad and Tobago, the Democratic

Republic of Congo, Azerbaijan, Ireland

and the United Arab Emirates (table 1.2).

Together, these 10 top improvers imple-

mented 40 regulatory reforms making

it easier to do business. Among these 10,

only Côte d’Ivoire featured among the 10

top improvers in last year’s report. And

only 4 place among the top 100 in the

overall ease of doing business ranking;

Ireland has the highest ranking, at 13.

Being recognized as top improvers does

not mean that these economies have ex-

emplary business regulations; instead, it

shows that thanks to serious efforts in

regulatory reform in the past year, they

made the biggest advances toward the

frontier in regulatory practice (figure

1.5). Many of the 10 top improvers still

face many challenges on their way to

international best practices in business

regulation, including high bureaucratic

obstacles, political instability and weak

financial institutions.

Among the 10 top improvers, Tajikistan

made the biggest advance toward the

regulatory frontier in the past year,

thanks to improvements in several ar-

eas. For example, starting a business

in Tajikistan is now easier as a result of

the implementation of new software

at the one-stop shop and the elimina-

tion of one of the business registration

procedures. A reduction of fees made

FIGURE 1.4 Europe and Central Asia had both the largest share of economies making it easier to do business in 2013/14 . . .

100

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

South Asia

Latin America & Caribbean

Middle East & North Africa

East Asia & Pacific

OECD high income

Sub-Saharan Africa

Europe & Central Asia

South Asia

Latin America & Caribbean

Middle East & North Africa

East Asia & Pacific

OECD high income

Sub-Saharan Africa

Europe & Central Asia

Share of economies with at least one reform making it easier to do business (%)

Average change in distance to frontier score between 2013 and 2014

. . . and the biggest average improvement in distance to frontier scores

85 74

65 60

55 50 50

1.56

1.11

0.77 0.74

0.52 0.39

0.31

Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 20156

TABLE 1.2 The 10 economies improving the most across 3 or more areas measured by Doing Business in 2013/14

Reforms making it easier to do business

Ease of doing

business rank

Starting a business

Dealing with construction

permits Getting

electricity Registering

property Getting credit

Protecting minority investors

Paying taxes

Trading across

borders Enforcing contracts

Resolving insolvency

Tajikistan 166 √ √ √ √

Benin 151 √ √ √ √

Togo 149 √ √ √ √

Côte d’Ivoire 147 √ √ √ √ √

Senegal 161 √ √ √ √ √ √

Trinidad and Tobago 79 √ √ √

Congo, Dem. Rep. 184 √ √ √ √ √

Azerbaijan 80 √ √ √

Ireland 13 √ √ √

United Arab Emirates 22 √ √ √

Note: Economies are selected on the basis of the number of their reforms and ranked on how much their distance to frontier score improved. First, Doing Business selects the economies that implemented reforms making it easier to do business in 3 or more of the 10 topics included in this year’s aggregate distance to frontier score. Regulatory changes making it more difficult to do business are subtracted from the number of those making it easier. Second, Doing Business ranks these economies on the improvement in their distance to frontier score from the previous year. The improvement in their score is calculated not by using the data published in 2013 but by using comparable data that capture data revisions and methodology changes. The choice of the most improved economies is determined by the largest improvements in the distance to frontier score among those with at least 3 reforms. Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 1.5 How far have economies moved toward the frontier in regulatory practice since 2013?

Note: The distance to frontier score shows how far on average an economy is at a point in time from the best performance achieved by any economy on each Doing Business indicator since 2005 or the third year in which data for the indicator were collected. The measure is normalized to range between 0 and 100, with 100 representing the frontier. The vertical bars show the change in the distance to frontier score from 2013 to 2014; for more details, see the note to table 1.1. The 30 economies improving the most are highlighted in red. Source: Doing Business database.

Distance to frontier score

100

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Regulatory frontier

2014

2013

7OVERVIEW

dealing with construction permits

less costly, and the introduction of an

electronic system for filing and paying

the corporate income tax, value added

tax and labor taxes made paying taxes

easier. Finally, the Credit Information

Bureau of Tajikistan improved access

to credit information by starting to

provide credit scores in June 2013.

Eight of the 10 top improvers carried

out reforms making it easier to start a

business, while 7 implemented reforms

making it easier to get credit. Some

of these changes were inspired by

transnational initiatives. One such ini-

tiative was the revision by the Council

of Ministers of the Organization for

the Harmonization of Business Law

in Africa (OHADA) of the Uniform

Act on Commercial Companies and

Economic Interest Groups. The revised

act authorizes each member state to

adopt national legislation reducing

its paid-in minimum capital require-

ment—the amount of capital that

entrepreneurs need to deposit in a

bank account or with a notary before

or within 3 months of incorporation.

Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Togo

were all among the OHADA member

economies that did so in 2013/14.

Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal also took

measures within the framework of the

West African Economic and Monetary

Union. Both adopted the Uniform Law

on the Regulation of Credit Information

Bureaus ahead of other member

states, providing a legal framework to

establish credit information bureaus.

Reforms making it easier to get credit

were also undertaken at the national

level. In the United Arab Emirates the

credit bureau Emcredit and the Dubai

Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA)

began exchanging credit information

in October 2013. As a result, the credit

bureau can now identify customers with

unpaid DEWA accounts beyond 90 days

and the utility has access to the bureau’s

bounced check repository. Ireland im-

proved its credit information system by

passing a new act that provides for the

establishment and operation of a credit

registry. And in Trinidad and Tobago a

new insolvency law strengthened pro-

tections of secured creditors’ rights in

insolvency proceedings, giving greater

flexibility in enforcement actions.

Six of the 10 top improvers reformed

their property registration processes

and 6 strengthened the rights of mi-

nority shareholders, with Côte d’Ivoire,

Senegal, Togo and the United Arab

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DOING BUSINESS 20158

Emirates reforming in both these areas.

These 4 economies strengthened mi-

nority investor protections by making

it possible for shareholders to inspect

documents pertaining to related-party

transactions as well as to appoint audi-

tors to conduct inspections. Moreover,

the United Arab Emirates introduced

additional approval requirements for

related-party transactions, greater

requirements for disclosure of such

transactions to the stock exchange and

a requirement that interested directors

be held liable if a related-party transac-

tion is unfair or constitutes a conflict of

interest. The United Arab Emirates also

made it possible for shareholders to

request the rescission of unfair related-

party transactions.

Highlights of reforms making it easier

to register property include Azerbaijan’s

introduction of an online procedure for

obtaining nonencumbrance certificates

for property transfers. Senegal made

property transfers easier by eliminating

the requirement for authorization by

the tax authority. Now applicants for a

property transfer need only notify the

tax authority before proceeding with

the property transaction at the land

registry.

Two of the 10 top improvers imple-

mented reforms making it easier to

trade across borders. Benin reduced

the number of documents needed for

customs clearance of imports. The

technical standard or health certifi-

cate is now no longer required except

for food imports. Côte d’Ivoire simpli-

fied the process for producing the

inspection report for imported cargo

and lowered port and terminal han-

dling charges at the port of Abidjan

by introducing new customs and port

management.

Among the areas with the fewest

reforms by the 10 top improvers are

enforcing contracts, with 2, and re-

solving insolvency, with 1. Benin made

enforcing contracts easier by creating

a commercial section within its court

of first instance. Trinidad and Tobago

made resolving insolvency easier by

introducing a statutory mechanism

for rehabilitation of insolvent compa-

nies as an alternative to previously

available voluntary and court-ordered

winding-up proceedings. (For more de-

tail on the reform patterns in the past

year, see the chapter on reforming the

business environment.)

WHAT DO THE NEW DATA SHOW ABOUT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CITIES? Subnational Doing Business reports

have covered more than 300 cities in

55 economies in the nearly 10 years

that they have been published. For the

first time this year, the global Doing

Business report also extends its cover-

age beyond the largest business city in

each economy. For the 11 economies

with a population of more than 100

million, Doing Business now covers the

second largest business city as well as

the largest one. The data provide new

insights into the variability of business

regulation within economies.

The sets of indicators showing limited

variability across cities in the same

economy tend to be those measuring

the strength of legal institutions—

getting credit, protecting minority

investors, enforcing contracts and

resolving insolvency, which mainly

draw from national laws with general

applicability (figure 1.6). Variability is

more common for the sets of indicators

measuring the complexity and cost

of regulatory processes—starting a

business, dealing with construction

permits, getting electricity, registering

property, paying taxes and trading

across borders. But this variability

is more likely to be in time and cost

than in the number of procedures,

suggesting that in most cases the law

is the same across cities though its

implementation may vary.

In all 11 economies the data for getting

credit—both on the strength of legal

rights and on the depth of credit

information—are the same for the 2

cities covered. This is easy to explain.

Credit information systems tend to

operate at the national level, not at

the city or state level. Collateral laws

also tend to be national, and even in

the United States, where these laws

are under state jurisdiction, there is

enough legal harmonization so that

the 2 cities in the sample have the

same score on the strength of legal

rights index. In the area of protecting

minority investors all 11 economies

again show no difference between

the 2 cities in the aggregate score.

In the United States, however, there

are differences in some of the data

embedded in the indicators for Los

Angeles and New York City—because

company law is under state jurisdiction

and there are measurable differences

between the California and New York

company law.

In the area of resolving insolvency only

4 of the 11 economies have a difference

between the 2 cities in the recovery

rate and none have a difference in

the strength of insolvency framework

index. The pattern is different in the

area of enforcing contracts. Only 4 of

the 11 economies have a difference in

the number of procedures to resolve

a commercial dispute. In all 4 of these

economies one of the pair of cities

has a specialized commercial court

(Rio de Janeiro, Monterrey, Lagos and

New York City) while the other does

not (São Paulo, Mexico City, Kano and

Los Angeles). But the time and cost

to resolve a commercial dispute dif-

fer between the 2 cities in 7 of the 11

economies and the differences in time

can be significant. In Nigeria, for ex-

ample, resolving a commercial dispute

takes 720 days in Kano but 447 days

in Lagos.

There is also more variation at the

city level in the other indicators. For

9OVERVIEW

example, only 4 economies have the

same tax system in both the 2 major

business cities—Bangladesh, India,

Indonesia and Nigeria. In all the other

large economies the total tax rate

differs between the 2 cities. In the

area of starting a business the paid-in

minimum capital requirement is the

same in the 2 cities in all 11 economies,

and the number of procedures differs

in only 4 economies. But the time and

cost to start a business differ between

the 2 cities in 8 economies. Only in

Bangladesh and Pakistan is the pro-

cess the same in the 2 cities. Similarly,

the procedures to transfer a property

between 2 firms differ in only 4 econo-

mies but the cost to do so differs in 9

economies. Only in Japan and Russia

is the process the same in the 2 cities.

In dealing with construction permits

and getting electricity 10 economies

show some degree of difference

between the 2 cities, and in trading

across borders all 11 economies do so.

These are the areas of regulation mea-

sured by Doing Business where location

matters the most. Building permits are

commonly issued by municipalities.

Similarly, electricity connections are

often provided by local utilities. And

the distance to the nearest port is an

important factor in determining the

time and cost to export and import,

leading to differences even within the

same economy.

Labor market regulation can also vary

across cities within an economy. In 6 of

the 11 economies—Brazil, China, India,

Indonesia, Japan and Russia—the 2

cities in the sample have different

minimum wage levels. This is mainly to

account for differences in the cost of

living. In all these cases except Brazil

and India, the largest business city

has a higher minimum wage than the

second largest one. In addition, in India

the largest business city (Mumbai) has

longer paid annual leave, with 21 days,

than the second largest one (Delhi),

with 15.

Does city size matter for having

business-friendly regulations? At first

glance the data suggest that it does

not. In 6 of the 11 economies the larg-

est business city performs better on

the Doing Business indicators overall

than the second largest one, while in

the other 5 the second largest busi-

ness city has the higher score. And in

the economies where the second larg-

est business city has a substantially

smaller population (at most 30% of the

largest business city’s population), the

second city has more business-friendly

regulations overall. This is the case for

Kano, Monterrey and Surabaya.

Among the 11 economies, the United

States has the highest number of

differences between the largest and

second largest business cities: Los

Angeles and New York City differ in

9 of the 10 topics (while the 2 cities

have the same overall score on the

strength of minority investor protec-

tions, they have differences in the

underlying indicators). Japan has the

fewest: Osaka and Tokyo differ in only

4 topics—starting a business, getting

electricity, paying taxes and trading

across borders. Overall, the differ-

ences between cities within the same

economy are very small, as shown in

figure 3.2 in the chapter on what is

changing in Doing Business.

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EFFICIENCY AND QUALITY? One of the big innovations in this year’s

report is the expansion of the data on

the quality of regulation. Measuring

aspects of the quality of regulation is

not new for Doing Business; some indi-

cator sets, such as getting credit and

protecting minority investors, already

included a focus on regulatory quality.

But starting this year a systematic ef-

fort is being made to include measures

of quality in most of the indicator sets.

This year’s report introduces a new

measure of quality in the resolving

insolvency indicator set and expands

the measures of quality in the getting

FIGURE 1.6 Indicators measuring the strength of legal institutions show less difference between cities within economies than those measuring the complexity and cost of regulatory processes

Note: The figure shows data for the 11 large economies for which Doing Business covers both the largest and the second largest business city. Source: Doing Business database.

Distance to frontier score differs between largest and second largest business cities

Distance to frontier score is the same for largest and second largest business cities

Average difference in distance to frontier score

(absolute value)

Starting a business

Dealing with construction permits

Getting electricity

Registering property

Getting credit

Protecting minority investors

Paying taxes

Trading across borders

Enforcing contracts

Resolving insolvency

2.99

6.96

7.53

4.84

0.00

0.34

4.18

3.06

0.55

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

DOING BUSINESS 201510

credit and protecting minority inves-

tors indicator sets. Next year’s report

will add measures of regulatory quality

to the indicator sets for dealing with

construction permits, getting electric-

ity, registering property, paying taxes

and enforcing contracts.

The results so far suggest that effi-

ciency and quality go hand in hand. For

resolving insolvency the data show that

there is a positive correlation between

the recovery rate for creditors and the

strength of the legal framework for

insolvency (figure 1.7). The recovery

rate measures the cents on the dollar

recouped by secured creditors through

insolvency proceedings and is a measure

of efficiency because time and cost are 2

important components. The strength of

insolvency framework index measures

how well insolvency laws accord with in-

ternationally recognized good practices

and is therefore a proxy for quality.

Very few economies have an insolvency

system with both high efficiency (a

recovery rate of more than 50 cents on

the dollar) and low quality (a score on the

strength of insolvency framework index

of less than 8 of the possible 16 points).

But many economies have an insolvency

system with low efficiency and high

quality. These are economies that have

well-designed laws but face challenges

in implementing them effectively.

These results suggest that well-

designed laws are necessary but not

sufficient to achieve efficiency in an in-

solvency system. The Federated States

of Micronesia, for example, has a score

of 11.5 on the strength of insolvency

framework index, yet creditors in that

country should expect to recover only

3.3 cents for every dollar they have

loaned to a firm that becomes insol-

vent. So an insolvency law of above-

average quality does not necessarily

mean above-average recovery rates for

creditors. On average, though, econo-

mies with better-designed laws tend to

have higher recovery rates.

Preliminary data for a new indicator

being developed to measure regula-

tory quality in registering property

reinforce the idea that efficiency and

quality go hand in hand: economies

that offer a simple, fast and inexpen-

sive process for transferring property

are also likely to have a land adminis-

tration system providing reliable land

records (figure 1.8).

The new indicator under development

measures the reliability, transpar-

ency and geographic coverage of land

administration systems as well as ele-

ments of land dispute resolution. The

indicator focuses on such aspects as

whether the land registry and mapping

system (cadastre) have adequate infra-

structure to guarantee high standards

of quality for the information recorded,

whether information is easily acces-

sible to the public and whether the land

registry and cadastre cover the entire

territory of the economy. Preliminary

data show that virtually all economies

that score well on the overall quality of

land administration (with a distance

to frontier score above 50 for the

indicator) also score well on efficiency

in transferring property (with an aver-

age distance to frontier score above 50

for the procedures, time and cost).

But many economies have a property

transfer process that is efficient yet

lacks quality. Thus while these econo-

mies make the transfer of property

simple, fast and inexpensive, the lack

of quality in the land administration

system is likely to undermine the value

of the property title. In the Republic

of Yemen, for example, a transfer of

property between 2 firms takes 6

procedures and only 19 days and costs

1.8% of the property value. But the land

administration system keeps most of

the land records on paper and does not

assign a unique, searchable number

to land parcels, making it difficult to

provide reliable information.

Efforts are ongoing for other Doing

Business topics as well. Preliminary data

for a new measure of judicial quality and

court infrastructure show a clear posi-

tive link between efficiency and qual-

ity in the area of enforcing contracts.

FIGURE 1.7 Better insolvency laws, higher recovery rate

Micronesia, Fed. Sts.

Canada

Cyprus

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Venezuela, RB

High quality, low efficiency

Low quality, low efficiency

High quality, high efficiency

Low quality, high efficiency

Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16)

Recovery rate (cents on the dollar)

Note: The correlation between the strength of insolvency framework index and the recovery rate is 0.59. The relationship is significant at the 1% level after controlling for income per capita. Source: Doing Business database.

11OVERVIEW

Economies that make resolving a com-

mercial dispute simpler, faster and less

expensive also tend to have a judicial

system that follows well-established

good practices—such as having a spe-

cialized commercial court or division,

having a small claims court, offering

arbitration and voluntary mediation and

making judgments in commercial cases

available to the general public.

Unlike for resolving insolvency and

registering property, however, for

enforcing contracts the economies

are more evenly spread across the 4

quadrants of quality and efficiency

(figure 1.9). Singapore is among those

that combine high efficiency and high

quality. In that country resolving the

standard commercial dispute in the

Doing Business case study takes only

21 procedures and 150 days and costs

25.8% of the value of the claim. And not

surprisingly, the judicial system follows

several internationally recognized good

practices, such as having a separate

commercial court, providing arbitra-

tion, making judgments available to

the public, using case management

and allowing plaintiffs to file their initial

complaint electronically. On the other

hand, the judicial system in Mongolia,

with no specialized commercial court

or small claims court, can resolve the

standard commercial dispute through

32 procedures in 374 days and at a

cost of 30.6% of the claim value.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MORE BUSINESS- FRIENDLY REGULATIONS? As earlier Doing Business reports have

discussed, the benefits of business-

friendly regulations are well established

in the economic literature. To name just

a few:

Reforms simplifying business regis-

tration lead to more firm creation.5

Increasing trade openness has

greater effects on growth where

labor markets are more flexible.6

FIGURE 1.8 Better land administration system, faster property transfers

100

0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Distance to frontier score for overall quality of land administration

Distance to frontier score for registering property

High quality, low efficiency

Low quality, low efficiency

Low quality, high efficiency

Belgium

Sweden

Yemen, Rep.

Afghanistan

High quality, high efficiency

Note: The figure compares the distance to frontier score for the existing registering property indicators with the distance to frontier score for the new indicator on the quality of land administration (to be published for the first time in Doing Business 2016). The data for the new indicator are obtained through a set of questions on reliability, transparency, coverage and dispute resolution. For example, an economy receives 1 point if it has a functional electronic database for encumbrances, 1 point if it makes the documents and fee schedules for property registration publicly available (online or on public boards), 1 point if it compiles statistics on land transactions and makes them publicly available, and so on. The correlation between the 2 distance to frontier scores is 0.56. The relationship is significant at the 1% level after controlling for income per capita. Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 1.9 Better courts, faster courts

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

100

Distance to frontier score for judicial quality index

Distance to frontier score for enforcing contracts

Singapore

Belize

Mongolia

Angola

High quality, low efficiency

Low quality, low efficiency

High quality, high efficiency

Low quality, high efficiency

Note: The figure compares the distance to frontier score for the existing enforcing contracts indicators with the distance to frontier score for the new index on judicial quality (to be published for the first time in Doing Business 2016). The index measures such aspects as whether the judicial system has a specialized commercial court or division, has a small claims court, offers voluntary mediation and arbitration and makes judgments in commercial cases available to the general public. The correlation between the 2 distance to frontier scores is 0.41. The relationship is significant at the 1% level after controlling for income per capita. Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201512

Cumbersome, poorly functioning

business regulation undermines

entrepreneurship and economic

performance.7

Introducing collateral registries and

debt recovery tribunals leads to

better-performing credit markets.8

Reforms improving access to credit

and the efficiency of property regis-

tration are correlated with product

and process innovation by young

firms.9

In addition, with the time series of

Doing Business data now available, it

is possible to study how changes in

regulations within an economy over

time lead to changes in development

outcomes in that economy. One

study shows, for example, that an

improvement of 10 points in the overall

distance to frontier score is linked to

an increase in new firm density (the

number of new firms created in a year

per 1,000 adults) of around 0.5 (figure

1.10). And while small changes in the

overall distance to frontier score may

have a negligible link with growth,

moving from the lowest quartile of

improvement in business regulations

to the highest quartile is associated

with a significant increase in the an-

nual per capita growth rate of around

0.8 percentage points.10

These results apply for different types

of indicators but their intensity varies.

For example, an increase of 10 points in

the average distance to frontier score

for the indicators measuring the com-

plexity and cost of regulatory processes

is associated with an increase in new

firm density of about 0.2. The equiva-

lent result for the indicators measuring

the strength of legal institutions that

support business regulation, such as

commercial courts and credit bureaus,

is 0.4. These results suggest that com-

bining good regulations across different

areas is important for business entry

and that piecemeal regulatory reforms

may be less effective than a broad re-

form program.

These results encourage further research

to better understand the mechanisms

behind the link between business regula-

tions and firm creation and potentially

economic growth. Firm-level data can

provide some insights into these mecha-

nisms. The analysis combined data from

World Bank Enterprise Surveys for more

than 40,000 observations (across firms

and years) with Doing Business data to

test how business regulations affect

the performance of firms of different

size classes. The analysis used distance

to frontier scores to measure business

regulations in the areas covered by Doing

Business and growth in sales and em-

ployment to measure firm performance.

The results show that improvements

in the distance to frontier score have

greater effects on sales and employ-

ment growth for small firms than for

large ones.11

These results indicate that sound busi-

ness regulations in the areas measured

by Doing Business benefit small firms

more than large ones. This is in line with

earlier research findings. One study

found that a heavy regulatory burden—

measured by the share of management

time spent dealing with regulations

or inspections—can stunt the growth

of small firms.12 Another found that in

general there is a significant relation-

ship between entrepreneurial activity

and indicators of the quality of the legal

and regulatory environment and gover-

nance.13 The finding that good business

regulations in areas such as those mea-

sured by Doing Business benefit small

firms more than large ones is an impor-

tant one—since small firms account for

the largest shares of job creation and the

highest growth in sales and employment

in developing economies.14

HOW HAVE BUSINESS REGULATIONS CHANGED OVER THE PAST DECADE? Among the more encouraging trends

shown by Doing Business data over the

past decade is the gradual improve-

ment in economies’ performance in

the areas tracked by the indicators.

Moreover, economies with the weak-

est regulatory institutions and the

most complex and costly regulatory

processes tend to focus on the areas

where their regulatory performance is

worse, slowly but steadily beginning

to adopt some of the better practices

seen among the best performers.

FIGURE 1.10 Combined regulatory reforms are likely to have greater effects on new business registration than isolated ones

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

Overall distance to frontier score

Distance to frontier score for indicators measuring the strength

of legal institutions

Distance to frontier score for indicators measuring the complexity and

cost of regulatory processes

Increase in new firm density associated with 10-point increase in distance to frontier score

Note: New firm density is defined as the number of newly registered limited liability companies per 1,000 working-age people (ages 15–64). Indicators measuring the strength of legal institutions are those on getting credit, protecting minority investors, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Indicators measuring the complexity and cost of regulatory processes are those on starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, paying taxes and trading across borders. The analysis uses data from 2003–13 for all economies covered by Doing Business. Source: Divanbeigi and Ramalho 2014.

13OVERVIEW

FIGURE 1.11 Strong convergence across economies since 2005 Averages by group

Cost to start a business (% of income per capita)

100

150

200

250

300

2014201320122011201020092008200720062005

Cost to register property (% of property value)

0 2

2014201320122011201020092008200720062005

Time to import (days)

2014201320122011201020092008200720062005

Time to export (days)

2014201320122011201020092008200720062005

Time to register property (days)

100

150

200

250

2014201320122011201020092008200720062005

Time to deal with construction permits (days)

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

2014201320122011201020092008200720062005

Time to pay taxes (hours per year)

200

400

600

800

2014201320122011201020092008200720062005

Time to start a business (days)

100

120

140

2014201320122011201020092008200720062005

Worst quartile

Best 3 quartiles

Worst quartile

Best 3 quartiles

Worst quartile

Best 3 quartiles

Worst quartile

Best 3 quartiles

Worst quartile

Best 3 quartiles

Note: Economies are ranked in quartiles by performance in 2005 on the indicator shown. The data refer to the 174 economies included in Doing Business 2006 (2005). Fifteen economies were added in subsequent years. Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201514

This process is leading to a conver-

gence toward best practices. Here is an

example: In 2005 the time to transfer

property averaged 235 days among the

economies ranking in the worst quartile

on this indicator. Among the best 3

quartiles it averaged 42 days. Today

that gap is substantially narrower.

While the difference is still substantial

at 62 days, it is considerably smaller

than the 193 days in 2005 (figure 1.11).

Similar trends can be seen in other in-

dicators measuring the complexity and

cost of regulatory processes.

WHAT IS IN THIS YEAR’S REPORT? This year’s report presents several case

studies focusing on legal and regulatory

features covered by new or expanded

indicators being introduced this year or

next year. One case study, on protect-

ing minority investors, discusses the

importance of corporate governance

rules that are now being measured.

Another discusses the importance of a

strong legal framework for insolvency,

also among the features being mea-

sured by new indicators—while a third

examines the new components of the

getting credit indicators. A fourth case

study analyzes good practices in land

administration systems that will be

measured in Doing Business 2016.

These case studies provide new insights

from the newly collected data. The case

study on resolving insolvency shows,

for example, that OECD high-income

economies have the highest average

score on the strength of insolvency

framework index. And economies that

have reformed their insolvency laws

in the past several years score sub-

stantially higher on this index than

economies with outdated insolvency

provisions. This is important, because

economies with better insolvency laws

as measured by Doing Business tend

to have more credit available to the

private sector.

Other case studies in this year’s report

focus on good practices in the areas

of business regulation covered. A case

study on starting a business analyzes

good practices in operating a company

registry and the benefits of those prac-

tices. This case study discusses how

company registries empower businesses

to operate in the formal economy, al-

lowing them to reap the benefits that

come with formalization, and how online

platforms for company incorporation

make the process faster and cheaper. A

case study on zoning regulations looks

at good practices that can increase ef-

ficiency in construction permitting.

Another case study analyzes the time

series of data on paying taxes with an

emphasis on patterns before, during

and after the global financial crisis. This

case study shows that over the 9-year

period ending in 2012, the global aver-

age total tax rate as measured by Doing

Business fell by 9.1 percentage points,

with the fastest rate of decline occur-

ring in the years immediately following

the crisis. The reduction was accompa-

nied by a tangible improvement in the

quality of tax administration in many

economies thanks to their adoption

of the latest technologies to facilitate

online filing and payment.

The report also presents a case study

on enforcing contracts that analyzes

new data on freedom of contract. These

new data will not be included in the

enforcing contracts indicators; they

were collected solely for research, with

the aim of better understanding the

link between contract enforcement and

freedom of contract.

Finally, this year’s report presents a

summary of some of the research pre-

sented at the Doing Business research

conference that took place in February

2014. This research used Doing Business

data or studied areas relevant to

the Doing Business indicators. Doing

Business will continue to monitor prog-

ress in business regulation in economies

around the world with the aim of keep-

ing governments informed about good

practices and enabling researchers to

further our knowledge of how laws and

regulations affect development.

NOTES 1. For information on the Independent Panel

on Doing Business, see its website at http://

www.dbrpanel.org/.

2. The distance to frontier score shows how far

on average an economy is at a point in time

from the best performance achieved by any

economy on each Doing Business indicator

since 2005 or the third year in which

data for the indicator were collected. The

measure is normalized to range between 0

and 100, with 100 representing the frontier.

3. The correlation between the distance

to frontier score and the IDA Resource

Allocation Index is 0.73. The relationship is

significant at the 1% level after controlling

for income per capita.

4. Regulatory changes making it more difficult

to do business are subtracted from the

number of those making it easier.

5. Branstetter and others 2013; Bruhn 2011;

Kaplan, Piedra and Seira 2011; Monteiro and

Assunção 2012.

6. Chang, Kaltani and Loayza 2009.

7. Dreher and Gassebner 2013.

8. Love, Martínez Pería and Singh 2013.

9. Dutz 2014.

10. Divanbeigi and Ramalho 2014.

11. These results take into account differences

in performance due to country-level time-

invariant characteristics and firms’ sector,

age and export status. The regression

method used counts every firm equally

even if the number of firms varies across

countries.

12. Aterido, Hallward-Driemeier and Pages

2009.

13. Klapper and others 2010.

14. Ayyagari, Demirguc-Kunt and Maksimovic

2014.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

About Doing Business

Economic activity requires sensible rules that encourage firm start-up and growth and avoid creating distortions in the marketplace. Doing

Business measures the rules and regula-

tions that can help the private sector

thrive—because without a dynamic

private sector, no economy can provide

a good, and sustainable, standard of liv-

ing for people. Doing Business promotes

rules that establish and clarify property

rights, minimize the cost of resolving

disputes, increase the predictability of

economic interactions and provide con-

tractual partners with core protections

against abuse.

The Doing Business data highlight the

important role of the government and

government policies in the day-to-day

life of domestic small and medium-size

firms. The objective is to encourage

regulations that are designed to be ef-

ficient, accessible to all who use them

and simple in their implementation.

Where regulation is burdensome and

competition limited, success tends

to depend on whom one knows. But

where regulation is efficient, trans-

parent and implemented in a simple

way, it becomes easier for aspiring

entrepreneurs to compete on an equal

footing and to innovate and expand.

In this sense Doing Business values

good rules as a key to social inclusion.

Enabling growth—and ensuring that all

people, regardless of income level, can

participate in its benefits—requires an

environment where new entrants with

drive and good ideas can get started

in business and where good firms can

invest and grow, thereby creating more

jobs.

Doing Business was designed with 2

main types of users in mind: policy

makers and researchers.1 Doing Business

is a tool that governments can use to

design sound policies for the creation

of firms and jobs. But this tool should

not be used in isolation. Doing Business

provides a rich opportunity for bench-

marking by capturing key dimensions

of regulatory regimes. Nevertheless, the

Doing Business data are limited in scope

and should be complemented with other

sources of information.

Doing Business is also an important

source of information for researchers. It

provides a unique data set that enables

analysis aimed at better understanding

the role of business regulation in eco-

nomic development. This year’s report

discusses the results of some of this

work in the chapter on highlights from

the Doing Business research confer-

ence. Doing Business 2014 presented a

detailed summary of recent research on

the effects of business regulation in the

areas measured by Doing Business.

WHAT DOES DOING BUSINESS MEASURE? Doing Business captures several im-

portant dimensions of the regulatory

environment as it applies to local firms.

It provides quantitative measures of

regulations for starting a business,

dealing with construction permits,

Doing Business measures business regulations that affect domestic small and medium-size firms in 11 areas across 189 economies. Ten of these areas—starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency—are included in the distance to frontier score and ease of doing business ranking. Doing Business also measures labor market regulation, which is not included in these 2 measures.

Doing Business does not capture other aspects of the business environment, such as security, market size, macroeconomic stability and the prevalence of bribery and corruption.

The Doing Business methodology is based on standardized case scenarios in the largest business city of each economy. In addition, for 11 economies a second city has been added this year.

Doing Business relies on 4 main sources of information: the relevant laws and regulations, Doing Business respondents, the governments of the economies covered and the World Bank Group regional staff.

Governments use Doing Business as a source of objective data providing unique insights into good practices worldwide. Many Doing Business indicators are “actionable”—though depending on the context, they may not always be “action-worthy.”

DOING BUSINESS 201516

getting electricity, registering prop-

erty, getting credit, protecting minority

investors, paying taxes, trading across

borders, enforcing contracts and re-

solving insolvency. Doing Business also

measures labor market regulation. This

year’s report does not present rankings

of economies on the labor market regu-

lation indicators or include the topic

in the aggregate distance to frontier

score or ranking on the ease of doing

business. It does present the data for

these indicators.

Doing Business provides 2 main types of

indicators: those that broadly measure

the complexity and cost of regulatory

processes and those that measure the

strength of legal institutions (table 2.1).

Indicators of the first type promote ef-

ficiency in transactions handled by the

government, such as in the process to

and less costly process results in better

performance on the indicators and, if

all else is constant, a more favorable

ranking on the ease of doing business.

These indicators are being expanded to

also include components on the quality

of regulation.

Indicators of the second type reflect

better institutions for private sector

development, such as well-functioning

courts and credit information systems.

Accordingly, some of these indicators

give a higher score for better and more

developed regulation, as the protecting

minority investors indicators do for

stricter disclosure requirements for

related-party transactions. Three sets

of these indicators—getting credit, pro-

tecting minority investors and resolving

insolvency—have been expanded for

this year’s report to further focus on

the strength of legal institutions (for

details on the expansion of the scope of

indicator sets, see the chapter on what

is changing in Doing Business).

How the indicators are selected The choice of the 11 sets of Doing

Business indicators has been guided

by economic research and firm-level

data, particularly data from the World

Bank Enterprise Surveys.2 These

surveys provide data highlighting the

main obstacles to business activity as

reported by entrepreneurs in more than

120 economies. For example, among the

factors that the surveys have identified

as important to businesses have been

access to finance and access to elec-

tricity—inspiring the design of the Doing

Business indicators on getting credit

and getting electricity.

The design of the Doing Business indica-

tors has also been informed by theo-

retical insights gleaned from extensive

research and the literature on the role

of institutions in enabling economic de-

velopment. In addition, the background

papers developing the methodology

for each of the Doing Business indicator

sets have established the importance

of the rules and regulations that Doing

Business measures for such economic

outcomes as trade volumes, foreign di-

rect investment, market capitalization

in stock exchanges and private credit as

a percentage of GDP.3

Two aggregate measures Doing Business presents data both

for individual indicators and for 2

aggregate measures—the distance to

frontier score and the ease of doing

business ranking—to provide different

perspectives on the data. The distance

to frontier score aids in assessing

the absolute level of regulatory

performance and how it improves over

time. This measure shows the distance

of each economy to the “frontier,”

which represents the best performance

observed on each of the indicators

across all economies in the Doing

Business sample since 2005 or the third

year in which data for the indicator were

collected. This allows users both to see

the gap between a particular economy’s

performance and the best performance

at any point in time and to assess the

absolute change in the economy’s

regulatory environment over time as

measured by Doing Business.

This year, for the first time, the ease of

doing business ranking is based on the

distance to frontier score. The ranking

complements the distance to frontier

score by providing information about

an economy’s performance in business

TABLE 2.1 What Doing Business measures—11 areas of business regulation

Complexity and cost of regulatory processes

Starting a business Procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital to start a limited liability company

Dealing with construction permits Procedures, time and cost to complete all formalities to build a warehouse

Getting electricity Procedures, time and cost to get connected to the electrical grid

Registering property Procedures, time and cost to transfer a property

Paying taxes Payments, time and total tax rate for a firm to comply with all tax regulations

Trading across borders Documents, time and cost to export and import by seaport

Strength of legal institutions

Getting credit Movable collateral laws and credit information systems

Protecting minority investors Minority shareholders’ rights in related-party transactions and in corporate governance

Enforcing contracts Procedures, time and cost to resolve a commercial dispute

Resolving insolvency Time, cost, outcome and recovery rate for a commercial insolvency and the strength of the insolvency legal framework

Labor market regulation Flexibility in employment regulation, benefits for workers and labor dispute resolution

17ABOUT DOING BUSINESS

regulation relative to the performance

of other economies as measured by

Doing Business.

For each topic covered and for all topics,

Doing Business uses a simple averaging

approach for weighting component indi-

cators, calculating rankings and deter-

mining the distance to frontier score.4

To test the robustness of this approach,

other approaches were explored, includ-

ing using principal components and

unobserved components.5 These turn

out to yield results nearly identical to

those of simple averaging. In the ab-

sence of a strong theoretical framework

that assigns different weights to the

topics covered for the 189 economies,

the simplest method is used: weighting

all topics equally and, within each topic,

giving equal weight to each of the topic

components.6

Each topic covered by Doing Business

relates to a different aspect of the

regulatory environment. The distance

to frontier scores and rankings of each

economy vary, often substantially,

across topics, indicating that strong

performance by an economy in one

area of regulation can coexist with weak

performance in another. A quick way to

assess the variability of an economy’s

regulatory performance is to look at its

distance to frontier scores across topics

(see the country tables). Croatia, for ex-

ample, has an overall distance to frontier

score of 66.53. Its distance to frontier

score is 85.43 for starting a business,

82.92 for paying taxes and 80.05 for

getting electricity. At the same time,

it has a score of 44.97 for dealing with

construction permits, 55.00 for getting

credit and 53.92 for resolving insolvency

(figure 2.1).

WHAT DOES DOING BUSINESS NOT MEASURE? Doing Business does not cover many

important policy areas, and even

within the areas it covers its scope is

narrow (table 2.2). Doing Business does

not measure the full range of factors,

policies and institutions that affect the

quality of an economy’s business en-

vironment or its national competitive-

ness. It does not, for example, capture

aspects of security, the prevalence of

bribery and corruption, market size,

macroeconomic stability, the state

of the financial system or the level of

training and skills of the labor force.

Even within the relatively small set of

indicators included in Doing Business,

the focus is deliberately narrow. The

trading across borders indicators, for

example, capture the documents, time

and cost required for the logistical

process of exporting and importing

FIGURE 2.1 An economy’s regulatory environment may be more business-friendly in some areas than in others H

on g

K on

g SA

R , C

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U ni

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St at

Si ng

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K or

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la nd

G eo

rg ia

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ni a

Ta iw

an , C

hi na

A us

tr ia

La tv

ia Po

rt ug

al N

et he

rla nd

s Ja

pa n

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ce Sp

ai n

Pe ru

Sl ov

ak R

ep ub

lic M

ex ic

o Ch

ile So

ut h

Af ric

a A

rm en

ia Pu

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R ic

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.S .)

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Sl ov

en ia

Ba hr

ai n

Tu rk

ey Be

la ru

s Lu

xe m

bo ur

g G

re ec

e M

ol do

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oa ti

a Sa

m oa

To ng

a M

or oc

co G

ua te

m al

a K

os ov

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az ak

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n Tr

in id

ad a

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ob ag

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R ic

a Se

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So lo

m on

Is la

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ig ua

a nd

B ar

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Se rb

ia Sa

n M

ar in

o Ph

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in es

Ba ha

m as

, T he

Sr i L

an ka

Br un

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ar us

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. V in

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a nd

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G re

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H on

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ze go

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al va

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ar ag

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ar sh

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ar G

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Ch ad

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fr ic

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ep ub

lic Er

it re

Distance to frontier score

100

Average of highest 3 topic scores Average of all topic scores Average of lowest 3 topic scores

Note: The distance to frontier scores reflected are those for the 10 Doing Business topics included in this year’s aggregate distance to frontier score. Figure is illustrative only; it does not include all 189 economies covered by this year’s report. See the country tables for the distance to frontier score for each Doing Business topic for all economies. Source: Doing Business database.

TABLE 2.2 What Doing Business does not cover

Examples of areas not covered

Security

Prevalence of bribery and corruption

Market size

Macroeconomic stability

State of the financial system

Level of training and skills of the labor force

Examples of aspects not included within the areas covered

In getting electricity, the reliability of electricity supply

In getting credit, the availability of credit for firms

In trading across borders, export or import tariffs and subsidies

DOING BUSINESS 201518

containerized goods by seaport, but

they do not measure the cost of the sea

transport or of tariffs or capture any

aspects relating to international trade

agreements. Thus through these indi-

cators Doing Business provides a nar-

row perspective on the infrastructure

challenges that firms face, particularly

in the developing world. It does not ad-

dress the extent to which inadequate

roads, rail, ports and communications

may add to firms’ costs and undermine

competitiveness (except to the extent

that the trading across borders indica-

tors indirectly measure the quality of

ports and roads). Similarly, the indica-

tors on starting a business or protect-

ing minority investors do not cover

all aspects of commercial legislation.

And the getting electricity indicators

do not currently address the quality

of the electricity supply or the rate of

electrification.

Doing Business does not attempt to

measure all costs and benefits of a

particular law or regulation to society

as a whole. For example, the paying

taxes indicators measure the total tax

rate, which, in isolation, is a cost to busi-

nesses. The indicators do not measure,

nor are they intended to measure, the

benefits of the social and economic

programs funded through tax revenues.

Measuring business laws and regula-

tions provides one input into the debate

on the regulatory burden associated

with achieving regulatory objectives.

These objectives can differ across

economies. Doing Business provides a

starting point for this discussion and

should be used in conjunction with other

data sources.

WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE METHODOLOGY? The Doing Business methodology was

designed to be an easily replicable way

to benchmark business regulation. It

has advantages and limitations that

should be understood when using the

data (table 2.3).

A key consideration for the Doing

Business indicators is that they should

ensure comparability of the data

across a global set of economies. The

indicators are therefore developed

around standardized case scenarios

with specific assumptions. One such

assumption is the location of a notional

business—the subject of the Doing

Business case study—in the largest

business city of the economy. The

reality is that business regulations and

their enforcement may differ within a

country, particularly in federal states

and large economies. But gathering

data for every relevant jurisdiction in

each of the 189 economies covered by

Doing Business would be infeasible. In

addition, while variation is inevitable

across different locations, the variation

is unlikely to deliver significantly dif-

ferent results commensurate with the

scale of the effort. Nevertheless, where

policy makers are interested in gener-

ating data at the local level, beyond the

largest business city, Doing Business

has complemented its global indica-

tors with subnational studies (box 2.1).

And this year, for the first time, Doing

Business has extended its coverage

to the second largest business city in

economies with a population of more

than 100 million.

Doing Business recognizes the limita-

tions of the standardized case sce-

narios and assumptions. But while

such assumptions come at the expense

of generality, they also help ensure the

comparability of data. For this reason

it is common to see limiting assump-

tions of this kind in economic indica-

tors. Inflation statistics, for example,

are often based on prices of a set of

consumer goods in a few urban areas,

since collecting nationally representa-

tive price data at high frequencies

would be prohibitively costly in many

countries. GDP estimates are also sub-

ject to a number of limiting assump-

tions, which have not prevented their

widespread use.

Some Doing Business topics include

complex areas, and so it is important

that the standardized cases are

carefully defined. For example, the

standardized case scenario usually

involves a limited liability company or

its legal equivalent. The considerations

TABLE 2.3 Advantages and limitations of the Doing Business methodology

Feature Advantages Limitations

Use of standardized case scenarios

Makes the data comparable across economies and the methodology transparent

Reduces the scope of the data and means that only regulatory reforms in the areas measured can be systematically tracked

Focus on largest business citya

Makes the data collection manageable (cost-effective) and the data comparable

Reduces the representativeness of the data for an economy if there are significant differences across locations

Focus on domestic and formal sector

Keeps the attention on where regulations are relevant and firms are most productive—the formal sector

Fails to reflect reality for the informal sector—important where that is large—or for foreign firms where they face a different set of constraints

Reliance on expert respondents

Ensures that the data reflect the knowledge of those with the most experience in conducting the types of transactions measured

Results in indicators that do not measure the variation in experiences among entrepreneurs

Focus on the law Makes the indicators “actionable”— because the law is what policy makers can change

Fails to reflect the reality that where systematic compliance with the law is lacking, regulatory changes may not achieve the full desired results

a. In economies with a population of more than 100 million, Doing Business covers business regulation in both the largest business city and the second largest one.

19ABOUT DOING BUSINESS

BOX 2.1 Comparing regulations at the local level: subnational Doing Business studies The subnational Doing Business studies expand the Doing Business analysis beyond the largest business city of an econo- my. They measure variation in regulations or in the implementation of national laws across locations within an economy (as in Nigeria) or a region (as in Central America). Projects are undertaken at the request of governments.

Data collected by subnational reports over the past 2 years show that there can be substantial variation within an econ- omy. In Mexico in 2013, for example, transferring property took as few as 2 days in Colima and as many as 74 in Mexico City. Indeed, within the same economy one can find cities that perform as well as economies ranking in the top 20 on the ease of registering property and cities that perform as poorly as economies ranking in the bottom 40 on that indicator (see figure). Despite these large differences across cities of varied sizes, the differences between the largest and the sec- ond largest business cities in an economy tend to be small, as discussed in the overview.

Different locations, different regulatory processes, same economy

The subnational Doing Business studies create disaggregated data on business regulations. But they go beyond a data collection exercise. They have proved to be strong motivators for regulatory reform at the city level:

The data produced are comparable across locations within the economy and internationally, enabling locations to benchmark their results both locally and globally. Comparisons of locations that are within the same economy and therefore share the same legal and regulatory framework can be revealing: local officials find it hard to explain why doing business is more difficult in their jurisdiction than in a neighboring one.

Pointing out good practices that exist in some locations but not others within an economy helps policy makers rec- ognize the potential for replicating these good practices. This can prompt discussions of regulatory reform across different levels of government, providing opportunities for local governments and agencies to learn from one another and resulting in local ownership and capacity building.

Since 2005 subnational reports have covered 367 cities in 55 economies, including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Morocco and Pakistan. This year subnational studies were completed in the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mexico and Nigeria. Ongoing studies include those in Central America and the Dominican Republic (covering 22 cities and 10 ports across 7 countries), Poland (18 cities), South Africa (9 cities and 4 ports) and Spain (19 cities and 5 ports).

Subnational reports are available on the Doing Business website at http://www.doingbusiness.org/subnational.

Mexico, 2013Italy, 2012Egypt, Arab Rep., 2013Colombia, 2012Nigeria, 2014

43.76 48.96

59.94 53.51

35.61

32.95

47.11

41.15

89.60

64.86

49.8953.04

43.17

29.14

Worst score Best score Average score

90th percentile (88.16)

Distance to frontier score for registering property (0–100)

10th percentile (42.27)

57.64

Note: The average score shown for each economy is based on all locations covered by the data: 36 cities in Nigeria, 23 cities in Colombia, 15 locations and governorates in the Arab Republic of Egypt, 13 cities in Italy and 31 states and Mexico City in Mexico. The worst score shown for each economy is that of the location with the most complex process for transferring property, and the best score that of the location with the most efficient one. The 10th and 90th percentile values are based on economy-level scores for the 189 economies covered by Doing Business. Source: Subnational Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201520

in defining this assumption are twofold.

First, private limited liability companies

are, empirically, the most prevalent

business form for firms with more than

one owner in many economies around

the world. Second, this choice reflects

the focus of Doing Business on expand-

ing opportunities for entrepreneurship:

investors are encouraged to venture

into business when potential losses are

limited to their capital participation.

Another assumption underlying the

Doing Business indicators is that en-

trepreneurs have knowledge of and

comply with applicable regulations.

In practice, entrepreneurs may not

know what needs to be done or how

to comply and may lose considerable

time trying to find out. Alternatively,

they may deliberately avoid compli-

ance altogether—by not registering

for social security, for example. Where

regulation is particularly onerous, firms

may opt for bribery and other informal

arrangements intended to bypass the

rules—an aspect that helps explain

differences between the de jure data

provided by Doing Business and the de

facto insights offered by World Bank

Enterprise Surveys. In economies with

particularly burdensome regulation,

levels of informality tend to be higher.

Compared with their formal sector

counterparts, firms in the informal

sector typically grow more slowly, have

poorer access to credit and employ

fewer workers—and these workers

remain outside the protections of

labor law.7 Firms in the informal sector

are also less likely to pay taxes. Doing

Business measures one set of factors

that help explain the occurrence of

informality and give policy makers

insights into potential areas of regula-

tory reform.

Rules and regulations fall under the direct

control of policy makers—and they are

often where policy makers start when

intending to change the set of incentives

under which businesses operate. Doing

Business not only shows where problems

exist in the regulatory framework; it also

points to specific regulations or regulato-

ry procedures that may lend themselves

to reform. And its quantitative measures

of business regulations enable research

on how specific regulations affect firm

behavior and economic outcomes.

HOW ARE THE DATA COLLECTED? The Doing Business data are based on

domestic laws and regulations as well as

administrative requirements. The data

cover 189 economies—including small

economies and some of the poorest

economies, for which little or no data are

available in other data sets. The data are

collected through several rounds of in-

teraction with expert respondents (both

private sector practitioners and govern-

ment officials)—through responses to

questionnaires, conference calls, written

correspondence and visits by the team.

Doing Business relies on 4 main sources of

information: the relevant laws and regu-

lations, Doing Business respondents, the

governments of the economies covered

and the World Bank Group regional staff

(figure 2.2). For a detailed explanation of

the Doing Business methodology, see the

data notes.

Relevant laws and regulations Most of the Doing Business indicators

are based on laws and regulations.

Indeed, more than two-thirds of the

data embedded in the Doing Business

indicators are based on a reading of the

law. Besides filling out written ques-

tionnaires, Doing Business respondents

provide references to the relevant laws,

regulations and fee schedules. The

Doing Business team collects the texts

of the relevant laws and regulations

and checks questionnaire responses

for accuracy. For example, the team

will examine the commercial code to

confirm the paid-in minimum capital

requirement, look at the legislation to

see whether borrowers have the right to

access their data at the credit bureau

and read the tax code to find applicable

tax rates. (Doing Business makes these

and other types of laws available on

the Doing Business law library website.)8

Because of the data checking and qual-

ity assurance, having large samples of

respondents is not necessary. In princi-

ple, the role of the contributors is largely

advisory—helping the Doing Business

team in finding and understanding the

FIGURE 2.2 How Doing Business collects and verifies the data

Data sources: • The relevant laws and regulations • Responses to questionnaires by

private sector practitioners and government officials

• Governments • World Bank Group regional staff

Steps included in the data verification process: • Conference calls and

videoconferences with private sector practitioners and government officials

• Travel to selected economies

The Doing Business team develops questionnaires for each topic and

sends them to private sector practitioners and government officials.

The Doing Business team analyzes the relevant laws and regulations along

with the information in the questionnaires.

Governments and World Bank Group regional teams submit information on

regulatory changes that could potentially be included in the global

count of regulatory reforms.

The Doing Business team shares preliminary information on reforms

with governments (through the World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors) and World Bank Group regional teams for their feedback.

The Doing Business team analyzes the data and writes the report.

Comments on the report and the data are received from across the

World Bank Group through an internal review process.

The report is published and disseminated.

21ABOUT DOING BUSINESS

laws and regulations—and there are

quickly diminishing returns to an ex-

panded number of contributors.

For the rest of the data the team

conducts extensive consultations

with multiple contributors to mini-

mize measurement error. For some

indicators—for example, those on

dealing with construction permits,

enforcing contracts and resolving

insolvency—the time component and

part of the cost component (where fee

schedules are lacking) are based on

actual practice rather than the law on

the books. This introduces a degree of

judgment. When sources indicate dif-

ferent estimates, the time indicators

reported in Doing Business represent

the median values of several responses

given under the assumptions of the

standardized case.

Doing Business respondents Over the past 12 years more than

30,000 professionals in 189 economies

have assisted in providing the data that

inform the Doing Business indicators.9

This year’s report draws on the inputs

of more than 10,700 professionals.10

Table 14.2 in the data notes lists the

number of respondents for each indi-

cator set. The Doing Business website

shows the number of respondents for

each economy and each indicator set.

Respondents are professionals who

routinely administer or advise on the

legal and regulatory requirements in

the specific areas covered by Doing

Business, selected on the basis of their

expertise in these areas. Because of

the focus on legal and regulatory ar-

rangements, most of the respondents

are legal professionals such as lawyers,

judges or notaries. In addition, officials

of the credit registry or bureau complete

the credit information questionnaire.

Freight forwarders, accountants, archi-

tects, engineers and other profession-

als answer the questionnaires related

to trading across borders, paying taxes

and dealing with construction permits.

Certain public officials (such as regis-

trars from the company or property

registry) also provide information that

is incorporated into the indicators.

The Doing Business approach has been

to work with legal practitioners or

professionals who regularly undertake

the transactions involved. Following

the standard methodological approach

for time-and-motion studies, Doing

Business breaks down each process or

transaction, such as starting a business

or registering a building, into separate

steps to ensure a better estimate of

time. The time estimate for each step is

given by practitioners with significant

and routine experience in the transac-

tion. When time estimates differ, fur-

ther interactions with respondents are

pursued to converge on one estimate or

a narrow range that reflects the major-

ity of applicable cases.

Doing Business does not survey firms for

2 main reasons. The first relates to the

frequency with which firms engage in the

transactions captured by the indicators,

which is generally low. For example, a firm

goes through the start-up process once in

its existence, while an incorporation law-

yer may carry out 10 such transactions

each month. The incorporation lawyers

and other experts providing information

to Doing Business are therefore better

able to assess the process of starting a

business than are individual firms. They

also have access to the latest regulations

and practices, while a firm may have

faced a different set of rules when incor-

porating years before. The second reason

is that the Doing Business questionnaires

mostly gather legal information, which

firms are unlikely to be fully familiar with.

For example, few firms will know about all

the many legal procedures involved in re-

solving a commercial dispute through the

courts, even if some of them have gone

through the process themselves. But a

litigation lawyer would have no difficulty

in providing the requested information on

all the procedures.

Governments and World Bank Group regional staff After receiving the completed ques-

tionnaires from the Doing Business

respondents, verifying the information

against the law and conducting follow-up

inquiries to ensure that all relevant infor-

mation is captured, the Doing Business

team shares the preliminary reform de-

scriptions with governments through the

Board of Executive Directors and regional

staff of the World Bank Group. Through

this process government authorities and

local World Bank Group staff in the 189

economies covered can alert the team

about, for example, regulatory reforms

not picked up by the respondents or ad-

ditional achievements of regulatory re-

forms already captured in the database.

In response to such feedback, the Doing

Business team turns to the local private

sector experts for further consultation

and, as needed, corroboration. In addi-

tion, the team responds formally to the

comments of governments or regional

staff and provides explanations of the

scoring decisions.

Data adjustments Information on data corrections is

provided in the data notes and on the

Doing Business website. A transparent

complaint procedure allows anyone to

challenge the data. From November

2013 to October 2014 the team received

and responded to more than 160 queries

on the data. If changes in data are con-

firmed, they are immediately reflected

on the website.

HOW DO GOVERNMENTS USE THE DATA? Over the past decade governments have

increasingly focused on reforming busi-

ness regulation as one way of maintain-

ing competitiveness in an increasingly

globalized economy. Doing Business pro-

vides one source of actionable, objective

data that give useful insights into good

practices worldwide. Indeed, since 2003

governments have implemented more

DOING BUSINESS 201522

than 600 regulatory reforms that have

been informed by Doing Business.11

One venue for sharing success stories

in business regulation reform is peer-

to-peer learning events—workshops

where officials from different govern-

ments across a region or even across

the globe meet to discuss the challenges

of regulatory reform and to share their

experiences (figure 2.3).

In addition, reform committees within

governments frequently use the Doing

Business indicators as one input to inform

their programs for improving the business

environment. More than 50 economies

have formed such committees—typically

at the interministerial level or reporting

directly to the president or the prime

minister—to ensure the coordination of

efforts across agencies. In East and South

Asia they include Indonesia, the Republic

of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and

Sri Lanka. In the Middle East and North

Africa: Algeria, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi

Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In Europe and Central Asia: Azerbaijan,

Croatia, the Czech Republic, Georgia,

Kazakhstan, Kosovo, the Kyrgyz

Republic, the former Yugoslav Republic

of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro,

Poland, the Russian Federation,

Tajikistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom

and Uzbekistan. In Sub-Saharan Africa:

Botswana, Burundi, the Central African

Republic, the Comoros, the Democratic

Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo,

Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia,

Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra

Leone, Togo and Zambia. And in Latin

America: Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the

Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico,

Panama and Peru.

One reason behind the use of Doing

Business indicators by governments

is that many of these indicators can

be considered “actionable,” measuring

aspects over which governments have

direct control. For example, govern-

ments can reduce (or even eliminate)

the minimum capital requirement for

new firms. They can invest in company

and property registries to increase the

efficiency of these public agencies. They

can improve the efficiency of tax admin-

istration by adopting the latest technol-

ogies to facilitate the preparation, filing

and payment of taxes by businesses.

And they can undertake court reforms

to shorten delays in the enforcement

of contracts. On the other hand, some

Doing Business indicators capture costs

that involve private sector participants,

such as lawyers, notaries, architects,

electricians or freight forwarders—costs

over which governments may have little

influence in the short run.

While many Doing Business indica-

tors are actionable, this does not

necessarily mean that they are always

“action-worthy” in a particular context.12

Business regulation reforms are one ele-

ment of a strategy aimed at improving

competitiveness and establishing a solid

foundation for sustainable economic

growth. There are many other important

goals to pursue—such as effective man-

agement of public finances, adequate

attention to education and training,

adoption of the latest technologies to

boost economic productivity and the

quality of public services, and appropri-

ate regard for air and water quality to

safeguard people’s health. Governments

have to decide what set of priorities

best fits the needs they face. To say

that governments should work toward

a sensible set of rules for private sector

activity does not suggest that doing so

should come at the expense of other

worthy economic and social goals.

NOTES 1. The focus of the Doing Business indicators

remains the regulatory regime faced by

domestic firms engaging in economic

activity in the largest business city of an

economy. Doing Business was not initially

designed to inform decisions by foreign

investors, though investors may in practice

find the data useful as a proxy for the

quality of the national investment climate.

Analysis done in the World Bank Group’s

Global Indicators Group has shown that

countries that have sensible rules for

domestic economic activity also tend to

FIGURE 2.3 How governments use Doing Business as a policy tool

Reform committees use Doing Business indicators to help

inform programs to improve the business

environment.

Successful business regulation reforms

improvements as part of broader reform

programs. Reform committees use Doing Business indicators to help

inform programs to improve the business

environment.

improvements as part of broader reform

programs.

Governments learn from one another

about good practices in the areas measured

by Doing Business.

Governments use Doing Business as a

tool to stimulate regulatory

23ABOUT DOING BUSINESS

have good rules for the activities of foreign

subsidiaries engaged in the local economy.

2. For more on the World Bank Enterprise

Surveys, see the website at http://

www.enterprisesurveys.org.

3. These papers are available on the Doing

Business website at http://

www.doingbusiness.org/methodology.

4. For getting credit, indicators are weighted

proportionally, according to their

contribution to the total score, with a weight

of 60% assigned to the strength of legal

rights index and 40% to the depth of credit

information index. In this way each point

included in these indices has the same value

independent of the component it belongs to.

Indicators for all other topics are assigned

equal weights.

5. A technical note on the different

aggregation and weighting methods is

available on the Doing Business website at

http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology.

6. For more details, see the chapter on the

distance to frontier and ease of doing

business ranking.

7. Schneider 2005; La Porta and Shleifer

2008.

8. http://www.doingbusiness.org/law-library.

9. The annual data collection exercise is an

update of the database. The Doing Business

team and the contributors examine the

extent to which the regulatory framework

has changed in ways relevant for the

features captured by the indicators. The

data collection process should therefore

be seen as adding each year to an existing

stock of knowledge reflected in the previous

year’s report, not as creating an entirely

new data set.

10. While about 10,700 contributors provided

data for this year’s report, many of them

completed a questionnaire for more than

one Doing Business indicator set. Indeed,

the total number of contributions received

for this year’s report is more than 13,500,

which represents a true measure of the

inputs received. The average number of

contributions per indicator set and economy

is just over 6. For more details, see http://

www.doingbusiness.org/contributors

/doing-business.

11. These are reforms for which Doing Business

is aware that information provided by the

Doing Business report was used in shaping

the reform agenda.

12. One study using Doing Business indicators

illustrates the difficulties in using highly

disaggregated indicators to identify reform

priorities (Kraay and Tawara 2011).

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

What is changing in Doing Business?

Good practices in business regulation have evolved since the Doing Business indicators were first developed in 2003. Some

changes have come, for example, as

new technologies have transformed

the ways governments interact with

citizens and the business community.

The new developments have created a

need to expand and update the Doing

Business methodology. While the Doing

Business report has introduced changes

in methodology of varying degrees

every year, this year’s report and Doing

Business 2016 are implementing more

substantive improvements. Most were

inspired by recommendations of the

Independent Panel on Doing Business

and by broader consultations that have

taken place over the years with World

Bank Group staff, country govern-

ments and the private sector.1

AN OVERVIEW OF THE CHANGES The improvements are in 3 areas:

revision of the calculation of the ease

of doing business ranking, expansion

of the sample of cities covered in

large economies and a broadening of

the scope of indicator sets (table 3.1).

Some of the changes imply a break in

the data series and will compromise

the comparability of data over time.

For getting credit, for example, the

changes in the strength of legal rights

index are substantial enough to pre-

vent comparability over time. But for

all Doing Business topics, including get-

ting credit, the data have been back-

calculated 1 year to allow for at least

2 comparable years of data.2 Moreover,

since most of the changes in method-

ology involve adding new indicators

rather than revising existing ones, data

for more than 90% of the previously

existing indicators remain comparable

over time. The full data series are avail-

able on the Doing Business website.

Revising the ranking calculation Doing Business continues to publish

the ease of doing business ranking.

But beginning in this year’s report

the ranking is based on the distance

to frontier score rather than on the

This year’s report and Doing Business 2016 are introducing changes in 8 of the 10 Doing Business indicator sets: dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

The improvements have 2 main goals. The first is to expand the focus of indicator sets that primarily measure the efficiency of a transaction or service to also cover aspects of the quality of that service. The second is to expand the focus of indicator sets that already measure some aspects of the quality of regulation to include recent good practices in the areas covered.

Starting this year the ease of doing business ranking is based on the distance to frontier score.

For the 11 economies with a population of more than 100 million, a second city has been added to the sample this year.

TABLE 3.1 Timeline of the changes in Doing Business

Changes in Doing Business 2015

Revision of the ranking calculation

Expansion of the city sample in large economies

Broadening of the scope of indicator sets

Getting credit

Protecting minority investors

Resolving insolvency

Changes in Doing Business 2016

Broadening of the scope of indicator sets

Registering property

Dealing with construction permits

Getting electricity

Paying taxes

Enforcing contracts

Note: No changes are planned for starting a business or trading across borders. Minor updates in methodology are introduced in this year’s report for dealing with construction permits, paying taxes and enforcing contracts, as explained in the data notes.

25WHAT IS CHANGING IN DOING BUSINESS?

percentile rank. The distance to frontier

score benchmarks economies with re-

spect to a measure of regulatory best

practice—showing the gap between

each economy’s performance and the

best performance on each indicator.

For indices, such as the strength of

legal rights index (which ranges from

0 to 12), the frontier is set at the best

theoretical score (in this case 12) even

if no economy attains it. For most of

the other indicators the frontier is set

at the lowest number that occurs in

practice—for example, 1 for the num-

ber of procedures to start a business.

The exceptions are the recovery rate

in insolvency, for which the frontier is

set at the highest value, and the total

tax rate, for which a threshold has been

established.

The ranking based on the distance to

frontier score is highly correlated with

that based on the percentile rank. But

the distance to frontier score captures

more information than the percentile

rank because it shows not only how

economies are ordered but also how far

apart they are. Economies with greater

variance across topics are more likely

to have a less favorable position in the

distance to frontier ranking than in the

percentile ranking. Those with relatively

better performance in topics with a

compressed distribution, such as start-

ing a business, also tend to place lower

in the distance to frontier ranking.

Two country examples can better il-

lustrate the practical implications of

the change in the ranking calculation.

In Doing Business 2014 Côte d’Ivoire

had rankings between 115 and 173 for

8 of the 10 topics, and rankings of 88

and 95 for the other 2. This resulted in

a ranking of 167 on the overall ease of

doing business. If the ranking had been

computed using the distance to frontier

score rather than the percentile rank,

Côte d’Ivoire’s ranking, based on the

same data, would have been 153 (figure

3.1). This higher ranking would have been

due mainly to the low variation in Côte

d’Ivoire’s performance across topics.

For Mongolia the opposite would have

happened. In Doing Business 2014

Mongolia’s topic rankings ranged be-

tween 22 and 181. Mongolia ranked in

the top 40 for 4 of the topics, and in

the bottom 60 for 3. Its overall ranking

based on the percentile rank method

was 76. If the ranking had been com-

puted using the distance to frontier

method instead, Mongolia’s ranking

would have been 94. This lower ranking

would have been attributable to the

high variation in Mongolia’s perfor-

mance across topics.

How do the 2 countries fare in this

year’s ease of doing business ranking?

Côte d’Ivoire stands at 147 in the rank-

ing, 6 places higher than in last year’s

ranking when based on the new meth-

odology—and Mongolia stands at 72,

22 places higher. The changes in ranking

are due to other changes in methodol-

ogy, changes in the data for these 2

countries and changes in the data for

other economies. (For more details, see

the chapter on the distance to frontier

and ease of doing business ranking.)

Expanding the sample of cities covered Since its inception Doing Business has

focused on the largest business city of

each economy, taking it as a proxy for

the entire national territory. Depending

on the indicator and the size of the

economy, this focus can be a limitation

in extrapolating results to the economy

level. As the subnational Doing Business

reports have shown, the indicators

measuring the procedures, time and

cost to complete a transaction (such as

the dealing with construction permits

indicators) tend to show more variation

across cities within an economy than

do indicators capturing features of the

law applicable nationwide (such as the

protecting minority investors or resolv-

ing insolvency indicators). Moreover,

this limitation is likely to be more

important in larger economies—where

the largest business city is likely to

represent a smaller share of the overall

economy—and in those with greater

regional diversity in business practices.

To address this issue, this year Doing

Business has expanded its sample of

FIGURE 3.1 How much difference is there between the 2 calculations of the ease of doing business ranking?

200

180

160

140

120

100

0 40200 60 80 100 120 140 180160 200

DB2014 ranking based on distance to frontier scores

DB2014 ranking based on percentiles

Mongolia

Côte d’Ivoire

Note: The 45-degree line shows where the rankings based on percentiles and the rankings based on distance to frontier scores are equal. The correlation between the 2 rankings is 0.99. Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201526

cities in large economies, defined as

those with a population of more than

100 million. Today there are 11 such

economies in the world: Bangladesh,

Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,

Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian

Federation and the United States. For

each of these economies the sample

now includes the second largest busi-

ness city. Population size was used as

the criterion for selecting these econo-

mies for 2 main reasons: First, econo-

mies with a large population, because of

their size and diversity, are more likely

to have differences in performance on

indicators. Second, the larger the

population in an economy, the larger the

number of people who can benefit from

improvements in business regulation.

Within each economy the second city

was also selected on the basis of popu-

lation size. Another criterion was that

the second city must be in a different

metropolitan area than the largest

business city.3 Other criteria were also

considered, such as contribution to to-

tal GDP or level of city dynamism, but

these were not used in the end because

of the lack of comparable data across

the economies.

What do the data for the new cities in

the sample show about the differences

within economies? Overall, the differ-

ences are small. In 7 of the 11 econo-

mies the difference in the distance to

frontier score between the 2 cities is

less than 1 point (figure 3.2).

Broadening the scope of indicator sets Eight of the 10 sets of Doing Business

indicators are being improved over a

2-year period. The improvements are

aimed at addressing 2 main concerns.

First, in indicator sets that primarily

measure the efficiency of a transaction

or service provided by a government

agency (such as registering property),

the focus is being expanded to also

cover aspects of the quality of that

service. And second, in indicator sets

that already measure some aspects of

the quality of regulation (such as pro-

tecting minority investors), the focus

is being expanded to include additional

good practices in the areas covered.

INTRODUCING NEW MEASURES OF QUALITY Efficiency in regulatory transactions

is important. Many research papers

have highlighted the positive effect

of improvements in areas measured

by Doing Business on such economic

outcomes as firm or job creation.4

But increasing efficiency may have

little impact if the service provided is

of poor quality. For example, the ability

to complete property transfers quickly

and inexpensively is important, but if

the land records are unreliable or other

features of the property rights regime

are flawed, the property title will have

little value.

There is a well-established literature

linking regulatory quality with eco-

nomic outcomes at the macro level.

An important part of this literature

stems from the Worldwide Governance

Indicators, which measure regulatory

quality as 1 of 6 pillars of governance.

This literature has produced important

findings: Better governance (includ-

ing better regulatory quality) leads

to higher income per capita.5 Better

governance is linked to faster economic

growth.6 And a heavier regulatory

burden reduces economic growth and

increases macroeconomic volatility.7

While this research uses data far from

the areas into which Doing Business

indicators are expanding, these find-

ings are encouraging and they suggest

a need to better understand what

aspects of regulatory quality drive

these results. Measures of the quality

of business regulation at the micro level

are lacking. By expanding its focus on

regulatory quality, Doing Business will

open a new area for research. The aim

is to help develop greater understand-

ing of the importance of the quality

of business regulation and its link to

regulatory efficiency and economic

outcomes.

Six indicator sets are being expanded

to measure regulatory quality: dealing

with construction permits, getting

electricity, registering property, pay-

ing taxes, enforcing contracts and

FIGURE 3.2 Small differences in the distance to frontier score between cities in the same economy

40 40

100

50 70 90

Distance to frontier score of largest business city (0–100)

Distance to frontier score of second largest business city (0–100)

United States

Japan

Russian Federation ChinaIndonesia

Pakistan Brazil

IndiaNigeria Bangladesh

Mexico

Note: The 45-degree line shows where the scores for the 2 cities are equal. Source: Doing Business database.

27WHAT IS CHANGING IN DOING BUSINESS?

resolving insolvency. The new indica-

tors being introduced emphasize the

importance of having the right type of

regulations. In general, economies with

less regulation or none at all will have a

lower score on the new indicators.

Changes in Doing Business 2015

Resolving insolvency The resolving insolvency indicators

measure the time, cost and outcome of

an insolvency process for a case study

firm and the recovery rate for its secured

creditors. The indicators have focused

mainly on the efficiency of the bank-

ruptcy court system. But by measuring

the outcome of the process—that is,

whether the firm continues to operate

or not—the indicators were already as-

sessing some dimensions of the quality

of insolvency regulation. In this year’s

report the indicators go further, by

explicitly measuring the strength of the

legal framework for insolvency.

A new indicator, the strength of in-

solvency framework index, measures

good practices in accordance with the

World Bank’s Principles for Effective

Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes

and the United Nations Commission on

International Trade Law’s (UNCITRAL)

Legislative Guide on Insolvency Law.8

The index measures 4 aspects. First, it

records whether debtors and creditors

have the right to commence liquidation

proceedings, reorganization proceed-

ings or both and what standard is used

to determine whether a debtor is insol-

vent. Second, it tests what happens

to the contracts of a debtor during

insolvency proceedings, whether post-

commencement financing is permitted

and what level of priority is granted to

post-commencement creditors. Third,

it tests the approval process for a

reorganization plan as well as certain

substantive requirements for the plan.

Finally, it tests the extent to which

creditors can participate in insolvency

proceedings as a group as well as the

rights of individual creditors to litigate

and appeal decisions that affect their

rights.

Under the old methodology the distance

to frontier score for resolving insolvency

was based only on the recovery rate,

which measures the cents on the dollar

recouped by secured creditors through

insolvency proceedings. Under the

new methodology the score is based

on both the recovery rate and the

strength of insolvency framework index.

A comparison of the 2 scores shows

that many economies have insolvency

laws that follow some good practices

even if they may face challenges in

implementing those laws (figure 3.3).

For example, Brazil receives a score of

13 (of 16 possible points) on the strength

of insolvency framework index while its

recovery rate is only 25.8% of the estate

value. Economies not performing well

on the new indicator are those that use

foreclosure to resolve the insolvency in

the Doing Business standardized case.

Foreclosure is normally a relatively fast

process, typically resulting in a higher

recovery rate—but it ignores unsecured

creditors, something that would not

be true of a well-designed insolvency

framework. In Maldives, for example,

secured creditors should expect to re-

cover 49.9% of the estate value, but the

country receives a score of only 2 on the

strength of insolvency framework index.

For more details on the new index and

its scoring methodology, see the data

notes. For a complete discussion of the

new indicator and an analysis of the

data, see the case study on resolving

insolvency.

Changes in Doing Business 2016

Registering property The registering property indicator

set has measured the procedures,

time and cost to transfer a property

from one company to another since

2004. Starting in Doing Business 2016,

the indicator set will be expanded to

cover the reliability, transparency and

geographic coverage of land admin-

istration systems as well as dispute

resolution for land issues.

Ensuring the reliability of information

on property titles is a crucial function

of land administration systems. To

FIGURE 3.3 Comparing distance to frontier scores for resolving insolvency under the old and new methodologies

100

0 20100 30 40 50 60 70 9080 100

Distance to frontier score for resolving insolvency under old methodology

Distance to frontier score for resolving insolvency under new methodology

Maldives

Brazil

Note: Under the new methodology the distance to frontier score for resolving insolvency includes both the recovery rate and the strength of insolvency framework index; under the old one it includes only the recovery rate. Both scores are based on this year’s data. The 45-degree line shows where the scores under the old and new methodologies are equal. The correlation between the 2 scores is 0.90. Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201528

assess how well these systems are per-

forming this function, a new indicator

will record the practices used for col-

lecting, recording, storing and process-

ing information on land parcels and

property titles. Specific attention will

be given to practices that support data

reliability, such as unifying, standard-

izing and synchronizing records across

different sources and putting in place

the necessary infrastructure to reduce

the risk of errors.

The indicator will also provide informa-

tion allowing comparison of transpar-

ency standards for land administration

systems around the world. New data

will record what land-related informa-

tion is made publicly available, whether

procedures and property transactions

are transparent and whether informa-

tion on fees for public services is easily

accessible.

In addition, the indicator will measure

the coverage levels attained by land

registration and mapping systems. A

land administration system that does

not cover the economy’s entire territory

is unable to guarantee the protection

of property rights in areas that lack

institutionalized information on land.

The result is a dual system, with both

formal and informal land markets. To

be enforceable, all transactions need to

be publicly verified and authenticated

at the registry.

Finally, the indicator will allow compar-

ative analysis of land dispute resolu-

tion across economies. It will measure

the accessibility of conflict resolution

mechanisms and the extent of liability

for the entities or agents recording land

transactions. For a complete discussion

of the new indicator and a preliminary

data analysis, see the case study on

registering property.

Dealing with construction permits The existing indicator set on dealing

with construction permits measures

the procedures, time and cost to

comply with the formalities to build

a warehouse—including obtaining

necessary licenses and permits,

completing required notifications

and inspections and obtaining utility

connections. The indicator set will be

expanded in Doing Business 2016 to

measure good practices in construc-

tion regulation (see figure 3.4 for some

of the new aspects that will be added

to the indicator set).

The changes will address important

issues facing the building community.

One is the need for clarity in the rules,

to ensure that regulation of construc-

tion can fulfill the vital function of

helping to protect the public from

faulty building practices. Besides be-

ing clear, building rules also need to

be adaptable, so that they can keep

up with economic and technological

change. To assess these character-

istics, a new indicator on regulatory

quality will examine how clearly the

building code or building regulations

specify the requirements for obtaining

a building permit and how easily ac-

cessible the regulations are.

Beyond measuring the clarity and

accessibility of regulations, the indi-

cator will assess the effectiveness of

inspection systems. Good inspection

systems are critical to ensuring public

safety. They can ensure that buildings

comply with proper safety standards,

reducing the chances of structural

faults. And requirements that techni-

cal experts review the proposed plans

before construction even begins can re-

duce the risk of structural failures later

on. The new indicator will cover quality

control at 3 stages: before, during and

after construction.

Measures of quality control before

construction will look at 2 points:

which entity is required to verify that

the architectural plans and drawings

comply with the building regulations

and who makes up the team or com-

mittee that reviews and approves

building permit applications at the

permit-issuing agency. Measures of

quality control during construction

will examine 3 points: what types of

mandatory inspections (if any) are

required by law during construction;

which agency is responsible for con-

ducting these inspections; and whether

inspections required by law are actually

carried out (or, if not required by law,

commonly occur in practice). Measures

of quality control after construction

will also examine 3 points: whether a

final inspection is required by law to

FIGURE 3.4 What will be added to dealing with construction permits

Does the building code follow good practices? Is it

easily accessible?

Who approves the designs? How are inspections

carried out before, during and after construction?

What qualifications are required for the professionals

reviewing plans or conducting inspections?

What are the rules on liability and insurance?

29WHAT IS CHANGING IN DOING BUSINESS?

verify that the building was built in ac-

cordance with the approved plans and

the building regulations; which agency

is responsible for conducting the

final inspection; and whether the final

inspection required by law is actually

carried out (or, if not required by law,

commonly occurs in practice).

The professionals who conduct the

inspections play a vital part in ensuring

that buildings meet safety standards.

So it is important that these profes-

sionals be certified and that they have

the necessary technical qualifications.

And if safety violations or construction

flaws occur despite their efforts, it is im-

portant to have a well-defined liability

and insurance structure to cover losses

resulting from any structural faults.

The new indicator will cover several

points relating to these issues: what

the qualification requirements are

for the professionals responsible for

verifying the architectural plans and

for those authorized to supervise the

construction; which parties are held

legally liable for construction flaws or

problems affecting the structural safe-

ty of the building once occupied; which

parties are required by law to obtain an

insurance policy to cover possible flaws

or problems affecting the structural

safety of the building once occupied;

and what the consequences are for

the construction company and the

professionals authorized to supervise

construction if construction flaws or

problems are found or if building regu-

lations were not complied with.

Getting electricity The existing data set on getting elec-

tricity measures the efficiency of the

process for obtaining an electricity con-

nection for a standard warehouse—as

reflected in the procedures, time and

cost required. While the efficiency of

the connection process has proved

to be a useful proxy for the overall ef-

ficiency of the electricity sector, these

measures cover only a small part of

the sector’s performance. Beyond the

complexity and high cost of getting an

electricity connection, inadequate or

unreliable power supply is also perceived

as an important constraint on business

activity, particularly in the developing

world. To offer a more complete view

of the electricity sector, Doing Business

will broaden the scope of the getting

electricity indicators to include the reli-

ability of the power supply (figure 3.5).

The expanded data set will be published

in Doing Business 2016.

A new indicator will assess the reliability

of electricity supply by measuring both

the duration and the frequency of power

outages. The indicator will use the

system average interruption duration

index (SAIDI) and the system average

interruption frequency index (SAIFI).

SAIDI is the average total duration of

outages over the course of a year for

each customer served, while SAIFI is the

average number of service interruptions

experienced by a customer in a year.

Collecting these data can be challeng-

ing. The SAIDI and SAIFI measures are

often recorded by utility companies,

and the availability and quality of the

data depend on the utilities’ ability to

collect the information. To provide an

understanding of the quality of moni-

toring, the indicator will also record the

methods used by electricity distribution

companies to measure power outages.

Paying taxes The paying taxes indicators measure

the taxes and mandatory contributions

that a medium-size company must

pay in a given year as well as the

administrative burden of paying taxes

and contributions. The indicators now

measure only the administrative burden

associated with preparing, filing and

paying 3 major tax categories (profit

taxes, consumption taxes and labor

taxes). But the postfiling process—

involving tax audits, tax refunds

and tax appeals—can also impose

a substantial administrative burden

on firms. Starting in Doing Business

2016, the paying taxes indicator set

will therefore be expanded to include

measures of the postfiling process.

In addition, this year’s report includes

an important change in the methodol-

ogy for the paying taxes indicators.

The distance to frontier score for the

total tax rate now enters the distance

to frontier score for paying taxes in

a nonlinear fashion. As a result of

this change, an increase in the total

tax rate has a smaller impact on the

distance to frontier score for paying

taxes than previously for economies

with a below-average total tax rate

and a larger impact for economies

with a very high total tax rate relative

to the average (see figure 15.2 and the

related discussion in the chapter on the

distance to frontier and ease of doing

business ranking).

FIGURE 3.5 What will be added to getting electricity

Reliability of electricity supply

DOING BUSINESS 201530

Enforcing contracts The enforcing contracts indicators

measure the procedures, time and

cost to resolve a commercial dispute

between 2 firms. The indicators have

focused on the efficiency of the com-

mercial court system without directly

addressing the quality of the judiciary

or the judicial infrastructure. In Doing

Business 2016 the indicator set will be

expanded to cover aspects of judicial

quality and court infrastructure,

focusing on well-established good

practices that promote quality and

efficiency in the commercial court

system (figure 3.6).

To assess the quality of the judiciary

and judicial infrastructure, a new in-

dicator will record whether there is a

specialized commercial court or divi-

sion; whether there is a small claims

court; whether voluntary mediation is

available; whether arbitration is avail-

able; whether pretrial attachment of

assets is available; whether it is com-

mon practice for the parties in a com-

mercial case to request adjournments

and whether the law sets a limit on

the total number allowed; and whether

judgments in commercial cases are

made available to the general public.

Another new indicator will measure

court efficiency. This indicator will re-

cord whether the initial complaint can

be filed electronically; whether case

management is available; whether

electronic case management is avail-

able; whether there is a pretrial confer-

ence as part of the case management

system; and whether process can be

served electronically.

Once these new data are collected and

presented in Doing Business 2016, the

indicator on the number of procedures

to enforce a contract will be dropped.

EXPANDING THE EXISTING MEASURES OF QUALITY Two sets of Doing Business indicators—

getting credit and protecting minority

investors—already measure aspects

of regulatory quality. These indicator

sets have been expanded in this year’s

report to incorporate more recent

knowledge on good practices. These

changes are reflected in this year’s

ranking on the ease of doing business.

Getting credit The getting credit indicators assess the

legal rights of borrowers and lenders in

secured transactions and the sharing of

credit information. Measures compiled

in the strength of legal rights index

focus on whether collateral and bank-

ruptcy laws include certain features

that facilitate lending. Those combined

in the depth of credit information

index focus on the coverage, scope

and accessibility of credit information

available through credit bureaus and

registries. Both sets of measures have

been expanded this year to cover more

good practices (figure 3.7).

The strength of legal rights index has

been expanded from 10 points to 12,

with the new aspects selected in ac-

cordance with UNCITRAL’s Legislative

Guide on Secured Transactions.9 One of

the new points is awarded for having

an integrated secured transactions

system. Modern secured transactions

systems are aimed at ensuring that a

prospective creditor can easily deter-

mine not only whether an asset has

already been pledged as collateral but

also whether there is some other type

of right over that asset. Such rights

might be established by legal instru-

ments that are functional equivalents

to security interests. In an integrated

secured transactions system these

instruments are regulated under

the same law as traditional security

interests. This approach provides the

greatest transparency and predict-

ability—because all rights in collateral,

whether traditional security interests

or their functional equivalents, are

registered at the same registry, and

the law will contemplate how priority

rules apply across the different types

of contracts.

FIGURE 3.6 What will be added to enforcing contracts

Quality of the judiciary

Electronic filing of complaints

Case management Electronic case management

Pretrial conference

Electronic service of process

Specialized commercial court Small claims court

Voluntary mediation Arbitration

Pretrial attachment Adjournments

Publication of judgments

Court efficiency

31WHAT IS CHANGING IN DOING BUSINESS?

Other new points are awarded for hav-

ing a well-functioning collateral regis-

try, defined by several characteristics.

One is that the registry must cover any

type of secured transaction, regard-

less of the type of debtor, creditor or

assets.10 Another is that the registry

must be a notice-based registry. This

type of registry has much lower ad-

ministrative and archival costs than a

document registry, which must register

voluminous documentation and have

specialists review the documents pro-

vided and the assets used as collateral.

Finally, the registry must offer modern

features. Secured creditors (or their

representatives) should be able to

security interests online. Information in

the database should be updated imme-

diately or no more than 24 hours after

registration documents are submitted.

And the registry should have a digital

database for storing the informa-

tion. These types of online solutions

enhance the efficiency of a registry

and the reliability of the information it

records. Establishing and maintaining

such systems can be costly, however,

and these systems need to be backed

by adequate legislation, such as pri-

vacy laws and regulations on electronic

signatures.

The depth of credit information index

has been expanded from 6 points to 8.

In addition, because of the importance

of coverage in assessing the effective-

ness of a credit information system,

only credit bureaus or registries that

cover at least 5% of the adult popula-

tion are being scored.

One of the new points is awarded to

economies where credit information can

be accessed through an online platform

or through a system-to-system connec-

tion between financial institutions and

the credit information system. Online

access can improve data quality and

security, increase efficiency and trans-

parency and ensure a high standard

of service for users—and thus might

increase the number of reporting insti-

tutions that share credit information.

Another new point is awarded to econo-

mies where credit scores are available.

Credit scores, considered more effective

in predicting risk than credit histories

alone, may improve market efficiency

and provide borrowers with more op-

portunities to obtain credit. Their

availability enables lenders that would

otherwise not be capable of analyzing

the raw credit data to extend credit to

underserved markets at lower cost.

For more details on the expanded indi-

cators and their scoring methodology,

see the data notes. For a complete

discussion of the indicators and an

analysis of the data, see the case study

on getting credit.

Protecting minority investors The name of the protecting investors

indicator set has been changed this

year to protecting minority investors to

better reflect its scope—and the scope

of the indicator set has been expanded.

The indicators have traditionally mea-

sured the strength of minority share-

holder protections against directors’

misuse of corporate assets for personal

gain. This year a new indicator has

been added to measure shareholders’

rights in corporate governance beyond

related-party transactions, following

internationally accepted good practic-

es such as those proposed by the OECD

Principles of Corporate Governance.11 The

new indicator, the extent of shareholder

governance index, encompasses a

range of issues and data:

Shareholders’ rights and role in major

corporate decisions—the extent to

which shareholders can influence

important corporate decisions, such

as appointing and removing board

members, issuing new shares and

amending the company’s bylaws

and articles of association.

Governance structure—the extent to

which the law mandates separation

between corporate constituencies to

minimize potential agency conflicts.

The issues covered include whether

the chief executive officer (CEO) can

also be chair of the board of direc-

tors, whether a board must include

a minimum number of independent

directors and whether there are

rules relating to cross-shareholding

and subsidiary ownership.

Transparency—the extent to which

companies are required to disclose

information about their finances,

about the remuneration of their

managers and directors and about

other directorships they hold.

Transparency has been found to im-

prove governance and lower the cost

of investment in capital markets.

Allocation of legal expenses—the

extent to which the expenses as-

sociated with lawsuits brought by

shareholders can be recovered from

the company or the payment of the

expenses can be made contingent

on a successful outcome. The data

provide information on whether

FIGURE 3.7 What has been added to getting credit

DOING BUSINESS 201532

filing a shareholder action is pro-

hibitively expensive—and therefore

impracticable even if allowed by law.

By expanding the scope of the indica-

tors Doing Business has raised the bar,

making it more difficult to reach the

frontier. The highest distance to frontier

score for protecting minority investors

observed under the new methodology is

lower than the highest one under the old

methodology (figure 3.8). The average

score across all economies covered by

Doing Business is also lower under the

new methodology than under the old

one. This is true even though the pos-

sible range of the overall measure, the

strength of minority investor protection

index, continues to be 0–10. Yet some

economies score higher on the overall in-

dex under the new methodology. One of

them is Switzerland. While it performs

relatively poorly in protecting minority

investors in related-party transactions,

it does considerably better on general

corporate governance rules. For others,

such as Paraguay, the opposite is true.

For more details on the methodology

for the protecting minority investors

indicators, see the data notes. For a

complete discussion of the new indica-

tor and an analysis of the data, see

the case study on protecting minority

investors.

NOTES 1. For more information on the Independent

Panel on Doing Business and its work, see its

website at http://www.dbrpanel.org.

2. See the data notes for more details.

3. Where the second and third largest cities

were very close in population size, the GDP

of the city or relevant state was used to

determine which city was the second largest

business city.

4. For more details, see the chapter in Doing

Business 2014 on research on the effects of

business regulations.

5. Kaufmann and Kraay 2002.

6. Cuzman, Dima and Dima 2010.

7. Loayza, Oviedo and Servén 2010.

8. World Bank 2011b; UNCITRAL 2004.

9. UNCITRAL 2007.

10. Excluding exemptions such as planes, boats

and the like, which are traditionally covered

by different registries.

11. OECD 2004.

FIGURE 3.8 Comparing distance to frontier scores for protecting minority investors under the old and new methodologies

100

0 20100 30 40 50 60 70 9080 100

Distance to frontier score for protecting minority investors under old methodology

Distance to frontier score for protecting minority investors under new methodology

Paraguay

Switzerland

Note: Under the new methodology the distance to frontier score for protecting minority investors includes 6 areas of corporate governance; under the old one it includes 3 of the 6 areas. Both scores are based on this year’s data. The 45-degree line shows where the scores under the old and new methodologies are equal. The correlation between the 2 scores is 0.87. Source: Doing Business database.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Reforming the business environment in 2013/14

As many studies have shown, the business environment can have an important influence on the development of the private sector

and economic growth—and thus on the

creation of jobs and better livelihoods.

Where well designed and properly

implemented, regulatory reforms can

promote private sector growth by elimi-

nating bureaucratic obstacles, reducing

cost and time constraints to doing

business and improving the efficiency of

legal institutions. They can also have an

important impact on perceptions of an

economy’s business environment.

One important area of regula-

tory reform is the process for starting

a business. Research provides strong

evidence that reforms making it easier

to start a business are associated with

more firm creation,1 which in turn is

strongly associated with job creation

and economic growth. Using a sample

of OECD countries, researchers found

that, on average, halving the number of

procedures required to start a business

is associated with a 14% increase in the

number of new business registrations.

A similar reduction in the days required

is linked to a 19% increase, while an

equivalent cut in the cost is associated

with a 30% increase.

These findings are borne out by evidence

at the country level. After a reform in

Mexico that reduced the number of

procedures to start a business by about

60%, the country saw a 5% increase in

the total number of firms.2 Portugal ex-

perienced similar effects after it reduced

the time and cost to start a business

by 50%. New start-ups increased by

about 17%, with most of the growth

among less productive firms, those

“that would have been most deterred by

burdensome regulations, such as small

firms in low-tech sectors.”3 Comparable

evidence exists on a regional level for

Italy: provinces with a longer process

for starting a business have lower rates

of firm creation than those with a more

streamlined process.4

Regulatory reforms can have impor-

tant positive spillover effects. In trade

logistics, evidence shows that improv-

ing port efficiency not only reduces

shipping times but also ultimately cuts

shipping costs. According to analysis of

data for the Doing Business indicators on

trading across borders, increasing port

efficiency from the 25th to the 75th

percentile can reduce shipping costs

by 12%.5 These spillover effects on ship-

ping costs decrease with an economy’s

income level: high-income economies

showed greater effects than low- and

middle-income ones.

Moreover, better regulation is strongly

correlated with better perceptions of

the quality of the business environment

in an economy.6 And there is strong

evidence that regulatory reforms in

the areas measured by Doing Business

indicators improve perceptions of

quality. But the research is inconclusive

about which reforms have a greater

effect—those affecting the indicators

that measure the complexity and

cost of regulatory processes or those

Doing Business has captured more than 2,400 regulatory reforms making it easier to do business since 2004.

In the year ending June 1, 2014, 123 economies implemented at least one such reform in areas measured by Doing Business—230 in total.

Among reforms to reduce the complexity and cost of regulatory processes in 2013/14, those in the area of starting a business were the most common, followed by reforms in the areas of paying taxes and registering property.

Among reforms to strengthen legal institutions in 2013/14, the largest numbers were recorded in the areas of getting credit and protecting minority investors, and the smallest in the area of resolving insolvency.

Eight of the 11 economies with a population of more than 100 million implemented at least one reform making it easier to do business in the past year. China, Mexico and the Russian Federation each implemented 2, while India and Indonesia each implemented 3.

Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain — all among the economies most adversely affected by the global financial crisis—have maintained a steady pace of regulatory reform.

DOING BUSINESS 201534

affecting the indicators that measure

the strength of legal institutions. Overall,

there appears to be no statistically

significant differences between the 2

groups of indicators.

Using its indicators to track changes in

business regulations, Doing Business has

captured more than 2,400 regulatory

reforms making it easier to do business

since 2004. In the year ending June 1,

2014, 123 economies implemented at

least one such reform in areas mea-

sured by Doing Business—230 in total.

From year to year Doing Business has

recorded many more reforms reducing

the complexity and cost of regulatory

processes than reforms strengthening

legal institutions. It is no different for

2013/14, with a count of 145 reforms re-

ducing regulatory complexity and cost

and 85 strengthening legal institutions

(table 4.1).

This pattern is no surprise. It happens

in small economies and in large ones

(box 4.1). Reforms aimed at cutting

red tape and improving regula-

tory efficiency are generally easier

to implement, because they rarely

involve large institutional players and

they yield relatively quick results. By

contrast, reforms aimed at improving

legal institutions are typically com-

plex. Most entail substantial changes

to legal frameworks, are costly to

implement and can take years to yield

positive results.

HIGHLIGHTS OF REFORMS REDUCING REGULATORY COMPLEXITY AND COST Among reforms to reduce the complex-

ity and cost of regulatory processes in

2013/14, those in the area of starting

a business were the most common,

followed by reforms in paying taxes.

The area with the third largest number

of reforms was registering property,

though in previous years it tended to

be trading across borders.

Easing bureaucratic barriers to start-up Start-up formalities, while they still

vary around the world, are converging

toward good practices. In 2013/14, as

in earlier years, many of the reforms

making it easier to start a business

focused on introducing a one-stop

shop or eliminating the minimum

capital requirement (see table 4A.1 at

the end of the chapter). Timor-Leste,

the economy that improved the ease

of starting a business the most, did

so by creating a one-stop shop. Now

entrepreneurs can complete several

formalities in one place—reserving a

company name, submitting company

documents, applying for registration

and publishing company statutes. By

streamlining start-up formalities and

centralizing services, the new one-stop

shop reduced the time required to start

a business from 94 days to just 10.

São Tomé and Príncipe eliminated the

minimum capital requirement for busi-

ness entities with no need to obtain a

commercial license. Moldova abolished

the minimum capital requirement for

all limited liability companies. The

Russian Federation, through amend-

ments to its civil code and federal law,

eliminated the requirement for a com-

pany’s founders to deposit the charter

capital before incorporation. Russia

also abolished the requirement for

companies to notify the tax authorities

of the opening of bank accounts.

Cutting red tape in construction permitting Doing Business recorded 16 reforms

making it easier to deal with construc-

tion permits in 2013/14. Most were

in Europe and Central Asia and Sub-

Saharan Africa. Djibouti and Ghana

both streamlined their permitting pro-

cess. Madagascar and Senegal reduced

the time required to obtain a building

permit. Mali reduced the time needed

to obtain a geotechnical study. And

Rwanda eliminated the fee to obtain a

freehold title and streamlined the pro-

cess for obtaining an occupancy permit.

TABLE 4.1 Reforms making it easier to do business in 2013/14 and in the past 5 years

Area of reform Number of reforms

in 2013/14

Average annual number of reforms

in past 5 years

Economy improving the most in area in 2013/14

Complexity and cost of regulatory processes

Starting a business 45 45 Timor-Leste

Dealing with construction permits 16 19 Croatia

Getting electricity 12 12a Solomon Islands

Registering property 21 22 Greece

Paying taxes 31 34 Romania

Trading across borders 20 23 Myanmar

Strength of legal institutions

Getting credit—legal rights 9 10 Colombia

Getting credit—credit information 22 20 Jamaica

Protecting minority investors 30 14 United Arab Emirates

Enforcing contracts 15 13 Kosovo

Resolving insolvency 10 17 Mozambique

Note: Because Jamaica implemented changes in the past year in both the strength of legal rights and depth of credit information components of getting credit, the table shows a total of 231 reforms for 2013/14, though only 230 are counted as separate reforms. a. Refers to the average for the past 4 years. Source: Doing Business database.

35REFORMING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN 2013/14

Croatia made the biggest improve-

ment in the ease of dealing with

construction permits (figure 4.1). New

regulations in the Building Act and

Physical Planning Act that took effect

on January 1, 2014, made it possible to

obtain a building permit before paying

contribution fees for utilities, speeding

up the permitting process. The fees

for building permits were also reduced.

In addition, registration of the new

building with the land registry is now

done automatically, with no action re-

quired by the builder: the municipality

sends documentation to the cadastre

for registration, and the cadastre

sends documentation on to the land

registry. And the final inspection is

now done with greater timeliness, dra-

matically reducing the time required

for the issuance of the occupancy per-

mit. As a result of all these changes,

the number of procedures required to

comply with the formalities to build

a warehouse in Croatia fell from 22

to 21, the time from 379 days to 188

and the cost by 0.3% of the warehouse

value.

Making it easier to get electricity Doing Business recorded only 12 reforms

making it easier to get electricity in

BOX 4.1 Most economies with a population of more than 100 million implemented at least one regulatory reform in 2013/14

Some people might assume that reforming business regulation is easier in small economies because their government structures tend to be less complex. The Doing Business data do not suggest that this is so. Eight of the 11 economies with a population of more than 100 million reformed in at least one of the areas measured by Doing Business in 2013/14, while only 18 of the 34 economies with a population of less than 1 million did so. Among the 11 large economies, China, Mexico and the Russian Federation each implemented 2 reforms making it easier to do business, while India and Indonesia each implemented 3 (see table).

What did these economies do? India made starting a business easier by considerably reducing the registration fees— though it also added a requirement to file a declaration before commencing business operations. It made obtaining a new electricity connection in Mumbai less costly by reducing the security deposit. And it strengthened minority investor protections by requiring greater disclosure by board members, increasing the remedies available in case of prejudicial related-party transactions and introducing additional safeguards for shareholders of privately held companies.

Indonesia made starting a business easier by making it possible to issue the approval letter for the deed of establishment electronically. It made getting electricity in Jakarta easier by eliminating the need for multiple certificates guaranteeing the safety of internal installations. And it lowered labor taxes.

China also made starting a business easier, by eliminating the minimum capital requirement and thus the need for a capital verification report from an auditing firm. In addition, it reduced employers’ social security contribution rate in Shanghai and enhanced the electronic system for filing and paying taxes.

Mexico improved access to credit by amending its insolvency proceedings law and establishing clear grounds for relief from a stay of enforcement actions by secured creditors during reor- ganization proceedings. And it made resolving insolvency easi- er by shortening the time extensions during reorganization pro- ceedings and facilitating electronic submission of documents.

Russia made starting a business easier by eliminating the re- quirement to deposit the charter capital before company reg- istration as well as the requirement to notify tax authorities of the opening of bank accounts. And it made transferring prop- erty easier by eliminating the need for notarization and reduc- ing the time required for property registration.

In 2013/14 the 11 large economies were more likely to imple- ment reforms reducing the complexity and cost of regulatory processes than reforms strengthening legal institutions—a pattern also evident in smaller economies. Among the 15 re- forms captured by Doing Business in these large economies, most were at the national level and affect both cities mea- sured. One of the exceptions was in the United States, where the reform making it easier to start a business applies to New York City but not to Los Angeles.

Reforms making it easier to do business in the 11 large economies in 2013/14

Economy

Reforms reducing regulatory

complexity and cost

Reforms strengthening legal

institutions

Bangladesh 1 0

Brazil 0 0

China 2 0

India 2 1

Indonesia 3 0

Japan 0 0

Mexico 0 2

Nigeria 0 0

Pakistan 1 0

Russian Federation 2 0

United States 1 0

Note: The table shows data for the 11 large economies for which Doing Business covers both the largest and the second largest business city. Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201536

2013/14. Revision of the costs for new

connections was the most common

feature of the reforms. In Rwanda,

where increasing the electrification rate

is a government priority, the distribu-

tion utility waived all fees for complet-

ing a new connection, including the

security deposit. The big reduction in

cost provides a strong incentive to seek

an official connection to the network

and encourages new business ventures.

In Poland the utility in Warsaw revised

the fee structure for new connections

in ways that reduced the cost for new

customers. In India the electricity utility

in Mumbai changed its method for cal-

culating the security deposit. The utility

now calculates it as a fixed charge per

kilowatt rather than basing it on a cus-

tomer’s estimated monthly consump-

tion, increasing the transparency of the

related costs.

Another common feature of electricity

reforms was improvement in the effi-

ciency of distribution utilities’ internal

processes. The utility in the Democratic

Republic of Congo, Société Nationale

d’Electricité, reduced the time required

to get electricity by improving its

administrative management of new

connection requests. Starting in 2014

the utility began tracking how much

time each of its departments takes

to deal with connection requests. The

utility also streamlined its internal

approval process: its staff no longer

seeks approval from the head office

for each individual connection request

but instead submits batches once a

month. The utility in Malawi reduced

the time required to get electricity

by outsourcing external connection

works to subcontractors.

In many economies shortages in the

materials needed for external works—

such as transformer substations—are

a source of substantial delays in the

connection process. Tackling this

issue was a focus of the utility in

the Solomon Islands. By improving

procurement practices, the utility cut

the wait time for new connections by

two-thirds (figure 4.2). As a result, the

Solomon Islands made the biggest

improvement in the ease of getting

electricity in 2013/14.

Simplifying property registration In 2013/14, 21 economies made it easier

for businesses to register property by

reducing the time, cost or number of

procedures required. Among the most

common improvements were reducing

property transfer taxes, combining or

eliminating procedures, and introduc-

ing computerized procedures. Lowering

the property transfer tax can substan-

tially reduce the cost of transferring

property and improve compliance with

property registration and tax regula-

tions, though this type of change needs

to be informed by broader tax policy

discussions.

FIGURE 4.2 The Solomon Islands reduced the time to obtain an electricity connection by two-thirds

0 20 40 60 80

100 120 140 160 180

Procedures

2014 2013

Time to get electricity (days)

Await inspection of the internal wiring by SIEA and installation of the

meter; electricity starts flowing

Await completion of the external connection

works by SIEA

Await completion of an external inspection by SIEA for purposes of

preparing the estimate

Submit application for a connection to SIEA

and await a cost estimate

Time cut from 160 days to 53

Note: SIEA is the Solomon Islands Electricity Authority. Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 4.1 Croatia cut more than 6 months from the time required to deal with construction permits

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

Procedures

One procedure cut, 191 days saved

Time to deal with construction permits (days)

2014 2013

Source: Doing Business database.

37REFORMING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN 2013/14

Greece made the largest improvement

in the ease of registering property (figure

4.3). In December 2013 it established a

new property transfer tax of 3% of the

property value, substantially lower than

the previous one of 10%. In addition, it

simplified property transfers by elimi-

nating the need to submit a tax clear-

ance certificate from the municipality

before signing the sale agreement.

Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for the

largest number of property registra-

tion reforms in 2013/14. For example,

Mozambique streamlined registration

procedures at the land registry and the

municipality. Côte d’Ivoire established

a single process for tax and property

registration and lowered the property

registration tax. Senegal replaced the

requirement for authorization from

the tax authority with a notification

requirement and set up a single step

for the property transfer at the land

registry.

Making it easier and less costly to pay taxes Doing Business recorded 31 reforms

in 2013/14 making it easier or less

costly for firms to pay taxes. Europe and

Central Asia accounted for the largest

number, with 9. Globally, the most com-

mon feature of tax reforms in the past

year was the introduction or enhance-

ment of electronic systems for filing

and paying taxes. Thirteen economies

implemented such changes, including

Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Mongolia,

Romania, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

Electronic tax systems, if implemented

well and used by most taxpayers, ben-

efit both tax authorities and firms. For

tax authorities, they ease workloads

and reduce operational costs. And for

firms, they reduce the time required to

comply with tax obligations as well as

the potential for errors.

Romania improved the ease of paying

taxes the most in 2013/14 (figure 4.4).

The government has developed an

electronic system for filing and paying

corporate income tax, value added tax

and all 6 mandatory labor contribu-

tions measured by Doing Business.7 The

system was initially launched in 2010,

though with only the possibility of

submitting tax returns online. Over the

past 2 years, however, online payment

of taxes and contributions became

possible with the use of banking cards

and was gradually taken up by the

business community. By January 2013

the majority of firms were making their

tax payments online.

Other economies making noteworthy

changes in the area of paying taxes in

the past year include Belarus, China,

the Democratic Republic of Congo and

Latvia. Belarus improved its system for

keeping online records for corporate

income tax and value added tax. The

FIGURE 4.3 Greece made registering property both easier and less expensive

Time to register property (days)

Cost to register property (% of property value)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

2013

Procedures Cost

2014

Procedures Cost

One procedure eliminated, and cost reduced by 6.86% of the property value

Procedures

Note: In 2014 procedures 3, 4 and 5 occur simultaneously with procedure 2 (although procedures may take place simultaneously, they cannot start on the same day). Procedure 6 starts after procedure 2. Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 4.4 Romania has been making compliance with tax obligations easier in recent years

2013201220112010200920082007200620052004

Payments (number per year) Total tax rate (% of commercial profit) Time (hours per year)

100

120

160

200

240

Payments Total tax rate Time

Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201538

system now automatically updates

all relevant tax rates, alerts users of

potential errors and automatically col-

lects and checks data required for filling

out tax returns. Belarus also simplified

its rules for deducting expenses for the

calculation of corporate income tax.

Four other economies merged or elimi-

nated certain taxes—the Republic of

Congo, Hungary, Senegal and Zambia.

Eleven economies reduced profit tax

rates, the second most common fea-

ture of tax reforms in 2013/14. These

include 4 high-income economies

(Portugal, Spain, St. Kitts and Nevis,

and the United Kingdom), 3 upper-

middle-income economies (Colombia,

the Seychelles and Tunisia) and 4 lower-

middle-income economies (the Republic

of Congo, Guatemala, Swaziland and

Vietnam). Reductions in profit tax rates

are often combined with efforts to

widen the tax base by removing exemp-

tions and with increases in the rates of

other taxes, such as value added tax.

Facilitating trade Myanmar made the biggest improve-

ment in the ease of trading across

borders in 2013/14 (figure 4.5). Its

Ministry of Commerce abolished the

export license requirement for 166

types of goods and the import license

requirement for 152—reducing the

time, cost and number of documents

required to export and import general

cargo products. As measured by Doing

Business, exporting now takes 20% less

time than before, and importing 19%

less time.

Tanzania invested in port infrastruc-

ture. New cranes, a conveyor belt and

anchorage tankers at the port of Dar

es Salaam helped reduce berthing and

unloading time as well as congestion.

The reduction in the time required for

port and terminal handling activities

benefits not only traders in Tanzania

but also those in the landlocked econo-

mies of Burundi and Rwanda that use

the port.

Eighteen other economies also

implemented reforms making it

easier to trade across borders in

2013/14. Introducing or improving

electronic submission and processing

of documents was the most common

feature of these reforms. Eight

economies—Bangladesh, Croatia, Ecuador,

Pakistan, Palau, St. Lucia, Uganda

and Uzbekistan—reduced the time to

export and import by implementing

computerized systems that allow

web-based submission of documents.

Croatia switched to an electronic

customs system as part of reforms

in preparation for accession to the

European Union.

Improving customs administration

remained an important item on reform

agendas. Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, the

Dominican Republic, Morocco, Myanmar,

St. Lucia and Uzbekistan all did so by

reducing the number of documents

required by customs or streamlining the

process to obtain and submit certain

documents.

Five economies—Algeria, Ghana,

Jordan, Kazakhstan and Tanzania—

strengthened transport or port

infrastructure. Kazakhstan opened a

new border station and railway link that

reduced congestion at the border with

China. Poland improved port procedures

by launching a new terminal operating

system at the port of Gdansk. And

Uruguay implemented a risk-based in-

spection system that reduced customs

clearance time.

HIGHLIGHTS OF REFORMS STRENGTHENING LEGAL INSTITUTIONS Among reforms to strengthen legal

institutions in 2013/14, the largest

numbers were recorded in the areas of

getting credit and protecting minority

investors (with 30 in each area), and

the smallest in the area of resolving

insolvency. Economies in Europe and

Central Asia implemented the most

reforms aimed at strengthening legal

institutions, followed by economies in

Sub-Saharan Africa.

Strengthening legal rights of borrowers and lenders In 2013/14, 9 economies improved ac-

cess to credit by strengthening the legal

FIGURE 4.5 Myanmar reduced the time to export and import by abolishing license requirements for many types of goods

Inland transport and handling Port and terminal handling

Customs clearance and inspections Document preparation

20142013 0

20142013

Time to export (days) Time to import (days)

Source: Doing Business database.

39REFORMING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN 2013/14

rights of borrowers and lenders—either

by reforming secured transactions

legislation or by enhancing secured

creditors’ rights in bankruptcy pro-

ceedings (see table 4A.1 at the end of

the chapter). Colombia, Hungary and

Jamaica all implemented a functional

approach to secured transactions. The

Czech Republic and the Lao People’s

Democratic Republic both created a

modern, notice-based collateral reg-

istry. Hungary and Panama expanded

the range of movable assets that can

be used as collateral. Mexico, Rwanda,

and Trinidad and Tobago strengthened

the rights of secured creditors during

reorganization proceedings.

Globally, Colombia strengthened the

legal rights of borrowers and lenders

the most, by implementing a new legal

framework for secured transactions

(table 4.2). The country launched a col-

lateral registry with modern features in

May 2014, following approval of a new

law on movable property guarantees.

The new law permits all types of mov-

able assets, present or future, to be

used as collateral to secure a loan. The

law also regulates legal instruments

that are the functional equivalents of

traditional security interests, such as

assignments of receivables and sales

with retention of title. In addition, it pro-

vides priority rules for creditors’ claims

within bankruptcy and establishes

the rights of secured creditors during

reorganization proceedings. Finally, the

law allows out-of-court enforcement of

collateral.

Jamaica also made noteworthy im-

provements in the area of legal rights

in the past year. It adopted a new law

on secured transactions that broadens

the range of assets that can be used as

collateral, allows a general description

of assets granted as collateral and

establishes a modern, unified, notice-

based collateral registry. Panama

implemented similar changes and also

introduced the possibility of out-of-

court enforcement of collateral.

The Czech Republic, through an

amendment to its civil code, made it

possible to register receivables at the

pledge registry. It also introduced the

possibility for the parties to a secu-

rity agreement to agree to out-of-court

enforcement of the collateral. The

government of Lao PDR established a

centralized, online, notice-based reg-

istry where financial institutions can

movable property—including functional

equivalents to more traditional security

interests, such as financial lease agree-

ments, assignments of receivables,

fiduciary transfers of title and sales

with retention of title.

Improving credit information systems Jamaica made the biggest improve-

ment in credit reporting in 2013/14.

Two new credit bureaus, Creditinfo

Jamaica and CRIF-NM Credit Assure

Limited, having received business

licenses in 2012, began operations in

2013. Twenty-one other economies

also improved credit reporting, with

the largest number of them in Sub-

Saharan Africa.

The Democratic Republic of Congo and

Tanzania both established new credit

reporting agencies. The Democratic

Republic of Congo’s central bank es-

tablished an electronic system allow-

ing the exchange of credit information

between its credit registry and banks

and financial institutions. Tanzania’s

central bank issued an operating

license to the country’s first credit

bureau, Creditinfo Tanzania, in June

2013, and to its second one, Dun &

Bradstreet Credit Bureau Tanzania, in

September 2013. Creditinfo Tanzania

began responding to inquiries from

data users 2 months after receiving its

license. Vietnam’s first credit bureau,

Vietnam Credit Information, started

serving data users in January 2014

along with the existing credit registry

managed by the country’s central

bank.

Five Sub-Saharan African economies—

Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire,

Kenya and Senegal—strengthened

their regulatory frameworks for credit

reporting. Cameroon’s government

passed legislation establishing an in-

tegrated database that records nega-

tive payment information on bank

accounts, checks and cards as well as

credit information on firms and micro-

finance institutions. Kenya issued new

regulations allowing the exchange of

positive credit information and estab-

lishing guidelines for data retention.

TABLE 4.2 A comparison of Colombia’s previous and new legal frameworks for secured transactions

Previous legal framework

New legal framework

Is there a functional secured transactions system?

No. Yes.

Is the collateral registry unified or centralized geographically for the entire economy?

No. Yes.

Is the collateral registry notice-based?

No. Yes.

Does the collateral registry have a modern online system (such as for registrations and amendments)?

No. Yes.

Can secured creditors apply for relief from an automatic stay during reorganization proceedings?

No. Yes, the new law establishes clear grounds for relief.

Do secured creditors’ claims have priority inside bankruptcy?

No clear priority rules for secured creditors.

Yes, the new law gives priority to secured creditors’ claims.

Can security rights in a single category of assets be described in general terms?

No, detailed description of the assets required by law.

Yes, the new law allows a general description.

Can parties agree to enforce security rights out of court?

No, out-of-court enforcement not permissible by law.

Yes, the new law allows out-of-court enforcement of collateral.

Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201540

Among OECD high-income economies,

Ireland and the Slovak Republic im-

proved their regulatory frameworks for

credit reporting. Ireland created a regu-

latory framework for the establishment

and operation of a central credit register

that will be managed by the country’s

central bank. The Slovak Republic ad-

opted a new regulation to protect the

rights of individuals in the processing of

their personal data. And New Zealand,

under its Credit Reporting Privacy Code,

introduced more comprehensive credit

reporting. In addition to negative credit

information, credit bureaus now collect

and report positive credit information

on individuals and firms from banks,

financial institutions and telephone

companies.

Strengthening minority investor protections The United Arab Emirates strength-

ened minority investor protections

the most in 2013/14, through a new

ministerial resolution on corporate gov-

ernance rules and corporate discipline

standards. The resolution establishes

requirements for related-party trans-

actions to be approved by a general

meeting of shareholders, to undergo

prior review by a specialized external

firm and to be disclosed in detail to the

Securities and Commodities Authority.

The resolution also establishes director

liability for any damage resulting from

prejudicial related-party transactions

and enables courts to cancel such

transactions on grounds of unfairness.

Finally, it permits shareholders repre-

senting 5% or more of the shares of a

company involved in a related-party

transaction to access documents relat-

ing to the transaction.

The most far-reaching change in minor-

ity investor protections, however, took

place in January 2014, when the OHADA

(Organization for the Harmonization

of Business Law in Africa) Revised

Uniform Act on Commercial Companies

and Economic Interest Groups simul-

taneously updated the regulatory

frameworks of 17 member economies

in Sub-Saharan Africa. The revised act

addresses multiple aspects of corporate

law. Among other things, it increases the

requirements for directors to disclose

their conflicts of interest and grants

shareholders the right to access and ob-

tain copies of all documents pertaining

to related-party transactions.

One OHADA member, Senegal, made

further improvements by amending its

code of civil procedure—and with these

changes became the economy that

most strengthened minority investor

protections in Sub-Saharan Africa in

2013/14. Notably, the amendments

grant litigants increased rights to obtain

evidence relevant to their claims from

the opposing parties. Elsewhere in the

region, The Gambia adopted a new

Companies Bill, clarifying the duties of

directors and offering new venues and

remedies for minority shareholders

harmed by abusive conduct by company

insiders.

Making it easier to enforce contracts Doing Business recorded 15 reforms

making it easier to enforce contracts

in 2013/14. Kosovo made the biggest

improvement—by introducing a private

bailiff system (figure 4.6). The effort

began in 2010, when the local judiciary

was short of resources and facing a

heavy backlog. Less than 4% of civil

enforcement cases on court dockets

were completed in 2009, and for

many courts the share was less than

1%. The Kosovo Judicial Council, with

the assistance of the U.S. Agency for

International Development, analyzed

the legal framework and identified

the main causes of delay. This map-

ping exercise showed that the lack of

penalties for filing groundless appeals,

the impossibility of seizing most kinds

of assets and the inadequacy of the

regulatory framework for enforcement

officers contributed substantially to

the growing backlog. A 3-year work

plan was undertaken to provide more

suitable ways to deal with business dis-

putes. In 2013 Kosovo finished privatiz-

ing its judicial enforcement process and

FIGURE 4.6 Kosovo cut the time for enforcing judgments in half by introducing a private bailiff service

EnforcementTrial and judgmentFiling and service

Time for enforcement cut from 180 days to 90

20142013

100

120

140

160

180

200

Time to enforce a contract (days)

Source: Doing Business database.

41REFORMING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN 2013/14

created private bailiff services, expedi-

ent execution procedures and penalties

for noncompliant debtors.

Globally, one of the most common

features of reforms in contract en-

forcement in the past year was the in-

troduction of electronic filing. Greece,

Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Mauritius and

Turkey all made their courts more effi-

cient by implementing electronic filing

platforms. These enable litigants to

file initial complaints electronically—

increasing transparency, expediting

the filing and the service of process,

limiting opportunities for corruption

and preventing the loss, destruction

or concealment of court records. In

Singapore the judiciary launched an

electronic litigation system designed

to streamline the litigation process

and improve access to justice. The

system allows litigants to file their

cases online—and it enables courts to

keep litigants and lawyers informed

about their cases through e-mail, text

messages and text alerts; to manage

hearing dates; and even to hold certain

hearings through videoconference.

The Bahamas, Portugal and Uruguay

adopted a new code of civil procedure

or amended procedural rules ap-

plicable to commercial cases, mainly

to reduce case backlog, simplify

and expedite court proceedings and

limit obstructive techniques. In 2013

Uruguay passed a law setting tight

deadlines that parties to a commercial

case must comply with throughout the

entire court proceedings. Three econo-

mies—the Czech Republic, Ireland

and South Africa—reorganized their

court systems by amending the rules

on the size of monetary claims that

can be filed with courts at different

levels, thus redistributing the workload

among courts and reducing backlog.

Creating specialized commercial courts

or divisions has been a common feature

of reforms in contract enforcement over

the years. Two economies undertook

such changes in 2013/14. Benin estab-

lished a commercial chamber within its

court of first instance and assigned 6

judges to solely hear commercial cases.

The Seychelles established a special-

ized commercial court and assigned a

permanent local judge to resolve only

commercial disputes.

Increasing efficiency in resolving insolvency Doing Business recorded 10 reforms

making it easier to resolve insolvency

in 2013/14, most of them in OECD

high-income and Sub-Saharan African

economies. Among the most common

features of these reforms were promot-

ing reorganization and improving the

likelihood of successful outcomes in

insolvency proceedings. Mozambique,

the Seychelles, and Trinidad and

Tobago introduced a court-supervised

reorganization procedure. Switzerland

allowed cancellation of long-term

contracts that could jeopardize the

debtor’s rehabilitation. Slovenia es-

tablished a simplified reorganization

procedure for small companies and a

preventive restructuring procedure for

medium-size and large ones. Slovenia

also made it easier for creditors to

initiate reorganization proceedings

and propose a reorganization plan,

introduced provisions on debt-equity

swaps and allowed new equity hold-

ers to take over management of the

debtor to ensure continuation of the

business.

Mozambique improved the ease of re-

solving insolvency the most in the past

year (table 4.3). A new legal framework

for insolvency adopted in 2013 intro-

duced a reorganization procedure for

commercial entities, granted creditors

better access to information during in-

solvency proceedings and provided for

more active participation by creditors

in the proceedings.

Other insolvency reforms recorded in

2013/14 focused on streamlining and

shortening time frames for proceedings.

The former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia tightened time frames for

several stages of insolvency proceed-

ings and established a framework for

electronic auctions of debtors’ assets.

Mexico shortened the time extensions

allowed during reorganization pro-

ceedings and made it easier to submit

documents electronically. Several other

economies reformed their insolvency

laws to strengthen the rights of credi-

tors. For example, Kazakhstan estab-

lished provisions for direct participa-

tion of all creditors through creditors’

meetings.

Another common feature of insolvency

reforms in the past year was to im-

prove regulations on the profession of

insolvency administrators. Trinidad and

TABLE 4.3 A comparison of Mozambique’s previous and new legal frameworks for insolvency

Previous legal framework

New legal framework

Can a debtor initiate reorganization proceedings?

No. Yes.

Do creditors vote on the reorganization plan?

No reorganization available.

Yes, all creditors vote.

Do creditors vote on the reorganization plan in classes?

No reorganization available.

Creditors are divided into classes, creditors within each class are treated equally, and the plan is approved by a simple majority of creditors in each class.

Can creditors request information about insolvency proceedings?

No specific provisions. The insolvency administrator has the duty to provide any creditor with information requested by the creditor.

Can creditors object to decisions that affect their rights?

No specific provisions. A creditor has the right to object to decisions to accept or reject claims of other creditors.

Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201542

Tobago created a public office respon-

sible for the general administration of

insolvency proceedings and clarified

rules on the appointment and duties

of trustees. And Uganda established

explicit rules on the enforcement of the

duties of liquidators during liquidation

proceedings.

Addressing labor market regulation In 2013/14 Doing Business recorded 9

reforms relating to labor market regu-

lation. The economies implementing

reforms included Portugal, which has

made the most reforms aimed at im-

proving the labor market environment

in recent years. In 2013 Portugal re-

vised the rules on fixed-term contracts

executed under the labor code that

reach their maximum duration before

November 8, 2015; under the new rules

these contracts can be renewed 2 more

times, with an additional maximum

duration of 12 months, though the

renewed contracts need to end by

December 31, 2016. In previous years

Portugal reduced the wage premium

required for work on weekly holidays

and also made redundancy easier by

eliminating the need to follow a specific

order in dismissals when eliminating a

worker’s position. Portugal’s continual

reforms in labor market regulation are

in part a response to the economic

downturn that followed the global

financial crisis. And Portugal is one of

several Southern European economies

that reformed business regulation in

areas beyond labor market regulation

in 2013/14 (box 4.2).

Other economies implementing re-

forms in labor market regulation in

2013/14 focused on different areas.

Cabo Verde introduced a minimum

wage. Finland made the redundancy

process more flexible by eliminating the

requirement to notify a third party be-

fore dismissing 1 redundant worker or a

group of 9 redundant workers. Croatia

lifted the 3-year limit on the duration

of first-time fixed-term contracts,

while Mauritius reduced the maximum

duration of fixed-term contracts to 24

months and Georgia reduced it to 30

months.

NOTES 1. Klapper and Love 2011.

2. Bruhn 2011.

3. Branstetter and others 2013.

4. Bripi 2013.

5. Portugal-Perez and Wilson 2012.

6. Kraay and Tawara 2013.

7. The 6 mandatory labor contributions

measured by Doing Business are those

for social security, health insurance,

unemployment, an accident risk fund, a

guarantee fund and medical leave.

BOX 4.2 Southern European economies continue a steady pace of regulatory reform

Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain—all among the economies most adversely affected by the global financial crisis—have maintained a steady pace of regu- latory reform. As Doing Business 2013 reported, the pace picked up in the after- math of the crisis, and this year’s report shows that the trend has continued. In 2013/14 Greece reformed in 3 areas of business regulation measured by Doing Business, and Spain in 4.

Greece made starting a business easier by lowering the cost of registration. It made transferring property easier by reducing the property transfer tax and eliminating the requirement for a municipal tax clearance certificate. And it made enforcing contracts easier by introducing an electronic filing system for court users.

Italy and Spain also made starting a business easier. Italy reduced the minimum capital requirement, while Spain simplified business registration by introducing an electronic system that links several public agencies. Portugal lowered its corporate income tax rate and introduced a reduced corporate tax rate for a portion of the taxable profits of qualifying small and medium-size enterprises. Spain reduced its statutory corporate income tax rate.

Portugal made enforcing contracts easier by adopting a new code of civil pro- cedure designed to reduce court backlog, streamline court procedures, enhance the role of judges and speed up the resolution of standard civil and commer- cial disputes. Spain made resolving insolvency easier by introducing new rules for out-of-court restructuring as well as provisions applicable to prepackaged reorganizations.

These economies, by actively reducing the complexity and cost of regulatory processes and strengthening legal institutions, are narrowing the gap with the regulatory frontier at a faster pace than the rest of the European Union.

43REFORMING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN 2013/14

TABLE 4A.1 Who reduced regulatory complexity and cost or strengthened legal institutions in 2013/14—and what did they do?

Feature Economies Some highlights

Making it easier to start a business Simplified preregistration and registration formalities (publication, notarization, inspection, other requirements)

Albania; Bulgaria; The Gambia; Guatemala; India; Islamic Republic of Iran; Jamaica; Malawi; Malta; Mauritius; Nicaragua; Norway; Slovak Republic; Spain; Swaziland; United Kingdom

Guatemala’s official gazette reduced the time to publish a notice of incorporation by modifying internal processes. The Islamic Republic of Iran combined name reservation with company registration at a single window.

Abolished or reduced minimum capital requirement

Austria; Benin; China; Côte d’Ivoire; Czech Republic; Denmark; Italy; Moldova; São Tomé and Príncipe; Senegal; Togo

China and Côte d’Ivoire both abolished the minimum capital requirement. In doing so, China also eliminated the need to open a preliminary bank account, deposit the capital and obtain a certificate of deposit.

Cut or simplified postregistration procedures (tax registration, social security registration, licensing)

Armenia; Greece; Jamaica; Lithuania; Mauritania; Russian Federation; United States

Lithuania abolished the requirement for a company seal, no longer used in practice. Mauritania eliminated the requirement to publish company statutes in the official gazette.

Introduced or improved online procedures

Azerbaijan; Croatia; Iceland; Indonesia; FYR Macedonia; Switzerland; Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago introduced an online platform for business registration, reducing registration time from 38 days to 14.5. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia introduced a free online company registration system.

Created or improved one-stop shop Democratic Republic of Congo; France; Suriname; Tajikistan; Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste created a one-stop shop—making it possible to reserve a company name, file the company statutes, apply for and obtain the final registration number and publish the statutes all at one agency.

Making it easier to deal with construction permits Reduced time for processing permit applications

Albania; Croatia; Djibouti; Ghana; Lithuania; Madagascar; Senegal; Thailand

Lithuania tightened the time limit for issuing special architectural requirements, cutting the time to obtain a building permit from 42 days to 21. Madagascar completed the computerization of its one- stop shop, reducing the time to obtain a building permit from 90 days to 45.

Streamlined procedures Albania; Brunei Darussalam; Djibouti; Ghana; Madagascar; Mali; Rwanda

Djibouti streamlined the review of building permits by adopting a 3-step process. Ghana made it mandatory to submit all required clearances when applying for a building permit.

Adopted new building regulations Albania; Croatia; Lithuania; Montenegro; Nepal Albania adopted a new law on territory planning, consolidating the land permit and construction permit into a single construction development permit. Croatia’s adoption of the Building Act and a new Physical Planning Act made it possible to obtain a building permit before paying contribution fees for utilities.

Improved building inspection process Kosovo; Nepal; Puerto Rico (U.S.) Kosovo introduced a new inspection scheme and made the final inspection process easier by breaking the approval process into several phases. Puerto Rico (territory of the United States) introduced the option of hiring an authorized professional and authorized inspector to carry out the fire safety recommendations and issue the fire prevention and environmental health certificates.

Reduced fees Croatia; Rwanda; Tajikistan Rwanda eliminated the fee to obtain a freehold title. Tajikistan reduced the fee for obtaining an architectural planning assignment.

Improved or introduced electronic platforms or online services

Nepal Nepal launched an online system for obtaining building permits.

Making it easier to get electricity Improved regulation of connection processes and costs

India; Jamaica; Poland; Rwanda; Sierra Leone; Taiwan, China

In Poland the electricity utility made obtaining a new connection less costly by revising its fee structure. In Rwanda the electricity utility eliminated all its fees for a new connection.

Improved process efficiency Democratic Republic of Congo; Costa Rica; Malawi; Solomon Islands

The electricity utility in Malawi engaged private subcontractors to carry out external connection works, reducing the time required to complete the works by 50 days.

Streamlined approval process Indonesia; Islamic Republic of Iran Indonesia eliminated a redundant internal wiring inspection by dropping the requirement for a certificate guaranteeing that the internal installation meets the standards.

Making it easier to register property Reduced taxes or fees Bahrain; Côte d’Ivoire; Greece; San Marino;

Spain; Togo Greece reduced the property transfer tax from 10% of the property value to 3%. Spain reduced the property registration tax to 6% of the property value.

Combined or eliminated procedures Colombia; Greece; Mozambique; Russian Federation; Senegal

Colombia eliminated the need for a provisional registration. The Russian Federation eliminated the requirement for notarization of certain documents.

Computerized procedures Albania; Côte d’Ivoire; Ireland; Sweden; Vanuatu Ireland enhanced its land registry’s computerized system and implemented an online system for title registration. In Vanuatu property records have been scanned, and the land registry is now using a fully computerized system for land transactions.

Increased administrative efficiency Guinea; Republic of Korea; United Arab Emirates The District Registration Courts in the Republic of Korea increased efficiency by streamlining internal processes. The United Arab Emirates started licensing companies to act on behalf of the Dubai Land Department and use its system for property registration.

DOING BUSINESS 201544

TABLE 4A.1 Who reduced regulatory complexity and cost or strengthened legal institutions in 2013/14—and what did they do?

Feature Economies Some highlights

Making it easier to register property (continued) Set effective time limits Albania; Kazakhstan; Russian Federation Albania established effective time limits for processing requests at

the local offices for registration of immovable property. Kazakhstan introduced effective time limits for issuing technical passports and nonencumbrance certificates on immovable property.

Introduced online procedures Azerbaijan; Poland Azerbaijan introduced a system allowing notaries to obtain nonencumbrance certificates online. Poland provided legal status to land extracts obtained online.

Introduced fast-track procedures Sierra Leone Sierra Leone introduced a fast-track procedure for property registration.

Making it easier to pay taxes Introduced or enhanced electronic systems

Azerbaijan; Belarus; China; Costa Rica; Gabon; Guatemala; Moldova; Mongolia; Romania; Taiwan, China; Tajikistan; Ukraine; Zambia

Belarus introduced electronic filing and payment for the obligatory insurance fund in 2013.

Reduced profit tax rate by 2 percentage points or more

Colombia; Republic of Congo; Guatemala; Portugal; Seychelles; Spain; Swaziland; St. Kitts and Nevis; Tunisia; United Kingdom; Vietnam

Portugal reduced the corporate income tax rate from 25% to 23% for 2013.

Simplified tax compliance process Belarus; Brunei Darussalam; China; Democratic Republic of Congo; Latvia; Seychelles

Latvia introduced a simplified value added tax return in January 2013.

Reduced labor taxes and mandatory contributions by 1 percentage point or more

China; Colombia; Indonesia; Togo China reduced the social security contribution rate for firms in Shanghai from 37% to 35% for 2013.

Merged or eliminated taxes other than profit tax

Republic of Congo; Hungary; Senegal; Zambia Hungary abolished the special tax that had been introduced in 2010.

Reduced number of tax filings or payments

Belarus; Cyprus; West Bank and Gaza Cyprus reduced the number of provisional tax installments for corporate income tax from 3 to 2 in 2013.

Making it easier to trade across borders Introduced or improved electronic submission and processing

Bangladesh; Croatia; Ecuador; Pakistan; Palau; St. Lucia; Uganda; Uzbekistan

Ecuador upgraded to a new electronic data interchange system, reducing customs clearance time.

Improved customs administration Benin; Côte d’Ivoire; Dominican Republic; Morocco; Myanmar; St. Lucia; Uzbekistan

St. Lucia reduced the number of export documents that must be submitted to customs by merging 2 forms.

Strengthened transport or port infrastructure

Algeria; Ghana; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Tanzania Ghana invested in infrastructure at the port of Tema, which helped reduce the wait time for vessels outside the port.

Improved port procedures Côte d’Ivoire; Poland Poland launched a new terminal operating system at the port of Gdansk.

Introduced or improved risk-based inspections

Uruguay Uruguay implemented a risk-based inspection system that reduced customs clearance time.

Strengthening legal rights of borrowers and lenders Created a unified registry for movable property

Colombia; Hungary; Jamaica; Lao PDR The Lao People’s Democratic Republic established a registry in the Ministry of Finance for security interests in movable property. The registry began operating in November 2013.

Introduced a functional, integrated and comprehensive secured transactions regime

Colombia; Hungary; Jamaica Colombia approved a new law establishing a modern legal framework for secured transactions. The law allows all types of movable assets, present or future, to be used as collateral to secure a loan. It also regulates functional equivalents to loans secured with movable property, such as assignments of receivables and sales with retention of title.

Strengthened rights of secured creditors during reorganization procedures

Mexico; Rwanda; Trinidad and Tobago In Mexico amendments to the insolvency proceedings law established new grounds for relief from a stay of enforcement actions by secured creditors during a reorganization procedure.

Allowed out-of-court enforcement Czech Republic; Panama The Czech Republic adopted new legislation making it possible to execute a security in any way established by the parties to a security agreement.

Expanded range of movable assets that can be used as collateral

Hungary; Panama Panama introduced a new law governing chattel mortgages that expands the range of movable assets that can be used as collateral to secure a loan.

Improving the sharing of credit information Expanded scope of information collected and reported by credit bureau or registry

Bahrain; Cyprus; Mauritania; New Zealand; Sierra Leone; Taiwan, China; United Arab Emirates; Zambia

New Zealand implemented comprehensive credit reporting and began distributing both positive and negative information in credit reports.

Improved regulatory framework for credit reporting

Cabo Verde; Cameroon; Côte d’Ivoire; Dominican Republic; Ireland; Kenya; Senegal; Slovak Republic

Ireland adopted a new credit reporting act providing for the establishment of a central credit register to be managed by the central bank.

Established a credit bureau or registry Democratic Republic of Congo; Jamaica; Tanzania; Vietnam

In Jamaica 2 new credit bureaus, licensed in 2012, started serving banks and other financial institutions in 2013.

Introduced bureau or registry credit scores as a value added service

Nicaragua; Tajikistan In Nicaragua in June 2013 the credit bureau TransUnion Nicaragua started offering the service of credit scoring based on its data.

45REFORMING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN 2013/14

TABLE 4A.1 Who reduced regulatory complexity and cost or strengthened legal institutions in 2013/14—and what did they do?

Feature Economies Some highlights

Strengthening minority investor protections Increased disclosure requirements for related-party transactions

Benin; Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Comoros; Democratic Republic of Congo; Republic of Congo; Côte d’Ivoire; Ecuador; Arab Republic of Egypt; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Hong Kong SAR, China; India; Lao PDR; FYR Macedonia; Mali; Mongolia; Niger; Senegal; Togo; United Arab Emirates; Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan adopted a new law on joint stock companies and protection of shareholder rights that establishes higher standards for disclosure of related-party transactions by interested directors and requires companies to include information on such transactions in their annual reports.

Enhanced access to information in shareholder actions

Benin; Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Comoros; Democratic Republic of Congo; Republic of Congo; Côte d’Ivoire; Equatorial Guinea; Gabon; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Mali; Niger; Senegal; Togo; United Arab Emirates

Senegal’s code of civil procedure, amended in August 2013, now permits judges to grant requests from parties to a civil case to compel evidence from the other party, as long as they are relevant to the subject matter of the claim.

Expanded shareholders’ role in company management

Dominican Republic; India; Republic of Korea; Switzerland

Switzerland issued a federal ordinance against abusive remuneration in publicly listed joint stock companies. The ordinance introduced multiple safeguards, including establishing compensation committees and increasing the transparency of directors’ compensation schemes.

Increased director liability The Gambia; India; United Arab Emirates India’s new companies act came into effect in 2014, bringing a host of enhancements, notably on the prevention of abuse by corporate insiders and company mismanagement.

Making it easier to enforce contracts Increased procedural efficiency at main trial court

The Bahamas; Czech Republic; Ireland; Portugal; South Africa; Uruguay

The Bahamas and Portugal introduced new rules of civil procedure to streamline and expedite court proceedings and ensure less costly resolution of disputes. The Czech Republic, Ireland and South Africa amended the monetary thresholds for courts at different levels to reduce backlog.

Introduced electronic filing Greece; Kazakhstan; Lithuania; Mauritius; Turkey

Greece, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Mauritius and Turkey all introduced an electronic filing system for commercial cases, allowing attorneys to submit the initial summons online.

Introduced or expanded specialized commercial court

Benin; Seychelles Benin established a commercial chamber within its court of first instance and assigned 6 judges to solely hear commercial cases. The Seychelles established a specialized commercial court and assigned a permanent local judge to resolve only commercial disputes.

Expanded court automation Singapore Singapore launched a new electronic litigation system that streamlines litigation proceedings.

Made enforcement of judgment more efficient

Kosovo Kosovo introduced private bailiffs and strengthened its enforcement process by establishing penalties for noncompliant debtors.

Making it easier to resolve insolvency Introduced a new restructuring procedure

Mozambique; Seychelles; Slovenia; Trinidad and Tobago; Uganda

Uganda established a reorganization procedure for insolvent but viable companies.

Strengthened creditors’ rights Kazakhstan; Mexico; Mozambique; Switzerland; Uganda

Kazakhstan expanded the rights of creditors in insolvency, making it possible for them to remove the debtor from management, nominate an insolvency representative and approve a plan for the sale of assets in case of liquidation.

Improved the likelihood of successful reorganization

Mexico; Seychelles; Slovenia; Switzerland Mexico introduced provisions allowing debtors to apply for post- commencement financing, establishing priority rules for post- commencement financing and permitting debtors facing imminent insolvency to apply for reorganization proceedings.

Established framework for out-of- court restructuring

FYR Macedonia; Slovenia; Spain Spain established a framework for a prebankruptcy, out-of-court payment agreement.

Regulated the profession of insolvency administrators

Mozambique; Trinidad and Tobago; Uganda Trinidad and Tobago created a public office responsible for the general administration of insolvency proceedings and clarified rules on the appointment and duties of trustees.

Streamlined and shortened time frames for insolvency proceedings

Kazakhstan; FYR Macedonia; Mexico FYR Macedonia tightened time frames for several stages of insolvency proceedings, including inventory and assessment of the debtor’s property, submission of creditors’ claims and the hearing to examine claims.

Improved provisions applicable to voidable transactions

Seychelles; Uganda The Seychelles introduced provisions allowing the avoidance of undervalued transactions or transactions made as a gift, if entered into within 2 years before the commencement of liquidation proceedings.

Changing labor market regulation Altered hiring rules Cabo Verde; Croatia; Georgia; Italy; Mauritius;

Portugal Cabo Verde introduced a minimum wage. Croatia lifted the 3-year limit on the duration of first-time fixed-term contracts.

Changed redundancy cost and procedures

Belgium; Croatia; Finland; France; Georgia; Portugal

Finland eliminated the requirement to notify a third party before dismissing 1 or a group of 9 redundant employees.

Note: Reforms affecting the labor market regulation indicators are included here but do not affect the ranking on the ease of doing business. Source: Doing Business database.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Starting a business The growing efficiency of company registries

Entrepreneurs should have the op-portunity to turn their ideas into a business. Often a first step is to formally register a company. Yet in many

countries the bureaucratic obstacles and

high costs imposed by inefficient com-

pany registries deter people with good

business ideas from embarking on the

path of formal entrepreneurship.

Formal registration has substantial

benefits for businesses and for the

economy as a whole. Registered

companies can benefit from legal and

financial services provided by courts

and commercial banks, services not

available to unregistered businesses.

Their employees benefit from social

security protections. And the economy

benefits from positive spillovers: where

formal entrepreneurship is higher, job

creation and economic growth also

tend to be higher.1 Moreover, as more

businesses formalize, the tax base

expands, enabling the government to

spend on productivity-enhancing areas

and pursue other social and economic

policy objectives.

As the first interface between the regu-

lator and a potential new entrepreneur,

company registries hold the key to the

formal economy, providing businesses

with a legal identity and empowering

them to participate fully and within the

framework of the law. Thus the relative

ease or difficulty of start-up can have

important economic consequences.

Evidence suggests that regulatory re-

forms making it easier to start a formal

business are associated with increases

in the number of newly registered firms

and with higher levels of employment

and productivity. Conversely, exces-

sively cumbersome regulation of start-

up is associated with higher levels of

corruption and informality.2

WHAT IS AN EFFICIENT REGISTRY? Institutional efficiency at company

registries is thus a critical element

of a healthy economy.3 What makes

an efficient registry? Answering that

question first requires understanding

what registries do.

A company registry records and

updates information on new and exist-

ing companies in its jurisdiction and

enables registered entities to comply

with their obligations under the current

regulatory framework, including those

related to the company laws.4 In do-

ing so, the registry incorporates legal

entities, providing them with a unique

identification, and deregisters insol-

vent firms. Other services provided by

a registry commonly include conduct-

ing company name searches, reserving

company names and processing ap-

plications for business licenses.

These functions enable the government

to measure tax compliance or

avoidance in the formal sector and

to derive other business statistics by

economic sector or by company size

or ownership type. They also enable

the government to determine which

Company registries empower businesses to operate in the formal economy—and to reap the benefits that come with formalization.

Online platforms for company incorporation make the process faster and cheaper.

Electronic registration and online services substantially reduce the opportunities for bribery and other forms of corruption.

Rwanda has made promoting private sector development a top priority on its reform agenda—and making it easier to register a business is part of that.

Chile’s new online business registry experienced rapid take-up, accounting for nearly half of new registrations of limited liability companies in just 7 weeks.

The United Kingdom’s corporate registry actively promotes the use of electronic services and data transparency.

DOING BUSINESS 201548

entities are eligible to participate in

public tenders and bids (generally

only formally registered companies).

In addition, they promote consumer

protection, as business licensing often

represents a quality check to ensure

that business activities in certain

“high-risk” industries—such as food

preparation and pharmaceuticals—

meet the required health, safety and

environmental standards.5

In evaluating a registry’s efficiency in

providing daily services, several ele-

ments are often considered to be key: a

comprehensive electronic database, a

one-stop shop and an online platform

for business registration. An effective

electronic database maintains up-

to-date information and documents

on both newly registered and existing

companies and makes this information

easily accessible, whether online or on-

site at the registry’s office. Historically,

records were kept in a paper-based for-

mat. But the growing trend of comput-

erization among company registries

has enabled the electronic storage and

maintenance of records. This not only

helps reduce errors in inputting and

updating business information but also

speeds up searches. In addition, elec-

tronic record keeping makes it easier to

extract statistics.

One-stop shops for business registra-

tion have become increasingly com-

mon. Globally, 100 economies have

already launched one. And these 100

one-stop shops are quite widely dis-

tributed, with 64 of them located in

low- or middle-income economies. A

one-stop shop provides a single service

point for completing several business

registration processes. It might consist

of several windows or offices occupied

by representatives from different

government agencies that entrepre-

neurs need to visit sequentially. Some

one-stop shops are even “one-window

shops”—providing a single point of in-

teraction between an entrepreneur and

all the government agencies involved

in business registration. In these one-

stop shops an entrepreneur can submit

all the necessary documents at one

window, and the documents are then

distributed to the appropriate agencies

for processing and approval.

A GLOBAL TREND OF GOING ELECTRONIC Putting processes online takes efficien-

cy one step further. Doing Business data

show that among the 189 economies

covered, 144 have introduced online

platforms for business incorporation.

These enable entrepreneurs to file

incorporation documents electronically

and sometimes even to complete the

entire business registration process

online.

Company registries in 95 economies

around the world reported extensive

use of online services in the World Bank

Group Entrepreneurship Survey in

2013. Among those in the sample, 60%

offer an online application to register a

business, and 58% allow entrepreneurs

to register a business remotely. The

most common online features offered

include online company name search,

electronic submission of documents

and applications, online filing of annual

accounts and the exchange of data

between different agencies. In New

Zealand and Singapore, for example,

entrepreneurs can complete the entire

business registration process online.

Thanks to the interconnectivity be-

tween different agencies’ systems,

they can register their business with

tax and social security authorities at

the same time as they complete the

incorporation process.

Some economies, especially low- and

middle-income ones, start the digiti-

zation process by putting just some

features online—such as conducting

a company name search, filling out

and submitting registration forms

and obtaining an electronic identifica-

tion number. In Costa Rica, Ecuador,

Trinidad and Tobago, and Zambia en-

trepreneurs can check the uniqueness

and availability of company names

online. In Kenya business registration

reforms made it possible to complete

the value added tax registration online.

FIGURE 5.1 Company registries in high-income economies offer more electronic services

100

Low incomeLower middle incomeUpper middle incomeHigh income

Share of economies with electronic service available (%), 2013

Online application Remote registration Electronic access to data

Source: World Bank Group, Entrepreneurship Database.

49STARTING A BUSINESS

To implement an effective online

registration system, all paper-based

registration records need to be digitized

in a single database—and online name

search, electronic document filing and

online fee payment functions enabled.

Streamlining data exchange with other

government agencies to automate such

actions as enrollment in tax and social

security systems can further reduce

processing times. Effective security

measures are needed to ensure data

security. And reliable internet and elec-

tricity connections are critical to ensure

that online platforms function properly.

The most technologically advanced

registries are concentrated in OECD

high-income economies and Europe

and Central Asia. Company registries in

high-income and upper-middle-income

economies tend to offer a much broader

array of online services than those in

lower-income ones (figure 5.1). This pat-

tern is not surprising, because develop-

ing and launching online services can

be costly. Online platforms are usually

mation technology consulting firms

and can take months to implement. The

cost can range from as low as $20,000

to as high as several million dollars,

depending on the features included.6 In

Nepal the Ministry of Finance allocated

32.20 million Nepalese rupees (about

$447,000) over 3 years to modernize

the country’s registration office.7 Once

a system is in place, funds are needed

to operate it. In Colombia the operating

costs of the online national business

registration database RUE, which is

hosted on 9 different servers, amount to

$1 million a year.8

WHAT ARE THE GAINS FROM GOING ELECTRONIC? Using online services for business regis-

tration has several advantages. Online

platforms make the process faster and

more efficient by eliminating the need

for entrepreneurs to travel to meet with

government officials, wait in long lines

and return if some information turns

out to be missing or incorrect. Analysis

of data from 71 economies shows

that business registration for lim-

ited liability companies is significantly

faster in those using online platforms

(figure 5.2). And in most cases online

registration is either substantially less

expensive than paper-based processes

or costs the entrepreneur nothing at all.

Using online registration services also

greatly reduces the opportunities for

corruption and bribery. Where entrepre-

neurs have no need to interact directly

with public officials, they are less likely

to use informal payments or to face

deliberate delays aimed at encouraging

bribes. Analysis shows strong positive

relationships between international

measures of transparency or gover-

nance quality—including rankings on

the rule of law by the World Justice

Project and rankings on voice and ac-

countability, control of corruption and

regulatory quality as measured by the

Worldwide Governance Indicators—and

the use of online systems for company

registration.9 Economies whose com-

pany registry uses online registration,

allowing entrepreneurs to set up new

businesses remotely, tend to score high

on such measures.

THREE COUNTRY CASE STUDIES Three country case studies—on

Rwanda, Chile and the United

Kingdom—provide good examples of

how corporate registries have improved

efficiency and service quality over time.

The choice of these countries is based

on geographic diversity, adoption of

good practices, consistent pace of

business registration reform and avail-

ability of data.

Rwanda—promoting a competitive business environment The government of Rwanda has been

working to improve the efficiency

of business registration as part of

broader business regulation reforms

aimed at promoting private sector

FIGURE 5.2 Online registration makes starting a business faster and cheaper

Paper registrationOnline registration SCALE 0

Average cost (% of income per capita)

Average time (days)

Average costAverage time

Note: The sample consists of 71 economies, with 20 having online registration. Data are for 2013. The relationship is significant at the 5% level after controlling for income per capita. Source: Doing Business database; World Bank Group, Entrepreneurship Database.

DOING BUSINESS 201550

development—a top priority on its re-

form agenda. The reforms are driven by

the conviction that an efficient business

climate can reduce poverty by fostering

economic growth and job creation.10

As part of a series of reforms of the

start-up process, in 2008 the govern-

ment established the Office of the

Registrar General to maintain an ef-

ficient business register and promote a

competitive business environment. The

new entity oversees the implementa-

tion of applicable commercial laws,

such as the Companies Act,11 and the

registration and deregistration of busi-

nesses.12 By May 2009 it had set up a

one-stop shop, streamlining company

name checking, payment of incorpora-

tion fees, and tax and company regis-

tration procedures.

As a result of these reforms com-

pany registrations surged (figure 5.3).

In 2009 alone, 3,028 new limited li-

ability companies were formed—almost

equivalent to the total for the previous

5 years, when 3,374 new limited liability

companies had been registered. Further

simplification of the start-up process

followed as a new company law was en-

acted in 2009. This helped sustain the

annual increase in the number of new

limited liability companies, a number

that reached 6,655 in 2012.13

Today Rwanda’s Office of the Registrar

General is focused on making its reg-

istration system completely paperless

by promoting electronic registration

services. Other priorities include en-

suring accurate and timely delivery

of information on its services and

raising awareness of the importance

of formalizing businesses. Consistent

with good practices in ensuring trans-

parency, the Office of the Registrar

General makes official fee schedules for

business services easily available to the

general public at its premises as well as

on its website.14

Rwanda has made important strides

in improving its business environment

over the past 10 years. Its business

regulation reforms have resulted in

cost savings for the private sector

estimated at $5 million, investments

totaling $45 million and about 15,000

jobs.15 In 2006, before these reforms,

starting a limited liability company in

Rwanda took 9 procedures, 18 days

and 235.5% of income per capita in

fees. Today it takes 8 procedures, 6.5

days and 52.3% of income per capita.

Rwanda, a country facing a range

of other development challenges,

has shown that improvements in the

regulatory environment—including the

adoption of global good practices—are

well within the reach of low-income

economies.

Chile—creating a new online registry In recent years the government of

Chile has been trying to reduce the size

of the country’s informal sector and

encourage entrepreneurs to formalize

their businesses. In 2013, as part of

these efforts, a new Chilean law made

it possible for entrepreneurs to register

limited liability companies through an

electronic, unified company registry

hosted by the Ministry of Economy

and accessible from anywhere free of

charge.16 The new law was part of a

strategy aimed at continuing to en-

hance the efficiency of public services

through the use of the latest tech-

nologies, moving the country closer to

e-government and fostering entrepre-

neurship and competitiveness. It was

also motivated by the government’s

desire to make further strides in the

fight against excessive bureaucracy

and red tape, a widespread problem in

Latin America.

Private sector associations supported

the new law, but Chilean notaries ini-

tially opposed it, because it dispensed

with the requirement for the business

incorporation services they offered. For

business owners, however, the new law

represented an opportunity to save

time and money and to get access to

the growing amount of funding that

the Chilean government was investing

in business start-ups.

The electronic registration system—

called “Your Company in One Day”—is

FIGURE 5.3 A surge in newly registered firms after start-up reforms in Rwanda

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

201220112010200920082007200620052004

Year with reform

New firm density

Note: New firm density is defined as the number of newly registered limited liability companies per 1,000 working-age people (ages 15–64). Source: World Bank Group, Entrepreneurship Database.

51STARTING A BUSINESS

not only a new process of incorporation

but also a new company registry that

runs alongside the existing paper-

based one. It allows users to register

a company online at no cost. All they

need to do is to fill out an electronic

form providing information about the

company and its shareholders. The

process takes only a few minutes and

provides the certificate of existence

instantaneously. The system also

automatically assigns a taxpayer

identification number to the newly reg-

istered company, a function made pos-

sible by the interconnectivity with the

online platform of the tax agency. And

through a web service, the system per-

forms automatic identity checks with

the tax and civil registry authorities.

The rapid take-up of the online ser-

vices testifies to the success of Your

Company in One Day. Only 7 weeks

after the launch, nearly half of new

limited liability companies in Chile

were being created through the new

online registry (figure 5.4). In the first

8 months, the government estimates,

more than 20,000 companies were

created electronically. The number of

limited liability companies registered

through the electronic system in 2013

(more than 85,000) was more than

twice the number created in 2009

(close to 39,000). The ultimate goal

should be to reach an electronic regis-

tration rate of nearly 100% (see the U.K.

case study as an example).

Chile’s online company registry has

allowed greater productivity among

business founders by making the

incorporation process faster and more

convenient. And more changes are set

to come. The online registry is built for

expansion, and the government plans

to add new services as well as to allow

other types of legal entities to incorpo-

rate electronically.

The United Kingdom— simplifying start-up In the United Kingdom interacting

with the national business registry—

Companies House—is an imperative for

starting a business. According to the

2006 Companies Act and its 1985 pre-

decessor, all new limited liability com-

panies must register with Companies

House to do business. Before the digital

age this was often a costly and labori-

ous task. It involved visits to Companies

House, long lines and the higher costs

associated with postal mail. Company

founders often had to hire solicitors to

handle paperwork such as the articles

of association.

But Companies House has greatly

simplified the process—by introducing

electronic filing in 2001, increasing the

transparency of its data and provid-

ing model articles of association for

FIGURE 5.4 Chile’s online system was soon registering almost half of new limited liability companies

Week 7Week 6Week 5Week 4Week 3Week 2Week 1

Share of new companies created through online system (%)

Note: Data cover the period May 2–June 16, 2013. Source: Chile, Ministry of Economy, Register of Companies (Registro de Empresas y Sociedades).

FIGURE 5.5 Electronic registration has become almost universal in the United Kingdom

2014201320122011201020092007200520032001200019951990 0

Share of new companies registered electronically (%)

Total number of registered companies (millions)

100

Share of new companies registered electronically

Total number of registered companies

Note: Data for 2014 are projected. Source: U.K. Companies House 2013a.

DOING BUSINESS 201552

companies.17 These changes have made

incorporation faster, more convenient

and less expensive. Now entrepre-

neurs can register their business with

Companies House in just a few hours

by simply filing incorporation docu-

ments. All the incorporation forms are

available at no cost on the Companies

House website and come with detailed

instructions. Registration can be done

online or at the Companies House office,

where computers are available to enable

entrepreneurs to register electronically.

Entrepreneurs are making good use of

the electronic filing option. The share

of new companies registered electroni-

cally grew sharply in the first few years,

rising from around 25% in 2001 to 95%

in 2009 (figure 5.5). Indeed, electronic

filing has become virtually universal,

with more than 98% of new companies

registered electronically in 2013.18

Besides offering online registration,

Companies House has also simpli-

fied the preregistration process. One

important step was to increase the

transparency of registry data, mak-

ing initial business start-up research

easier. Companies House made basic

information on existing companies

available at no charge in 1996, allowing

business founders to easily conduct

name searches both online and in its

office. Today Companies House pro-

cesses 235 million free basic company

information searches online or through

its mobile application every year.

Beginning in 2012, Companies House

expanded its company information to

include company number, address, sta-

tus, incorporation date, accounts and

filing dates for annual returns. There

were almost 15,000 unique downloads

of this company information data set

in 2013.19 Over the past decade, as

Companies House has increased its data

transparency, electronic procedures and

free resources for business founders, the

number of registered companies in the

United Kingdom has doubled.

CONCLUSION Many economies have modernized their

company registries, offering a wide

array of online services for a lower fee

or at no cost at all. But many others

lag behind. For low-income economies,

introducing online platforms may not

be an affordable or practical solution,

especially if electricity shortages are

common. But other steps can be taken

to increase the efficiency of business

registration. For example, economies

could create physical one-stop shops—

or improve existing ones—to streamline

incorporation processes and coordi-

nate the work of different agencies.

Improving the efficiency and transpar-

ency of company registries can not only

make incorporation faster and cheaper;

it can also reduce the opportunities for

corruption and bribery associated with

business start-up processes.

Two important (and related) observa-

tions emerge from this comprehensive

overview of the Doing Business data on

business start-up. First, a low level of

income need not be an insurmount-

able obstacle to implementing reforms

that reduce the complexity and cost of

regulatory processes and improve the

quality of the underlying institutions.

And second, as the latest informa-

tion and communication technologies

spread around the world, low-income

economies will find a broader range

of opportunities to adopt good prac-

tices used in higher-income economies,

further contributing to the process

of convergence seen in the Doing

Business indicators. A growing number

of economies with difficult business

environments are gradually adopting

the practices seen in those with more

business-friendly climates.

NOTES This case study was written by Baria Nabil

Daye, Paula García Serna, Julie Ryan and

Valentina Saltane.

1. Fritsch and Noseleit 2013.

2. Motta, Oviedo and Santini 2010; Klapper

and Love 2011.

3. While in some economies the registry is

the first and only interface for formally

commencing business operations, in other

economies the start-up process involves

other government agencies as a result of

more burdensome regulations.

4. See, for example, the website of the

Companies Office of Jamaica at http://

www.orcjamaica.com/profile/ and that of

the Companies Registry of Hong Kong at

http://www.cr.gov.hk/en/home/.

5. De Sa 2005.

6. Wille and others 2011.

7. “IFC Helps Nepal Simplify Business

Registration,” World Bank Group, https://

www.wbginvestmentclimate.org

/advisory-services/regulatory-simplification

/business-regulation/business-entry

/nepal-business-registration.cfm.

8. World Bank Group, Investment Climate

Advisory Services 2009.

9. The relationship is significant at the 5% level

after controlling for income per capita.

10. “Rwanda’s Vision 2020: Improving the

Investment Climate for Private Sector

Development,” World Bank Group, http://

go.worldbank.org/2U51FR33M0.

11. Rwandan Law 07/2009 relating to

companies, April 27, 2009.

12. Information from the website of the

Rwandan Office of the Registrar General at

http://org.rdb.rw/.

13. World Bank Group, Entrepreneurship

Database.

14. Information from the website of the

Rwandan Office of the Registrar General at

http://org.rdb.rw/.

15. World Bank Group, Investment Climate

Advisory Services 2013.

16. Simplifica el régimen de constitución,

modificación y disolución de las sociedades

comerciales, Chilean Law 20.659, January

22, 2013.

17. Moss 2014.

18. U.K. Companies House 2013b.

19. U.K. Companies House 2013a.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Zoning and urban planning Understanding the benefits

Sound regulation of construction helps strengthen property rights, protects the public from faulty building practices and contributes to

the process of capital formation.1 But

if procedures are too complicated or

costly, builders tend to proceed without

a permit.2 By some estimates 60–80%

of building projects in developing econo-

mies are undertaken without the proper

permits and approvals.3

For many entrepreneurs, construction

regulation is an important consideration

when deciding where to establish their

business. According to a competitive-

ness report by KPMG, construction

costs are the 5th most important factor

determining the location of a start-up

in the United States and the permitting

process is the 17th most important.4

One element of construction regulation

is zoning, which regulates the location

and use of certain types of buildings

within a city.

HOW DOES ZONING RELATE TO CONSTRUCTION PERMITTING? Zoning is an essential tool in successful

urban planning. Maps divide com-

munities into different zones based

on the types of uses allowed—such

as residential, commercial, industrial,

public buildings, parks and green areas.

In most economies with zoning plans,

each zone has its own ordinance gov-

erning development within that sec-

tion. These ordinances determine such

factors as building size, height, shape

and color; building location; and urban

densities.5

Zoning regulations can provide a useful

framework for investors and develop-

ers by specifying the most appropriate

location for their projects before they

apply for a construction permit (figure

6.1). They can also help municipal

authorities establish a consistent

and predictable basis for granting

construction permits and approving

or rejecting construction proposals.

Having an up-to-date zoning system is

therefore essential not only in support-

ing the coordination among agencies

that is needed for prosperous urban

planning but also in ensuring efficiency

in granting construction permits. Also

important is that such zoning systems

be developed through a consultative

process with broad participation, to

ensure that they benefit all social

groups.

HOW CAN ZONING AFFECT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT? Through zoning, governments can

ensure the proper use of land and

avoid mixing incompatible land uses.

Zoning has been used as a regulatory

tool to respond to changing environ-

mental and development conditions

as well, including flooding, rising sea

levels and the loss of infrastructure.6

Zoning regulations that take into ac-

count environmental threats such as

flooding protect citizens by ensuring

Zoning—the process of planning for land use across geographic areas—can help avoid the mixing of incompatible land uses. This has both environmental and economic benefits.

Zoning practices vary widely around the world. Economies with an efficient and effective zoning process make zoning maps of cities accessible to builders. Others limit access to the building permit authority, which checks the zoning compliance of permit applications. Still others have no zoning system at all.

Among OECD high-income economies the process for obtaining a building permit, as measured by Doing Business, takes 19 fewer days on average in those where the process includes zoning procedures than in those where it does not.

In New Zealand all municipalities have a detailed, up-to-date zoning plan that has been approved through a process with intensive public involvement—including public hearings to allow residents to offer suggestions or objections.

Guatemala, a recent success story, introduced a land management plan in its capital city in January 2009. A new zoning system established zones based on the general use of land, including mixed-use zones.

DOING BUSINESS 201554

that future development keeps them

and their possessions out of harm’s

way. More generally, zoning plans can

promote the conservation of energy

and natural resources, foster a greener

environment, improve sustainability

and enhance the ability to adapt to

climate change.

A good zoning plan can help reduce

greenhouse gas emissions by cutting

down on vehicle travel—such as by

promoting higher-density development

and concentrating residential develop-

ment near job centers. A zoning plan

can also help reduce greenhouse gas

emissions by promoting an adequate

and accessible public transportation

system.7 By ensuring that certain

municipalities include new areas for

housing development and new indus-

tries, zoning plans can help address

the challenges associated with demo-

graphic change and shifts in business

activity. In addition, municipal zoning

can protect and improve the health of

citizens by removing or minimizing pol-

lution from industrial plants and con-

tamination from landfills and sewage.

Zoning can help ensure an adequate

supply of safe water and the suitable

disposal of waste. And it can enhance

property values—by reducing pollu-

tion, providing suitable light, avoiding

overcrowding and traffic congestion,

developing green zones and offering

proximity to schools, hospitals and

other public necessities.8

But where a zoning process is too

complex or restrictive, it can have an

adverse effect on factors such as hous-

ing supply and prices. Consider the ex-

ample of Sweden, where zoning policies

mandate that municipalities must ap-

prove a detailed development plan for

most housing projects before issuing a

construction permit. According to the

Stockholm Planning Department and

an OECD study, more than half of all

construction projects—including most

apartment buildings—involve designing

or modifying a detailed development

plan.9 This can take 18 months on av-

erage, according to estimates from the

municipality of Stockholm, and in 20%

of cases it can take 3–4 years.10 Many

researchers agree that administrative

FIGURE 6.1 Where does zoning generally fit into the construction permitting process?

Builder decides on type of construction project.

Builder obtains zoning approval (recorded by Doing Business as a separate procedure only if builder is required to obtain

approval directly from the relevant agency).

Builder prepares the necessary drawings and other required documentation.

Builder applies for the necessary preapprovals for the project (if required), such as land use approval, environmental approval and fire safety approval

(including any necessary inspections).

Builder applies for and obtains a building permit.

Builder begins construction and receives either random or phased inspections during construction by the relevant parties.

Builder completes construction and receives final inspection from the relevant parties to ensure that the construction was completed in compliance with

building regulations and the conditions set forth in the building permit.

Builder receives a completion certificate or occupancy permit, ensuring that the building is ready to be occupied.

Builder applies for and obtains the final water and sewerage connection from the water and sewerage authorities.

In some

instances builder must apply for a

zoning certificate or zoning approval for

the intended location of the project.

The relevant authority consults the zoning maps of the city to

determine whether the project will be built in an appropriate

location, based on its specifications. In some

instances builder may consult the zoning maps while the

relevant authority simply does a verification check when

reviewing the permit application.

Source: Doing Business database.

55ZONING AND URBAN PLANNING

barriers to new construction are one

of the 2 main factors (the other being

rent control policies) that have led to a

housing shortage in Sweden over the

past decade.11

WHAT ARE SOME GOOD PRACTICES IN ZONING? Recognizing the importance of zoning

and urban planning, many economies

require builders to obtain some form

of zoning or urban planning approval

before building or even before obtaining

a construction permit. This is done to

ensure that the intended building will

be located in the appropriate zone

(industrial, commercial or residential)

according to the city’s zoning require-

ments. But economies go about this

process in different ways.

Some economies complete the process

efficiently and effectively by mak-

ing zoning maps of cities accessible

to builders (in some cases online). In

these cases builders access the maps

to verify that their project’s intended

location is in compliance with zoning

regulations, and they can include this

information with the building permit

application. In Swaziland, for example,

builders are responsible for checking

the zoning maps and including the zon-

ing information when submitting their

permit application to the municipality.

In the United States builders in New

York City must complete a zoning

diagram form available online and sub-

mit it along with other required forms

to the Department of Buildings. The

Department of Buildings will still review

the form to check that the project

complies with the city’s zoning policies.

In other economies the permit-issuing

authority checks the zoning compli-

ance itself after receiving the building

permit application. In The Bahamas,

for example, a builder is required only

to submit a permit application to the

Building Control Unit. This unit then

automatically forwards the applica-

tion to the Town Planning Department

for zoning approval, with no involve-

ment from the builder. In Belize the

Building Plan Committee of the Central

Building Authority checks the permit

application to ensure compliance with

zoning, environmental and fire safety

requirements.

Neither of these processes requires

the builder to take the extra step of

actually obtaining a zoning approval

before applying for a building permit—

a good-practice scenario if completed

efficiently without significant delays.

But efficiency is not all that is impor-

tant. Around the world, good zoning

systems also need to be broadly

inclusive, incorporating all groups in

society to bring about positive social

outcomes. They also need to be regu-

larly updated to reflect changing needs

and developments.

Sixty-five of the 189 economies cov-

ered by Doing Business do require that

builders go through the additional

step of getting urban planning ap-

proval before obtaining a construction

permit. Of those 65, the largest shares

are in Europe and Central Asia (26%)

and Latin America and the Caribbean

(22%) (figure 6.2). This is a second-best

scenario: a zoning system is still in

place and zoning compliance is still

verified, though not in the most ef-

ficient way. Nevertheless, requiring

verification of zoning compliance is

better than having no zoning system at

all—with builders able to construct any

type of project in any part of the city.

Thirty-six of the 65 economies require

builders to obtain approval to build in

their intended location before they can

receive a construction permit (table

6.1). Twenty-two of these 36 economies

require a zoning permit as this form of

approval. A zoning permit or zoning

clearance signifies that the land use for

the planned development is consistent

with the zoning regulations. In Canada

the building code requires a builder to

obtain a zoning permit before even

applying for a site plan approval and

the technical review of a development

application. Among the 22 economies

requiring a zoning permit, some issue it

more expeditiously than others. In the

Philippines it takes 5 days on average

to obtain the site clearance from the

City Planning and Development Office

that a builder must have to apply for

a construction permit. In Bangladesh

obtaining a zoning clearance from

the Capital Development Authority

(Rajuk) in Dhaka takes 45 days on

FIGURE 6.2 Half the economies that require the additional step of obtaining a zoning or urban planning approval are in Europe and Central Asia or Latin America

Latin America & Caribbean

(14 of 32 economies)

OECD high income

(9 of 31 economies)

Sub-Saharan Africa

(8 of 47 economies)

East Asia & Pacific (8 of 25 economies)

Middle East & North Africa

(7 of 20 economies)

South Asia

(2 of 8 economies) Europe & Central Asia

(17 of 26 economies)

26%

22%

14%

12%

11% 3%

Note: The numbers in parentheses are the number of economies out of the total in each region that require the additional step of obtaining a zoning or urban planning approval. Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201556

average, while obtaining one from the

Chittagong Development Authority

takes 40 days on average.

In other economies the process is

entirely different. In Belgium, for ex-

ample, an urban planning certificate is

required only for large-scale projects.

This certificate not only verifies that

the project can be built in the specified

zone but also guarantees that the con-

struction permit will be issued without

problems—because much of the verifi-

cation for the permit is done as part of

the process for issuing the certificate.

For smaller-scale projects all plan-

ning regulations are available online.

These regulations are set at several

levels—regional, municipal or special

zoning—providing several options for

verifying the regulatory compliance of

the project.

In 29 of the 65 economies there is no

legal requirement to obtain an urban

planning clearance or certificate.

But architects normally request a

certificate because it provides all the

information needed to ensure that

architectural plans are in compliance

with building regulations. In some

economies the information is available

online, but in most the information can

be obtained upon request.

IS PERMITTING MORE EFFICIENT WITH ZONING? While obtaining a zoning or urban plan-

ning clearance represents an additional

step in the construction permitting

process, this does not necessarily mean

that economies that require this step

have inefficient permitting systems.

Consider OECD high-income econo-

mies. As measured by Doing Business,

the process for obtaining approval

of a building permit takes 43 days

on average in those where it includes

zoning procedures, 62 days in those

where it does not. Obtaining a zoning

or urban planning clearance actually

speeds up the process—by 19 days on

average in these OECD high-income

economies—especially where the builder

can obtain the clearance directly on-

line. The reason is that this step avoids

back-and-forth interactions between

the permit-issuing agency and the

architect or even outright rejection of

the project because of noncompliance.

On average across all 65 economies

that require the additional step, ob-

taining the zoning or urban planning

clearance takes 26 days (of a total of

177 days on average to comply with

all formalities to build a warehouse)

and costs $402 (of a total of $15,709).

These economies generally require only

TABLE 6.1 What type of clearance is needed in economies with zoning requirements?

Zoning permit is mandatory Urban planning clearance or certificate is mandatory

Urban planning clearance or certificate is generally obtained but not mandatory

Afghanistan Albania Algeria

Argentina Bosnia and Herzegovina Antigua and Barbuda

Australia Côte d’Ivoire Bahamas, The

Bangladesh Ecuador Bahrain

Bolivia Iran, Islamic Rep. Cameroon

Canada Kosovo Cyprus

Comoros Lebanon Finland

Costa Rica Macedonia, FYR France

Czech Republic Madagascar Kazakhstan

Dominican Republic Moldova Latvia

El Salvador Nicaragua Lithuania

Fiji Serbia Montenegro

Indonesia South Africa Morocco

Kuwait Spain Netherlands

Mexico New Zealand

Namibia Palau

Philippines Papua New Guinea

Puerto Rico (U.S.) Qatar

Solomon Islands Romania

United States Russian Federation

Uruguay Senegal

Venezuela, RB Singapore

Sudan

Tajikistan

Trinidad and Tobago

Turkey

Ukraine

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Note: A zoning permit signifies that the land use for the planned development is consistent with the zoning regulations. An urban planning clearance or certificate generally outlines conditions relating to the plot of land where the builder intends to build, including where construction is permitted on the plot (that is, the specific coordinates). Source: Doing Business database.

57ZONING AND URBAN PLANNING

one procedure to obtain the zoning cer-

tificate or clearance. Very few require a

site inspection as part of this process,

but in those that do, the overall permit-

ting system tends to be less efficient. In

Indonesia, for example, a builder must

first request a city planning permit and

building site plan—in Jakarta, from the

zoning office, and in Surabaya, from the

one-stop shop—then receive an on-site

inspection and finally receive the city

planning permit. This process takes

22 days on average in Jakarta (where

the entire construction permitting

process takes 202 days) and 23 days

in Surabaya (where the entire process

takes 243 days). By contrast, Namibia

requires only one zoning procedure: the

builder must consult with the Town

Planning Department to ensure that

the land is in the correct zoning area.

Zoning approvals are issued on the

spot and at no cost.

Overall, zoning requirements can lead

to more efficient and less costly con-

struction permitting systems. They

can help guarantee compliance with

zoning regulations even before the

permit-issuing agency receives the

building permit application. This allows

architects and engineers to finalize the

building specifications with the knowl-

edge that there will be no need to ad-

just them later in the process because

of possible zoning issues.

TWO EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE New Zealand and Guatemala both

provide examples of well-implemented

zoning systems. In New Zealand all mu-

nicipalities have a detailed, up-to-date

zoning plan that has been approved

through a participatory process and

supports an efficient construction

permitting system. And in Guatemala

planning authorities in the capital

city recently switched to a mixed-use

land planning system and digitized

the zoning maps—all in the span of

just 5 years. Construction activity has

increased substantially under the new

zoning system in Guatemala City.

New Zealand—an efficient and predictable process New Zealand illustrates the use of mu-

nicipal planning and zoning as a tool to

facilitate the construction permitting

process. Its planning and zoning regula-

tions are among the world’s most effi-

cient. They are comprehensive, predict-

able and streamlined in implementation.

New Zealand uses 2 main types of plan-

ning documents: regional plans and

district plans. Regional plans specify

general requirements, such as air and

water quality and the use of coastal

areas. District plans are detailed plan-

ning guidelines that outline the specific

land use and design requirements for

builders.

The district plans are legally bind-

ing, cover the entire usable land in a

municipality and are periodically re-

viewed to ensure that they reflect the

changing urban needs. Each district

plan is approved through a participato-

ry process in which the district council

holds public hearings to allow residents

to submit suggestions or objections.

Once the residents’ comments have

been processed, the plan becomes

“operative”—as a statutory document

that regulates land development ac-

tivities for the entire municipality.

This means that all municipalities in

New Zealand have a detailed, up-to-

date zoning plan in place that has been

approved through meaningful public

involvement. The plan provides inves-

tors and developers with a reliable ref-

erence to guide them in the design and

conceptual stage of a project, before

they apply for a construction permit.

And it provides municipal authorities

with a consistent basis for approving

or rejecting construction permits, with

little discretion involved (figure 6.3).

FIGURE 6.3 New Zealand’s district plans support an efficient, predictable process for construction permitting

A project not in the permitted category requires a resource consent, an official approval

verifying compliance with the resource use requirements of

the district plan.

The district plan specifies 6 categories of construction

projects—ranging from permitted to prohibited.

Apply for a construction

permit

Apply for a resource consent

Provide an assessment of environmental

effects

Provide a written consent from the affected parties

Undergo public

hearings

Notify directly affected parties and obtain the resource

consent

Yes

Is the land plot in a

permitted zone?

Is the project

complex?

Source: “An Everyday Guide to the Resource Manangement Act Series 1.1: Getting in on the Act,” New Zealand, Ministry of Environment, http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/rma/everyday/overview/.

DOING BUSINESS 201558

Municipalities face official time limits

for making a decision—20 working

days for simple cases and 4 months

for more complex cases that involve

public hearings. According to Doing

Business data, most complex cases are

processed in 100 days.

There are 3 main factors behind the

efficient processing of construction

permits in New Zealand in cases where

a change in zoning is necessary. First,

there are clearly defined steps for mod-

ifying a zoning plan (that is, obtaining

a resource consent), requiring differ-

ent levels of review depending on the

complexity of the project. A resource

consent is not required if the proposed

construction is already in a permit-

ted zone. Second, there are objective

criteria for municipalities to use in

making a decision to approve or reject

a construction proposal—an assess-

ment of environmental effects and a

written consent from affected parties.

And third, there are official time limits

for completing each procedure related

to obtaining a resource consent (zoning

modification) or construction permit.12

Guatemala—a recent success story Until 5 years ago Guatemala’s capital

city had a weak zoning system with no

digital zoning maps. In January 2009,

however, the Municipality of Guatemala

City adopted a new land management

plan that established land use classifi-

cations based on 10 objectives:

Encourage access to housing and

diversify its supply

Promote high-density construction

where there is an adequate trans-

port network

Limit construction in high-risk areas

and protect natural and historically

significant areas

Ensure public participation in local

land use planning

Ensure compatibility in the use of

buildings in close proximity

Encourage mixed land use

Create public spaces with high

urban vitality

Promote an interconnected road

network

Provide certainty to owners and

investors, including by promoting

the desired urban development

practices through incentives

Secure the necessary resources for

municipal investment

While the old system had divided the

land into industrial, residential and com-

mercial zones, the new one established

zones according to the general use of

land, a change that included introducing

mixed-use zones. The city was divided

into 6 main zones that range from rural

to more urban (table 6.2).

The municipality developed the new

plan in consultation with both the

private and public sector and widely

publicized it. The zoning maps have

been digitized over the past 5 years,

and the process is now complete for

the entire city. Builders can access the

maps through an online link to verify

that a planned building is in compliance

with the city’s zoning system before

applying for a building permit.13

The new zoning system has shown

positive results, including a substantial

increase in construction activity, a

welcome development given pervasive

shortages. The square meters of con-

struction authorized by Guatemala

City’s one-stop shop for construction

permitting almost doubled in the first

few years, rising from 1.1 million in 2009

to 2.08 million in 2013.14 And the munici-

pality expects to authorize 2.2 million

square meters by the end of 2014.

But implementing the system was not

without its challenges. Some citizens

felt that the government was regulat-

ing what they could do with their own

land. And many objected to the notion

of mixed land use, fearing an increase in

negative externalities such as noise and

traffic in residential areas. In introducing

TABLE 6.2 Zoning classifications in Guatemala City’s new land management plan

Zone

Share of total land in

Guatemala City (%) Primary use of zone

Share of buildings in zone that can be

residential (%)

G0—natural 18 Natural reserve areas where residential buildings are not allowed for environmental reasons and because of high risk levels

G1—rural 20 Areas that are still rural or agricultural with an intermediate level of risk, where low-density residential buildings are allowed though preservation of the environment is a priority

G2—semiurban 9 Areas where low-density buildings in closer proximity are allowed but because of location or topography, preservation of the environment is a priority

G3—urban 37 Areas that comprise most of the city’s currently urbanized area, including a medium density of single-family and multi-family dwellings

G4—central 13 Areas with a high density of mid-rise buildings, where most of the land has been developed and open spaces have been converted into public parks

G5—núcleo (core) 3 Areas with a high density of high-rise buildings and towers, where most of the land has been developed and open spaces have been converted into public parks

Source: “Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial,” Municipality of Guatemala City, http://pot.muniguate.com/docts _soporte/07_procedimientos_pot.php.

59ZONING AND URBAN PLANNING

mixed land use, however, the municipal-

ity was seeking to address both traffic

issues, by reducing the need for long

commutes, and security concerns, by

ensuring that all neighborhoods would

have activity throughout the day.

CONCLUSION Without properly implemented zoning

systems, urban planning becomes dif-

ficult, as does ensuring the proper uses

of land and mitigating environmental

concerns. Recognizing the importance

of zoning and urban planning, many

economies have adopted zoning

systems to varying extents. These

economies require builders to obtain

some form of zoning or urban planning

approval before building or even before

obtaining a construction permit. These

requirements can lead to more efficient

and less costly construction permitting

systems.

NOTES This case study was written by Marie Lily Delion,

Anushavan Hambardzumyan, Joyce Ibrahim, Ana

Maria Santillana Farakos and Melissa Scanlan.

1. World Bank Group, Investment Climate

Department 2013.

2. Moullier 2009.

3. De Soto 2000.

4. KPMG 2009.

5. Grannis 2011; Neumann 2014.

6. Grannis 2011.

7. Schaffner and Waxman 2009.

8. Crone 1982; Karkkainen 1994.

9. In-depth interview with an expert in the

Stockholm Planning Department conducted

by the Doing Business team on December 5,

2013; Hüfner and Lundsgaard 2007.

10. “Planprocessen,” City of Stockholm, http://

www.stockholm.se/TrafikStadsplanering

/Stadsutveckling/Stadsplanering

/Planprocessen/.

11. Swedish National Board of Housing, Building

and Planning 2013.

12. For more information on New Zealand’s

zoning system, see the chapter on urban

planning and construction permitting in

World Bank (2014b).

13. Zoning maps are available on the website

of the Municipality of Guatemala City at

http://vu.muniguate.com

/index.php?id=14&opc=10.

14. Statistics provided by the Municipality of

Guatemala City.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Registering property Measuring the quality of land administration systems

Insecure title to land prevents people from taking full advantage of the productive uses of the land.1 Where people have proper title to their land,

however, they can use the property as

collateral for a loan or transfer land par-

cels in which they have invested.2 And

titles can serve as a valuable insurance

and savings tool for families, providing

protection during difficult times and in

retirement. Indeed, with the protection

of secure title guaranteed by a reliable

land registration system, land can be

used to create wealth for the broader

benefit of society and contribute to

the eradication of poverty. Because

land and buildings account for between

half and three-quarters of the wealth

in most economies, having a reliable

system for registering and transferring

property titles matters.3

Doing Business, through its registering

property indicators, measures the

efficiency of property registration

systems through the time, cost and

number of procedures required to

transfer a commercial property. These

indicators do not provide information

on the overall quality of land admin-

istration systems. This year, for the

first time, Doing Business has collected

preliminary data in 170 economies

on the reliability, transparency and

coverage of land registration systems

and on land dispute resolution (figure

7.1). Next year Doing Business will refine

the newly collected data and intends

to add a new indicator on the quality

of land administration to its current

set of registering property indicators.

This year Doing Business has collected new data in 170 economies on the overall quality of land administration systems through a set of indicators on reliability, transparency, coverage and dispute resolution.

Half of economies around the world use an electronic database for checking for charges on property (encumbrances)—and half have a geographic information system for recording maps.

In 72% of economies the land registry makes fee schedules publicly available, either online or on public display boards.

Only 56 economies make statistics about transactions at the land registry publicly available, and only 63 provide specific means for filing an official complaint about land services.

Around the world, 27% of economies have a registry with full coverage of private land, and 34% a mapping system with complete coverage.

A reliable, transparent, complete and secure land registration system is associated with greater access to credit, lower income inequality and a lower incidence of bribery at the land registry.

FIGURE 7.1 What do the data on the quality of land administration systems cover?

Reliability

Data on reliability assess whether the land registry and mapping system (cadastre) have adequate infrastructure to guarantee high standards and reduce the risk of errors. Reliable land administration systems can provide up-to-date information that is sufficient to make meaningful inferences on ownership.

Data on transparency record whether the land administration system makes land-related information publicly available. This can inform the public about transaction possibilities and foster the development of a unified and more efficient land market.

Data on coverage assess the extent to which the land registry and mapping system (cadastre) provide complete geographic coverage of privately held land parcels. To be accessible to third parties, and thus enforceable to anyone, all transactions need to be publicly verified and authenticated at the registry.

Data on dispute resolution measure the accessibility of conflict resolution mechanisms and the extent of liability for entities or agents recording land transactions. Unclear responsibilities in land transactions lead to more land disputes, diverting land from productive uses. Clear responsibilities can help keep the number of unresolved disputes low.

Transparency

Coverage

Dispute resolution

61REGISTERING PROPERTY

HOW TO PROVIDE RELIABLE INFORMATION? A reliable land administration system

provides clear information on the

ownership of property, supports the

security of tenure and facilitates the

development of a land market (figure

7.2). It also inhibits fraudulent actions,

such as using false documents to

conduct land transactions or selling

properties multiple times without the

knowledge of the true owners. One key

to fulfilling these functions is to have

in place the infrastructure needed to

maintain land information, supported

by an appropriate institutional frame-

work and adequate capacity. Doing

Business has developed a series of

questions to assess the quality of the

infrastructure of land administration

systems. These questions focus mainly

on how land records are stored at the

land registry, whether the informa-

tion is kept in an electronic database,

whether the databases for landowner-

ship and maps are linked and whether

each parcel has a unique, searchable

identification number.

In many economies property titles are

registered manually and most titles

remain stored in paper archives with

restricted access. In 62 economies

property titles are kept only in paper

format. Relying on a paper-based

system increases the time required to

conduct a title search and the oppor-

tunities for fraud.4 It also increases the

vulnerability of the records to political

instability, poor climate conditions,

natural disasters or such incidents as

the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which

destroyed almost all the city’s real es-

tate records. More recently, in Kosovo

the entire cadastral system had to be

reconstructed after years of armed

conflict led to the loss or destruction of

the system’s records.5 In Pakistan the

floods of 2010 destroyed thousands

of paper land records, leading to the

loss of the only evidence that people

had of their land tenure.6 There was no

backup.

Computerization can provide a backup

system to protect information. It can

also make cross-checking data easier

for the public agencies that deal with

land issues as well as for the general

public. Many economies are moving

toward computerized land administra-

tion systems. Over the past 6 years

51 economies computerized their land

registries. Mozambique, where a flood

affected land records in 2000, scanned

most of its titles in 2013. Mauritius

implemented a new electronic system

that allows the automatic population

of property registration information

dating back to 1978 and enables differ-

ent branches of the Registrar General

Department to share information.

Other economies scanned all their

historical records.

Digital records also make it easier to

access key information on the legal

status of properties. An electronic da-

tabase for encumbrances can quickly

show whether there is a mortgage or

other charges on a property or any

other limitations that would impede its

sale to a third party. According to Doing

Business research, half of economies

around the world have an electronic

database for rights and encumbrances

(figure 7.3).

Cadastral maps play an important

part in increasing tenure security—by

providing information about the

physical characteristics of land, the

boundaries of parcels and any changes

in those boundaries. They can also

help ensure a stable source of public

revenue by supporting more complete

FIGURE 7.2 What does land administration cover?

Land administration

A land registry records the ownership and other legal rights over land. The function of land registration is to provide a safe and certain foundation for the acquisition, enjoyment and disposal of rights in land.

Land registration system

A property map index (cadastre) provides descriptions of land parcels in a specific jurisdiction based on land surveys. It typically includes information about the location, owner and zoning use of parcels. It can be used for land taxation purposes.

Surveying and mapping system

FIGURE 7.3 Half of economies have an electronic database for encumbrances—and half have a geographic information system

Share of economies with an electronic database for encumbrances (%)

Share of economies with a geographic information system (%)

High income

Upper middle income

Lower middle income

Low income

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

High income

Upper middle income

Lower middle income

Low income

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201562

coverage of property taxes.7 A case in

point was the Maputo Structure Plan

in Mozambique—an initiative to col-

lect geographic data that was aimed

at aiding the physical development

of the capital but that also has the

potential to help further improve the

collection of property taxes.8 Today,

half of economies around the world

have a geographic information system

in place—a computerized system

that can capture, store and analyze

geographic data. While most are high-

income economies, some are low- and

middle-income economies. In Sub-

Saharan Africa, for example, South

Africa and Swaziland both have an

electronic database to record property

boundaries, check maps and provide

updated geographic information on

land parcels.

Linking the land registry with the

cadastral system has important

advantages. It helps in maintaining

up-to-date records on the legal rights

to properties and the spatial charac-

teristics of land plots, thus increasing

tenure security. And it provides a single

point of contact for those conducting

land transactions.9 In recent years

several economies, mostly in Europe

and Central Asia, have merged their

land registries and cadastral systems.

For example, the Russian Federation

created a unified electronic land and

property registry in 2013 by merging

the state registry of immovable prop-

erty and the state topographical and

cadastral mapping system.

Having all agencies use a single iden-

tification number for property is also

beneficial. It allows quick identification

of the legal status of a parcel, provid-

ing greater certainty for the parties

engaged in a transfer of property and

reducing the likelihood of mistakes.

A majority of economies use a single

identification number, with the highest

shares doing so in Europe and Central

Asia, the OECD high-income group and

the Middle East and North Africa.

HOW DOES TRANSPARENCY SUPPORT QUALITY? Transparency is a key element in the

quality of land administration systems.

It helps eliminate asymmetries in in-

formation between users and officials

in a land administration system and

increases the efficiency of the land

market.10 Doing Business has collected

data about transparency through a set

of questions focusing on who has ac-

cess to land information, whether the

fee schedule for land registry services

is publicly available, whether there are

service standards for property transac-

tions, whether statistics about land

transactions are collected and made

available to the public and whether any

specific mechanism is in place for filing

a complaint.

Transparency in a land administration

system provides a defense against

requirements for informal payments,

such as to register property, change

a title, acquire information on land or

process cadastral surveys. Complicated

processes and limited availability of

information in the land sector facilitate

such bribery.11 But a transparent land

administration system—one in which

all land-related information is publicly

available, all procedures and property

transactions are clear, and information

on fees for public services is easy to

access—minimizes the possibilities for

informal payments and abuses of the

system. Indeed, cross-country data

show that the greater the quality and

transparency of a land administration

system, the lower the incidence of

bribery at the land registry (figure 7.4).

Among all economies included in the re-

search, 45 do not make the fee sched-

ule for land registry services publicly

available. In 7 of these economies the

fee schedule is not accessible, and in

38 it is accessible only by asking for it

in person from a public official. In stark

contrast, 83 economies make informa-

tion on fee schedules available online.

Some economies go even further:

FIGURE 7.4 A better and more transparent land administration system is associated with a lower incidence of bribery at the land registry

Score on overall quality of land administration

Reported incidence of bribery for land services (%)

0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Note: The score on the overall quality of land administration is obtained through a set of questions on reliability, transpar- ency; coverage and dispute resolution. For example; an economy receives 1 point if it has a functional electronic database for encumbrances; 1 point if it makes the documents and fee schedules for property registration publicly available (online or on public boards); 1 point if it compiles statistics on land transactions and makes them publicly available and so on. The highest possible score; indicating the highest overall quality; is 30 points. The reported incidence of bribery refers to the share of people reporting in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2013 survey that when they had contact with land services in the previous 12 months; they paid a bribe for services. The correlation between the score on the overall quality of land administration and the reported incidence of bribery is −0.60. The relationship is significant at the 1% level after controlling for income per capita. The analysis is based on 88 observations. Source: Doing Business database; Transparency International data.

63REGISTERING PROPERTY

Sweden has an online system allowing

anyone to access not only information

on fees but also any information on

plots going back 400 years.12 Advanced

systems like Sweden’s are not easy to

afford. A much cheaper alternative is

to make fees available through public

boards or brochures—the approach

used by land registries in 34 economies

(figure 7.5).

Governments can give citizens the

chance to be informed and contribute

to a better business environment by

promoting transparency about their

operations—for example, by tracking

the performance of their land services

and openly sharing statistics about

property transactions. Lithuania com-

piles statistics on the performance

of its land registries and makes them

available to the public.13 Panama’s

land registry dedicates a page on its

online portal to transparency, publish-

ing monthly data on the number of

transactions broken down by type—

mortgages, first registrations, trans-

fers.14 Overall, 98 economies compile

statistics on land transactions (figure

7.6), though only 56 of those make their

statistics public.

One powerful consequence of trans-

parency is accountability: information

gives citizens the power of knowing

what to expect and whom to hold

accountable in case things go awry.

But if the mechanisms through which

individuals or agencies are held ac-

countable function poorly, information

alone will not be enough. Of all econo-

mies included in the research, only 63

have specific means for filing an official

complaint about land services. One is

Malaysia, where the land registry and

the cadastre allow users to file anony-

mous complaints through their web-

site, which are then sent directly to the

director of the department.15 Another

is Mauritius, where the website of the

Registrar General Department enables

users to fill out a form providing feed-

back or filing a complaint.16

WHERE IS COVERAGE COMPLETE? The utility of even the most reliable and

transparent land administration sys-

tem will be undermined if it covers only

a limited area of the economy. Where

land registries do not provide complete

geographic coverage, companies and

individuals cannot be sure whether the

areas not covered at the registry might

be relevant to their interests.17 For

maximum effectiveness, the registry

and cadastre should make records of

all registered private land readily avail-

able and the records should cover the

entire economy.18

Around the world, only 27% of econo-

mies have a registry with full coverage

of private land—and only 34% a ca-

dastre with complete coverage (figure

7.7). South Asia, Latin America and the

Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa

have the smallest shares of economies

with full coverage of private land, while

the OECD high-income group and

Europe and Central Asia have the larg-

est shares with full coverage.

Several economies have increased the

coverage of their land registry and

cadastre by registering properties and

the associated rights through either

systematic adjudication or a more

sporadic approach. Between 1984

and 2004 Thailand implemented one

of the world’s largest land titling pro-

grams, using efficient, systematic land

titling procedures and issuing more

than 8.5 million titles.19 Recognized as

very successful, the project has served

as a model for other countries in East

Asia and the Pacific.20 More recently,

in 2014 Rwanda completed its process

of regularizing land tenure, aimed

at registering all land in the country.

The effort required surveying all land

parcels and providing land titles to all

rightful claimants. It registered 10.3

million parcels through a low-cost,

community-based process starting

in 2010.21 With the process complete,

FIGURE 7.5 The accessibility of fee schedules for land registries varies across income groups

100

High income

Middle income

Low income

Economies by type of access provided (%)

Online Public boards/ brochures

In person Not publicly available

Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 7.6 Where do land registries have statistics on land transactions and a specific mechanism for filing a complaint?

Specific complaint mechanism Statistics on the number of transactions

High income

Upper middle income

Lower middle income

Low income

Share of economies with accountability mechanism (%)

Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201564

the land registry is now able to provide

information on different categories of

tenure, through a database searchable

by parcel across the entire country.

HOW TO DEAL WITH LAND DISPUTES? In many economies disputes over

land can make up the lion’s share of

all disputes in court.22 To prevent land

disputes and better manage existing

ones, the legal framework for land

administration needs to assign clear

responsibilities to the stakeholders

involved in land transactions and pro-

vide effective mechanisms of dispute

resolution that can be implemented

in a consistent way and are acces-

sible to all.23 Data collected by Doing

Business on the legal framework for

land administration cover several

aspects, including who is held respon-

sible for verifying the identities of the

parties to a land transaction, whether

the property registration system is

guaranteed, whether any specific com-

pensation mechanism is in place, how

long it takes to resolve a land dispute

between 2 domestic companies in the

first instance and whether statistics on

land disputes are collected and made

publicly available.

To help avoid land disputes, it is es-

sential to ensure the accuracy of the in-

formation underlying land transactions

and to identify cases of fraud—by veri-

fying and authenticating the identity of

parties to a property transaction and

validating all property records. This can

be done by the registrar or by profes-

sional agents such as notaries and law-

yers, whose legal responsibilities should

be clearly specified in the law. In some

economies the state requires a profes-

sional agent—a public notary in France

and Italy, a public officer in the Republic

of Korea—to be fully responsible for the

transaction.

In many economies the state provides

a guarantee over property registra-

tion. Among all economies covered

by the research, 149 have a property

registration system backed by a state

guarantee. The most advanced forms

of guarantee indemnify individuals for

losses suffered because of deficien-

cies in information provided by the

registry.24 In Shanghai, for example,

the state will provide full compensation

FIGURE 7.7 Land registries and cadastres provide the highest coverage of private land in OECD high-income economies and Europe and Central Asia

So ut

h As

La tin

A m

er ic

a &

Ca rib

be an

Su b-

Sa ha

ra n

Af ric

M id

dl e

Ea st

No rt

h Af

ric a

Ea st

A si

a &

Pa ci

fic

Eu ro

pe &

C en

tr al

A si

OE CD

h ig

h in

co m

So ut

h As

La tin

A m

er ic

a &

C ar

ib be

Su b-

Sa ha

ra n

Af ric

Ea st

A si

a &

Pa ci

fic

M id

dl e

Ea st

& N

or th

A fr

ic a

Eu ro

pe &

C en

tr al

A si

OE CD

h ig

h in

co m

Share of economies where land registry has full coverage (%)

Share of economies where mapping system has full coverage (%)

Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 7.8 How long does it take to resolve a land dispute in the first instance?

100

3 years or more2 years1 year

La ti

n A

m er

ic a

& C

ar ib

be an

So ut

h A

si a

Su b-

Sa ha

ra n

A fr

ic a

M id

dl e

Ea st

& N

or th

A fr

ic a

Ea st

A si

a &

P ac

ifi c

Eu ro

pe &

C en

tr al

A si

O EC

D h

ig h

in co

m e

Economies by time required (%)

Note: Data refer to a standardized case involving a dispute over a property transfer between 2 domestic companies. Source: Doing Business database.

65REGISTERING PROPERTY

for losses due to a technical error by

a public officer. In England and Wales

indemnity is also payable for losses

incurred because of a mistake in an

official search or an official copy.

Accuracy of information in land regis-

tries can help avoid potential disputes.

But when disputes do arise, alternative

dispute resolution mechanisms—such

as voluntary mediation procedures—

can help deal with them at a pre-

liminary stage, easing the burden on

congested courts.25 A dozen economies

have mediation procedures specifically

for land disputes. One is Liberia, which

instituted a program for resolving land

disputes through mediation to fill a

gap left by the virtual collapse of its

court system after the civil war.26 The

government set up the National Land

Commission to address fundamental

land tenure issues and develop interim

measures for resolving land disputes.

When land disputes end up in court, an

efficient legal system should be able to

provide a timely resolution. But time

requirements vary considerably across

economies. Obtaining a judgment in a

standard land dispute takes less than

a year in 58 economies, but up to 3

years or more in another 55 economies.

There is also much variation across

regions. In 61% of economies in the

OECD high-income group and 58% in

Europe and Central Asia, land disputes

can be resolved within a year. In 80%

of economies in South Asia and 62% in

Latin America and the Caribbean, the

process usually takes 3 years or more

(figure 7.8).

Whether a judicial system provides

official statistics on the number of land

disputes filed and resolved can be an

indicator of its overall quality—reflect-

ing something about how well it func-

tions and how transparent it is. Among

all economies included in the research,

about 20 have such statistics available.

In Finland, for example, statistics show

that 1,173 land disputes were settled

in the district courts in 2012; these

represented about 0.25% of all disputes

resolved through court in the country.

In Georgia 168 land disputes were

FIGURE 7.9 Good land administration systems are associated with higher levels of domestic credit provided by the financial sector

-100

-50

100

150

200

250

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Domestic credit provided by financial sector (% of GDP)

Score on overall quality of land administration

Note: For an explanation of the scoring on the overall quality of land administration, see the note to figure 7.4. Domestic credit provided by the financial sector includes all credit to various sectors on a gross basis, with the exception of credit to the central government, which is net. The data are for the most recent year available. The correlation between the overall quality of land administration and domestic credit provided by the financial sector is 0.56. The relationship is significant at the 1% level after controlling for income per capita. The analysis is based on 150 observations. Source: Doing Business database; World Bank, World Development Indicators database.

FIGURE 7.10 Economies with a good land administration system are likely to have lower inequality

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Score on overall quality of land administration

Gini index

Note: For an explanation of the scoring on the overall quality of land administration, see the note to figure 7.4. The Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income or consumption expenditure among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, an index of 100 perfect inequality. The data are for the most recent year available. The correlation between the overall quality of land administration and the Gini index is −0.37. The relationship is significant at the 1% level after controlling for income per capita. The analysis is based on 123 observations. Source: Doing Business database; World Bank, World Development Indicators database.

DOING BUSINESS 201566

resolved in 2013, accounting for 1.92%

of all disputes settled by the courts of

first instance. And in Latvia 324 land

dispute claims were filed in 2013, rep-

resenting 0.91% of all claims submitted

to the courts of first instance.

WHY DOES THE QUALITY MATTER FOR ALL? A reliable, transparent, complete and

secure land registration system plays

an important part in supporting access

to credit and economic growth for all.

Providing a sound property registration

system is a first step toward improving

access to credit. Indeed, the higher the

quality of the land administration sys-

tem, the higher the level of domestic

credit provided by the financial sector

to the economy (figure 7.9).

In addition, clear property boundaries

and ownership are important factors in

social stability and social development.

If people feel secure in their homes

and on their land, they are more likely

to invest in them, such as by making

improvements that benefit health and

well-being. Having a safe property

registration system for all is associated

with lower levels of inequality (figure

7.10). Economies with a reliable and

transparent land administration sys-

tem tend to have lower inequality and

to be more inclusive.

CONCLUSION Expanding the registering property

indicators to measure the quality of

land administration systems as well

as the efficiency of property transac-

tions enriches the substance of these

indicators. It provides measures of

key elements of land administration

systems—elements that matter for

all people in a society. New data on

reliability, transparency, coverage

and dispute resolution show much

variation in the overall quality of land

administration systems among the 170

economies covered. The data also show

that examples of good practice exist in

all regions of the world—and will help

policy makers identify those examples.

NOTES This case study was written by Edgar Chavez,

Laura Diniz, Frédéric Meunier, Parvina Rakhimova

and Marilyne Youbi.

1. UN-Habitat 2013. Title refers to the formal

legal document serving as evidence of

ownership. This document can take a range

of forms.

2. Galiani and Schargrodsky 2010.

3. World Bank 1989.

4. UN-Habitat 2013.

5. UN-Habitat 2012.

6. “Provincial Government of Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa and UN-Habitat Inaugurates

GIS Labs for Computerization and

Digitization Process of Land Records,”

United Nations Human Settlements

Programme (UN-Habitat), October 3, 2012,

http://www.fukuoka.unhabitat.org

/projects/voices/pakistan/detail01_en.html.

7. Hanstad 1998.

8. UN-Habitat 2012.

9. UNECE 2012.

10. One definition of a transparent business

environment is one in which individuals

possess essential information about

the environment in which they operate,

meaning that information asymmetries do

not place an unjustifiable burden on them

(OECD 2002).

11. Transparency International 2011.

12. For more on the information available,

see the website of Sweden’s mapping,

cadastral and land registration authority

(Lantmäteriet) at http://www.lantmateriet.se

/en/Maps-and-geographic-information.

13. For more on the information available, see

the website of the Lithuanian Real Property

Cadastre and Register at http://

www.registrucentras.lt.

14. For more on the information available, see

the website of the Land Registry of Panama

at https://www.registro-publico.gob.pa

/index.php/es/icons.html.

15. For more information, see the website of the

Department of the Director General of Land

and Mines of Malaysia at http://

www.kptg.gov.my/?q=en/content

/complaints-enquiries.

16. For more information, see the website of the

Registrar General Department of Mauritius

at http://registrar.mof.gov.mu/English

/Pages/About%20the%20department

/Land.aspx.

17. Deininger, Selod and Burns 2012.

18. UNECE 2012.

19. Burns 2004.

20. Brits, Grant and Burns 2002.

21. Gillingham and Buckle 2014.

22. Wehrmann 2008.

23. Deininger, Selod and Burns 2012.

24. Deininger, Selod and Burns 2012.

25. FAO 2012.

26. Bruce 2013.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Getting credit The importance of registries

Small and medium-size enterpris-es account for the largest share of employment in the developing world. They are also more likely than

large firms to be credit constrained.1

These businesses need working capital

to operate, to grow and to compete in

the marketplace. So access to finance

is crucial to their success.

The Doing Business indicators on get-

ting credit measure 2 types of institu-

tions and systems that can facilitate

access to finance and improve its

allocation. One set of these indicators

focuses on the secured transactions

system, examining the legal rights

of borrowers and lenders in secured

transactions and bankruptcy laws.

The second focuses on the credit

reporting system, looking at the in-

formation collected and distributed

through credit bureaus or registries.

Research has shown that these insti-

tutions and systems work best when

implemented together.2

What is an effective secured transac-

tions system? One that promotes the

availability of credit by reducing the risk

to lenders of accepting movable assets

as collateral. This can be achieved by

taking a functional approach to se-

cured transactions and implementing

modern collateral registries—such as

those in Honduras and New Zealand—

to ensure their publicity.

What is an effective credit reporting

system? One that provides creditors

with the most relevant, reliable, timely

and sufficient credit data as well as

value added services. Among the many

features offered by a modern credit

reporting service provider are online

access to credit information and the

provision of credit scores.

Doing Business collected new data this

year to strengthen the understanding

of secured transactions and credit

reporting systems around the world.

The strength of legal rights index has

been expanded from 10 points to 12 to

also cover the functional approach to

secured transactions and more fea-

tures of collateral registries. The depth

of credit information index has been

expanded from 6 points to 8 to also

cover the existence of credit scoring

and online platforms for exchanging

credit data.

WHY A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO SECURED TRANSACTIONS? For lenders considering a loan to a

small or medium-size enterprise, one

of the biggest deterrents is the pos-

sibility that the borrower has hidden

liens—that is, that the borrower has

already given its assets as collateral

to another lender. As more complex fi-

nancial instruments develop and are

adopted worldwide—such as factoring

(where a business sells its invoices

to a third party, called a factor, at a

discount) or financial leases that cre-

ate hidden rights over property held by

the borrowing company—the need for

Doing Business has expanded its measures of the legal rights of borrowers and lenders and the sharing of credit information. They now also cover the functional approach to secured transactions, more features of the collateral registry and the availability of credit scores and online access to credit information.

A functional approach to secured transactions provides transparency and predictability for creditors—because the legal framework covers all rights in movable assets that secure the performance of an obligation, regardless of the type of transaction. Forty-seven of 189 economies have a functional approach as recorded by Doing Business.

A modern collateral registry— centralized, notice-based and allowing online access—is important. Among 189 economies, 18 have such a registry, while 25 have a notice-based registry and 28 an online registry.

Credit bureaus or registries offering online access can provide faster service and better data quality. Online access is available in 119 of 126 economies with a functioning credit bureau or registry covering at least 5% of the adult population as recorded by Doing Business.

Credit scores based on credit bureau or registry data provide highly predictive measures of a borrower’s future repayment capacity and so can help expand access to finance. They are offered in 64 of the 126 economies with a functioning credit bureau or registry covering at least 5% of the adult population.

DOING BUSINESS 201568

a system that limits the impression of

“false wealth” becomes paramount.

One way to minimize the potential for

secret liens is to adopt a functional

approach to secured transactions.

This requires legislation that covers

all rights in movable assets that are

created by agreement and that secure

the payment or performance of an

obligation, regardless of the type of

transaction or the terminology used.3

In this approach what matters is no

longer the form that the agreement

takes (whether a floating charge or a

pledge agreement, for example) but the

rights and obligations that it creates.

These rights then need to be publicized

through a reliable and affordable public

registration system (figure 8.1). In a

system that includes several registries,

the registries need to be integrated to

the greatest extent possible to ensure

that potential creditors can easily

retrieve all notices of security interests

that have been recorded.4

This functional approach to secured

transactions, also known as the

unitary model, has been promoted

through model laws in regions as far

apart as Eastern Europe and Latin

America and the Caribbean (figure

8.2).5 The functional approach has

also been considered in some high-

income economies whose current

system poses no significant problems

but where the legal community sees

possible advantages in the approach.6

In the European Union, as part of the

efforts to harmonize private law, schol-

ars from economies with different legal

traditions have reached consensus on

the importance of a single notion of

security right—with pledges covered

by the same rules and principles for

creation, publicity and enforcement

as assignments of claims, transfers

of ownership, and sales and leaseback

agreements.7

The benefits of a functional approach

have inspired legal reforms all over the

world. In Belgium a new unitary regime

will come into force in December 2014.

The provisions on pledges in the coun-

try’s civil code as well as the 1919 law

relating to pledges of commercial assets

will be abolished,8 and the distinction

between the commercial pledge and

civil pledge eliminated. The new legal

framework will incorporate the provi-

sions on retention of title now included

in the country’s bankruptcy law and will

formally recognize fiduciary transfer

of title. This will create a single legal

framework for all pledges over movable

assets—a big step toward a functional

approach to secured transactions. Once

implemented, the reform will arguably

be the first of its kind in Western Europe.

Colombia established a modern legal

framework for secured transactions in

the past year. The new legal framework

allows the use of all types of movable

assets, present or future, as collateral

to secure a loan. It also regulates the

functional equivalents of loans secured

with movable property, such as financial

leases and sales with retention of title.9

FIGURE 8.1 Recording all types of secured transactions in a collateral registry promotes transparency

Note: Priority is established by time of registration of the security interest.

Nonpossessory security interest

Fiduciary transfer of title

Financial lease

Assignment of receivables

Sale with retention of title

Debtor keeps title & possession of movable asset

What are some transactions that can

be recorded?

What form does the transaction take?

Collateral registry

Who has priority over claims on the asset?

Debtor transfers

title Bank

Leasing company

leases asset Debtor

Company assigns

receivables Bank

Wholesaler sells asset &

keeps title Company

Bank

Leasing company

Bank

Wholesaler

Bank

69GETTING CREDIT

This change is expected to increase

transparency and protect the rights of

creditors when taking movable property

as collateral.

Jamaica also established a new legal

framework to modernize its secured

transactions system. The aim is to

improve the availability of credit to the

private sector while minimizing the risk

of nonpayment of loans. The Security

Interests in Personal Property Act,

which came into force on January 2,

2014, repealed provisions governing tra-

ditional securities under the Agricultural

Loans Act, the Bills of Sale Act and the

Debenture Registration Act. The new

legal framework applies to all types of

security documents, including pledges,

leases and floating charges.

Jamaica is following a path laid by other

jurisdictions with a common law tradi-

tion. The most recent previous example

was Australia’s implementation of the

Personal Property Security Act of 2009.

The reform had a massive legal scope, re-

placing 77 commonwealth and state acts

and regulations and affecting 30 com-

monwealth, state and territory agencies.

All these reforms entailed creating new

collateral registries or transforming

existing ones. To help in understanding

how these institutions function, the

Doing Business indicators on the legal

rights of borrowers and lenders look at

several features of their operation.

A CRITICAL PIECE—THE COLLATERAL REGISTRY To be effective, an integrated legal

framework for secured transactions

needs to be accompanied by a modern

collateral registry for movable assets.

Such registries allow a lender to take

security rights in an asset without

having to take physical custody of it.

The debtor retains title and posses-

sion. Without registration of these

transactions, there is no transparent

security for the lender and no assur-

ance that the lender is the only one

laying claim to the asset. Collateral

registries both enable potential credi-

tors or buyers to discover any existing

liens over property and allow them to

establishing priority over other credi-

tors in case of the debtor’s default.10

Studies show that a new collateral

registry can have a substantial eco-

nomic impact. In economies that

introduce one, access to bank finance

rises by about 8 percentage points on

average, while interest rates decline

by about 3 percentage points and the

terms of loans increase by about 6

months.11 Experience shows how ac-

tive collateral registries can be, even

in countries with small populations.

In 5 such countries that recently cre-

ated registries and reformed secured

transactions laws—the Marshall

Islands (2010), the Federated States

of Micronesia (2007), the Solomon

Islands (2009), Tonga (2011) and

Vanuatu (2009)—the number of filings

had reached a total of more than

20,000 by January 31, 2014, while

the number of searches had exceeded

60,000.12 In Australia, whose 2009 re-

form included implementing a new col-

lateral registry, the number of filings

exceeded 2 million in 2013 alone, while

the number of searches exceeded 6

million.13 Implementing and maintain-

ing a modern and well-functioning col-

lateral registry may entail significant

financial and administrative efforts. It

is encouraging to note that, costs not-

withstanding, a number of low-income

countries have found the associated

investments to be fully justified when

examined in light of other benefits for

the economy at large.

Key features of a modern collateral registry As model laws and legislative guides

have evolved with technology over the

years, they have encapsulated a set

of good practices that serve as gener-

ally accepted standards for modern

collateral registries. These include using

notice-based registration, allowing online

access to data and centralizing registries.

While traditional registries usually

require a copy of the loan agreement

or other documents, notice-based

registries require no documentation

other than a simple generic form that

records the existence of a security

interest, providing the names of the

creditor and the debtor as well as a

general description of the collateral

asset and the obligation secured. This

FIGURE 8.2—How many economies have adopted a functional approach to secured transactions?

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

South Asia

Middle East & North Africa

East Asia & Pacific

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Latin America & Caribbean

Sub-Saharan Africa

Not using functional approachUsing functional approach

2 6

10 15

5 21

5 26

7 25

18 29

Number of economies

Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201570

avoids the need for a specialist to

review lengthy documents, which can

be costly and time-consuming. It also

improves the quality of registration:

with less documentation, the potential

for errors is minimized. Notice-based

registration has also been successfully

adopted for other registration sys-

tems, such as patent and trademark

registries.

Online systems allow users to perform

searches and register security interests

from anywhere and at any time. Unlike

with paper-based systems, there is

no need for users to appear before the

registrar and wait their turn to enter

information in the registry index. Online

registration also transfers the burden of

preventing errors to the interested party.

Centralized registries enable potential

creditors to determine whether an as-

set has been pledged as collateral by

searching a single database, regard-

less of the location of the borrower. To

be effective, these registries also need

to allow searches based on unique

search criteria—such as a debtor’s

unique identifier (or name, if no unique

identifiers exist) or a serial number

(for serial-numbered assets such as

vehicles)—and they need to encom-

pass both legal and natural persons

as well as all types of assets. Where

registries are not centralized, searches

can be time-consuming and even

useless. In the fragmented collateral

registry system for chattel mortgages

in the Philippines, for example, finding

out whether an asset is mortgaged

requires submitting a request to more

than a hundred registries.

Different legal traditions, different practices While the registration of collateral

claims is common practice in many

economies, the type and role of reg-

istries may vary depending on the

legal tradition. In some economies

with a common law tradition, rights

over movable property are customar-

ily recorded in separate registries for

incorporated and nonincorporated

entities. For example, not all security

instruments may be available to both

companies and sole proprietorships or

registered at the same place.

In some civil law economies registra-

tion of securities takes place at the

local court of first instance or at the

commercial registry. In many other

economies there is no requirement at

all to register security interests over

movable property (figure 8.3).

The strength of legal rights index

is consistent with good practices

in secured transactions law, such

as allowing both incorporated and

FIGURE 8.3 Which economies have collateral registries—and of which type?

Note: The map reports operational collateral registries as recorded by Doing Business—those that are for all entities, are centralizied geographically and by asset type and have an electronic database indexed by the debtor’s name or unique identifier. Functional equivalents to traditional security interests include financial leases, sales with retention of title, assignments of receivables and fiduciary transfers of title, among others. Registries that are fully online allow searches, registrations, amendments and cancellations to be carried out online by any party with a legitimate right to do so. Source: Doing Business database.

71GETTING CREDIT

nonincorporated companies to create

security interests over all categories

of movable assets. Good practices

also call for registering all types of

security interests and functional

equivalents at the same place—in-

cluding financial leases, sales with

retention of title, assignments of

receivables, fiduciary transfers of title

and tax liens—to ensure that they are

not hidden from prospective creditors

or buyers. The indicator focuses on the

first 4 of these functional equivalents

and rewards economies in the scor-

ing if at least 3 of them are recorded

at the same collateral registry. This

unitary approach has increasingly

become part of the secured transac-

tions reforms in Central and Eastern

Europe, most recently in Hungary.

But because of different approaches

in their implementation, the wave of

reforms in the region has not led to

consistent results.14

WHY ARE CREDIT BUREAUS AND REGISTRIES IMPORTANT? Credit reporting service providers can

be grouped into 2 main types: credit bu-

reaus, which aim primarily to improve

the quality and availability of data

that creditors need to make informed

decisions, and credit registries, which

seek mainly to support banking super-

vision while also improving the quality

and availability of data for supervised

financial intermediaries (figure 8.4).

(In practice, many credit bureaus also

support financial supervision activities,

and some credit registries also aim

to improve data for creditors.) While

their primary objectives might differ,

both types serve the same purpose:

reducing information asymmetries to

help increase access to credit. They

also improve borrower discipline, lower

interest rates and support bank super-

vision and credit risk monitoring.

Borrowers have more information

about their past credit behavior and

current financial situation than credi-

tors do. This makes it hard for individu-

als and small firms trying to get a loan

to make their case to lenders. Banks

are more likely to lend to larger firms,

which usually are required to adopt

international accounting standards,

are more transparent and bear less risk

of default.15

By collecting information on indi-

viduals and small firms, credit bureaus

and registries provide banks with the

information they need to assess cred-

itworthiness. This information sharing

helps poor people and micro and small

businesses.16 It can especially benefit

new entrepreneurs, by enabling formal

credit providers to check their past

repayment patterns and track their

current credit behavior.17 A 2007 study

found that in developing economies

access to credit grew twice as fast

FIGURE 8.4 How credit information flows in a system with both a credit registry and credit bureaus

Consumers

Nonregulated financial

institutions

Credit card issuers

Retailers

Telecoms and utilities

Public records

Court judgments

Credit registry

Data bank

Data providers Service providers Products Users

C o

n su

m e

rs o

r c

re d

it a

p p

li c

a n

ts Debt classification

Credit bureau 1

Credit bureau 2

Credit bureau 3

Reports

Credit scoring

Antifraud

Portfolio monitoring

Reports

Statistics unit of central bank

Supervisory unit of central bank

Banks and regulated financial

institutions

Nonregulated financial

institutions

Retailers

Telecoms and

utilities

Central bank

Credit card issuers

Banks and regulated

financial institutions

Note: Some economies have only a credit registry, some have only one or more credit bureaus, and some have both a credit registry and one or more credit bureaus. Credit bureau networks tend to be more complex than credit registry networks because they generally include a larger variety of data providers and data users. Source: World Bank 2011a, p. 51.

DOING BUSINESS 201572

for small firms as for large ones after

new credit reporting systems were

introduced.18

Good credit reporting systems com-

bined with strong rule of law can be a

catalyst for growth in frontier econo-

mies with many young firms and en-

trepreneurial ventures. Research based

on World Bank Enterprise Survey data

from 123 countries found that in those

with better credit reporting systems,

younger firms have better access to

bank finance than older firms do.19

Credit information systems also reduce

firms’ reliance on informal credit, whose

high interest rates and lack of protec-

tions can be destabilizing both to the

firms and to the overall economy.

Sharing credit information can improve

borrower behavior and reduce interest

rates. According to a study surveying

more than a thousand consumers in

the United States with primary or joint

responsibility for paying bills, half said

that they would be more likely to pay

their bills on time if those payments

were fully reported to credit bureaus

and could affect their credit score.20 A

study in Albania found that loans given

after the launch of its credit registry

were 3 percentage points less likely to

turn problematic.21 And when credit re-

porting compels borrowers to establish

consistent repayment patterns, finan-

cial institutions face less uncertainty

in their debt exposure and can lower

interest rates.22

Credit information systems also help

maintain the health of financial sys-

tems, with credit registries enabling

policy makers and regulators to monitor

large flows of money and credit bureaus

allowing them to assess developments

in credit markets and interest rates.

One study found that credit registries

played a valuable role in calculating

credit risk for capital and in supervising

and checking banks’ internal ratings in

Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.23

Coverage by credit bureaus and regis-

tries is extensive, encompassing more

than 2 billion individuals and 120 million

firms worldwide by January 2014.24

The number of economies with a credit

bureau covering at least 5% of the adult

population as recorded by Doing Business

grew from 49 of 145 economies in 2004

to 94 of 189 in 2014—while the number

with a credit registry covering at least

5% increased from 22 of 145 economies

to 58 of 189 (figure 8.5). Globally, 28

economies have both a credit registry

and a credit bureau covering at least 5%

of the adult population.

Coverage continues to grow as econo-

mies establish or enhance credit report-

ing systems. Several did so in the past

year. In Jamaica 2 new credit bureaus,

Creditinfo Jamaica and CRIF-NM Credit

Assure Limited, having received licenses

in 2012, began serving banks and finan-

cial institutions in 2013. Thanks to the

launch of their operations, Jamaica was

the economy that made the biggest

FIGURE 8.5 Which economies have a credit bureau or registry?

Note: Coverage is the number of individuals and firms covered as a percentage of the adult population. The map reports operational credit reporting service providers as recorded by Doing Business that have a coverage of at least 0.1% of the adult population. Source: Doing Business database.

73GETTING CREDIT

improvement in credit reporting in

2013/14.

Three other economies also developed

new credit reporting systems in the

past year. The Democratic Republic

of Congo’s central bank established a

credit registry by launching an elec-

tronic credit reporting system, YSYS–

CERI, in April 2013. Tanzania’s central

bank licensed the country’s first credit

bureau, Creditinfo Tanzania, in June

2013, and its second credit bureau, Dun

& Bradstreet Credit Bureau Tanzania, in

September 2013. Vietnam’s first credit

bureau, Vietnam Credit Information,

started operating in January 2014. By

April it was providing credit informa-

tion to 23 of 47 commercial banks in

the country as well as market educa-

tion and training.

Some economies have development

plans under way. In June 2013 the

West African Economic and Monetary

Union set up a legal framework pro-

viding for the establishment of credit

bureaus in member states. Two have

adopted the law so far, Senegal in

January 2014 and Côte d’Ivoire in

March 2014.

FEATURES OF MODERN CREDIT INFORMATION SYSTEMS The vast majority of credit reporting

service providers offer online access

to their databases, which provides

data users with faster, more efficient

service and can ensure better data

quality. Many also provide credit

scores based on credit bureau or credit

registry data as a value added service.

These scores are different from those

developed on the basis of individual

lenders’ data and provide a highly

predictive measure of a borrower’s re-

payment behavior. Online access and

credit scoring are 2 of many features

that define a modern credit reporting

system.

The efficiencies of online access More efficient credit reporting service

providers share their data online.

Offering online access for subscribed

banks and financial institutions has

become a must for many credit bureaus

and registries. One way to do so is

through an online platform accessed

with a traditional internet browser. This

kind of system allows a user to connect

once it has validated the user’s log-in

information. Once connected to the

system, the user can retrieve credit

reports autonomously.

Another way to provide online access is

through a system-to-system connec-

tion, where the user’s system is con-

nected to and integrated with the credit

reporting service provider’s system.

Both parties have software installed

that allows host-to-host connectiv-

ity without human interaction. Data

are updated automatically, and users

retrieve credit information by accessing

their own system, with no need to log

into the service provider’s system.25

Online access to data is fast and

can ensure transparency, data qual-

ity and security. A system-to-system

connection further ensures system ef-

ficiency and high service standards for

users because it eliminates data dupli-

cation, reduces the risk of human error

and allows the streamlining of work

flows with appropriate business and

validation rules. These advantages may

encourage more data providers to share

information with the credit bureaus and

registries.

Online access is widespread. In 119 of

126 economies with a functioning credit

bureau or registry covering at least 5%

of the adult population as recorded by

Doing Business, data users can access

borrowers’ credit information online.

Globally, data providers and users

can exchange credit information elec-

tronically in 94 of the economies with

a credit bureau that covers at least 5%

of the adult population—and in 50 of

those with a credit registry that does so.

In East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and

Central Asia, Latin America and the

Caribbean, the OECD high-income group

and South Asia data providers and us-

ers can exchange data electronically in

all economies that have a functioning

credit bureau or registry covering at

FIGURE 8.6—How many economies have a credit bureau or registry providing online access to credit data?

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

South Asia

Middle East & North Africa

East Asia & Pacific

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Latin America & Caribbean

Sub-Saharan Africa

No credit bureau or registry exists

Credit bureau or registry exists but has less than 5% coverage

Credit bureau or registry with at least 5% coverage exists but does not offer online access

Credit bureau or registry with at least 5% coverage exists and offers online access

Number of economies

12 5 21 9

20 1 11

30 1

25 1

16 2 7

11 2 5 2

5 2 1

Note: Coverage is the number of individuals and firms covered as a percentage of the adult population. Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201574

least 5% of the adult population (figure

8.6). In the Middle East and North Africa

this is the case in about 85% of econo-

mies that have such a credit bureau or

registry, while in Sub-Saharan Africa it

is the case in only 71%.

Online access to credit reporting

systems is growing in the developing

world. Ethiopia’s central bank estab-

lished a credit information center

to allow banks to submit data and

inquiries electronically. A pilot program

was launched in August 2011 with 3

commercial banks, and by April 2012

the online system was fully imple-

mented. Today 17 Ethiopian banks are

registered as data users and provide

monthly updates. The objective for

the online system is to preserve and

distribute 5 years of historical data on

the repayment status of all loans.

Bangladesh’s central bank (Bangla-

desh Bank) launched an online system

for its credit information bureau in July

2011 to allow banks and other financial

institutions to exchange information

on borrowers and loan repayments

electronically. Before, Bangladesh

Bank had a semiautomatic system

in place: banks provided information

on computer disks and had to pick up

printed copies of credit reports from

Bangladesh Bank’s office.

Paraguay’s central bank introduced a

new online system in April 2011. This

system is aimed at improving both

the credit registry’s efficiency—by

reducing the time it takes to verify

credit information from one week to

just a few minutes—and the accu-

racy of data. The system, called Red

de Comunicación Financiera, allows

financial institutions to transfer data

to the credit registry and access

credit information on both firms and

individuals.

The predictive value of credit scores Many credit bureaus and registries pro-

vide value added services to data users.

These include credit scoring, marketing

services, portfolio monitoring, fraud

detection and debt collection. An impor-

tant tool in expanding access to finance

is credit scoring, a statistical method of

evaluating the probability that a pro-

spective borrower will fulfill the financial

obligations associated with a loan.

Credit scores based on credit bureau

or credit registry data pool informa-

tion across many creditors as well as

some public information sources. They

therefore include characteristics oth-

erwise unavailable to any individual

creditor, such as total exposure, num-

ber of outstanding loans and previous

defaults within the system. Credit

scoring models typically incorporate

historical data such as defaults, posi-

tive payment behavior and previous

inquiries. To sharpen the predictive

value of credit scores, credit bureaus

and registries also are increasingly

collecting data from a wider range of

sources (such as bankruptcies and

court judgments). As a result, credit

scores generally have a higher predic-

tive value than assessments derived

from credit histories alone.26

Credit scores may improve market

efficiency and provide borrowers with

more opportunities to obtain credit.

The availability of credit scores allows

lenders that would otherwise not be

capable of analyzing the raw credit

data to extend credit to underserved

markets at lower cost.

Credit scoring based on credit bureau

or credit registry data is offered in 64 of

126 economies with a credit reporting

service provider covering at least 5%

of the adult population as measured

by Doing Business. This value added

product is most widely available in

Latin America and the Caribbean and

the OECD high-income group, offered

in 80% of economies with a credit bu-

reau or registry covering at least 5% of

the adult population—compared with

40% in Europe and Central Asia, 38%

in the Middle East and North Africa,

25% in East Asia and the Pacific and

24% in Sub-Saharan Africa (figure 8.7).

In South Asia credit scores are offered

in only 1 of 5 economies with a credit

reporting service provider covering at

least 5% of the adult population.

FIGURE 8.7—How many economies have a credit bureau or registry providing credit scores?

No credit bureau or registry exists

Credit bureau or registry exists but has less than 5% coverage

Credit bureau or registry with at least 5% coverage exists but does not offer credit scores

Credit bureau or registry with at least 5% coverage exists and offers credit scores

Number of economies

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

South Asia

Middle East & North Africa

East Asia & Pacific

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Latin America & Caribbean

Sub-Saharan Africa

Note: Credit scores are those based on credit bureau or registry data. Coverage is the number of individuals and firms covered as a percentage of the adult population. Source: Doing Business database.

75GETTING CREDIT

WHAT ARE THE LINKS WITH ACCESS TO CREDIT? Where the legal framework provides

stronger protection of secured creditors’

rights and credit reporting systems pro-

vide more relevant, reliable, timely and

sufficient data, the private sector tends

to have better access to credit. Analysis

of data collected for the strength of legal

rights and depth of credit information

indices confirms that economies that

score high on these indices also have

higher levels of domestic credit provided

to the private sector by financial institu-

tions (figure 8.8).

The results show that both transparency

in the secured transactions system and

access to credit information—elements

that create predictability for secured

creditors and provide lenders with

tools to assess the creditworthiness

of borrowers—are associated with a

higher level of private sector credit,

and this leads to more business

creation or expansion in the long term.

Nevertheless, there are many other

factors that constrain or enable firms’

access to credit, and these should be

taken into account when analyzing an

economy’s credit market.

CONCLUSION Effective systems for secured transac-

tions and credit reporting can improve

access to finance for small and medium-

size enterprises. This is confirmed by

the data for the expanded indicators on

getting credit, which this year also cover

the functional approach to secured

transactions, more features of the col-

lateral registry and the availability of

credit scores and online access to credit

information. Analysis of these data

shows a significant correlation between

better performance on the getting

credit indicators and higher levels of

domestic credit provided to the private

sector by financial institutions. Used in

conjunction with other indicators mea-

suring factors that affect firms’ access

to credit, the getting credit indicators

can contribute to a better understand-

ing of credit markets.

NOTES This case study was written by Iana Ashchian,

Catrice Christ, Santiago Croci Downes, Salima

Daadouche, Nan (Charlotte) Jiang, Magdalini

Konidari and Yasmin Zand.

1. Kuntchev and others 2012.

2. Djankov, McLiesh and Shleifer 2007.

3. UNCITRAL 2007.

4. World Bank 2011b.

5. The European Bank for Reconstruction and

Development has used its 1994 Model Law on

Secured Transactions to promote a functional

approach in Eastern Europe, while the

Organization of American States has used its

2002 Model Inter-American Law on Secured

Transactions to promote the approach in

Latin America and the Caribbean.

6. According to a discussion paper by the City

of London Law Society (2012, p. 3), “the

advantage of this approach would be that

all aspects of the law relating to secured

transactions could be set out in one place.

This would make it more accessible to those

involved in taking or granting security,

including those from outside England who

engage in cross-border financing. It could also

result in useful clarification and simplification

of the law.”

7. Study Group on a European Civil Code and

Research Group on EC Private Law (Acquis

Group) 2009.

8. The relevant provisions of the Belgian Civil

Code are in articles 2071–84 on pledge.

9. Law 1676, article 3.

10. Alvarez de la Campa 2011.

11. Love, Martínez Pería and Singh 2013.

12. Asian Development Bank 2013.

13. Data provided by the Australian Financial

Security Authority.

14. Tajti 2013.

15. Jappelli and Pagano 2002; Behr, Entzian and

Guettler 2011; Brown, Jappelli and Pagano

2009.

16. Luoto, McIntosh and Wydick 2004; Brown,

Jappelli and Pagano 2009.

17. Chavis, Klapper and Love 2010.

18. Brown and Zehnder 2007.

19. Chavis, Klapper and Love 2010.

20. Turner and others 2009.

21. Behr and Sonnekalb 2012.

22. Brown and Zehnder 2007; Luoto, McIntosh

and Wydick 2004; Brown, Jappelli and

Pagano 2009; Behr, Entzian and Guettler

2011.

23. Powell and others 2004.

24. Statistics refer to the number of individuals

and firms covered in 126 economies with

functioning credit bureaus and registries

covering at least 5% of the adult population as

recorded by Doing Business.

25. IFC 2012.

26. World Bank 2011a.

FIGURE 8.8—Economies with stronger systems for secured transactions and credit reporting have higher levels of domestic credit provided to the private sector

100

0 40 80 120 160 200 240 280 320

Distance to frontier score for getting credit, 2014

Domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP), 2013

Note: Domestic credit to private sector refers to financial resources provided to the private sector by financial corporations, such as through loans, purchases of nonequity securities, and trade credits and other accounts receivable, that establish a claim for repayment. The correlation between the distance to frontier score for getting credit and domestic credit to private sector as a percentage of GDP is 0.34. The relationship is significant at the 1% level after controlling for income per capita. Source: Doing Business database; World Bank, World Development Indicators database.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Protecting minority investors Going beyond related-party transactions

A corporation is a legal entity

distinct from its founders. This

essential separation enables a

business to flourish or fail separately

from the personal assets and interests

of its members (whether owners, direc-

tors or employees). The advantages of

untying a business from its founders

are such that the corporation has

today become the most common form

of commercial entity around the world.

But the separation also creates risks.

Without a proper structure and al-

location of duties and rights, and

without clarity in decision-making

processes, corporations can quickly

become incapable of generating any

wealth. Without adequate safeguards,

corporations can become vulnerable

to abuse, with insiders using corpo-

rate assets for personal gain to the

detriment of other stakeholders. If

such abuses become widespread in

an economy, they can deter investors

from participating in any corpora-

tion. The quality of the rules and

regulations governing corporations is

therefore fundamental to functioning

markets and wealth-generating eco-

nomic activity.

The Doing Business indicators on pro-

tecting minority investors analyze the

regulation of related-party transac-

tions and shareholder access to judicial

redress as a proxy for an economy’s

overall corporate governance stan-

dards and ease of access to financ-

ing from capital markets. Stronger

protection of minority shareholders in

prejudicial related-party transactions

is associated with a higher level of

development in capital markets—as

reflected by such indicators as higher

market capitalization, larger numbers

of listed domestic firms, more initial

public offerings and lower private ben-

efits of control.1

For entrepreneurs seeking to develop or

expand a business, access to external

financing is a crucial concern. Stronger

legal protection of minority investors

increases the confidence of investors

in markets, making them more likely

to invest. Econometric research shows

that investors’ willingness to provide

entrepreneurs with equity capital is a

significant factor in the development

of financial markets, which in turn

promotes economic development.

Recent studies provide empirical

evidence that corporate governance

standards aimed at protecting minor-

ity shareholders promote positive

economic outcomes at the country

and firm level. To that end, certain

aspects of corporate governance are

particularly important—such as board

composition and independence, firm

transparency and disclosure, and the

rights of shareholders relative to the

board of directors and management.

Sound rules and regulations in these

areas of corporate governance can

minimize the agency problem between

majority and minority shareholders as

well as that between minority share-

holders and the board of directors and

management.

Doing Business introduces 3 new measures of minority investor protections this year—indices on shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate decisions, on governance structure and on corporate transparency.

Economies with the most developed securities markets tend to have the highest average scores on the 3 new indices.

On average, OECD high-income economies offer the strongest protections as measured by the new indices and continue to provide the strongest protections as measured by the existing ones.

Among 189 economies worldwide, India follows the largest share of the good practices measured by the new indices.

On average, shareholders of listed companies are more protected than those of nonlisted companies.

Overall, minority investors are more protected in economies that distinguish between shareholders of listed companies and shareholders of nonlisted ones.

77PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS

Specifically, greater shareholder protec-

tion is associated with larger capital

markets,2 a lower cost of capital, higher

cash flows, more efficient firm-level re-

source allocation3 and greater firm val-

uation4 and performance.5 In addition,

numerous studies suggest that inves-

tors will charge higher rates to provide

financing if they are not assured of an

adequate return or if they fear expro-

priation by corporate insiders.6 In other

words, greater shareholder protection

reduces the cost of equity by mitigating

the agency problem between minority

shareholders and managers in relation

to diverging interests in the allocation

of company resources. Several other

studies highlight the positive impact

on firm-level resource allocation and

long-term returns of having audit com-

mittees, of ensuring the independence

of the board and of having different

people serve as chief executive officer

(CEO) and chair of the board.7

WHAT DO THE INDICATORS NOW MEASURE? Since their inception, the Doing

Business indicators on protecting

minority investors have been measur-

ing minority shareholder protections

against directors’ misuse of corporate

assets for personal gain. This is done

by positing specific sets of assump-

tions about a transaction between

2 companies that involves a clear

conflict of interest. This transaction

is tested against the regulations of

each of the 189 economies covered by

Doing Business to determine who can

approve the transaction, what disclo-

sure must be made, who can be held

liable if the transaction causes losses,

what sanctions decision makers incur

and what evidence shareholders can

obtain to help them win their case if

they choose to initiate a legal action

in court.

Doing Business continues this exercise

and, starting in this year’s report, also

measures other aspects of corporate

law that are unrelated to this trans-

action but that are also indicative of

the strength of protection of minor-

ity shareholders. This is particularly

important to identify additional areas

of potential improvement for policy

makers and to provide researchers

with a broader set of data for analyz-

ing the relationship between corporate

governance and economic outcomes

(box 9.1).

The fundamental development goal of

promoting greater access to finance

for entrepreneurs by encouraging

regulation conducive to investment in

capital markets remains the same—

and is indeed reinforced by the provi-

sion of data on a more comprehensive

array of issues. To expand the coverage

of the indicators, the Doing Business

team first used academic literature

and institutional reports to identify

regulatory good practices that sup-

port the relevant policy goals (box

9.2). The team then selected those

that could be objectively measured

and independently justified, that offer

variation across economies and that

lend themselves to data collection and

verification through the annual Doing

Business questionnaire on minority

investor protections.

Previously the protecting minority

investors indicators assessed 18 com-

ponents of the quality of regulations.

Now 20 additional components that

strengthen the rights of minority

investors are measured, by 3 new in-

dices: the extent of shareholder rights

BOX 9.1 What is new in the protecting minority investors indicators?

Name changed from protect- ing investors to clarify what is measured by the indicators— and what is not.

Three indices added to mea- sure protections in matters beyond conflicts of interest: extent of shareholder rights index, strength of governance structure index and extent of corporate transparency index.

Ease of shareholder suits index expanded to take into account the allocation of legal expenses.

See the data notes for a detailed description of changes and addi- tions to the methodology.

FIGURE 9.1 Shareholder rights in listed and nonlisted companies are consistent in most economies

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Shareholders have the right to amend bylaws or statutes with a simple majority.

Shareholders have preemption rights on new shares.

Shares can be freely traded prior to a major corporate action.

Shareholders representing 10% can call for an extraordinary meeting.

Shareholders approve the election and dismissal of the external auditor.

A company must obtain shareholders’ approval to issue new shares.

Shareholders can remove directors before the end of their term.

Share of economies where good practice applies (%)

Nonlisted companiesListed companies

Note: The good practices are those measured by the extent of shareholder rights index. Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201578

index, the strength of governance

structure index and the extent of cor-

porate transparency index. In addition,

a new component on the allocation of

legal expenses associated with share-

holder litigation has been added to

the existing ease of shareholder suits

index.8

Extent of shareholder rights index The ability of shareholders to influence

important corporate decisions—such

BOX 9.2 Standard setters and good practices

Corporate governance practices around the world have been converging over the past 2 decades. This convergence is being driven by a group of global standard setters to which governments look for guidance on how to strengthen their corporate governance, financial reporting and securities regulations. It is also being driven by capital market trends— such as the growing use of cross-listings and dual listings—that lead to the adoption of common regulatory practices.

Corporate governance The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been establishing increasingly influential good practices in such areas as related-party transactions, conflicts of interest, approval requirements and disclosure obliga- tions. The methodology for the protecting minority investors indicators promotes good practices recommended by the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance.a

For example, the indicators measure whether the division of responsibilities among shareholders, officers, directors, out- side auditors and regulators is clearly articulated in cases of conflict of interest, in line with OECD principle 1 on corporate governance (ensuring the basis for an effective corporate governance framework). They also capture the rights of minority shareholders to be informed about, and to participate in, general shareholder meetings and decisions relating to extraor- dinary transactions, consistent with principle 2 (rights of shareholders and key ownership functions). They investigate rules relating to insider trading and whether all shareholders of the same series of a class are treated equally, in line with prin- ciple 3 (equitable treatment of shareholders). And the extent of disclosure index directly follows principle 5 (disclosure and transparency), while the extent of director liability index echoes principle 6 (responsibilities of the board).

Financial reporting and accounting The convergence of accounting standards has helped develop good practices in financial reporting. Two organizations— the International Accounting Standards Board, an independent body that sets the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), a U.S.-based organization that develops the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP)—have focused on driving this convergence over the past 15 years, issuing unified accounting standards for use by companies worldwide in both domestic and cross-border financial reporting.

IFRS and US GAAP principles mandate strict financial disclosure with the aim of reducing information asymmetries be- tween companies and investors. An important benefit of a single set of high-quality, globally accepted accounting stan- dards is that investors can understand and compare the financial results of any company in the world. For this reason many jurisdictions incorporate IFRS and, to a lesser extent, US GAAP into their domestic reporting systems.b

Securities regulations The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is an association of organizations that regulate se- curities markets. Its more than 200 members, which oversee more than 95% of the world’s securities markets, coopera- tively develop, implement and promote standards of regulation, oversight and enforcement to protect both investors and markets.c

Another important driver of convergence in securities regulations is the increase in cross-listings and dual listings. To appeal to more risk-averse investors, companies in emerging markets are listing on more developed stock exchanges—such as the London Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ—in addition to their home country exchanges. Research has found that cross-listing on a U.S. stock exchange by a non-U.S. firm is associated with a significantly positive stock price reaction in the home market.d One reason is that cross-listing in the United States forces firms incorporated in juris- dictions with poor investor protection and enforcement systems to commit themselves to higher standards of corporate governance—and this increases the companies’ valuation by attracting otherwise reluctant foreign investors.

a. OECD 2004. b. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 2012. c. “Advancing the SEC’s Mission through International Organizations,” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, http://www.sec.gov/about/offices/oia/oia_intlorg.shtml. For more information on IOSCO, see its website at http://www.iosco.org/about/. d. Huang, Elkinawy and Jain 2013.

79PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS

as appointing and removing board

members, issuing new stock and

amending the company’s bylaws—is

key to avoiding abuses by corporate

insiders. In measuring this aspect Doing

Business gives particular attention to

the allocation of power between share-

holders and management; studies have

shown that greater power in the hands

of shareholders can lead to greater

management attention to shareholder

interests and therefore to increased

investment (figure 9.1).

Strength of governance structure index Legally mandating separation

between corporate constituencies can

directly minimize potential agency

conflicts. For example, risks associated

with conflicts of interest increase

exponentially when a CEO can also be

chair of the board of directors or when

there is no requirement for a minimum

number of independent directors. Doing

Business tracks legal requirements

that strengthen the governance

structure of companies, such as board

independence, functional separation,

audit and compensation committees,

and limits on cross-shareholding and

subsidiary ownership (figure 9.2).9

Extent of corporate transparency index Greater access to corporate information

can have beneficial effects for firms. For

example, where companies are required

to disclose information about their

finances, about the remuneration of

their managers and directors and about

other directorships they hold, research

has found that this transparency

improves corporate governance and

lowers the cost of investment in

capital markets.10 Doing Business uses

questions relating to a company’s audit

and financial statements to measure

the extent to which companies are

required to accurately present their

business and financial condition, based

on current knowledge and future

expectations. Access to complete and

accurate financial information is crucial

to efficiently deploying investor capital

(figure 9.3).

Allocation of legal expenses in shareholder litigation Comprehensive rights are moot

without effective ways to assert them.

In optimal regulatory environments,

enforcement is the duty both of

efficient government agencies with

adequate resources and of private

shareholders willing to initiate legal

actions whenever they suspect

that a company in which they have

invested is being mismanaged by

corporate insiders. But such lawsuits,

which often target companies (and

directors or managers) with deeper

pockets, are unlikely to occur unless

FIGURE 9.2 Some areas of corporate governance continue to be overlooked in some economies

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Cross-shareholding between 2 independent companies is limited to 10%.

The board of directors must include independent board members.

The CEO is barred from also being the chair of the board of directors.

A subsidiary is barred from acquiring shares issued by its parent company.

A company must have a separate audit committee.

A buyer must make an offer to all shareholders upon acquiring 50% of the company.

Changes to voting rights of shares must be approved only by the affected shareholders.

Nonlisted companiesListed companies

Share of economies where good practice applies (%)

Note: The good practices are those measured by the strength of governance structure index. Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 9.3 Corporate transparency could be enhanced in some areas

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Managerial compensation must be disclosed on an individual basis.

Board members' other positions and directorships must be disclosed.

A company must disclose ownership stakes representing 10%.

Audit reports must be disclosed to the public.

Financial statements must contain explanatory notes.

Annual financial statements must be audited by an external auditor.

Nonlisted companiesListed companies

Share of economies where good practice applies (%)

Note: The good practices are those measured by the extent of corporate transparency index. Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201580

shareholder plaintiffs can recover their

legal expenses or the payment of their

expenses can be made contingent on

a successful outcome. The indicators

now measure whether legal expenses

incurred by shareholder plaintiffs

can be charged to the company and

whether plaintiffs can pay attorney

fees depending on the damages they

recover in court.

WHAT DO THE RESULTS SHOW? Overall, OECD high-income economies

have the strongest protections of

minority shareholders as measured by

Doing Business. These economies have

the highest average score both on the

extent of conflict of interest regulation

index, which is the average of 3 exist-

ing indices of minority shareholder

protections, and on the extent of

shareholder governance index, which

is the average of the 3 new ones (table

9.1).11 The average scores for all regions

except South Asia reflect stronger

performance on protections from con-

flicts of interest than on shareholder

rights in corporate governance as

measured by Doing Business, with the

largest gap between the 2 dimensions

in East Asia and the Pacific and Latin

America and the Caribbean.

Worldwide, India, France, Albania,

Croatia and Switzerland have among

the highest scores on the 3 new in-

dices. Coincidentally, both India and

Switzerland introduced legislation in

the past year that directly addressed

some of the new components mea-

sured—India with a new companies

act and Switzerland with a federal

ordinance on abusive compensation.

Among the regions with lower average

scores on the 3 new indices, Sub-

Saharan Africa suffers from having

less developed securities regulations

and capital markets, while the re-

sults in East Asia and the Pacific and

Latin America and the Caribbean

are attributable mostly to outdated

company laws and the heterogeneity

of the economies in these regions. In

East Asia and the Pacific financial hubs

with strong securities commissions

and corresponding regulations—such

as Hong Kong SAR, China; Singapore;

and Malaysia—score well, in contrast

with some of the smaller Pacific islands.

A similar phenomenon is apparent in

Latin America and the Caribbean when

comparing Brazil and Colombia, which

have the region’s highest scores, with

such economies as Haiti, Grenada and

St. Lucia.

Globally, the results are in line with the

results of research in this area sug-

gesting positive correlations between

TABLE 9.1 OECD high-income economies offer the strongest protections overall and as measured by the new indices

Region

Average score (0–10)

Extent of conflict of interest

regulation index

Extent of shareholder

governance index

Strength of minority investor protection

index

OECD high income 6.4 6.2 6.3

Europe & Central Asia 6.0 5.9 5.9

South Asia 5.2 5.3 5.3

East Asia & Pacific 5.5 4.5 5.0

Middle East & North Africa 4.8 4.6 4.7

Latin America & Caribbean 5.1 4.1 4.6

Sub-Saharan Africa 4.8 4.4 4.6

Note: The strength of minority investor protection index is the average of the 2 other indices shown here. The extent of conflict of interest regulation index is the average of the extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of shareholder suits indices. The extent of shareholder governance index is the average of the extent of shareholder rights, strength of governance structure and extent of corporate transparency indices. For details on how the indices are constructed, see the data notes. Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 9.4 Greater protection of minority shareholders is associated with greater market capitalization

Distance to frontier score for protecting minority investors (0–100), 2014

Market capitalization of listed companies (% of GDP), 2012

0 50 100 150 200

100

Note: The correlation between the distance to frontier score for protecting minority investors and market capitalization as a percentage of GDP is 0.34. The relationship is significant at the 5% level after controlling for income per capita. The sample includes 116 economies for which data on market capitalization are available. Source: Doing Business database; World Bank, World Development Indicators database.

81PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS

minority investor protection and eco-

nomic outcomes: economies that have

stronger regulation of related-party

transactions and a greater minority

shareholder role in corporate gover-

nance also tend to have, for example,

higher market capitalization (figure

9.4).

Moreover, economies that tend to have

greater shareholder involvement in cor-

porate governance, as measured by the

3 new indices, also tend to have greater

protection of minority shareholders in

prejudicial related-party transactions,

as measured by the 3 existing indices.

The results thus confirm the validity

of using the quality of regulation of

related-party transactions as a proxy

for the overall quality of corporate

governance.

Unsurprisingly, the economies that

score best on the new indices have

active stock exchanges with the

requisite legal frameworks and

enforcement agencies. Among the 189

economies covered by Doing Business,

124 apply stronger regulations to listed

companies than to nonlisted ones, so

that shareholders of listed companies

are more protected.12 In all OECD high-

income economies the regulations that

apply to listed companies are more

protective of minority shareholders,

consistent with the more developed

capital markets in these economies

(figure 9.5). Sub-Saharan Africa is

the only region where the majority of

economies provide the same level of

protection for minority shareholders

in both types of companies, further

confirming the link with the level of

development of capital markets.

But applying the same standards to

both types of companies does not

necessarily mean better overall pro-

tection of shareholders. Somewhat

counterintuitively, data show that the

larger the gap, the better the overall

protection: minority investors are

more protected in economies that

distinguish between shareholders

of listed companies and sharehold-

ers of nonlisted ones (figure 9.6).

Indeed, economies that distinguish

between these shareholder groups

have adopted 55% on average of the

good practices captured by the 3 new

indices—while those that do not dis-

tinguish have adopted 39% on average.

FIGURE 9.6 Minority investors are more protected overall in economies that distinguish between shareholders of listed companies and shareholders of nonlisted ones

Sub-Saharan Africa

Latin America

& Caribbean

Middle East & North Africa

East Asia & Pacific

South Asia

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Nonlisted companiesListed companies

Average share of good practices measured by the 3 new indices that apply (%)

Note: The 3 new indices are the extent of shareholder rights, strength of governance structure and extent of corporate transparency indices. Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 9.5 OECD high-income economies systematically offer more protection for shareholders of listed companies than for shareholders of nonlisted ones

100

0 OECD high

income South Asia

Europe & Central Asia

Middle East & North Africa

East Asia & Pacific

Latin America & Caribbean

Sub-Saharan Africa

Higher protection in listed companies Same protection in listed and nonlisted companies

31 7 21 15 16 17 17

5 5

Economies by relative level of shareholder protection in listed and nonlisted companies (%)

Note: Shareholder protection is as measured by the extent of shareholder rights, strength of governance structure and extent of corporate transparency indices. The numbers shown in the bars are the number of economies in each category within each region. Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 201582

CONCLUSION Results on the 3 new indices highlight

great variation across the 189 econo-

mies covered in the rights, responsibili-

ties and protections afforded to minority

shareholders, whether they are invest-

ing in a nonlisted company or in a listed

one. The new data set brings attention

to areas of corporate governance that

are often overlooked by policy makers.

It also sheds light on the protection of

shareholders in nonlisted companies,

an aspect on which data are seldom

collected and yet that could prove to be

a particularly important area of legisla-

tion and source of economic growth in

economies with less developed stock

exchanges and capital markets.

More generally, the new indices should

prove to be helpful in moving beyond

a focus on the regulation of related-

party transactions and identifying a

broader array of features that could be

lacking in the corporate law and securi-

ties regulations of some economies—

contributing to sounder regulations

that both protect minority investors

and enhance entrepreneurs’ access to

equity finance.

NOTES This case study was written by Nadine Abi

Chakra and Hervé Kaddoura.

1. Djankov, La Porta and others 2008.

Private benefits of control are defined as

the economic advantages of a majority

ownership stake.

2. Black and others 2010; Dharmapala and

Khanna 2013.

3. McLean, Zhang and Zhao 2012.

4. Cremers and Ferrell forthcoming;

Balasubramanian, Black and Khanna 2010;

Caixe and Krauter 2013.

5. Lima and Sanvicente 2013.

6. Chen, Chen and Wei 2011.

7. Malhotra, Poteau and Fritz 2013; Black and

Kim 2012; Guo and Masulis 2013; Lo, Wong

and Firth 2010; Hodgson and Ruel 2012.

8. See the data notes for the full list of

components added this year.

9. Cross-shareholding refers to 2 independent

companies acquiring shares in each other.

10. Gilson 2000; Lima and Sanvicente 2013;

Bartha, Konchitchkib and Landsmanc 2013;

Lang, Lins and Maffett 2012.

11. The 3 existing indices are the extent of

disclosure, extent of director liability and

ease of shareholder suits indices.

12. For the purposes of the protecting minority

investors indicators, nonlisted companies

are defined as joint stock companies before

they are listed on any stock exchange,

or their functional equivalent under the

respective legislation of the economies

covered by Doing Business, and do not

include other types of companies such

as limited liability companies or sole

proprietorships.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Paying taxes Trends before and after the financial crisis

Taxes matter for the economy. They provide the sustainable funding needed for social programs and public investments

to promote economic growth and

development and build a prosperous

and orderly society. But policy makers

face a difficult challenge in formulat-

ing good tax policies: they need to

find the right balance between raising

revenue and ensuring that tax rates

and the administrative burden of tax

compliance do not deter participation

in the system or discourage business

activity. This balancing act is intensi-

fied during periods of crisis. In an

economic downturn some categories

of public spending may automati-

cally rise, putting pressure on deficits.

Governments may at times need to

deliver tax-based stimulus packages

while also providing reassurance to

markets that deficits will be reversed

and public debt contained.

WHY TAX POLICY MATTERS DURING CRISES The global financial crisis of 2008–09

had a dramatic impact on national tax

revenue and led to a sharp increase in

deficits and public debt. The decline in

revenue began in 2008, when general

government revenue fell by an average

of 0.7% of GDP worldwide. Revenue de-

clined by another 1.1% of GDP in 2009.1

The financial crisis led to a shrinking

of economic activity and trade in most

economies.

Fiscal measures were part of the policy

toolkit that governments brought to

bear in supporting the recovery. Policy

makers in most economies applied

measures aimed at improving revenue

collection while keeping the taxes lev-

ied on businesses and households as

low as possible, trying to strike a bal-

ance between reducing the disincentive

effects of high taxes and generating

adequate resources to fund essential

expenditures.2 Governments generally

reduced the rates and broadened the

base for corporate income tax while in-

creasing the rates for the consumption

tax or value added tax (VAT).3

In the European Union, for example,

most member countries raised per-

sonal income tax rates—often tem-

porarily, through general surcharges

or through solidarity contributions

from high-income earners. In addi-

tion, several EU members reduced

their corporate income tax rate and

changed corporate tax bases. Most of

these changes were aimed at providing

tax relief for investment in physical

capital or research and development

(R&D) while limiting the deductibility of

other items. By contrast, EU members

commonly increased VAT rates along

with statutory rates for energy and

environmental taxes and for alcohol

and tobacco taxes.4 Some govern-

ments opted to broaden the VAT base

by applying VAT to goods and services

that had previously been subject to

a zero rate and levying the standard

VAT rate on products that had had a

reduced VAT rate.5 Unifying VAT rates

Over the 9-year period ending in 2012, the global average total tax rate as measured by Doing Business fell by 9.1 percentage points. Its rate of decline was fastest during the global financial crisis period (2008–10), averaging 1.8 percentage points a year, then started slowing in 2011.

The average profit tax rate dropped sharply during the crisis period and then started to increase slightly in 2012. The average rate for labor taxes and mandatory contributions was stable throughout the 9-year period.

The administrative burden of tax compliance has been steadily easing since 2004 with the growing use of electronic systems for filing and paying taxes.

During the financial crisis there was an increase in the number of tax reforms. The pace of reform accelerated with the onset of the crisis, then slowed in subsequent periods.

DOING BUSINESS 201584

across all goods and services increases

revenue and reduces compliance and

administrative costs.6

Along with falling revenue, the global

financial and economic crisis also led to

growing tax compliance risks in some

economies. Compliance with tax obli-

gations and collection of tax revenue

are important to support social pro-

grams and services, for example. But

in an economic downturn businesses

tend to underreport tax liabilities,

underpay the taxes due, fail to file their

tax returns on time and even engage

in transactions in the informal sector.7

Many economies redesigned their tax

systems during that period with the

objective of easing compliance with tax

obligations.

BEFORE AND AFTER THE CRISIS—A 9-YEAR GLOBAL TAX PROFILE Doing Business has been monitoring

how governments tax businesses

through its paying taxes indicators for

9 years, looking at both tax admin-

istration and tax rates. The data give

interesting insights into the tax policies

implemented during the financial crisis

of 2008–09. Doing Business looks at

tax systems from the perspective of

the business, through 3 indicators.

The total tax rate measures all the tax-

es and mandatory contributions that

a standardized medium-size domestic

company must pay in a given year as

a percentage of its commercial profit.8

These taxes and contributions include

corporate income tax, labor taxes and

mandatory contributions, property

taxes, vehicle taxes, capital gains tax,

environmental taxes and a variety of

smaller taxes. The taxes withheld (such

as personal income tax) or collected by

the company and remitted to the tax

authorities (such as VAT) but not borne

by the company are excluded from the

total tax rate calculation.

Two other indicators measure the com-

plexity of an economy’s tax compliance

system. The number of payments

reflects the total number of taxes

and contributions paid, the method of

payment, the frequency of filing and

payment, and the number of agencies

involved. The time indicator measures

the hours per year required to comply

with 3 major taxes: corporate income

tax, labor taxes and mandatory contri-

butions, and VAT or sales tax.

The indicators show that for businesses

around the world, paying taxes became

easier and less costly over the 9 years

from 2004 through 2012.

Falling tax cost for businesses Globally, the total tax rate for the

Doing Business case study company

averaged 43.1% of commercial profit in

2012.9 Over the 9-year period ending

that year, the average total tax rate

fell by 9.1 percentage points—around

1 percentage point a year. Its rate of

decline was fastest during the crisis

period (2008–10), averaging 1.8 per-

centage points a year, then started

slowing in 2011. The total tax rate fell

by an average of 0.3 percentage points

in 2011.

The average rate for all 3 types of taxes

included in the total tax rate—profit,

labor and “other” taxes—also fell over

the 9 years (figure 10.1).10 “Other” taxes

decreased the most, by 5.9 percentage

points—followed by profit taxes (2.7

percentage points) and labor taxes (0.5

percentage points).

The main driver of the drop in “other”

taxes was the replacement of the

cascading sales tax with VAT by a

number of economies, many of them in

Sub-Saharan Africa. Seven economies

made this change during the 9 years,

6 of them during the crisis period.11 This

shift substantially reduces the tax cost

for businesses: while a cascading sales

tax is a turnover tax applied to the full

value at every stage of production, a

VAT is imposed only on the value added

at each stage, and the final consumers

bear the burden.

While the total tax rate fell in all

regions over the 9-year period,

Sub-Saharan Africa had the biggest

FIGURE 10.1 A global trend of steady decline in the total tax rate

Other taxesLabor taxProfit tax

201220112010200920082007200620052004

Global average total tax rate (% of commercial profit)

85PAYING TAXES

decline. Its average total tax rate

dropped by almost 17 percentage

points between 2004 and 2012. This

aligned the region more closely with

the rest of the world, though its aver-

age total tax rate still remains the

highest, at 53.4% in 2012 (figure 10.2).12

In addition, many African economies

lowered rates for the profit tax, reduc-

ing its share in the total tax rate. The

size of the tax cost for businesses

matters for investment and growth.

Where taxes are high, businesses are

more inclined to opt out of the formal

sector. Given the disincentive effects

associated with very high tax rates,

the continual decline in the total tax

rate has been a good trend for Africa.

Other economies introduced new taxes

during the 9-year period. For example,

in 2010 Hungary introduced a sector-

specific surtax on business activity in

retail, telecommunications and energy

supply. The new tax remained in force

until December 31, 2012. In 2009

Romania introduced a minimum

income tax. Also in 2009, the Kyrgyz

Republic introduced a new real estate

tax that is set at 14,000 soms (about

$270) per square meter and further

adjusted depending on the city loca-

tion, the property’s location within the

city and the type of business.

The average profit tax rate in most

economies fell consistently between

2004 and 2010, dropping most sharp-

ly during the crisis period (2008–10),

and then started to increase slightly

in 2011 and 2012. The average rate

for labor taxes and mandatory con-

tributions remained stable throughout

the 9-year period regardless of the

financial crisis. In several economies

this reflects concerns on the part of

the authorities about the impact of

aging populations and the need to

strengthen the financial situation of

pension systems.

The 9-year trends for the 3 types of

taxes included in the total tax rate are

reflected in the changing composition

of this rate. On average, labor taxes

and mandatory contributions account

for the largest share of the global total

tax rate today, having risen from 32%

of the total tax rate in 2004 to almost

38% in 2012. The profit tax share rose

slightly, while “other” taxes fell from

FIGURE 10.2 Among regions, Sub-Saharan Africa had the biggest reduction in the total tax rate

201220112010200920082007200620052004

Regional average total tax rate (% of commercial profit)

Europe & Central Asia East Asia & Pacific

OECD high income Latin America & Caribbean Middle East & North AfricaSouth Asia Sub-Saharan Africa

BOX 10.1 Using technology to make tax compliance easier

Rolling out new information and communication technologies for filing and paying taxes and then educating taxpayers and tax officials in their use are not easy tasks for any government. But electronic tax systems, if implement- ed well and used by most taxpayers, benefit both tax authorities and firms. For tax authorities, electronic filing lightens workloads and reduces opera- tional costs such as for processing, handling and storing tax returns. This al- lows administrative resources to be allocated to other tasks, such as auditing or providing customer services.

Electronic filing is also more convenient for users. It reduces the time and cost required to comply with tax obligations and eliminates the need for taxpayers to wait in line at the tax office.a It also allows faster refunds. And it can lead to a lower rate of errors.

Electronic systems for filing and paying taxes have become more common worldwide. Of the 314 reforms making it easier or less costly to pay taxes that Doing Business has recorded since 2004, 88 included the introduction or enhancement of online filing and payment systems. These and other im- provements to simplify tax compliance reduced the administrative burden to comply with tax obligations. By 2012, 76 economies had fully implemented electronic systems for filing and paying taxes as measured by Doing Business. OECD high-income economies have the largest representation in this group.

a. Bird and Zolt 2008.

DOING BUSINESS 201586

32% of the total in 2004 to only 25%

in 2012.

Easing of the tax administrative burden To comply with tax obligations in 2012,

the Doing Business case study company

would have made 26.7 payments and

put in 268 hours (nearly 7 weeks) on

average. This reflects an easing of the

administrative burden—with 7 fewer

payments and 62 fewer hours than in

2004.

Consumption taxes have consistently

been the most time consuming, re-

quiring 106 hours in 2012, with labor

taxes and mandatory contributions

not far behind (figure 10.3). Corporate

income tax takes the least time. While

corporate income tax can be complex,

it often requires only one annual return.

Labor and consumption taxes are often

filed and paid monthly and involve re-

petitive calculations for each employee

and transaction. And consumption

taxes in the form of VAT require filing

information on both input and output

ledgers.

The administrative burden for all the

types of taxes eased over the 9 years.

But it eased the most for labor taxes

and mandatory contributions, with the

time for compliance dropping by 23

hours on average and the number of

payments by 4. This is thanks mainly to

the introduction of electronic systems

for filing and paying taxes and to ad-

ministrative changes merging the filing

and payment of labor taxes levied on

the same tax base into one return and

one payment. For labor and consump-

tion taxes, with their requirements for

repetitive calculations, the use of ac-

counting software and electronic filing

and payment systems can offer great

potential time savings (box 10.1).

In contrast to the total tax rate, the

time for compliance declined the most

just before the onset of the financial

crisis for all 3 types of taxes: profit

tax, labor tax and consumption taxes.

The number of payments decreased

steadily over the 9-year period.

PATTERNS IN TAX REFORMS DURING THE CRISIS PERIOD Over the 9-year period ending in 2012,

tax reforms peaked in 2008. Doing

Business recorded 118 changes imple-

mented that year making it easier or

less costly to pay taxes (figure 10.4).13

The pace of reform slowed in the period

immediately after the crisis: in 2011

Doing Business recorded only 43 such

changes.

Changes making it easier or less costly to pay taxes During the crisis period (2008–10) the

most common changes affecting the

paying taxes indicators were those

cutting the corporate income tax rate

(figure 10.5). Doing Business recorded

58 such changes during the 3-year

FIGURE 10.3 The administrative burden of compliance has eased for all types of taxes

100

110

120

130

201220112010200920082007200620052004

Global average time (hours per year)

Consumption taxes (sales and VAT)Labor taxProfit tax

201220112010200920082007200620052004

Other taxesLabor taxProfit tax

Global average payments (number)

87PAYING TAXES

period. The next most common chang-

es were those enhancing or introducing

electronic systems for filing and paying

taxes online—38 such changes were

reported in total. These were aimed at

easing the administrative burden of tax

compliance to counter the greater risk

of tax evasion during economic down-

turns. Also common were changes to

tax deductibility and depreciation rules

that would respectively lower the tax

cost for businesses and provide them

with greater flexibility in planning their

cash flow (with a total of 33 recorded).

Reducing the corporate income tax

rate was a change that many gov-

ernments made during the financial

crisis (box 10.2). In 2008–10 around

47 economies cut their rates. Moldova

temporarily reduced its rate from 15%

to 0%, effectively eliminating any tax on

profits in 2008–11, then set the rate at

12% from January 1, 2012. Some econo-

mies (Canada, Fiji, Greece, Indonesia,

Slovenia, the United Kingdom) reduced

their rates gradually, over several

years. Others introduced temporary

additional rate reductions. Vietnam cut

its corporate income tax rate from 25%

to 17.5% in 2009 as part of a stimulus

package for small and medium-size

businesses, then restored the standard

rate for the following year.

Other economies abolished their

minimum income tax (France, Timor-

Leste). Romania, having introduced

a minimum income tax in May 2009,

abolished it in October 2010. Some

economies amended their income tax

brackets rather than reducing rates.

Portugal introduced tax brackets for

profit tax in January 2009. Taxable

corporate income up to €12,500 be-

came subject to half the standard tax

rate, while all income over this amount

was taxed at the standard 25% rate.

To stimulate investment in specific

areas, some economies increased the

percentage of allowance that could be

applied on certain assets or allowed the

deduction of more expenses. Thailand,

for example, encouraged capital invest-

ment with accelerated depreciation for

equipment and machinery acquired

before December 2010. Australia

introduced an investment allow-

ance—an up-front deduction of 30%

of the cost of new plant contracted

for between January 1, 2009, and June

30, 2009, and installed by June 30,

FIGURE 10.4 An accelerating pace of tax reform during the global financial crisis

East Asia & Pacific Europe & Central Asia OECD high income

Latin America & Caribbean Middle East & North Africa

South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa

120

100

0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Number of changes making it easier or less costly to pay taxes as measured by Doing Business

Note: The data refer to the 174 economies included in DB2006 (2004). The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Brunei Darussalam, Cyprus, Kosovo, Liberia, Libya, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Myanmar, Qatar, San Marino and South Sudan were added in subsequent years. The changes shown for each year are those recorded from June 1 of that year to June 1 of the following year. Source: Doing Business database.

FIGURE 10.5 During the crisis period many economies cut the corporate income tax rate while continuing to improve tax administration

Abolished or merged taxes Introduced or enhanced electronic system Reduced labor taxes

Made changes in tax depreciation or deductibility rules that reduced tax cost

Reduced corporate income tax rate

0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Changes making it easier or less costly to pay taxes as measured by Doing Business, by type

DOING BUSINESS 201588

2010. Austria introduced accelerated

depreciation (30% for the first year)

for tangible fixed assets produced or

acquired within a specified time period.

Spain introduced unlimited tax depre-

ciation for investments made in new

fixed assets and immovable property

in 2009 and 2010, later extending this

to investments made before December

31, 2012.

Changes making it more complex or costly to pay taxes Some economies introduced new

taxes (16 in total in 2008–10). These

were mostly small taxes such as en-

vironmental taxes, vehicle taxes, road

taxes and other social taxes. Finland

increased energy taxes while cutting

the income tax rate during the reces-

sion. In 2011 Italy raised VAT and local

property tax rates, though it also cut

labor and corporate income tax rates.

In 2010 Pakistan increased the VAT

rate from 16% to 17% and raised the

minimum tax rate from 0.5% to 1%

levied on turnover.

Other tax changes involved increases

in labor taxes and mandatory contri-

butions borne by the employer (figure

10.6). Estonia increased the unemploy-

ment insurance contribution rate twice

during 2009, from 0.3% to 1% on June 1,

2009, and to 1.4% on August 1, 2009.

Iceland increased the social security

contribution rate for employers from

5.34% to 7% in July 2009—and the pen-

sion contribution rate from 6% to 7%.

CONCLUSION The financial crisis had a substantial

impact on national tax revenue, leading

in many economies to larger govern-

ment deficits and higher levels of public

debt. This may have helped trigger

efforts to redesign tax systems, with

governments aiming to strike the right

balance between raising additional rev-

enue and avoiding a greater tax burden

on businesses.

BOX 10.2 The Republic of Korea—a comprehensive approach to supporting an economy in recession

The 2008 global credit crunch and ensuing economic recession hit Korea hard. Heavily dependent on manufactured exports and closely integrated with other developed markets through both trade and financial links, the Korean economy contracted sharply in 2009 and public finances came under pressure. Reflecting diminished confidence in the short-term outlook, the value of the Korean won fell sharply. This helped lead to rapid consideration of a package of measures aimed at putting in place the conditions for a recovery.

The government set priorities for tax policy: supporting low- and middle-income taxpayers, facilitating job creation, pro- moting investment and sustainable growth, rationalizing the tax system and ensuring the sustainability of public finances.a

Measures to support low- and middle-income taxpayers included changes in both individual and corporate taxation (such as a special tax credit for small and medium-size enterprises). To support the continuation of family businesses, the govern- ment reduced the inheritance tax and allowed deductions of up to 10 billion won (about $10 million) when a small or medium- size enterprise is inherited, extending this to 50 billion won (about $50 million) in 2014. To help self-employed individuals who were forced to close their businesses in 2009, the government offered an exemption from paying delinquent taxes until the end of 2010 for those starting a new business or getting a new job. The exemption was further extended until the end of 2014. To support local business development, it gave a corporate income tax deduction of 100% for the first 5 years and 50% for the next 2 years to companies relocating to Korea from abroad. To support future growth, it introduced R&D incentives for companies and also increased the deductibility of education expenses for individuals.

Korea also accelerated the implementation of some tax changes already in the pipeline. It reduced the corporate income tax rate for taxable income below 200 million won ($197,972) from 13% to 11% in 2008 and to 10% starting in 2010. For the up- per bracket (above 200 million won) it reduced the rate from 25% to 22% in 2009 and to 20% in 2010 and thereafter. Korea reduced the personal income tax rate by 1 percentage point for the middle bracket and by 2 percentage points for the top bracket while also increasing allowable deductions.

In addition, Korea strengthened tax compliance regulation, imposing penalties on high-income earners for failure to issue cash receipts and introducing more severe punishment for frequent and high-profile tax evaders. It also increased the stat- ute of limitation for prosecution for certain tax crimes.

Supporters of Korea’s approach believe that it enabled the country to recover faster and more strongly from the global crisis than most other OECD countries.b Korea was one of only a handful of OECD countries that actually registered a reduction in public debt levels over the period 2009–13. Most other advanced economies saw rapid increases in public indebtedness as a result of policy interventions to deal with the effects of the financial crisis.c

a. Korea, Ministry of Strategy and Finance 2012. b. OECD 2012. c. International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database.

89PAYING TAXES

The data collected for the paying taxes

indicators show a clear trend of in-

creasing changes to tax policies during

the crisis. Among the most common

changes as measured by the indica-

tors were those cutting the corporate

income tax rate while increasing VAT

rates and those enhancing or intro-

ducing electronic systems for filing

and paying taxes. Changes easing the

administrative burden of tax compli-

ance countered the greater risk of tax

evasion that arises during economic

downturns. In addition, governments

introduced new tax deductibility and

depreciation rules that would lower the

tax cost for businesses, provide them

with greater flexibility in planning their

cash flow and stimulate investment in

specific areas.

NOTES This case study was written by Michelle-

Christine Hanf, Joanna Nasr and Nadia Novik.

1. World Bank, World Development Indicators

database.

2. OECD 2010b.

3. Buti and Zourek 2012.

4. Buti and Zourek 2012.

5. Buti and Zourek 2012.

6. OECD 2010a.

7. Brondolo 2009.

8. Commercial profit is net profit before all

taxes borne. It differs from the conventional

profit before tax, reported in financial

statements. In computing profit before

tax, many of the taxes borne by a firm are

deductible. In computing commercial profit,

these taxes are not deductible. Commercial

profit therefore presents a clear picture of

the actual profit of a business before any

of the taxes it bears in the course of the

fiscal year. It is computed as sales minus

cost of goods sold, minus gross salaries,

minus administrative expenses, minus

other expenses, minus provisions, plus

capital gains (from the property sale) minus

interest expense, plus interest income and

minus commercial depreciation. To compute

the commercial depreciation, a straight-line

depreciation method is applied, with the

following rates: 0% for the land, 5% for the

building, 10% for the machinery, 33% for the

computers, 20% for the office equipment,

20% for the truck and 10% for business

development expenses. Commercial profit

amounts to 59.4 times income per capita.

9. This is an unweighted average across 189

economies.

10. The terms profit tax and corporate income

tax are used interchangeably in this case

study. “Other” taxes include small taxes

such as vehicle taxes, environmental

taxes, road taxes, property taxes, property

transfer fees, taxes on checks and

cascading sales tax.

11. The 7 economies are Burundi, the

Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, The

Gambia, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone and

the Republic of Yemen.

12. This is the average for all Sub-Saharan

African economies included in Doing

Business 2013 (45 in total).

13. These reforms include both major and minor

reforms as classified by Doing Business.

These include changes in statutory rates,

changes in deductibility of expenses and

depreciation rules, administrative changes

affecting time to comply with 3 major

taxes (corporate income tax, labor taxes

and mandatory contributions, and VAT or

sales tax) and introduction or elimination of

taxes. Under the paying taxes methodology,

the tax system assessment for calendar

year 2008 covers reforms recorded from

June 1, 2008, to June 1, 2009, a period

that includes the start of the financial

crisis in September 2008 and the months

immediately following it.

FIGURE 10.6 Among other changes to tax systems during the crisis period, those introducing new taxes were the most common

Introduced new tax

Increased labor taxes

Made changes in tax depreciation or deductibility rules that increased tax cost Increased corporate income tax rate

0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Changes making it more complex or costly to pay taxes as measured by Doing Business, by type

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Enforcing contracts How judicial efficiency supports freedom of contract

Freedom of contract is the abil-ity of adults and groups—such as corporations and other legal entities—to freely decide whether to

enter into an enforceable agreement and

to determine the rights and obligations

of their bargain. This freedom is essential

to an efficient economy: without it, and

without enforcement of contracts, there

would be little stability in financial ar-

rangements, and uncertainty and lack

of trust would discourage people from

participating in economic life.

This case study explores what freedom

of contract means and examines how

it is regulated in a sample of 34 econo-

mies belonging to different regions and

income groups, chosen mostly on the

basis of the quality of the data col-

lected by the Doing Business team in

each economy.1 It also looks at judicial

efficiency in contract resolution in the

same 34 economies, using data for

the enforcing contracts indicators

as a proxy for judicial efficiency. Even

substantial freedom of contract could

become irrelevant without effective

mechanisms for resolving commercial

disputes, because firms would find

themselves operating in an environ-

ment where compliance with contrac-

tual obligations is not the norm.2 As in

previous years, the ranking on the ease

of enforcing contracts continues to

be based exclusively on the time, cost

and procedural complexity of resolving

commercial disputes before local first-

instance courts. This year’s research

on freedom of contract is a one-time

exercise that will not be replicated in

future editions of the report and has no

implications for the data or rankings

for enforcing contracts. Additionally,

in carrying out this exercise the team

does not intend to advocate in favor of

more or less freedom of contract but

instead aims to provide an overview of

local regulations.

In regulating freedom of contract,

economies worldwide have had to

draw the line between very extensive

and very limited freedom of contract

(figure 11.1). Most have drawn the line

somewhere in between. Where freedom

of contract is very narrowly regulated,

most transactions fall within the strict

schemes dictated by the law, leaving

the contracting parties with limited

negotiating power. But where it is not

narrowly regulated, the law contains

only the most common limitations

(such as for public policy reasons and

to prevent fraud and duress), allow-

ing the parties to freely negotiate the

terms of their agreement.

Where there are few limitations to

freedom of contract, 2 capable and

consenting adults would be able to

conclude a 10-year loan contract with

an interest rate of 50% or even contract

to sell a house worth $1 million for a

penny. But they would not be able to

circumvent public policy limitations

and conclude a contract by which, for

example, one of the parties sells himself

as a slave or forces the other into an

unwanted agreement—limitations of

this sort have become widely accepted

in modern law. While most would agree

In regulating freedom of contract, authorities around the world have had to strike a balance between the desire to give contracting parties the ability to enter into mutually beneficial arrangements and the need to provide adequate safeguards against possible abuse.

Worldwide, the most common limitations to freedom of contract stem from local legislation, through which the government attempts to draw a boundary between the use and misuse of bargaining power. Other limitations stem from the courts, which play a vital role in shaping freedom of contract by deciding whether or not to enforce certain agreements.

In a sample of 34 economies, none allow the parties to a contract to exclude liability for gross negligence or for damages resulting in personal injury. Similarly, all of the economies consider contracts void or voidable if concluded in contravention of public policy or under duress, fraud or coercion. Only 4—the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka—set no statutory limit on interest rates. Almost half (14) explicitly prohibit covenants restricting the alienation of real property.

Even where there is considerable freedom of contract, slow resolution of contract disputes can impose implicit limitations. Without reasonably expeditious dispute resolution, the meaning of freedom of contract can be greatly eroded.

91ENFORCING CONTRACTS

that contracts contravening public

policy should be illegitimate, some

would disagree on whether the first 2

contracts should be enforced.

HOW THE LITERATURE DEFINES FREEDOM OF CONTRACT In the legal and economic literature

there is wide consensus on a definition

of freedom of contract, intended to

be the power of contracting parties

to freely determine the content of

their agreement without interference

from the government or from other

individuals.3 The concept is generally

given both a negative and a positive

meaning. Negative freedom of contract

is freedom from interference by the

government or by other individuals,

while positive freedom of contract is

the ability of parties to freely deter-

mine the content of an agreement.4

While there is broad agreement on

a general definition, every economy

limits freedom of contract in different

ways. In regulating these limitations,

the main debate has centered on the

role that should be played by the courts

and by the state in general. In the late

1800s and early 1900s legislators,

influenced by classical contract theory,

relied on the notion that only the parties

to a contract can evaluate whether it

is beneficial, leading to the idea that

whether agreements are prudent and

profitable should be determined not

by the courts but by the parties them-

selves.5 At the time, the private sphere

represented a realm in which individual

freedom and autonomy were protected

from state intervention. Any legisla-

tion that disturbed parties’ equality

was seen as an arbitrary interference

with liberty of contract, which no

government could legally justify. In this

context freedom of contract had few

limitations; legislators were more con-

cerned with protecting the sanctity of

the bargain because they believed that

maximizing individual profits through

freedom of contract would promote

efficiency in commercial markets.6

During the mid-1900s, however,

governments and courts started to

acknowledge the tension between

the parties’ desire for certainty and

stability in private agreements and the

need to ensure fairness for weak and

vulnerable individuals; concepts such

as fraud, duress and undue influence

began to play a bigger role in court

decisions on limitations to freedom of

contract.7 In this context freedom of

contract was no longer seen as abso-

lute but instead as a liberty to be en-

joyed within the framework of the law,

designed to protect individuals from

threats to health, safety, morals and

welfare. The court decisions spurred

a debate over the government’s role

in imposing limitations on freedom of

contract, and a more paternalistic ap-

proach emerged. This entailed overrul-

ing individuals’ contractual preferences

for their own good, to protect them

from the damaging consequences of

their agreements.8 Several countries

started to regulate contractual rela-

tionships under the assumption that in

certain circumstances people are un-

able to identify their own preferences.9

Today most economies regulate limita-

tions to freedom of contract by pairing

this paternalistic approach with a

program of social justice animated

by distributive motives, economic ef-

ficiency and overall fairness, which has

led to rules favoring some groups in the

struggle for welfare.10

U.S. labor law offers a great example

of this evolution. In the late 1800s

and early 1900s courts invalidated

laws that limited freedom of contract,

including laws with minimum wage

requirements, laws with restrictions on

maximum working hours or union par-

ticipation and federal child labor laws.11

In these cases the court assumed a

near equality of bargaining power and

found it anomalous that the law would

favor one party over the other. This ap-

proach dominated in the early 1900s

and culminated in the 1905 decision

Lochner v. New York, in which the court

invalidated a New York law limiting the

daily number of hours a baker could

work. However, this Lochnerian freedom

of contract, the freedom that required

parties to live with their duly executed

contracts however overreaching or

disadvantageous to the weaker party,

succumbed to the state’s interests.12

During the late 1930s legislation and

case law relying on the notion that

countries should retain the right to

protect individuals from entering into

a contract against their health, safety

or welfare started to emerge. Laws

FIGURE 11.1 Spectrum of the possible limitations to freedom of contract

Parties have little to no freedom in negotiating

contract conditions because of numerous

limitations imposed by law.

All economies in the sample fall within this category.

Parties have considerable freedom in negotiating

contract conditions because the law limits freedom of contract only for reasons relating to public policy,

fraud and duress.

Very limited freedom of contract

Midrange freedom of contract

Very extensive freedom of contract

DOING BUSINESS 201592

regulating child labor, maximum hours,

health and safety, sexual and moral

harassment, and nondiscrimination in

recruitment and hiring were more and

more often enforced by the courts.

When distributive motives started to

play a bigger role in labor laws, so did

measures regulating minimum wage

and retirement security.

Today, despite the differences in ap-

proaches to setting the boundary

between the use and misuse of bargain-

ing power, some limitations—such as

those relating to voluntariness, freedom

from coercion, and natural and legal

capacity—are universally accepted.

Worldwide, there are laws intended to

prevent people from using force, secre-

cy, duress or fraud to compel others to

enter into contracts that they would not

agree to under different circumstances.

Similarly, there are contract rules in ef-

fect to void agreements that appear to

have been freely entered into but were

not in actuality, because of the incapac-

ity of one of the contracting parties.

These limitations have become an in-

dispensable part of any comprehensive

definition of freedom of contract, now

intended to be both freedom of the

parties from interference by the state

and freedom from imposition by one

another.13 Among the 34 economies in

the sample, all have legislation deeming

contracts unenforceable for reasons of

public policy, duress, coercion, fraud,

incapacity or undue influence.

WHY FREEDOM OF CONTRACT MATTERS FOR FIRMS Freedom of contract is a critical in-

strument for economic progress and

efficiency.14 Its unrestricted exercise by

parties with equal bargaining power,

comparable skills and good knowledge

of relevant market conditions maximiz-

es individual welfare and promotes the

most efficient allocation of resources in

the marketplace.15 In addition, freedom

of contract contributes to the estab-

lishment of a functional economy in

which predictability is prized.16

Worldwide, the most common limita-

tions to freedom of contract stem from

the government, through its attempt

to draw a boundary between the

use and misuse of bargaining power.

Others stem from the courts, which

play a vital role in shaping freedom

of contract when deciding whether to

enforce certain agreements. Indeed,

people have true freedom of contract

only if the courts enforce their agree-

ments.17 Courts have a dual role in this

context—both to protect individuals

from unreasonable government regula-

tions and to clarify and apply rightful

limitations. Additionally, the judiciary

must also make sure that freedom of

contract remains meaningful by ensur-

ing timely enforcement of contracts.

WHAT METHODOLOGY WAS USED To investigate limitations to freedom of

contract in the 34 sampled economies,

the Doing Business team added several

new questions to this year’s question-

naire on enforcing contracts. These

questions focus on 10 possible limita-

tions to freedom of contract, relating

to issues ranging from land transfers

to consideration, choice of law and

limited liability clauses (box 11.1). To ob-

serve meaningful differences between

economies, the team focused on issues

that have been extensively debated

throughout the relevant literature and

case law, although a consensus has

BOX 11.1 Possible limitations to freedom of contract explored through this year’s research

Statutory limits on interest rates

Limitations on consideration and on determination of contract price in future agreements

Limitations on clauses restricting land transfers

Limitations on “choice of law” clauses in commercial contracts (clauses specifying that any dispute arising under the contract will be determined in accordance with the law of a particular jurisdiction)

Limitations relating to asymmetry of power and to unconscionability (a doctrine in contract law referring to terms that are so one-sided in favor of a party with superior bargaining power that they are contrary to good conscience)

Limitations on disclaimers on implied warranties (guarantees that the item sold is merchantable and fit for the purpose intended)

Limitations on clauses allowing termination at will (clauses usually in- cluded in employment agreements that permit an employee or employer to terminate the employment relationship at any time for any or no reason at all)

Limitations on clauses limiting liability, such as for negligence (conduct that departs from what would be expected of a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances)

Restrictions on terms included in standard-form contracts (contracts be- tween 2 parties in which the terms and conditions are set by one of the parties and the other party has little or no ability to negotiate more favor- able terms)

Limitations for reasons relating to public policy, capacity, duress, coercion, fraud and undue influence

93ENFORCING CONTRACTS

been reached on most of them. The

34 economies were chosen from the

189 covered by Doing Business in a way

that ensures a representative sample

across regions and income groups.

One area explored through this research

deals with the limitations imposed

by national laws on consideration,

traditionally defined as anything of

value promised to the other party when

concluding a contract. Consideration

often takes the form of money, though

it does not have to. In the sale of a

house, for example, the selling party’s

consideration could be the purchase

price or a promise to pay this price,

while the buyer’s consideration could

be the house. The team investigated

whether local courts can exercise any

scrutiny on the adequacy of consider-

ation and whether the determination

of consideration can be left to a future

agreement between the parties. If

freedom of contract is not restricted,

courts should exercise no scrutiny on

consideration as long as the parties

willingly and knowingly accepted the

terms of the contract. But if freedom of

contract is restricted, courts may rule

on the adequacy of consideration to

ensure the fairness of all transactions

carried out in the marketplace.

The inclusion of choice-of-law clauses

in international contracts was also ex-

amined. These clauses specify that any

dispute arising under the contract will

be determined under the law of a par-

ticular jurisdiction. Economies limiting

freedom of contract in this area usually

do not allow such clauses or allow them

only if the parties have a relationship

with the chosen jurisdiction. Those

without strict limitations on freedom of

contract do not forbid such provisions.

Other areas of research included in this

year’s questionnaire are somewhat

more controversial from a social, eco-

nomic and philosophical perspective.

Two research questions in particular

provide an interesting example of this

controversy: whether an economy

has any regulations setting a cap on

interest rates and what rules govern

asymmetry of power. These questions

go to the heart of whether usury laws

and laws governing an imbalance in

bargaining power should legitimately

impose limits on freedom of contract.

Both sides of the debate have been

defended at length. Those arguing in

favor of these laws conclude that with-

out them, free markets would produce

perverse incentives to take excessive

credit risks, which drive up the cost of

the welfare system as a whole.18 Those

arguing against them conclude that

courts should enforce all voluntary

contracts that do not produce nega-

tive consequences for others—while

redistribution of wealth should oc-

cur through the welfare system, not

through laws and regulations.19

On the question of asymmetry of

negotiating power, those who defend

freedom of contract argue that if

contracts signed between parties with

unequal bargaining power were treated

as invalid because of this asymmetry,

those with more power would refuse

to sign contracts with people with less

power, leading to the exclusion of these

people from the market.20 To capture

the differences in the legal treatment

of asymmetry of power in contracts,

the team collected data on whether lo-

cal laws contain restrictions on terms

that can be used in standard-form

contracts or on provisions allowing

termination at will. In both cases, as

in all other cases covered in this study,

it is assumed that both parties have

full legal capacity and entered into the

contract freely.

After analyzing the laws addressing

these issues in the sampled econo-

mies, the team counted the number of

limitations to freedom of contract in

each economy. The higher the number

of limitations, the more limited the

freedom of contract. The maximum

number of limitations in the study is

10. Any limitation, even in the form of

an exception to a general principle, is

counted; no relevance is given to the in-

tensity of the limitation. For limitations

on contract provisions restricting land

transfers, for example, 1 point is given

even if the limitations are not imposed

on all transactions but apply only to

those involving foreigners.

In carrying out this exercise the team

does not intend to advocate in favor of

more or less freedom of contract but

instead aims to provide an overview

of local regulations. Furthermore, in

counting the number of limitations

the team does not intend to suggest

that a lower number—connected with

greater freedom of contract in laws

and regulations—is more desirable. The

sole purpose in providing the number

of limitations is to understand how the

sampled economies regulate freedom

of contract, without giving any judg-

ment on the quality of the regulations

or on their desirability.

WHAT THE RESULTS SHOW Among the 34 economies covered,

Tunisia has the highest number of limi-

tations to freedom of contract, with 8

of the 10 limitations measured. At the

opposite end of the spectrum is the

Democratic Republic of Congo, with

only 3 of the 10 limitations (figure 11.2).

The results not only show that all 34

economies have struck a balance be-

tween the extremes of very limited and

very extensive freedom of contract;

they also reflect some consensus on

the limitations that should be imposed.

For example, none of the economies

allow the parties to a contract to

exclude liability for gross negligence

or for damages resulting in personal

injury. Similarly, none of them allow

contracts concluded in contraven-

tion of public policy or under duress,

fraud or coercion. And only 4 of the

economies—the Democratic Republic

DOING BUSINESS 201594

of Congo, Pakistan, the Philippines and

Sri Lanka—set no statutory limit on

interest rates.

But there is less agreement on other

limitations to freedom of contract. For

example, there is great variation among

the economies on whether the law pro-

hibits covenants restricting alienation

of real property. A clause of this type

would, for example, forbid the buyer

from selling the property for a certain

number of years after purchasing it. Of

the 34 economies, 14 explicitly prohibit

this kind of covenant, though 9 of these

14 economies allow restrictions on alien-

ation of real property when foreigners

are involved in the transaction. The rest

of the economies allow these contract

provisions.

Among the 7 regions covered, Europe

and Central Asia is the only one in which

no variation was found in the number

and type of limitations imposed on

freedom of contract. All sampled econo-

mies in the region have the following 6

limitations:

A cap is imposed by law on interest

rates.

Courts can exercise scrutiny on the

adequacy of consideration.

The determination of a contract

price cannot be left to a future

agreement, unless the contract

already establishes how the price will

be determined.

Limitations are imposed by law

on clauses that can be included in

standard-form contracts.

Liability for gross negligence cannot

be excluded through mutual agree-

ment of the parties.

A contract cannot be agreed upon

if its terms are against public policy

or if one of the parties does not have

full legal capacity.

The other 6 regions show more variation

in the number and type of limitations.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a good example.

While the Democratic Republic of Congo

has the smallest number of limitations

in the overall sample, with 3, Togo has

one of the largest numbers, with 7. Togo

is the only Sub-Saharan African econo-

my in the sample that allows the courts

to deny enforcement of a contract on

the basis of inadequate consideration.

In addition, only 2 of the 5 Sub-Saharan

African economies in the sample do not

limit the terms that can be included in

a standard-form contract, while all 5

allow termination at will, choice-of-law

clauses and disclaimers on implied

warranties as long as the seller was not

acting in bad faith.

Across all regions, only 3 economies

forbid choice-of-law clauses in in-

ternational contracts. All 3—Brazil,

Colombia and Uruguay—are in Latin

America and the Caribbean.

Even where there is considerable

freedom of contract, slow resolution

of contract disputes can impose

implicit limitations. Without reason-

ably expeditious dispute resolution,

the meaning of freedom of contract

is eroded; parties might be able to

conclude most contracts on their own

terms, but long contract resolution

times would ultimately frustrate that

ability.

In Singapore parties not only have

broad negotiating power; they also

have the certainty that their con-

tracts will be enforced promptly. The

country imposes few limitations on

freedom of contract, and resolving

FIGURE 11.2 The Democratic Republic of Congo has the fewest limitations to freedom of contract

Number of limitations to freedom of contract

Tu ni

si a

U ru

gu ay

To go

Ta iw

an , C

hi na

G re

ec e

Br az

Tu rk

R om

an ia

Po la

M oz

am bi

qu e

M al

M ac

ed on

ia , F

In di

G er

m an

Fr an

Cz ec

h R

ep ub

lic

Cr oa

ti a

Co lo

m bi

Ca m

bo di

Bu lg

ar ia

U ni

te d

A ra

b Em

ira te

So ut

h Af

ric a

Le ba

no n

It al

El S

al va

do r

Ch in

Bh ut

Ba rb

ad os

Sr i L

an ka

Si ng

ap or

Ph ili

pp in

Pa ki

st an

N ig

er ia

Co ng

o, D

em . R

ep .0

Source: Doing Business database.

95ENFORCING CONTRACTS

a standardized commercial dispute

through the courts—from the filing

of the case to the enforcement of the

contract—takes 150 days as measured

by Doing Business (figure 11.3), a global

best practice. In Sri Lanka there are

equally few limitations to freedom of

contract, but resolving the standard-

ized dispute through the courts takes

1,318 days—almost 4 years. Parties

might be able to include a wide array

of covenants in their agreements, but

long enforcement times can nullify

the utility of those covenants. A slow

contract resolution process frustrates

freedom of contract.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is

another economy where long enforce-

ment times frustrate freedom of

contract. It limits freedom of contract

only in the areas of future determina-

tion of contract price, exclusion of li-

ability for gross negligence, and public

policy and legal capacity. But resolv-

ing the standardized dispute takes

610 days—almost 2 years. Pakistan

provides a similar example: there are

only 4 limitations to freedom of con-

tract, but resolving the standardized

dispute takes 976 days in Karachi.

Freedom of contract and efficient

contract enforcement are often mutu-

ally dependent because one can lose

meaning without the other, as shown

in the examples above. Among the 34

economies in the sample, however,

there are cases where neither is prized.

Greece is a clear example. Not only does

Greece have one of the highest numbers

of limitations (7), it also has among the

longest resolution times in the sample.

Resolving the standardized dispute in

Athens takes 1,580 days—more than 4

years. Similarly, in Tunisia, the economy

with the highest number of limitations

in the sample (8), enforcing a contract

takes 565 days.

CONCLUSION Freedom of contract and efficient con-

tract enforcement matter to business-

es. The exercise of freedom of contract

by parties with similar negotiating

power and good knowledge of market

conditions promotes efficiency in the

allocation of resources, maximizing in-

dividual welfare and spurring efficiency

in the marketplace.21 Efficient contract

enforcement promotes investment by

influencing the decisions of economic

actors. By promoting investment, good

judicial institutions can also contribute

to economic growth and development.

Indeed, an effective judiciary, by pro-

viding a structured, timely and orderly

framework for resolving disputes, fos-

ters economic stability and growth.

Moreover, efficient contract enforce-

ment is essential to allow true freedom

of contract. Even where the law allows

extensive freedom of contract, the ben-

efits of this can be greatly undermined

if not matched by efficient contract en-

forcement. Without that, the predict-

ability of the legal framework—which is

highly valued by firms operating in the

market—would be compromised.22

NOTES This case study was written by Erica Bosio and

Tanya Maria Santillan.

1. The 34 economies in the sample are

Barbados; Bhutan; Brazil; Bulgaria;

Cambodia; China; Colombia; the Democratic

Republic of Congo; Croatia; the Czech

Republic; El Salvador; France; Germany;

Greece; India; Italy; Lebanon; the former

Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Malta;

Mozambique; Nigeria; Pakistan; the

Philippines; Poland; Romania; Singapore;

South Africa; Sri Lanka; Taiwan, China;

Togo; Tunisia; Turkey; the United Arab

Emirates; and Uruguay.

2. Ramello and Voigt 2012.

3. Braucher 1969.

4. Berlin 1969.

5. Eisenberg 1995; Edwards 2009; Marella

2006.

6. Scott 2002.

7. Edwards 2009; DiMatteo and Rich 2006.

8. Kronman 1983.

9 Shapiro 1988; Marella 2006.

10. Kennedy 1982, 2006; Kronman 1983.

11. Adkins v. Children’s Hospital; Adair v. United

States; Coppage v. Kansas; Hammer v.

Dagenhart; Carter v. Carter Coal Company;

Weber 2013.

12. West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish; Weber 2013.

13. Kennedy 1982.

14. Basu 2006; Edwards 2009.

15. Edwards 2009.

16. Weber 2013.

17. Kennedy 1982.

18. Posner 1995.

19. Pettit 1999; Posner 1995.

20. Basu 2006.

21. Edwards 2009.

22. Brunetti, Kisunko and Weder 1997, 1998.

FIGURE 11.3 Singapore is among the economies with both the fewest limitations to freedom of contract and the fastest contract resolution

Tunisia

Singapore

Congo, Dem. Rep.

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Greece 1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

800

600

400

200

Time to enforce a contract (days)

Number of limitations to freedom of contract

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Source: Doing Business database.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Resolving insolvency Measuring the strength of insolvency laws

The word bankruptcy often evokes negative associations with fail-ure and shame. And fear of bank- ruptcy and its consequences can deter

potential entrepreneurs from starting

a new business venture. According to

a recent survey on entrepreneurship,

people from a range of social and de-

mographic groups rank the possibility

of going bankrupt as the greatest fear

associated with starting a business,

above irregular income and lack of job

security.1 Yet evidence suggests that the

exit of firms from the market is a neces-

sary condition for economic growth, and

efficient exit frameworks may in fact

encourage greater entrepreneurial ac-

tivity and new firm creation.2 Moreover,

businesses started by previously failed

entrepreneurs can grow faster than

those started by first-timers.3

While reducing the stigma associ-

ated with bankruptcy may be difficult,

policy makers can minimize the nega-

tive effects of business failures and take

advantage of their positive effects by

adopting efficient and well-functioning

bankruptcy laws. Several studies show

a strong link between bankruptcy laws

and credit market development, as

reflected by such aspects as collateral

eligibility requirements, access to loans

to finance investments, access to long-

term debt and the level of firms’ financ-

ing relative to their size.4 And studies on

the effects of bankruptcy reforms show

that speeding up the resolution of debt

disputes may increase the probability

of timely repayment; that increasing

the protection of creditors and their

participation in bankruptcy proceedings

may lead to a lower cost of debt and a

higher aggregate level of credit; and that

introducing reorganization proceedings

may reduce the rate of business failure.5

Moreover, efficient bankruptcy regimes

with orderly procedures for the sale and

distribution of debtors’ assets can have

a positive effect on loan terms, leverage

ratios and bank recovery rates.6

Bankruptcy laws play such an im-

portant role because they promote

predictability for both creditors and

entrepreneurs—by establishing the

rules for the worst-case scenario. They

allow entrepreneurs to determine the

maximum risk associated with a failed

venture.7 And they allow creditors to

calculate the maximum risk associated

with an unpaid loan. Collection of debt

through bankruptcy proceedings may

be the least attractive option for any

creditor, because these proceedings in-

volve several creditors trying to enforce

their claims against the same debtor.8

So, having transparent, enforceable

rules on the types of decisions that

creditors can influence during bank-

ruptcy proceedings, on the priority of

creditors and on other important issues

is critical for lenders—and becomes a

key factor for them in fixing interest

rates and maturity terms for loans.9

AN EXPANDED FOCUS FOR THE INDICATORS The Doing Business indicators on resolv-

ing insolvency measure the efficiency

Doing Business introduces a new component of the resolving insolvency indicator set this year, the strength of insolvency framework index. This indicator tests whether each economy has adopted internationally recognized good practices in the area of insolvency.

The good practices underlying the new indicator are based on 2 sources—the World Bank’s Principles for Effective Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s Legislative Guide on Insolvency Law.

OECD high-income economies have the highest average score on the strength of insolvency framework index. South Asia is the region with the lowest average score on the index.

Economies that have reformed their insolvency laws in the past several years score substantially higher on the strength of insolvency framework index than economies with outdated insolvency provisions.

Economies with better insolvency laws as measured by Doing Business tend to have more credit available to the private sector.

97RESOLVING INSOLVENCY

of insolvency (bankruptcy) frameworks

around the world. Until this year the

focus was on capturing the time, cost

and outcome of the most likely in-

court proceeding involving a domestic

debtor in each economy. These 3

measures were then used to calculate

the recovery rate—how much of its

loan a secured creditor would be able to

recover at the end of the proceedings.

This year Doing Business has introduced

an important change in methodology

for the resolving insolvency indicators.

Besides measuring the recovery rate, it

now also tests whether each economy

has adopted internationally recognized

good practices in the area of insol-

vency. A new indicator, the strength of

insolvency framework index, measures

good practices in accordance with

principles developed by the World Bank

and the United Nations Commission on

International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)—

the World Bank’s Principles for Effective

Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes

(referred to here as the “World Bank

principles”) and UNCITRAL’s Legislative

Guide on Insolvency Law (“UNCITRAL

guide”).10

The purpose behind expanding the

scope of the methodology is to capture

multiple aspects of the insolvency

framework in each economy. The new

strength of insolvency framework in-

dex measures the quality of insolvency

laws, while the previous methodology

(recovery rate) captures the insolvency

practice. Thus the expanded meth-

odology will provide a more complete

and balanced view of the insolvency

framework in each economy by ad-

dressing both the quality of the law

and the efficiency of its implementa-

tion. One of the findings this year is

that economies with a higher quality

of insolvency laws as measured by the

strength of insolvency framework

index experience on average higher

recovery rates.11 Additionally, while

the previous methodology focused

mainly on secured creditors, the new

index widens the reach of the resolving

insolvency indicator set to debtors and

unsecured creditors.

Both the World Bank principles and the

UNCITRAL guide avoid using the term

bankruptcy and instead use the broader

term insolvency. The 2 guidebooks

generally agree on the objectives of an

effective and efficient insolvency re-

gime, and both provide specific recom-

mendations on each of these objectives

(the UNCITRAL guide, a multivolume

publication, covers a multiplicity of op-

tions). The good practices tested under

the new indicator are closely linked

with the objectives identified in both

guidebooks and follow the provisions

elaborated in them (table 12.1).

The strength of insolvency frame-

work index measures whether each

economy has adopted internationally

recognized good practices in 4 areas:

commencement of insolvency pro-

ceedings, management of the debtor’s

assets, reorganization proceedings and

creditor participation in insolvency

proceedings. Each of these topics is

addressed by a separate component

index through several questions.

The commencement of proceedings

index measures what type of pro-

ceedings (liquidation, reorganization

or both) debtors and creditors can

initiate and what standard is used

to declare a debtor insolvent.

The management of debtor’s assets

index measures whether, during

insolvency proceedings, a debtor can

continue transactions essential to the

survival of the business and terminate

contracts that are overly burdensome;

whether preferential and undervalued

transactions made by the debtor prior

to the commencement of insolvency

can be avoided; and whether the debt-

or can obtain new financing during

insolvency proceedings to support its

continuous operation.

The reorganization proceedings index

measures whether and how credi-

tors vote on a reorganization plan

and what protections are available

to dissenting creditors.

The creditor participation index

measures whether creditors partici-

pate in important decisions during

insolvency proceedings, such as ap-

pointment of the insolvency repre-

sentative and sale of assets during

the proceedings; whether creditors

have access to information about

the debtor and the proceedings;

and whether creditors can object to

decisions affecting their rights, such

as approval of claims submitted by

other creditors.

The information used to compile the

strength of insolvency framework in-

dex was provided by private and public

sector insolvency practitioners in each

economy with reference to the appli-

cable laws and regulations. The Doing

Business team analyzed both primary

and secondary sources in evaluating

to what extent insolvency laws in each

economy accord with internationally

accepted good practices. Based on this

analysis, the team assigned a score for

each of the 4 component indices. The

sum of these 4 scores is the score on

the strength of insolvency framework

index. (For a more detailed description

of the scoring methodology, see the

data notes.)

WHERE ARE GOOD PRACTICES MOST COMMON? OECD high-income economies have

the highest scores on average on the

strength of insolvency framework

index and on each of the 4 component

indices (figure 12.1). Among the econo-

mies in this region, Germany and the

United States have the highest scores.

Europe and Central Asia has the second

highest average score on the strength

of insolvency framework index, though

there is a substantial difference be-

tween the average score of Eastern and

Central European economies and that

DOING BUSINESS 201598

of Central Asian economies. Economies

that have recently reformed their

insolvency laws—such as Bulgaria,

Romania, the former Yugoslav Republic

of Macedonia and Montenegro—have

the region’s highest scores, having

implemented many of the good prac-

tices measured by the index as part of

their reform efforts.

East Asia and the Pacific and Sub-

Saharan Africa are tied with the

third highest score. Economies

with some of the highest scores in

Sub-Saharan Africa are those that

adopted the OHADA (Organization

for the Harmonization of Business

Law in Africa) Uniform Act Organizing

Collective Proceedings for Wiping Off

Debts. In East Asia and the Pacific

there is great variation in the strength

of insolvency frameworks. Economies

that have recently amended their

insolvency laws, such as China,

Cambodia and the Philippines, receive

high scores, while other economies

have no formal insolvency framework,

such as Palau and the Marshall Islands.

The region with the lowest average

score on the strength of insolvency

framework index is South Asia. Very

few economies in the region have

insolvency laws that facilitate the

continuation of the debtor’s busi-

ness during insolvency proceedings.

Economies in the Middle East and

North Africa score only slightly better.

Only 2 economies in this region have a

reorganization framework, and many

lack a designated insolvency law; in-

stead, provisions related to insolvency

are found in company laws and com-

mercial codes.

In Latin America and the Caribbean

some economies have well-developed

insolvency laws, such as Brazil, Mexico

and Colombia, for example, all of which

score relatively high on the strength of

insolvency framework index. But most

of the smaller economies in the region,

particularly island economies, still use

winding-up provisions in companies

acts that have not been amended for

several decades.

This analysis shows that economies

that have reformed their insolvency

TABLE 12.1 Objectives of an effective insolvency regime as identified by the World Bank principles and the UNCITRAL guide and measured by the resolving insolvency indicators

World Bank principles UNCITRAL guide Resolving insolvency indicators

Integrate with a country’s broader legal and commercial systems

Provision of certainty in the market to promote economic stability and growth

Maximize the value of a firm’s assets and recoveries by creditors

Maximization of value of assets

New indicator tests whether the value of the debtor’s assets can be preserved by continuing contracts of the debtor essential to survival of its business, by rejecting overly burdensome contracts, by invalidating preferential and undervalued transactions and by obtaining post-commencement financing.

Provide for the efficient liquidation of both nonviable businesses and businesses whose liquidation is likely to produce a greater return to creditors and reorganization of viable businesses

Existing indicators test whether viable businesses can be reorganized and whether businesses in liquidation can be sold as a going concern.

Strike a careful balance between liquidation and reorganization, allowing for easy conversion of proceedings from one proceeding to another

Striking a balance between liquidation and reorganization

New indicator tests whether creditors and debtors have access to both liquidation and reorganization proceedings and what the basis is for declaring a debtor insolvent.

Provide for equitable treatment of similarly situated creditors, including similarly situated foreign and domestic creditors

Ensuring equitable treatment of similarly situated creditors

New indicator tests how similarly situated creditors vote on a reorganization plan and what treatment they receive under the plan.

Provide for timely, efficient, and impartial resolution of insolvencies

Provision for timely, efficient and impartial resolution of insolvency

Existing indicators test how long the proceedings take and how much the proceedings cost for the creditors.

Prevent the improper use of the insolvency system

New indicator tests the basis for commencing insolvency proceedings.

Prevent the premature dismemberment of a debtor’s assets by individual creditors seeking quick judgments

Preservation of the insolvency estate to allow equitable distribution to creditors

This principle is tested by the strength of legal rights index.a

Provide a transparent procedure that contains, and consistently applies, clear risk allocation rules and incentives for gathering and dispensing information

Ensuring a transparent and predictable insolvency law that contains incentives for gathering and dispensing information

New indicator tests the level of creditor participation during insolvency proceedings, including their ability to request information and to challenge decisions directly affecting their rights.

Recognize existing creditor rights and respect the priority of claims with a predictable and established process

Recognition of existing creditor rights and establishment of clear rules for ranking of priority claims

New indicator tests whether post- commencement creditors receive priority over existing creditors. This principle is also tested by the strength of legal rights index.b

Establish a framework for cross-border insolvencies, with recognition of foreign proceedings

Establishment of a framework for cross- border insolvency

Because Doing Business focuses on domestic entities and transactions, the indicators do not test this principle.

a. The strength of legal rights index (part of the getting credit indicator set) tests whether the insolvency framework includes automatic stay (moratorium) provisions, which suspend all individual creditor actions during insolvency. b. The strength of legal rights index tests the level of priority of secured creditors’ claims as compared with other claims—tax claims, employee claims, judgments. Source: Analysis based on World Bank (2011b) and UNCITRAL (2004).

99RESOLVING INSOLVENCY

laws in the past several years score

substantially higher on the strength

of insolvency framework index than

economies that rely on old insolvency

provisions in companies acts and

commercial codes.

WHAT ARE RELATIVE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES? The strength of insolvency framework

index can be a meaningful instrument

for governments to use in reforming

their insolvency system, because it

enhances the ability to identify areas

where each economy can improve. The

data for the component indices point

to 2 areas where many economies can

improve: reorganization proceedings

and creditor participation (figure 12.2).

There is also room for improvement in

the management of the debtor’s as-

sets, to facilitate continuous operation

during insolvency.

A third of the economies covered by

Doing Business have no formal judicial

reorganization framework. This means

that preservation of insolvent busi-

nesses in these economies is virtually

impossible, so that the only option for

an insolvent debtor is to sell its assets.

More than 40% of economies lack spe-

cific provisions in their insolvency laws

that would allow debtors to maintain

contracts supplying essential goods and

services during insolvency proceedings.

While some of these economies require

utilities to continue providing services to

insolvent customers, for many debtors

this is not enough to ensure continuous

operation. For example, a manufactur-

ing company must have raw materials

to continue operating. And a retail

business cannot operate without mer-

chandise. If suppliers can cancel their

contracts as soon as a debtor becomes

insolvent, the debtor’s business op-

erations must stop, greatly reducing the

value of its assets.

Many economies do not allow creditors

to participate in important decisions

throughout insolvency proceedings.

Among the first and most important

decisions made after insolvency

proceedings begin is the appointment

of an insolvency representative, who

often has the authority to act on behalf

of the debtor and make key decisions

about the management of its assets.

Almost 60% of economies exclude

creditors from the process of choosing

the insolvency representative. Lack of

meaningful participation can affect

creditors’ confidence in the system,

making them less cooperative and

more litigious and thus prolonging the

proceedings.

The data for the component indices

also point to economies with particular

strengths in the areas measured. For

example, Germany is one of 51 econo-

mies that receive full points on the

commencement of proceedings index.

The country has unified insolvency

proceedings, which means that when

a debtor or creditor files for insolvency,

there is no requirement to specify

whether liquidation or reorganization

is requested. But a debtor may submit

a reorganization plan together with

its insolvency petition or at a later

stage, and creditors may request the

insolvency administrator to prepare

a reorganization plan based on the

financial evaluation of the company.

The standard for initiating insolvency

proceedings is flexible and includes

both illiquidity (inability to pay debts

as they mature) and overindebtedness

(the debtor’s assets no longer cover

existing liabilities). The German insol-

vency framework also allows the com-

mencement of insolvency proceedings

when illiquidity is imminent, which may

encourage debtors to file for insolvency

before their financial circumstances

become too dire.

Japan is one of 26 economies that re-

ceive full points on the management of

debtor’s assets index. Reorganization

and liquidation proceedings in Japan

are covered by 2 separate laws. Both

laws include provisions that facilitate

the continuation of the debtor’s busi-

ness during insolvency. For example,

both prohibit the termination of

FIGURE 12.1 OECD high-income economies have well-developed insolvency frameworks and the highest recovery rates

16 100

Average recovery rate (cents on the dollar)

Average strength of insolvency framework index (0–16)

Average recovery rateAverage strength of insolvency framework index

South Asia

Middle East & North Africa

Latin America & Caribbean

Sub-Saharan Africa

East Asia & Pacific

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 2015100

contracts on the sole ground that

the debtor has become insolvent and

allow the debtor (or an administrator

or trustee in bankruptcy) to decide

which contracts should be continued

during insolvency and which should be

terminated. This allows the business

to receive essential goods and services

that will enable it to survive while elimi-

nating overly burdensome obligations

that may threaten its operation. Both

laws also allow the avoidance of pref-

erential and undervalued transactions

concluded before the commencement

of proceedings.

In addition, in both liquidation and

reorganization proceedings the debtor

(or an administrator or trustee in bank-

ruptcy) is allowed to take new loans

if necessary for continuation of the

business, though approval of the court

may be required. New loans are treated

as common benefit claims and receive

preference over the claims of general

unsecured creditors but not over those

of secured creditors, whose preference

remains unchanged. Such provisions

on post-commencement financing

permit a debtor in financial difficulties

to continue operating while they also

recognize and preserve the priority

of existing creditors with preferential

claims.

Cambodia is one of 17 economies that

receive full points on the reorganization

proceedings index. In 2007 Cambodia

adopted a new insolvency law that,

among other features, introduced a

reorganization procedure. Under the

new law, when a reorganization plan

is proposed, all creditors whose rights

are impaired or modified by the plan

vote on whether to approve or reject it.

This includes secured and preferential

creditors, because they may represent

a substantial share of the value of the

debt and their participation may be

necessary to achieve successful reor-

ganization. But creditors whose rights

are not affected do not have the right

to vote, as this would grant them un-

necessary influence. For the purposes

of voting on the plan, creditors are

classified into different classes based

on their interests (secured claims, tax

claims, unsecured claims). All creditors

within a class must be treated equally,

and at least one class must approve

the plan. To ensure equitable treatment

of dissenting creditors, the Cambodian

law requires that they receive at least

as much under the reorganization plan

as they would receive in liquidation.

Despite Cambodia’s adoption of a

modern and comprehensive insolvency

law, however, recovery rates remain

very low. As this example illustrates,

a modern law is not enough to achieve

an efficient insolvency practice; effec-

tive implementation and a developed

judiciary framework are also essential.

Switzerland is one of only 3 econo-

mies that receive full points on the

creditor participation index. The Swiss

insolvency law allows creditors to

participate in many important deci-

sions during insolvency. For example,

creditors can reject the administrator

appointed by the court and must

approve the handling of the debtor’s

assets during insolvency proceedings.

They can obtain copies of records re-

lated to the insolvency proceedings so

as to stay informed about every stage

of the process. And they have the right

to object to decisions directly affecting

their rights—for example, they can

dispute decisions accepting the claims

of other creditors.

WHAT ARE THE LINKS WITH CREDIT MARKET DEVELOPMENT? Analysis of the data collected for the

strength of insolvency framework

index confirms the connection many

researchers have made between

insolvency laws and credit market

development. Economies that score

well on the index have higher levels

of credit provided to the private sec-

tor by domestic financial institutions

(figure 12.3).

These results suggest that the quality

of bankruptcy laws is important not

for its own sake but as an indication of

FIGURE 12.2 Two areas where many economies can improve are reorganization proceedings and creditor participation

100

South AsiaMiddle East & North Africa

Latin America & Caribbean

Sub-Saharan Africa

East Asia & Pacific

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Average index score as % of best score

Commencement of proceedings index

Management of debtor’s assets index

Reorganization proceedings index

Creditor participation index

Source: Doing Business database.

101RESOLVING INSOLVENCY

and perhaps a step toward a better-

developed financial system. Where

credit institutions and entrepreneurs

can anticipate the outcome of the

worst-case scenario—when a busi-

ness fails to pay its loans and several

creditors must compete for the best

return—more banks will be willing

to lend and more entrepreneurs will

be willing to take on the challenge of

starting a business.

CONCLUSION Analysis of the data collected for the

strength of insolvency framework

index shows that economies with

recent changes to their insolvency

frameworks have better-quality laws.

Among other economies, several still

have no formal insolvency framework

and many more rely on outdated

companies acts and commercial

codes for insolvency rules. Differences

in regulatory quality are especially

apparent in regions with emerging

economies, such as Latin America and

the Caribbean and East Asia and the

Pacific.

The strength of insolvency frame-

work index can be a useful tool for

governments seeking to reform their

insolvency laws because it helps in

identifying specific areas where in-

solvency regulations are lacking. The

results suggest that there is oppor-

tunity in many economies to improve

reorganization proceedings, facilitate

the continuation of businesses during

insolvency and allow greater par-

ticipation by creditors in insolvency

proceedings.

NOTES This case study was written by Klaus Koch

Saldarriaga, Olena Koltko and María Antonia

Quesada Gámez.

1. European Commission 2012.

2. Cirmizi, Klapper and Uttamchandani 2010.

3. Stam, Audretsch and Meijaard 2006.

4. See Araujo, Ferreira and Funchal (2012)

for a summary of different studies on the

relationship between creditors’ rights and

economic development.

5. Klapper 2011.

6. Cirmizi, Klapper and Uttamchandani 2010.

7. Lee, Peng and Barney 2007.

8. Haselmann, Pistor and Vig 2010.

9. Qian and Strahan 2007.

10. World Bank 2011b; UNCITRAL 2004.

11. For more on the relationship between the

strength of insolvency framework index

and the recovery rate, see figure 1.7 and

the related discussion in the overview.

FIGURE 12.3 Economies with strong insolvency frameworks have higher levels of domestic credit provided to the private sector

Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16), 2014

Domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP), 2013

0 10050 150 250200 300

Note: Domestic credit to private sector refers to financial resources provided to the private sector by financial corporations, such as through loans, purchases of nonequity securities, and trade credits and other accounts receivable, that establish a claim for repayment. The correlation between the strength of insolvency framework index and domestic credit to private sector as a percentage of GDP is 0.40. The relationship is significant at the 1% level after controlling for income per capita. Source: Doing Business database; World Bank, World Development Indicators database.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Highlights from the Doing Business research conference

Data produced by Doing Business have inspired and enabled abundant empirical research on critical questions puzzling economists,

policy makers and international de-

velopment professionals. Researchers

have used these data to investigate

the importance of business-friendly

regulation for the creation of new

firms, for the productivity and profit-

ability of existing ones and for such key

outcomes as growth, employment, in-

vestment and informality. Since 2003,

when the first Doing Business report

was published, 2,024 research articles

have been published in peer-reviewed

academic journals and 5,098 working

papers have been posted online.1

As a stock-taking exercise, the World

Bank Group convened an international

research conference, “Doing Business:

Past, Present and Future of Business

Regulation,” in the winter of 2014.2 The conference brought together academ-

ics, World Bank Group staff and de-

velopment professionals from around

the world to showcase and discuss the

impact of regulatory reform and to of-

fer guidance for the Doing Business proj-

ect in the years to come. Researchers

presented 28 papers in the 8 thematic

sessions, covering such issues as entry

regulation, entrepreneurship, innova-

tion, financial infrastructure, foreign

direct investment, trade, labor mar-

kets, growth, corruption and transpar-

ency in regulation.

This chapter presents the main findings

and methodology of selected papers

from the conference. All these papers

point to important practical implica-

tions for policy makers—about how

sensible regulation can help stimulate

the creation of new firms, help attract

investment, facilitate a reduction in

unemployment, aid innovative firms

and support greater lending to the

private sector, and about how bribery

and corruption act as “sand” and not

“grease” in the wheels of policy imple-

mentation (see table 13A.1 at the end of

the chapter for a summary).

WHAT MATTERS FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP? Several papers look at factors that

encourage or discourage entrepreneur-

ship. Klapper, Love and Randall (2014)

investigate the relationship between

entrepreneurship and economic growth

and the effect of the 2008–09 global

financial crisis on new firm registration.

The authors explore the change in new

firm registrations in 109 countries over

the period 2002–12, which includes

precrisis, crisis and recovery periods

related to the global financial crisis as

well as myriad other economic fluctua-

tions at the region and country level.

They find strongly procyclical results:

country-specific GDP growth is associ-

ated with higher new firm registrations,

even after the global macroeconomic

shocks are controlled for. Moreover,

they find that growth has a stronger

association with entrepreneurship in

economies with a higher level of finan-

cial development and a better business

Doing Business data have inspired and enabled abundant research: 2,024 research articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals since 2003, and 5,098 working papers posted online.

The World Bank Group convened an international research conference, “Doing Business: Past, Present and Future of Business Regulation,” in the winter of 2014.

According to findings of research presented at the conference, business-friendly regulation has a positive association with the entry of new firms, the profits of innovative firms, reductions in unemployment, growth in bank lending, inflows of foreign direct investment and expansions in franchises.

Striking a balance in the amount of regulation matters. Having some business entry regulation helps define the playing field for firms and reduces the cost of information search for those entering new markets. But too much regulation increases the cost of doing business, dissuading firms from entering markets at all and thus hurting economic development prospects.

Corruption acts as “sand” and not “grease” in the wheels of policy implementation. Firms confronted with demands for bribes wait about 1.5 times as long to get a construction permit, operating license or electricity connection as firms that did not have to pay bribes.

103HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DOING BUSINESS RESEARCH CONFERENCE

regulatory environment (as measured

by the Doing Business indicators).

One important policy implication of

their findings is that fostering an effi-

cient regulatory environment for the fi-

nancial and private sector can contrib-

ute to economic growth by aiding the

efficient exit of insolvent firms during

economic slowdowns and encouraging

a speedier recovery in the formation of

new firms during economic expansions.

A growing body of empirical evidence

based on cross-country variations

shows that excessive regulation or

burdensome legal procedures for start-

ing a company can deter the entry of

new firms and thus affect economic

performance. But less is known about

the effects on economic performance

when the regulatory burden or entry

regulation varies within countries—and

as subnational Doing Business reports

have shown, there is evidence of great

variation in the regulatory burden

within some countries.

While most research in this area

focuses on developing or emerging

economies, Bripi (2013) focuses on

Italy, analyzing how differences among

provinces in the local regulatory burden

affect firm creation. Italy is a particu-

larly interesting case because it has

great heterogeneity in entrepreneur-

ship and economic performance, with

marked differences between the more

developed regions of the Center and

North and the less developed ones of

the South.

The author analyzes differences in

bureaucratic burdens across Italian

provinces before a major reform (single

notice) that reduced the number of

procedures and the time for starting a

business. In the period examined there

was a negative correlation between

the time and cost of procedures and

the entry rate of small limited liability

firms (figure 13.1). After controlling for

the effect of additional variables,

including measures of local financial

development and efficiency of bank-

ruptcy procedures, the author finds

that bureaucratic time delays (and, to

a lesser extent, costs) due to inefficient

regulatory procedures reduced the en-

try rate in industries that should have

“naturally” high entry rates relative

to low-entry sectors. The estimates

show robust evidence of the negative

effect of time delays on the entry rate

of small limited liability firms. The re-

lationship between cost and the entry

rate is also statistically significant,

though it depends on the specification

used. For example, the effect of cost

is significant only in less developed

provinces, in those with a higher level

of corruption and in the service sectors

(not in manufacturing).

Overall, the results confirm the

view that the regulatory burden on

new start-ups matters for business

creation. In particular, they provide

evidence that the administrative

burden in the years just before the

reform was a significant obstacle

to entrepreneurship (and ultimately

economic performance) in the heavily

regulated provinces of the South rela-

tive to the more lightly regulated ones

of the Center and North of Italy.

Audretsch, Belitski and Desai (2014)

investigate how the overall business

environment affects urban entrepre-

neurship. They look at a few dimensions

of the business environment (such as

those measured by the Doing Business

indicators on starting a business, regis-

tering property, paying taxes, enforcing

contracts and trading across borders)

and types of regulatory reform (those

affecting measures of time, cost and

procedures)—and examine the links

between these aspects and 2 measures

of entrepreneurship, new business cre-

ation and self-employment.

The authors find that the national busi-

ness environment is associated with

both measures of entrepreneurship

and that the type of regulatory reform

can affect entrepreneurship outcomes.

In particular, they find evidence that

FIGURE 13.1 Bureaucratic time delays and costs are associated with lower entry by small limited liability firms across Italian provinces

2 3 4 5

-2 2 3 4 5

-2

Veneto

Trieste

Bolzano

Sardinia Napoli

Trento Milano

Bologna

Ancona Torino

Bari L’Aquila

Firenze

Roma

Potenza

Genova

Perugia

Catanzaro

Aosta Campobasso

Palermo

Veneto

Trieste

Bolzano

Sardinia Napoli

Trento Bologna Milano

Ancona Bari L’Aquila

Torino Firenze

Aosta Genova

Perugia Potenza

Campobasso CatanzaroRoma

Palermo

Log of time Log of cost

Entry rate of small limited liability firms, average for 2005–07

Note: Entry rate is the ratio of the number of newly registered small limited liability firms to the total number of limited liability firms. Source: Bripi 2013.

DOING BUSINESS 2015104

specific regulatory dimensions (such

as contract enforcement) as well as

particular types of regulatory reform

within each dimension (such as those

affecting cost measures) are associ-

ated with the rate of self-employment

and new business creation.

Audretsch, Belitski and Desai find

evidence that different dimensions

and pillars (time, cost, number of

procedures) of the business environ-

ment could have different effects on

entrepreneurship. They also find that

in some cases their 2 measures of en-

trepreneurship (new business creation

and self-employment) are affected dif-

ferently by the same regulatory dimen-

sion or same type of regulatory reform.

CAN REGULATION ATTRACT INVESTMENT? Jovanovic and Jovanovic (2014) analyze

whether business regulation—as mea-

sured by Doing Business indicators—

affects inflows of foreign direct

investment in 28 Eastern European

and Central Asian countries. They find

that greater regulatory efficiency as

measured by Doing Business indicators

has a positive association with foreign

direct investment inflows from OECD

countries. For example, a country in

which 9 documents are required to

export is likely to have investment

inflows around 37% lower than those in

a country in which 7 such documents

are required. This effect seems strong,

so it may also include the effects of

other barriers to trade, such as the

cost or time to export, both of which

are highly correlated with the number

of documents required to export (with a

correlation coefficient of around 0.75).

The authors also find that a reduction

in the cost of starting a business is

positively associated with an increase

in foreign direct investment inflows.

Eight of the 9 sets of Doing Business

indicators included in the analysis

appear to have a statistically signifi-

cant relationship with foreign direct in-

vestment inflows (starting a business,

dealing with construction permits,

registering property, protecting minor-

ity investors, paying taxes, trading

across borders, enforcing contracts

and resolving insolvency); none of the

getting credit indicators do. The indica-

tors measuring cost appear to be more

important than those measuring time

and number of procedures. The authors

therefore conclude that governments

may be able to attract foreign direct

investment by creating a more efficient

and more business-friendly regulatory

environment.

Hoffman, Munemo and Watson (2014)

look at how different aspects of the

business climate affect the location

decisions of U.S. franchise companies.

They find that a stable system of

governance, citizen participation and

good-quality public services all increase

the chances of franchise location in a

country. Of particular interest are the

findings on business entry regulation.

Having some regulation helps define

the playing field for firms and reduces

the cost of information search for

those entering new markets. But too

much regulation increases the cost of

doing business, dissuading firms from

entering markets at all and thus hurt-

ing economic development prospects.

Excessive taxation also discourages the

entry of franchisors into a country. The

findings suggest a diminishing return

from regulation after a certain point.

INNOVATION AND THE CONSTRAINTS OF RED TAPE Innovation is a key source of economic

growth, so understanding the dynamics

of innovative firms is important. Using

firm-level panel data from emerging

economies, Yang (2014) examines the

relationship between the business

climate and profitability for innovative

and noninnovative firms. The author

finds that in business climates where

nonregulatory elements (such as

infrastructure or levels of crime) are

poor, innovative firms have higher

profits than noninnovative firms. But in

business climates where regulatory or

governance-related elements (such as

corruption or the time and cost to start

a business) are poor, innovative firms

have lower profits.

Innovative firms tend to have more-

educated managers, better tech-

nologies and better access to finance,

which may explain their greater ability

to cope in poor business climates. But

they may also suffer more from red

tape. Innovative firms may experience

greater friction as they attempt to

expand or to enter new markets—

because creating new products requires

interactions with government officials

to apply for licenses or permits, where

firms can encounter bureaucratic de-

lays or requests for bribes.

HOW DEBT ENFORCEMENT CAN BOOST LENDING Legal protections of creditors’ rights

are critical to support bank lending to

the private sector. Judicial efficiency

and substantive law defining creditors’

rights have been shown to be positively

correlated with bank lending. But in

India bank lending to the private sector

has more than doubled in the past 2

decades despite few improvements in

judicial efficiency and substantive law.

What explains the expansion in bank

lending over this period? Rathinam

(2014) looks at the short- and long-

term effect of the introduction of debt

recovery tribunals, a procedural law

innovation that reduced the transac-

tion cost of availing the law. These

quasi-judicial bodies bypass the over-

burdened civil courts in adjudicating fi-

nancial disputes involving banks. Debt

recovery tribunals were introduced in

a staggered way across Indian states,

105HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DOING BUSINESS RESEARCH CONFERENCE

allowing comparison of lending by

banks with and without access to the

tribunals.

Rathinam finds that the introduction

of debt recovery tribunals changed the

perception of lenders in the short run:

banks with access to tribunals loaned

more than those without access. In the

long run the debt recovery tribunals

have had an effect on lending, even

after both bank- and state-specific

fixed effects are controlled for. This

finding confirms the argument that

good substantive law, if effectively en-

forced, enhances investors’ and credi-

tors’ confidence in the system, which

results in a larger volume of credit and

ultimately greater economic growth.

While confirming the causal link from

law to finance, the author also points to

the role of procedural law in enhancing

adjudication and thus the availability

of credit to the private sector.

CAN REGULATION HELP REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT? Freund and Rijkers (forthcoming) in-

vestigate the factors that lead to swift,

substantial and sustained reductions

in unemployment. The authors exam-

ine the incidence and determinants of

episodes of drastic reductions in the

unemployment rate—reductions of

at least 3.25 percentage points of the

initial level that persist for a minimum

of 3 years. They identify 43 such epi-

sodes over a period of nearly 3 decades

in 94 high-income, middle-income and

transition economies.

Unemployment reduction episodes

often coincide with an acceleration of

growth and an improvement in mac-

roeconomic conditions. Such episodes

are much more prevalent in countries

with higher levels of unemployment

and, given unemployment, are more

likely in those with better regulation.

An efficient legal system that enforces

contracts expeditiously is particularly

important for reducing unemployment.

The authors’ findings suggest that

while employment is largely related to

the business cycle, better regulation

can reduce the likelihood of high un-

employment and promote a more rapid

recovery if unemployment builds up.

They also underscore the importance

of effective contract enforcement

and secure property rights in enabling

growth in employment.

CORRUPTION—SAND OR GREASE? Freund, Hallward-Driemeier and Rijkers

(2014) investigate whether corruption

accelerates policy implementation.

The authors start by documenting

striking differences between the time

it takes to complete regulatory proce-

dures in practice and the time it takes

when complying with the law. These

are shown in figure 13.2, which plots

the 10th percentile, median and 90th

percentile de facto log times to get a

construction permit in a given country

and year as reported by entrepreneurs

in the World Bank Enterprise Surveys

against the time it should take to

complete all the formalities to build

a warehouse according to the Doing

Business indicators. The authors link

this heterogeneity to the incidence of

demands for bribes.

The authors examine the relationship

between requests for bribes and the

time it takes to complete various

regulatory requirements—getting a

construction permit, obtaining an

operating license, obtaining an electric-

ity connection and clearing customs.

They test 3 predictions implied by the

“grease the wheels” hypothesis, which

contends that bribes act as speed

money: that all else being equal, firms

confronted with requests for bribes

should get things done faster; that

firms with a higher opportunity cost

of waiting are willing to pay more and

consequently face shorter wait times;

and that bribing is more beneficial

where regulation is onerous.

The data are inconsistent with all 3

predictions. In the authors’ preferred

specifications, all else being equal, firms

confronted with demands for bribes

wait about 1.5 times as long to get a

construction permit, operating license

FIGURE 13.2 A striking difference between the time it takes for construction permitting in practice and the time it takes when complying with the law

Log of time to get a construction permit as measured by Enterprise Surveys

4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5

Log of time to deal with construction permits as measured by Doing Business

10th percentile 50th percentile 90th percentile

Colombia, 2010 Vanuatu, 2009

Tonga, 2009

Note: The sample comprises 106 countries. Data are for the most recent year available. Source: Freund, Hallward-Driemeier and Rijkers 2014.

DOING BUSINESS 2015106

or electricity connection as firms that

did not have to pay bribes—and they

wait 1.2 times as long to clear customs

when exporting and 1.4 times as long

when importing. The results are robust

to controlling for firm fixed effects and

at odds with the notion that corruption

enhances efficiency.

CONCLUSION The research papers reviewed in this

chapter show that business-friendly

regulation is integral to economic

growth and development. 3 Where

regulation is streamlined and judicious,

it unleashes innovation, promotes the

creation of jobs and helps attract for-

eign direct investment.

But while these papers answer many

questions, they also pose many new

ones. For example, Hoffman, Munemo

and Watson (2014) suggest that an

important area for future research is

to find out what the right amount of

regulation is for business entry. And

the pioneering study by Audretsch,

Belitski and Desai (2014) invites follow-

up research on the impact of multiple

dimensions of the national business

environment on firms in different cit-

ies. The expansion of the global Doing

Business sample to the second largest

business city in 11 large economies,

along with the data published by the

subnational Doing Business reports, will

enable further research to explore the

effects of business regulations across

different cities within a country—and

to better understand the reasons for

differences in outcomes.

NOTES 1. Based on searches for citations of the 8

background papers that form the basis for

the Doing Business indicators in the Social

Science Citation Index and Google Scholar

(http://scholar.google.com).

2. The conference took place at Georgetown

University’s McDonough School of Business

in Washington, DC. It was cosponsored

by the U.S. Agency for International

Development and the Kauffman

Foundation. More information is available

at http://

www.doingbusiness.org/special-features

/conference.

3. For a comprehensive review of the literature

on the effects of business regulation, see

Doing Business 2014.

107HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DOING BUSINESS RESEARCH CONFERENCE

TABLE 13A.1 Summary of the main findings and methodology of selected papers from the Doing Business research conference

Theme Main findings Methodology overview Data sources En

tr ep

re ne

ur sh

ip Klapper, Love and Randall (2014) GDP growth, especially if combined with a higher level of financial development and a better business regulatory environment, is associated with higher new firm registrations.

The initial empirical exercise uses a simple model with entry density as the dependent variable and economic growth (as a proxy for the business cycle) as the main independent variable. The authors then investigate heterogeneity in the relationship between the business cycle and new firm registration.

World Bank, Entrepreneurship Database; World Bank, World Development Indicators database; Doing Business database

En tr

ep re

ne ur

sh ip Bripi (2013)

Bureaucratic time delays and, to a lesser extent, costs due to inefficient regulatory procedures can reduce the firm entry rate in industries that should have “naturally” high entry rates relative to low-entry sectors.

The analysis focuses on cross-industry and cross- province interaction effects to investigate the impact of regulation on firm entry.

Bank of Italy data set measuring the time and costs of regulation across Italian regions

En tr

ep re

ne ur

sh ip Audretsch, Belitski and Desai (2014)

Specific national regulatory dimensions (such as contract enforcement) as well as different types of reform within a dimension (such as those affecting cost) are associated with the rate of new business start-ups and self-employment in European cities.

Panel data random effects regression is used to examine how the business environment affects new business creation and self-employment in a panel of European cities.

Eurostat Urban Audit database, regional and city statistics; Doing Business database

In ve

st m

en t

Jovanovic and Jovanovic (2014) Greater regulatory efficiency as measured by Doing Business indicators has a positive association with foreign direct investment flows from OECD countries to Eastern European and Central Asian countries.

The analysis uses the generalized method of moments technique on data on bilateral foreign direct investment flows from 22 OECD countries to 28 Eastern European and Central Asian countries during 2004–11.

World Bank, World Development Indicators database; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data; International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Economic Outlook and International Financial Statistics databases; International Labour Organization data; Doing Business database

In ve

st m

en t

Hoffman, Munemo and Watson (2014) Having some business entry regulation helps define the playing field for firms and reduces the cost of information search for those entering new markets. But too much regulation increases the cost of doing business, dissuading firms from entering markets at all.

The analysis tests several hypotheses using a model with franchise expansion (the number of units planned for a country in the future divided by its urban population) as the dependent variable and several independent variables, including the Doing Business distance to frontier measure, entry regulation (measured by the cost of business start-up procedures as a percentage of GNI per capita) and the national corporate tax rate (measured as a percentage of profits). Additional explanatory variables include economic development (measured by real GDP per capita), measures of media infrastructure and of governance, and a dummy variable estimating the impact of the 2008–09 financial crisis on franchise expansion.

Press announcements by U.S. franchise companies on expansion plans or moves made into specific international markets during 2005–11 (to develop the sample); Doing Business database; World Bank, World Development Indicators database; Worldwide Governance Indicators

In no

va tio

Yang (2014) The profits of innovative firms are lower in business climates where regulatory or governance-related factors (such as corruption or the time and cost to start a business) are poor.

The analysis exploits the panel structure of the data. A first-difference regression is estimated. A number of control variables are used, and further robustness checks are applied.

World Bank Enterprise Surveys; Doing Business database; World Bank data catalog

D eb

t en

fo rc

em en

t Rathinam (2014) In India the introduction of debt recovery tribunals—a procedural law innovation that bypasses the overburdened civil courts in adjudicating financial disputes involving banks—explains increased bank lending.

The analysis uses a differences-in-differences model and data on lending by commercial banks in India (including advances to the commercial sector and total secured loans extended) for the years before and after the introduction of debt recovery tribunals (1993 and 1995).

Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, PROWESS database; Reserve Bank of India, annual accounts data on scheduled commercial banks

DOING BUSINESS 2015108

TABLE 13A.1 Summary of the main findings and methodology of selected papers from the Doing Business research conference

Theme Main findings Methodology overview Data sources

U ne

m pl

oy m

en t

Freund and Rijkers (forthcoming) Episodes of drastic reductions in the unemployment rate are much more prevalent in countries with higher levels of unemployment and, given unemployment, are more likely in those with better regulation.

The authors use an event-studies approach to examine how countries achieved episodes of drastic reductions in the unemployment rate over the period 1980–2008. They examine the determinants of such episodes by estimating a probit model, with the potential for an unemployment reduction episode as the dependent variable. After performing several robustness checks, they use Bayesian model averaging to investigate which aspects of regulation matter most.

World Bank, World Development Indicators database; IMF data; Worldwide Governance Indicators; Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom; Doing Business database

Co rr

up tio

n an

d tr

an sp

ar en

Freund, Hallward-Driemeier and Rijkers (2014) Firms confronted with demands for bribes wait about 1.5 times as long to get a construction permit, operating license or electricity connection as firms that did not have to pay bribes—and they wait 1.2 times as long to clear customs when exporting and 1.4 times as long when importing.

The analysis tests 3 related hypotheses (whether bribe requests and the time to complete regulatory processes are positively correlated; and whether “greasing the wheels” is more evident for firms with the highest opportunity cost of waiting or in countries where regulations are most burdensome) by modeling the log of policy implementation time (the time it takes to export, import, get a construction permit or obtain an operating license) as a function of firm characteristics. A dummy variable indicating whether a bribe was solicited or expected is added. Results are robust to controlling for firm fixed effects and comparing within-firm heterogeneity in wait times for different government services.

World Bank Enterprise Surveys; Doing Business database

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Akerlof, George A., and Robert J. Shiller.

2009. Animal Spirits: How Human

Psychology Drives the Economy, and

Why It Matters for Global Capitalism.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University

Press.

Alvarez de la Campa, Alejandro. 2011.

“Increasing Access to Credit through

Reforming Secured Transactions in the

MENA Region.” Policy Research Working

Paper 5613, World Bank, Washington,

DC.

Araujo, Aloisio P., Rafael V. X. Ferreira and

Bruno Funchal. 2012. “The Brazilian

Bankruptcy Law Experience.” Journal of

Corporate Finance 18 (4): 994–1004.

Arrow, Kenneth J. 1963. Social Choice and

Individual Value, 2nd ed. New York: John

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Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Data notes

The indicators presented and analyzed in Doing Business mea-sure business regulation and the protection of property rights—and their effect on businesses, especially small and medium-size domestic firms. First, the indicators document the complex- ity of regulation, such as the number of procedures to start a business or to register a transfer of commercial property. Second, they gauge the time and cost to achieve a regulatory goal or comply with regulation, such as the time and cost to enforce a contract, go through bankruptcy or trade across borders. Third, they measure the extent

of legal protections of property, for example, the protections of minority investors against looting by company directors or the range of assets that can be used as collateral according to secured transactions laws. Fourth, a set of indicators documents the tax burden on businesses. Finally, a set of data covers different aspects of employment regulation. The 11 sets of indicators measured in Doing Business were added over time, and the sample of economies and cities expanded (table 14.1).

The data for all sets of indicators in Doing Business 2015 are for June 2014.1

TABLE 14.1 Topics and economies covered by each Doing Business report

Topic DB

2004 DB

2005 DB

2006 DB

2007 DB

2008 DB

2009 DB

2010 DB

2011 DB

2012 DB

2013 DB

2014 DB

2015

Getting electricity

Dealing with construction permits

Trading across borders

Paying taxes

Protecting minority investors

Registering property

Getting credit

Resolving insolvency

Enforcing contracts

Labor market regulation

Starting a business

Number of economies 133 145 155 175 178 181 183 183 183 185 189 189

Note: Data for the economies added to the sample each year are back-calculated to the previous year. The exceptions are Kosovo and Montenegro, which were added to the sample after they became members of the World Bank Group. In Doing Business 2015, while the number of economies remains the same as in Doing Business 2014, 11 cities have been added.

115DATA NOTES

METHODOLOGY The Doing Business data are collected in a standardized way. To start, the Doing Business team, with academic advisers, designs a questionnaire. The question- naire uses a simple business case to ensure comparability across economies and over time—with assumptions about the legal form of the business, its size, its location and the nature of its opera- tions. Questionnaires are administered to more than 10,700 local experts, including lawyers, business consultants, accountants, freight forwarders, gov- ernment officials and other profession- als routinely administering or advising on legal and regulatory requirements (table 14.2). These experts have sev- eral rounds of interaction with the Doing Business team, involving conference calls, written correspondence and visits by the team. For Doing Business 2015 team members visited 26 economies, including 10 new cities, to verify data and recruit respondents. The data from questionnaires are subjected to numer- ous rounds of verification, leading to revisions or expansions of the informa- tion collected.

The Doing Business methodology offers several advantages. It is transparent, using factual information about what

laws and regulations say and allow- ing multiple interactions with local respondents to clarify potential mis- interpretations of questions. Having representative samples of respondents is not an issue; Doing Business is not

a statistical survey, and the texts of the relevant laws and regulations are collected and answers checked for accuracy. The methodology is inex- pensive and easily replicable, so data can be collected in a large sample of economies. Because standard assump- tions are used in the data collection, comparisons and benchmarks are valid across economies. Finally, the data not only highlight the extent of specific regulatory obstacles to business but also identify their source and point to what might be reformed.

LIMITS TO WHAT IS MEASURED The Doing Business methodology has 5 limitations that should be considered when interpreting the data. First, for most economies the collected data refer to businesses in the largest busi- ness city (which in some economies

Economy characteristics

Gross national income per capita Doing Business 2015 reports 2013 income per capita as published in the World Bank’s World Development Indicators 2014. Income is calculated using the Atlas method (current U.S. dollars). For cost indicators expressed as a percentage of income per capita, 2013 gross national income (GNI) in U.S. dollars is used as the denominator. GNI data based on the Atlas method were not available from the World Bank for Argentina, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Brunei Darussalam, Djibouti, Kuwait, Libya, Myanmar, New Zealand, Oman, San Marino, the Syrian Arab Republic, and West Bank and Gaza. In these cases GDP or GNP per capita data and growth rates from other sources, such as the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook database and the Economist Intelligence Unit, were used.

Region and income group Doing Business uses the World Bank regional and income group classifica- tions, available at http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-classifications. While the World Bank does not assign regional classifications to high-income economies, regional averages presented in figures and tables in the Doing Business report include economies from all income groups (low, lower middle, upper middle and high income). For the purpose of the report, high-income OECD economies are assigned the “regional” classification OECD high income.

Population Doing Business 2015 reports midyear 2013 population statistics as published in World Development Indicators 2014.

TABLE 14.2 How many experts does Doing Business consult?

Economies with given number of respondents (%)

Indicator set Respondents 1–2 3–5 5+

Starting a business 1,651 10 33 57

Dealing with construction permits 1,082 18 40 42

Getting electricity 967 22 45 33

Registering property 1,229 20 37 43

Getting credit 1,538 10 25 65

Protecting minority investors 1,117 25 37 38

Paying taxes 1,305 7 39 54

Trading across borders 1,184 22 46 33

Enforcing contracts 1,314 18 42 40

Resolving insolvency 1,051 25 40 35

Labor market regulation 1,134 23 40 37

Total 13,572 18 39 43

DOING BUSINESS 2015116

differs from the capital) and may not be representative of regulation in other parts of the economy. (The exceptions are 11 economies that have a population of more than 100 million, where Doing Business, for the first time this year, also collected data for the second largest business city.)2 To ad- dress this limitation, subnational Doing Business indicators were created (box 14.1). Second, the data often focus on a specific business form—generally a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent) of a specified size—and may not be representative of the regu- lation on other businesses, for example, sole proprietorships. Third, transac- tions described in a standardized case scenario refer to a specific set of issues and may not represent the full set of issues that a business encounters. Fourth, the measures of time involve an element of judgment by the expert respondents. When sources indicate different estimates, the time indicators reported in Doing Business represent the median values of several responses given under the assumptions of the standardized case.

Finally, the methodology assumes that a business has full information on what is required and does not waste time when completing procedures. In practice, completing a procedure may take longer if the business lacks information or is unable to follow up

promptly. Alternatively, the business may choose to disregard some burden- some procedures. For both reasons the time delays reported in Doing Business 2015 would differ from the recollection of entrepreneurs reported in the World Bank Enterprise Surveys or other firm- level surveys.

CHANGES IN WHAT IS MEASURED As part of a 2-year update in method- ology, Doing Business 2015 incorporates 7 important changes. First, the ease of doing business ranking as well as all topic-level rankings are now computed on the basis of distance to frontier scores (see the chapter on the distance to frontier and ease of doing business ranking). Second, for the 11 economies with a population of more than 100 mil- lion, data for a second city have been added to the data set and the ranking calculation. Third, for getting credit, the methodology has been revised for both the strength of legal rights index and the depth of credit information index. The number of points has been increased in both indices, from 10 to 12 for the strength of legal rights index and from 6 to 8 for the depth of credit information index. In addition, only credit bureaus and registries that cover at least 5% of the adult population can

receive a score on the depth of credit information index.

Fourth, the name of the protecting in- vestors indicator set has been changed to protecting minority investors to better reflect its scope—and the scope of the indicator set has been expanded to include shareholders’ rights in corporate governance beyond related- party transactions. Fifth, the resolving insolvency indicator set has been ex- panded to include an index measuring the strength of the legal framework for insolvency. Sixth, the calculation of the distance to frontier score for pay- ing taxes has been changed. The total tax rate component now enters the score in a nonlinear fashion, in an ap- proach different from that used for all other indicators (see the chapter on the distance to frontier and ease of doing business ranking).

Finally, the name of the employ- ing workers indicator set has been changed to labor market regulation, and the scope of this indicator set has also been changed. The indicators now focus on labor market regulations ap- plying to the retail sector rather than the manufacturing sector, and their coverage has been expanded to include regulations on labor disputes and on benefits provided to workers. The labor market regulation indicators continue to be excluded from the aggregate distance to frontier score and ranking on the ease of doing business.

Beyond these changes there are 3 other updates in methodology. For paying taxes, the financial statement variables have been updated to be proportional to 2012 income per capita; previously they were proportional to 2005 income per capita. For enforcing contracts, the value of the claim is now set at twice the income per capita or $5,000, whichever is greater. For dealing with construction permits, the cost of construction is now set at 50 times income per capita (before, the cost was assessed by the

BOX 14.1 Subnational Doing Business indicators Subnational Doing Business studies point to differences in business regulation and its implementation—as well as in the pace of regulatory reform—across cities in the same economy or region. For several economies subnational stud- ies are now periodically updated to measure change over time or to expand geographic coverage to additional cities.

This year subnational studies were completed in the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mexico and Nigeria. In addition, the geographic coverage was expanded for ongoing studies in the Dominican Republic, Poland, South Africa, Spain and 6 Central American countries. And for the first time subnational studies are incorporating a gender perspective, assessing practices at public registries in Nigeria and analyzing legal indicators from the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law report on Central America.

117DATA NOTES

Doing Business respondents). In addition, this indicator set no longer includes the procedures for obtaining a landline telephone connection.

DATA CHALLENGES AND REVISIONS Most laws and regulations underlying the Doing Business data are available on the Doing Business website at http:// www.doingbusiness.org. All the sample questionnaires and the details underly- ing the indicators are also published on the website. Questions on the meth- odology and challenges to data can be submitted through the website’s “Ask a Question” function at http://www .doingbusiness.org.

Doing Business publishes 18,400 indica- tors (92 indicators per economy) each year. To create these indicators, the team measures more than 100,000 data points, each of which is made available on the Doing Business website. Historical data for each indicator and economy are available on the website, beginning with the first year the indi- cator or economy was included in the report. To provide a comparable time series for research, the data set is back- calculated to adjust for changes in methodology and any revisions in data due to corrections. This year, however, the getting credit, paying taxes and labor market regulation indicators will be back-calculated for only one year because of the significant changes in methodology for these indicators. The website also makes available all original data sets used for background papers. The correction rate between Doing Business 2014 and Doing Business 2015 is 5.3%.3

Governments submit queries on the data and provide new information to Doing Business. During the Doing Business 2015 production cycle the team received 105 such queries from governments. In addition, the team

held videoconferences with govern- ment representatives in 27 economies and in-person meetings with govern- ment representatives in 13 economies.

STARTING A BUSINESS Doing Business records all procedures officially required, or commonly done in practice, for an entrepreneur to start up and formally operate an industrial or commercial business, as well as the time and cost to complete these proce- dures and the paid-in minimum capital requirement (figure 14.1). These proce- dures include obtaining all necessary licenses and permits and completing any required notifications, verifications or inscriptions for the company and employees with relevant authorities. The ranking of economies on the ease of starting a business is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for starting a business. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators (figure 14.2). The distance to frontier measure illus- trates the distance of an economy to the “frontier,” which is derived from the most efficient practice or highest score achieved on each indicator.

After a study of laws, regulations and publicly available information on

business entry, a detailed list of proce- dures is developed, along with the time and cost to comply with each procedure under normal circumstances and the paid-in minimum capital requirement. Subsequently, local incorporation law- yers, notaries and government officials complete and verify the data.

Information is also collected on the sequence in which procedures are to be completed and whether procedures may be carried out simultaneously. It is assumed that any required information is readily available and that the entre- preneur will pay no bribes. If answers by local experts differ, inquiries continue until the data are reconciled.

To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the procedures are used.

Assumptions about the business The business:

� Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent). If there is more than one type of limited liability company in the economy, the lim- ited liability form most common among domestic firms is chosen. Information on the most common form is obtained from incorporation lawyers or the statistical office.

FIGURE 14.1 What are the time, cost, paid-in minimum capital and number of procedures to get a local limited liability company up and running?

Cost (% of income per capita)

Paid-in minimum

capital

Number of procedures

Preregistration PostregistrationRegistration, incorporation

Time (days)

Formal operation

Entrepreneur

Doing Business 2015118

� Operates in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the sec- ond largest business city (see table 14A.1 at the end of the data notes).

� Is 100% domestically owned and has 5 owners, none of whom is a legal entity.

� Has start-up capital of 10 times income per capita, paid in cash.

� Performs general industrial or commercial activities, such as the production or sale to the public of products or services. The business does not perform foreign trade ac- tivities and does not handle products subject to a special tax regime, for example, liquor or tobacco. It is not using heavily polluting production processes.

� Leases the commercial plant or of- fices and is not a proprietor of real estate.

� Does not qualify for investment incentives or any special benefits.

� Has at least 10 and up to 50 employees 1 month after the com- mencement of operations, all of them domestic nationals.

� Has a turnover of at least 100 times income per capita.

� Has a company deed 10 pages long.

Procedures A procedure is defined as any interac- tion of the company founders with ex- ternal parties (for example, government agencies, lawyers, auditors or notaries). Interactions between company found- ers or company officers and employ- ees are not counted as procedures. Procedures that must be completed in the same building but in different offices or at different counters are counted separately. If founders have to visit the same office several times for different sequential procedures, each is counted separately. The founders are assumed to complete all procedures themselves, without middlemen, facilitators, ac- countants or lawyers, unless the use of such a third party is mandated by law or solicited by the majority of entrepre- neurs. If the services of professionals are required, procedures conducted by such professionals on behalf of the company are counted separately. Each electronic procedure is counted separately. If 2 procedures can be completed through the same website but require separate filings, they are counted as 2 separate procedures.

Both pre- and postincorporation pro- cedures that are officially required for an entrepreneur to formally operate a business are recorded (table 14.3).

Procedures required for official corre- spondence or transactions with public agencies are also included. For example, if a company seal or stamp is required on official documents, such as tax dec- larations, obtaining the seal or stamp is counted. Similarly, if a company must open a bank account before registering for sales tax or value added tax, this transaction is included as a procedure. Shortcuts are counted only if they fulfill 4 criteria: they are legal, they are available to the general public, they are used by the majority of companies, and avoiding them causes substantial delays.

Only procedures required of all busi- nesses are covered. Industry-specific

procedures are excluded. For example, procedures to comply with environmen- tal regulations are included only when they apply to all businesses conducting general commercial or industrial activi- ties. Procedures that the company un- dergoes to connect to electricity, water, gas and waste disposal services are not included.

Time Time is recorded in calendar days. The measure captures the median duration that incorporation lawyers indicate is necessary in practice to complete a procedure with minimum follow-up with government agencies and no extra pay- ments. It is assumed that the minimum time required for each procedure is 1 day, except for procedures that can be fully completed online, for which the time required is recorded as half a day.

Figure 14.2 Starting a business: getting a local limited liability company up and running

As % of income per capita, no

bribes included

Preregistration, registration and postregistration (in calendar days)

Funds deposited in a bank or with a notary

before registration, as % of income per capita

Procedures are completed when final document is received

25% Paid-in minimum capital

25% Time

25% Cost

25% Procedures

Rankings are based on distance to frontier scores for 4 indicators

TABLe 14.3 What do the starting a business indicators measure?

Procedures to legally start and operate a company (number)

Preregistration (for example, name verification or reservation, notarization)

Registration in the economy’s largest business citya

Postregistration (for example, social security registration, company seal)

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)

Does not include time spent gathering information

Each procedure starts on a separate day (2 procedures cannot start on the same day)— though procedures that can be fully completed online are an exception to this rule

Procedure considered completed once final incorporation document is received

No prior contact with officials

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of income per capita)

Official costs only, no bribes

No professional fees unless services required by law

Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per capita)

Funds deposited in a bank or with a notary before registration (or within 3 months)

a. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.

119DATA NOTES

Although procedures may take place si- multaneously, they cannot start on the same day (that is, simultaneous proce- dures start on consecutive days), again with the exception of procedures that can be fully completed online. A proce- dure is considered completed once the company has received the final incorpo- ration document, such as the company registration certificate or tax number. If a procedure can be accelerated for an additional cost, the fastest procedure is chosen if that option is more beneficial to the economy’s ranking. It is assumed that the entrepreneur does not waste time and commits to completing each remaining procedure without delay. The time that the entrepreneur spends on gathering information is ignored. It is assumed that the entrepreneur is aware of all entry requirements and their se- quence from the beginning but has had no prior contact with any of the officials.

Cost Cost is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita. It in- cludes all official fees and fees for legal or professional services if such services are required by law. Fees for purchas- ing and legalizing company books are included if these transactions are required by law. Although value added tax registration can be counted as a separate procedure, value added tax is not part of the incorporation cost. The company law, the commercial code, and specific regulations and fee sched- ules are used as sources for calculating costs. In the absence of fee schedules, a government officer’s estimate is taken as an official source. In the absence of a government officer’s estimate, estimates by incorporation lawyers are used. If several incorporation lawyers provide different estimates, the median reported value is applied. In all cases the cost excludes bribes.

Paid-in minimum capital The paid-in minimum capital require- ment reflects the amount that the en- trepreneur needs to deposit in a bank or

with a notary before registration and up to 3 months following incorporation and is recorded as a percentage of the econ- omy’s income per capita. The amount is typically specified in the commercial code or the company law. Many econo- mies require minimum capital but allow businesses to pay only a part of it before registration, with the rest to be paid af- ter the first year of operation. In Turkey in June 2014, for example, the minimum capital requirement was 10,000 Turkish liras, of which one-fourth needed to be paid before registration. The paid-in minimum capital recorded for Turkey is therefore 2,500 Turkish liras, or 12.14% of income per capita.

The data details on starting a business can be found for each economy at http://www .doingbusiness.org. This methodology was developed by Djankov and others (2002) and is adopted here with minor changes.

DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Doing Business records all procedures required for a business in the con- struction industry to build a ware- house (figure 14.3). These procedures include obtaining and submitting all relevant project-specific documents (for example, building plans, site maps and certificates of urbanism) to the

authorities; hiring external third-party supervisors, engineers or inspectors (if necessary); obtaining all neces- sary clearances, licenses, permits and certificates; submitting all required notifications; and requesting and receiving all necessary inspections (un- less completed by a private, third-party inspector). Doing Business also records procedures for obtaining connections for water and sewerage. Procedures necessary to register the warehouse so that it can be used as collateral or transferred to another entity are also counted. The questionnaire divides the process of building a warehouse into distinct procedures and solicits data for calculating the time and cost to com- plete each procedure. The ranking of economies on the ease of dealing with construction permits is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for dealing with construction permits. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the component indicators (figure 14.4).

Information is collected from experts in construction licensing, including architects, civil engineers, construction lawyers, construction firms, utility ser- vice providers and public officials who deal with building regulations, including approvals, permit issuance and inspec- tions. To make the data comparable

FIGURE 14.3 What are the time, cost and number of procedures to comply with formalities to build a warehouse?

Completed warehouse

Preconstruction Construction Postconstruction and utilities

Preconstruction ConstructionPreconstruction Construction

A business in the construction

industry

Cost (% of warehouse value)

Number of procedures

Time (days)

Doing Business 2015120

across economies, several assumptions about the business, the warehouse proj- ect and the utility connections are used.

Assumptions about the construction company The business (BuildCo):

� Is a limited liability company. � Operates in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the sec- ond largest business city (see table 14A.1).

� Is 100% domestically and privately owned.

� Has 5 owners, none of whom is a legal entity.

� Is fully licensed and insured to carry out construction projects, such as building warehouses.

� Has 60 builders and other employ- ees, all of them nationals with the technical expertise and professional experience necessary to obtain con- struction permits and approvals.

� Has at least 1 employee who is a licensed architect or engineer and registered with the local association of architects or engineers.

� Has paid all taxes and taken out all necessary insurance applicable to its general business activity (for

example, accidental insurance for construction workers and third- person liability).

� Owns the land on which the ware- house will be built.

Assumptions about the warehouse The warehouse:

� Will be used for general storage activities, such as storage of books or stationery. The warehouse will not be used for any goods requiring special conditions, such as food, chemicals or pharmaceuticals.

� Will have 2 stories, both above ground, with a total constructed area of 1,300.6 square meters (14,000 square feet). Each floor will be 3 meters (9 feet, 10 inches) high.

� Will have road access and be lo- cated in the periurban area of the economy’s largest business city (that is, on the fringes of the city but still within its official limits). For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.

� Will not be located in a special eco- nomic or industrial zone.

� Will be located on a land plot of 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) that is 100% owned by BuildCo and is accurately registered in the cadastre and land registry.

� Is valued at 50 times income per capita.4

� Will be a new construction (there was no previous construction on the land).

� Will have complete architectural and technical plans prepared by a licensed architect. If preparation of the plans requires such steps as obtaining further documentation or getting prior approvals from exter- nal agencies, these are counted as procedures.

� Will include all technical equipment required to be fully operational.

� Will take 30 weeks to construct (ex- cluding all delays due to administra- tive and regulatory requirements).

Assumptions about the utility connections The water and sewerage connections:

� Will be 150 meters (492 feet) from the existing water source and sewer tap. If there is no water delivery infrastructure in the economy, a borehole will be dug. If there is no sewerage infrastructure, a septic tank in the smallest size available will be installed or built.

� Will not require water for fire pro- tection reasons; a fire extinguishing system (dry system) will be used instead. If a wet fire protection sys- tem is required by law, it is assumed that the water demand specified below also covers the water needed for fire protection.

� Will have an average water use of 662 liters (175 gallons) a day and an average wastewater flow of 568 liters (150 gallons) a day.

� Will have a peak water use of 1,325 liters (350 gallons) a day and a peak wastewater flow of 1,136 liters (300 gallons) a day.

� Will have a constant level of water demand and wastewater flow throughout the year.

� Will be 1 inch in diameter for the wa- ter connection and 4 inches in diam- eter for the sewerage connection.

Procedures A procedure is any interaction of the company’s employees or managers, or any party acting on behalf of the company, with external parties, includ- ing government agencies, notaries, the land registry, the cadastre, utility companies and public inspectors—or the hiring of private inspectors and technical experts apart from in-house architects and engineers. Interactions between company employees, such as development of the warehouse plans and inspections conducted by employees, are not counted as proce- dures. But interactions necessary to obtain any plans, drawings or other documents from external parties (in- cluding any documentation required

Figure 14.4 Dealing with construction permits: building a warehouse

Days to comply with formalities to build a warehouse

As % of warehouse

value, no bribes included

Procedures are completed when final document is received; construction permits, inspections and utility connections included

33.3% Procedures

33.3% Time

33.3% Cost

Rankings are based on distance to frontier scores for 3 indicators

121DATA NOTES

for the architect to prepare the plans), or to have such documents approved or stamped by external parties, are counted as procedures. Procedures that the company undergoes to connect the warehouse to water and sewerage are included. All procedures that are legally required, or that are done in practice by the majority of companies, to build a warehouse are counted, even if they may be avoided in exceptional cases (table 14.4).

Time Time is recorded in calendar days. The measure captures the median duration that local experts indicate is necessary to complete a procedure in practice. It is assumed that the minimum time required for each procedure is 1 day, except for procedures that can be fully completed online, for which the time required is recorded as half a day. Although procedures may take place simultaneously, they cannot start on

the same day (that is, simultaneous procedures start on consecutive days), again with the exception of procedures that can be fully completed online. If a procedure can be accelerated legally for an additional cost and the acceler- ated procedure is used by the majority of companies, the fastest procedure is chosen. It is assumed that BuildCo does not waste time and commits to com- pleting each remaining procedure with- out delay. The time that BuildCo spends on gathering information is not taken into account. It is assumed that BuildCo is aware of all building requirements and their sequence from the beginning.

Cost Cost is recorded as a percentage of the warehouse value (assumed to be 50 times income per capita). Only official costs are recorded. All the fees associ- ated with completing the procedures to legally build a warehouse are recorded, including those associated with obtain- ing land use approvals and precon- struction design clearances; receiving inspections before, during and after construction; obtaining utility connec- tions; and registering the warehouse property. Nonrecurring taxes required for the completion of the warehouse project are also recorded. Sales taxes (such as value added tax) or capital gains taxes are not recorded. Nor are

deposits that must be paid up front and are later refunded. The building code, information from local experts, and specific regulations and fee sched- ules are used as sources for costs. If several local partners provide different estimates, the median reported value is used.

The data details on dealing with con- struction permits can be found for each economy at http://www.doingbusiness.org.

GETTING ELECTRICITY Doing Business records all procedures required for a business to obtain a per- manent electricity connection and sup- ply for a standardized warehouse (figure 14.5). These procedures include applica- tions and contracts with electricity utilities, all necessary inspections and clearances from the utility and other agencies, and the external and final connection works. The questionnaire di- vides the process of getting an electric- ity connection into distinct procedures and solicits data for calculating the time and cost to complete each procedure. The ranking of economies on the ease of getting electricity is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for getting electricity. These scores are the simple average of the distance to

TABLE 14.4 What do the dealing with construction permits indicators measure?

Procedures to legally build a warehouse (number)

Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining all necessary clearances, licenses, permits and certificates

Submitting all required notifications and receiving all necessary inspections

Obtaining utility connections for water and sewerage

Registering the warehouse after its completion (if required for use as collateral or for transfer of the warehouse)

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)

Does not include time spent gathering information

Each procedure starts on a separate day— though procedures that can be fully completed online are an exception to this rule

Procedure considered completed once final document is received

No prior contact with officials

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of warehouse value)

Official costs only, no bribes

FIGURE 14.5 Doing Business measures the connection process at the level of distribution utilities

Generation Transmission

Distribution

u New connections Network operation and maintenance

Metering and billing

Customer

Doing Business 2015122

frontier scores for each of the compo- nent indicators (figure 14.6).

Data are collected from the electricity distribution utility, then completed and verified by electricity regulatory agen- cies and independent professionals such as electrical engineers, electrical contractors and construction compa- nies. The electricity distribution utility consulted is the one serving the area (or areas) where warehouses are located. If there is a choice of distribution utilities, the one serving the largest number of customers is selected.

To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the warehouse and the electricity con- nection are used.

Assumptions about the warehouse The warehouse:

� Is owned by a local entrepreneur. � Is located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the sec- ond largest business city (see table 14A.1).

� Is located in an area where similar warehouses are typically located. In this area a new electricity connection

is not eligible for a special investment promotion regime (offering special subsidization or faster service, for example).

� Is located in an area with no physi- cal constraints. For example, the property is not near a railway.

� Is a new construction and is being connected to electricity for the first time.

� Has 2 stories, both above ground, with a total surface area of ap- proximately 1,300.6 square meters (14,000 square feet). The plot of land on which it is built is 929 square meters (10,000 square feet).

� Is used for storage of refrigerated goods.

Assumptions about the electricity connection The electricity connection:

� Is a permanent one. � Is a 3-phase, 4-wire Y, 140-kilovolt- ampere (kVA) (subscribed capacity) connection (where the voltage is 120/208 V, the current would be 400 amperes; where it is 230/400 B, the current would be nearly 200 amperes).

� Is 150 meters long. The connection is to either the low-voltage or the medium-voltage distribution net- work and either overhead or under- ground, whichever is more common in the area where the warehouse is located.

� Requires works that involve the crossing of a 10-meter road (such as by excavation or overhead lines) but are all carried out on public land. There is no crossing of other owners’ private property because the ware- house has access to a road.

� Includes only a negligible length in the customer’s private domain.

� Will supply monthly electricity con- sumption of 0.07 gigawatt-hours (GWh).

� Does not involve work to install the internal electrical wiring. This has already been completed, up to and including the customer’s service

panel or switchboard and installa- tion of the meter base.

Procedures A procedure is defined as any interac- tion of the company’s employees or its main electrician or electrical engineer (that is, the one who may have done the internal wiring) with external parties, such as the electricity distribution util- ity, electricity supply utilities, govern- ment agencies, electrical contractors and electrical firms. Interactions be- tween company employees and steps related to the internal electrical wiring, such as the design and execution of the internal electrical installation plans, are not counted as procedures. Procedures that must be completed with the same utility but with different departments are counted as separate procedures (table 14.5).

The company’s employees are as- sumed to complete all procedures themselves unless the use of a third party is mandated (for example, if only an electrician registered with the utility

Figure 14.6 getting electricity: obtaining an electricity connection

Days to obtain an electricity connection

As % of income per capita, no

bribes included

Steps to file an application, prepare a design, complete works, obtain approvals,

go through inspections, install a meter and sign a supply contract

33.3% Procedures

33.3% Time

33.3% Cost

Rankings are based on distance to frontier scores for 3 indicators

TABLe 14.5 What do the getting electricity indicators measure?

Procedures to obtain an electricity connection (number)

Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining all necessary clearances and permits

Completing all required notifications and receiving all necessary inspections

Obtaining external installation works and possibly purchasing material for these works

Concluding any necessary supply contract and obtaining final supply

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)

Is at least 1 calendar day

Each procedure starts on a separate day

Does not include time spent gathering information

Reflects the time spent in practice, with little follow-up and no prior contact with officials

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of income per capita)

Official costs only, no bribes

Value added tax excluded

123DATA NOTES

is allowed to submit an application). If the company can, but is not required to, request the services of profession- als (such as a private firm rather than the utility for the external works), these procedures are recorded if they are commonly done. For all procedures, only the most likely cases (for example, more than 50% of the time the utility has the material) and those followed in practice for connecting a warehouse to electricity are counted.

Time Time is recorded in calendar days. The measure captures the median duration that the electricity utility and experts indicate is necessary in practice, rather than required by law, to complete a procedure with minimum follow-up and no extra payments. It is also assumed that the minimum time required for each procedure is 1 day. Although pro- cedures may take place simultaneously, they cannot start on the same day (that is, simultaneous procedures start on consecutive days). It is assumed that the company does not waste time and commits to completing each remaining procedure without delay. The time that the company spends on gathering in- formation is not taken into account. It is assumed that the company is aware of all electricity connection requirements and their sequence from the beginning.

Cost Cost is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita. Costs are recorded exclusive of value added tax. All the fees and costs associated with completing the procedures to con- nect a warehouse to electricity are recorded, including those related to obtaining clearances from government agencies, applying for the connection, receiving inspections of both the site and the internal wiring, purchasing material, getting the actual connection works and paying a security deposit. Information from local experts and specific regulations and fee sched- ules are used as sources for costs. If

several local partners provide different estimates, the median reported value is used. In all cases the cost excludes bribes.

Security deposit Utilities require security deposits as a guarantee against the possible failure of customers to pay their consump- tion bills. For this reason the security deposit for a new customer is most often calculated as a function of the customer’s estimated consumption.

Doing Business does not record the full amount of the security deposit. If the deposit is based on the customer’s actual consumption, this basis is the one assumed in the case study. Rather than the full amount of the security deposit, Doing Business re- cords the present value of the losses in interest earnings experienced by the customer because the utility holds the security deposit over a prolonged period, in most cases until the end of the contract (assumed to be after 5 years). In cases where the security de- posit is used to cover the first monthly consumption bills, it is not recorded. To calculate the present value of the lost interest earnings, the end-2013 lending rates from the International Monetary Fund’s International Financial Statistics are used. In cases where the security deposit is returned with interest, the difference between the lending rate and the interest paid by the utility is used to calculate the present value.

In some economies the security deposit can be put up in the form of a bond: the company can obtain from a bank or an insurance company a guarantee issued on the assets it holds with that financial institution. In contrast to the scenario in which the customer pays the deposit in cash to the utility, in this scenario the company does not lose ownership control over the full amount and can continue using it. In return the company will pay the bank a commission for obtaining the bond.

The commission charged may vary depending on the credit standing of the company. The best possible credit standing and thus the lowest possible commission are assumed. Where a bond can be put up, the value recorded for the deposit is the annual commis- sion times the 5 years assumed to be the length of the contract. If both op- tions exist, the cheaper alternative is recorded.

In Honduras in June 2014 a customer re- questing a 140-kVA electricity connec- tion would have had to put up a security deposit of 118,434 Honduran lempiras (L) in cash or check, and the deposit would have been returned only at the end of the contract. The customer could instead have invested this money at the prevailing lending rate of 20.08%. Over the 5 years of the contract this would imply a present value of lost interest earnings of L 70,998.58. In contrast, if the customer chose to settle the deposit with a bank guarantee at an annual rate of 2.5%, the amount lost over the 5 years would be just L 14,804.30.

The data details on getting electricity can be found for each economy at http:// www.doingbusiness.org.

REGISTERING PROPERTY Doing Business records the full se- quence of procedures necessary for a business (the buyer) to purchase a property from another business (the seller) and to transfer the property title to the buyer’s name so that the buyer can use the property for expanding its business, use the property as collateral in taking new loans or, if necessary, sell the property to another business. The process starts with obtaining the necessary documents, such as a copy of the seller’s title if necessary, and conducting due diligence if required. The transaction is considered complete when it is opposable to third par- ties and when the buyer can use the

Doing Business 2015124

property, use it as collateral for a bank loan or resell it (figure 14.7). The ranking of economies on the ease of register- ing property is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for registering property. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the compo- nent indicators (figure 14.8).

Every procedure required by law or nec- essary in practice is included, whether it is the responsibility of the seller or the buyer or must be completed by a third party on their behalf. Local prop- erty lawyers, notaries and property registries provide information on pro- cedures as well as the time and cost to complete each of them. The registering property indicators do not measure the accessibility of property registration systems, the legal security offered by formal registration, the use of informal property registration systems or the equity of land policies.

To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the parties to the transaction, the property and the procedures are used.

Assumptions about the parties The parties (buyer and seller):

� Are limited liability companies. � Are located in the periurban area of the economy’s largest business

city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city (see table 14A.1).

� Are 100% domestically and privately owned.

� Have 50 employees each, all of whom are nationals.

� Perform general commercial activities.

Assumptions about the property The property:

� Has a value of 50 times income per capita. The sale price equals the value.

� Is fully owned by the seller. � Has no mortgages attached and has been under the same ownership for the past 10 years.

� Is registered in the land registry or cadastre, or both, and is free of title disputes.

� Is located in a periurban commercial zone, and no rezoning is required.

� Consists of land and a building. The land area is 557.4 square meters (6,000 square feet). A 2-story ware- house of 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) is located on the land. The warehouse is 10 years old, is in good condition and complies with all safety standards, building codes and other legal requirements. It has no heating system. The property of land and building will be transferred in its entirety.

� Will not be subject to renovations or additional building following the purchase.

� Has no trees, natural water sources, natural reserves or historical monu- ments of any kind.

� Will not be used for special purpos- es, and no special permits, such as for residential use, industrial plants, waste storage or certain types of agricultural activities, are required.

� Has no occupants, and no other party holds a legal interest in it.

Procedures A procedure is defined as any interac- tion of the buyer or the seller, their agents (if an agent is legally or in practice required) or the property with external parties, including government agencies, inspectors, notaries and law- yers. Interactions between company officers and employees are not con- sidered. All procedures that are legally or in practice required for registering property are recorded, even if they may be avoided in exceptional cases (table 14.6). It is assumed that the buyer fol- lows the fastest legal option available and used by the majority of property owners. Although the buyer may use lawyers or other professionals where

Figure 14.7 What are the time, cost and number of procedures required to transfer property between 2 local companies?

Number of procedures

Buyer can use the property, resell it or use it as collateral

Preregistration PostregistrationRegistration Time (days)

Cost (% of property value)

Seller with property registered and no

title disputes

Land & 2-story warehouse

Figure 14.8 registering property: transfer of property between 2 local companies

Days to transfer property

As % of property value, no bribes

included

Steps to check encumbrances, obtain clearance certificates, prepare deed and transfer title so that the property can be

occupied, sold or used as collateral

33.3% Procedures

33.3% Time

33.3% Cost

Rankings are based on distance to frontier scores for 3 indicators

125Data Notes

necessary in the registration process, it is assumed that the buyer does not employ an outside facilitator in the registration process unless legally or in practice required to do so.

Time Time is recorded in calendar days. The measure captures the median dura- tion that property lawyers, notaries or registry officials indicate is necessary to complete a procedure. It is assumed that the minimum time required for each procedure is 1 day, except for procedures that can be fully completed online, for which the time required is recorded as half a day. Although proce- dures may take place simultaneously, they cannot start on the same day, again with the exception of procedures that can be fully completed online. It is assumed that the buyer does not waste time and commits to completing each remaining procedure without delay. If a procedure can be accelerated for an ad- ditional cost, the fastest legal procedure

available and used by the majority of property owners is chosen. If procedures can be undertaken simultaneously, it is assumed that they are. It is assumed that the parties involved are aware of all requirements and their sequence from the beginning. Time spent on gathering information is not considered.

Cost Cost is recorded as a percentage of the property value, assumed to be equiva- lent to 50 times income per capita. Only official costs required by law are recorded, including fees, transfer taxes, stamp duties and any other payment to the property registry, notaries, public agencies or lawyers. Other taxes, such as capital gains tax or value added tax, are excluded from the cost measure. Both costs borne by the buyer and those borne by the seller are included. If cost estimates differ among sources, the median reported value is used.

The data details on registering property can be found for each economy at http:// www.doingbusiness.org.

GETTING CREDIT Doing Business measures the legal rights of borrowers and lenders with re- spect to secured transactions through one set of indicators and the sharing

of credit information through another. The first set of indicators measures whether certain features that facilitate lending exist within the applicable col- lateral and bankruptcy laws. The sec- ond set measures the coverage, scope and accessibility of credit information available through credit reporting ser- vice providers such as credit bureaus or credit registries (figure 14.9). The ranking of economies on the ease of getting credit is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for getting credit. These scores are the distance to frontier score for the sum of the strength of legal rights index and the depth of credit information index (figure 14.10).

Legal rights

The data on the legal rights of borrow- ers and lenders are gathered through a questionnaire administered to financial lawyers and verified through analysis of laws and regulations as well as public sources of information on collateral and bankruptcy laws. Questionnaire responses are verified through several rounds of follow-up communication with respondents as well as by contacting third parties and consulting public sources. The ques- tionnaire data are confirmed through teleconference calls or on-site visits in all economies.

Figure 14.9 Do lenders have credit information on entrepreneurs seeking credit? is the law favorable to borrowers and lenders using movable assets as collateral?

Movable asset

Collateral registry Lender

Credit bureaus and registries

Potential borrower

What types can be used as collateral?

Can lenders access credit information

on borrowers?

Can movable assets be used as collateral?

Credit information

TABLe 14.6 What do the registering property indicators measure?

Procedures to legally transfer title on immovable property (number)

Preregistration procedures (for example, checking for liens, notarizing sales agreement, paying property transfer taxes)

Registration procedures in the economy’s largest business citya

Postregistration procedures (for example, filing title with municipality)

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)

Does not include time spent gathering information

Each procedure starts on a separate day— though procedures that can be fully completed online are an exception to this rule

Procedure considered completed once final document is received

No prior contact with officials

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of property value)

Official costs only, no bribes

No value added or capital gains taxes included

a. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.

DOING BUSINESS 2015126

Strength of legal rights index The strength of legal rights index mea- sures the degree to which collateral and bankruptcy laws protect the rights of borrowers and lenders and thus facilitate lending (table 14.7). The index for the first time this year includes 12 components rather than 10. For each economy it is first assessed whether a unitary secured transactions system exists. Then 2 case scenarios, case A and case B, are used to determine how a nonpossessory security interest is created, publicized and enforced ac- cording to the law. Special emphasis is given to how the collateral registry operates (if registration of security in- terests is possible). The case scenarios involve a secured borrower, the compa- ny ABC, and a secured lender, BizBank.

In some economies the legal framework for secured transactions will allow only case A or case B (not both) to apply. Both cases examine the same set of legal provisions relating to the use of movable collateral.

Several assumptions about the secured borrower (ABC) and lender (BizBank) are used: � ABC is a domestic limited liability

company.

� ABC has up to 50 employees. � ABC has its headquarters and only base of operations in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 econo- mies the data are also collected for the second largest business city (see table 14A.1).

� Both ABC and BizBank are 100% domestically owned.

The case scenarios also involve assumptions. In case A, as collat- eral for the loan, ABC grants BizBank a nonpossessory security interest in one category of movable assets, for example, its machinery or its inventory. ABC wants to keep both possession and ownership of the collateral. In economies where the law does not al- low nonpossessory security interests in movable property, ABC and BizBank use a fiduciary transfer-of-title ar- rangement (or a similar substitute for nonpossessory security interests).

In case B, ABC grants BizBank a busi- ness charge, enterprise charge, float- ing charge or any charge that gives BizBank a security interest over ABC’s combined movable assets (or as much of ABC’s movable assets as possible). ABC keeps ownership and possession of the assets.

The strength of legal rights index covers functional equivalents to secu- rity over movable assets (for example, leasing or reservation of title) only in its first component, to assess how in- tegrated or unified the economy’s legal framework for secured transactions is.

The strength of legal rights index includes 10 aspects related to legal rights in collateral law and 2 aspects in bankruptcy law. A score of 1 is assigned for each of the following features of the laws:

� The economy has an integrated or unified legal framework for secured transactions that extends to the creation, publicity and enforcement of 4 functional equivalents to se- curity interests in movable assets: fiduciary transfer of title; financial leases; assignment or transfer of receivables; and sales with reten- tion of title.

� The law allows a business to grant a nonpossessory security right in a single category of movable assets (such as machinery or inventory), without requiring a specific descrip- tion of the collateral.

� The law allows a business to grant a nonpossessory security right in substantially all its movable assets, without requiring a specific descrip- tion of the collateral.

� A security right can be given over future or after-acquired assets and extends automatically to the products, proceeds or replacements of the original assets.

� A general description of debts and obligations is permitted in the col- lateral agreement and in registra- tion documents, all types of debts and obligations can be secured be- tween the parties, and the collateral agreement can include a maximum amount for which the assets are encumbered.

� A collateral registry or registration institution for security interests granted over movable property by incorporated and nonincorporated

FIGURE 14.10 Getting credit: collateral rules and credit information

Regulations on nonpossessory security interests in movable property

Scope, quality and accessibility of credit information through credit bureaus and registries

100% Sum of strength of

legal rights index (0–12) and

depth of credit information index

(0–8)

Rankings are based on distance to frontier scores for the sum of 2 indicators

Note: Credit bureau coverage and credit registry coverage are measured but do not count for the rankings.

TABLE 14.7 What do the getting credit indicators measure?

Strength of legal rights index (0–12)

Protection of rights of borrowers and lenders through collateral laws

Protection of secured creditors’ rights through bankruptcy laws

Depth of credit information index (0–8)

Scope and accessibility of credit information distributed by credit registries and credit bureaus

Credit bureau coverage (% of adults)

Number of individuals and firms listed in the largest credit bureau as percentage of adult population

Credit registry coverage (% of adults)

Number of individuals and firms listed in a credit registry as percentage of adult population

127DATA NOTES

entities is in operation, unified geo- graphically and with an elec- tronic database indexed by debtors’ names.

� The collateral registry is a notice- based registry—a registry that files only a notice of the existence of a security interest (not the underlying documents) and does not perform a legal review of the transaction. The registry also publicizes functional equivalents to security interests.

� The collateral registry has modern features such as those that allow secured creditors (or their represen- tatives) to register, search, amend or cancel security interests online.

� Secured creditors are paid first (for example, before tax claims and em- ployee claims) when a debtor defaults outside an insolvency procedure.

� Secured creditors are paid first (for example, before tax claims and employee claims) when a business is liquidated.

� Secured creditors are subject to an automatic stay on enforcement procedures when a debtor enters a court-supervised reorganization procedure, but the law protects secured creditors’ rights by provid- ing clear grounds for relief from the automatic stay (for example, if the movable property is in danger) or setting a time limit for it.

� The law allows parties to agree in the collateral agreement that the lender may enforce its security right out of court; the law allows public and private auctions and also permits the secured creditor to take the asset in satisfaction of the debt.

As a result of changes introduced this year, the first component of the index replaces one relating to legal limitations on who can participate in a security agreement. Two components were added, on what type of collateral registry operates in the economy and on how it operates. The scoring now penalizes economies for not having an automatic stay on enforcement during

reorganization procedures so as to ensure that a viable business can con- tinue to operate. And the index takes into account new elements relating to out-of-court enforcement procedures (such as the types of auctions allowed).

The index ranges from 0 to 12, with higher scores indicating that collateral and bankruptcy laws are better de- signed to expand access to credit.

Credit information

The data on the sharing of credit information are built in 2 stages. First, banking supervision authorities and public information sources are surveyed to confirm the presence of a credit reporting service provider, such as a credit bureau or credit registry. Second, when applicable, a detailed questionnaire on the credit bureau’s or credit registry’s structure, laws and associated rules is administered to the entity itself. Questionnaire responses are verified through several rounds of follow-up communication with respon- dents as well as by contacting third parties and consulting public sources. The questionnaire data are confirmed through teleconference calls or on-site visits in all economies.

Depth of credit information index The depth of credit information index measures rules and practices affecting the coverage, scope and accessibility of credit information available through either a credit bureau or a credit reg- istry. A score of 1 is assigned for each of the following 8 features of the credit bureau or credit registry (or both):

� Data on both firms and individuals are distributed.

� Both positive credit information (for example, original loan amounts, outstanding loan amounts and a pattern of on-time repayments) and negative information (for example, late payments and the number and amount of defaults) are distributed.

� Data from retailers and utility com- panies are distributed in addition to data from financial institutions.

� At least 2 years of historical data are distributed. Credit bureaus and registries that distribute more than 10 years of negative data or erase data on defaults as soon as they are repaid obtain a score of 0 for this component.5

� Data on loan amounts below 1% of income per capita are distributed.

� By law, borrowers have the right to access their data in the largest credit bureau or registry in the economy. Credit bureaus and reg- istries that charge more than 1% of income per capita for borrowers to inspect their data obtain a score of 0 for this component.6

� Data users can access borrowers’ credit information online (for ex- ample, through an online platform, a system-to-system connection or both).7

� Bureau or registry credit scores are offered as a value added service to help data users assess the credit- worthiness of borrowers.8

Previously the depth of credit infor- mation index covered only the first 6 features listed above. The index ranges from 0 to 8, with higher values indicating the availability of more credit information, from either a credit bureau or a credit registry, to facilitate lending decisions. If the credit bureau or registry is not operational or covers less than 5% of the adult population, the score on the depth of credit information index is 0.

In Lithuania, for example, both a credit bureau and a credit registry operate. Both distribute data on firms and in- dividuals (a score of 1). Both distribute positive and negative information (a score of 1). Although the credit registry does not distribute data from retail- ers or utilities, the credit bureau does (a score of 1). Both distribute at least 2 years of historical data (a score of 1). Although the credit registry has

DOING BUSINESS 2015128

a threshold of 1,000 litai, the credit bureau distributes data on loans of any value (a score of 1). Borrowers have the right to access their data in both the credit bureau and the credit registry free of charge once a year (a score of 1). Both entities provide data users access to databases through an online platform (a score of 1). Although the credit registry does not provide credit scores, the credit bureau does (a score of 1). Adding these numbers gives Lithuania a score of 8 on the depth of credit information index.

Credit bureau coverage Credit bureau coverage reports the number of individuals and firms listed in a credit bureau’s database as of January 1, 2014, with information on their borrowing history from the past 5 years. The number is expressed as a percentage of the adult population (the population age 15 and above in 2013 according to the World Bank’s World Development Indicators). A credit bureau is defined as a private firm or nonprofit organization that maintains a database on the creditworthiness of borrowers (individuals or firms) in the financial system and facilitates the exchange of credit information among creditors. (Many credit bureaus support banking and overall financial supervision activi- ties in practice, though this is not their primary objective.) Credit investigative bureaus and credit reporting firms that do not directly facilitate informa- tion exchange among banks and other financial institutions are not considered. If no credit bureau operates, the cover- age value is 0.0%.

Credit registry coverage Credit registry coverage reports the number of individuals and firms listed in a credit registry’s database as of January 1, 2014, with information on their borrowing history from the past 5 years. The number is expressed as a percentage of the adult population (the population age 15 and above in 2013 according to the World Bank’s World

Development Indicators). A credit registry is defined as a database managed by the public sector, usually by the central bank or the superintendent of banks, that primarily assists banking supervi- sion while at the same time facilitating the exchange of credit information among banks and other regulated financial institutions. If no registry oper- ates, the coverage value is 0.0%.

The data details on getting credit can be found for each economy at http://www .doingbusiness.org. The initial methodol- ogy was developed by Djankov, McLiesh and Shleifer (2007) and is adopted here with minor changes.

PROTECTING MINORITY INVESTORS Doing Business measures the protection of minority investors from conflicts of interest through one set of indicators and shareholders’ rights in corporate governance through another (table 14.8). The data come from a question- naire administered to corporate and

securities lawyers and are based on securities regulations, company laws, civil procedure codes and court rules of evidence. The ranking of economies on the strength of minority investor pro- tections is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for protect- ing minority investors. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for the extent of conflict of interest regulation index and the extent of shareholder governance index (figure 14.11).

Protection of shareholders from conflicts of interest

The extent of conflict of interest regula- tion index measures the protection of shareholders against directors’ misuse of corporate assets for personal gain by distinguishing 3 dimensions of regula- tion that address conflicts of interest: transparency of related-party transac- tions (extent of disclosure index), share- holders’ ability to sue and hold directors liable for self-dealing (extent of director liability index) and access to evidence and allocation of legal expenses in

TABLE 14.8 What do the protecting minority investors indicators measure?

Extent of disclosure index (0–10) Extent of shareholder rights index (0–10.5)

Review and approval requirements for related- party transactions

Shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate decisions

Internal, immediate and periodic disclosure requirements for related-party transactions

Extent of director liability index (0–10) Strength of governance structure index (0–10.5)

Minority shareholders’ ability to sue and hold interested directors liable for prejudicial related- party transactions

Governance safeguards protecting shareholders from undue board control and entrenchment

Available legal remedies (damages, disgorgement of profits, fines, imprisonment, rescission of transactions)

Ease of shareholder suits index (0–10) Extent of corporate transparency index (0–9)

Access to internal corporate documents Corporate transparency on ownership stakes, compensation, audits and financial prospects

Evidence obtainable during trial

Allocation of legal expenses

Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10)

Sum of the extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of shareholder suits indices, divided by 3

Sum of the extent of shareholder rights, strength of governance structure and extent of corporate transparency indices, divided by 3

Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10)

Simple average of the extent of conflict of interest regulation and extent of shareholder governance indices

129Data Notes

shareholder litigation (ease of share- holder suits index). To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the transaction are used (figure 14.12).

Assumptions about the business The business (Buyer):

� Is a publicly traded corporation listed on the economy’s most im- portant stock exchange. If the num- ber of publicly traded companies listed on that exchange is less than 10, or if there is no stock exchange in the economy, it is assumed that Buyer is a large private company with multiple shareholders.

� Has a board of directors and a chief executive officer (CEO) who may

legally act on behalf of Buyer where permitted, even if this is not specifi- cally required by law.

� Has a supervisory board (appli- cable to economies with a 2-tier board system) on which 60% of the shareholder-elected members have been appointed by Mr. James, who is Buyer’s controlling shareholder and a member of Buyer’s board of directors.

� Is a manufacturing company. � Has its own distribution network.

Assumptions about the transaction

� Mr. James owns 60% of Buyer and elected 2 directors to Buyer’s 5-member board.

� Mr. James also owns 90% of Seller, a company that operates a chain of retail hardware stores. Seller recently closed a large number of its stores.

� Mr. James proposes that Buyer pur- chase Seller’s unused fleet of trucks to expand Buyer’s distribution of its food products, a proposal to which Buyer agrees. The price is equal to 10% of Buyer’s assets and is higher than the market value.

� The proposed transaction is part of the company’s ordinary course of business and is not outside the authority of the company.

� Buyer enters into the transaction. All required approvals are obtained, and all required disclosures made (that is, the transaction is not fraudulent).

� The transaction causes damages to Buyer. Shareholders sue Mr. James and the other parties that approved the transaction.

Extent of disclosure index The extent of disclosure index has 5 components:

� Which corporate body can provide legally sufficient approval for the transaction. A score of 0 is assigned if it is the CEO or the managing director alone; 1 if the board of directors, the supervisory board or shareholders must vote and Mr. James is permitted to vote; 2 if the board of directors or the supervisory board must vote and Mr. James is not permitted to vote; 3 if shareholders must vote and Mr. James is not permitted to vote.

� Whether immediate disclosure of the transaction to the public, the regula- tor or the shareholders is required. A score of 0 is assigned if no disclosure is required; 1 if disclosure on the terms of the transaction is required but not on Mr. James’s conflict of interest; 2 if disclosure on both the terms and Mr. James’s conflict of interest is required.9

� Whether disclosure in the annual report is required. A score of 0 is assigned if no disclosure on the transaction is required; 1 if disclo- sure on the terms of the transaction is required but not on Mr. James’s conflict of interest; 2 if disclosure on both the terms and Mr. James’s conflict of interest is required.

� Whether disclosure by Mr. James to the board of directors or the su- pervisory board is required. A score of 0 is assigned if no disclosure is required; 1 if a general disclosure of the existence of a conflict of interest is required without any specifics; 2 if full disclosure of all material facts relating to Mr. James’s interest in the Buyer-Seller transaction is required.

� Whether it is required that an exter- nal body, for example, an external auditor, review the transaction

Figure 14.12 How well are minority shareholders protected from conflicts of interest?

Extent of disclosure Disclosure and approval requirements

Extent of director liability Ability to sue directors for damages

Ease of shareholder suits Access by shareholders to documents plus other evidence for trial

90% ownership, sits on board of directors

60% ownership, sits on board of directors

Company B (seller)

Company A (buyer)

Transaction involving conflict

of interest

Mr. James

Minority shareholders

La ws

uit

Figure 14.11 Protecting minority investors: shareholders’ rights in conflicts of interest and corporate governance

Rankings are based on distance to frontier scores for 2 indicators

50% Extent of

conflict of interest

regulation index

50% Extent of shareholder governance index

DOING BUSINESS 2015130

before it takes place. A score of 0 is assigned if no; 1 if yes.

The index ranges from 0 to 10, with higher values indicating greater disclo- sure. In Poland, for example, the board of directors must approve the transaction and Mr. James is not allowed to vote (a score of 2). Buyer is required to disclose immediately all information affecting the stock price, including the conflict of interest (a score of 2). In its annual re- port Buyer must also disclose the terms of the transaction and Mr. James’s own- ership in Buyer and Seller (a score of 2). Before the transaction Mr. James must disclose his conflict of interest to the other directors, but he is not required to provide specific information about it (a score of 1). Poland does not require an external body to review the transaction (a score of 0). Adding these numbers gives Poland a score of 7 on the extent of disclosure index.

Extent of director liability index The extent of director liability index has 7 components:10

� Whether a shareholder plaintiff is able to hold Mr. James liable for the damage the Buyer-Seller transac- tion causes to the company. A score of 0 is assigned if Mr. James cannot be held liable or can be held liable only for fraud, bad faith or gross negligence; 1 if Mr. James can be held liable only if he influenced the approval of the transaction or was negligent; 2 if Mr. James can be held liable when the transaction is unfair or prejudicial to the other shareholders.

� Whether a shareholder plaintiff is able to hold the approving body (the CEO, members of the board of direc- tors or members of the supervisory board) liable for the damage the transaction causes to the company. A score of 0 is assigned if the ap- proving body cannot be held liable or can be held liable only for fraud, bad faith or gross negligence; 1 if the

approving body can be held liable for negligence; 2 if the approving body can be held liable when the transac- tion is unfair or prejudicial to the other shareholders.

� Whether a court can void the trans- action upon a successful claim by a shareholder plaintiff. A score of 0 is assigned if rescission is unavailable or is available only in case of fraud, bad faith or gross negligence; 1 if re- scission is available when the trans- action is oppressive or prejudicial to the other shareholders; 2 if rescission is available when the transaction is unfair or entails a conflict of interest.

� Whether Mr. James pays damages for the harm caused to the com- pany upon a successful claim by the shareholder plaintiff. A score of 0 is assigned if no; 1 if yes.

� Whether Mr. James repays profits made from the transaction upon a successful claim by the shareholder plaintiff. A score of 0 is assigned if no; 1 if yes.

� Whether both fines and imprison- ment can be applied against Mr. James. A score of 0 is assigned if no; 1 if yes.

� Whether shareholder plaintiffs are able to sue directly or derivatively for the damage the transaction causes to the company. A score of 0 is as- signed if suits are unavailable or are available only for shareholders hold- ing more than 10% of the company’s share capital; 1 if direct or derivative suits are available for shareholders holding 10% of share capital.

The index ranges from 0 to 10, with higher values indicating greater liability of directors. Assuming that the prejudi- cial transaction was duly approved and disclosed, in order to hold Mr. James li- able in Panama, for example, a plaintiff must prove that Mr. James influenced the approving body or acted negli- gently (a score of 1). To hold the other directors liable, a plaintiff must prove that they acted negligently (a score of 1). The prejudicial transaction cannot

be voided (a score of 0). If Mr. James is found liable, he must pay damages (a score of 1) but he is not required to disgorge his profits (a score of 0). Mr. James cannot be fined and imprisoned (a score of 0). Direct or derivative suits are available for shareholders hold- ing 10% of share capital (a score of 1). Adding these numbers gives Panama a score of 4 on the extent of director liability index.

Ease of shareholder suits index The ease of shareholder suits index has 6 components:

� What range of documents is avail- able to the shareholder plaintiff from the defendant and witnesses during trial. A score of 1 is assigned for each of the following types of documents available: information that the defendant has indicated he intends to rely on for his de- fense; information that directly proves specific facts in the plain- tiff’s claim; and any information relevant to the subject matter of the claim.

� Whether the plaintiff can directly examine the defendant and wit- nesses during trial. A score of 0 is assigned if no; 1 if yes, with prior ap- proval of the questions by the judge; 2 if yes, without prior approval.

� Whether the plaintiff can obtain cat- egories of relevant documents from the defendant without identifying each document specifically. A score of 0 is assigned if no; 1 if yes.

� Whether shareholders owning 10% of the company’s share capital have the right to inspect the transaction documents before filing suit or re- quest that a government inspector investigate the Buyer-Seller trans- action without filing suit. A score of 0 is assigned if no; 1 if yes.11

� Whether the standard of proof for civil suits is lower than that for a criminal case. A score of 0 is as- signed if no; 1 if yes.

� Whether shareholder plaintiffs can recover their legal expenses

131DATA NOTES

from the company. A score of 0 is assigned if no; 1 if plaintiffs can recover their legal expenses from the company only upon a success- ful outcome of their legal action or if payment of their attorney fees is contingent on a successful outcome; 2 if plaintiffs can recover their legal expenses from the com- pany regardless of the outcome of their legal action.12

The index ranges from 0 to 10, with higher values indicating greater pow- ers of shareholders to challenge the transaction. In Croatia, for example, the plaintiff can access documents that the defendant intends to rely on for his defense (a score of 1). The plain- tiff can examine the defendant and witnesses during trial, without prior approval of the questions by the court (a score of 2). The plaintiff must spe- cifically identify the documents being sought (for example, the Buyer-Seller purchase agreement of July 15, 2006) and cannot simply request categories (for example, all documents related to the transaction) (a score of 0). A shareholder holding 10% of Buyer’s shares can request that a government inspector review suspected misman- agement by Mr. James and the CEO without filing suit in court (a score of 1). The standard of proof for civil suits is the same as that for a criminal case (a score of 0). The plaintiff can recover legal expenses from the company only upon a successful outcome of the le- gal action (a score of 1). Adding these numbers gives Croatia a score of 5 on the ease of shareholder suits index.

Extent of conflict of interest regulation index The extent of conflict of interest regulation index is the sum of the extent of disclosure index, the extent of director liability index and the ease of shareholder suits index. The index is divided by 3 so that it ranges from 0 to 10. Higher values indicate stronger regulation of conflicts of interest.

Shareholders’ rights in corporate governance

The extent of shareholder governance index measures shareholders’ rights in corporate governance by distinguish- ing 3 dimensions of good governance: shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate decisions (extent of share- holder rights index), governance safe- guards protecting shareholders from undue board control and entrenchment (strength of governance structure index) and corporate transparency on ownership stakes, compensation, audits and financial prospects (extent of corporate transparency index).13

Extent of shareholder rights index For each component of the extent of shareholder rights index, a score of 0 is assigned if the answer is no; 1 if it is yes; and 1.5 if it would also apply if Buyer were a privately held joint stock company not listed on any stock ex- change. The index has 7 components: � Whether shareholders have the

right to amend Buyer’s bylaws or statutes with a simple majority.

� Whether shareholders owning 10% of Buyer’s share capital have the right to call for an extraordinary meeting of shareholders.

� Whether shareholders have the right to remove members of Buyer’s board of directors before the end of their term.

� Whether Buyer must obtain its shareholders’ approval every time it issues new shares.

� Whether shareholders are auto- matically granted preemption or subscription rights every time Buyer issues new shares.

� Whether shareholders are required by law to approve the election and dismissal of the external auditor.

� Whether shareholders have the right to freely trade shares prior to a major corporate action or meeting of shareholders.

Strength of governance structure index For each component of the strength of governance structure index, a score of 0 is assigned if the answer is no; 1 if it is yes; and 1.5 if it would also ap- ply if Buyer were a privately held joint stock company not listed on any stock exchange. The index has 7 components: � Whether the CEO is barred from

also being chair of the board of directors.

� Whether the board of directors must include independent board members.

� Whether Buyer must have a sepa- rate audit committee.

� Whether changes to the voting rights of a series or class of shares must be approved only by the hold- ers of the affected shares.

� Whether a potential acquirer must make a tender offer to all sharehold- ers upon acquiring 50% of Buyer.

� Whether cross-shareholding be- tween 2 independent companies is limited to 10% of outstanding shares.

� Whether a subsidiary is barred from acquiring shares issued by its par- ent company.

Extent of corporate transparency index For each component of the extent of corporate transparency index, a score of 0 is assigned if the answer is no; 1 if it is yes; and 1.5 if it would also apply if Buyer were a privately held joint stock company not listed on any stock ex- change. The index has 6 components: � Whether Buyer must disclose own-

ership stakes representing 10%. � Whether Buyer must disclose in-

formation about board members’ other directorships as well as basic information on their primary employment.

� Whether Buyer must disclose the compensation of individual managers.

� Whether Buyer must have its an- nual financial statements audited by an external auditor.

Doing Business 2015132

� Whether financial statements must contain explanatory notes on sig- nificant accounting policies, trends, risks, uncertainties and other fac- tors influencing the reporting.

� Whether audit reports must be disclosed to the public.

Extent of shareholder governance index The extent of shareholder governance index is the sum of the extent of shareholder rights index, the strength of governance structure index and the extent of corporate transparency index. The index is divided by 3 so that it ranges from 0 to 10. Higher values indicate stronger rights of shareholders in corporate governance.

Strength of minority investor protection index The strength of minority investor protection index is the average of the extent of conflict of interest regulation index and the extent of shareholder governance index. The index ranges from 0 to 10, rounded to the near- est decimal place, with higher values indicating stronger minority investor protections.

The data details on protecting minority investors can be found for each economy at http://www.doingbusiness.org. The initial methodology was developed by Djankov, La Porta and others (2008). The extent of shareholder governance index was introduced in Doing Business 2015.

PAYING TAXES Doing Business records the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay in a given year as well as measures of the administrative burden of paying taxes and contributions (figure 14.13). The project was developed and implemented in cooperation with PwC.14 Taxes and contributions measured include the profit or corporate income tax, social

contributions and labor taxes paid by the employer, property taxes, prop- erty transfer taxes, dividend tax, capital gains tax, financial transactions tax, waste collection taxes, vehicle and road taxes, and any other small taxes or fees.

The ranking of economies on the ease of paying taxes is determined by sort- ing their distance to frontier scores for paying taxes. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the compo- nent indicators (figure 14.14), with a threshold and a nonlinear transforma- tion applied to one of the component indicators, the total tax rate.15 The threshold is defined as the highest total tax rate among the top 15% of economies in the ranking on the total tax rate. It is calculated and adjusted on a yearly basis. This year’s threshold is 26.1%. All economies with a total tax rate below this threshold receive the same score as the economy at the threshold. The threshold is not based on any economic theory of an “optimal tax rate” that minimizes distortions or maximizes efficiency in an economy’s overall tax system. Instead, it is mainly empirical in nature, set at the lower end of the distribution of tax rates levied on medium-size enterprises in the manufacturing sector as observed through the paying taxes indicators.

This reduces the bias in the total tax rate indicator toward economies that do not need to levy significant taxes on companies like the Doing Business standardized case study company be- cause they raise public revenue in other ways—for example, through taxes on foreign companies, through taxes on sectors other than manufacturing or from natural resources (all of which are outside the scope of the methodology).

Doing Business measures all taxes and contributions that are government

Figure 14.13 What are the time, total tax rate and number of payments necessary for a local medium-size company to pay all taxes?

To prepare, file and pay value added or sales tax, profit tax and labor taxes and contributions

Number of payments (per year)

Total tax rate Time

Hours per year

% of profit before all taxes

Figure 14.14 Paying taxes: tax compliance for a local manufacturing company

Number of hours per year to prepare, file returns and pay taxes

Firm tax liability as % of profits

before all taxes borne

Number of tax payments per year

33.3% Payments

33.3% Time

33.3% Total tax rate

Rankings are based on distance to frontier scores for 3 indicators

Note: All economies below the threshold receive the same score in the total tax rate component as the economies at the threshold.

133DATA NOTES

mandated (at any level—federal, state or local) and that apply to the standard- ized business and have an impact in its financial statements. In doing so, Doing Business goes beyond the traditional definition of a tax. As defined for the purposes of government national ac- counts, taxes include only compulsory, unrequited payments to general gov- ernment. Doing Business departs from this definition because it measures imposed charges that affect business accounts, not government accounts. One main difference relates to labor contributions. The Doing Business mea- sure includes government-mandated contributions paid by the employer to a requited private pension fund or workers’ insurance fund. It includes, for example, Australia’s compulsory superannuation guarantee and work- ers’ compensation insurance. For the purpose of calculating the total tax rate (defined below), only taxes borne are included. For example, value added taxes are generally excluded (provided that they are not irrecoverable) because they do not affect the accounting prof- its of the business—that is, they are not reflected in the income statement. They are, however, included for the purpose of the compliance measures (time and payments), as they add to the burden of complying with the tax system.

Doing Business uses a case scenario to measure the taxes and contributions paid by a standardized business and the complexity of an economy’s tax compliance system. This case scenario uses a set of financial statements and assumptions about transactions made over the course of the year. In each economy tax experts from a number of different firms (in many economies these include PwC) compute the taxes and mandatory contributions due in their jurisdiction based on the stan- dardized case study facts. Information is also compiled on the frequency of filing and payments as well as the time taken to comply with tax laws in an economy. To make the data

comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the taxes and contributions are used.

The methodology for the paying taxes indicators has benefited from discus- sion with members of the International Tax Dialogue and other stakeholders. This has led to a refinement of the questions on the time to pay taxes, the collection of additional data on the la- bor tax wedge for further research and the introduction of a threshold applied to the total tax rate for the purpose of calculating the ranking on the ease of paying taxes.

Assumptions about the business The business:

� Is a limited liability, taxable com- pany. If there is more than one type of limited liability company in the economy, the limited liability form most common among domestic firms is chosen. The most common form is reported by incorporation lawyers or the statistical office.

� Started operations on January 1, 2012. At that time the company purchased all the assets shown in its balance sheet and hired all its workers.

� Operates in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city (see table 14A.1).

� Is 100% domestically owned and has 5 owners, all of whom are natural persons.

� At the end of 2012, has a start-up capital of 102 times income per capita.

� Performs general industrial or commercial activities. Specifically, it produces ceramic flowerpots and sells them at retail. It does not participate in foreign trade (no im- port or export) and does not handle products subject to a special tax re- gime, for example, liquor or tobacco.

� At the beginning of 2013, owns 2 plots of land, 1 building, machinery,

office equipment, computers and 1 truck and leases 1 truck.

� Does not qualify for investment in- centives or any benefits apart from those related to the age or size of the company.

� Has 60 employees—4 managers, 8 assistants and 48 workers. All are nationals, and 1 manager is also an owner. The company pays for ad- ditional medical insurance for em- ployees (not mandated by any law) as an additional benefit. In addition, in some economies reimbursable business travel and client enter- tainment expenses are considered fringe benefits. When applicable, it is assumed that the company pays the fringe benefit tax on this ex- pense or that the benefit becomes taxable income for the employee. The case study assumes no ad- ditional salary additions for meals, transportation, education or others. Therefore, even when such benefits are frequent, they are not added to or removed from the taxable gross salaries to arrive at the labor tax or contribution calculation.

� Has a turnover of 1,050 times in- come per capita.

� Makes a loss in the first year of operation.

� Has a gross margin (pretax) of 20% (that is, sales are 120% of the cost of goods sold).

� Distributes 50% of its net profits as dividends to the owners at the end of the second year.

� Sells one of its plots of land at a profit at the beginning of the second year.

� Is subject to a series of detailed assumptions on expenses and transactions to further standardize the case. All financial statement variables are proportional to 2012 income per capita (this is an update from previous years, when the variables were proportional to 2005 income per capita). For example, the owner who is also a manager spends 10% of income per capita

DOING BUSINESS 2015134

on traveling for the company (20% of this owner’s expenses are purely private, 20% are for entertaining customers, and 60% are for busi- ness travel).

Assumptions about the taxes and contributions

� All the taxes and contributions recorded are those paid in the second year of operation (calendar year 2013). A tax or contribution is considered distinct if it has a different name or is collected by a different agency. Taxes and contri- butions with the same name and agency, but charged at different rates depending on the business, are counted as the same tax or contribution.

� The number of times the company pays taxes and contributions in a year is the number of different taxes or contributions multiplied by the frequency of payment (or withhold- ing) for each tax. The frequency of payment includes advance pay- ments (or withholding) as well as regular payments (or withholding).

Tax payments The tax payments indicator reflects the total number of taxes and con- tributions paid, the method of pay- ment, the frequency of payment, the frequency of filing and the number of agencies involved for the standard- ized case study company during the second year of operation (table 14.9). It includes taxes withheld by the com- pany, such as sales tax, value added tax and employee-borne labor taxes. These taxes are traditionally collected by the company from the consumer or employee on behalf of the tax agencies. Although they do not affect the income statements of the company, they add to the administrative burden of com- plying with the tax system and so are included in the tax payments measure.

The number of payments takes into account electronic filing. Where full

electronic filing and payment is allowed and it is used by the majority of medi- um-size businesses, the tax is counted as paid once a year even if filings and payments are more frequent. For pay- ments made through third parties, such as tax on interest paid by a financial institution or fuel tax paid by a fuel dis- tributor, only one payment is included even if payments are more frequent.

Where 2 or more taxes or contributions are filed for and paid jointly using the same form, each of these joint pay- ments is counted once. For example, if mandatory health insurance contribu- tions and mandatory pension contri- butions are filed for and paid together, only one of these contributions would be included in the number of payments.

Time Time is recorded in hours per year. The indicator measures the time taken to prepare, file and pay 3 major types of taxes and contributions: the corporate income tax, value added or sales tax,

and labor taxes, including payroll taxes and social contributions. Preparation time includes the time to collect all information necessary to compute the tax payable and to calculate the amount payable. If separate ac- counting books must be kept for tax purposes—or separate calculations made—the time associated with these processes is included. This extra time is included only if the regular account- ing work is not enough to fulfill the tax accounting requirements. Filing time includes the time to complete all necessary tax return forms and file the relevant returns at the tax author- ity. Payment time considers the hours needed to make the payment online or in person. Where taxes and contri- butions are paid in person, the time includes delays while waiting.

Total tax rate The total tax rate measures the amount of taxes and mandatory con- tributions borne by the business in the second year of operation, expressed as a share of commercial profit. Doing Business 2015 reports the total tax rate for calendar year 2013. The total amount of taxes borne is the sum of all the different taxes and contributions payable after accounting for allowable deductions and exemptions. The taxes withheld (such as personal income tax) or collected by the company and remit- ted to the tax authorities (such as value added tax, sales tax or goods and ser- vice tax) but not borne by the company are excluded. The taxes included can be divided into 5 categories: profit or cor- porate income tax, social contributions and labor taxes paid by the employer (for which all mandatory contributions are included, even if paid to a private entity such as a requited pension fund), property taxes, turnover taxes and other taxes (such as municipal fees and vehicle taxes). Fuel taxes are no longer included in the total tax rate because of the difficulty of computing these taxes in a consistent way for all economies covered. The fuel tax amounts are in

TABLE 14.9 What do the paying taxes indicators measure?

Tax payments for a manufacturing company in 2013 (number per year adjusted for electronic and joint filing and payment)

Total number of taxes and contributions paid, including consumption taxes (value added tax, sales tax or goods and service tax)

Method and frequency of filing and payment

Time required to comply with 3 major taxes (hours per year)

Collecting information and computing the tax payable

Completing tax return forms, filing with proper agencies

Arranging payment or withholding

Preparing separate mandatory tax accounting books, if required

Total tax rate (% of profit before all taxes)

Profit or corporate income tax

Social contributions and labor taxes paid by the employer

Property and property transfer taxes

Dividend, capital gains and financial transactions taxes

Waste collection, vehicle, road and other taxes

135DATA NOTES

most cases very small, and measuring these amounts is often complicated because they depend on fuel consump- tion. Fuel taxes continue to be counted in the number of payments.

The total tax rate is designed to pro- vide a comprehensive measure of the cost of all the taxes a business bears. It differs from the statutory tax rate, which merely provides the factor to be applied to the tax base. In computing the total tax rate, the actual tax pay- able is divided by commercial profit. Data for Kiribati are provided as an example (table 14.10).

Commercial profit is essentially net profit before all taxes borne. It differs from the conventional profit before tax, reported in financial statements. In computing profit before tax, many of the taxes borne by a firm are deductible. In computing commercial profit, these taxes are not deductible. Commercial profit therefore presents a clear picture of the actual profit of a business before any of the taxes it bears in the course of the fiscal year.

Commercial profit is computed as sales minus cost of goods sold, minus gross salaries, minus administrative expenses, minus other expenses, minus provisions, plus capital gains (from the property sale) minus interest expense, plus interest income and minus com- mercial depreciation. To compute the

commercial depreciation, a straight- line depreciation method is applied, with the following rates: 0% for the land, 5% for the building, 10% for the machinery, 33% for the computers, 20% for the office equipment, 20% for the truck and 10% for business devel- opment expenses. Commercial profit amounts to 59.4 times income per capita.

The methodology for calculating the total tax rate is broadly consistent with the Total Tax Contribution frame- work developed by PwC and the calcu- lation within this framework for taxes borne. But while the work undertaken by PwC is usually based on data re- ceived from the largest companies in the economy, Doing Business focuses on a case study for a standardized medium-size company.

The data details on paying taxes can be found for each economy at http://www .doingbusiness.org. This methodology was developed by Djankov and others (2010).

TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Doing Business measures the time and cost (excluding tariffs) associated with exporting and importing a standard- ized cargo of goods by sea transport. The time and cost necessary to com- plete 4 predefined stages (document

preparation; customs clearance and inspections; inland transport and han- dling; and port and terminal handling) for exporting and importing the goods are recorded; however, the time and cost for sea transport are not included. All docu- ments needed by the trader to export or import the goods across the border are also recorded. The process of exporting goods ranges from packing the goods into the container at the warehouse to their departure from the port of exit. The process of importing goods ranges from the vessel’s arrival at the port of entry to the cargo’s delivery at the warehouse. For landlocked economies, since the seaport is located in the transit economy, the time, cost and documents associated with the processes at the inland border are also included. It is assumed that the payment is made by letter of credit, and the time, cost and documents required for the issuance or advising of a letter of credit are taken into account (figure 14.15).

The ranking of economies on the ease of trading across borders is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for trading across borders. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the com- ponent indicators (figure 14.16).

Local freight forwarders, shipping lines, customs brokers, port officials and banks provide information on required documents, cost and time to export and import. To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the traded goods are used.

Assumptions about the traded goods The traded product travels in a dry- cargo, 20-foot, full container load.16

It weighs 10 tons and is valued at $20,000. The product:

� Is not hazardous nor does it include military items.

� Does not require refrigeration or any other special environment.

TABLE 14.10 Computing the total tax rate for Kiribati

Type of tax (tax base)

Statutory rate

r (%)

Statutory tax base

b ($A)

Actual tax payable a = r × b

($A)

Commercial profit*

c ($A)

Total tax rate t = a/c

(%)

Corporate income tax (taxable income)

20.0–35.0 109,381 33,283 137,156 24.3

Employer-paid social security contributions (taxable wages)

7.5 154,711 11,603 137,156 8.5

Total 44,886 32.7

* Profit before all taxes borne. Note: Commercial profit is assumed to be 59.4 times income per capita. $A is Australian dollar. Source: Doing Business database.

Doing Business 2015136

� Does not require any special phy- tosanitary or environmental safety standards other than accepted international standards.

� Is one of the economy’s leading export or import products.

Assumptions about the business The business:

� Is located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the sec- ond largest business city (see table 14A.1).

� Is a private, limited liability company. � Does not operate in an export processing zone or an industrial estate with special export or import privileges.

� Conducts export and import ac- tivities but does not have any special accreditation, such as an authorized economic operator status.

� Is 100% domestically owned.

Documents It is assumed that a new contract is drafted per shipment and that the contract has already been agreed upon and executed by both parties. All documents required by law or common practice by relevant agencies—includ- ing government ministries, customs authorities, port authorities and other control agencies—per export and im- port shipment are taken into account (table 14.11). For landlocked economies, documents required by authorities in the transit economy are also included. Since payment is by letter of credit, all documents required by banks for the issuance or securing of a letter of credit are also taken into account. Documents that are requested at the time of clearance but that are valid for a year or longer or do not require renewal per shipment (for example, an annual tax clearance certificate) are not included. Documents that are

required by customs authorities purely for purposes of preferential treatment but are not required for any other purpose by any of the authorities in the process of trading are not included. For example, if a certificate of origin is only presented to qualify for a preferential tariff rate under trade agreements, the document is not counted. It is assumed that the exporter will always obtain a certificate of origin for its trade partner, and the time and cost associated with obtaining this certificate are therefore included in the time and cost of docu- ment preparation to export.

Time The time for exporting and importing is recorded in calendar days. The time calculation for each of the 4 predefined stages starts from the moment the stage is initiated and runs until it is completed. Fast-track procedures applying only to firms located in an export processing zone, or only to cer- tain accredited firms under authorized economic operator programs, are not taken into account because they are not available to all trading companies. Sea transport time is not included. It is assumed that neither the exporter nor the importer wastes time and that each commits to completing the process without delay. It is assumed that document preparation, inland transport and handling, customs clear- ance and inspections, and port and terminal handling require a minimum time of 1 day each and cannot take place simultaneously. The waiting time that occurs in practice—for example, in queues to obtain a service or during the moving of the cargo at the seaport—is included in the measure.

Cost Cost measures the fees levied on a 20-foot container in U.S. dollars. All fees charged by government agencies and the private sector to a trader in the process of exporting and importing the goods are taken into account. These include but are not limited to costs

Figure 14.15 How much time, how many documents and what cost to export and import by sea transport?

Full, 20-foot container

To export

Time

Cost

Documents

Time

Cost

Documents To import

Import

Export

Port and terminal handling

Customs and border agencies

Inland transport

Figure 14.16 Trading across borders: exporting and importing by sea transport

All documents required by customs and other agencies

Document preparation, customs clearance and

inspections, port and terminal handling, inland

transport and handling

US$ per 20-foot container, no bribes or tariffs included

33.3% Cost to export

and import

Rankings are based on distance to frontier scores for 3 indicators

33.3% Documents

to export and import

33.3% Time to export and import

137Data Notes

for documents, administrative fees for customs clearance and inspections, customs broker fees, port-related charges and inland transport costs. The exporter is responsible for the incurred costs related to exporting the goods until they depart from the exporting economy, and the importer is responsible for the incurred costs related to importing from the moment the goods arrive at the seaport in the importing economy. The cost does not include customs tariffs and duties or costs related to sea transport. Only official costs are recorded.

The data details on trading across borders can be found for each economy at http:// www.doingbusiness.org. This methodology was developed by Djankov, Freund and Pham (2010) and is adopted here with minor changes.

ENFORCING CONTRACTS Indicators on enforcing contracts measure the efficiency of the judicial system in resolving a commercial dispute. The data are built by following the step-by-step evolution of a com- mercial sale dispute before local courts (figure 14.17). The data are collected through study of the codes of civil procedure and other court regulations as well as questionnaires completed by local litigation lawyers and judges. The ranking of economies on the ease of enforcing contracts is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for enforcing contracts. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for each of the com- ponent indicators (figure 14.18).

The name of the relevant court in each economy—the court in the largest business city with jurisdiction over the standardized commercial dispute described below—is published at http://www.doingbusiness.org/data /exploretopics/enforcing-contracts. For 11 economies for which the data are also collected for the second largest business city, the name of the relevant court in that city is given as well.

Assumptions about the case � The value of the claim is equal to 200% of the economy’s income per capita or $5,000, whichever is greater.17

� The dispute concerns a lawful transaction between 2 businesses (Seller and Buyer), both located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second larg- est business city (see table 14A.1). Pursuant to a contract between the businesses, Seller sells some custom-made furniture to Buyer worth 200% of the economy’s in- come per capita or $5,000, which- ever is greater. After Seller delivers the goods to Buyer, Buyer refuses to pay the contract price, alleging

that the goods are not of adequate quality. Because they were custom- made, Seller is unable to sell them to anyone else.

� Seller (the plaintiff) sues Buyer (the defendant) to recover the amount under the sales agreement. The dispute is brought before the court located in the economy’s largest business city with jurisdiction over commercial cases worth 200% of income per capita or $5,000, whichever is greater. As noted, for 11 economies the data are also

Figure 14.17 What are the time, cost and number of procedures to resolve a commercial dispute through the courts?

Court

Filing & service

Trial & judgment

Enforcement

Company A (seller & plaintiff)

Company B (buyer &

defendant)

Time Cost

Number of procedures

Commercial dispute

Figure 14.18 enforcing contracts: resolving a commercial dispute through the courts

Attorney, court and enforcement costs as

% of claim value

Days to resolve commercial sale dispute through the courts

Steps to file claim, obtain judgment and enforce it

33.3% Procedures

33.3% Time

33.3% Cost

Rankings are based on distance to frontier scores for 3 indicators

TABLe 14.11 What do the trading across borders indicators measure?

Documents required to export and import (number)

Bank documents

Customs clearance documents

Port and terminal handling documents

Transport documents

Time required to export and import (days)

Obtaining, filling out and submitting all the documents

Inland transport and handling

Customs clearance and inspections

Port and terminal handling

Does not include sea transport time

Cost required to export and import (US$ per container)

All documentation

Inland transport and handling

Customs clearance and inspections

Port and terminal handling

Official costs only, no bribes

DOING BUSINESS 2015138

collected for the second largest business city (see table 14A.1).

� At the outset of the dispute, Seller decides to attach Buyer’s movable assets (for example, office equip- ment and vehicles) because Seller fears that Buyer may hide its assets or otherwise become insolvent.

� The claim is disputed on the merits because of Buyer’s allegation that the quality of the goods was not adequate. Because the court can- not decide the case on the basis of documentary evidence or legal title alone, an expert opinion is given on the quality of the goods. If it is stan- dard practice in the economy for each party to call its own expert wit- ness, the parties each call one expert witness. If it is standard practice for the judge to appoint an independent expert, the judge does so. In this case the judge does not allow opposing expert testimony.

� Following the expert opinion, the judge decides that the goods de- livered by Seller were of adequate quality and that Buyer must pay the contract price. The judge thus renders a final judgment that is 100% in favor of Seller.

� Buyer does not appeal the judg- ment. Seller decides to start enforc- ing the judgment as soon as the

time allocated by law for appeal lapses.

� Seller takes all required steps for prompt enforcement of the judg- ment. The money is successfully collected through a public sale of Buyer’s movable assets (for exam- ple, office equipment and vehicles).

Procedures The list of procedural steps compiled for each economy traces the chronol- ogy of a commercial dispute before the relevant court. A procedure is defined as any interaction, required by law or com- monly carried out in practice, between the parties or between them and the judge or court officer. Other procedural steps, internal to the court or between the parties and their counsel, may be counted as well. Procedural steps include steps to file and serve the case, steps to assign the case to a judge, steps for trial and judgment and steps necessary to enforce the judgment (table 14.12).

To indicate overall efficiency, 1 proce- dure is subtracted from the total num- ber for economies that have specialized commercial courts or divisions, and 1 procedure for economies that allow electronic filing of the initial complaint. Some procedural steps that are part of others are not counted in the total number of procedures.

Time Time is recorded in calendar days, counted from the moment the plaintiff decides to file the lawsuit in court until payment. This includes both the days when actions take place and the waiting periods in between. The average duration of 3 different stages of dispute resolution is recorded: the completion of service of process (time to file and serve the case), the issu- ance of judgment (time for trial and to obtain the judgment) and the recovery of the claim value through a public sale (time for enforcement of the judgment).

Cost Cost is recorded as a percentage of the claim, assumed to be equivalent to 200% of income per capita or $5,000, whichever is greater. Three types of costs are recorded: court costs, enforce- ment costs and average attorney fees.

Court costs include all costs that Seller (plaintiff) must advance to the court, regardless of the final cost borne by Seller. Enforcement costs are all costs that Seller (plaintiff) must advance to enforce the judgment through a public sale of Buyer’s movable assets, regard- less of the final cost borne by Seller. Average attorney fees are the fees that Seller (plaintiff) must advance to a lo- cal attorney to represent Seller in the standardized case. Bribes are not taken into account.

The data details on enforcing contracts can be found for each economy at http://www .doingbusiness.org. This methodology was developed by Djankov and others (2003) and is adopted here with minor changes.

RESOLVING INSOLVENCY Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome of insolvency proceedings involving domestic entities. In addition, this year it introduces a new measure, the strength of insolvency framework index, evaluating the adequacy and integrity of the legal framework appli- cable to liquidation and reorganization proceedings. The data for the resolving insolvency indicators are derived from questionnaire responses by local insol- vency practitioners and verified through a study of laws and regulations as well as public information on bankruptcy systems. The ranking of economies on the ease of resolving insolvency is determined by sorting their distance to frontier scores for resolving insolvency. These scores are the simple average of the distance to frontier scores for the recovery rate and the strength of insol- vency framework index (figure 14.19).

TABLE 14.12 What do the enforcing contracts indicators measure?

Procedures to enforce a contract through the courts (number)

Steps to file and serve the case

Steps for trial and judgment

Steps to enforce the judgment

Time required to complete procedures (calendar days)

Time to file and serve the case

Time for trial and to obtain the judgment

Time to enforce the judgment

Cost required to complete procedures (% of claim)

Average attorney fees

Court costs

Enforcement costs

139DATA NOTES

Debt recovery in insolvency

To make the data on the time, cost and outcome of insolvency proceedings comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the case are used.

Assumptions about the business The business: � Is a limited liability company. � Operates in the economy’s largest

business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the sec- ond largest business city (see table 14A.1).

� Is 100% domestically owned, with the founder, who is also chairman of the supervisory board, owning 51% (no other shareholder holds more than 5% of shares).

� Has downtown real estate, where it runs a hotel, as its major asset.

� Has a professional general manager. � Has 201 employees and 50 suppli-

ers, each of which is owed money for the last delivery.

� Has a 10-year loan agreement with a domestic bank secured by a mortgage over the hotel’s real es- tate property. A universal business charge (an enterprise charge) is also assumed in economies where such collateral is recognized. If the laws of the economy do not specifically provide for an enterprise charge

but contracts commonly use some other provision to that effect, this provision is specified in the loan agreement.

� Has observed the payment schedule and all other conditions of the loan up to now.

� Has a market value, operating as a going concern, of 100 times income per capita or $200,000, whichever is greater. The market value of the company’s assets, if sold piecemeal, is 70% of the market value of the business.

Assumptions about the case The business is experiencing liquidity problems. The company’s loss in 2013 reduced its net worth to a negative figure. It is January 1, 2014. There is no cash to pay the bank interest or prin- cipal in full, due the next day, January 2. The business will therefore default on its loan. Management believes that losses will be incurred in 2014 and 2015 as well. But it expects 2014 cash flow to cover all operating expenses, including supplier payments, salaries, maintenance costs and taxes, though not principal or interest payments to the bank.

The amount outstanding under the loan agreement is exactly equal to the market value of the hotel business and represents 74% of the company’s total debt. The other 26% of its debt is held by unsecured creditors (suppliers, employees, tax authorities).

The company has too many creditors to negotiate an informal out-of-court workout. The following options are available: a judicial procedure aimed at the rehabilitation or reorganization of the company to permit its continued operation; a judicial procedure aimed at the liquidation or winding-up of the company; or a debt enforcement procedure (foreclosure or receivership) against the company.

Assumptions about the parties The bank wants to recover as much as possible of its loan, as quickly and cheaply as possible. The unsecured creditors will do everything permitted under the applicable laws to avoid a piecemeal sale of the assets. The majority shareholder wants to keep the company operating and under his control. Management wants to keep the company operating and preserve its employees’ jobs. All the parties are local entities or citizens; no foreign parties are involved.

Time Time for creditors to recover their credit is recorded in calendar years (table 14.13). The period of time mea- sured by Doing Business is from the company’s default until the payment of some or all of the money owed to the bank. Potential delay tactics by the

FIGURE 14.19 Resolving insolvency: recovery rate and strength of insolvency framework

50% Recovery

rate

50% Strength of insolvency framework index

Rankings are based on distance to frontier scores for 2 indicators

TABLE 14.13 What do the indicators on debt recovery in insolvency measure?

Time required to recover debt (years)

Measured in calendar years

Appeals and requests for extension are included

Cost required to recover debt (% of debtor’s estate)

Measured as percentage of estate value

Court fees

Fees of insolvency administrators

Lawyers’ fees

Assessors’ and auctioneers’ fees

Other related fees

Outcome

Whether the business continues operating as a going concern or whether its assets are sold piecemeal

Recovery rate for secured creditors (cents on the dollar)

Measures the cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors

Present value of debt recovered

Official costs of the insolvency proceedings are deducted

Depreciation of furniture is taken into account

Outcome for the business (survival or not) affects the maximum value that can be recovered

DOING BUSINESS 2015140

parties, such as the filing of dilatory appeals or requests for extension, are taken into consideration.

Cost The cost of the proceedings is re- corded as a percentage of the value of the debtor’s estate. The cost is cal- culated on the basis of questionnaire responses and includes court fees and government levies; fees of insolvency administrators, auctioneers, asses- sors and lawyers; and all other fees and costs.

Outcome Recovery by creditors depends on whether the hotel business emerges from the proceedings as a going concern or the company’s assets are sold piecemeal. If the business keeps operating, 100% of the hotel value is preserved. If the assets are sold piece- meal, the maximum amount that can be recovered is 70% of the value of the hotel.

Recovery rate The recovery rate is recorded as cents on the dollar recouped by secured creditors through reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement (fore- closure or receivership) proceedings (figure 14.20). The calculation takes into account the outcome: whether the business emerges from the proceedings as a going concern or the assets are sold piecemeal. Then the costs of the proceedings are deducted (1 cent for each percentage point of the value of the debtor’s estate). Finally, the value

lost as a result of the time the money remains tied up in insolvency proceed- ings is taken into account, including the loss of value due to depreciation of the hotel furniture. Consistent with international accounting practice, the annual depreciation rate for furniture is taken to be 20%. The furniture is as- sumed to account for a quarter of the total value of assets. The recovery rate is the present value of the remaining proceeds, based on end-2013 lending rates from the International Monetary Fund’s International Financial Statistics, supplemented with data from central banks and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

If an economy had zero cases a year over the past 5 years involving a judi- cial reorganization, judicial liquidation or debt enforcement procedure (fore- closure or receivership), the economy receives a “no practice” mark on the time, cost and outcome indicators. This means that creditors are unlikely to recover their money through a formal legal process. The recovery rate for “no practice” economies is zero. In addi- tion, a “no practice” economy receives a score of 0 on the strength of insol- vency framework index even if its legal framework includes provisions related to insolvency proceedings (liquidation or reorganization).

Strength of insolvency framework

The strength of insolvency framework index is based on 4 other indices:

commencement of proceedings index, management of debtor’s assets index, reorganization proceedings index and creditor participation index (figure 14.21; table 14.14).

Commencement of proceedings index The commencement of proceedings index has 3 components:

� Whether debtors can initiate both liquidation and reorganization pro- ceedings. A score of 1 is assigned if debtors can initiate both types of proceedings; 0.5 if they can initi- ate only one of these types (either liquidation or reorganization); 0 if they cannot initiate insolvency proceedings.

� Whether creditors can initiate both liquidation and reorganization pro- ceedings. A score of 1 is assigned if creditors can initiate both types of proceedings; 0.5 if they can initi- ate only one of these types (either liquidation or reorganization); 0 if they cannot initiate insolvency proceedings.

� What standard is used for com- mencement of insolvency proceed- ings. A score of 1 is assigned if a liquidity test (the debtor is gener- ally unable to pay its debts as they

FIGURE 14.20 Recovery rate is a function of the time, cost and outcome of insolvency proceedings against a local company

Secured creditor with unpaid claim Recovery rate

Reorganization, liquidation or foreclosure proceedings

Time Cost Outcome

FIGURE 14.21 Strength of insolvency framework index measures the quality of insolvency laws that govern relations between debtors, creditors and the court

Management of debtor’s assets

index

Commencement of proceedings index

Reorganization proceedings index

Creditor participation index

Court

DebtorCreditors

141DATA NOTES

mature) is used; 0.5 if the balance sheet test (the liabilities of the debtor exceed its assets) is used; 1 if both the liquidity and balance sheet tests are available but only one is required to initiate insolvency proceedings; 0.5 if both tests are required; 0 if a different test is used.

The index ranges from 0 to 3, with higher values indicating greater access to insolvency proceedings. In Bulgaria, for example, debtors can initiate both liquidation and reorganization proceed- ings (a score of 1), as can creditors (a score of 1). The standard for commenc- ing insolvency proceedings is that the debtor cannot pay its debts as they mature (a score of 1). Adding these numbers gives Bulgaria a score of 3 on the commencement of proceedings index.

Management of debtor’s assets index The management of debtor’s assets index has 6 components: � Whether the debtor (or an insol-

vency representative on its behalf) can continue performing contracts essential to the debtor’s survival. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0 if continuation of contracts is not possible or if the law contains no provisions on this subject.

� Whether the debtor (or an insolven- cy representative on its behalf) can reject overly burdensome contracts. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0 if re- jection of contracts is not possible.

� Whether transactions entered into before commencement of insolven- cy proceedings that give preference to one or several creditors can be avoided after proceedings are initi- ated. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0 if avoidance of such transactions is not possible.

� Whether undervalued transactions entered into before commencement of insolvency proceedings can be avoided after proceedings are initi- ated. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0 if avoidance of such transactions is not possible.

� Whether the insolvency framework includes specific provisions that allow the debtor (or an insolvency represen- tative on its behalf), after commence- ment of insolvency proceedings, to obtain financing necessary to func- tion during the proceedings. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0 if obtaining post-commencement financing is not possible or if the law contains no provisions on this subject.

� Whether post-commencement fi- nancing receives priority over ordinary unsecured creditors during distribu- tion of assets. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0.5 if post-commencement fi- nancing is granted superpriority over all creditors, secured and unsecured; 0 if no priority is granted to post- commencement financing.

The index ranges from 0 to 6, with higher values indicating more advanta- geous treatment of the debtor’s assets from the perspective of the company’s stakeholders. In Rwanda, for example, debtors can continue essential con- tracts (a score of 1) and reject burden- some ones (a score of 1) during insol- vency proceedings. But the insolvency framework contains no provisions on either preferential transactions (a score of 0) or undervalued ones (a score of 0). Post-commencement financing is available under the laws of Rwanda (a score of 1) and receives priority only over ordinary unsecured creditors (a score of 1). Adding these numbers gives Rwanda a score of 4 on the management of debtor’s assets index.

Reorganization proceedings index The reorganization proceedings index has 3 components:

� Whether the reorganization plan is voted on only by the creditors whose rights are modified or affected by the plan. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0.5 if all creditors vote on the plan, regardless of its impact on their interests; 0 if creditors do not vote on the plan or if reorganization is not available.

� Whether creditors entitled to vote on the plan are divided into classes, each class votes separately and the creditors within each class are treat- ed equally. A score of 1 is assigned if the voting procedure has these 3 features; 0 if the voting procedure does not have these 3 features or if reorganization is not available.

� Whether the insolvency framework requires that dissenting creditors re- ceive as much under the reorganiza- tion plan as they would have received in liquidation. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0 if no such provisions exist or if reorganization is not available.

The index ranges from 0 to 3, with higher values indicating greater com- pliance with internationally accepted

TABLE 14.14 What do the indicators on the strength of the insolvency framework measure?

Commencement of proceedings index (0–3)

Availability of liquidation and reorganization to debtors and creditors

Standards for commencement of insolvency proceedings

Management of debtor’s assets index (0–6)

Continuation and rejection of contracts during insolvency

Avoidance of preferential and undervalued transactions

Post-commencement credit

Reorganization proceedings index (0–3)

Approval and content of the reorganization plan

Creditor participation index (0–4)

Creditors’ participation in and rights during liquidation and reorganization proceedings

Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16)

Sum of the commencement of proceedings, management of debtor’s assets, reorganization proceedings and creditor participation indices

DOING BUSINESS 2015142

practices. Nicaragua, for example, has no judicial reorganization proceed- ings and therefore receives a score of 0 on the reorganization proceedings index. In Estonia, another example, only creditors whose rights are affected by the reorganization plan are allowed to vote (a score of 1). The reorganization plan divides creditors into classes, each class votes separately and credi- tors within the same class are treated equally (a score of 1). But there are no provisions requiring that the return to dissenting creditors be equal to what they would have received in liquidation (a score of 0). Adding these numbers gives Estonia a score of 2 on the reor- ganization proceedings index.

Creditor participation index The creditor participation index has 4 components:

� Whether creditors participate in the selection of an insolvency represen- tative. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0 if no.

� Whether creditors are required to approve the sale of substantial as- sets of the debtor in the course of insolvency proceedings. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0 if no.

� Whether an individual creditor has the right to access information about insolvency proceedings, either by requesting it from an insolvency representative or by re- viewing the official records. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0 if no.

� Whether an individual creditor can object to a decision of the court or of the insolvency representative to approve or reject claims against the debtor brought by the creditor itself and by other creditors. A score of 1 is assigned if yes; 0 if no.

The index ranges from 0 to 4, with higher values indicating greater par- ticipation of creditors. In Iceland, for example, the court appoints the insol- vency representative, without creditors’ approval (a score of 0). The insolvency representative decides unilaterally on

the sale of the debtor’s assets (a score of 0). Any creditor can inspect the records kept by the insolvency repre- sentative (a score of 1). And any creditor is allowed to challenge a decision of the insolvency representative to approve all claims if this decision affects the credi- tor’s rights (a score of 1). Adding these numbers gives Iceland a score of 2 on the creditor participation index.

Strength of insolvency framework index The strength of insolvency framework index is the sum of the scores on the commencement of proceedings index, management of debtor’s assets index, reorganization proceedings index and creditor participation index. The index ranges from 0 to 16, with higher values indicating insolvency legislation that is better designed for rehabilitating viable firms and liquidating nonviable ones.

This methodology was developed by Djankov, Hart and others (2008) and is adopted here with several changes. The strength of insolvency framework index was introduced in Doing Business 2015. The best practices tested in this index were developed on the basis of the World Bank’s Principles for Effective Insolvency and Creditor/ Debtor Regimes and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s Legislative Guide on Insolvency Law.

LABOR MARKET REGULATION Doing Business measures flexibility in the regulation of employment, spe- cifically as it affects the hiring and redundancy of workers and the rigidity of working hours (figure 14.22). This year, for the first time, the indicators measuring flexibility in labor market regulations focus on those affecting the food retail industry, using a stan- dardized case study of a cashier in a supermarket. Also new is that Doing Business collects data on regulations applying to employees hired through temporary-work agencies as well as on those applying to permanent employees or employees hired on fixed- term contracts. The indicators also cover additional areas of labor market regulation, including social protection schemes and benefits as well as labor disputes.

Over the period from 2007 to 2011 improvements were made to align the methodology for the labor mar- ket regulation indicators (formerly the employing workers indicators) with the letter and spirit of the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions. Only 6 of the 188 ILO conventions cover areas measured by Doing Business: employee termina- tion, weekend work, holiday with

FIGURE 14.22 How flexible are hiring, work scheduling and redundancy rules?

Work scheduling

Hiring1. Redundancy3.

143DATA NOTES

pay, night work, protection against unemployment and medical care and sickness benefits. The Doing Business methodology is fully consistent with these 6 conventions. The ILO conven- tions covering areas related to the labor market regulation indicators do not include the ILO core labor standards—8 conventions covering the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of forced labor, the aboli- tion of child labor and equitable treat- ment in employment practices.

Between 2009 and 2011 the World Bank Group worked with a consulta- tive group—including labor lawyers, employer and employee representa- tives, and experts from the ILO, the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD), civil society and the private sector—to review the methodology for the labor market regulation indicators and ex- plore future areas of research.18 A full report with the conclusions of the con- sultative group, along with the method- ology it proposed, is available at http:// www.doingbusiness.org/methodology /labor-market-regulation.

Doing Business 2015 presents the data for the labor market regulation indica- tors in an annex. The report does not present rankings of economies on these indicators or include the topic in the aggregate distance to frontier score or ranking on the ease of doing business. Detailed data collected on labor market regulations are available on the Doing Business website (http:// www.doingbusiness.org). The data on labor market regulations are based on a detailed questionnaire on employ- ment regulations that is completed by local lawyers and public officials. Employment laws and regulations as well as secondary sources are reviewed to ensure accuracy.

To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the worker and the business are used.

Assumptions about the worker The worker: � Is a cashier in a supermarket or

grocery store. � Is a full-time employee. � Is not a member of the labor union,

unless membership is mandatory.

Assumptions about the business The business: � Is a limited liability company (or the

equivalent in the economy). � Operates a supermarket or grocery

store in the economy’s largest busi- ness city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city (see table 14A.1).

� Has 60 employees. � Is subject to collective bargaining

agreements if such agreements cover more than 50% of the food retail sector and they apply even to firms that are not party to them.

� Abides by every law and regulation but does not grant workers more benefits than those mandated by law, regulation or (if applicable) col- lective bargaining agreements.

Rigidity of employment Rigidity of employment covers 3 areas: difficulty of hiring, rigidity of hours and difficulty of redundancy (table 14.15).

Difficulty of hiring covers 4 areas: (i) whether fixed-term contracts are prohibited for permanent tasks; (ii) the maximum cumulative duration of fixed-term contracts; (iii) the minimum wage for a cashier, age 19, with 1 year of work experience; and (iv) the ratio of the minimum wage to the average value added per worker.19

Rigidity of hours covers 7 areas: (i) whether the workweek can extend to 50 hours or more (including overtime) 2 months in a year to respond to a seasonal increase in workload; (ii) the maximum number of days allowed in the workweek; (iii) the premium for

night work (as a percentage of hourly pay); (iv) the premium for work on a weekly rest day (as a percentage of hourly pay); (v) whether there are

TABLE 14.15 What do the labor market regulation indicators include?

Rigidity of employment

Difficulty of hiring

Whether fixed-term contracts are prohibited for permanent tasks

Maximum duration of fixed-term contracts, including renewals

Minimum wage applicable to the worker assumed in the case study (US$/month)

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

Rigidity of hours

Whether 50-hour workweeks are permitted for 2 months in a year due to an increase in workload

Allowed maximum length of the workweek in days and hours, including overtime

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

Premium for work on a weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

Whether there are restrictions on night work and weekly holiday work

Paid annual vacation days for workers with 1 year of tenure, 5 years of tenure and 10 years of tenure

Difficulty of redundancy

Length of the maximum probationary period (in months) for permanent employees

Whether redundancy is allowed as grounds for termination

Whether third-party notification is required for termination of a redundant worker or group of workers

Whether third-party approval is required for termination of a redundant worker or group of workers

Whether employer is obligated to reassign or retrain and to follow priority rules for redundancy and reemployment

Redundancy cost (weeks of salary)

Notice requirements, severance payments and penalties due when terminating a redundant worker, expressed in weeks of salary

Social protection schemes and benefits

Whether an unemployment protection scheme exists

Whether the law requires employers to provide health insurance for permanent employees

Labor disputes

Availability of courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes

DOING BUSINESS 2015144

restrictions on night work; (vi) whether there are restrictions on weekly holiday work; and (vii) the average paid an- nual leave for workers with 1 year of tenure, 5 years of tenure and 10 years of tenure.

Difficulty of redundancy looks at 9 questions: (i) what the length is in months of the maximum probation- ary period; (ii) whether redundancy is disallowed as a basis for terminating workers; (iii) whether the employer needs to notify a third party (such as a government agency) to terminate 1 redundant worker; (iv) whether the employer needs to notify a third party to terminate a group of 9 redundant workers; (v) whether the employer needs approval from a third party to terminate 1 redundant worker; (vi) whether the employer needs approval from a third party to terminate a group of 9 redundant workers; (vii) whether the law requires the employer to reas- sign or retrain a worker before making the worker redundant; (viii) whether priority rules apply for redundancies; and (ix) whether priority rules apply for reemployment.

Redundancy cost Redundancy cost measures the cost of advance notice requirements, sev- erance payments and penalties due when terminating a redundant worker, expressed in weeks of salary. The aver- age value of notice requirements and severance payments applicable to a worker with 1 year of tenure, a worker with 5 years and a worker with 10 years is considered. One month is recorded as 4 and 1/3 weeks.

Social protection schemes and benefits Doing Business collects data on the existence of unemployment protection schemes as well as data on whether employers are legally required to pro- vide health insurance for employees with permanent contracts.

Labor disputes Doing Business assesses the mecha- nisms available to resolve labor dis- putes. More specifically, it collects data on what courts would be competent to hear labor disputes and whether the competent courts are specialized in resolving labor disputes.

The data details on labor market regula- tion can be found for each economy at http://www.doingbusiness.org. The Doing Business website also provides historical data sets. The methodology was devel- oped by Botero and others (2004). Doing Business 2015 does not present rankings of economies on the labor market regula- tion indicators.

NOTES 1. The data for paying taxes refer to January–

December 2013. 2. These are Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India,

Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian Federation and the United States.

3. This correction rate reflects changes that exceed 5% up or down.

4. This assumption is new in Doing Business 2015.

5. This component is revised in Doing Business 2015. The previous methodology assigned a point if more than 2 years of historical data were distributed. Similarly, credit bureaus and registries that erased data on defaults as soon as they were repaid obtained a score of 0.

6. This component is revised in Doing Business 2015. The previous methodology assigned a point if borrowers have the right by law to access their data in the largest credit bureau or registry in the economy.

7. This component is new in Doing Business 2015.

8. This component is new in Doing Business 2015.

9. This question is usually regulated by stock exchange or securities laws. Points are awarded only to economies with more than 10 listed firms in their most important stock exchange.

10. When evaluating the regime of liability for company directors for a prejudicial related- party transaction, Doing Business assumes that the transaction was duly disclosed and approved. Doing Business does not measure director liability in the event of fraud.

11. This component is revised in Doing Business 2015; it combines 2 previously separate components.

12. This component is new in Doing Business 2015.

13. This component is new in Doing Business 2015.

14. PwC refers to the network of member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PwCIL) or, as the context requires, individual member firms of the PwC network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity and does not act as agent of PwCIL or any other member firm. PwCIL does not provide any services to clients. PwCIL is not responsible or liable for the acts or omissions of any of its member firms nor can it control the exercise of their professional judgment or bind them in any way. No member firm is responsible or liable for the acts or omissions of any other member firm nor can it control the exercise of another member firm’s professional judgment or bind another member firm or PwCIL in any way.

15. The nonlinear distance to frontier for the total tax rate is equal to the distance to frontier for the total tax rate to the power of 0.8.

16. While different types of containers are used around the world, the 2 most important are 20-foot and 40-foot containers. Use of 40-foot containers is growing, but this year’s research confirms that 20-foot containers are still common in the majority of economies. According to respondents questioned in each of the 189 economies covered by Doing Business, 20-foot and 40-foot containers are equally common in 49% of the economies, 20-foot containers are more common in 29%, and 40-foot containers are mostly relied on in only 10%. For the remaining 12% of economies no data on the use of the 2 types of containers were available. The trading across borders indicators will continue to be based on 20- foot containers because this size remains the most relevant for international trade across the globe.

17. This assumption is revised in Doing Business 2015.

18. For the terms of reference and composition of the consultative group, see World Bank, “Doing Business Employing Workers Indicator Consultative Group,” http://www .doingbusiness.org.

19. The average value added per worker is the ratio of an economy’s GNI per capita to the working-age population as a percentage of the total population.

145DATA NOTES

TABLE 14A.1 Cities covered in each economy by the Doing Business report Economy City or cities Economy City or cities Economy City or cities Afghanistan Kabul Greece Athens Pakistan Karachi, Lahore Albania Tirana Grenada St. George’s Palau Koror Algeria Algiers Guatemala Guatemala City Panama Panama City Angola Luanda Guinea Conakry Papua New Guinea Port Moresby Antigua and Barbuda St. John’s Guinea-Bissau Bissau Paraguay Asunción Argentina Buenos Aires Guyana Georgetown Peru Lima Armenia Yerevan Haiti Port-au-Prince Philippines Quezon City Australia Sydney Honduras Tegucigalpa Poland Warsaw Austria Vienna Hong Kong SAR, China Hong Kong SAR Portugal Lisbon Azerbaijan Baku Hungary Budapest Puerto Rico (U.S.) San Juan Bahamas, The Nassau Iceland Reykjavik Qatar Doha Bahrain Manama India Mumbai, Delhi Romania Bucharest Bangladesh Dhaka, Chittagong Indonesia Jakarta, Surabaya Russian Federation Moscow, St. Petersburg Barbados Bridgetown Iran, Islamic Rep. Tehran Rwanda Kigali Belarus Minsk Iraq Baghdad Samoa Apia Belgium Brussels Ireland Dublin San Marino San Marino Belize Belize City Israel Tel Aviv São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé Benin Cotonou Italy Rome Saudi Arabia Riyadh Bhutan Thimphu Jamaica Kingston Senegal Dakar Bolivia La Paz Japan Tokyo, Osaka Serbia Belgrade Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo Jordan Amman Seychelles Victoria Botswana Gaborone Kazakhstan Almaty Sierra Leone Freetown Brazil São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro Kenya Nairobi Singapore Singapore Brunei Darussalam Bandar Seri Begawan Kiribati Tarawa Slovak Republic Bratislava Bulgaria Sofia Korea, Rep. Seoul Slovenia Ljubljana Burkina Faso Ouagadougou Kosovo Pristina Solomon Islands Honiara Burundi Bujumbura Kuwait Kuwait City South Africa Johannesburg Cabo Verde Praia Kyrgyz Republic Bishkek South Sudan Juba Cambodia Phnom Penh Lao PDR Vientiane Spain Madrid Cameroon Douala Latvia Riga Sri Lanka Colombo Canada Toronto Lebanon Beirut St. Kitts and Nevis Basseterre Central African Republic Bangui Lesotho Maseru St. Lucia Castries Chad N’Djamena Liberia Monrovia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Kingstown Chile Santiago Libya Tripoli Sudan Khartoum China Shanghai, Beijing Lithuania Vilnius Suriname Paramaribo Colombia Bogotá Luxembourg Luxembourg Swaziland Mbabane Comoros Moroni Macedonia, FYR Skopje Sweden Stockholm Congo, Dem. Rep. Kinshasa Madagascar Antananarivo Switzerland Zurich Congo, Rep. Brazzaville Malawi Blantyre Syrian Arab Republic Damascus Costa Rica San José Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Taiwan, China Taipei Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan Maldives Malé Tajikistan Dushanbe Croatia Zagreb Mali Bamako Tanzania Dar es Salaam Cyprus Nicosia Malta Valletta Thailand Bangkok Czech Republic Prague Marshall Islands Majuro Timor-Leste Dili Denmark Copenhagen Mauritania Nouakchott Togo Lomé Djibouti Djibouti Ville Mauritius Port Louis Tonga Nuku’alofa Dominica Roseau Mexico Mexico City, Monterrey Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain Dominican Republic Santo Domingo Micronesia, Fed. Sts. Island of Pohnpei Tunisia Tunis Ecuador Quito Moldova Chişinău Turkey Istanbul Egypt, Arab Rep. Cairo Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Uganda Kampala El Salvador San Salvador Montenegro Podgorica Ukraine Kiev Equatorial Guinea Malabo Morocco Casablanca United Arab Emirates Dubai Eritrea Asmara Mozambique Maputo United Kingdom London Estonia Tallinn Myanmar Yangon United States New York City, Los Angeles Ethiopia Addis Ababa Namibia Windhoek Uruguay Montevideo Fiji Suva Nepal Kathmandu Uzbekistan Tashkent Finland Helsinki Netherlands Amsterdam Vanuatu Port-Vila France Paris New Zealand Auckland Venezuela, RB Caracas Gabon Libreville Nicaragua Managua Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City Gambia, The Banjul Niger Niamey West Bank and Gaza Ramallah Georgia Tbilisi Nigeria Lagos, Kano Yemen, Rep. Sana’a Germany Berlin Norway Oslo Zambia Lusaka Ghana Accra Oman Muscat Zimbabwe Harare

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Distance to frontier and ease of doing business ranking

This year’s report presents re-sults for 2 aggregate measures: the distance to frontier score and the ease of doing business rank-

ing, which for the first time this year

is based on the distance to frontier

score. The ease of doing business

ranking compares economies with one

another; the distance to frontier score

benchmarks economies with respect

to regulatory best practice, showing

the absolute distance to the best

performance on each Doing Business in-

dicator. When compared across years,

the distance to frontier score shows

how much the regulatory environment

for local entrepreneurs in an economy

has changed over time in absolute

terms, while the ease of doing business

ranking can show only how much the

regulatory environment has changed

relative to that in other economies.

DISTANCE TO FRONTIER The distance to frontier score cap-

tures the gap between an economy’s

performance and a measure of best

practice across the entire sample of 31

indicators for 10 Doing Business topics

(the labor market regulation indicators

are excluded). For starting a business,

for example, Canada and New Zealand

have the smallest number of proce-

dures required (1), and New Zealand the

shortest time to fulfill them (0.5 days).

Slovenia has the lowest cost (0.0),

and Australia, Colombia and 110 other

economies have no paid-in minimum

capital requirement (table 15.1).

Calculation of the distance to frontier score Calculating the distance to frontier

score for each economy involves 2

main steps. First, individual component

indicators are normalized to a common

unit where each of the 31 component

indicators y (except for the total tax

rate) is rescaled using the linear trans-

formation (worst − y)/(worst − frontier).

In this formulation the frontier repre-

sents the best performance on the indi-

cator across all economies since 2005

or the third year in which data for the

indicator were collected. For legal indi-

cators such as those on getting credit

or protecting minority investors, the

frontier is set at the highest possible

value. For the total tax rate, consistent

with the use of a threshold in calculat-

ing the rankings on this indicator, the

frontier is defined as the total tax rate

at the 15th percentile of the overall

distribution for all years included in the

analysis. For the time to pay taxes the

frontier is defined as the lowest time

recorded among all economies that

levy the 3 major taxes: profit tax, labor

taxes and mandatory contributions,

and value added tax (VAT) or sales tax.

In addition, the cost to export and cost

to import for each year are divided by

the GDP deflator, to take the general

price level into account when bench-

marking these absolute-cost indica-

tors across economies with different

inflation trends. The base year for the

deflator is 2013 for all economies.

In the same formulation, to mitigate

the effects of extreme outliers in the

147DISTANCE TO FRONTIER AND EASE OF DOING BUSINESS RANKING

distributions of the rescaled data for

most component indicators (very few

economies need 700 days to complete

the procedures to start a business, but

many need 9 days), the worst perfor-

mance is calculated after the removal

of outliers. The definition of outliers

is based on the distribution for each

component indicator. To simplify the

process, 2 rules were defined: the 95th

percentile is used for the indicators

with the most dispersed distributions

(including time, cost, minimum capital

and number of payments to pay taxes),

and the 99th percentile is used for

number of procedures and number of

documents to trade. No outlier was re-

moved for component indicators bound

by definition or construction, including

legal index scores (such as the depth

of credit information index, extent of

conflict of interest regulation index and

strength of insolvency framework in-

dex) and the recovery rate (figure 15.1).

Second, for each economy the scores

obtained for individual indicators are

aggregated through simple averaging

into one distance to frontier score, first

for each topic and then across all 10

topics: starting a business, dealing with

construction permits, getting electric-

ity, registering property, getting credit,

protecting minority investors, paying

taxes, trading across borders, enforc-

ing contracts and resolving insolvency.

More complex aggregation methods—

such as principal components and un-

observed components—yield a ranking

nearly identical to the simple average

used by Doing Business.1 Thus Doing

Business uses the simplest method:

weighting all topics equally and, within

each topic, giving equal weight to each

of the topic components.2

An economy’s distance to frontier

score is indicated on a scale from 0 to

100, where 0 represents the worst per-

formance and 100 the frontier. All dis-

tance to frontier calculations are based

on a maximum of 5 decimals. However,

indicator ranking calculations and the

TABLE 15.1 What is the frontier in regulatory practice?

Topic and indicator Who sets the frontier Frontier Worst

performance

Starting a business

Procedures (number) Canada; New Zealand 1 18a

Time (days) New Zealand 0.5 100b

Cost (% of income per capita) Slovenia 0.0 200.0b

Minimum capital (% of income per capita) Australia; Colombiac 0.0 400.0b

Dealing with construction permits

Procedures (number) Hong Kong SAR, China 5 30a

Time (days) Singapore 26 373b

Cost (% of warehouse value) Qatar 0.0 20.0b

Getting electricity

Procedures (number) Germany; Korea, Rep.d 3 9a

Time (days) Korea, Rep. 18 248b

Cost (% of income per capita) Japan 0.0 8,100.0b

Registering property

Procedures (number) Georgia; Norway; Portugal; Sweden

1 13a

Time (days) Georgia; New Zealand; Portugal

1 210b

Cost (% of property value) Saudi Arabia 0.0 15.0b

Getting credit

Strength of legal rights index (0–12) Colombia; Montenegro; New Zealand

12 0e

Depth of credit information index (0–8) Ecuador; United Kingdomf

8 0e

Protecting minority investors

Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10)

No economy has attained the frontier yet.

10 0e

Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) No economy has attained the frontier yet.

10 0e

Paying taxes

Payments (number per year) Hong Kong SAR, China; Saudi Arabia

3 63b

Time (hours per year) Singapore 49g 696b

Total tax rate (% of profit) Singapore 26.1h 84.0b

Trading across borders

Documents to export (number) France; Ireland 2 11a

Time to export (days) Denmark; Estonia; Singapore

6 54b

Cost to export (US$ per container), deflated Timor-Leste 410.0 5,000.0b

Documents to import (number) France; Ireland 2 15a

Time to import (days) Singapore 4 66b

Cost to import (US$ per container), deflated Singapore 368.4 6,000.0b

(continued)

DOING BUSINESS 2015148

ease of doing business ranking calcu-

lations are based on 2 decimals.

The difference between an economy’s

distance to frontier score in any

previous year and its score in 2014

illustrates the extent to which the

economy has closed the gap to the

regulatory frontier over time. And in

any given year the score measures

how far an economy is from the best

performance at that time.

Treatment of the total tax rate This year, for the first time, the total

tax rate component of the paying

taxes indicator set enters the distance

to frontier calculation in a different

way than any other indicator. The

distance to frontier score obtained for

the total tax rate is transformed in a

nonlinear fashion before it enters the

distance to frontier score for paying

taxes. As a result of the nonlinear

transformation, an increase in the

total tax rate has a smaller impact on

the distance to frontier score for the

total tax rate—and therefore on the

distance to frontier score for paying

taxes—for economies with a below-

average total tax rate than it would

have in the calculation done in previ-

ous years (line B is smaller than line A

in figure 15.2). And for economies with

an extreme total tax rate (a rate that

is very high relative to the average), an

increase has a greater impact on both

these distance to frontier scores than

before (line D is bigger than line C in

figure 15.2).

The nonlinear transformation is not

based on any economic theory of an

“optimal tax rate” that minimizes dis-

tortions or maximizes efficiency in an

economy’s overall tax system. Instead,

it is mainly empirical in nature. The

nonlinear transformation along with

the threshold reduces the bias in the

indicator toward economies that do

not need to levy significant taxes on

companies like the Doing Business

standardized case study company

because they raise public revenue in

other ways—for example, through

taxes on foreign companies, through

taxes on sectors other than manufac-

turing or from natural resources (all

of which are outside the scope of the

methodology). In addition, it acknowl-

edges the need of economies to collect

taxes from firms.

Calculation of scores for economies with 2 cities covered For each of the 11 economies for which

a second city was added in this year’s

report, the distance to frontier score is

calculated as the population-weighted

average of the distance to frontier

scores for the 2 cities covered (table

15.2). This is done for the aggregate

score, the score for each topic and the

scores for all the component indicators

for each topic.

TABLE 15.1 What is the frontier in regulatory practice? (continued)

Topic and indicator Who sets the frontier Frontier Worst

performance

Enforcing contracts

Procedures (number) Singapore 21 53a

Time (days) Singapore 120 1,340b

Cost (% of claim) Bhutan 0.1 89.0b

Resolving insolvency

Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) Japan 92.9 0.0e

Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) No economy has attained the frontier yet.

16 0e

a. Worst performance is defined as the 99th percentile among all economies in the Doing Business sample. b. Worst performance is defined as the 95th percentile among all economies in the Doing Business sample. c. One hundred and ten other economies also have a minimum capital requirement of 0.0. d. In 11 other economies it also takes only 3 procedures to get an electricity connection. e. Worst performance refers to the worst value recorded. f. Twenty-two other economies also score 8 on the depth of credit information index. g. Defined as the lowest time recorded among all economies in the Doing Business sample that levy the 3 major taxes: profit tax, labor taxes and mandatory contributions, and VAT or sales tax. h. Defined as the highest total tax rate among the 15% of economies with the lowest total tax rate in the Doing Business sample. Source: Doing Business database.

TABLE 15.2 Weights used in calculating the distance to frontier scores for economies with 2 cities covered

Economy City Weight

(%)

Bangladesh Dhaka 78

Chittagong 22

Brazil São Paulo 61

Rio de Janeiro 39

China Shanghai 55

Beijing 45

India Mumbai 47

Delhi 53

Indonesia Jakarta 78

Surabaya 22

Japan Tokyo 65

Osaka 35

Mexico Mexico City 83

Monterrey 17

Nigeria Lagos 77

Kano 23

Pakistan Karachi 65

Lahore 35

Russian Federation

Moscow 70

St. Petersburg 30

United States New York 60

Los Angeles 40

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects, 2014 Revision, “File 12: Population of Urban Agglomerations with 300,000 Inhabitants or More in 2014, by Country, 1950–2030 (thousands),” http://esa .un.org/unpd/wup/CD-ROM/Default.aspx.

149DISTANCE TO FRONTIER AND EASE OF DOING BUSINESS RANKING

Variability of economies’ scores across topics Each indicator set measures a differ-

ent aspect of the business regulatory

environment. The distance to frontier

scores and associated rankings of an

economy can vary, sometimes signifi-

cantly, across indicator sets. The aver-

age correlation coefficient between the

10 indicator sets included in the aggre-

gate distance to frontier score is 0.37,

and the coefficients between 2 sets of

indicators range from 0.19 (between

getting electricity and registering

property) to 0.60 (between protecting

minority investors and resolving insol-

vency). These correlations suggest that

economies rarely score universally well

or universally badly on the indicators

(table 15.3).

Consider the example of Portugal. Its

aggregate distance to frontier score is

76.03. Its score is 96.27 for starting a

business and 85.20 for trading across

borders. But its score is only 59.17 for

protecting minority investors and 45.00

for getting credit.

Figure 2.1 in the chapter “About Doing

Business” illustrates the degree of vari-

ability for each economy’s performance

across the different areas of business

regulation covered by Doing Business.

The figure draws attention to econo-

mies with a particularly uneven perfor-

mance by showing, for each economy,

the distance between the average of its

highest 3 distance to frontier scores and

the average of its lowest 3 across the 10

topics included in this year’s aggregate

distance to frontier score. While a rela-

tively small distance between these 2

averages suggests a broadly consistent

approach across the areas of business

regulation measured by Doing Business,

a relatively large distance suggests a

more uneven approach, with greater

room for improvement in some areas

than in others.

Variation in performance across the

indicator sets is not at all unusual. It

reflects differences in the degree of

priority that government authorities

give to particular areas of business

regulation reform and in the ability

of different government agencies to

deliver tangible results in their area of

responsibility.

Economies that improved the most across 3 or more Doing Business topics in 2013/14 Doing Business 2015 uses a simple

method to calculate which economies

improved the ease of doing business

the most. First, it selects the economies

FIGURE 15.1 How are distance to frontier scores calculated for indicators? Two examples

100

0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Worst performance

(99th percentile): 30 procedures

Best performance (frontier):

5 procedures

Distance to frontier score for procedures

A time-and-motion topic: dealing with construction permits

A legal topic: protecting minority investors

100

Procedures (number)

Distance to frontier score for extent of shareholder governance index

Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Best performance (frontier): 10 points

Worst performance: 0 points

Regulatory frontier

Source: Doing Business database.

DOING BUSINESS 2015150

that in 2013/14 implemented regulatory

reforms making it easier to do business

in 3 or more of the 10 topics included

in this year’s aggregate distance to

frontier score.3 Twenty-one economies

meet this criterion: Azerbaijan; Benin;

the Democratic Republic of Congo;

Côte d’Ivoire; the Czech Republic;

Greece; India; Ireland; Kazakhstan;

Lithuania; the former Yugoslav Republic

of Macedonia; Poland; Senegal; the

Seychelles; Spain; Switzerland; Taiwan,

China; Tajikistan; Togo; Trinidad and

Tobago; and the United Arab Emirates.

Second, Doing Business sorts these

economies on the increase in their

distance to frontier score from the pre-

vious year using comparable data.

Selecting the economies that

implemented regulatory reforms in

at least 3 topics and had the biggest

improvements in their distance to

frontier scores is intended to highlight

economies with ongoing, broad-based

reform programs. The improvement in

the distance to frontier score is used

to identify the top improvers because

this allows a focus on the absolute

improvement—in contrast with the rela-

tive improvement shown by a change in

rankings—that economies have made

in their regulatory environment for

business.

EASE OF DOING BUSINESS RANKING The ease of doing business ranking

ranges from 1 to 189. The ranking of

economies is determined by sorting the

aggregate distance to frontier scores,

rounded to 2 decimals.

FIGURE 15.2 How the nonlinear transformation affects the distance to frontier score for the total tax rate

Total tax rate (%)

Distance to frontier score for total tax rate

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

100

A B

Linear distance to frontier score for total tax rate

Nonlinear distance to frontier score for total tax rate

Regulatory frontier

Note: The nonlinear distance to frontier score for the total tax rate is equal to the distance to frontier score for the total tax rate to the power of 0.8. Source: Doing Business database.

TABLE 15.3 Correlations between economy distance to frontier scores for Doing Business topics

Dealing with construction

permits Getting

electricity Registering

property Getting credit

Protecting minority investors

Paying taxes

Trading across

borders Enforcing contracts

Resolving insolvency

Starting a business 0.29 0.28 0.35 0.44 0.48 0.51 0.43 0.43 0.48

Dealing with construction permits

0.33 0.31 0.21 0.23 0.35 0.34 0.27 0.22

Getting electricity 0.19 0.23 0.20 0.41 0.53 0.29 0.31

Registering property 0.42 0.45 0.37 0.20 0.49 0.40

Getting credit 0.51 0.27 0.32 0.38 0.56

Protecting minority investors

0.37 0.35 0.37 0.60

Paying taxes 0.42 0.33 0.35

Trading across borders

0.28 0.49

Enforcing contracts 0.48

Source: Doing Business database.

151DISTANCE TO FRONTIER AND EASE OF DOING BUSINESS RANKING

NOTES 1. See Djankov, Manraj and others (2005).

Principal components and unobserved

components methods yield a ranking nearly

identical to that from the simple average

method because both these methods assign

roughly equal weights to the topics, since

the pairwise correlations among indicators

do not differ much. An alternative to the

simple average method is to give different

weights to the topics, depending on which

are considered of more or less importance in

the context of a specific economy.

2. For getting credit, indicators are weighted

proportionally, according to their

contribution to the total score, with a

weight of 60% assigned to the strength of

legal rights index and 40% to the depth of

credit information index. Indicators for all

other topics are assigned equal weights.

3. Changes making it more difficult to do

business are subtracted from the total

number of those making it easier to do

business.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Summaries of Doing Business reforms in 2013/14

Doing Business reforms affecting all

sets of indicators included in this year’s

report, implemented from June 2013 to

June 2014.

Reform making it easier to do busi-

ness

Change making it more difficult to do

business

Afghanistan

Starting a business Afghanistan made starting a busi-

ness more difficult by increasing the

publication fees and prolonging the

time required for registration.

Albania

Starting a business Albania made starting a business

easier by lowering registration fees.

Dealing with construction permits Albania made dealing with construc-

tion permits easier by resuming the

issuance of construction permits

and by consolidating the land permit

and construction permit into a single

construction development permit.

Registering property Albania made transferring property

easier by establishing effective time

limits and computerizing the records

on immovable property.

Getting credit Albania weakened its secured trans-

actions system through an amend-

ment to the Securing Charges Law

that does not allow intangible assets

to be secured with a nonpossessory

pledge.

Paying taxes Albania made paying taxes more

costly for companies by increasing

the corporate income tax rate.

Algeria

Trading across borders Algeria made trading across borders

easier by upgrading infrastructure at

the port of Algiers.

Argentina

Dealing with construction permits Argentina made dealing with con-

struction permits more costly by

increasing several fees.

Armenia

Starting a business Armenia made starting a business

easier by streamlining postregistra-

tion procedures.

Austria

Starting a business Austria made starting a business

easier by reducing the minimum

capital requirement, which in turn

reduced the paid-in minimum capital

Reforms affecting the labor market regulation indicators are included here but do not affect the ranking on the ease of doing business.

153SUMMARIES OF DOING BUSINESS REFORMS IN 2013/14

requirement, and by lowering notary

fees.

Azerbaijan

Starting a business Azerbaijan made starting a business

easier by reducing the time to obtain

an electronic signature for online tax

registration.

Registering property Azerbaijan made transferring prop-

erty easier by introducing an online

procedure for obtaining the nonen-

cumbrance certificate.

Paying taxes Azerbaijan made paying taxes eas-

ier for companies by introducing an

electronic system for filing and pay-

ing social insurance contributions.

Bahamas, The

Dealing with construction permits The Bahamas made dealing with

construction permits more costly by

increasing the building permit fees.

Enforcing contracts The Bahamas made enforcing

contracts easier by introducing new

rules of civil procedure focused on

streamlining and simplifying court

proceedings and ensuring less costly

resolution of disputes.

Bahrain

Registering property Bahrain made registering property

easier by reducing the registration

fee.

Getting credit Bahrain improved access to credit

information by approving the credit

bureau’s collection of data on firms.

Bangladesh

Trading across borders Bangladesh made trading across

borders easier by introducing a

fully automated, computerized

customs data management system,

ASYCUDA (Automated System for

Customs Data) World. This reform

applies to both Chittagong and

Dhaka.

Belarus

Paying taxes Belarus made paying taxes easier

for companies by introducing an

electronic system for filing and pay-

ing contributions for the obligatory

insurance for work accidents—and

by simplifying the filing require-

ments for corporate income tax and

value added tax (VAT). On the other

hand, it increased the ecological tax

rate and made bad debt provisions

nondeductible for purposes of the

corporate income tax.

Belgium

Resolving insolvency Belgium made resolving insolvency

more difficult by establishing addi-

tional requirements for commencing

reorganization proceedings, includ-

ing the submission of documents

verified by external parties.

Labor market regulation Belgium increased the notice period

for redundancy dismissals.

Benin

Starting a business Benin made starting a business

easier by reducing the minimum

capital requirement and the fees to

be paid at the one-stop shop.

Protecting minority investors Benin strengthened minority in-

vestor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

Trading across borders Benin made trading across borders

easier by reducing the number of

documents needed for imports.

Enforcing contracts Benin made enforcing contracts

easier by creating a commercial sec-

tion within its court of first instance.

Bolivia

Trading across borders Bolivia made trading across borders

more difficult by increasing customs

clearance time.

Brunei Darussalam

Dealing with construction permits Brunei Darussalam made dealing

with construction permits easier by

consolidating final inspections.

Paying taxes Brunei Darussalam made paying

taxes easier for companies by al-

lowing joint filing and payment of

supplemental contributory pen-

sion and employee provident fund

contributions and by introducing

an online system for paying these 2

contributions.

Bulgaria

Starting a business Bulgaria made starting a business

easier by lowering registration fees.

Burkina Faso

Protecting minority investors Burkina Faso strengthened minority

investor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

DOING BUSINESS 2015154

Cabo Verde

Getting credit Cabo Verde improved its credit infor-

mation system by adopting a new

law providing for the establishment

of credit bureaus.

Labor market regulation Cabo Verde introduced a minimum

wage.

Cameroon

Getting credit Cameroon improved its credit

information system by passing

regulations that provide for the

establishment and operation of a

credit registry database.

Protecting minority investors Cameroon strengthened minority

investor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

Central African Republic

Protecting minority investors The Central African Republic

strengthened minority investor pro-

tections by introducing greater re-

quirements for disclosure of related-

party transactions to the board of

directors and by making it possible

for shareholders to inspect the docu-

ments pertaining to related-party

transactions and to appoint auditors

to conduct an inspection of such

transactions.

Trading across borders The Central African Republic made

trading across borders more difficult

by increasing border checks and

security controls at the border post

with Cameroon.

Chad

Protecting minority investors Chad strengthened minority inves-

tor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

China

Starting a business China made starting a business eas-

ier by eliminating both the minimum

capital requirement and the require-

ment to obtain a capital verification

report from an auditing firm. This

reform applies to both Beijing and

Shanghai.

Paying taxes China made paying taxes easier for

companies by enhancing the elec-

tronic system for filing and paying

taxes and adopting new communi-

cation channels within its taxpayer

service, changes applying to both

Beijing and Shanghai. In addition,

China made paying taxes less costly

for companies in Shanghai by reduc-

ing the social security contribution

rate.

Colombia

Registering property Colombia made transferring prop-

erty easier by eliminating the need

for a provisional registration.

Getting credit Colombia improved access to credit

by adopting a new secured transac-

tions law that establishes a func-

tional approach to secured transac-

tions and a centralized, notice-based

collateral registry. The law broadens

the range of assets that can be

used as collateral, allows a general

description of assets granted as col-

lateral, establishes clear priority rules

inside bankruptcy for secured credi-

tors, sets out grounds for relief from

a stay of enforcement actions by

secured creditors during reorganiza-

tion procedures and allows out-of-

court enforcement of collateral.

Paying taxes Colombia made paying taxes more

complicated for companies by in-

troducing a new profit tax (CREE),

though it also reduced the corporate

income tax rate and payroll taxes.

Comoros

Protecting minority investors The Comoros strengthened minority

investor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

Congo, Dem. Rep.

Starting a business The Democratic Republic of Congo

made starting a business easier by

creating a one-stop shop.

Dealing with construction permits The Democratic Republic of Congo

made dealing with construction

permits more costly by increasing

the building permit fee.

Getting electricity In the Democratic Republic of Congo

the utility in Kinshasa made getting

electricity easier by reducing the

number of approvals required for

new connections and reducing the

burden of the security deposit.

Getting credit The Democratic Republic of Congo

improved access to credit informa-

tion by establishing a credit registry.

155SUMMARIES OF DOING BUSINESS REFORMS IN 2013/14

Protecting minority investors The Democratic Republic of Congo

strengthened minority investor pro-

tections by introducing greater re-

quirements for disclosure of related-

party transactions to the board of

directors and by making it possible

for shareholders to inspect the docu-

ments pertaining to related-party

transactions and to appoint auditors

to conduct an inspection of such

transactions.

Paying taxes The Democratic Republic of Congo

made paying taxes easier for com-

panies by simplifying corporate

income tax returns and abolishing

the minimum tax payable depending

on a company’s size. On the other

hand, it increased the rate for the

minimum lump-sum tax applied to

annual revenue.

Congo, Rep.

Protecting minority investors The Republic of Congo strengthened

minority investor protections by

introducing greater requirements for

disclosure of related-party transac-

tions to the board of directors and by

making it possible for shareholders

to inspect the documents pertaining

to related-party transactions and

to appoint auditors to conduct an

inspection of such transactions.

Paying taxes The Republic of Congo made paying

taxes easier for companies by reduc-

ing the corporate income tax rate and

by abolishing the tax on the rental

value of business premises and the

tax on company-owned cars.

Costa Rica

Getting electricity Costa Rica reduced the time required

for getting electricity by improving

the coordination between different

departments at the utility.

Paying taxes Costa Rica made paying taxes easier

for companies by implementing an

electronic system for filing corporate

income tax and VAT.

Côte d’Ivoire

Starting a business Côte d’Ivoire made starting a busi-

ness easier by reducing the mini-

mum capital requirement, lowering

registration fees and enabling the

one-stop shop to publish notices of

incorporation.

Registering property Côte d’Ivoire made transferring

property easier by digitizing its land

registry system and lowering the

property registration tax.

Getting credit Côte d’Ivoire improved its credit

information system by introducing

regulations that govern the licensing

and operation of credit bureaus.

Protecting minority investors Côte d’Ivoire strengthened minority

investor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

Trading across borders Côte d’Ivoire made trading across

borders easier by simplifying the

processes for producing the inspec-

tion report and by reducing port and

terminal handling charges at the

port of Abidjan.

Croatia

Starting a business Croatia made starting a business

easier by reducing notary fees.

Dealing with construction permits Croatia made dealing with construc-

tion permits easier by reducing the

requirements and fees for building

permits and carrying out the final

building inspection more promptly.

Paying taxes Croatia made paying taxes more

complicated for companies by rais-

ing the health insurance contribu-

tion rate, increasing the Croatian

Chamber of Commerce fees and

introducing more detailed filing

requirements for VAT. On the other

hand, it abolished the contribution to

the Croatian Chamber of Commerce.

Trading across borders Croatia made trading across borders

easier by implementing a new elec-

tronic customs system.

Labor market regulation Croatia lifted the 3-year limit on

the duration of first-time fixed-term

contracts.

Cyprus

Getting credit Cyprus improved its credit informa-

tion system by adopting a central

bank directive eliminating the mini-

mum threshold for loans to be in-

cluded in credit bureaus’ databases.

Paying taxes Cyprus made paying taxes easier for

companies by reducing the number

of provisional tax installments for

corporate income tax.

Czech Republic

Starting a business The Czech Republic made starting

a business easier by substantially

reducing the minimum capital re-

quirement and the paid-in minimum

capital requirement.

Getting credit The Czech Republic improved access

to credit by adopting a new legal

regime on secured transactions that

DOING BUSINESS 2015156

allows the registration of receivables

at the collateral registry and per-

mits out-of-court enforcement of

collateral.

Enforcing contracts The Czech Republic made enforcing

contracts easier by amending its civil

procedure code and modifying the

monetary jurisdictions of its courts.

Denmark

Starting a business Denmark made starting a business

easier by reducing the paid-in mini-

mum capital requirement.

Djibouti

Dealing with construction permits Djibouti made dealing with construc-

tion permits less time-consuming by

streamlining the review process for

building permits.

Dominican Republic

Dealing with construction permits The Dominican Republic made deal-

ing with construction permits more

costly by increasing the building

permit fees.

Getting credit The Dominican Republic improved

its credit information system by

enacting a new law regulating the

protection of personal data and

the operation of credit reporting

institutions.

Protecting minority investors The Dominican Republic strength-

ened minority investor protections

by introducing greater shareholder

rights and requirements for greater

corporate transparency.

Trading across borders The Dominican Republic made trad-

ing across borders easier by reducing

the number of documents required

for exports and imports.

Ecuador

Protecting minority investors Ecuador strengthened minority

investor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions as well

as a requirement that a potential

acquirer make a tender offer to all

shareholders upon acquiring voting

shares.

Trading across borders Ecuador made trading across bor-

ders easier by upgrading to a new

electronic data interchange system

called ECUAPASS.

Egypt, Arab Rep.

Protecting minority investors The Arab Republic of Egypt strength-

ened minority investor protections

by introducing additional require-

ments for approval of related-party

transactions and greater require-

ments for disclosure of such trans-

actions to the stock exchange.

Equatorial Guinea

Protecting minority investors Equatorial Guinea strengthened

minority investor protections by

introducing greater requirements for

disclosure of related-party transac-

tions to the board of directors and by

making it possible for shareholders

to inspect the documents pertaining

to related-party transactions and

to appoint auditors to conduct an

inspection of such transactions.

Finland Labor market regulation Finland eliminated the requirement

to notify a third party before dis-

missing a redundant employee or

group of redundant employees.

France

Starting a business France made starting a business

easier by reducing the time it takes

to register a company at the one-

stop shop (Centre de Formalités des

Entreprises).

Labor market regulation France substantially amended its la-

bor market regulations, including the

provisions dealing with large-scale

collective redundancy processes.

Gabon

Registering property Gabon made transferring property

more costly by increasing the prop-

erty registration tax rate.

Protecting minority investors Gabon strengthened minority in-

vestor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

Paying taxes Gabon made paying taxes easier for

companies by introducing an elec-

tronic system for filing and paying

VAT.

Gambia, The

Starting a business The Gambia made starting a busi-

ness easier by eliminating the re-

quirement to pay stamp duty.

Protecting minority investors The Gambia strengthened minority

investor protections by clarifying the

duties of directors and providing new

venues and remedies for minority

shareholders seeking redress for op-

pressive conduct.

Georgia Labor market regulation Georgia reduced the maximum

duration of fixed-term contracts

157SUMMARIES OF DOING BUSINESS REFORMS IN 2013/14

and introduced a notice period for

redundancy dismissals.

Germany

Starting a business Germany made starting a business

more difficult by increasing notary

fees.

Registering property Germany made transferring prop-

erty more costly by increasing the

property transfer tax rate.

Ghana

Dealing with construction permits Ghana made dealing with construc-

tion permits less time-consuming by

streamlining the process to obtain a

building permit.

Trading across borders Ghana made trading across borders

easier by upgrading infrastructure at

the port of Tema.

Greece

Starting a business Greece made starting a business

easier by lowering registration costs.

Registering property Greece made transferring prop-

erty easier by reducing the property

transfer tax rate and eliminating

the requirement for a municipal tax

clearance certificate.

Enforcing contracts Greece made enforcing contracts

easier by introducing an electronic

filing system for court users.

Guatemala

Starting a business Guatemala made starting a business

easier by eliminating certain registra-

tion fees and reducing the time to

publish a notice of incorporation.

Paying taxes Guatemala made paying taxes eas-

ier and less costly for companies by

enhancing the electronic system for

filing and paying corporate income

tax and VAT and by reducing the

capital gains and corporate income

tax rates. On the other hand, it also

made paying taxes more compli-

cated by introducing a new form for

capital gains tax.

Guinea

Registering property Guinea made registering property

easier by reorganizing the records

at the land registry and reducing the

notary fees.

Protecting minority investors Guinea strengthened minority investor

protections by introducing greater

requirements for disclosure of

related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

Guinea-Bissau

Protecting minority investors Guinea-Bissau strengthened minority

investor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

Honduras

Dealing with construction permits Honduras made dealing with con-

struction permits more costly by

increasing the building permit fees.

Hong Kong SAR, China

Starting a business Hong Kong SAR, China, made start-

ing a business more difficult by

increasing the registration fee.

Protecting minority investors Hong Kong SAR, China, strength-

ened minority investor protections

by introducing requirements for

directors to provide more detailed

disclosure of conflicts of interest to

the other board members.

Hungary

Starting a business Hungary made starting a business

more difficult by increasing the paid-

in minimum capital requirement.

Getting credit Hungary improved access to credit

by adopting a new legal regime

on secured transactions that

implements a functional approach

to secured transactions, extends se-

curity interests to the products and

proceeds of the original asset and

establishes a modern, notice-based

collateral registry.

Paying taxes Hungary made paying taxes easier

and less costly for companies by

abolishing the special tax that had

been temporarily introduced in 2010

and by reducing the vehicle tax rate.

Iceland

Starting a business Iceland made starting a business

easier by offering faster online

procedures.

Registering property Iceland made transferring property

more costly by increasing the stamp

duty rate.

India

Starting a business India made starting a business

easier by considerably reducing the

DOING BUSINESS 2015158

registration fees, but also made it

more difficult by introducing a re-

quirement to file a declaration before

the commencement of business

operations. These changes apply to

both Delhi and Mumbai.

Getting electricity In India the utility in Mumbai made

getting electricity less costly by re-

ducing the security deposit for a new

connection.

Protecting minority investors India strengthened minority inves-

tor protections by requiring greater

disclosure of conflicts of interest

by board members, increasing the

remedies available in case of preju-

dicial related-party transactions and

introducing additional safeguards

for shareholders of privately held

companies. This reform applies to

both Delhi and Mumbai.

Indonesia

Starting a business Indonesia made starting a business

easier by allowing the Ministry of

Law and Human Rights to electroni-

cally issue the approval letter for

the deed of establishment. This

reform applies to both Jakarta and

Surabaya.

Getting electricity In Indonesia the electricity company

in Jakarta made getting electric-

ity easier by eliminating the need

for electrical contractors to obtain

multiple certificates guaranteeing

the safety of internal installations—

though it also increased the cost by

introducing a security deposit for

new connections.

Paying taxes Indonesia made paying taxes less

costly for companies by reducing

employers’ health insurance contri-

bution rate. This reform applies to

both Jakarta and Surabaya.

Trading across borders In Indonesia trading across borders

became more difficult because of

insufficient infrastructure at the

Tanjung Priok Port Jakarta. This

change applies to both Jakarta and

Surabaya.

Iran, Islamic Rep.

Starting a business The Islamic Republic of Iran made

starting a business easier by stream-

lining the name reservation and

company registration procedures.

Getting electricity The Islamic Republic of Iran made

getting electricity easier by eliminat-

ing the need for customers to obtain

an excavation permit for electricity

connection works.

Ireland

Registering property Ireland made transferring property

easier by enhancing its computer-

ized system at the land registry and

implementing an online system for

the registration of title.

Getting credit Ireland improved its credit informa-

tion system by passing a new act

that provides for the establishment

and operation of a credit registry.

Enforcing contracts Ireland made enforcing contracts

easier by modifying the monetary

jurisdictions of its courts.

Israel

Paying taxes Israel made paying taxes more

costly for companies by increasing

the profit tax rate.

Italy

Starting a business Italy made starting a business eas-

ier by reducing both the minimum

capital requirement and the paid-in

minimum capital requirement and by

streamlining registration procedures.

Labor market regulation Italy relaxed the conditions for using

fixed-term contracts but reduced

their maximum duration to 36

months.

Jamaica

Starting a business Jamaica made starting a business

easier by consolidating forms, but

also made it more time-consuming

as a result of delays in the imple-

mentation of the electronic interface

with different agencies.

Getting electricity Jamaica made getting electricity

less expensive by reducing the cost

of external connection works.

Getting credit Jamaica improved access to credit

by establishing credit bureaus and

by adopting a new secured trans-

actions law that implements a

functional approach to secured

transactions, broadens the range

of assets that can be used as col-

lateral, allows a general description

of assets granted as collateral and

establishes a modern, notice-based

collateral registry.

Paying taxes Jamaica made paying taxes more

costly for companies by introducing

a new minimum business tax.

Jordan

Trading across borders Jordan made trading across borders

easier by improving infrastructure at

the port of Aqaba.

Kazakhstan

Registering property Kazakhstan made registering

property easier by introducing ef-

fective time limits and an expedited

procedure.

159SUMMARIES OF DOING BUSINESS REFORMS IN 2013/14

Paying taxes Kazakhstan made paying taxes

more complicated for companies by

introducing a mandatory contribu-

tion to the National Chamber of

Entrepreneurs and by increasing the

vehicle and environmental taxes.

Trading across borders Kazakhstan made trading across

borders easier by opening a new

border station and railway link that

helped reduce congestion at the

border with China.

Enforcing contracts Kazakhstan made enforcing con-

tracts easier by introducing an elec-

tronic filing system for court users.

Resolving insolvency Kazakhstan made resolving insolven-

cy easier by clarifying and simplifying

provisions on liquidation and reorga-

nization, introducing the concept of

creditors’ meetings, expanding the

rights of creditors during insolvency

proceedings, authorizing payment in

kind to secured creditors and clarify-

ing the process for submitting credi-

tors’ claims.

Kenya

Dealing with construction permits Kenya made dealing with construc-

tion permits more costly by increas-

ing the building permit fees.

Getting credit Kenya improved its credit informa-

tion system by passing legislation

that allows the sharing of both posi-

tive and negative credit information

and establishes guidelines for the

treatment of historical data.

Paying taxes Kenya made paying taxes more

costly for companies by increasing

employers’ social security contribu-

tion rate.

Kiribati

Paying taxes Kiribati made paying taxes more

complicated for companies by intro-

ducing VAT.

Korea, Rep.

Registering property The Republic of Korea made trans-

ferring property easier by reducing

the time needed to buy housing

bonds and to register the property

transfer.

Protecting minority investors Korea strengthened minority inves-

tor protections by increasing the

level of transparency expected

from companies on managerial

compensation.

Kosovo

Dealing with construction permits Kosovo made dealing with construc-

tion permits easier by establishing a

new phased inspection scheme and

substantially reducing the building

permit fee.

Registering property Kosovo made transferring property

more difficult by increasing the fee

for the registration of property

transactions.

Enforcing contracts Kosovo made enforcing contracts

easier by introducing a private bailiff

system.

Kuwait

Starting a business Kuwait made starting a business

more difficult by increasing the com-

mercial license fee.

Lao PDR

Getting credit The Lao People’s Democratic Republic

improved access to credit by

implementing a modern, unified,

notice-based collateral registry.

Protecting minority investors Lao PDR strengthened minority

investor protections by introducing

requirements for directors to dis-

close in detail their conflicts of inter-

est to the other board members and

for companies to promptly disclose

related-party transactions to the

Securities Commission and to in-

clude the information in their annual

reports.

Latvia

Starting a business Latvia made starting a business

more difficult by increasing registra-

tion fees, bank fees and notary fees.

Paying taxes Latvia made paying taxes easier for

companies by simplifying the VAT

return, enhancing the electronic

system for filing corporate income

tax returns and reducing employers’

social security contribution rate.

Lithuania

Starting a business Lithuania made starting a business

easier by eliminating the need to

have a company seal and speeding

up the VAT registration at the State

Tax Inspectorate.

Dealing with construction permits Lithuania made dealing with con-

struction permits easier by reducing

the time required for processing

building permit applications.

Enforcing contracts Lithuania made enforcing contracts

easier by introducing an electronic

filing system for court users.

Macedonia, FYR

Starting a business The former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia made starting a business

DOING BUSINESS 2015160

easier by making online registration

free of charge.

Protecting minority investors FYR Macedonia strengthened minor-

ity investor protections by requiring

prior review of related-party trans-

actions by an external auditor.

Resolving insolvency FYR Macedonia made resolving

insolvency easier by establishing a

framework for electronic auctions

of debtors’ assets, streamlining and

tightening the time frames for insol-

vency proceedings and the appeals

process and establishing a frame-

work for out-of-court restructurings.

Madagascar

Dealing with construction permits Madagascar made dealing with con-

struction permits easier by reducing

the time needed to obtain a building

permit.

Malawi

Starting a business Malawi made starting a business

easier by streamlining company

name search and registration and by

eliminating the requirement for in-

spection of company premises before

issuance of a business license.

Getting electricity Malawi reduced the time required

to get electricity by engaging sub-

contractors to carry out external

connection works.

Mali

Dealing with construction permits Mali made dealing with construction

permits easier by reducing the time

needed to obtain a geotechnical

study.

Protecting minority investors Mali strengthened minority investor

protections by introducing greater

requirements for disclosure of

related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

Malta

Starting a business Malta made starting a business

easier by creating an electronic link

between the Registrar of Companies

and the Inland Revenue Department

to facilitate issuance of a tax identi-

fication number.

Mauritania

Starting a business Mauritania made starting a busi-

ness easier by creating a one-stop

shop and eliminating the publication

requirement and the fee to obtain a

tax identification number.

Getting credit Mauritania improved its credit

information system by lowering the

minimum threshold for loans to be

included in the registry’s database.

Mauritius

Starting a business Mauritius made starting a business

easier by reducing trade license fees.

Enforcing contracts Mauritius made enforcing contracts

easier by introducing an electronic

filing system for court users.

Labor market regulation Mauritius reduced the maximum

duration of fixed-term contracts.

Mexico

Getting credit Mexico improved access to credit by

amending its insolvency proceedings

law and establishing clear grounds

for relief from a stay of enforcement

actions by secured creditors dur-

ing reorganization procedures. This

reform applies to both Mexico City

and Monterrey.

Resolving insolvency Mexico made resolving insolvency

easier by clarifying several rules,

shortening the time extensions

allowed during reorganization, facili-

tating the electronic submission of

documents and improving the legal

rights of creditors and other parties

involved in bankruptcy procedures.

This reform applies to both Mexico

City and Monterrey.

Moldova

Starting a business Moldova made starting a business

easier by abolishing the minimum

capital requirement.

Paying taxes Moldova made paying taxes easier

for companies by introducing an

electronic system for filing and pay-

ing social security contributions.

On the other hand, it increased the

minimum salary used for calculat-

ing the environmental tax liability.

Furthermore, Moldova increased the

employers’ health insurance contri-

bution rate and introduced new filing

requirements for VAT.

Mongolia

Protecting minority investors Mongolia strengthened minority

investor protections by introducing

a requirement for public joint stock

companies to publicly disclose

related-party transactions within 2

business days.

Paying taxes Mongolia made paying taxes easier

for companies by introducing an

electronic system for filing corporate

income tax, VAT and social security

contributions.

161SUMMARIES OF DOING BUSINESS REFORMS IN 2013/14

Montenegro

Dealing with construction permits Montenegro made dealing with

construction permits substantially

less costly by reducing the fee for

the provision of utilities on construc-

tion land and eliminating the fee for

obtaining urban development and

technical requirements from the

municipality.

Morocco

Trading across borders Morocco made trading across bor-

ders easier by reducing the number

of export documents required.

Mozambique

Registering property Mozambique made registering

property easier by streamlining

procedures at the land registry and

municipality.

Resolving insolvency Mozambique made resolving insol-

vency easier by introducing a court-

supervised reorganization procedure

and a mechanism for prepackaged

reorganizations, by clarifying rules

on the appointment and qualifica-

tions of insolvency administrators

and by strengthening creditors’

rights.

Myanmar

Trading across borders Myanmar made trading across bor-

ders easier by reducing the number

of documents required for exports

and imports.

Namibia

Paying taxes Namibia made paying taxes more

complicated for companies by intro-

ducing a new vocational education

and training levy.

Nepal

Dealing with construction permits Nepal made dealing with construc-

tion permits easier by implementing

a new electronic building permit

system.

New Zealand

Getting credit New Zealand improved access to

credit information by beginning to

distribute both positive and negative

credit information.

Nicaragua

Starting a business Nicaragua made starting a business

easier by combining multiple regis-

tration procedures.

Getting credit Nicaragua improved access to credit

information by starting to provide

credit scores to banks and financial

institutions.

Niger

Protecting minority investors Niger strengthened minority inves-

tor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

Norway

Starting a business Norway made starting a business

easier by eliminating the require-

ment for limited liability companies

to have their balance sheet examined

by an external auditor if the capital

is paid in cash.

Pakistan

Trading across borders Pakistan made trading across bor-

ders easier by introducing a fully au-

tomated, computerized system (the

Web-Based One Customs system)

for the submission and processing of

export and import documents. This

reform applies to both Lahore and

Karachi.

Palau

Trading across borders Palau made trading across borders

easier by improving the system for

calculating customs duties and

thereby reducing customs clearance

time.

Panama

Getting credit Panama improved access to credit

through a new law broadening the

range of assets that can be used

as collateral, allowing a general

description of assets granted as col-

lateral and allowing out-of-court

enforcement of collateral.

Philippines

Trading across borders In the Philippines trading across bor-

ders became more difficult because

of a new city ordinance restricting

truck traffic in Manila.

Poland

Getting electricity Poland made getting electricity less

costly by revising the fee structure

for new connections.

Registering property Poland made transferring property

easier by introducing online proce-

dures and reducing notary fees.

Trading across borders Poland made trading across borders

easier by implementing a new termi-

nal operating system at the port of

Gdansk.

DOING BUSINESS 2015162

Portugal

Paying taxes Portugal made paying taxes less

costly for companies by reducing the

corporate income tax rate and intro-

ducing a reduced corporate tax rate

for a portion of the taxable profits

of qualifying small and medium-size

enterprises.

Enforcing contracts Portugal made enforcing contracts

easier by adopting a new code of civil

procedure designed to reduce case

backlogs, streamline court proce-

dures, enhance the role of judges and

speed up the resolution of standard

civil and commercial disputes.

Labor market regulation Portugal reduced the amount of sev-

erance pay per year of service and

increased the maximum cumulative

duration of fixed-term contracts.

Puerto Rico (U.S.)

Dealing with construction permits Puerto Rico (territory of the United

States) made dealing with construc-

tion permits easier by introducing

the option of hiring authorized pri-

vate professionals to carry out the

fire safety recommendations and

issue the fire safety and environ-

mental health certificates.

Romania

Paying taxes Romania made paying taxes easier

for companies, with the majority

now using the electronic system for

filing and paying taxes.

Russian Federation

Starting a business The Russian Federation made start-

ing a business easier by eliminating

the requirement to deposit the charter

capital before company registration

as well as the requirement to notify

tax authorities of the opening of a

bank account. This reform applies to

both Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Registering property Russia made transferring property

easier by eliminating the requirement

for notarization and introducing

tighter time limits for completing the

property registration. This reform

applies to both Moscow and St.

Petersburg.

Rwanda

Starting a business Rwanda made starting a business

more difficult by requiring com-

panies to buy an electronic billing

machine from a certified supplier,

but also made it easier by launching

free mandatory online registration.

Dealing with construction permits Rwanda made dealing with construc-

tion permits easier by eliminating

the fee for obtaining a freehold title

and by streamlining the process for

obtaining an occupancy permit.

Getting electricity In Rwanda the electricity company

made getting electricity less costly

by eliminating several fees.

Getting credit Rwanda improved access to credit

by establishing clear priority rules

outside bankruptcy for secured credi-

tors and establishing clear grounds

for relief from a stay of enforcement

actions by secured creditors during

reorganization procedures.

Samoa

Dealing with construction permits Samoa made dealing with construc-

tion permits more costly by increas-

ing the building permit fees.

San Marino

Registering property San Marino made transferring prop-

erty easier by lowering the property

registration tax rate.

São Tomé and Príncipe

Starting a business São Tomé and Príncipe made start-

ing a business easier by eliminating

the minimum capital requirement

for business entities with no need to

obtain a commercial license.

Senegal

Starting a business Senegal made starting a business

easier by reducing the minimum

capital requirement.

Dealing with construction permits Senegal made dealing with construc-

tion permits less time-consuming

by reducing the time for processing

building permit applications.

Registering property Senegal made transferring property

easier by replacing the requirement

for authorization from the tax

authority with a notification require-

ment and by creating a single step

for the property transfer at the land

registry.

Getting credit Senegal improved its credit informa-

tion system by introducing regula-

tions developed by the West African

Economic and Monetary Union that

govern the licensing and operation of

credit bureaus.

Protecting minority investors Senegal strengthened minority

investor protections by introducing

greater requirements for disclosure

of related-party transactions to the

board of directors; by making it pos-

sible for shareholders to inspect the

documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions; and by making it

possible for shareholder plaintiffs to

request from the other party, and

from witnesses, documents relevant

to the subject matter of the claim

during the trial.

163SUMMARIES OF DOING BUSINESS REFORMS IN 2013/14

Paying taxes Senegal made paying taxes easier

for companies by abolishing the

vehicle tax and making it possible to

download the declaration forms for

VAT online.

Serbia

Registering property Serbia made transferring property

more difficult by eliminating the ex-

pedited procedure for registering a

property transfer.

Seychelles

Paying taxes The Seychelles made paying taxes

easier for companies by reducing

the business tax rate applicable to

income above 1 million Seychelles

rupees ($77,700) and by introducing

a simplified new tax return allowing

joint filing and payment of the busi-

ness tax, VAT and corporate social

responsibility tax. On the other hand,

it increased employers’ pension fund

contribution rate.

Enforcing contracts The Seychelles made enforcing

contracts easier by establishing a

commercial court, implementing

and refining its case management

system, introducing court-annexed

mediation and addressing schedul-

ing conflicts within the courts.

Resolving insolvency The Seychelles made resolving

insolvency easier by introducing a

reorganization procedure, provisions

on the avoidance of undervalued

transactions and the possibility to

request post-commencement fi-

nancing during the reorganization.

Sierra Leone

Getting electricity Sierra Leone made getting electric-

ity easier by eliminating the need

for customers to submit an applica-

tion letter inquiring about a new

connection before submitting an

application—and made the process

faster by improving staffing at the

utility.

Registering property Sierra Leone made registering prop-

erty easier by introducing a fast-

track procedure.

Getting credit Sierra Leone improved its credit

information system by beginning to

distribute both positive and negative

data and by increasing the system’s

coverage rate.

Paying taxes Sierra Leone made paying taxes

more complicated for companies by

introducing a capital gains tax.

Singapore

Enforcing contracts Singapore made enforcing contracts

easier by introducing a new electron-

ic litigation system that streamlines

litigation proceedings.

Slovak Republic

Starting a business The Slovak Republic made starting a

business easier by reducing the time

needed to register with the district

court and eliminating the need (and

therefore the fee) for the verification

of signatures by a notary public.

Getting credit The Slovak Republic improved its

credit information system by imple-

menting a new law on the protection

of personal data.

Slovenia

Resolving insolvency Slovenia made resolving insolvency

easier by introducing a simplified

reorganization procedure for small

companies and a preventive re-

structuring procedure for medium-

size and large ones, by allowing

creditors greater participation in

the management of the debtor and

by establishing provisions for an

increase in share capital through

debt-equity swaps.

Solomon Islands

Getting electricity The Solomon Islands made getting

electricity easier by improving pro-

curement practices for the materials

needed to establish new connections.

South Africa

Getting credit South Africa made access to credit

information more difficult by intro-

ducing regulations requiring credit

bureaus to remove negative credit

information from their databases,

such as adverse information on

consumer behavior or enforcement

action accumulated on a consumer’s

record before April 1, 2014.

Enforcing contracts South Africa made enforcing

contracts easier by amending the

monetary jurisdiction of its lower

courts and introducing voluntary

mediation.

Spain

Starting a business Spain made starting a business

easier by introducing an electronic

system linking several public agen-

cies and thereby simplifying busi-

ness registration.

Registering property Spain made transferring prop-

erty easier by reducing the property

transfer tax rate.

Paying taxes Spain made paying taxes less costly

for companies by reducing the statu-

tory corporate income tax rate.

Resolving insolvency Spain made resolving insolvency

easier by introducing new rules

for out-of-court restructuring,

introducing provisions applicable to

DOING BUSINESS 2015164

prepackaged reorganizations and

making insolvency proceedings more

public.

Sri Lanka

Paying taxes Sri Lanka made paying taxes more

costly for companies by increas-

ing the reduced corporate income

tax rate for qualifying small and

medium-size enterprises.

St. Kitts and Nevis

Dealing with construction permits St. Kitts and Nevis made dealing with

construction permits more costly by

increasing the building permit fees.

Paying taxes St. Kitts and Nevis made paying

taxes less costly for companies by

reducing the corporate income tax

rate.

St. Lucia

Trading across borders St. Lucia made trading across

borders easier by implementing the

ASYCUDA World electronic system

for the submission of export and

import documents and by reducing

the number of export documents

required.

Suriname

Starting a business Suriname made starting a business

easier by introducing an online sys-

tem for obtaining trade licenses.

Swaziland

Starting a business Swaziland made starting a business

easier by shortening the notice and

objection period for obtaining a new

trade license.

Paying taxes Swaziland made paying taxes less

costly for companies by reducing the

corporate income tax rate.

Sweden

Registering property Sweden made registering prop-

erty easier by fully implementing

a new online system for property

registration.

Switzerland

Starting a business Switzerland made starting a busi-

ness easier by introducing online

procedures.

Protecting minority investors Switzerland strengthened minority

investor protections by increasing

the level of transparency required

from publicly traded companies.

Resolving insolvency Switzerland made resolving in-

solvency easier by introducing a

moratorium period while the debtor

is preparing a composition (reor-

ganization) agreement, allowing

creditors greater participation in

the composition (reorganization)

procedure and clarifying claw-back

provisions applicable to voidable

transactions.

Taiwan, China

Getting electricity Taiwan, China, made getting elec-

tricity easier by eliminating site

inspections.

Getting credit Taiwan, China, improved access to

credit information by beginning to

include data from utility companies

in credit reports.

Paying taxes Taiwan, China, made paying taxes

easier for companies by introducing

an electronic system for paying the

vehicle license tax.

Tajikistan

Starting a business Tajikistan made starting a business

easier by enabling the Statistics

Agency to issue the statistics code

for the new business at the time of

registration.

Dealing with construction permits Tajikistan made dealing with con-

struction permits less costly by

reducing the fee to obtain the archi-

tectural planning assignment.

Getting credit Tajikistan improved access to credit

information by beginning to provide

credit scores.

Paying taxes Tajikistan made paying taxes easier

for companies by introducing an

electronic system for filing and pay-

ing corporate income tax, VAT and

labor taxes.

Tanzania

Getting credit Tanzania improved access to

credit information by creating credit

bureaus.

Paying taxes Tanzania made paying taxes more

complicated for companies by

introducing an excise tax on money

transfers. On the other hand, it made

paying taxes less costly by reducing

the rate of the skill and development

levy.

Trading across borders Tanzania made trading across bor-

ders easier by upgrading infrastruc-

ture at the port of Dar es Salaam.

Thailand

Dealing with construction permits Thailand made dealing with con-

struction permits less time-consum-

ing by introducing a fast-track ap-

proval process for building permits

for smaller buildings.

165SUMMARIES OF DOING BUSINESS REFORMS IN 2013/14

Timor-Leste

Starting a business Timor-Leste made starting a busi-

ness easier by creating a one-stop

shop.

Togo

Starting a business Togo made starting a business

easier by enabling the one-stop shop

to publish notices of incorporation

and eliminating the requirement to

obtain an economic operator card.

Registering property Togo made transferring property

easier by lowering the property reg-

istration tax rate.

Protecting minority investors Togo strengthened minority investor

protections by introducing greater

requirements for disclosure of

related-party transactions to the

board of directors and by making it

possible for shareholders to inspect

the documents pertaining to related-

party transactions and to appoint

auditors to conduct an inspection of

such transactions.

Paying taxes Togo made paying taxes less costly

for companies by reducing the pay-

roll tax rate.

Trinidad and Tobago

Starting a business Trinidad and Tobago made starting a

business easier by introducing online

systems for employer registration

and tax registration.

Getting credit Trinidad and Tobago improved

access to credit by adopting the

Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act,

which establishes clear grounds for

relief from a stay of enforcement

actions by secured creditors during

reorganization procedures as well as

a time limit for the stay.

Resolving insolvency Trinidad and Tobago made resolving

insolvency easier by introducing a

formal mechanism for rehabilitation,

establishing a public office respon-

sible for the general administration

of insolvency proceedings and clari-

fying the rules on appointment of

trustees.

Tunisia

Paying taxes Tunisia made paying taxes less

costly for companies by reducing the

corporate income tax rate.

Trading across borders In Tunisia trading across borders

became more difficult because of a

deterioration in port infrastructure

(for example, in loading and unload-

ing equipment) and inadequate

terminal space.

Turkey

Starting a business Turkey made starting a business

more difficult by increasing the no-

tary and company registration fees.

Paying taxes Turkey made paying taxes more

costly for companies by increasing

employers’ social security contribu-

tion rate.

Enforcing contracts Turkey made enforcing contracts

easier by introducing an electronic

filing system for court users.

Uganda

Trading across borders Uganda made trading across bor-

ders easier by implementing the

ASYCUDA World electronic system

for the submission of export and

import documents.

Resolving insolvency Uganda made resolving insolvency

easier by consolidating all provisions

related to corporate insolvency in

one law, establishing provisions on

the administration of companies (re-

organization), clarifying standards

on the professional qualifications of

insolvency practitioners and intro-

ducing provisions allowing the avoid-

ance of undervalued transactions.

Ukraine

Paying taxes Ukraine made paying taxes easier

for companies by introducing an

electronic system for filing and pay-

ing labor taxes. On the other hand, it

increased the environmental tax.

United Arab Emirates

Registering property The United Arab Emirates made

transferring property easier by

introducing new service centers and

a standard contract for property

transactions.

Getting credit In the United Arab Emirates the

credit bureau improved access to

credit information by starting to

exchange credit information with a

utility.

Protecting minority investors The United Arab Emirates strength-

ened minority investor protections

by introducing additional approval

requirements for related-party

transactions and greater require-

ments for disclosure of such trans-

actions to the stock exchange; by

introducing a requirement that

interested directors be held liable

in a related-party transaction that

is unfair or constitutes a conflict of

interest; and by making it possible

for shareholders to inspect the docu-

ments pertaining to a related-party

transaction, appoint auditors to

inspect the transaction and request

a rescission of the transaction if it

should prove to be unfair.

DOING BUSINESS 2015166

United Kingdom

Starting a business The United Kingdom made starting

a business easier by speeding up tax

registration.

Paying taxes The United Kingdom made paying

taxes less costly for companies by

reducing the corporate income tax

rate. On the other hand, it increased

the landfill tax.

United States

Starting a business In the United States starting a busi-

ness became easier in New York City

thanks to faster online procedures.

Uruguay

Trading across borders Uruguay made trading across

borders easier by implementing a

risk-based inspection system that

reduced customs clearance time for

both exports and imports.

Enforcing contracts Uruguay made enforcing contracts

easier by simplifying and speeding

up the proceedings for commercial

disputes.

Uzbekistan

Protecting minority investors Uzbekistan strengthened minority

investor protections by introducing

a requirement for public joint stock

companies to disclose information

about related-party transactions in

their annual report; setting higher

standards for disclosure of such

transactions to the board of direc-

tors; and establishing the right of

shareholders to receive all docu-

ments related to such transactions.

Trading across borders Uzbekistan made trading across

borders easier by reducing the

number of documents to export and

import and by making it possible to

submit documents electronically.

Vanuatu

Registering property Vanuatu made property transfers

faster by digitizing its land registry

system and hiring and training new

staff.

Venezuela, RB

Starting a business República Bolivariana de Venezuela

made starting a business more dif-

ficult by increasing incorporation

costs.

Vietnam

Getting credit Vietnam improved its credit infor-

mation system by establishing a

new credit bureau.

Paying taxes Vietnam made paying taxes less

costly for companies by reducing the

corporate income tax rate.

West Bank and Gaza

Paying taxes West Bank and Gaza made paying

taxes easier for companies by intro-

ducing the option to make either 1 or

4 advance payments of corporate

income tax.

Yemen, Rep.

Trading across borders In the Republic of Yemen trading

across borders became more dif-

ficult as a result of inefficient port

operation.

Zambia

Registering property Zambia made transferring property

more difficult by increasing the prop-

erty transfer tax rate.

Getting credit In Zambia the credit bureau im-

proved access to credit information

by starting to exchange credit infor-

mation with retailers and utilities.

Paying taxes Zambia made paying taxes easier for

companies by abolishing the medical

levy and by introducing an online

system for filing corporate income

tax, VAT and some labor taxes. At

the same time, it also increased the

property transfer tax.

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

AFGHANISTAN South Asia GNI per capita (US$) 700 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 183 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 41.16 Population (m) 30.6

Starting a business (rank) 24 Registering property (rank) 183 Trading across borders (rank) 184 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 93.54 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 33.33 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 9.21 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 10 Time (days) 7 Time (days) 250 Time to export (days) 86 Cost (% of income per capita) 15.1 Cost (% of property value) 5.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 5,045 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 91 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 185 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 5,680 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 30.14 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 9 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 183 Time (days) 323 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 31.29 Cost (% of warehouse value) 57.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 46

Time (days) 1,642 Getting electricity (rank) 141 Protecting minority investors (rank) 189 Cost (% of claim) 25.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 61.09 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 10.00 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 1.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 159 Time (days) 114 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 0.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 23.60 Cost (% of income per capita) 3,373.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 1.0 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 25 Paying taxes (rank) 79 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 26.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 74.39 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 3 Payments (number per year) 20 Time (hours per year) 275 Total tax rate (% of profit) 35.8

ALBANIA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 4,700 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 68 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 66.06 Population (m) 2.8

Starting a business (rank) 41 Registering property (rank) 118 Trading across borders (rank) 95 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.86 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 60.67 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 72.48 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 4.5 Time (days) 22 Time to export (days) 19 Cost (% of income per capita) 10.0 Cost (% of property value) 9.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 745 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 18

Dealing with construction permits (rank) 157 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 730 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 56.50 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 19 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 102 Time (days) 228 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 57.14 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 16.7 Procedures (number) 39

Time (days) 525 Getting electricity (rank) 152 Protecting minority investors (rank) 7 Cost (% of claim) 34.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 58.34 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 72.50 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 44 Time (days) 177 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 61.37 Cost (% of income per capita) 472.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 7.3 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 131 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 41.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 64.75 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12.5 Payments (number per year) 34 Time (hours per year) 357 Total tax rate (% of profit) 30.7

Note: For resolving insolvency, an economy for which “no practice” is recorded for time and cost receives a score of 0 on the strength of insolvency framework index even if its legal framework includes provisions related to insolvency proceedings (liquidation or reorganization). Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest business city of an economy, except for 11 economies for which the data are a population-weighted average for the 2 largest business cities. See the data notes for more details.

Country tables

DOING BUSINESS 2015168

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

ALGERIA Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 5,290 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 154 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 50.69 Population (m) 39.2

Starting a business (rank) 141 Registering property (rank) 157 Trading across borders (rank) 131 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 74.07 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 50.67 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 64.21 Procedures (number) 13 Procedures (number) 10 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 22 Time (days) 55 Time to export (days) 17 Cost (% of income per capita) 11.0 Cost (% of property value) 7.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,270 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 24.1 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 171 Time to import (days) 26 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 127 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 10.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,330 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 65.72 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 17 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 120 Time (days) 204 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 52.89 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 2.0 Procedures (number) 45

Time (days) 630 Getting electricity (rank) 147 Protecting minority investors (rank) 132 Cost (% of claim) 21.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 59.98 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.00 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 97 Time (days) 180 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 42.74 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,318.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.5 Time (years) 2.5

Cost (% of estate) 7 Paying taxes (rank) 176 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 41.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 41.63 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6.5 Payments (number per year) 27 Time (hours per year) 451 Total tax rate (% of profit) 72.7

ANGOLA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 5,010 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 181 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 41.85 Population (m) 21.5

Starting a business (rank) 174 Registering property (rank) 164 Trading across borders (rank) 167 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 56.56 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 46.62 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 40.96 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 10 Time (days) 66 Time (days) 190 Time to export (days) 40 Cost (% of income per capita) 123.5 Cost (% of property value) 3.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,060 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 20.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 180 Time to import (days) 43 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 67 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 5.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,725 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 75.47 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 187 Time (days) 203 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 25.22 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 1.8 Procedures (number) 46

Time (days) 1,296 Getting electricity (rank) 157 Protecting minority investors (rank) 94 Cost (% of claim) 44.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 56.66 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 51.67 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 145 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 660.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.2 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 144 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 60.40 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 30 Time (hours per year) 282 Total tax rate (% of profit) 52.0

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 12,910 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 89 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 62.64 Population (m) 0.1

Starting a business (rank) 102 Registering property (rank) 141 Trading across borders (rank) 89 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.28 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 55.44 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 73.58 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 21 Time (days) 25 Time to export (days) 16 Cost (% of income per capita) 10.2 Cost (% of property value) 10.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,090 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 151 Time to import (days) 23 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 30 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 25.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,520 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 82.21 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 76 Time (days) 106 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 61.26 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 44

Time (days) 351 Getting electricity (rank) 17 Protecting minority investors (rank) 35 Cost (% of claim) 22.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 90.46 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 62.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 114 Time (days) 42 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 38.19 Cost (% of income per capita) 122.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.3 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 7 Paying taxes (rank) 159 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 36.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 54.51 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 57 Time (hours per year) 207 Total tax rate (% of profit) 41.6

169COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

ARGENTINA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 11,376 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 124 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 57.48 Population (m) 41.4

Starting a business (rank) 146 Registering property (rank) 119 Trading across borders (rank) 128 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 72.58 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 60.63 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 65.11 Procedures (number) 14 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 25 Time (days) 51.5 Time to export (days) 12 Cost (% of income per capita) 15.2 Cost (% of property value) 6.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,770 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 4.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 30 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 181 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,320 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 42.54 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 21 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 63 Time (days) 341 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 63.88 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 41.2 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 590 Getting electricity (rank) 104 Protecting minority investors (rank) 62 Cost (% of claim) 20.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 72.42 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 57.50 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 83 Time (days) 92 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 45.10 Cost (% of income per capita) 45.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 2.8

Cost (% of estate) 12 Paying taxes (rank) 170 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 28.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 44.99 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9.5 Payments (number per year) 9 Time (hours per year) 405 Total tax rate (% of profit) 137.3

ARMENIA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 3,790 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 45 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 70.60 Population (m) 3.0

Starting a business (rank) 4 Registering property (rank) 7 Trading across borders (rank) 110 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 97.77 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 93.03 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 68.81 Procedures (number) 2 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 3 Time (days) 7 Time to export (days) 16 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.0 Cost (% of property value) 0.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,885 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 18 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 81 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,175 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 73.78 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 19 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 119 Time (days) 83 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 65.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 53.33 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 23.5 Procedures (number) 49

Time (days) 570 Getting electricity (rank) 131 Protecting minority investors (rank) 49 Cost (% of claim) 14.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 64.02 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 60.00 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 69 Time (days) 187 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 48.14 Cost (% of income per capita) 92.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.0 Time (years) 1.9

Cost (% of estate) 11 Paying taxes (rank) 41 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 37.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 82.10 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 10 Time (hours per year) 321 Total tax rate (% of profit) 20.4

AUSTRALIA OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 65,520 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 10 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 80.66 Population (m) 23.1

Starting a business (rank) 7 Registering property (rank) 53 Trading across borders (rank) 49 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 96.47 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 76.87 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 80.53 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 2.5 Time (days) 4.5 Time to export (days) 9 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.7 Cost (% of property value) 5.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,200 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 4 Time to import (days) 8 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 19 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 90.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,220 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 84.30 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 11 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 12 Time (days) 112 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 77.06 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 28

Time (days) 395 Getting electricity (rank) 55 Protecting minority investors (rank) 71 Cost (% of claim) 21.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 80.59 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 56.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 14 Time (days) 75 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 81.60 Cost (% of income per capita) 8.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.7 Time (years) 1.0

Cost (% of estate) 8 Paying taxes (rank) 39 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 81.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 82.48 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12 Payments (number per year) 11 Time (hours per year) 105 Total tax rate (% of profit) 47.3

DOING BUSINESS 2015170

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

AUSTRIA OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 48,590 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 21 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 77.42 Population (m) 8.5

Starting a business (rank) 101 Registering property (rank) 35 Trading across borders (rank) 19 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.42 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 81.07 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 87.66 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 22 Time (days) 20.5 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.3 Cost (% of property value) 4.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,150 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 13.6 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 52 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 78 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 60.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,215 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 74.25 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 5 Time (days) 192 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 53.2 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 81.55 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 2.0 Procedures (number) 25

Time (days) 397 Getting electricity (rank) 24 Protecting minority investors (rank) 32 Cost (% of claim) 18.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 87.75 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 63.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 16 Time (days) 23 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 78.84 Cost (% of income per capita) 101.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.3 Time (years) 1.1

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 72 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 82.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 76.36 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11 Payments (number per year) 12 Time (hours per year) 166 Total tax rate (% of profit) 52.0

AZERBAIJAN Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 7,350 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 80 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 64.08 Population (m) 9.4

Starting a business (rank) 12 Registering property (rank) 10 Trading across borders (rank) 166 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 95.54 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 92.30 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 42.37 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 9 Time (days) 5 Time (days) 8.5 Time to export (days) 27 Cost (% of income per capita) 3.1 Cost (% of property value) 0.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 3,460 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 25 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 150 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 3,450 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 59.89 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 21 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 31 Time (days) 151 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 69.02 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 28.7 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 277 Getting electricity (rank) 159 Protecting minority investors (rank) 51 Cost (% of claim) 18.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 55.69 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 59.17 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 94 Time (days) 164 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 43.02 Cost (% of income per capita) 226.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.9 Time (years) 1.5

Cost (% of estate) 12 Paying taxes (rank) 33 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 39.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 83.77 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 195 Total tax rate (% of profit) 39.8

BAHAMAS, THE Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 23,489 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 97 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 61.37 Population (m) 0.4

Starting a business (rank) 95 Registering property (rank) 179 Trading across borders (rank) 63 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 84.12 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 37.22 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 77.36 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 23.5 Time (days) 122 Time to export (days) 19 Cost (% of income per capita) 10.2 Cost (% of property value) 12.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,005 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 13 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 92 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,770 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 71.81 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 125 Time (days) 178 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 51.65 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 49

Time (days) 427 Getting electricity (rank) 50 Protecting minority investors (rank) 141 Cost (% of claim) 28.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 81.24 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 43.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 60 Time (days) 67 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 52.93 Cost (% of income per capita) 133.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 12 Paying taxes (rank) 31 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 63.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 84.07 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 18 Time (hours per year) 58 Total tax rate (% of profit) 41.1

171COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

BAHRAIN Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 27,435 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 53 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 69.00 Population (m) 1.3

Starting a business (rank) 131 Registering property (rank) 17 Trading across borders (rank) 64 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 76.92 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 88.65 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 77.27 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 2 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 9 Time (days) 31 Time to export (days) 11 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.8 Cost (% of property value) 1.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 810 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 192.2 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 15 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 7 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 870 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 88.48 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 123 Time (days) 60 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 48.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 52.33 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 48

Time (days) 635 Getting electricity (rank) 73 Protecting minority investors (rank) 104 Cost (% of claim) 14.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 78.26 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 50.00 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 87 Time (days) 90 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 44.24 Cost (% of income per capita) 47.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.0 Time (years) 2.5

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 8 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 41.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 93.88 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 13 Time (hours per year) 60 Total tax rate (% of profit) 13.5

BANGLADESH South Asia GNI per capita (US$) 900 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 173 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 46.84 Population (m) 156.6

Starting a business (rank) 115 Registering property (rank) 184 Trading across borders (rank) 140 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 81.36 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 31.34 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 61.36 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 19.5 Time (days) 244 Time to export (days) 28.3 Cost (% of income per capita) 16.8 Cost (% of property value) 7.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,281 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 33.6 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 144 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,515 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 61.90 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 13.4 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 188 Time (days) 269.2 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 20.82 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.9 Procedures (number) 41

Time (days) 1,442 Getting electricity (rank) 188 Protecting minority investors (rank) 43 Cost (% of claim) 66.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 17.32 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 60.83 Procedures (number) 9 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 147 Time (days) 428.9 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 29.49 Cost (% of income per capita) 3,890.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.1 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 8 Paying taxes (rank) 83 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 25.8 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 73.98 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 5 Payments (number per year) 21 Time (hours per year) 302 Total tax rate (% of profit) 32.5

BARBADOS Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 15,373 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 106 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 60.57 Population (m) 0.3

Starting a business (rank) 94 Registering property (rank) 144 Trading across borders (rank) 38 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 84.36 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 54.95 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 83.34 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 18 Time (days) 118 Time to export (days) 9 Cost (% of income per capita) 7.6 Cost (% of property value) 5.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 810 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 8 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 147 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,615 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 61.06 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 9 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 160 Time (days) 442 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 41.61 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 1,340 Getting electricity (rank) 118 Protecting minority investors (rank) 177 Cost (% of claim) 19.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 67.51 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 30.83 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 26 Time (days) 87 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 74.09 Cost (% of income per capita) 64.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.1 Time (years) 1.8

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 92 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 65.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 72.99 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12.5 Payments (number per year) 27 Time (hours per year) 237 Total tax rate (% of profit) 34.6

DOING BUSINESS 2015172

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

BELARUS Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 6,720 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 57 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 68.26 Population (m) 9.5

Starting a business (rank) 40 Registering property (rank) 3 Trading across borders (rank) 145 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.88 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 96.67 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 59.09 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 2 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 9 Time (days) 4 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.8 Cost (% of property value) 0.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,460 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 30 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 51 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,265 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.20 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 7 Time (days) 114 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 78.70 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 64.5 Procedures (number) 29

Time (days) 275 Getting electricity (rank) 148 Protecting minority investors (rank) 94 Cost (% of claim) 23.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 59.90 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 51.67 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 68 Time (days) 131 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 48.18 Cost (% of income per capita) 364.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.2 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 60 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 37.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 78.29 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 183 Total tax rate (% of profit) 52.0

BELGIUM OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 45,210 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 42 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 71.11 Population (m) 11.2

Starting a business (rank) 14 Registering property (rank) 171 Trading across borders (rank) 26 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 94.42 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 42.27 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 85.55 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 4 Time (days) 64 Time to export (days) 9 Cost (% of income per capita) 5.0 Cost (% of property value) 12.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,240 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 18.2 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 8 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 82 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,400 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 73.68 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 10 Time (days) 212 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 77.67 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 96.4 Procedures (number) 26

Time (days) 505 Getting electricity (rank) 99 Protecting minority investors (rank) 40 Cost (% of claim) 17.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 72.81 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 61.67 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 11 Time (days) 88 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 83.87 Cost (% of income per capita) 92.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.2 Time (years) 0.9

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 81 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 89.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 74.18 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11.5 Payments (number per year) 11 Time (hours per year) 160 Total tax rate (% of profit) 57.8

BELIZE Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 4,660 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 118 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 58.14 Population (m) 0.3

Starting a business (rank) 148 Registering property (rank) 120 Trading across borders (rank) 91 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 72.38 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 60.61 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 73.17 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 43 Time (days) 59 Time to export (days) 17 Cost (% of income per capita) 41.4 Cost (% of property value) 4.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,355 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 160 Time to import (days) 19 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 69 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 20.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,580 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 75.35 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 170 Time (days) 110 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 37.38 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 51

Time (days) 892 Getting electricity (rank) 54 Protecting minority investors (rank) 169 Cost (% of claim) 27.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 80.62 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 35.83 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 71 Time (days) 66 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 47.94 Cost (% of income per capita) 319.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.6 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 23 Paying taxes (rank) 61 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 54.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 78.17 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 29 Time (hours per year) 147 Total tax rate (% of profit) 31.1

173COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

BENIN Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 790 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 151 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 51.10 Population (m) 10.3

Starting a business (rank) 117 Registering property (rank) 165 Trading across borders (rank) 121 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 80.91 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 46.61 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 66.45 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 12 Time (days) 120 Time to export (days) 25 Cost (% of income per capita) 55.8 Cost (% of property value) 11.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,052 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 6.3 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 25 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 64 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,487 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 75.87 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 1 Enforcing contracts (rank) 167 Time (days) 111 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 37.73 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 10.0 Procedures (number) 41

Time (days) 750 Getting electricity (rank) 173 Protecting minority investors (rank) 135 Cost (% of claim) 64.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 45.12 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 44.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 115 Time (days) 90 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 38.08 Cost (% of income per capita) 14,654.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.4 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 178 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 18.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 41.02 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 55 Time (hours per year) 270 Total tax rate (% of profit) 63.3

BHUTAN South Asia GNI per capita (US$) 2,460 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 125 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 57.47 Population (m) 0.8

Starting a business (rank) 92 Registering property (rank) 86 Trading across borders (rank) 165 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 85.01 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 68.82 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 43.10 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 9 Time (days) 17 Time (days) 92 Time to export (days) 38 Cost (% of income per capita) 4.4 Cost (% of property value) 5.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,230 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 37 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 131 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,330 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 64.51 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 21 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 74 Time (days) 150 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 18.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 61.42 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 47

Time (days) 225 Getting electricity (rank) 72 Protecting minority investors (rank) 104 Cost (% of claim) 23.1 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 78.28 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 50.00 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 74 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 606.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.0 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 86 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 73.55 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 19 Time (hours per year) 274 Total tax rate (% of profit) 38.7

BOLIVIA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 2,550 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 157 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 49.95 Population (m) 10.7

Starting a business (rank) 171 Registering property (rank) 130 Trading across borders (rank) 125 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 59.07 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 58.55 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 65.79 Procedures (number) 15 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 49 Time (days) 91 Time to export (days) 22 Cost (% of income per capita) 64.4 Cost (% of property value) 4.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,440 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 1.6 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 28 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 129 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,745 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 64.97 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 0 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 111 Time (days) 275 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 39.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 54.93 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 15.1 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 591 Getting electricity (rank) 127 Protecting minority investors (rank) 160 Cost (% of claim) 33.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 65.33 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 40.83 Procedures (number) 8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 96 Time (days) 42 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 42.82 Cost (% of income per capita) 829.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.1 Time (years) 1.8

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 189 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 38.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 12.18 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 42 Time (hours per year) 1,025 Total tax rate (% of profit) 83.7

DOING BUSINESS 2015174

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 4,740 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 107 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 60.55 Population (m) 3.8

Starting a business (rank) 147 Registering property (rank) 88 Trading across borders (rank) 104 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 72.51 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 68.12 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 69.76 Procedures (number) 11 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 37 Time (days) 24 Time to export (days) 16 Cost (% of income per capita) 14.6 Cost (% of property value) 5.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,260 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 28.6 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 13 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 182 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,200 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 39.10 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 95 Time (days) 179 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 8.1 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 57.64 Cost (% of warehouse value) 19.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 39.7 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 595 Getting electricity (rank) 163 Protecting minority investors (rank) 83 Cost (% of claim) 34.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 54.72 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 54.17 Procedures (number) 8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 34 Time (days) 125 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 66.21 Cost (% of income per capita) 484.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.4 Time (years) 3.3

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 151 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 35.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 58.22 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 15 Payments (number per year) 45 Time (hours per year) 407 Total tax rate (% of profit) 23.3

BOTSWANA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 7,730 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 74 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 64.87 Population (m) 2.0

Starting a business (rank) 149 Registering property (rank) 51 Trading across borders (rank) 157 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 71.68 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 78.13 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 52.02 Procedures (number) 10 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 60 Time (days) 15 Time to export (days) 27 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.0 Cost (% of property value) 5.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 3,145 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 61 Time to import (days) 35 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 93 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 55.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 3,710 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 71.43 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 20 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 61 Time (days) 110 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 51.7 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.02 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 28

Time (days) 625 Getting electricity (rank) 103 Protecting minority investors (rank) 106 Cost (% of claim) 39.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 72.56 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 49.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 49 Time (days) 121 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 57.17 Cost (% of income per capita) 340.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.9 Time (years) 1.7

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 67 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 62.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 77.47 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7.5 Payments (number per year) 34 Time (hours per year) 152 Total tax rate (% of profit) 25.3

BRAZIL Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 11,690 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 120 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 58.01 Population (m) 200.4

Starting a business (rank) 167 Registering property (rank) 138 Trading across borders (rank) 123 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 63.37 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 56.18 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 66.11 Procedures (number) 11.6 Procedures (number) 13.6 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 83.6 Time (days) 31.7 Time to export (days) 13.4 Cost (% of income per capita) 4.3 Cost (% of property value) 2.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,323 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 17 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 174 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,323 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 48.31 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 18.2 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 118 Time (days) 426.1 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 63.6 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 53.60 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 52.5 Procedures (number) 43.6

Time (days) 731 Getting electricity (rank) 19 Protecting minority investors (rank) 35 Cost (% of claim) 16.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 89.20 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 62.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 55 Time (days) 53.3 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 54.52 Cost (% of income per capita) 31.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.3 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 12 Paying taxes (rank) 177 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 25.8 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 41.31 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 13 Payments (number per year) 9 Time (hours per year) 2,600 Total tax rate (% of profit) 69.0

175COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 39,943 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 101 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 61.26 Population (m) 0.4

Starting a business (rank) 179 Registering property (rank) 162 Trading across borders (rank) 46 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 53.12 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 48.65 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 80.87 Procedures (number) 15 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 101 Time (days) 298 Time to export (days) 19 Cost (% of income per capita) 10.4 Cost (% of property value) 0.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 705 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 15 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 53 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 770 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 77.93 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 17 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 139 Time (days) 88 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 47.76 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 56.6 Procedures (number) 47

Time (days) 540 Getting electricity (rank) 42 Protecting minority investors (rank) 110 Cost (% of claim) 36.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 83.22 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 47.50 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 88 Time (days) 56 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 44.17 Cost (% of income per capita) 38.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.8 Time (years) 2.5

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 30 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 47.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 84.40 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 27 Time (hours per year) 93 Total tax rate (% of profit) 15.8

BULGARIA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 7,030 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 38 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 71.80 Population (m) 7.3

Starting a business (rank) 49 Registering property (rank) 57 Trading across borders (rank) 57 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.09 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 75.36 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 78.34 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 18 Time (days) 10 Time to export (days) 18 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.8 Cost (% of property value) 2.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,375 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 17 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 101 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,365 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 69.85 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 9 Procedures (number) 16 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 75 Time (days) 110 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 61.27 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 62.9 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 564 Getting electricity (rank) 125 Protecting minority investors (rank) 14 Cost (% of claim) 23.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 65.78 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 68.33 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 38 Time (days) 130 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 64.75 Cost (% of income per capita) 320.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.8 Time (years) 3.3

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 89 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 33.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 73.18 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 15 Payments (number per year) 13 Time (hours per year) 454 Total tax rate (% of profit) 27.0

BURKINA FASO Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 670 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 167 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 48.36 Population (m) 16.9

Starting a business (rank) 153 Registering property (rank) 147 Trading across borders (rank) 174 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 69.06 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 53.79 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 29.51 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 10 Time (days) 13 Time (days) 67 Time to export (days) 41 Cost (% of income per capita) 44.7 Cost (% of property value) 12.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,305 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 308.5 Documents to import (number) 12

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 49 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 75 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 4,330 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 74.55 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 153 Time (days) 112 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 43.83 Cost (% of warehouse value) 5.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 2.0 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 446 Getting electricity (rank) 177 Protecting minority investors (rank) 122 Cost (% of claim) 81.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 40.82 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.83 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 115 Time (days) 158 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 38.08 Cost (% of income per capita) 11,057.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.6 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 21 Paying taxes (rank) 152 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 18.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 58.08 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 45 Time (hours per year) 270 Total tax rate (% of profit) 41.3

DOING BUSINESS 2015176

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

BURUNDI Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 280 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 152 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 51.07 Population (m) 10.2

Starting a business (rank) 18 Registering property (rank) 48 Trading across borders (rank) 169 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 94.25 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 78.38 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 37.50 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 9 Time (days) 5 Time (days) 23 Time to export (days) 32 Cost (% of income per capita) 13.4 Cost (% of property value) 3.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,905 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 171 Time to import (days) 43 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 133 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 10.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 4,420 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 64.16 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 158 Time (days) 99 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 42.15 Cost (% of warehouse value) 10.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 3.9 Procedures (number) 44

Time (days) 832 Getting electricity (rank) 182 Protecting minority investors (rank) 94 Cost (% of claim) 38.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 35.27 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 51.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 144 Time (days) 158 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 30.55 Cost (% of income per capita) 16,367.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.2 Time (years) 5.0

Cost (% of estate) 30 Paying taxes (rank) 124 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 7.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 66.78 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8.5 Payments (number per year) 25 Time (hours per year) 274 Total tax rate (% of profit) 45.7

CABO VERDE Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 3,630 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 122 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 57.94 Population (m) 0.5

Starting a business (rank) 78 Registering property (rank) 62 Trading across borders (rank) 101 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 87.00 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 74.50 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 70.92 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 10 Time (days) 22 Time to export (days) 20 Cost (% of income per capita) 14.3 Cost (% of property value) 3.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,125 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 20 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 114 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 925 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 67.53 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 16 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 39 Time (days) 140 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 67.61 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 16.7 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 425 Getting electricity (rank) 133 Protecting minority investors (rank) 170 Cost (% of claim) 19.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 63.80 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 35.00 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 88 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 932.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.5 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 91 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 73.05 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 30 Time (hours per year) 186 Total tax rate (% of profit) 36.5

CAMBODIA East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 950 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 135 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 55.33 Population (m) 15.1

Starting a business (rank) 184 Registering property (rank) 100 Trading across borders (rank) 124 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 41.23 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 64.83 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 65.92 Procedures (number) 11 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 101 Time (days) 56 Time to export (days) 22 Cost (% of income per capita) 139.5 Cost (% of property value) 4.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 795 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 26.1 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 12 Time to import (days) 24 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 183 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 80.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 930 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 35.54 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 11 Procedures (number) 20 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 178 Time (days) 652 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 29.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 32.79 Cost (% of warehouse value) 6.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 44

Time (days) 483 Getting electricity (rank) 139 Protecting minority investors (rank) 92 Cost (% of claim) 103.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 62.44 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 52.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 84 Time (days) 168 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 45.02 Cost (% of income per capita) 2,495.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.3 Time (years) 6.0

Cost (% of estate) 28 Paying taxes (rank) 90 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 8.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 73.06 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 13 Payments (number per year) 40 Time (hours per year) 173 Total tax rate (% of profit) 21.0

177COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

CAMEROON Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,270 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 158 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 49.85 Population (m) 22.3

Starting a business (rank) 133 Registering property (rank) 172 Trading across borders (rank) 160 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 76.41 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 42.00 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 49.83 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 11 Time (days) 15 Time (days) 86 Time to export (days) 23 Cost (% of income per capita) 34.3 Cost (% of property value) 19.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,379 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 156.4 Documents to import (number) 12

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 25 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 166 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,267 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 52.87 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 1 Enforcing contracts (rank) 159 Time (days) 136 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 42.11 Cost (% of warehouse value) 13.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 5.4 Procedures (number) 42

Time (days) 800 Getting electricity (rank) 52 Protecting minority investors (rank) 117 Cost (% of claim) 46.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 80.84 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 46.67 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 123 Time (days) 64 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 36.42 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,686.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.7 Time (years) 2.8

Cost (% of estate) 34 Paying taxes (rank) 181 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 15.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 36.34 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 44 Time (hours per year) 630 Total tax rate (% of profit) 48.8

CANADA OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 52,200 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 16 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 79.09 Population (m) 35.2

Starting a business (rank) 2 Registering property (rank) 55 Trading across borders (rank) 23 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 98.82 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 76.20 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 86.07 Procedures (number) 1 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 5 Time (days) 16.5 Time to export (days) 8 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.4 Cost (% of property value) 3.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,680 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 3

Getting credit (rank) 7 Time to import (days) 10 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 118 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 85.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,680 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 67.12 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 9 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 65 Time (days) 249 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 63.76 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 570 Getting electricity (rank) 150 Protecting minority investors (rank) 7 Cost (% of claim) 22.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 59.27 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 72.50 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 8.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 6 Time (days) 142 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 89.17 Cost (% of income per capita) 131.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 7.3 Time (years) 0.8

Cost (% of estate) 7 Paying taxes (rank) 9 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 87.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 93.00 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 13.5 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 131 Total tax rate (% of profit) 21.0

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 320 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 187 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 34.47 Population (m) 4.6

Starting a business (rank) 187 Registering property (rank) 150 Trading across borders (rank) 186 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 34.30 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 52.46 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 6.48 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 9 Time (days) 22 Time (days) 75 Time to export (days) 46 Cost (% of income per capita) 226.0 Cost (% of property value) 11.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 5,490 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 607.3 Documents to import (number) 17

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 68 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 145 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 6,335 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 61.83 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 182 Time (days) 200 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 31.62 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 2.6 Procedures (number) 43

Time (days) 660 Getting electricity (rank) 186 Protecting minority investors (rank) 135 Cost (% of claim) 82.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 32.27 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 44.17 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 152 Time (days) 102 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 28.13 Cost (% of income per capita) 17,232.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.4 Time (years) 4.8

Cost (% of estate) 76 Paying taxes (rank) 185 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 23.47 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 56 Time (hours per year) 483 Total tax rate (% of profit) 73.3

DOING BUSINESS 2015178

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

CHAD Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,020 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 185 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 37.25 Population (m) 12.8

Starting a business (rank) 185 Registering property (rank) 166 Trading across borders (rank) 182 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 39.98 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 45.92 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 10.68 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 60 Time (days) 44 Time to export (days) 70 Cost (% of income per capita) 165.6 Cost (% of property value) 15.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 6,615 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 201.7 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 90 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 123 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 9,025 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 66.09 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 149 Time (days) 207 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 45.05 Cost (% of warehouse value) 5.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 2.1 Procedures (number) 41

Time (days) 743 Getting electricity (rank) 174 Protecting minority investors (rank) 146 Cost (% of claim) 45.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 44.64 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 42.50 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 152 Time (days) 67 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 28.13 Cost (% of income per capita) 7,677.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 60 Paying taxes (rank) 186 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 19.54 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 54 Time (hours per year) 732 Total tax rate (% of profit) 63.5

CHILE OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 15,230 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 41 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 71.24 Population (m) 17.6

Starting a business (rank) 59 Registering property (rank) 45 Trading across borders (rank) 40 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 89.83 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 78.96 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 82.05 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 5.5 Time (days) 28.5 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.7 Cost (% of property value) 1.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 910 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 12 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 62 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 860 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 76.13 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 64 Time (days) 152 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 8.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 63.85 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 44.7 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 480 Getting electricity (rank) 49 Protecting minority investors (rank) 56 Cost (% of claim) 28.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 81.34 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 58.33 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 73 Time (days) 30 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 47.38 Cost (% of income per capita) 62.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 3.2

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 29 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 30.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 84.50 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 10 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 291 Total tax rate (% of profit) 27.9

CHINA East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 6,560 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 90 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 62.58 Population (m) 1,357.4

Starting a business (rank) 128 Registering property (rank) 37 Trading across borders (rank) 98 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 77.43 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 80.67 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 71.68 Procedures (number) 11 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 31.4 Time (days) 19.5 Time to export (days) 21 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.9 Cost (% of property value) 3.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 823 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 24 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 179 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 800 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 43.75 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 22 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 35 Time (days) 244.3 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 68.21 Cost (% of warehouse value) 7.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 33.2 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 452.8 Getting electricity (rank) 124 Protecting minority investors (rank) 132 Cost (% of claim) 16.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 66.35 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.00 Procedures (number) 5.5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 53 Time (days) 143.2 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 55.31 Cost (% of income per capita) 459.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.5 Time (years) 1.7

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 120 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 36.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 67.44 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11.5 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 261 Total tax rate (% of profit) 64.6

179COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

COLOMBIA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 7,560 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 34 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 72.29 Population (m) 48.3

Starting a business (rank) 84 Registering property (rank) 42 Trading across borders (rank) 93 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 86.13 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 79.33 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 72.69 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 11 Time (days) 16 Time to export (days) 14 Cost (% of income per capita) 7.5 Cost (% of property value) 2.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,355 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 2 Time to import (days) 13 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 61 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 95.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,470 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 76.45 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 12 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 168 Time (days) 73 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 87.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 37.66 Cost (% of warehouse value) 7.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 33

Time (days) 1,288 Getting electricity (rank) 92 Protecting minority investors (rank) 10 Cost (% of claim) 47.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 74.20 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 71.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 8.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 30 Time (days) 105 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 70.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 504.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 7.2 Time (years) 1.7

Cost (% of estate) 6 Paying taxes (rank) 146 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 72.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 59.71 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 10 Payments (number per year) 11 Time (hours per year) 239 Total tax rate (% of profit) 75.4

COMOROS Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 880 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 159 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 49.56 Population (m) 0.7

Starting a business (rank) 173 Registering property (rank) 105 Trading across borders (rank) 144 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 57.65 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 63.83 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 59.33 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 9 Time (days) 15 Time (days) 30 Time to export (days) 31 Cost (% of income per capita) 114.0 Cost (% of property value) 10.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,295 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 226.7 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 24 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 31 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,295 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 81.92 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 177 Time (days) 113 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 33.20 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 43

Time (days) 506 Getting electricity (rank) 81 Protecting minority investors (rank) 122 Cost (% of claim) 89.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 76.46 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.83 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 120 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 2,127.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.6 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 167 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 47.37 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 33 Time (hours per year) 100 Total tax rate (% of profit) 216.5

CONGO, DEM. REP. Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 400 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 184 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 40.60 Population (m) 67.5

Starting a business (rank) 172 Registering property (rank) 142 Trading across borders (rank) 175 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 58.53 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 55.39 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 29.09 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 16 Time (days) 44 Time to export (days) 44 Cost (% of income per capita) 30.0 Cost (% of property value) 9.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 3,365 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 500.0 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 63 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 111 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 4,290 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 67.72 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 176 Time (days) 119 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 33.51 Cost (% of warehouse value) 11.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.2 Procedures (number) 43

Time (days) 610 Getting electricity (rank) 175 Protecting minority investors (rank) 146 Cost (% of claim) 80.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 43.19 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 42.50 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 65 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 16,191.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 168 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 46.11 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 50 Time (hours per year) 316 Total tax rate (% of profit) 54.7

DOING BUSINESS 2015180

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

CONGO, REP. Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 2,660 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 178 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 43.29 Population (m) 4.4

Starting a business (rank) 170 Registering property (rank) 168 Trading across borders (rank) 181 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 60.56 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 44.17 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 15.40 Procedures (number) 11 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 11 Time (days) 53 Time (days) 55 Time to export (days) 50 Cost (% of income per capita) 52.7 Cost (% of property value) 20.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 3,795 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 79.3 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 54 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 102 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 7,590 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 69.76 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 2 Enforcing contracts (rank) 151 Time (days) 168 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 44.11 Cost (% of warehouse value) 5.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 9.4 Procedures (number) 44

Time (days) 560 Getting electricity (rank) 170 Protecting minority investors (rank) 146 Cost (% of claim) 53.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 47.01 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 42.50 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 117 Time (days) 135 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 37.75 Cost (% of income per capita) 4,705.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) 3.3

Cost (% of estate) 25 Paying taxes (rank) 182 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 17.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 31.67 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 49 Time (hours per year) 602 Total tax rate (% of profit) 55.2

COSTA RICA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 9,550 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 83 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 63.67 Population (m) 4.9

Starting a business (rank) 118 Registering property (rank) 47 Trading across borders (rank) 47 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 80.90 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 78.40 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 80.84 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 24 Time (days) 19 Time to export (days) 14 Cost (% of income per capita) 11.5 Cost (% of property value) 3.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,020 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 52 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,070 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.14 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 129 Time (days) 113 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 51.13 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 27.4 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 852 Getting electricity (rank) 46 Protecting minority investors (rank) 181 Cost (% of claim) 24.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 82.72 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 28.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 89 Time (days) 55 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 43.95 Cost (% of income per capita) 196.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 2.8 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 121 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 26.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 67.27 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9.5 Payments (number per year) 23 Time (hours per year) 163 Total tax rate (% of profit) 58.0

CÔTE D’IVOIRE Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,380 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 147 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 52.26 Population (m) 20.3

Starting a business (rank) 44 Registering property (rank) 124 Trading across borders (rank) 158 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.24 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 60.05 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 50.54 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 9 Time (days) 7 Time (days) 30 Time to export (days) 25 Cost (% of income per capita) 20.0 Cost (% of property value) 9.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,390 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 3.4 Documents to import (number) 13

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 32 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 180 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,960 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 43.50 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 23 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 72 Time (days) 347 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 61.88 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 3.2 Procedures (number) 32

Time (days) 525 Getting electricity (rank) 161 Protecting minority investors (rank) 146 Cost (% of claim) 41.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 55.24 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 42.50 Procedures (number) 8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 85 Time (days) 55 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 44.97 Cost (% of income per capita) 2,824.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) 2.2

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 175 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 31.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 42.73 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 63 Time (hours per year) 270 Total tax rate (% of profit) 51.9

181COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

CROATIA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 13,330 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 65 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 66.53 Population (m) 4.3

Starting a business (rank) 88 Registering property (rank) 92 Trading across borders (rank) 86 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 85.43 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 66.44 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 74.25 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 15 Time (days) 72 Time to export (days) 16 Cost (% of income per capita) 3.5 Cost (% of property value) 5.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,335 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 26.6 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 61 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 178 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 55.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,185 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 44.97 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 21 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 54 Time (days) 188 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.81 Cost (% of warehouse value) 10.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 572 Getting electricity (rank) 59 Protecting minority investors (rank) 62 Cost (% of claim) 13.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 80.05 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 57.50 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 56 Time (days) 70 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 53.92 Cost (% of income per capita) 316.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 3.1

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 36 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 30.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 82.92 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12 Payments (number per year) 19 Time (hours per year) 208 Total tax rate (% of profit) 18.8

CYPRUS Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 25,190 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 64 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 66.55 Population (m) 1.1

Starting a business (rank) 64 Registering property (rank) 112 Trading across borders (rank) 34 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 89.18 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 61.83 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 83.87 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 8 Time (days) 8 Time to export (days) 7 Cost (% of income per capita) 12.6 Cost (% of property value) 10.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 865 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 61 Time to import (days) 5 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 148 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 55.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,010 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 60.68 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 4 Enforcing contracts (rank) 113 Time (days) 677 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 6.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 54.17 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 43

Time (days) 735 Getting electricity (rank) 160 Protecting minority investors (rank) 14 Cost (% of claim) 16.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 55.28 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 68.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 51 Time (days) 247 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 56.68 Cost (% of income per capita) 102.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.8 Time (years) 1.5

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 50 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 70.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 80.53 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 29 Time (hours per year) 146.5 Total tax rate (% of profit) 23.2

CZECH REPUBLIC OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 18,060 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 44 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 70.95 Population (m) 10.5

Starting a business (rank) 110 Registering property (rank) 31 Trading across borders (rank) 58 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 82.58 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 81.87 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 78.33 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 19 Time (days) 24 Time to export (days) 17 Cost (% of income per capita) 8.0 Cost (% of property value) 4.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,240 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 17 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 139 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,215 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 62.91 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 24 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 37 Time (days) 143 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 76.6 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 68.00 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 6.4 Procedures (number) 27

Time (days) 611 Getting electricity (rank) 123 Protecting minority investors (rank) 83 Cost (% of claim) 33.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 66.52 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 54.17 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 20 Time (days) 129 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 77.50 Cost (% of income per capita) 175.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.4 Time (years) 2.1

Cost (% of estate) 17 Paying taxes (rank) 119 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 65.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 67.66 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 13.5 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 413 Total tax rate (% of profit) 48.5

DOING BUSINESS 2015182

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

DENMARK OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 61,110 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 4 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 84.20 Population (m) 5.6

Starting a business (rank) 25 Registering property (rank) 8 Trading across borders (rank) 7 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 93.40 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 92.61 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 92.23 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 5.5 Time (days) 4 Time to export (days) 6 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.2 Cost (% of property value) 0.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 795 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 14.5 Documents to import (number) 3

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 5 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 5 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 745 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 89.84 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 8 Procedures (number) 7 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 34 Time (days) 64 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 7.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 68.79 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 35

Time (days) 410 Getting electricity (rank) 14 Protecting minority investors (rank) 17 Cost (% of claim) 23.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 91.07 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 67.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 9 Time (days) 38 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 84.59 Cost (% of income per capita) 114.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.8 Time (years) 1.0

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 12 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 87.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 91.94 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12 Payments (number per year) 10 Time (hours per year) 130 Total tax rate (% of profit) 26.0

DJIBOUTI Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,595 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 155 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 50.48 Population (m) 0.9

Starting a business (rank) 163 Registering property (rank) 154 Trading across borders (rank) 56 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 65.89 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 51.63 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 78.65 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 14 Time (days) 39 Time to export (days) 20 Cost (% of income per capita) 175.2 Cost (% of property value) 12.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 885 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 180 Time to import (days) 18 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 146 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 5.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 910 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 61.63 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 18 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 171 Time (days) 117 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 37.31 Cost (% of warehouse value) 7.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.3 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 1,225 Getting electricity (rank) 176 Protecting minority investors (rank) 162 Cost (% of claim) 34.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 42.21 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 39.17 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 2.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 70 Time (days) 180 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 48.04 Cost (% of income per capita) 6,988.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.9 Time (years) 2.3

Cost (% of estate) 11 Paying taxes (rank) 75 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 37.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 75.26 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 35 Time (hours per year) 82 Total tax rate (% of profit) 37.3

DOMINICA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 6,760 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 97 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 61.37 Population (m) 0.1

Starting a business (rank) 63 Registering property (rank) 149 Trading across borders (rank) 88 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 89.27 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 52.86 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 74.03 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 12 Time (days) 42 Time to export (days) 13 Cost (% of income per capita) 15.7 Cost (% of property value) 13.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 990 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 43 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,600 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.79 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 148 Time (days) 175 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 45.17 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 46

Time (days) 681 Getting electricity (rank) 53 Protecting minority investors (rank) 87 Cost (% of claim) 36.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 80.67 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 53.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 121 Time (days) 61 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 37.09 Cost (% of income per capita) 483.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.3 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 94 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 28.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 72.49 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 37 Time (hours per year) 117 Total tax rate (% of profit) 37.0

183COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 5,620 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 84 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 63.43 Population (m) 10.4

Starting a business (rank) 113 Registering property (rank) 82 Trading across borders (rank) 24 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 81.60 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 69.90 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 85.56 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 19.5 Time (days) 51 Time to export (days) 8 Cost (% of income per capita) 16.9 Cost (% of property value) 3.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,040 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 43.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 10 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 96 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,145 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 70.88 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 73 Time (days) 184 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 63.1 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 61.87 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 38.1 Procedures (number) 34

Time (days) 460 Getting electricity (rank) 119 Protecting minority investors (rank) 83 Cost (% of claim) 40.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 67.36 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 54.17 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 158 Time (days) 82 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 23.75 Cost (% of income per capita) 276.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.4 Time (years) 3.5

Cost (% of estate) 38 Paying taxes (rank) 80 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 9.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 74.24 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 9 Time (hours per year) 324 Total tax rate (% of profit) 43.4

ECUADOR Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 5,510 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 115 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 58.88 Population (m) 15.7

Starting a business (rank) 165 Registering property (rank) 80 Trading across borders (rank) 114 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 65.31 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 70.21 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 68.23 Procedures (number) 13 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 55.5 Time (days) 39 Time to export (days) 19 Cost (% of income per capita) 24.0 Cost (% of property value) 1.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,535 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 3.5 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 24 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 59 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,520 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 76.86 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 88 Time (days) 114 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 73.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 58.30 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 39

Time (days) 588 Getting electricity (rank) 120 Protecting minority investors (rank) 117 Cost (% of claim) 27.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 67.03 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 46.67 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 151 Time (days) 74 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 28.36 Cost (% of income per capita) 638.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.7 Time (years) 5.3

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 138 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 17.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 62.84 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 654 Total tax rate (% of profit) 33.0

EGYPT, ARAB REP. Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 3,160 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 112 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 59.54 Population (m) 82.1

Starting a business (rank) 73 Registering property (rank) 84 Trading across borders (rank) 99 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 88.14 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 69.13 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 71.56 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 8 Time (days) 63 Time to export (days) 12 Cost (% of income per capita) 9.2 Cost (% of property value) 0.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 625 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 15 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 142 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 790 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 62.06 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 20 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 152 Time (days) 179 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 21.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 44.02 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 5.8 Procedures (number) 42

Time (days) 1,010 Getting electricity (rank) 106 Protecting minority investors (rank) 135 Cost (% of claim) 26.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 71.31 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 44.17 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 126 Time (days) 54 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 36.17 Cost (% of income per capita) 304.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.4 Time (years) 2.5

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 149 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 26.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 58.84 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 29 Time (hours per year) 392 Total tax rate (% of profit) 45.0

DOING BUSINESS 2015184

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

EL SALVADOR Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 3,720 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 109 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 59.93 Population (m) 6.3

Starting a business (rank) 121 Registering property (rank) 56 Trading across borders (rank) 73 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 79.87 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 75.65 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 76.01 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 16.5 Time (days) 31 Time to export (days) 13 Cost (% of income per capita) 45.2 Cost (% of property value) 3.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,045 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 2.7 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 10 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 155 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,035 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 57.19 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 25 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 82 Time (days) 115 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 32.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 60.06 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 28.2 Procedures (number) 35

Time (days) 786 Getting electricity (rank) 144 Protecting minority investors (rank) 154 Cost (% of claim) 19.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 60.56 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 41.67 Procedures (number) 8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 79 Time (days) 83 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 46.02 Cost (% of income per capita) 543.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.2 Time (years) 3.5

Cost (% of estate) 12 Paying taxes (rank) 161 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 33.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 52.31 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 53 Time (hours per year) 320 Total tax rate (% of profit) 38.7

EQUATORIAL GUINEA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 14,320 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 165 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 49.01 Population (m) 0.8

Starting a business (rank) 186 Registering property (rank) 145 Trading across borders (rank) 143 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 36.74 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 54.82 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 59.67 Procedures (number) 18 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 135 Time (days) 23 Time to export (days) 29 Cost (% of income per capita) 99.0 Cost (% of property value) 12.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,390 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 14.3 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 44 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 94 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,600 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 71.20 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 2 Enforcing contracts (rank) 67 Time (days) 144 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 63.23 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 5.1 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 475 Getting electricity (rank) 95 Protecting minority investors (rank) 122 Cost (% of claim) 19.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 73.84 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.83 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 106 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 557.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.6 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 171 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 44.73 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 46 Time (hours per year) 492 Total tax rate (% of profit) 44.0

ERITREA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 490 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 189 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 33.16 Population (m) 6.3

Starting a business (rank) 183 Registering property (rank) 176 Trading across borders (rank) 172 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 44.81 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 39.78 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 32.24 Procedures (number) 13 Procedures (number) 11 Documents to export (number) 10 Time (days) 84 Time (days) 78 Time to export (days) 50 Cost (% of income per capita) 41.5 Cost (% of property value) 9.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,850 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 182.1 Documents to import (number) 12

Getting credit (rank) 185 Time to import (days) 59 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 189 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 0.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,000 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 0.00 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 0 Procedures (number) NO PRACTICE Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 68 Time (days) NO PRACTICE Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 62.70 Cost (% of warehouse value) NO PRACTICE Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 39

Time (days) 490 Getting electricity (rank) 113 Protecting minority investors (rank) 166 Cost (% of claim) 22.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 70.28 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 38.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 59 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 3,078.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.8 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 174 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 43.49 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 30 Time (hours per year) 216 Total tax rate (% of profit) 83.7

185COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

ESTONIA OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 17,370 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 17 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 78.84 Population (m) 1.3

Starting a business (rank) 26 Registering property (rank) 13 Trading across borders (rank) 6 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 93.25 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 90.88 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 92.76 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 4.5 Time (days) 17.5 Time to export (days) 6 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.4 Cost (% of property value) 0.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 765 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 18.6 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 5 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 20 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 795 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 84.18 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 32 Time (days) 103 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 34.2 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 68.91 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 35

Time (days) 425 Getting electricity (rank) 56 Protecting minority investors (rank) 56 Cost (% of claim) 21.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 80.27 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 58.33 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 37 Time (days) 111 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 64.92 Cost (% of income per capita) 169.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 28 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 39.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 84.93 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 14 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 81 Total tax rate (% of profit) 49.3

ETHIOPIA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 470 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 132 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 56.31 Population (m) 94.1

Starting a business (rank) 168 Registering property (rank) 104 Trading across borders (rank) 168 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 63.15 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 64.05 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 38.58 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 10 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 15 Time (days) 41 Time to export (days) 44 Cost (% of income per capita) 89.3 Cost (% of property value) 2.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,380 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 164.4 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 165 Time to import (days) 44 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 28 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 15.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,960 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 82.49 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 7 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 50 Time (days) 125 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 65.43 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.2 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 530 Getting electricity (rank) 82 Protecting minority investors (rank) 154 Cost (% of claim) 15.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 76.39 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 41.67 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 2.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 74 Time (days) 95 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 47.20 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,676.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.2 Time (years) 1.8

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 112 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 38.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 69.11 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8.5 Payments (number per year) 30 Time (hours per year) 306 Total tax rate (% of profit) 31.8

FIJI East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 4,430 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 81 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 63.90 Population (m) 0.9

Starting a business (rank) 160 Registering property (rank) 64 Trading across borders (rank) 116 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 67.79 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 74.15 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 68.04 Procedures (number) 11 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 59 Time (days) 69 Time to export (days) 19 Cost (% of income per capita) 22.5 Cost (% of property value) 3.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 790 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 22 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 73 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 753 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 74.89 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 59 Time (days) 141 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 78.9 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.34 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 34

Time (days) 397 Getting electricity (rank) 75 Protecting minority investors (rank) 110 Cost (% of claim) 38.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 77.97 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 47.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 91 Time (days) 81 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 43.62 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,784.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.8 Time (years) 1.8

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 107 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 46.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 70.73 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 38 Time (hours per year) 195 Total tax rate (% of profit) 31.1

DOING BUSINESS 2015186

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

FINLAND OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 47,110 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 9 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 80.83 Population (m) 5.4

Starting a business (rank) 27 Registering property (rank) 38 Trading across borders (rank) 14 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 93.10 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 80.58 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 89.10 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 14 Time (days) 32 Time to export (days) 9 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.1 Cost (% of property value) 4.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 615 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 7.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 7 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 33 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 625 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 81.61 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 17 Time (days) 64 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 19.6 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 75.58 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 33

Time (days) 375 Getting electricity (rank) 33 Protecting minority investors (rank) 76 Cost (% of claim) 13.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 85.29 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 55.83 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 1 Time (days) 42 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 93.85 Cost (% of income per capita) 29.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.6 Time (years) 0.9

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 21 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 90.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 88.36 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 14.5 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 93 Total tax rate (% of profit) 40.0

FRANCE OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 42,250 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 31 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 73.88 Population (m) 66.0

Starting a business (rank) 28 Registering property (rank) 126 Trading across borders (rank) 10 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 93.00 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 59.36 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 90.18 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 2 Time (days) 4.5 Time (days) 49 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.9 Cost (% of property value) 6.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,335 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 2

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 11 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 86 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,445 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 73.14 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 10 Time (days) 183 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 77.67 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 44.5 Procedures (number) 29

Time (days) 395 Getting electricity (rank) 60 Protecting minority investors (rank) 17 Cost (% of claim) 17.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 79.87 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 67.50 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 22 Time (days) 79 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 75.94 Cost (% of income per capita) 42.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.8 Time (years) 1.9

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 95 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 77.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 72.12 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 137 Total tax rate (% of profit) 66.6

GABON Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 10,650 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 144 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 53.43 Population (m) 1.7

Starting a business (rank) 135 Registering property (rank) 181 Trading across borders (rank) 135 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 75.90 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 36.51 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 63.26 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 50 Time (days) 103 Time to export (days) 20 Cost (% of income per capita) 12.9 Cost (% of property value) 17.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,145 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 19.6 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 22 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 76 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,275 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 74.36 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 2 Enforcing contracts (rank) 156 Time (days) 194 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 43.51 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 50.8 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 1,070 Getting electricity (rank) 129 Protecting minority investors (rank) 146 Cost (% of claim) 34.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 64.23 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 42.50 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 125 Time (days) 141 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 36.29 Cost (% of income per capita) 311.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) 5.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 154 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 15.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 57.75 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 26 Time (hours per year) 488 Total tax rate (% of profit) 40.6

187COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

GAMBIA, THE Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 510 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 138 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 54.81 Population (m) 1.8

Starting a business (rank) 159 Registering property (rank) 113 Trading across borders (rank) 77 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 68.37 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 61.54 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 75.52 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 26 Time (days) 66 Time to export (days) 19 Cost (% of income per capita) 131.2 Cost (% of property value) 7.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,040 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 160 Time to import (days) 19 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 71 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 20.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 745 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 75.14 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 49 Time (days) 144 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 65.49 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 33

Time (days) 407 Getting electricity (rank) 138 Protecting minority investors (rank) 162 Cost (% of claim) 37.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 63.05 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 39.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 102 Time (days) 78 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 41.51 Cost (% of income per capita) 4,166.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.9 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 180 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.8 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 38.36 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8.5 Payments (number per year) 50 Time (hours per year) 376 Total tax rate (% of profit) 63.3

GEORGIA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 3,570 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 15 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 79.46 Population (m) 4.5

Starting a business (rank) 5 Registering property (rank) 1 Trading across borders (rank) 33 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 97.73 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 99.88 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 84.02 Procedures (number) 2 Procedures (number) 1 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 2 Time (days) 1 Time to export (days) 9 Cost (% of income per capita) 3.4 Cost (% of property value) 0.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,355 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 7 Time to import (days) 10 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 3 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 85.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,595 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 91.44 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 9 Procedures (number) 8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 23 Time (days) 68.5 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 56.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 71.82 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 33

Time (days) 285 Getting electricity (rank) 37 Protecting minority investors (rank) 43 Cost (% of claim) 29.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 84.69 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 60.83 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 122 Time (days) 71 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 36.48 Cost (% of income per capita) 503.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.1 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 38 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 38.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 82.76 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 5 Payments (number per year) 5 Time (hours per year) 362 Total tax rate (% of profit) 16.4

GERMANY OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 46,100 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 14 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 79.73 Population (m) 80.6

Starting a business (rank) 114 Registering property (rank) 89 Trading across borders (rank) 18 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 81.38 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 67.78 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 87.67 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 14.5 Time (days) 40 Time to export (days) 9 Cost (% of income per capita) 8.8 Cost (% of property value) 6.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,015 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 35.8 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 7 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 8 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,050 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 87.42 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 13 Time (days) 96 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 76.74 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 1.3 Procedures (number) 31

Time (days) 394 Getting electricity (rank) 3 Protecting minority investors (rank) 51 Cost (% of claim) 14.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 98.37 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 59.17 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 3 Time (days) 28 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 91.78 Cost (% of income per capita) 44.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.9 Time (years) 1.2

Cost (% of estate) 8 Paying taxes (rank) 68 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 83.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 77.02 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 15 Payments (number per year) 9 Time (hours per year) 218 Total tax rate (% of profit) 48.8

DOING BUSINESS 2015188

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

GHANA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,760 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 70 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 65.24 Population (m) 25.9

Starting a business (rank) 96 Registering property (rank) 43 Trading across borders (rank) 120 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.73 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 79.23 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 67.10 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 14 Time (days) 46 Time to export (days) 19 Cost (% of income per capita) 19.2 Cost (% of property value) 1.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 875 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 2.8 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 41 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 106 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,360 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 69.14 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 96 Time (days) 201 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 14.1 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 57.59 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 710 Getting electricity (rank) 71 Protecting minority investors (rank) 56 Cost (% of claim) 23.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 78.29 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 58.33 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 161 Time (days) 79 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 22.45 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,778.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 1.9

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 101 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 24.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 71.53 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 3 Payments (number per year) 32 Time (hours per year) 224 Total tax rate (% of profit) 33.3

GREECE OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 22,530 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 61 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 66.70 Population (m) 11.0

Starting a business (rank) 52 Registering property (rank) 116 Trading across borders (rank) 48 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 90.71 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 61.16 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 80.80 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 10 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 13 Time (days) 20 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 2.2 Cost (% of property value) 4.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,040 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 88 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,135 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 72.31 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 18 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 155 Time (days) 124 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 82.5 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 43.60 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 1,580 Getting electricity (rank) 80 Protecting minority investors (rank) 62 Cost (% of claim) 14.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 76.67 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 57.50 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 52 Time (days) 62 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 55.98 Cost (% of income per capita) 69.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 3.5

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 59 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 34.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 78.30 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 193 Total tax rate (% of profit) 49.9

GRENADA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 7,460 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 126 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 57.35 Population (m) 0.1

Starting a business (rank) 80 Registering property (rank) 128 Trading across borders (rank) 51 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 86.70 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 59.12 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 80.22 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 15 Time (days) 32 Time to export (days) 9 Cost (% of income per capita) 18.4 Cost (% of property value) 7.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,300 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 40 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,170 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 79.00 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 144 Time (days) 128 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 46.25 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 46

Time (days) 688 Getting electricity (rank) 77 Protecting minority investors (rank) 141 Cost (% of claim) 32.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 77.78 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 43.33 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 49 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 257.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 106 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 71.12 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 30 Time (hours per year) 140 Total tax rate (% of profit) 45.3

189COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

GUATEMALA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 3,340 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 73 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 64.88 Population (m) 15.5

Starting a business (rank) 98 Registering property (rank) 65 Trading across borders (rank) 102 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.72 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 74.07 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 70.10 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 18.5 Time (days) 24 Time to export (days) 17 Cost (% of income per capita) 25.8 Cost (% of property value) 3.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,355 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 18.7 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 12 Time to import (days) 16 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 122 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 80.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,445 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 66.18 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 9 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 143 Time (days) 158 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 8.7 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 46.35 Cost (% of warehouse value) 7.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 19.2 Procedures (number) 31

Time (days) 1,402 Getting electricity (rank) 18 Protecting minority investors (rank) 174 Cost (% of claim) 26.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 89.28 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 31.67 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 155 Time (days) 39 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 27.37 Cost (% of income per capita) 514.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.2 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 54 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 80.04 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 4 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 256 Total tax rate (% of profit) 39.9

GUINEA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 460 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 169 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 47.42 Population (m) 11.7

Starting a business (rank) 175 Registering property (rank) 122 Trading across borders (rank) 141 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 55.44 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 60.14 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 60.25 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 8 Time (days) 44 Time to export (days) 36 Cost (% of income per capita) 82.6 Cost (% of property value) 8.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 915 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 416.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 31 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 159 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,480 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 55.92 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 26 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 133 Time (days) 166 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 49.74 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 49

Time (days) 276 Getting electricity (rank) 154 Protecting minority investors (rank) 162 Cost (% of claim) 45.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 57.61 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 39.17 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 119 Time (days) 69 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 37.62 Cost (% of income per capita) 7,155.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.9 Time (years) 3.8

Cost (% of estate) 8 Paying taxes (rank) 184 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 17.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 28.27 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 57 Time (hours per year) 440 Total tax rate (% of profit) 68.3

GUINEA-BISSAU Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 520 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 179 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 43.21 Population (m) 1.7

Starting a business (rank) 176 Registering property (rank) 160 Trading across borders (rank) 119 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 54.83 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 48.92 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 67.41 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 9 Time (days) 51 Time to export (days) 25 Cost (% of income per capita) 50.1 Cost (% of property value) 10.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,448 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 401.3 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 22 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 165 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,006 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 52.95 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 169 Time (days) 116 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 37.54 Cost (% of warehouse value) 18.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 1.0 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 1,715 Getting electricity (rank) 180 Protecting minority investors (rank) 122 Cost (% of claim) 25.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 35.96 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.83 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 455 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 2,062.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.6 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 150 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 58.65 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 46 Time (hours per year) 208 Total tax rate (% of profit) 45.5

DOING BUSINESS 2015190

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

GUYANA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 3,750 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 123 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 57.83 Population (m) 0.8

Starting a business (rank) 99 Registering property (rank) 103 Trading across borders (rank) 82 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.62 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 64.08 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 74.63 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 19 Time (days) 75 Time to export (days) 19 Cost (% of income per capita) 11.5 Cost (% of property value) 4.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 730 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 165 Time to import (days) 22 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 38 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 15.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 720 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 80.06 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 7 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 71 Time (days) 195 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 62.37 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 581 Getting electricity (rank) 155 Protecting minority investors (rank) 135 Cost (% of claim) 25.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 57.21 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 44.17 Procedures (number) 8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 150 Time (days) 109 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 28.50 Cost (% of income per capita) 442.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.4 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 29 Paying taxes (rank) 115 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 18.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 68.69 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 35 Time (hours per year) 256 Total tax rate (% of profit) 32.3

HAITI Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 810 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 180 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 42.18 Population (m) 10.3

Starting a business (rank) 188 Registering property (rank) 175 Trading across borders (rank) 142 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 33.48 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 39.79 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 59.98 Procedures (number) 12 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 97 Time (days) 312 Time to export (days) 28 Cost (% of income per capita) 246.7 Cost (% of property value) 7.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,200 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 17.6 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 171 Time to import (days) 26 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 132 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 10.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,555 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 64.42 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 89 Time (days) 71 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 58.28 Cost (% of warehouse value) 16.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 1.1 Procedures (number) 35

Time (days) 530 Getting electricity (rank) 94 Protecting minority investors (rank) 187 Cost (% of claim) 42.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 73.97 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 20.00 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 60 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 1.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 3,495.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 2.0 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 142 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 61.87 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 47 Time (hours per year) 184 Total tax rate (% of profit) 40.3

HONDURAS Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 2,180 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 104 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 60.61 Population (m) 8.1

Starting a business (rank) 138 Registering property (rank) 81 Trading across borders (rank) 70 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 74.84 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 70.09 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 76.50 Procedures (number) 12 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 14 Time (days) 22 Time to export (days) 12 Cost (% of income per capita) 39.0 Cost (% of property value) 5.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,450 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 11.5 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 7 Time to import (days) 16 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 103 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 85.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,630 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 69.37 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 9 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 166 Time (days) 82 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 36.1 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 37.90 Cost (% of warehouse value) 7.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 21.8 Procedures (number) 47

Time (days) 920 Getting electricity (rank) 110 Protecting minority investors (rank) 174 Cost (% of claim) 35.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 70.96 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 31.67 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 140 Time (days) 39 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 31.83 Cost (% of income per capita) 918.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.2 Time (years) 3.8

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 153 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 18.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 57.92 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 48 Time (hours per year) 224 Total tax rate (% of profit) 43.0

191COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

HONG KONG SAR, CHINA East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 38,420 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 3 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 84.97 Population (m) 7.2

Starting a business (rank) 8 Registering property (rank) 96 Trading across borders (rank) 2 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 96.38 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 66.19 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 95.36 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 2.5 Time (days) 35.5 Time to export (days) 6 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.4 Cost (% of property value) 7.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 590 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 3

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 5 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 1 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 565 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 95.53 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 5 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 6 Time (days) 66 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 96.1 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 80.32 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 26

Time (days) 360 Getting electricity (rank) 13 Protecting minority investors (rank) 2 Cost (% of claim) 21.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 91.54 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 80.83 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 9.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 25 Time (days) 38 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 75.06 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 8.1 Time (years) 0.8

Cost (% of estate) 5 Paying taxes (rank) 4 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 87.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 98.51 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 3 Time (hours per year) 78 Total tax rate (% of profit) 22.8

HUNGARY Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 12,410 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 54 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 68.80 Population (m) 9.9

Starting a business (rank) 57 Registering property (rank) 52 Trading across borders (rank) 72 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 90.04 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 78.04 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 76.48 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 5 Time (days) 16.5 Time to export (days) 17 Cost (% of income per capita) 8.3 Cost (% of property value) 5.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 885 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 54.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 17 Time to import (days) 19 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 103 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 75.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 845 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 69.37 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 10 Procedures (number) 23 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 20 Time (days) 91 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 74.6 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 73.36 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 34

Time (days) 395 Getting electricity (rank) 162 Protecting minority investors (rank) 110 Cost (% of claim) 15.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 55.10 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 47.50 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 64 Time (days) 252 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 49.78 Cost (% of income per capita) 111.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.8 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 88 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 40.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 73.27 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 11 Time (hours per year) 277 Total tax rate (% of profit) 48.0

ICELAND OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 43,930 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 12 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 80.27 Population (m) 0.3

Starting a business (rank) 31 Registering property (rank) 23 Trading across borders (rank) 39 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 92.35 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 86.03 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 83.23 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 4 Time (days) 3.5 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 2.4 Cost (% of property value) 3.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,530 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 9.3 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 52 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 56 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 60.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,620 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 77.60 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 17 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 3 Time (days) 84 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 82.30 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 27

Time (days) 417 Getting electricity (rank) 9 Protecting minority investors (rank) 28 Cost (% of claim) 9.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 93.81 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 65.00 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 15 Time (days) 22 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 81.47 Cost (% of income per capita) 12.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.5 Time (years) 1.0

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 46 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 84.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 80.86 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11.5 Payments (number per year) 26 Time (hours per year) 140 Total tax rate (% of profit) 29.7

DOING BUSINESS 2015192

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

INDIA South Asia GNI per capita (US$) 1,570 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 142 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 53.97 Population (m) 1,252.1

Starting a business (rank) 158 Registering property (rank) 121 Trading across borders (rank) 126 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 68.42 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 60.40 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 65.47 Procedures (number) 11.9 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 28.4 Time (days) 47 Time to export (days) 17.1 Cost (% of income per capita) 12.2 Cost (% of property value) 7.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,332 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 111.2 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 21.1 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 184 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,462 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 30.89 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 25.4 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 186 Time (days) 185.9 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 22.4 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 25.81 Cost (% of warehouse value) 28.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 46

Time (days) 1,420 Getting electricity (rank) 137 Protecting minority investors (rank) 7 Cost (% of claim) 39.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 63.06 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 72.50 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 137 Time (days) 105.7 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 32.60 Cost (% of income per capita) 487.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 7.3 Time (years) 4.3

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 156 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 25.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 55.53 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 33 Time (hours per year) 243 Total tax rate (% of profit) 61.7

INDONESIA East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 3,580 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 114 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 59.15 Population (m) 249.9

Starting a business (rank) 155 Registering property (rank) 117 Trading across borders (rank) 62 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 68.84 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 60.74 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 77.46 Procedures (number) 10 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 52.5 Time (days) 27.4 Time to export (days) 17 Cost (% of income per capita) 21.1 Cost (% of property value) 10.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 572 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 35.5 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 26 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 153 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 647 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 59.03 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 17 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 172 Time (days) 211 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 37.28 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 46.4 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 471 Getting electricity (rank) 78 Protecting minority investors (rank) 43 Cost (% of claim) 115.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 76.90 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 60.83 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 75 Time (days) 90.7 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 46.75 Cost (% of income per capita) 353.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.1 Time (years) 1.9

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 160 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 31.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 53.66 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9.5 Payments (number per year) 65 Time (hours per year) 253.5 Total tax rate (% of profit) 31.4

IRAN, ISLAMIC REP. Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 5,780 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 130 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 56.51 Population (m) 77.4

Starting a business (rank) 62 Registering property (rank) 161 Trading across borders (rank) 148 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 89.37 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 48.78 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 56.81 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 12 Time (days) 35 Time to export (days) 25 Cost (% of income per capita) 3.1 Cost (% of property value) 10.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,350 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 37 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 172 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,555 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 49.72 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 66 Time (days) 318.5 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 33.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 63.35 Cost (% of warehouse value) 5.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 45.0 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 505 Getting electricity (rank) 107 Protecting minority investors (rank) 154 Cost (% of claim) 17.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 71.22 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 41.67 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 138 Time (days) 77 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 32.38 Cost (% of income per capita) 865.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.2 Time (years) 4.5

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 124 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 19.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 66.78 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 20 Time (hours per year) 344 Total tax rate (% of profit) 44.1

193COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

IRAQ Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 6,710 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 156 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 50.36 Population (m) 33.4

Starting a business (rank) 142 Registering property (rank) 109 Trading across borders (rank) 178 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 74.03 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 62.62 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 20.48 Procedures (number) 10 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 10 Time (days) 29 Time (days) 51 Time to export (days) 80 Cost (% of income per capita) 38.2 Cost (% of property value) 8.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 3,550 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 12.8 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 180 Time to import (days) 82 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 9 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 5.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 3,650 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 86.65 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 141 Time (days) 119 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 47.32 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 51

Time (days) 520 Getting electricity (rank) 36 Protecting minority investors (rank) 146 Cost (% of claim) 28.1 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 84.95 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 42.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 77 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 228.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 52 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 80.09 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 13 Time (hours per year) 312 Total tax rate (% of profit) 27.8

IRELAND OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 39,110 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 13 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 80.07 Population (m) 4.6

Starting a business (rank) 19 Registering property (rank) 50 Trading across borders (rank) 5 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 94.17 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 78.34 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 93.01 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 2 Time (days) 6 Time (days) 31.5 Time to export (days) 8 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.3 Cost (% of property value) 2.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,160 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 2

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 128 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,121 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 65.61 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 18 Time (days) 150 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 75.47 Cost (% of warehouse value) 9.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 21

Time (days) 650 Getting electricity (rank) 67 Protecting minority investors (rank) 6 Cost (% of claim) 26.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 78.84 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 73.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 8.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 21 Time (days) 85 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 76.90 Cost (% of income per capita) 83.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 7.3 Time (years) 0.4

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 6 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 87.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 95.07 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9.5 Payments (number per year) 9 Time (hours per year) 80 Total tax rate (% of profit) 25.9

ISRAEL OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 34,120 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 40 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 71.25 Population (m) 8.1

Starting a business (rank) 53 Registering property (rank) 135 Trading across borders (rank) 12 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 90.54 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 57.12 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 89.39 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 13 Time (days) 81 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 3.5 Cost (% of property value) 7.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 620 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 10 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 121 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 565 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 66.45 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 111 Time (days) 209 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 54.93 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 35

Time (days) 890 Getting electricity (rank) 109 Protecting minority investors (rank) 11 Cost (% of claim) 25.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 71.11 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 70.83 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 8.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 24 Time (days) 102 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 75.21 Cost (% of income per capita) 11.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 7.1 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 23 Paying taxes (rank) 97 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 61.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 71.88 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 13.5 Payments (number per year) 33 Time (hours per year) 235 Total tax rate (% of profit) 30.1

DOING BUSINESS 2015194

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

ITALY OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 34,400 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 56 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 68.48 Population (m) 59.8

Starting a business (rank) 46 Registering property (rank) 41 Trading across borders (rank) 37 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.22 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 79.44 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 83.44 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 5 Time (days) 16 Time to export (days) 19 Cost (% of income per capita) 14.1 Cost (% of property value) 4.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,195 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 3

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 18 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 116 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,145 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 67.35 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 147 Time (days) 233 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 45.61 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 24.6 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 1,185 Getting electricity (rank) 102 Protecting minority investors (rank) 21 Cost (% of claim) 23.1 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 72.65 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 66.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 29 Time (days) 124 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 71.29 Cost (% of income per capita) 212.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.7 Time (years) 1.8

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 141 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 62.8 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 62.13 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12 Payments (number per year) 15 Time (hours per year) 269 Total tax rate (% of profit) 65.4

JAMAICA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 5,220 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 58 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 67.79 Population (m) 2.7

Starting a business (rank) 20 Registering property (rank) 126 Trading across borders (rank) 115 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 94.13 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 59.36 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 68.22 Procedures (number) 2 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 15 Time (days) 36 Time to export (days) 20 Cost (% of income per capita) 6.0 Cost (% of property value) 9.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,580 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 12 Time to import (days) 17 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 26 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 80.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,180 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 83.17 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 10 Procedures (number) 7 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 117 Time (days) 135 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 10.1 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 53.74 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 35

Time (days) 655 Getting electricity (rank) 111 Protecting minority investors (rank) 71 Cost (% of claim) 45.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 70.36 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 56.67 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 59 Time (days) 96 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 53.29 Cost (% of income per capita) 406.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.7 Time (years) 1.1

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 147 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 64.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 59.01 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 36 Time (hours per year) 368 Total tax rate (% of profit) 39.3

JAPAN OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 46,140 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 29 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 74.80 Population (m) 127.3

Starting a business (rank) 83 Registering property (rank) 73 Trading across borders (rank) 20 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 86.21 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 71.33 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 87.23 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 10.7 Time (days) 13 Time to export (days) 11 Cost (% of income per capita) 7.5 Cost (% of property value) 5.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 829 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 11 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 83 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,021 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 73.30 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 26 Time (days) 197 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 69.95 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 32

Time (days) 360 Getting electricity (rank) 28 Protecting minority investors (rank) 35 Cost (% of claim) 32.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 86.51 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 62.50 Procedures (number) 3.4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 2 Time (days) 97.7 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 93.74 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.3 Time (years) 0.6

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 122 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 92.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 67.19 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 14 Payments (number per year) 14 Time (hours per year) 330 Total tax rate (% of profit) 51.3

195COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

JORDAN Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 4,950 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 117 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 58.40 Population (m) 6.5

Starting a business (rank) 86 Registering property (rank) 107 Trading across borders (rank) 54 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 85.61 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 63.45 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 78.92 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 12 Time (days) 21 Time to export (days) 12 Cost (% of income per capita) 21.4 Cost (% of property value) 7.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 825 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 185 Time to import (days) 15 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 126 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 0.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,235 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 66.02 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 0 Procedures (number) 16 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 114 Time (days) 63 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 54.04 Cost (% of warehouse value) 9.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 2.2 Procedures (number) 39

Time (days) 689 Getting electricity (rank) 44 Protecting minority investors (rank) 154 Cost (% of claim) 31.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 82.95 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 41.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 145 Time (days) 50 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 30.17 Cost (% of income per capita) 315.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.2 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 20 Paying taxes (rank) 45 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 81.19 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 5 Payments (number per year) 25 Time (hours per year) 151 Total tax rate (% of profit) 29.0

KAZAKHSTAN Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 11,380 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 77 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 64.59 Population (m) 17.0

Starting a business (rank) 55 Registering property (rank) 14 Trading across borders (rank) 185 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 90.19 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 89.83 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 7.87 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 10 Time (days) 10 Time (days) 11 Time to export (days) 79 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.5 Cost (% of property value) 0.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 5,285 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 12

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 67 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 154 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 5,265 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 58.39 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 25 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 30 Time (days) 156 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 51.7 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 69.33 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 370 Getting electricity (rank) 97 Protecting minority investors (rank) 25 Cost (% of claim) 22.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 72.96 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 65.83 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 63 Time (days) 88 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 51.45 Cost (% of income per capita) 56.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.6 Time (years) 1.5

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 17 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 43.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 90.04 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 6 Time (hours per year) 188 Total tax rate (% of profit) 28.6

KENYA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 930 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 136 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 54.98 Population (m) 44.4

Starting a business (rank) 143 Registering property (rank) 136 Trading across borders (rank) 153 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 74.02 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 56.88 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 54.49 Procedures (number) 10 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 30 Time (days) 72 Time to export (days) 26 Cost (% of income per capita) 42.7 Cost (% of property value) 4.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,255 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 26 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 95 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,350 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 71.02 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 137 Time (days) 125 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 4.9 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 48.96 Cost (% of warehouse value) 9.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 44

Time (days) 465 Getting electricity (rank) 151 Protecting minority investors (rank) 122 Cost (% of claim) 47.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 58.85 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.83 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 134 Time (days) 158 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 33.31 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,020.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.6 Time (years) 4.5

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 102 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 71.49 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 30 Time (hours per year) 201.5 Total tax rate (% of profit) 38.1

DOING BUSINESS 2015196

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

KIRIBATI East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 2,620 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 134 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 55.48 Population (m) 0.1

Starting a business (rank) 122 Registering property (rank) 139 Trading across borders (rank) 81 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 79.74 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 55.48 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 74.76 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 31 Time (days) 513 Time to export (days) 20 Cost (% of income per capita) 20.5 Cost (% of property value) 0.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 870 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 19.5 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 160 Time to import (days) 21 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 65 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 20.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 910 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 75.71 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 60 Time (days) 149 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.15 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 32

Time (days) 660 Getting electricity (rank) 167 Protecting minority investors (rank) 154 Cost (% of claim) 25.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 52.26 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 41.67 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 97 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 4,768.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.2 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 14 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 91.03 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 120 Total tax rate (% of profit) 32.7

KOREA, REP. OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 25,920 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 5 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 83.40 Population (m) 50.2

Starting a business (rank) 17 Registering property (rank) 79 Trading across borders (rank) 3 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 94.36 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 70.99 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 93.45 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 4 Time (days) 7 Time to export (days) 8 Cost (% of income per capita) 14.5 Cost (% of property value) 5.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 670 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 3

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 7 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 12 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 695 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 85.89 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 4 Time (days) 29 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 81.71 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 32

Time (days) 230 Getting electricity (rank) 1 Protecting minority investors (rank) 21 Cost (% of claim) 10.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 99.83 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 66.67 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 5 Time (days) 18 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 90.06 Cost (% of income per capita) 41.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.7 Time (years) 1.5

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 25 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 83.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 86.09 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 14.5 Payments (number per year) 10 Time (hours per year) 187 Total tax rate (% of profit) 32.4

KOSOVO Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 3,890 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 75 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 64.76 Population (m) 1.8

Starting a business (rank) 42 Registering property (rank) 34 Trading across borders (rank) 118 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.33 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 81.32 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 67.70 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 11 Time (days) 27 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.2 Cost (% of property value) 0.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,695 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 15 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 135 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,730 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 63.36 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 8 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 138 Time (days) 152 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 48.59 Cost (% of warehouse value) 6.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 22.8 Procedures (number) 53

Time (days) 330 Getting electricity (rank) 112 Protecting minority investors (rank) 62 Cost (% of claim) 33.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 70.34 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 57.50 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 164 Time (days) 46 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 19.63 Cost (% of income per capita) 822.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 63 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 36.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 77.87 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 33 Time (hours per year) 155 Total tax rate (% of profit) 15.3

197COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

KUWAIT Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 47,639 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 86 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 63.11 Population (m) 3.4

Starting a business (rank) 150 Registering property (rank) 69 Trading across borders (rank) 117 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 71.30 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 72.10 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 68.00 Procedures (number) 12 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 31 Time (days) 47 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.9 Cost (% of property value) 0.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,085 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 74.0 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 20 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 98 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,250 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 70.60 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 20 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 131 Time (days) 96 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 32.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 50.59 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 50

Time (days) 566 Getting electricity (rank) 93 Protecting minority investors (rank) 43 Cost (% of claim) 18.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 74.13 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 60.83 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 127 Time (days) 42 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 36.02 Cost (% of income per capita) 42.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.1 Time (years) 4.2

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 11 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 32.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 92.48 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 12 Time (hours per year) 98 Total tax rate (% of profit) 12.8

KYRGYZ REPUBLIC Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 1,200 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 102 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 60.74 Population (m) 5.7

Starting a business (rank) 9 Registering property (rank) 6 Trading across borders (rank) 183 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 96.35 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 93.25 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 9.70 Procedures (number) 2 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 9 Time (days) 8 Time (days) 5 Time to export (days) 63 Cost (% of income per capita) 2.4 Cost (% of property value) 0.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 4,760 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 73 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 42 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 6,000 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.80 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 8 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 56 Time (days) 141 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 38.2 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.63 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 260 Getting electricity (rank) 168 Protecting minority investors (rank) 35 Cost (% of claim) 37.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 49.64 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 62.50 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 157 Time (days) 159 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 24.38 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,872.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.3 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 136 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 19.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 63.15 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 4.5 Payments (number per year) 52 Time (hours per year) 210 Total tax rate (% of profit) 29.0

LAO PDR East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 1,460 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 148 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 51.45 Population (m) 6.8

Starting a business (rank) 154 Registering property (rank) 77 Trading across borders (rank) 156 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 68.95 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 71.06 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 52.96 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 10 Time (days) 92 Time (days) 98 Time to export (days) 23 Cost (% of income per capita) 5.7 Cost (% of property value) 1.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,950 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 26 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 107 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,910 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 68.50 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 22 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 99 Time (days) 107 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 57.49 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 3.5 Procedures (number) 42

Time (days) 443 Getting electricity (rank) 128 Protecting minority investors (rank) 178 Cost (% of claim) 31.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 65.29 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 29.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 134 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,650.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 2.9 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 129 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 66.10 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 35 Time (hours per year) 362 Total tax rate (% of profit) 25.8

DOING BUSINESS 2015198

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

LATVIA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 15,280 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 23 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 76.73 Population (m) 2.0

Starting a business (rank) 36 Registering property (rank) 32 Trading across borders (rank) 28 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 92.12 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 81.69 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 85.36 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 12.5 Time (days) 18 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 3.6 Cost (% of property value) 2.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 600 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 11 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 47 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 801 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.38 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 9 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 16 Time (days) 149 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 75.59 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 76.8 Procedures (number) 27

Time (days) 469 Getting electricity (rank) 89 Protecting minority investors (rank) 49 Cost (% of claim) 23.1 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 74.58 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 60.00 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 40 Time (days) 108 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 63.42 Cost (% of income per capita) 308.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.0 Time (years) 1.5

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 24 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 48.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 86.19 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 193 Total tax rate (% of profit) 35.0

LEBANON Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 9,870 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 104 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 60.61 Population (m) 4.5

Starting a business (rank) 119 Registering property (rank) 106 Trading across borders (rank) 97 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 80.80 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 63.69 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 71.96 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 9 Time (days) 25 Time to export (days) 22 Cost (% of income per capita) 73.0 Cost (% of property value) 5.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,080 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 33.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 30 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 164 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,365 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 54.38 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 18 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 110 Time (days) 244 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 55.40 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 20.3 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 721 Getting electricity (rank) 57 Protecting minority investors (rank) 106 Cost (% of claim) 30.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 80.24 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 49.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 136 Time (days) 75 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 33.03 Cost (% of income per capita) 93.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.9 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 40 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 32.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 82.44 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 5 Payments (number per year) 19 Time (hours per year) 183 Total tax rate (% of profit) 29.9

LESOTHO Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,550 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 128 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 56.64 Population (m) 2.1

Starting a business (rank) 108 Registering property (rank) 93 Trading across borders (rank) 147 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 82.84 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 66.36 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 57.86 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 29 Time (days) 43 Time to export (days) 31 Cost (% of income per capita) 9.4 Cost (% of property value) 8.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,795 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 151 Time to import (days) 33 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 161 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 25.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,045 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 55.79 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 115 Time (days) 179 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 53.94 Cost (% of warehouse value) 13.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 41

Time (days) 615 Getting electricity (rank) 117 Protecting minority investors (rank) 106 Cost (% of claim) 31.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 68.20 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 49.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 120 Time (days) 114 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 37.51 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,647.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.9 Time (years) 2.6

Cost (% of estate) 20 Paying taxes (rank) 109 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 29.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 69.72 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 32 Time (hours per year) 324 Total tax rate (% of profit) 13.6

199COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

LIBERIA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 410 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 174 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 46.61 Population (m) 4.3

Starting a business (rank) 30 Registering property (rank) 177 Trading across borders (rank) 149 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 92.41 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 39.57 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 56.40 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 10 Documents to export (number) 10 Time (days) 4.5 Time (days) 44 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 17.4 Cost (% of property value) 12.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,320 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 12

Getting credit (rank) 160 Time to import (days) 29 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 143 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 20.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,320 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 62.00 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 22 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 174 Time (days) 74 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 35.43 Cost (% of warehouse value) 6.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 1.7 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 1,280 Getting electricity (rank) 166 Protecting minority investors (rank) 181 Cost (% of claim) 35.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 52.61 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 28.33 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 169 Time (days) 465 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 4.60 Cost (% of income per capita) 2,065.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 2.8 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 43 Paying taxes (rank) 77 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 8.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 74.75 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 33 Time (hours per year) 150.5 Total tax rate (% of profit) 33.3

LIBYA Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 11,046 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 188 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 33.35 Population (m) 6.2

Starting a business (rank) 144 Registering property (rank) 189 Trading across borders (rank) 139 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 73.50 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 0.00 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 61.72 Procedures (number) 10 Procedures (number) NO PRACTICE Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 35 Time (days) NO PRACTICE Time to export (days) 23 Cost (% of income per capita) 19.9 Cost (% of property value) NO PRACTICE Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,140 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 33.8 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 185 Time to import (days) 37 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 189 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 0.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,255 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 0.00 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 0 Procedures (number) NO PRACTICE Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 126 Time (days) NO PRACTICE Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 51.42 Cost (% of warehouse value) NO PRACTICE Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.5 Procedures (number) 43

Time (days) 690 Getting electricity (rank) 65 Protecting minority investors (rank) 188 Cost (% of claim) 27.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 79.10 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 12.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 2.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 118 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 0.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 206.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 1.3 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 157 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 55.25 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 19 Time (hours per year) 889 Total tax rate (% of profit) 31.5

LITHUANIA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 14,900 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 24 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 76.31 Population (m) 3.0

Starting a business (rank) 11 Registering property (rank) 9 Trading across borders (rank) 21 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 96.22 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 92.39 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 87.21 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 3.5 Time (days) 2.5 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.7 Cost (% of property value) 0.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 750 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 15 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 800 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 85.27 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 14 Time (days) 91 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 97.7 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 75.85 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 28.8 Procedures (number) 31

Time (days) 300 Getting electricity (rank) 105 Protecting minority investors (rank) 78 Cost (% of claim) 23.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 71.46 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 55.00 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 67 Time (days) 137 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 48.47 Cost (% of income per capita) 45.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.5 Time (years) 2.3

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 44 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 43.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 81.24 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8 Payments (number per year) 11 Time (hours per year) 175 Total tax rate (% of profit) 42.6

DOING BUSINESS 2015200

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

LUXEMBOURG OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 71,810 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 59 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 67.60 Population (m) 0.5

Starting a business (rank) 82 Registering property (rank) 137 Trading across borders (rank) 35 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 86.47 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 56.75 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 83.58 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 18.5 Time (days) 26.5 Time to export (days) 8 Cost (% of income per capita) 2.0 Cost (% of property value) 10.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,425 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 22.5 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 165 Time to import (days) 7 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 50 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 15.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,420 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.22 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 2 Time (days) 157 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 85.70 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 26

Time (days) 321 Getting electricity (rank) 42 Protecting minority investors (rank) 117 Cost (% of claim) 9.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 83.22 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 46.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 62 Time (days) 56 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 51.83 Cost (% of income per capita) 40.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.7 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 20 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 44.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 88.58 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 23 Time (hours per year) 55 Total tax rate (% of profit) 20.2

MACEDONIA, FYR Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 4,800 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 30 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 74.11 Population (m) 2.1

Starting a business (rank) 3 Registering property (rank) 74 Trading across borders (rank) 85 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 98.08 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 71.27 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 74.43 Procedures (number) 2 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 2 Time (days) 31 Time to export (days) 12 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.6 Cost (% of property value) 3.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,376 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 11 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 89 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,380 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 72.30 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 87 Time (days) 89 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 83.7 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 58.31 Cost (% of warehouse value) 8.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 36.4 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 604 Getting electricity (rank) 88 Protecting minority investors (rank) 21 Cost (% of claim) 28.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 74.94 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 66.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 35 Time (days) 107 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 65.93 Cost (% of income per capita) 255.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.7 Time (years) 1.8

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 7 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 44.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 94.17 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 13.5 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 119 Total tax rate (% of profit) 7.4

MADAGASCAR Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 440 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 163 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 49.25 Population (m) 22.9

Starting a business (rank) 37 Registering property (rank) 153 Trading across borders (rank) 109 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 92.02 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 51.72 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 68.98 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 8 Time (days) 74 Time to export (days) 22 Cost (% of income per capita) 13.5 Cost (% of property value) 10.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,195 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 180 Time to import (days) 21 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 177 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 5.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,555 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 46.68 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 146 Time (days) 123 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 45.91 Cost (% of warehouse value) 20.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.2 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 871 Getting electricity (rank) 189 Protecting minority investors (rank) 87 Cost (% of claim) 42.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 16.67 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 53.33 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 129 Time (days) 450 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 34.43 Cost (% of income per capita) 8,583.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.3 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 30 Paying taxes (rank) 65 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 11.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 77.78 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 23 Time (hours per year) 183 Total tax rate (% of profit) 35.1

201COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

MALAWI Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 270 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 164 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 49.20 Population (m) 16.4

Starting a business (rank) 157 Registering property (rank) 76 Trading across borders (rank) 170 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 68.53 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 71.07 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 37.40 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 11 Time (days) 38 Time (days) 69 Time to export (days) 34 Cost (% of income per capita) 94.1 Cost (% of property value) 1.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,200 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 12

Getting credit (rank) 151 Time to import (days) 39 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 72 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 25.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,895 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 75.09 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 154 Time (days) 153 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 43.73 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 42

Time (days) 432 Getting electricity (rank) 181 Protecting minority investors (rank) 132 Cost (% of claim) 69.1 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 35.78 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.00 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 166 Time (days) 172 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 18.99 Cost (% of income per capita) 6,131.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.5 Time (years) 2.6

Cost (% of estate) 25 Paying taxes (rank) 103 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 12.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 71.37 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 4 Payments (number per year) 35 Time (hours per year) 174.5 Total tax rate (% of profit) 35.5

MALAYSIA East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 10,400 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 18 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 78.83 Population (m) 29.7

Starting a business (rank) 13 Registering property (rank) 75 Trading across borders (rank) 11 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 94.90 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 71.16 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 89.94 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 5.5 Time (days) 13.5 Time to export (days) 11 Cost (% of income per capita) 7.2 Cost (% of property value) 3.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 525 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 8 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 28 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 560 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 82.49 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 29 Time (days) 74 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 78.6 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 69.39 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 56.2 Procedures (number) 29

Time (days) 425 Getting electricity (rank) 27 Protecting minority investors (rank) 5 Cost (% of claim) 37.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 86.67 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 74.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 8.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 36 Time (days) 32 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 65.61 Cost (% of income per capita) 46.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 7.4 Time (years) 1.0

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 32 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 81.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 83.95 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 13 Time (hours per year) 133 Total tax rate (% of profit) 39.2

MALDIVES South Asia GNI per capita (US$) 5,600 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 116 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 58.73 Population (m) 0.3

Starting a business (rank) 50 Registering property (rank) 169 Trading across borders (rank) 132 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.07 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 43.85 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 63.63 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 9 Time (days) 57 Time to export (days) 21 Cost (% of income per capita) 6.2 Cost (% of property value) 16.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,625 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 2.3 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 22 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 24 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,610 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 83.45 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 9 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 91 Time (days) 140 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 58.13 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 17.3 Procedures (number) 41

Time (days) 665 Getting electricity (rank) 108 Protecting minority investors (rank) 135 Cost (% of claim) 16.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 71.14 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 44.17 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 135 Time (days) 91 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 33.12 Cost (% of income per capita) 391.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.4 Time (years) 1.5

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 134 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 49.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 63.76 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 2 Payments (number per year) 30 Time (hours per year) 413 Total tax rate (% of profit) 31.5

DOING BUSINESS 2015202

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

MALI Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 670 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 146 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 52.59 Population (m) 15.3

Starting a business (rank) 169 Registering property (rank) 133 Trading across borders (rank) 163 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 62.92 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 57.63 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 46.33 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 11 Time (days) 29 Time to export (days) 26 Cost (% of income per capita) 78.1 Cost (% of property value) 12.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,440 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 300.7 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 34 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 97 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 4,540 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 70.84 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 128 Time (days) 119 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 51.25 Cost (% of warehouse value) 8.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 3.6 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 620 Getting electricity (rank) 132 Protecting minority investors (rank) 146 Cost (% of claim) 52.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 63.88 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 42.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 108 Time (days) 120 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 40.35 Cost (% of income per capita) 3,833.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) 3.6

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 145 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 22.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 60.16 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 35 Time (hours per year) 270 Total tax rate (% of profit) 48.3

MALTA Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 20,980 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 94 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 62.11 Population (m) 0.4

Starting a business (rank) 136 Registering property (rank) 83 Trading across borders (rank) 43 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 75.29 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 69.86 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 81.56 Procedures (number) 11 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 34.5 Time (days) 15 Time to export (days) 11 Cost (% of income per capita) 11.0 Cost (% of property value) 5.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 855 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 1.5 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 171 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 109 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 10.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 970 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 68.39 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 107 Time (days) 167 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 56.27 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 505 Getting electricity (rank) 114 Protecting minority investors (rank) 51 Cost (% of claim) 35.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 69.98 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 59.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 86 Time (days) 136 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 44.78 Cost (% of income per capita) 440.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.9 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 26 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 39.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 85.81 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7.5 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 139 Total tax rate (% of profit) 41.6

MARSHALL ISLANDS East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 4,200 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 139 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 54.72 Population (m) 0.1

Starting a business (rank) 70 Registering property (rank) 189 Trading across borders (rank) 68 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 88.37 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 0.00 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 76.97 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) NO PRACTICE Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 17 Time (days) NO PRACTICE Time to export (days) 23 Cost (% of income per capita) 12.8 Cost (% of property value) NO PRACTICE Cost to export (US$ per container) 695 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 25 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 10 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 720 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 86.33 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 10 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 58 Time (days) 42 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.41 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 476 Getting electricity (rank) 68 Protecting minority investors (rank) 183 Cost (% of claim) 27.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 78.83 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 26.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 168 Time (days) 67 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 9.19 Cost (% of income per capita) 719.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 2.7 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 38 Paying taxes (rank) 128 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 17.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 66.38 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 21 Time (hours per year) 128 Total tax rate (% of profit) 64.8

203COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

MAURITANIA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,060 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 176 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 44.21 Population (m) 3.9

Starting a business (rank) 164 Registering property (rank) 66 Trading across borders (rank) 151 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 65.83 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 73.57 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 55.49 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 9 Time (days) 49 Time to export (days) 31 Cost (% of income per capita) 19.8 Cost (% of property value) 4.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,640 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 331.8 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 171 Time to import (days) 38 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 77 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 10.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,523 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 74.30 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 86 Time (days) 104 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 58.47 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 4.6 Procedures (number) 46

Time (days) 370 Getting electricity (rank) 169 Protecting minority investors (rank) 166 Cost (% of claim) 23.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 48.39 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 38.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 75 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 7,833.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.8 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 187 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 17.71 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 49 Time (hours per year) 734 Total tax rate (% of profit) 71.3

MAURITIUS Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 9,300 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 28 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 74.81 Population (m) 1.3

Starting a business (rank) 29 Registering property (rank) 98 Trading across borders (rank) 17 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 92.47 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 66.00 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 87.74 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 6 Time (days) 14 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 2.1 Cost (% of property value) 10.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 675 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 117 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 710 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 67.17 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 44 Time (days) 245 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 66.22 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 71.9 Procedures (number) 34

Time (days) 519 Getting electricity (rank) 41 Protecting minority investors (rank) 28 Cost (% of claim) 25.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 83.74 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 65.00 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 43 Time (days) 84 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 62.81 Cost (% of income per capita) 277.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.5 Time (years) 1.7

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 13 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 67.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 91.92 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8.5 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 152 Total tax rate (% of profit) 24.5

MEXICO Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 9,940 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 39 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 71.53 Population (m) 122.3

Starting a business (rank) 67 Registering property (rank) 110 Trading across borders (rank) 44 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 88.85 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 62.45 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 81.26 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 6.8 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 6.3 Time (days) 63.7 Time to export (days) 12 Cost (% of income per capita) 18.6 Cost (% of property value) 5.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,499 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 12 Time to import (days) 11.2 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 108 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 80.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,888 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 68.43 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 8 Procedures (number) 11.3 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 57 Time (days) 87.6 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.61 Cost (% of warehouse value) 10.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 36.8

Time (days) 389 Getting electricity (rank) 116 Protecting minority investors (rank) 62 Cost (% of claim) 30.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 68.47 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 57.50 Procedures (number) 6.8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 27 Time (days) 78.9 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 72.59 Cost (% of income per capita) 346.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 1.8

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 105 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 68.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 71.17 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11.5 Payments (number per year) 6 Time (hours per year) 334 Total tax rate (% of profit) 51.8

DOING BUSINESS 2015204

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

MICRONESIA, FED. STS. East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 3,430 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 145 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 53.07 Population (m) 0.1

Starting a business (rank) 151 Registering property (rank) 189 Trading across borders (rank) 106 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 69.63 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 0.00 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 69.42 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) NO PRACTICE Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 16 Time (days) NO PRACTICE Time to export (days) 30 Cost (% of income per capita) 141.2 Cost (% of property value) NO PRACTICE Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,045 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 61 Time to import (days) 31 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 37 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 55.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,045 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 80.10 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 11 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 162 Time (days) 99 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 40.85 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 34

Time (days) 885 Getting electricity (rank) 30 Protecting minority investors (rank) 186 Cost (% of claim) 66.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 85.89 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 23.33 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 2.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 118 Time (days) 105 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 37.74 Cost (% of income per capita) 363.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 2.3 Time (years) 5.3

Cost (% of estate) 38 Paying taxes (rank) 114 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 3.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 68.78 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11.5 Payments (number per year) 21 Time (hours per year) 128 Total tax rate (% of profit) 60.5

MOLDOVA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 2,460 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 63 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 66.60 Population (m) 3.6

Starting a business (rank) 35 Registering property (rank) 22 Trading across borders (rank) 152 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 92.16 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 86.10 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 54.97 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 9 Time (days) 6 Time (days) 5.5 Time to export (days) 23 Cost (% of income per capita) 4.6 Cost (% of property value) 0.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,510 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 27 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 175 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,870 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 48.11 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 8 Procedures (number) 27 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 42 Time (days) 247 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 8.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 66.68 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 31

Time (days) 567 Getting electricity (rank) 149 Protecting minority investors (rank) 56 Cost (% of claim) 28.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 59.73 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 58.33 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 58 Time (days) 118 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 53.32 Cost (% of income per capita) 865.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 2.8

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 70 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 29.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 76.57 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12 Payments (number per year) 21 Time (hours per year) 185 Total tax rate (% of profit) 39.7

MONGOLIA East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 3,770 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 72 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 65.02 Population (m) 2.8

Starting a business (rank) 42 Registering property (rank) 30 Trading across borders (rank) 173 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.33 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 82.76 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 30.18 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 11 Time (days) 11 Time (days) 10.5 Time to export (days) 44 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.2 Cost (% of property value) 2.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,745 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 12

Getting credit (rank) 61 Time to import (days) 45 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 74 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 55.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,950 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 74.62 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 16 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 24 Time (days) 137 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 70.17 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 32.7 Procedures (number) 32

Time (days) 374 Getting electricity (rank) 142 Protecting minority investors (rank) 17 Cost (% of claim) 30.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 60.91 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 67.50 Procedures (number) 8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 90 Time (days) 79 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 43.93 Cost (% of income per capita) 600.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.8 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 84 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 17.8 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 73.79 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11 Payments (number per year) 41 Time (hours per year) 148 Total tax rate (% of profit) 24.4

205COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

MONTENEGRO Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 7,260 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 36 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 72.02 Population (m) 0.6

Starting a business (rank) 56 Registering property (rank) 87 Trading across borders (rank) 52 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 90.05 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 68.29 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 79.37 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 10 Time (days) 69 Time to export (days) 14 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.6 Cost (% of property value) 3.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 985 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 4 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 138 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 90.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 985 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 62.92 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 12 Procedures (number) 8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 136 Time (days) 158 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 49.62 Cost (% of warehouse value) 12.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 26.0 Procedures (number) 49

Time (days) 545 Getting electricity (rank) 63 Protecting minority investors (rank) 43 Cost (% of claim) 25.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 79.28 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 60.83 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 33 Time (days) 71 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 68.22 Cost (% of income per capita) 467.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.1 Time (years) 1.4

Cost (% of estate) 8 Paying taxes (rank) 98 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 48.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 71.59 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 13.5 Payments (number per year) 29 Time (hours per year) 320 Total tax rate (% of profit) 22.3

MOROCCO Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 3,030 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 71 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 65.06 Population (m) 33.0

Starting a business (rank) 54 Registering property (rank) 115 Trading across borders (rank) 31 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 90.33 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 61.26 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 84.64 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 11 Time (days) 40 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 9.2 Cost (% of property value) 5.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 595 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 54 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 970 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 77.89 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 81 Time (days) 94 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 21.1 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 60.14 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 510 Getting electricity (rank) 91 Protecting minority investors (rank) 122 Cost (% of claim) 25.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 74.39 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.83 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 113 Time (days) 62 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 38.47 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,974.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.6 Time (years) 3.5

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 66 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 77.69 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7.5 Payments (number per year) 6 Time (hours per year) 232 Total tax rate (% of profit) 49.3

MOZAMBIQUE Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 590 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 127 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 56.92 Population (m) 25.8

Starting a business (rank) 107 Registering property (rank) 101 Trading across borders (rank) 129 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 82.96 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 64.51 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 64.76 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 13 Time (days) 40 Time to export (days) 21 Cost (% of income per capita) 17.1 Cost (% of property value) 6.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,100 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 25 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 84 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,600 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 73.29 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 164 Time (days) 144 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 39.81 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 5.7 Procedures (number) 30

Time (days) 760 Getting electricity (rank) 164 Protecting minority investors (rank) 94 Cost (% of claim) 119.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 54.65 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 51.67 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 107 Time (days) 107 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 40.75 Cost (% of income per capita) 2,484.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.2 Time (years) 5.0

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 123 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 17.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 66.85 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 10 Payments (number per year) 37 Time (hours per year) 230 Total tax rate (% of profit) 36.6

DOING BUSINESS 2015206

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

MYANMAR East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 869 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 177 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 43.55 Population (m) 53.3

Starting a business (rank) 189 Registering property (rank) 151 Trading across borders (rank) 103 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 22.85 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 52.26 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 70.02 Procedures (number) 11 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 72 Time (days) 113 Time to export (days) 20 Cost (% of income per capita) 155.9 Cost (% of property value) 7.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 620 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 6,190.1 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 171 Time to import (days) 22 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 130 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 10.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 610 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 64.93 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 185 Time (days) 128 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 27.31 Cost (% of warehouse value) 8.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 45

Time (days) 1,160 Getting electricity (rank) 121 Protecting minority investors (rank) 178 Cost (% of claim) 51.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 66.78 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 29.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 2.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 160 Time (days) 91 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 23.51 Cost (% of income per capita) 2,801.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 2.9 Time (years) 5.0

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 116 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 14.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 68.64 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 5 Payments (number per year) 31 Time (hours per year) 154.5 Total tax rate (% of profit) 47.7

NAMIBIA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 5,840 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 88 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 62.81 Population (m) 2.3

Starting a business (rank) 156 Registering property (rank) 173 Trading across borders (rank) 136 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 68.67 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 41.85 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 63.17 Procedures (number) 10 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 66 Time (days) 52 Time to export (days) 24 Cost (% of income per capita) 13.1 Cost (% of property value) 13.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,650 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 61 Time to import (days) 20 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 25 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 55.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,805 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 83.22 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 53 Time (days) 122 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 64.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.82 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 33

Time (days) 460 Getting electricity (rank) 66 Protecting minority investors (rank) 87 Cost (% of claim) 35.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 78.97 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 53.33 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 81 Time (days) 37 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 45.53 Cost (% of income per capita) 391.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.3 Time (years) 2.5

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 85 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 35.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 73.57 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8.5 Payments (number per year) 26 Time (hours per year) 314 Total tax rate (% of profit) 20.7

NEPAL South Asia GNI per capita (US$) 730 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 108 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 60.33 Population (m) 27.8

Starting a business (rank) 104 Registering property (rank) 27 Trading across borders (rank) 171 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.01 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 83.08 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 36.08 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 11 Time (days) 17 Time (days) 5 Time to export (days) 40 Cost (% of income per capita) 32.2 Cost (% of property value) 4.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,545 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 39 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 91 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,650 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 71.83 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 134 Time (days) 86 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 1.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 49.65 Cost (% of warehouse value) 9.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 39

Time (days) 910 Getting electricity (rank) 85 Protecting minority investors (rank) 71 Cost (% of claim) 26.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 76.07 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 56.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 82 Time (days) 70 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 45.41 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,284.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.7 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 126 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 43.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 66.52 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 34 Time (hours per year) 334 Total tax rate (% of profit) 29.5

207COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

NETHERLANDS OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 47,440 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 27 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 75.01 Population (m) 16.8

Starting a business (rank) 21 Registering property (rank) 58 Trading across borders (rank) 13 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 94.08 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 75.02 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 89.22 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 4 Time (days) 2.5 Time to export (days) 7 Cost (% of income per capita) 5.0 Cost (% of property value) 6.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 915 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 6 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 100 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 975 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 70.11 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 19 Time (days) 161 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 79.4 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 75.10 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 26

Time (days) 514 Getting electricity (rank) 90 Protecting minority investors (rank) 94 Cost (% of claim) 23.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 74.40 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 51.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 12 Time (days) 117 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 83.77 Cost (% of income per capita) 33.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.2 Time (years) 1.1

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 23 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 88.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 86.76 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11.5 Payments (number per year) 9 Time (hours per year) 123 Total tax rate (% of profit) 39.0

NEW ZEALAND OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 40,481 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 2 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 86.91 Population (m) 4.5

Starting a business (rank) 1 Registering property (rank) 2 Trading across borders (rank) 27 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 99.96 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 97.05 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 85.41 Procedures (number) 1 Procedures (number) 2 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 0.5 Time (days) 1 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.3 Cost (% of property value) 0.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 870 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 1 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 13 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 100.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 825 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 85.67 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 12 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 9 Time (days) 93 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 77.84 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 30

Time (days) 216 Getting electricity (rank) 48 Protecting minority investors (rank) 1 Cost (% of claim) 27.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 81.90 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 81.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 9.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 28 Time (days) 64 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 71.56 Cost (% of income per capita) 78.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 8.2 Time (years) 1.3

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 22 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 83.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 88.04 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8.5 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 152 Total tax rate (% of profit) 34.4

NICARAGUA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 1,780 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 119 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 58.09 Population (m) 6.1

Starting a business (rank) 120 Registering property (rank) 134 Trading across borders (rank) 74 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 80.27 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 57.58 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 75.84 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 13 Time (days) 58 Time to export (days) 21 Cost (% of income per capita) 73.9 Cost (% of property value) 5.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,140 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 20 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 134 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,245 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 63.50 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 16 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 70 Time (days) 207 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 40.7 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 62.42 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 16.2 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 519 Getting electricity (rank) 95 Protecting minority investors (rank) 172 Cost (% of claim) 26.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 73.84 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 33.33 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 110 Time (days) 55 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 39.64 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,003.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.3 Time (years) 2.2

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 164 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 33.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 49.51 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 43 Time (hours per year) 207 Total tax rate (% of profit) 65.8

DOING BUSINESS 2015208

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

NIGER Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 410 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 168 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 47.63 Population (m) 17.8

Starting a business (rank) 177 Registering property (rank) 95 Trading across borders (rank) 179 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 54.41 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 66.20 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 19.66 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 15 Time (days) 35 Time to export (days) 56 Cost (% of income per capita) 76.7 Cost (% of property value) 9.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 4,475 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 492.0 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 61 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 119 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 4,500 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 66.90 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 132 Time (days) 130 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 49.95 Cost (% of warehouse value) 8.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 1.0 Procedures (number) 39

Time (days) 545 Getting electricity (rank) 165 Protecting minority investors (rank) 146 Cost (% of claim) 52.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 53.65 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 42.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 128 Time (days) 115 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 36.01 Cost (% of income per capita) 6,497.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) 5.0

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 155 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 14.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 57.07 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 41 Time (hours per year) 270 Total tax rate (% of profit) 47.8

NIGERIA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 2,760 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 170 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 47.33 Population (m) 173.6

Starting a business (rank) 129 Registering property (rank) 185 Trading across borders (rank) 159 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 77.13 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 26.56 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 50.12 Procedures (number) 8.7 Procedures (number) 12.1 Documents to export (number) 9 Time (days) 30.8 Time (days) 69.6 Time to export (days) 22.9 Cost (% of income per capita) 31.6 Cost (% of property value) 18.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,564 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 13

Getting credit (rank) 52 Time to import (days) 33.9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 171 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 60.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,960 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 50.00 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 17 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 140 Time (days) 105.9 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 5.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 47.71 Cost (% of warehouse value) 26.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.1 Procedures (number) 40.2

Time (days) 509.8 Getting electricity (rank) 187 Protecting minority investors (rank) 62 Cost (% of claim) 57.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 31.37 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 57.50 Procedures (number) 9 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 131 Time (days) 257.2 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 33.76 Cost (% of income per capita) 478.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 179 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 39.15 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 47 Time (hours per year) 907.9 Total tax rate (% of profit) 32.7

NORWAY OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 102,610 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 6 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 82.40 Population (m) 5.1

Starting a business (rank) 22 Registering property (rank) 5 Trading across borders (rank) 24 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 94.03 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 94.12 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 85.56 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 1 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 5 Time (days) 3 Time to export (days) 8 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.9 Cost (% of property value) 2.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,265 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 5.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 61 Time to import (days) 7 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 27 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 55.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,140 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 83.05 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 8 Time (days) 122.5 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 78.41 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 34

Time (days) 280 Getting electricity (rank) 25 Protecting minority investors (rank) 12 Cost (% of claim) 9.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 87.44 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 70.00 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 8 Time (days) 66 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 85.62 Cost (% of income per capita) 11.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 7.0 Time (years) 0.9

Cost (% of estate) 1 Paying taxes (rank) 15 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 92.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 90.80 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11.5 Payments (number per year) 4 Time (hours per year) 83 Total tax rate (% of profit) 40.7

209COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

OMAN Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 25,289 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 66 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 66.39 Population (m) 3.6

Starting a business (rank) 123 Registering property (rank) 19 Trading across borders (rank) 60 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 79.29 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 88.16 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 78.05 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 2 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 7 Time (days) 16 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 2.4 Cost (% of property value) 3.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 765 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 206.3 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 49 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 700 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.27 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 130 Time (days) 157 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 50.67 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 20.6 Procedures (number) 51

Time (days) 598 Getting electricity (rank) 79 Protecting minority investors (rank) 122 Cost (% of claim) 13.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 76.76 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.83 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 112 Time (days) 62 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 39.02 Cost (% of income per capita) 48.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.6 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 10 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 37.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 92.91 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 14 Time (hours per year) 68 Total tax rate (% of profit) 23.0

PAKISTAN South Asia GNI per capita (US$) 1,380 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 128 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 56.64 Population (m) 182.1

Starting a business (rank) 116 Registering property (rank) 114 Trading across borders (rank) 108 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 80.92 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 61.48 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 69.05 Procedures (number) 10 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 19 Time (days) 50 Time to export (days) 20.7 Cost (% of income per capita) 9.6 Cost (% of property value) 7.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 765 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 18.4 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 125 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,005 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 66.07 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 3 Enforcing contracts (rank) 161 Time (days) 249.4 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 4.5 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 41.53 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 7.3 Procedures (number) 46

Time (days) 993.2 Getting electricity (rank) 146 Protecting minority investors (rank) 21 Cost (% of claim) 23.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 60.10 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 66.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 78 Time (days) 178.3 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 46.18 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,353.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.7 Time (years) 2.7

Cost (% of estate) 6 Paying taxes (rank) 172 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 39.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 44.46 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8 Payments (number per year) 47 Time (hours per year) 594 Total tax rate (% of profit) 32.6

PALAU East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 10,970 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 113 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 59.50 Population (m) 0.0

Starting a business (rank) 111 Registering property (rank) 21 Trading across borders (rank) 105 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 81.83 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 86.25 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 69.49 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 28 Time (days) 14 Time to export (days) 26 Cost (% of income per capita) 3.3 Cost (% of property value) 0.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 720 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 8.8 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 30 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 66 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 680 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 75.64 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 10 Procedures (number) 19 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 127 Time (days) 72 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 51.28 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 810 Getting electricity (rank) 98 Protecting minority investors (rank) 183 Cost (% of claim) 35.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 72.91 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 26.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 2.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 167 Time (days) 125 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 16.28 Cost (% of income per capita) 115.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 2.7 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 23 Paying taxes (rank) 132 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 30.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 64.65 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 11 Time (hours per year) 142 Total tax rate (% of profit) 75.4

DOING BUSINESS 2015210

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

PANAMA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 10,700 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 52 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 69.22 Population (m) 3.9

Starting a business (rank) 38 Registering property (rank) 61 Trading across borders (rank) 9 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.93 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 74.65 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 91.25 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 6 Time (days) 22.5 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 6.4 Cost (% of property value) 2.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 665 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 3

Getting credit (rank) 17 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 63 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 75.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,030 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 75.97 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 84 Time (days) 101 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 63.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 58.87 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 32

Time (days) 686 Getting electricity (rank) 29 Protecting minority investors (rank) 76 Cost (% of claim) 38.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 86.39 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 55.83 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 132 Time (days) 35 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 33.66 Cost (% of income per capita) 9.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.6 Time (years) 2.5

Cost (% of estate) 25 Paying taxes (rank) 166 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 48.60 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 52 Time (hours per year) 417 Total tax rate (% of profit) 37.2

PAPUA NEW GUINEA East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 2,010 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 133 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 55.78 Population (m) 7.3

Starting a business (rank) 130 Registering property (rank) 85 Trading across borders (rank) 138 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 77.03 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 69.03 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 62.61 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 53 Time (days) 72 Time to export (days) 23 Cost (% of income per capita) 19.4 Cost (% of property value) 5.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,335 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 165 Time to import (days) 30 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 141 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 15.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,350 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 62.14 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 17 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 181 Time (days) 217 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 3.6 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 31.92 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 42

Time (days) 591 Getting electricity (rank) 26 Protecting minority investors (rank) 94 Cost (% of claim) 110.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 87.27 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 51.67 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 141 Time (days) 66 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 31.64 Cost (% of income per capita) 54.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.2 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 23 Paying taxes (rank) 110 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 24.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 69.50 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 32 Time (hours per year) 207 Total tax rate (% of profit) 39.3

PARAGUAY Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 4,040 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 92 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 62.50 Population (m) 6.8

Starting a business (rank) 126 Registering property (rank) 60 Trading across borders (rank) 150 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 77.52 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 74.73 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 55.92 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 35 Time (days) 46 Time to export (days) 29 Cost (% of income per capita) 39.9 Cost (% of property value) 1.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,850 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 30 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 43 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,275 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.79 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 90 Time (days) 136 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 45.5 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 58.21 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 22.8 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 591 Getting electricity (rank) 51 Protecting minority investors (rank) 166 Cost (% of claim) 30.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 81.13 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 38.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 106 Time (days) 67 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 40.87 Cost (% of income per capita) 160.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.8 Time (years) 3.9

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 111 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 20.8 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 69.45 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9.5 Payments (number per year) 20 Time (hours per year) 378 Total tax rate (% of profit) 35.0

211COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

PERU Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 6,390 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 35 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 72.11 Population (m) 30.4

Starting a business (rank) 89 Registering property (rank) 26 Trading across borders (rank) 55 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 85.10 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 83.48 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 78.81 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 26 Time (days) 6.5 Time to export (days) 12 Cost (% of income per capita) 9.2 Cost (% of property value) 3.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 890 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 12 Time to import (days) 17 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 87 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 80.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,010 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 72.91 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 8 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 100 Time (days) 174 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 57.46 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 33.5 Procedures (number) 41

Time (days) 426 Getting electricity (rank) 86 Protecting minority investors (rank) 40 Cost (% of claim) 35.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 75.67 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 61.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 76 Time (days) 100 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 46.57 Cost (% of income per capita) 325.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.2 Time (years) 3.1

Cost (% of estate) 7 Paying taxes (rank) 57 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 28.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 79.43 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 10 Payments (number per year) 9 Time (hours per year) 293 Total tax rate (% of profit) 36.0

PHILIPPINES East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 3,270 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 95 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 62.08 Population (m) 98.4

Starting a business (rank) 161 Registering property (rank) 108 Trading across borders (rank) 65 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 67.23 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 62.81 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 77.23 Procedures (number) 16 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 34 Time (days) 35 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 16.6 Cost (% of property value) 4.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 755 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 3.6 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 15 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 124 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 915 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 66.08 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 24 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 124 Time (days) 94 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 11.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 52.02 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 842 Getting electricity (rank) 16 Protecting minority investors (rank) 154 Cost (% of claim) 31.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 90.59 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 41.67 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 50 Time (days) 42 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 56.74 Cost (% of income per capita) 90.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.2 Time (years) 2.7

Cost (% of estate) 32 Paying taxes (rank) 127 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 21.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 66.46 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 14.5 Payments (number per year) 36 Time (hours per year) 193 Total tax rate (% of profit) 42.5

POLAND OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 12,960 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 32 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 73.56 Population (m) 38.5

Starting a business (rank) 85 Registering property (rank) 39 Trading across borders (rank) 41 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 85.79 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 80.30 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 81.80 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 30 Time (days) 33 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 12.9 Cost (% of property value) 0.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,050 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 12.3 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 17 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 137 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 75.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,025 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 62.97 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 19 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 52 Time (days) 212 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 84.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.83 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 33

Time (days) 685 Getting electricity (rank) 64 Protecting minority investors (rank) 35 Cost (% of claim) 19.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 79.19 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 62.50 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 32 Time (days) 161 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 69.73 Cost (% of income per capita) 20.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.3 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 87 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 57.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 73.51 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12.5 Payments (number per year) 18 Time (hours per year) 286 Total tax rate (% of profit) 38.7

DOING BUSINESS 2015212

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

PORTUGAL OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 20,670 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 25 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 76.03 Population (m) 10.5

Starting a business (rank) 10 Registering property (rank) 25 Trading across borders (rank) 29 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 96.27 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 83.67 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 85.20 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 1 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 2.5 Time (days) 1 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 2.3 Cost (% of property value) 7.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 780 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 13 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 58 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 925 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 77.31 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 27 Time (days) 113 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 23.4 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 69.65 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 100.0 Procedures (number) 34

Time (days) 547 Getting electricity (rank) 47 Protecting minority investors (rank) 51 Cost (% of claim) 13.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 82.00 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 59.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 10 Time (days) 64 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 84.19 Cost (% of income per capita) 52.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.9 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 64 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 72.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 77.84 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 14.5 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 275 Total tax rate (% of profit) 42.4

PUERTO RICO (U.S.) Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 19,210 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 47 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 70.35 Population (m) 3.6

Starting a business (rank) 48 Registering property (rank) 163 Trading across borders (rank) 84 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.17 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 47.90 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 74.53 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 6 Time (days) 193.5 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.8 Cost (% of property value) 0.9 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,300 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 7 Time to import (days) 15 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 158 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 85.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,350 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 56.28 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 10 Procedures (number) 20 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 92 Time (days) 165 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 58.03 Cost (% of warehouse value) 6.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 39

Time (days) 620 Getting electricity (rank) 32 Protecting minority investors (rank) 78 Cost (% of claim) 25.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 85.41 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 55.00 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 7 Time (days) 32 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 86.37 Cost (% of income per capita) 352.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.5 Time (years) 2.5

Cost (% of estate) 8 Paying taxes (rank) 133 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 73.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 63.83 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 15 Payments (number per year) 16 Time (hours per year) 218 Total tax rate (% of profit) 66.0

QATAR Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 85,550 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 50 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 69.96 Population (m) 2.2

Starting a business (rank) 103 Registering property (rank) 36 Trading across borders (rank) 61 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.14 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 80.86 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 77.79 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 8.5 Time (days) 13 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 5.2 Cost (% of property value) 0.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 927 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 62.6 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 16 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 23 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,050 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 83.61 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 104 Time (days) 57.5 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 56.73 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 23.3 Procedures (number) 43

Time (days) 570 Getting electricity (rank) 40 Protecting minority investors (rank) 122 Cost (% of claim) 21.6 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 83.97 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.83 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 47 Time (days) 90 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 58.27 Cost (% of income per capita) 9.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.6 Time (years) 2.8

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 1 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 56.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 99.44 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 4 Time (hours per year) 41 Total tax rate (% of profit) 11.3

213COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

ROMANIA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 9,060 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 48 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 70.22 Population (m) 20.0

Starting a business (rank) 38 Registering property (rank) 63 Trading across borders (rank) 65 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.93 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 74.39 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 77.23 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 8 Time (days) 19 Time to export (days) 13 Cost (% of income per capita) 2.1 Cost (% of property value) 1.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,485 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.7 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 7 Time to import (days) 13 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 140 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 85.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,495 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 62.17 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 10 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 51 Time (days) 255 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 46.6 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.95 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 12.3 Procedures (number) 34

Time (days) 512 Getting electricity (rank) 171 Protecting minority investors (rank) 40 Cost (% of claim) 28.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 46.03 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 61.67 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 46 Time (days) 223 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 58.70 Cost (% of income per capita) 496.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.2 Time (years) 3.3

Cost (% of estate) 11 Paying taxes (rank) 52 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 30.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 80.09 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 13.5 Payments (number per year) 14 Time (hours per year) 159 Total tax rate (% of profit) 43.2

RUSSIAN FEDERATION Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 13,860 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 62 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 66.66 Population (m) 143.5

Starting a business (rank) 34 Registering property (rank) 12 Trading across borders (rank) 155 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 92.17 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 91.27 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 53.58 Procedures (number) 4.4 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 9 Time (days) 11.2 Time (days) 19 Time to export (days) 21.1 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.2 Cost (% of property value) 0.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,401 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 61 Time to import (days) 19.4 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 156 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 55.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,595 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 56.70 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 19.8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 14 Time (days) 238.4 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 64.6 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 75.85 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 35

Time (days) 267 Getting electricity (rank) 143 Protecting minority investors (rank) 100 Cost (% of claim) 14.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 60.89 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 50.83 Procedures (number) 5.6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 65 Time (days) 179.1 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 49.69 Cost (% of income per capita) 321.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.1 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 49 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 43.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 80.63 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8.5 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 168 Total tax rate (% of profit) 48.9

RWANDA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 620 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 46 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 70.47 Population (m) 11.8

Starting a business (rank) 112 Registering property (rank) 15 Trading across borders (rank) 164 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 81.66 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 89.20 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 44.67 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 6.5 Time (days) 32 Time to export (days) 26 Cost (% of income per capita) 52.3 Cost (% of property value) 0.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 3,245 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 4 Time to import (days) 27 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 34 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 90.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 4,990 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 81.55 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 11 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 62 Time (days) 77 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 15.7 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 63.94 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 2.4 Procedures (number) 23

Time (days) 230 Getting electricity (rank) 62 Protecting minority investors (rank) 117 Cost (% of claim) 82.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 79.48 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 46.67 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 101 Time (days) 34 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 41.77 Cost (% of income per capita) 3,073.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.7 Time (years) 2.5

Cost (% of estate) 29 Paying taxes (rank) 27 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 19.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 85.79 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 10 Payments (number per year) 17 Time (hours per year) 107 Total tax rate (% of profit) 33.5

DOING BUSINESS 2015214

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

SAMOA East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 3,430 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 67 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 66.17 Population (m) 0.2

Starting a business (rank) 33 Registering property (rank) 48 Trading across borders (rank) 80 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 92.28 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 78.38 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 74.78 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 9 Time (days) 15 Time to export (days) 21 Cost (% of income per capita) 9.4 Cost (% of property value) 3.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 490 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 151 Time to import (days) 28 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 57 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 25.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 615 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 77.57 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 18 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 83 Time (days) 61 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 59.54 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 44

Time (days) 455 Getting electricity (rank) 20 Protecting minority investors (rank) 71 Cost (% of claim) 19.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 89.10 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 56.67 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 124 Time (days) 34 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 36.31 Cost (% of income per capita) 735.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.7 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 38 Paying taxes (rank) 96 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 18.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 72.10 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8.5 Payments (number per year) 37 Time (hours per year) 224 Total tax rate (% of profit) 18.4

SAN MARINO Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 57,301 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 93 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 62.44 Population (m) 0.0

Starting a business (rank) 132 Registering property (rank) 111 Trading across borders (rank) 59 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 76.81 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 61.99 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 78.27 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 40 Time (days) 42.5 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 9.0 Cost (% of property value) 4.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,900 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 29.5 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 180 Time to import (days) 13 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 112 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 5.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,890 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 67.67 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 33 Time (days) 145.5 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 68.85 Cost (% of warehouse value) 5.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 34

Time (days) 575 Getting electricity (rank) 6 Protecting minority investors (rank) 110 Cost (% of claim) 13.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 95.84 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 47.50 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 111 Time (days) 45 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 39.11 Cost (% of income per capita) 59.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.8 Time (years) 2.3

Cost (% of estate) 5 Paying taxes (rank) 34 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 46.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 83.33 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 4.5 Payments (number per year) 19 Time (hours per year) 52 Total tax rate (% of profit) 42.2

SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,470 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 153 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 50.75 Population (m) 0.2

Starting a business (rank) 23 Registering property (rank) 148 Trading across borders (rank) 111 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 93.99 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 53.71 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 68.73 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 4 Time (days) 62 Time to export (days) 26 Cost (% of income per capita) 17.5 Cost (% of property value) 9.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 690 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 185 Time to import (days) 28 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 46 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 0.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 577 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.47 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 0 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 179 Time (days) 104 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 32.37 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 43

Time (days) 1,065 Getting electricity (rank) 57 Protecting minority investors (rank) 183 Cost (% of claim) 50.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 80.24 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 26.67 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 162 Time (days) 89 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 21.70 Cost (% of income per capita) 951.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 2.7 Time (years) 6.2

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 162 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 5.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 51.65 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 45 Time (hours per year) 424 Total tax rate (% of profit) 38.2

215COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

SAUDI ARABIA Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 26,200 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 49 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 69.99 Population (m) 28.8

Starting a business (rank) 109 Registering property (rank) 20 Trading across borders (rank) 92 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 82.71 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 87.77 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 73.01 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 20.5 Time (days) 8 Time to export (days) 13 Cost (% of income per capita) 4.0 Cost (% of property value) 0.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,285 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 17 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 21 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,309 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 84.07 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 108 Time (days) 102 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 47.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 55.86 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 635 Getting electricity (rank) 22 Protecting minority investors (rank) 62 Cost (% of claim) 27.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 88.11 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 57.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 163 Time (days) 61 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 21.67 Cost (% of income per capita) 25.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 2.8

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 3 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 28.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 99.23 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 2 Payments (number per year) 3 Time (hours per year) 64 Total tax rate (% of profit) 14.5

SENEGAL Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,070 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 161 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 49.37 Population (m) 14.1

Starting a business (rank) 90 Registering property (rank) 167 Trading across borders (rank) 79 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 85.04 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 44.39 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 75.08 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 6 Time (days) 71 Time to export (days) 12 Cost (% of income per capita) 63.8 Cost (% of property value) 15.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,225 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 19.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 151 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,940 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 59.85 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 142 Time (days) 200 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 46.53 Cost (% of warehouse value) 7.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 1.0 Procedures (number) 43

Time (days) 740 Getting electricity (rank) 183 Protecting minority investors (rank) 122 Cost (% of claim) 36.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 34.18 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.83 Procedures (number) 8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 99 Time (days) 114 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 41.86 Cost (% of income per capita) 5,862.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.6 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 20 Paying taxes (rank) 183 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 25.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 30.94 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 58 Time (hours per year) 620 Total tax rate (% of profit) 45.1

SERBIA Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 5,730 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 91 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 62.57 Population (m) 7.2

Starting a business (rank) 66 Registering property (rank) 72 Trading across borders (rank) 96 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 88.91 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 71.64 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 72.13 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 12 Time (days) 54 Time to export (days) 12 Cost (% of income per capita) 6.8 Cost (% of property value) 2.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,635 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 52 Time to import (days) 15 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 186 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 60.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,910 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 29.14 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 16 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 96 Time (days) 264 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 57.59 Cost (% of warehouse value) 25.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 635 Getting electricity (rank) 84 Protecting minority investors (rank) 32 Cost (% of claim) 34.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 76.20 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 63.33 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 48 Time (days) 131 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 57.90 Cost (% of income per capita) 454.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.3 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 20 Paying taxes (rank) 165 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 29.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 48.90 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 13.5 Payments (number per year) 67 Time (hours per year) 279 Total tax rate (% of profit) 38.6

DOING BUSINESS 2015216

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

SEYCHELLES Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 12,530 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 85 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 63.16 Population (m) 0.1

Starting a business (rank) 127 Registering property (rank) 78 Trading across borders (rank) 42 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 77.48 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 71.00 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 81.65 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 38 Time (days) 33 Time to export (days) 16 Cost (% of income per capita) 10.7 Cost (% of property value) 7.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 705 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 171 Time to import (days) 17 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 48 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 10.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 675 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.37 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 103 Time (days) 119 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 56.92 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 915 Getting electricity (rank) 130 Protecting minority investors (rank) 56 Cost (% of claim) 15.4 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 64.22 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 58.33 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 61 Time (days) 137 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 52.17 Cost (% of income per capita) 454.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 11 Paying taxes (rank) 43 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 38.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 81.50 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 10 Payments (number per year) 28 Time (hours per year) 88 Total tax rate (% of profit) 31.7

SIERRA LEONE Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 680 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 140 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 54.58 Population (m) 6.1

Starting a business (rank) 91 Registering property (rank) 158 Trading across borders (rank) 133 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 85.02 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 50.63 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 63.61 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 12 Time (days) 56 Time to export (days) 25 Cost (% of income per capita) 37.9 Cost (% of property value) 10.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,185 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 151 Time to import (days) 28 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 120 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 25.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,575 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 66.80 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 16 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 109 Time (days) 166 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 55.68 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 1.0 Procedures (number) 39

Time (days) 515 Getting electricity (rank) 172 Protecting minority investors (rank) 62 Cost (% of claim) 39.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 45.51 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 57.50 Procedures (number) 8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 143 Time (days) 82 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 30.68 Cost (% of income per capita) 4,237.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 2.3

Cost (% of estate) 42 Paying taxes (rank) 130 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 10.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 65.39 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8 Payments (number per year) 33 Time (hours per year) 353 Total tax rate (% of profit) 31.0

SINGAPORE East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 54,040 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 1 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 88.27 Population (m) 5.4

Starting a business (rank) 6 Registering property (rank) 24 Trading across borders (rank) 1 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 96.48 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 84.78 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 96.47 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 2.5 Time (days) 4.5 Time to export (days) 6 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.6 Cost (% of property value) 2.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 460 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 3

Getting credit (rank) 17 Time to import (days) 4 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 2 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 75.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 440 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 92.84 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 8 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 1 Time (days) 26 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 50.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 89.54 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 21

Time (days) 150 Getting electricity (rank) 11 Protecting minority investors (rank) 3 Cost (% of claim) 25.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 92.45 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 80.00 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 9.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 19 Time (days) 31 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 77.94 Cost (% of income per capita) 26.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 8.0 Time (years) 0.8

Cost (% of estate) 3 Paying taxes (rank) 5 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 89.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 97.19 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9.5 Payments (number per year) 5 Time (hours per year) 82 Total tax rate (% of profit) 18.4

217COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

SLOVAK REPUBLIC OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 17,390 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 37 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 71.83 Population (m) 5.4

Starting a business (rank) 77 Registering property (rank) 11 Trading across borders (rank) 71 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 87.02 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 91.88 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 76.49 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 11.5 Time (days) 16.5 Time to export (days) 16 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.5 Cost (% of property value) 0.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,525 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 19.2 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 16 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 110 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,505 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 68.19 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 55 Time (days) 286 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 65.7 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 64.68 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 2.8 Procedures (number) 33

Time (days) 545 Getting electricity (rank) 100 Protecting minority investors (rank) 100 Cost (% of claim) 30.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 72.71 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 50.83 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 31 Time (days) 128 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 69.93 Cost (% of income per capita) 56.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.1 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 100 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 54.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 71.57 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 13 Payments (number per year) 20 Time (hours per year) 207 Total tax rate (% of profit) 48.6

SLOVENIA OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 22,750 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 51 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 69.87 Population (m) 2.1

Starting a business (rank) 15 Registering property (rank) 90 Trading across borders (rank) 53 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 94.39 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 67.04 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 79.29 Procedures (number) 2 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 6 Time (days) 109.5 Time to export (days) 16 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.0 Cost (% of property value) 2.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 745 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 44.1 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 90 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 830 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 71.91 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 4 Enforcing contracts (rank) 122 Time (days) 212.5 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 52.40 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 3.2 Procedures (number) 32

Time (days) 1,270 Getting electricity (rank) 31 Protecting minority investors (rank) 14 Cost (% of claim) 12.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 85.50 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 68.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 42 Time (days) 38 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 62.91 Cost (% of income per capita) 119.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.8 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 42 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 50.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 81.94 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11.5 Payments (number per year) 11 Time (hours per year) 260 Total tax rate (% of profit) 32.0

SOLOMON ISLANDS East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 1,610 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 87 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 63.08 Population (m) 0.6

Starting a business (rank) 93 Registering property (rank) 156 Trading across borders (rank) 87 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 84.60 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 50.84 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 74.24 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 10 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 9 Time (days) 86.5 Time to export (days) 22 Cost (% of income per capita) 35.5 Cost (% of property value) 4.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 840 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 71 Time to import (days) 20 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 36 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 50.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 785 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 80.73 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 10 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 150 Time (days) 98 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 44.63 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 455 Getting electricity (rank) 45 Protecting minority investors (rank) 92 Cost (% of claim) 78.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 82.94 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 52.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 139 Time (days) 53 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 31.87 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,562.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.3 Time (years) 1.0

Cost (% of estate) 38 Paying taxes (rank) 58 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 24.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 78.42 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 34 Time (hours per year) 80 Total tax rate (% of profit) 32.0

DOING BUSINESS 2015218

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

SOUTH AFRICA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 7,190 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 43 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 71.08 Population (m) 53.0

Starting a business (rank) 61 Registering property (rank) 97 Trading across borders (rank) 100 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 89.43 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 66.02 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 71.05 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 19 Time (days) 23 Time to export (days) 16 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.3 Cost (% of property value) 6.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,830 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 52 Time to import (days) 21 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 32 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 60.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,080 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 81.65 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 16 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 46 Time (days) 48 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 55.4 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 66.14 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 29

Time (days) 600 Getting electricity (rank) 158 Protecting minority investors (rank) 17 Cost (% of claim) 33.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 55.74 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 67.50 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 8.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 39 Time (days) 226 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 64.51 Cost (% of income per capita) 729.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.8 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 18 Paying taxes (rank) 19 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 35.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 88.73 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 14.5 Payments (number per year) 7 Time (hours per year) 200 Total tax rate (% of profit) 28.8

SOUTH SUDAN Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,120 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 186 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 35.72 Population (m) 11.3

Starting a business (rank) 178 Registering property (rank) 180 Trading across borders (rank) 187 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 53.96 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 36.63 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 5.70 Procedures (number) 13 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 10 Time (days) 14 Time (days) 50 Time to export (days) 55 Cost (% of income per capita) 242.4 Cost (% of property value) 15.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 5,335 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 12

Getting credit (rank) 171 Time to import (days) 130 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 167 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 10.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 9,285 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 52.41 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 23 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 94 Time (days) 124 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 57.71 Cost (% of warehouse value) 8.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 48

Time (days) 228 Getting electricity (rank) 179 Protecting minority investors (rank) 173 Cost (% of claim) 30.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 36.68 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 32.50 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 2.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 468 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 3,236.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.3 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 98 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 71.59 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 36 Time (hours per year) 218 Total tax rate (% of profit) 29.1

SPAIN OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 29,180 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 33 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 73.17 Population (m) 46.6

Starting a business (rank) 74 Registering property (rank) 66 Trading across borders (rank) 30 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 88.08 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 73.57 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 84.68 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 13 Time (days) 12 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 4.6 Cost (% of property value) 6.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,310 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 13.8 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 52 Time to import (days) 9 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 105 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 60.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,400 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 69.18 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 7 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 69 Time (days) 229 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 15.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 62.65 Cost (% of warehouse value) 5.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 50.0 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 510 Getting electricity (rank) 74 Protecting minority investors (rank) 30 Cost (% of claim) 18.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 78.18 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 64.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 23 Time (days) 85 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 75.89 Cost (% of income per capita) 242.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.4 Time (years) 1.5

Cost (% of estate) 11 Paying taxes (rank) 76 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 71.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 75.25 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 167 Total tax rate (% of profit) 58.2

219COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

SRI LANKA South Asia GNI per capita (US$) 3,170 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 99 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 61.36 Population (m) 20.5

Starting a business (rank) 104 Registering property (rank) 131 Trading across borders (rank) 69 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.01 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 58.45 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 76.94 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 11 Time (days) 51 Time to export (days) 16 Cost (% of income per capita) 20.7 Cost (% of property value) 5.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 560 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 13 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 60 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 690 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 76.50 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 165 Time (days) 169 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 44.5 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 38.96 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 1,318 Getting electricity (rank) 100 Protecting minority investors (rank) 51 Cost (% of claim) 22.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 72.71 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 59.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 72 Time (days) 104 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 47.81 Cost (% of income per capita) 901.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.9 Time (years) 1.7

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 158 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 42.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 55.00 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8 Payments (number per year) 47 Time (hours per year) 167 Total tax rate (% of profit) 55.6

ST. KITTS AND NEVIS Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 13,460 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 121 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 58.00 Population (m) 0.1

Starting a business (rank) 87 Registering property (rank) 170 Trading across borders (rank) 67 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 85.56 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 43.74 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 77.22 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 18.5 Time (days) 82 Time to export (days) 13 Cost (% of income per capita) 8.7 Cost (% of property value) 13.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 805 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 151 Time to import (days) 12 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 16 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 25.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,615 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 85.24 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 116 Time (days) 104 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 53.80 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 46

Time (days) 578 Getting electricity (rank) 10 Protecting minority investors (rank) 87 Cost (% of claim) 20.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 93.25 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 53.33 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 18 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 291.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.3 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 137 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 62.85 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 35 Time (hours per year) 203 Total tax rate (% of profit) 49.8

ST. LUCIA Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 7,090 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 100 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 61.35 Population (m) 0.2

Starting a business (rank) 72 Registering property (rank) 132 Trading across borders (rank) 122 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 88.24 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 58.38 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 66.44 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 15 Time (days) 17 Time to export (days) 14 Cost (% of income per capita) 17.8 Cost (% of property value) 7.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 935 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 151 Time to import (days) 13 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 39 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 25.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,280 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 79.64 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 145 Time (days) 115 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 45.94 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 46

Time (days) 635 Getting electricity (rank) 23 Protecting minority investors (rank) 141 Cost (% of claim) 37.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 87.95 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 43.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 100 Time (days) 19 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 41.82 Cost (% of income per capita) 191.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 69 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 42.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 76.71 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 32 Time (hours per year) 110 Total tax rate (% of profit) 34.7

DOING BUSINESS 2015220

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 6,580 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 103 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 60.66 Population (m) 0.1

Starting a business (rank) 80 Registering property (rank) 155 Trading across borders (rank) 45 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 86.70 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 51.11 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 81.05 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 10 Time (days) 38 Time to export (days) 12 Cost (% of income per capita) 16.7 Cost (% of property value) 11.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 585 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 151 Time to import (days) 13 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 35 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 25.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,425 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 81.43 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 14 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 101 Time (days) 92 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 57.23 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 44

Time (days) 394 Getting electricity (rank) 8 Protecting minority investors (rank) 71 Cost (% of claim) 30.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 94.67 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 56.67 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 52 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 97.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.7 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 93 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 72.76 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 36 Time (hours per year) 108 Total tax rate (% of profit) 38.6

SUDAN Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,130 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 160 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 49.55 Population (m) 38.0

Starting a business (rank) 139 Registering property (rank) 46 Trading across borders (rank) 162 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 74.71 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 78.72 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 46.98 Procedures (number) 10 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 36 Time (days) 9 Time to export (days) 32 Cost (% of income per capita) 25.1 Cost (% of property value) 2.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,630 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 165 Time to import (days) 46 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 160 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 15.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 3,400 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 55.81 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 163 Time (days) 270 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 1.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 40.43 Cost (% of warehouse value) 4.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 53

Time (days) 810 Getting electricity (rank) 136 Protecting minority investors (rank) 174 Cost (% of claim) 19.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 63.30 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 31.67 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 156 Time (days) 70 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 2.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 26.54 Cost (% of income per capita) 4,386.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.2 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 20 Paying taxes (rank) 139 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 31.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 62.34 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 3 Payments (number per year) 42 Time (hours per year) 180 Total tax rate (% of profit) 45.4

SURINAME Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 9,260 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 162 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 49.29 Population (m) 0.5

Starting a business (rank) 181 Registering property (rank) 178 Trading across borders (rank) 106 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 48.05 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 38.92 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 69.42 Procedures (number) 13 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 84 Time (days) 106 Time to export (days) 22 Cost (% of income per capita) 106.4 Cost (% of property value) 13.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,050 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.3 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 171 Time to import (days) 19 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 79 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 10.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,190 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 74.13 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 184 Time (days) 223 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 28.84 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 44

Time (days) 1,715 Getting electricity (rank) 69 Protecting minority investors (rank) 171 Cost (% of claim) 37.1 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 78.68 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 34.17 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 2.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 130 Time (days) 113 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 34.27 Cost (% of income per capita) 486.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.4 Time (years) 5.0

Cost (% of estate) 30 Paying taxes (rank) 71 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 8.5 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 76.45 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9.5 Payments (number per year) 30 Time (hours per year) 199 Total tax rate (% of profit) 27.9

221COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

SWAZILAND Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 3,080 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 110 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 59.77 Population (m) 1.2

Starting a business (rank) 145 Registering property (rank) 129 Trading across borders (rank) 127 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 73.47 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 58.78 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 65.43 Procedures (number) 12 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 30 Time (days) 21 Time to export (days) 17 Cost (% of income per capita) 23.3 Cost (% of property value) 7.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,980 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.4 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 61 Time to import (days) 23 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 55 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 55.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,245 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 77.78 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 173 Time (days) 96 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 42.1 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 36.37 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 956 Getting electricity (rank) 140 Protecting minority investors (rank) 110 Cost (% of claim) 56.1 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 61.81 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 47.50 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 80 Time (days) 137 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 45.80 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,039.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.8 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 74 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 38.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 75.76 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8 Payments (number per year) 33 Time (hours per year) 110 Total tax rate (% of profit) 35.6

SWEDEN OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 59,130 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 11 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 80.60 Population (m) 9.6

Starting a business (rank) 32 Registering property (rank) 18 Trading across borders (rank) 4 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 92.30 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 88.47 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 93.06 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 1 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 16 Time (days) 14 Time to export (days) 9 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.5 Cost (% of property value) 4.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 725 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 12.8 Documents to import (number) 3

Getting credit (rank) 61 Time to import (days) 6 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 18 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 55.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 735 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 84.73 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 7 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 21 Time (days) 116 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 72.43 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 31

Time (days) 321 Getting electricity (rank) 7 Protecting minority investors (rank) 32 Cost (% of claim) 31.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 94.92 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 63.33 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 17 Time (days) 52 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 78.43 Cost (% of income per capita) 36.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.3 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 35 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 76.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 83.30 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12 Payments (number per year) 6 Time (hours per year) 122 Total tax rate (% of profit) 49.4

SWITZERLAND OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 86,600 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 20 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 77.78 Population (m) 8.1

Starting a business (rank) 69 Registering property (rank) 16 Trading across borders (rank) 22 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 88.42 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 88.71 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 86.10 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 10 Time (days) 16 Time to export (days) 8 Cost (% of income per capita) 2.0 Cost (% of property value) 0.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,660 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 25.4 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 52 Time to import (days) 8 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 45 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 60.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,440 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.50 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 22 Time (days) 154 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 26.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 72.20 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 32

Time (days) 390 Getting electricity (rank) 5 Protecting minority investors (rank) 78 Cost (% of claim) 24.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 96.71 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 55.00 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 41 Time (days) 39 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 63.10 Cost (% of income per capita) 59.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.5 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 18 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 47.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 89.05 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 12 Payments (number per year) 19 Time (hours per year) 63 Total tax rate (% of profit) 29.0

DOING BUSINESS 2015222

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 2,803 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 175 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 46.51 Population (m) 22.8

Starting a business (rank) 152 Registering property (rank) 140 Trading across borders (rank) 146 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 69.23 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 55.46 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 58.57 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 13 Time (days) 19 Time to export (days) 18 Cost (% of income per capita) 14.4 Cost (% of property value) 27.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,995 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 272.1 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 165 Time to import (days) 24 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 189 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 15.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,410 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 0.00 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) NO PRACTICE Depth of credit information index (0–8) 2 Enforcing contracts (rank) 175 Time (days) NO PRACTICE Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 35.17 Cost (% of warehouse value) NO PRACTICE Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 7.7 Procedures (number) 55

Time (days) 872 Getting electricity (rank) 76 Protecting minority investors (rank) 78 Cost (% of claim) 29.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 77.91 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 55.00 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 146 Time (days) 71 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 30.15 Cost (% of income per capita) 801.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.5 Time (years) 4.1

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 117 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 68.54 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 5 Payments (number per year) 19 Time (hours per year) 336 Total tax rate (% of profit) 42.5

TAIWAN, CHINA East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 21,620 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 19 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 78.73 Population (m) 22.8

Starting a business (rank) 15 Registering property (rank) 40 Trading across borders (rank) 32 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 94.39 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 80.19 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 84.38 Procedures (number) 3 Procedures (number) 3 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 10 Time (days) 4 Time to export (days) 10 Cost (% of income per capita) 2.2 Cost (% of property value) 6.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 655 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 52 Time to import (days) 10 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 11 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 60.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 720 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 86.20 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 93 Time (days) 93 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 87.9 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 57.75 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 45

Time (days) 510 Getting electricity (rank) 2 Protecting minority investors (rank) 30 Cost (% of claim) 17.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 98.94 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 64.17 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 18 Time (days) 24 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 78.41 Cost (% of income per capita) 45.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.4 Time (years) 1.9

Cost (% of estate) 4 Paying taxes (rank) 37 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 81.8 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 82.90 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11 Payments (number per year) 11 Time (hours per year) 221 Total tax rate (% of profit) 34.2

TAJIKISTAN Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 990 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 166 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 48.57 Population (m) 8.2

Starting a business (rank) 106 Registering property (rank) 70 Trading across borders (rank) 188 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.00 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 72.06 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 3.85 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 11 Time (days) 39 Time (days) 37 Time to export (days) 71 Cost (% of income per capita) 23.3 Cost (% of property value) 3.7 Cost to export (US$ per container) 9,050 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 12

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 70 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 168 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 10,650 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 52.13 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 24 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 40 Time (days) 228 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 7.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 67.42 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 35

Time (days) 430 Getting electricity (rank) 178 Protecting minority investors (rank) 56 Cost (% of claim) 25.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 38.59 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 58.33 Procedures (number) 9 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 6.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 149 Time (days) 185 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 29.26 Cost (% of income per capita) 942.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 1.7

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 169 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 36.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 46.06 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 3 Payments (number per year) 31 Time (hours per year) 209 Total tax rate (% of profit) 80.9

223COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

TANZANIA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 630 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 131 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 56.38 Population (m) 49.3

Starting a business (rank) 124 Registering property (rank) 123 Trading across borders (rank) 137 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 78.85 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 60.10 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 62.96 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 26 Time (days) 67 Time to export (days) 18 Cost (% of income per capita) 23.8 Cost (% of property value) 4.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,090 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 11

Getting credit (rank) 151 Time to import (days) 26 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 169 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 25.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,615 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 52.03 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 18 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 45 Time (days) 205 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.6 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 66.17 Cost (% of warehouse value) 8.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 515 Getting electricity (rank) 87 Protecting minority investors (rank) 141 Cost (% of claim) 14.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 75.28 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 43.33 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 105 Time (days) 109 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 41.12 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,453.0 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 148 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 21.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 58.95 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9.5 Payments (number per year) 49 Time (hours per year) 181 Total tax rate (% of profit) 44.3

THAILAND East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 5,370 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 26 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 75.27 Population (m) 67.0

Starting a business (rank) 75 Registering property (rank) 28 Trading across borders (rank) 36 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 87.98 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 83.04 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 83.57 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 2 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 27.5 Time (days) 2 Time to export (days) 14 Cost (% of income per capita) 6.6 Cost (% of property value) 6.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 595 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 13 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 6 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 760 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 88.77 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 7 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 25 Time (days) 113 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 52.7 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 70.05 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 440 Getting electricity (rank) 12 Protecting minority investors (rank) 25 Cost (% of claim) 15.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 91.71 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 65.83 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 45 Time (days) 35 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 58.73 Cost (% of income per capita) 66.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.6 Time (years) 2.7

Cost (% of estate) 36 Paying taxes (rank) 62 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 42.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 77.99 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11.5 Payments (number per year) 22 Time (hours per year) 264 Total tax rate (% of profit) 26.9

TIMOR-LESTE East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 3,580 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 172 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 46.89 Population (m) 1.2

Starting a business (rank) 96 Registering property (rank) 189 Trading across borders (rank) 94 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.73 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 0.00 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 72.49 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) NO PRACTICE Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 10 Time (days) NO PRACTICE Time to export (days) 28 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.3 Cost (% of property value) NO PRACTICE Cost to export (US$ per container) 410 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 127.5 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 160 Time to import (days) 26 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 115 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 20.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 415 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 67.52 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 0 Procedures (number) 16 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 4 Enforcing contracts (rank) 189 Time (days) 207 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 3.59 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.3 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 5.7 Procedures (number) 51

Time (days) 1,285 Getting electricity (rank) 15 Protecting minority investors (rank) 100 Cost (% of claim) 163.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 90.79 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 50.83 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 63 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 654.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.1 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 55 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 79.97 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 18 Time (hours per year) 276 Total tax rate (% of profit) 11.0

DOING BUSINESS 2015224

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

TOGO Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 530 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 149 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 51.29 Population (m) 6.8

Starting a business (rank) 134 Registering property (rank) 182 Trading across borders (rank) 112 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 76.06 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 34.88 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 68.58 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 10 Time (days) 295 Time to export (days) 24 Cost (% of income per capita) 94.9 Cost (% of property value) 9.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,015 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 37.5 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 29 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 170 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,190 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 50.57 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 134 Time (days) 165 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 49.65 Cost (% of warehouse value) 16.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 3.0 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 588 Getting electricity (rank) 134 Protecting minority investors (rank) 122 Cost (% of claim) 47.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 63.42 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 45.83 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 93 Time (days) 74 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 43.12 Cost (% of income per capita) 5,567.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.6 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 163 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 50.81 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 50 Time (hours per year) 270 Total tax rate (% of profit) 50.3

TONGA East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 4,490 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 69 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 65.72 Population (m) 0.1

Starting a business (rank) 51 Registering property (rank) 174 Trading across borders (rank) 78 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 90.74 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 40.63 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 75.49 Procedures (number) 4 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 16 Time (days) 112 Time to export (days) 22 Cost (% of income per capita) 7.6 Cost (% of property value) 15.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 515 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 25 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 14 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 500 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 85.40 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 10 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 3 Enforcing contracts (rank) 48 Time (days) 62 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 12.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 65.65 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 37

Time (days) 350 Getting electricity (rank) 35 Protecting minority investors (rank) 161 Cost (% of claim) 30.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 85.03 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 40.00 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 133 Time (days) 42 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 33.34 Cost (% of income per capita) 93.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.0 Time (years) 2.7

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 73 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 75.93 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 29 Time (hours per year) 200 Total tax rate (% of profit) 30.1

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 15,760 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 79 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 64.24 Population (m) 1.3

Starting a business (rank) 71 Registering property (rank) 159 Trading across borders (rank) 76 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 88.33 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 50.00 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 75.55 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 11.5 Time (days) 77 Time to export (days) 11 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.7 Cost (% of property value) 7.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 843 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 113 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,260 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 67.66 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 13 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 180 Time (days) 250 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 67.4 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 32.27 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.1 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 42

Time (days) 1,340 Getting electricity (rank) 21 Protecting minority investors (rank) 62 Cost (% of claim) 33.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 88.18 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 57.50 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 66 Time (days) 61 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 48.97 Cost (% of income per capita) 6.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.8 Time (years) 2.5

Cost (% of estate) 25 Paying taxes (rank) 113 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.1 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 68.98 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11 Payments (number per year) 39 Time (hours per year) 210 Total tax rate (% of profit) 32.0

225COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

TUNISIA Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 4,360 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 60 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 67.35 Population (m) 10.9

Starting a business (rank) 100 Registering property (rank) 71 Trading across borders (rank) 50 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 83.60 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 72.03 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 80.36 Procedures (number) 10 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 11 Time (days) 39 Time to export (days) 16 Cost (% of income per capita) 4.2 Cost (% of property value) 6.1 Cost to export (US$ per container) 805 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 20 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 85 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 910 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 73.19 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 17 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 5 Enforcing contracts (rank) 78 Time (days) 93 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 60.96 Cost (% of warehouse value) 2.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 30.2 Procedures (number) 39

Time (days) 565 Getting electricity (rank) 38 Protecting minority investors (rank) 78 Cost (% of claim) 21.8 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 84.59 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 55.00 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 54 Time (days) 65 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 54.71 Cost (% of income per capita) 738.7 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.5 Time (years) 1.3

Cost (% of estate) 7 Paying taxes (rank) 82 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 52.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 74.11 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8.5 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 144 Total tax rate (% of profit) 62.4

TURKEY Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 10,950 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 55 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 68.66 Population (m) 74.9

Starting a business (rank) 79 Registering property (rank) 54 Trading across borders (rank) 90 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 86.86 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 76.38 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 73.26 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 6.5 Time (days) 6 Time to export (days) 13 Cost (% of income per capita) 16.4 Cost (% of property value) 4.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 990 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 12.1 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 136 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,235 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 63.10 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 3 Procedures (number) 18 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 38 Time (days) 169 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 67.92 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.5 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 63.6 Procedures (number) 35

Time (days) 420 Getting electricity (rank) 34 Protecting minority investors (rank) 13 Cost (% of claim) 24.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 85.12 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 69.17 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 109 Time (days) 70 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 40.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 433.3 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.9 Time (years) 3.3

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 56 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 27.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 79.80 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8 Payments (number per year) 11 Time (hours per year) 226 Total tax rate (% of profit) 40.1

UGANDA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 510 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 150 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 51.11 Population (m) 37.6

Starting a business (rank) 166 Registering property (rank) 125 Trading across borders (rank) 161 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 63.44 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 59.76 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 48.01 Procedures (number) 15 Procedures (number) 11 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 32 Time (days) 43 Time to export (days) 28 Cost (% of income per capita) 64.4 Cost (% of property value) 2.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 2,800 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 10

Getting credit (rank) 131 Time to import (days) 31 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 163 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 30.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 3,375 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 54.88 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 6 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 80 Time (days) 154 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 4.9 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 60.48 Cost (% of warehouse value) 11.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 490 Getting electricity (rank) 184 Protecting minority investors (rank) 110 Cost (% of claim) 31.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 33.48 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 47.50 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 98 Time (days) 132 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 42.27 Cost (% of income per capita) 11,004.9 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.8 Time (years) 2.2

Cost (% of estate) 30 Paying taxes (rank) 104 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 37.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 71.32 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 31 Time (hours per year) 209 Total tax rate (% of profit) 36.5

DOING BUSINESS 2015226

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

UKRAINE Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 3,960 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 96 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 61.52 Population (m) 45.5

Starting a business (rank) 76 Registering property (rank) 59 Trading across borders (rank) 154 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 87.35 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 74.82 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 53.96 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 7 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 21 Time (days) 27 Time to export (days) 29 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.2 Cost (% of property value) 2.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,880 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 17 Time to import (days) 28 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 70 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 75.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 2,455 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 75.29 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 8 Procedures (number) 8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 43 Time (days) 64 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 48.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 66.25 Cost (% of warehouse value) 10.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 30

Time (days) 378 Getting electricity (rank) 185 Protecting minority investors (rank) 109 Cost (% of claim) 46.3 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 32.65 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 48.33 Procedures (number) 10 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 142 Time (days) 277 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 31.17 Cost (% of income per capita) 165.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.8 Time (years) 2.9

Cost (% of estate) 42 Paying taxes (rank) 108 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 8.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 70.33 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8.5 Payments (number per year) 5 Time (hours per year) 350 Total tax rate (% of profit) 52.9

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 38,620 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 22 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 76.81 Population (m) 9.3

Starting a business (rank) 58 Registering property (rank) 4 Trading across borders (rank) 8 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 89.97 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 96.66 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 91.46 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 2 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 8 Time (days) 2 Time to export (days) 7 Cost (% of income per capita) 6.3 Cost (% of property value) 0.2 Cost to export (US$ per container) 665 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 89 Time to import (days) 7 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 4 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 45.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 625 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 91.22 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 2 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 121 Time (days) 44 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 28.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 52.52 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 6.8 Procedures (number) 49

Time (days) 524 Getting electricity (rank) 4 Protecting minority investors (rank) 43 Cost (% of claim) 19.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 97.44 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 60.83 Procedures (number) 3 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 7.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 92 Time (days) 35 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 43.51 Cost (% of income per capita) 24.2 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.1 Time (years) 3.2

Cost (% of estate) 20 Paying taxes (rank) 1 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 28.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 99.44 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9 Payments (number per year) 4 Time (hours per year) 12 Total tax rate (% of profit) 14.8

UNITED KINGDOM OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 39,110 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 8 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 80.96 Population (m) 64.1

Starting a business (rank) 45 Registering property (rank) 68 Trading across borders (rank) 15 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.23 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 72.55 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 88.32 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 4 Time (days) 6 Time (days) 21.5 Time to export (days) 8 Cost (% of income per capita) 0.3 Cost (% of property value) 4.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,005 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 4

Getting credit (rank) 17 Time to import (days) 6 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 17 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 75.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,050 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 85.06 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 9 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 36 Time (days) 105 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 68.08 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 29

Time (days) 437 Getting electricity (rank) 70 Protecting minority investors (rank) 4 Cost (% of claim) 39.9 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 78.42 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 78.33 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 8.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 13 Time (days) 126 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 7.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 82.04 Cost (% of income per capita) 90.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 7.8 Time (years) 1.0

Cost (% of estate) 6 Paying taxes (rank) 16 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 88.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 90.52 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 11 Payments (number per year) 8 Time (hours per year) 110 Total tax rate (% of profit) 33.7

227COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

UNITED STATES OECD high income GNI per capita (US$) 53,670 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 7 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 81.98 Population (m) 316.1

Starting a business (rank) 46 Registering property (rank) 29 Trading across borders (rank) 16 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 91.22 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 82.92 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 88.25 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 4.4 Documents to export (number) 3 Time (days) 5.6 Time (days) 15.2 Time to export (days) 6 Cost (% of income per capita) 1.2 Cost (% of property value) 2.4 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,224 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 5

Getting credit (rank) 2 Time to import (days) 5.4 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 41 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 95.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,289 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 78.87 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 11 Procedures (number) 15.8 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 41 Time (days) 78.6 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 67.26 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.0 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 33.6

Time (days) 420 Getting electricity (rank) 61 Protecting minority investors (rank) 25 Cost (% of claim) 30.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 79.52 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 65.83 Procedures (number) 4.8 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 8.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 4 Time (days) 89.6 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 90.12 Cost (% of income per capita) 25.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 6.6 Time (years) 1.5

Cost (% of estate) 8 Paying taxes (rank) 47 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 80.4 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 80.84 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 15 Payments (number per year) 10.6 Time (hours per year) 175 Total tax rate (% of profit) 43.8

URUGUAY Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 15,180 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 82 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 63.89 Population (m) 3.4

Starting a business (rank) 60 Registering property (rank) 146 Trading across borders (rank) 83 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 89.68 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 54.57 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 74.60 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 6.5 Time (days) 66 Time to export (days) 15 Cost (% of income per capita) 23.4 Cost (% of property value) 7.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,125 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 52 Time to import (days) 14 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 162 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 60.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,440 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 55.69 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 4 Procedures (number) 21 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 8 Enforcing contracts (rank) 106 Time (days) 251 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 56.59 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.8 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 84.6 Procedures (number) 40

Time (days) 725 Getting electricity (rank) 39 Protecting minority investors (rank) 110 Cost (% of claim) 19.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 84.48 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 47.50 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.0 Resolving insolvency (rank) 57 Time (days) 48 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 53.47 Cost (% of income per capita) 14.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.8 Time (years) 1.8

Cost (% of estate) 7 Paying taxes (rank) 140 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 44.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 62.32 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 9.5 Payments (number per year) 33 Time (hours per year) 312 Total tax rate (% of profit) 41.8

UZBEKISTAN Europe & Central Asia GNI per capita (US$) 1,900 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 141 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 54.26 Population (m) 30.2

Starting a business (rank) 65 Registering property (rank) 143 Trading across borders (rank) 189 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 89.00 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 55.21 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 2.56 Procedures (number) 7 Procedures (number) 13 Documents to export (number) 11 Time (days) 7.5 Time (days) 55 Time to export (days) 54 Cost (% of income per capita) 3.3 Cost (% of property value) 1.3 Cost to export (US$ per container) 5,090 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 13

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 104 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 149 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 6,452 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 60.28 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 23 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 28 Time (days) 160 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 17.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 69.47 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 41

Time (days) 195 Getting electricity (rank) 145 Protecting minority investors (rank) 100 Cost (% of claim) 20.5 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 60.54 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 50.83 Procedures (number) 7 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 77 Time (days) 89 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 4.8 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 46.45 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,688.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.1 Time (years) 2.0

Cost (% of estate) 10 Paying taxes (rank) 118 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 39.9 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 68.30 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 8 Payments (number per year) 33 Time (hours per year) 192.5 Total tax rate (% of profit) 42.2

DOING BUSINESS 2015228

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

VANUATU East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 3,130 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 76 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 64.60 Population (m) 0.3

Starting a business (rank) 137 Registering property (rank) 91 Trading across borders (rank) 113 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 75.26 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 66.95 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 68.50 Procedures (number) 8 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 35 Time (days) 58 Time to export (days) 21 Cost (% of income per capita) 46.2 Cost (% of property value) 7.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,490 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 7

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 24 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 80 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,440 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 73.92 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 10 Procedures (number) 12 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 3 Enforcing contracts (rank) 77 Time (days) 55 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 6.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 61.20 Cost (% of warehouse value) 8.4 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 30

Time (days) 430 Getting electricity (rank) 115 Protecting minority investors (rank) 135 Cost (% of claim) 56.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 68.76 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 44.17 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 103 Time (days) 122 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 41.48 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,229.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.4 Time (years) 2.6

Cost (% of estate) 38 Paying taxes (rank) 48 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 42.2 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 80.79 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 6 Payments (number per year) 31 Time (hours per year) 120 Total tax rate (% of profit) 8.5

VENEZUELA, RB Latin America & Caribbean GNI per capita (US$) 12,550 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 182 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 41.41 Population (m) 30.4

Starting a business (rank) 182 Registering property (rank) 102 Trading across borders (rank) 176 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 45.23 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 64.12 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 25.55 Procedures (number) 17 Procedures (number) 9 Documents to export (number) 8 Time (days) 144 Time (days) 52 Time to export (days) 56 Cost (% of income per capita) 49.9 Cost (% of property value) 2.5 Cost to export (US$ per container) 3,490 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 82 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 152 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 3,695 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 59.34 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 1 Procedures (number) 9 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 79 Time (days) 380 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 28.7 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 60.89 Cost (% of warehouse value) 1.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 30

Time (days) 610 Getting electricity (rank) 155 Protecting minority investors (rank) 178 Cost (% of claim) 43.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 57.21 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 29.17 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 2.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 165 Time (days) 178 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 19.20 Cost (% of income per capita) 714.1 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 2.9 Time (years) 4.0

Cost (% of estate) 38 Paying taxes (rank) 188 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 6.7 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 13.37 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 5 Payments (number per year) 71 Time (hours per year) 792 Total tax rate (% of profit) 65.5

VIETNAM East Asia & Pacific GNI per capita (US$) 1,730 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 78 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 64.42 Population (m) 89.7

Starting a business (rank) 125 Registering property (rank) 33 Trading across borders (rank) 75 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 77.68 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 81.44 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 75.56 Procedures (number) 10 Procedures (number) 4 Documents to export (number) 5 Time (days) 34 Time (days) 57 Time to export (days) 21 Cost (% of income per capita) 5.3 Cost (% of property value) 0.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 610 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 36 Time to import (days) 21 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 22 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 65.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 600 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 83.66 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 6 Enforcing contracts (rank) 47 Time (days) 114 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 1.4 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 65.89 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 41.8 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 400 Getting electricity (rank) 135 Protecting minority investors (rank) 117 Cost (% of claim) 29.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 63.38 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 46.67 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 3.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 104 Time (days) 115 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.7 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 41.27 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,432.8 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.7 Time (years) 5.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 173 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 18.6 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 43.61 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 10 Payments (number per year) 32 Time (hours per year) 872 Total tax rate (% of profit) 40.8

229COUNTRY TABLES

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

WEST BANK AND GAZA Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,665 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 143 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 53.62 Population (m) 4.2

Starting a business (rank) 162 Registering property (rank) 99 Trading across borders (rank) 130 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 66.53 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 65.08 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 64.43 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 8 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 44 Time (days) 56 Time to export (days) 23 Cost (% of income per capita) 86.2 Cost (% of property value) 3.0 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,750 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 6

Getting credit (rank) 116 Time to import (days) 38 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 173 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 35.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,425 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 48.62 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 0 Procedures (number) 15 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 105 Time (days) 82 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 56.65 Cost (% of warehouse value) 19.6 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 9.0 Procedures (number) 44

Time (days) 540 Getting electricity (rank) 83 Protecting minority investors (rank) 141 Cost (% of claim) 21.2 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 76.26 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 43.33 Procedures (number) 5 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 189 Time (days) 63 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.3 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 0.00 Cost (% of income per capita) 1,484.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 4.3 Time (years) NO PRACTICE

Cost (% of estate) NO PRACTICE Paying taxes (rank) 51 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 0.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 80.29 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 0 Payments (number per year) 28 Time (hours per year) 162 Total tax rate (% of profit) 15.3

YEMEN, REP. Middle East & North Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,330 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 137 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 54.84 Population (m) 24.4

Starting a business (rank) 140 Registering property (rank) 44 Trading across borders (rank) 134 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 74.43 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 79.17 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 63.54 Procedures (number) 6 Procedures (number) 6 Documents to export (number) 6 Time (days) 40 Time (days) 19 Time to export (days) 29 Cost (% of income per capita) 66.3 Cost (% of property value) 1.8 Cost to export (US$ per container) 1,065 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 9

Getting credit (rank) 185 Time to import (days) 27 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 68 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 0.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 1,560 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 75.40 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 0 Procedures (number) 11 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 0 Enforcing contracts (rank) 85 Time (days) 184 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 0.0 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 58.82 Cost (% of warehouse value) 0.9 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 1.2 Procedures (number) 36

Time (days) 645 Getting electricity (rank) 122 Protecting minority investors (rank) 162 Cost (% of claim) 30.0 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 66.74 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 39.17 Procedures (number) 4 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.3 Resolving insolvency (rank) 154 Time (days) 110 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 3.5 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 27.46 Cost (% of income per capita) 3,492.6 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 3.9 Time (years) 3.0

Cost (% of estate) 15 Paying taxes (rank) 135 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 22.0 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 63.62 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 5 Payments (number per year) 44 Time (hours per year) 248 Total tax rate (% of profit) 33.3

ZAMBIA Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 1,480 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 111 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 59.65 Population (m) 14.5

Starting a business (rank) 68 Registering property (rank) 152 Trading across borders (rank) 177 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 88.63 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 51.75 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 20.92 Procedures (number) 5 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 6.5 Time (days) 45 Time to export (days) 51 Cost (% of income per capita) 31.9 Cost (% of property value) 13.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 5,165 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 23 Time to import (days) 53 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 99 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 70.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 7,060 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 70.45 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 7 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 7 Enforcing contracts (rank) 98 Time (days) 208 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 7.3 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 57.53 Cost (% of warehouse value) 3.2 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 35

Time (days) 611 Getting electricity (rank) 126 Protecting minority investors (rank) 83 Cost (% of claim) 38.7 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 65.54 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 54.17 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 5.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 95 Time (days) 117 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 5.2 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 43.01 Cost (% of income per capita) 837.5 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.4 Time (years) 2.4

Cost (% of estate) 9 Paying taxes (rank) 78 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 39.3 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 74.52 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 37 Time (hours per year) 177 Total tax rate (% of profit) 14.8

DOING BUSINESS 2015230

Reform making it easier to do business Change making it more difficult to do business

ZIMBABWE Sub-Saharan Africa GNI per capita (US$) 820 Ease of doing business rank (1–189) 171 Overall distance to frontier (DTF) score (0–100) 46.95 Population (m) 14.1

Starting a business (rank) 180 Registering property (rank) 94 Trading across borders (rank) 180 DTF score for starting a business (0–100) 51.42 DTF score for registering property (0–100) 66.32 DTF score for trading across borders (0–100) 19.40 Procedures (number) 9 Procedures (number) 5 Documents to export (number) 7 Time (days) 90 Time (days) 36 Time to export (days) 53 Cost (% of income per capita) 114.6 Cost (% of property value) 7.6 Cost to export (US$ per container) 4,265 Minimum capital (% of income per capita) 0.0 Documents to import (number) 8

Getting credit (rank) 104 Time to import (days) 71 Dealing with construction permits (rank) 176 DTF score for getting credit (0–100) 40.00 Cost to import (US$ per container) 6,160 DTF score for dealing with construction permits (0–100) 47.16 Strength of legal rights index (0–12) 5 Procedures (number) 10 Depth of credit information index (0–8) 3 Enforcing contracts (rank) 157 Time (days) 448 Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 5.8 DTF score for enforcing contracts (0–100) 43.25 Cost (% of warehouse value) 7.7 Credit registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 Procedures (number) 38

Time (days) 410 Getting electricity (rank) 153 Protecting minority investors (rank) 87 Cost (% of claim) 83.1 DTF score for getting electricity (0–100) 58.00 DTF score for protecting minority investors (0–100) 53.33 Procedures (number) 6 Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0–10) 4.7 Resolving insolvency (rank) 148 Time (days) 106 Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10) 6.0 DTF score for resolving insolvency (0–100) 29.28 Cost (% of income per capita) 3,057.4 Strength of minority investor protection index (0–10) 5.3 Time (years) 3.3

Cost (% of estate) 22 Paying taxes (rank) 143 Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) 13.8 DTF score for paying taxes (0–100) 61.39 Strength of insolvency framework index (0–16) 7 Payments (number per year) 49 Time (hours per year) 242 Total tax rate (% of profit) 32.8

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Labor market regulation data

Employment regulations are un-questionably necessary. They are needed to protect workers from arbitrary or unfair treatment and to

ensure efficient contracting between

employers and workers. They increase

job stability and can improve productivity

through employer-worker cooperation.

They benefit both workers and firms.1

Labor market regulations encompass

a wide spectrum, from rules governing

individual employee contracts to those

relating to collective action, and can

have a significant impact on economic

growth and competitiveness.2 That

impact can be negative where regula-

tory interventions are insufficient or

excessive, so finding the right balance

is essential. The World Bank’s World

Development Report 2013 uses the term

plateau to describe that balance, which

can differ among economies depending

on the economic or political context.

Consistent with the plateau effect,

regulations that are too loose or too

strict can be counterproductive, leading

to losses of employment in an economy

or to its missing out on job-supporting

agglomeration effects and knowledge

spillovers.3

Doing Business measures flexibility in

the regulation of employment as it

affects the hiring and redundancy of

workers and the rigidity of working

hours. This year it also covers addi-

tional areas of labor market regulation,

including social protection schemes

and benefits as well as labor disputes.

NOTES 1. Pierre and Scarpetta 2007.

2. Nataraj and others 2012.

3. World Bank 2012.

DOING BUSINESS 2015232

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

A fg

ha ni

st an

A lb

an ia

A lg

er ia

A ng

o la

A nt

ig ua

a nd

ar b

ud a

A rg

en ti

A rm

en ia

A us

tr al

A us

tr ia

A ze

rb ai

ja n

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

No limit No limit No limit 12 No limit 60 No limit No limit No limit 60

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

0.00 209.86 229.42 151.07 570.10 1,462.19 113.29 2,397.02 1,555.92 133.35

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.00 0.37 0.35 0.18 0.36 1.00 0.25 0.29 0.26 0.16

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 5.5 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 5.5 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

25 50 0 25 0 13 30 87.5 17 40

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

50 25 0 100 0 100 100 100 100 150

Major restrictions on night work?

Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No Yes No No No No No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

20.0 20.0 22.0 22.0 12.0 18.0 20.0 20.0 25.0 17.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

6.0 3.0 6.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 6.0 1.0 3.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes No Yes Yes No No No No Yes No

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No Yes No No No No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes No Yes Yes No No No No Yes No

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes No No Yes No No No No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No No

Priority rules for redundancies?

No No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes

Priority rules for reemployment?

Yes Yes No Yes No No No No Yes No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

4.3 10.1 4.3 4.3 3.4 7.2 6.0 3.0 2.0 8.7

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 17.3 10.7 13.0 26.7 12.8 23.1 5.0 8.7 0.0 13.0

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

.. Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No

233LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

B ah

am as

, T he

B ah

ra in

B an

g la

d es

h (D

ha ka

)

B an

g la

d es

h (C

hi tt

ag o

ng )

B ar

b ad

o s

B el

ar us

B el

g iu

B el

iz e

B en

B hu

ta n

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

No No No No No No No No No No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

No limit 60 No limit No limit No limit No limit No limit No limit 48 No limit

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

693.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 537.50 166.28 2,368.12 384.79 63.30 66.98

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.25 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.29 0.21 0.41 0.62 0.52 0.22

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

0 50 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

0 50 0 0 0 100 0 50 0 0

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No No No No Yes No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No No No No Yes No No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

11.7 30.0 17.0 17.0 20.3 18.0 20.0 10.0 24.0 15.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

6.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 n.a. 3.0 0.0 2.0 2.0 6.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No No No No No No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No No No No No No No No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No No No No Yes No No No No

Priority rules for redundancies?

No No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes No

Priority rules for reemployment?

No No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

2.0 4.3 4.3 4.3 2.7 8.7 19.7 4.7 4.3 8.3

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

10.7 0.0 26.7 26.7 13.3 13.0 0.0 8.3 7.3 0.0

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

No Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No

DOING BUSINESS 2015234

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

B o

liv ia

B o

sn ia

a nd

er ze

g o

vi na

B o

ts w

an a

B ra

zi l

(S ão

P au

lo )

B ra

zi l

(R io

d e

Ja ne

ir o

)

B ru

ne i D

ar us

sa la

B ul

g ar

B ur

ki na

F as

B ur

un d

C ab

o V

er d

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No Yes

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

24 24 No limit 24 24 No limit 36 No limit No limit 60

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

164.71 383.26 96.99 437.80 484.24 0.00 233.18 63.42 2.50 131.08

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.47 0.67 0.09 0.31 0.34 0.00 0.27 0.59 0.06 0.28

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

25 30 0 20 20 0 3 0 35 25

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

100 20 100 100 100 50 0 0 0 100

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No Yes Yes No Yes No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No No No No No Yes No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

21.7 18.0 15.0 26.0 26.0 13.3 20.0 22.0 21.0 22.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

3.0 6.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 n.a. 6.0 2.0 6.0 2.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

n.a. No Yes No No No No No No Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

n.a. No No No No No No No No Yes

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

n.a. Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

n.a. No No No No No No No No Yes

Retraining or reassignment?f

n.a. Yes No No No No No No No Yes

Priority rules for redundancies?

n.a. No Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes

Priority rules for reemployment?

n.a. Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

n.a. 2.0 4.9 6.6 6.6 3.0 4.3 4.3 8.7 6.4

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d n.a. 7.2 16.8 8.9 8.9 0.0 4.3 6.1 7.2 23.1

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes

235LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

C am

b o

d ia

C am

er o

o n

C an

ad a

C en

tr al

A fr

ic an

ep ub

lic

C ha

C hi

(S ha

ng ha

C hi

(B ei

jin g

)

C o

lo m

b ia

C o

m o

ro s

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

No No No Yes No No No No No No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

24 48 No limit 24 48 12 No limit No limit No limit 36

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

0.00 56.06 1,889.04 36.63 123.42 427.79 286.29 245.39 331.09 0.00

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.00 0.29 0.30 0.77 0.71 0.23 0.38 0.33 0.35 0.00

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

30 0 0 0 0 0 39 39 35 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

100 0 0 50 100 0 100 100 75 0

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No No No No No No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No Yes No No No No No Yes

Paid annual leave (working days)d

19.3 25.0 10.0 25.3 24.7 15.0 6.7 6.7 15.0 22.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

1.0 1.0 3.0 2.0 3.0 n.a. 6.0 6.0 2.0 6.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No Yes No No No No No No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No Yes No Yes No No No No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No No No No No Yes Yes No No

Priority rules for redundancies?

Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes

Priority rules for reemployment?

Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

7.9 11.6 5.0 4.3 7.2 4.3 4.3 4.3 0.0 13.0

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 11.4 8.3 5.0 17.3 5.8 23.1 23.1 23.1 16.7 23.1

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No No Yes No .. Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

No Yes No Yes .. Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

No Yes No Yes .. Yes Yes Yes Yes No

DOING BUSINESS 2015236

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

C o

ng o,

D em

. R ep

C o

ng o,

R ep

C o

st a

R ic

C ô

te d

’I vo

ir e

C ro

at ia

C yp

ru s

C ze

ch R

ep ub

lic

D en

m ar

D jib

o ut

D o

m in

ic a

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

48 24 12 24 No limit 30 108 No limit 24 No limit

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

65.00 208.86 580.51 114.00 534.87 1,250.12 544.80 0.00 0.00 348.27

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

1.02 0.51 0.51 0.55 0.32 0.42 0.25 0.00 0.00 0.40

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.5 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

25 0 0 38 10 0 10 0 0 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

0 0 100 0 35 0 10 0 0 100

Major restrictions on night work?

No No Yes No Yes No No No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No Yes No No Yes No No No No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

13.0 29.7 12.0 27.4 20.0 20.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 13.3

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

1.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 6.0 24.0 3.0 3.0 2.0 6.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes Yes No No No No No No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes No No No No No No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No No No Yes Yes No No No No

Priority rules for redundancies?

Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No Yes

Priority rules for reemployment?

Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

10.3 8.7 4.3 5.8 7.9 5.7 8.7 0.0 4.3 5.8

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 0.0 6.9 14.4 7.3 7.2 0.0 11.6 0.0 0.0 9.3

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes No

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes

237LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

D o

m in

ic an

R ep

ub lic

Ec ua

d o

Eg yp

t, A

ra b

R ep

El S

al va

d o

Eq ua

to ri

al G

ui ne

Er it

re a

Es to

ni a

Et hi

o p

Fi ji

Fi nl

an d

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

No limit 24 No limit No limit 24 No limit 120 No limit No limit 60

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

295.71 388.02 0.00 243.49 767.17 0.00 457.92 0.00 339.77 2,287.55

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.40 0.54 0.00 0.49 0.38 0.00 0.21 0.00 0.60 0.38

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

5.5 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

0 25 0 25 25 0 25 0 4 23

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

100 100 0 100 50 0 0 0 100 100

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No Yes Yes No Yes No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

14.0 12.0 24.0 11.0 22.0 19.0 24.0 18.3 10.0 30.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

3.0 3.0 3.0 1.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 1.5 3.0 6.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

No Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes No

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No Yes No Yes No No No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No No Yes No Yes Yes No No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No No No No No Yes Yes No Yes

Priority rules for redundancies?

No No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No No

Priority rules for reemployment?

No No No No Yes No No No No Yes

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

4.0 0.0 10.1 0.0 4.3 3.1 8.6 8.7 4.3 10.1

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 22.2 31.8 26.7 22.9 34.3 12.3 4.3 10.5 5.3 0.0

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No No Yes No .. Yes Yes No No Yes

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No Yes

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No

DOING BUSINESS 2015238

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

Fr an

G ab

o n

G am

b ia

, T he

G eo

rg ia

G er

m an

G ha

G re

ec e

G re

na d

G ua

te m

al a

G ui

ne a

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

Yes No No No No No Yes Yes Yes No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

18 48 No limit 30 24 No limit No limit No limit No limit 24

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

1,922.57 312.55 0.00 24.25 0.00 64.97 814.75 254.15 369.02 0.00

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.35 0.20 0.00 0.06 0.00 0.26 0.29 0.27 0.73 0.00

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 5.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

20 0 0 0 0 0 25 0 0 20

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

20 0 0 0 0 0 75 0 50 0

Major restrictions on night work?

Yes No No No No No No No Yes No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

Yes No No No No No Yes No Yes Yes

Paid annual leave (working days)d

30.0 24.0 21.0 24.0 24.0 15.0 22.3 13.3 15.0 30.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

4.0 6.0 12.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 12.0 1.0 2.0 1.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No Yes No No No Yes No No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

Yes No No No Yes No No No No No

Priority rules for redundancies?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No No

Priority rules for reemployment?

Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

7.2 14.4 26.0 4.3 10.0 3.6 0.0 7.2 0.0 2.1

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 4.6 4.3 0.0 4.3 11.6 46.2 15.9 5.3 27.0 5.8

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

Yes No No No Yes No Yes No No No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes No No No Yes No Yes No No Yes

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes

239LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

G ui

ne a-

B is

sa u

G uy

an a

H ai

H o

nd ur

H o

ng K

o ng

S A

R , C

hi na

H un

g ar

Ic el

an d

In d

(M um

b ai

)

In d

(D el

hi )

In d

o ne

si a

(J ak

ar ta

)

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

Yes No No Yes No No No No No Yes

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

12 No limit No limit 24 No limit 60 24 No limit No limit 36

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

0.00 166.41 154.48 455.04 794.99 453.74 1,783.94 125.37 134.82 248.17

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.00 0.32 1.39 1.51 0.18 0.30 0.32 0.63 0.68 0.55

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 7.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

25 0 50 25 0 15 80 0 0 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

50 100 50 100 0 50 80 0 0 0

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No Yes No No No Yes Yes No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No No No No No Yes No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

21.0 12.0 13.0 16.7 10.3 21.3 24.0 21.0 15.0 12.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

3.0 3.0 0.0 2.0 1.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes No No Yes No No No No No Yes

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes No No Yes No No No No No Yes

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No No No No No No No No Yes

Priority rules for redundancies?

Yes No No Yes No No No Yes Yes No

Priority rules for reemployment?

Yes No No No No No No Yes Yes No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

0.0 4.3 10.1 7.2 4.3 6.2 10.1 4.3 4.3 0.0

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 26.0 12.3 0.0 23.1 1.4 7.2 0.0 11.4 11.4 57.8

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No No No No No Yes Yes No No No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

No No .. Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes

DOING BUSINESS 2015240

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

In d

o ne

si a

(S ur

ab ay

Ir an

, I sl

am ic

R ep

Ir aq

Ir el

an d

Is ra

It al

Ja m

ai ca

Ja p

(T o

ky o

)

Ja p

(O sa

ka )

Jo rd

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

Yes No Yes No No No No No No No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

36 No limit No limit No limit No limit 36 No limit No limit No limit No limit

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

223.67 466.63 103.30 1,809.66 1,145.81 2,035.74 250.12 1,785.35 1,682.62 257.29

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.49 0.69 0.10 0.37 0.25 0.46 0.37 0.29 0.27 0.39

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.5 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

0 35 0 0 14 15 0 25 25 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

0 40 50 0 50 30 100 35 35 150

Major restrictions on night work?

No No Yes No No No No No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No No Yes No No No No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

12.0 24.0 22.0 20.0 18.0 26.0 11.7 15.3 15.3 18.7

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

3.0 1.0 3.0 12.0 n.a. 2.0 3.0 n.a. n.a. 3.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes Yes No No No No No No No Yes

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes No No No No No No No Yes

Retraining or reassignment?f

Yes No No No No Yes No Yes Yes No

Priority rules for redundancies?

No No No No No Yes No No No No

Priority rules for reemployment?

No No No No No Yes No No No Yes

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

0.0 0.0 0.0 3.7 4.3 4.5 4.0 4.3 4.3 4.3

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 57.8 23.1 0.0 10.7 23.1 0.0 10.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No Yes .. Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ..

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes ..

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes .. Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No

241LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

K az

ak hs

ta n

K en

K ir

ib at

K o

re a,

R ep

K o

so vo

K uw

ai t

K yr

g yz

R ep

ub lic

La o

P D

La tv

Le b

an o

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

No No No No No No Yes No Yes No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

No limit No limit No limit 24 No limit No limit 60 No limit 36 24

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

127.87 241.39 0.00 815.65 172.09 211.40 18.50 74.66 602.77 439.34

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.09 1.72 0.00 0.28 0.14 0.04 0.12 0.37 0.32 0.34

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 7.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.5 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

50 0 0 50 30 0 50 15 50 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

100 0 0 50 50 50 100 150 0 50

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No Yes No No No No Yes No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No No No Yes No No No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

18.0 21.0 0.0 17.0 21.0 30.0 20.0 15.0 20.0 15.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

3.0 12.0 n.a. 3.0 6.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No Yes No No No No Yes No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No No Yes No No No No Yes No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes No

Priority rules for redundancies?

No Yes No No Yes No No No Yes Yes

Priority rules for reemployment?

No No No Yes Yes No No No No Yes

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 13.0 4.3 6.4 4.3 8.7

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 4.3 2.1 0.0 23.1 7.2 15.1 13.0 40.7 8.7 0.0

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

Yes No No Yes No .. Yes Yes Yes No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes Yes No Yes No .. Yes Yes No Yes

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

No Yes No No No .. No No No Yes

DOING BUSINESS 2015242

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

Le so

th o

Li b

er ia

Li b

Li th

ua ni

Lu xe

m b

o ur

M ac

ed o

ni a,

F Y

M ad

ag as

ca r

M al

aw i

M al

ay si

M al

d iv

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

No No No No Yes No Yes Yes No No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

No limit No limit 48 60 24 60 24 No limit No limit 24

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

158.70 52.00 336.11 382.61 3,000.18 287.51 49.83 15.72 293.01 0.00

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.73 0.82 0.24 0.21 0.34 0.51 0.74 0.36 0.23 0.00

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 6.0 5.5 5.5 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

0 0 0 50 0 35 30 0 0 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

100 50 0 100 70 50 40 100 0 50

Major restrictions on night work?

Yes No No No No Yes No No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No No Yes No No No No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

12.0 16.0 30.0 20.7 25.0 20.0 24.0 18.0 13.3 30.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

4.0 3.0 1.0 3.0 6.0 6.0 3.0 12.0 3.0 3.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

No Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes No No

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No No No No No No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No No No No No No Yes No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No No Yes No No No No No No

Priority rules for redundancies?

No Yes No Yes No No Yes No No No

Priority rules for reemployment?

No Yes No No Yes No Yes No No No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

4.3 4.3 4.3 8.7 17.3 4.3 3.4 4.3 6.7 7.2

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 10.7 21.3 11.6 15.9 4.3 8.7 8.9 12.3 17.2 0.0

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes .. No No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No .. No No

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes .. Yes Yes

243LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

M al

M ar

sh al

l I sl

an d

M au

ri ta

ni a

M au

ri ti

M ex

ic o

ex ic

o C

it y)

M ex

ic o

o nt

er re

M ic

ro ne

si a,

d . S

ts .

M o

ld o

M o

ng o

lia

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

Yes No No No No Yes Yes No Yes No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

72 48 No limit 24 24 No limit No limit No limit No limit No limit

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

63.20 952.98 421.63 105.50 241.90 174.50 174.50 357.38 110.72 125.46

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.56 0.38 0.77 0.68 0.22 0.14 0.14 0.76 0.39 0.28

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 7.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 6.0 5.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

0 0 0 100 0 0 0 0 50 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

0 0 0 50 100 25 25 0 100 50

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No Yes No No No No Yes No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No No No No No No Yes No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

22.0 24.0 0.0 18.0 17.0 12.0 12.0 0.0 20.0 16.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

6.0 6.0 6.0 1.0 3.0 1.0 1.0 n.a. 0.5 6.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No No No Yes Yes No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No No No No No Yes Yes No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No No No No No No No Yes No

Priority rules for redundancies?

Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No

Priority rules for reemployment?

Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No No No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

4.3 7.3 0.0 4.3 4.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 8.7 4.3

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 9.3 0.0 0.0 6.1 6.3 22.0 22.0 0.0 13.9 4.3

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Health insurance for permanent employees?

No No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes

DOING BUSINESS 2015244

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

M o

nt en

eg ro

M o

ro cc

M o

za m

b iq

M ya

nm ar

N am

ib ia

N ep

N et

he rl

an d

N ew

Z ea

la nd

N ic

ar ag

N ig

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

No Yes Yes No No Yes No No No Yes

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

24 12 72 No limit No limit No limit 36 No limit No limit 48

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

196.66 278.46 139.33 0.00 0.00 95.03 1,036.47 1,980.93 200.12 57.18

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.22 0.74 1.45 0.00 0.00 0.94 0.17 0.39 0.84 0.79

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.5 6.0 5.5 7.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

40 0 25 0 6 0 0 0 0 38

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

0 0 100 100 100 50 0 0 100 0

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No No No No Yes No Yes No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

21.0 19.5 24.0 10.0 20.0 18.0 20.0 20.0 30.0 22.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

6.0 1.0 3.0 n.a. 6.0 12.0 2.0 3.0 1.0 6.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No No No Yes Yes No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes No Yes

Priority rules for redundancies?

Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No No Yes

Priority rules for reemployment?

No Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

4.3 7.2 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 8.7 0.0 0.0 4.3

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 6.9 13.5 33.2 15.9 5.3 22.9 0.0 0.0 14.9 9.7

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

Yes No No .. No No Yes No No ..

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes Yes No Yes No No No No Yes No

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes

245LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

N ig

er ia

ag o

N ig

er ia

an o

)

N o

rw ay

O m

Pa ki

st an

ar ac

hi )

Pa ki

st an

ah o

re )

Pa la

Pa na

m a

Pa p

ua N

ew G

ui ne

Pa ra

g ua

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

No limit No limit 48 No limit 9 9 No limit 12 No limit No limit

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

111.17 111.17 3,840.25 847.72 104.53 104.53 551.54 476.59 195.96 409.69

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.26 0.26 0.29 0.30 0.56 0.56 0.39 0.34 0.69 0.76

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

0 0 0 50 0 0 0 13 0 30

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

0 0 0 100 100 100 0 50 0 100

Major restrictions on night work?

No No Yes Yes No No No No No Yes

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

6.0 6.0 21.0 22.0 14.0 14.0 0.0 22.0 11.0 20.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

3.0 3.0 6.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 n.a. 3.0 n.a. 1.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No No No No No Yes No Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No No No No No Yes No Yes

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No No No No No No No Yes No Yes

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No Yes No Yes Yes No No No No

Priority rules for redundancies?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No

Priority rules for reemployment?

No No Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

3.2 3.2 8.7 4.3 4.3 4.3 0.0 0.0 3.3 7.5

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 12.2 12.2 0.0 0.0 22.9 22.9 0.0 18.1 9.2 18.6

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No No Yes No No No No No No No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

No Yes No Yes No No No No No Yes

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes .. Yes

DOING BUSINESS 2015246

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

Pe ru

Ph ili

p p

in es

Po la

Po rt

ug al

Pu er

to R

ic o

( U

.S .)

Q at

R o

m an

R us

si an

F ed

er at

io n

(M o

sc o

w )

R us

si an

F ed

er at

io n

t. P

et er

sb ur

g )

R w

an d

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

60 No limit No limit 66 No limit No limit 60 60 60 No limit

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

275.86 304.93 535.52 754.09 1,233.43 0.00 251.28 390.11 274.56 0.00

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.34 0.69 0.35 0.29 0.51 0.00 0.23 0.24 0.17 0.00

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 5.5 6.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

35 10 20 25 0 0 25 20 20 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

100 30 100 50 100 0 100 100 100 0

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No No No No No No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No Yes No No No Yes Yes No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

13.0 5.0 22.0 22.0 15.0 22.0 20.0 22.0 22.0 19.3

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

3.0 6.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 6.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 6.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes No No No No No No No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes No No No No No No No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No

Priority rules for redundancies?

No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Priority rules for reemployment?

Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

0.0 4.3 10.1 7.9 0.0 7.2 4.0 8.7 8.7 4.3

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 11.4 23.1 8.7 9.1 0.0 16.0 0.0 8.7 8.7 8.7

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes

247LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

Sa m

o a

Sa n

M ar

in o

Sã o

T o

m é

an d

P rí

nc ip

Sa ud

i A ra

b ia

Se ne

g al

Se rb

Se yc

he lle

Si er

ra L

eo ne

Si ng

ap o

Sl o

va k

R ep

ub lic

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

No limit 18 36 No limit 24 12 No limit No limit No limit 24

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

178.65 2,836.26 0.00 0.00 189.28 232.46 421.86 4.46 0.00 470.54

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.36 0.41 0.00 0.00 1.14 0.34 0.28 0.04 0.00 0.23

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

0 35 25 0 38 26 0 15 0 20

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

100 0 100 50 0 26 100 100 100 0

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No No No No No No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

10.0 26.0 26.0 20.7 24.3 20.0 21.0 21.3 10.7 25.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

3.0 1.6 1.0 3.0 2.0 6.0 6.0 n.a. 6.0 3.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes

Priority rules for redundancies?

No Yes No No Yes No No Yes No No

Priority rules for reemployment?

No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

3.3 0.0 4.3 4.3 4.3 0.0 4.3 8.7 3.0 11.6

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 0.0 0.0 26.0 15.2 10.5 7.7 7.6 69.6 0.0 7.2

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes

Health insurance for permanent employees?

No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

No No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No

DOING BUSINESS 2015248

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

Sl o

ve ni

So lo

m o

n Is

la nd

So ut

h A

fr ic

So ut

h Su

d an

Sp ai

Sr i L

an ka

St . K

it ts

a nd

N ev

St . L

uc ia

St . V

in ce

nt a

nd t

G re

na d

in es

Su d

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

Yes No Yes No Yes No No No No No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

24 No limit No limit 48 12 No limit No limit 24 No limit 48

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

1,054.91 120.22 336.46 0.00 1,140.02 83.03 517.48 0.00 239.96 82.42

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.38 0.51 0.36 0.00 0.31 0.21 0.30 0.00 0.30 0.49

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.5 5.5 7.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

75 0 0 0 25 0 0 0 0 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

50 0 100 0 0 0 0 150 0 0

Major restrictions on night work?

No No Yes No Yes Yes No No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No No No No No No No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

21.0 15.0 15.0 23.3 22.0 14.0 14.0 21.0 18.7 23.3

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

6.0 6.0 n.a. 3.0 2.0 6.0 3.0 3.0 6.0 3.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No Yes No Yes No No No Yes

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No No No Yes No Yes No No No Yes

Retraining or reassignment?f

Yes No Yes No No No No No No No

Priority rules for redundancies?

Yes No No No No Yes No No No No

Priority rules for reemployment?

No No No No No No Yes No Yes No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

5.3 4.3 4.0 4.3 2.1 4.3 8.7 3.7 4.0 4.3

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

5.3 10.7 5.3 21.7 15.2 54.2 0.0 9.3 10.0 21.7

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

Yes No Yes No Yes No .. No No No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes .. Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes

249LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

Su ri

na m

Sw az

ila nd

Sw ed

Sw it

ze rl

an d

Sy ri

an A

ra b

R ep

ub lic

Ta iw

an , C

hi na

Ta jik

is ta

Ta nz

an ia

Th ai

la nd

Ti m

o r-

Le st

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

No limit No limit 24 120 60 12 No limit No limit No limit 36

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

0.00 174.92 0.00 0.00 260.64 649.31 50.25 65.73 251.34 104.95

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.00 0.40 0.00 0.00 0.68 0.26 0.37 0.65 0.41 0.18

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 5.5 5.5 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

0 0 0 0 0 0 50 5 0 25

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

100 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 0 100

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No Yes No No Yes No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes

Paid annual leave (working days)d

16.0 11.0 25.0 20.0 21.7 12.0 23.3 20.0 6.0 12.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

2.0 3.0 6.0 3.0 3.0 n.a. 3.0 6.0 4.0 1.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes No No No Yes No No Yes No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes No No No Yes No No Yes No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No Yes No No Yes Yes No No No

Priority rules for redundancies?

No Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No

Priority rules for reemployment?

No No Yes No No Yes No No No No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

0.0 5.9 14.4 10.1 8.7 3.8 8.7 4.0 4.3 4.3

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 8.8 8.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 18.8 6.9 5.3 31.7 0.0

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

DOING BUSINESS 2015250

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

To g

To ng

Tr in

id ad

a nd

T o

b ag

Tu ni

si a

Tu rk

U g

an d

U kr

ai ne

U ni

te d

A ra

b E

m ir

at es

U ni

te d

K in

g d

o m

U ni

te d

S ta

te s

(N ew

Y o

rk C

it y)

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

Yes No No No Yes No Yes No No No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

48 No limit No limit 48 No limit No limit No limit No limit No limit No limit

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

107.20 0.00 337.80 280.46 569.33 2.14 147.69 0.00 1,371.67 1,379.37

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

1.34 0.00 0.18 0.54 0.42 0.02 0.32 0.00 0.27 0.21

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.5 6.0 6.0 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

200 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 0 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

65 0 100 100 100 0 100 50 0 0

Major restrictions on night work?

No No No No Yes No No No No No

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No Yes No No No No Yes Yes No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

30.0 0.0 10.0 13.0 18.0 21.0 18.0 26.0 28.0 0.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

6.0 6.0 6.0 12.0 2.0 12.0 1.0 6.0 6.0 3.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

Yes No No Yes No No Yes No No No

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No Yes No No No No No No

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No No No

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No No No Yes No No No No No No

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No No Yes No No Yes No No No

Priority rules for redundancies?

Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No No No

Priority rules for reemployment?

Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes No No No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

4.3 0.0 6.4 4.3 6.7 8.7 8.7 4.3 5.3 0.0

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 8.8 0.0 14.1 7.8 23.1 0.0 4.3 0.0 4.0 0.0

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes

Health insurance for permanent employees?

No Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No

251LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

LABOR MARKET REGULATION DATA

U ni

te d

S ta

te s

o s

A ng

el es

)

U ru

g ua

U zb

ek is

ta n

Va nu

at u

Ve ne

zu el

a, R

B h

V ie

tn am

W es

t B

an k

an d

G az

Ye m

en , R

ep .

Za m

b ia

Zi m

b ab

w e

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f h

ir in

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks?

No Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts (months)a

No limit No limit 60 No limit 24 72 24 No limit No limit No limit

Minimum wage for a full-time worker (US$/month)b

1,379.37 610.92 44.88 326.14 622.25 123.02 384.62 87.33 292.99 255.49

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker

0.21 0.31 0.19 0.74 0.39 0.60 1.58 0.45 1.21 2.11

R ig

id it

y o

f h

o u

50-hour workweek allowed?c

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Maximum working days per week

6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 5.5 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay)

0 0 50 0 30 30 0 15 4 0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay)

0 100 100 50 50 0 150 100 100 0

Major restrictions on night work?

No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes

Major restrictions on weekly holiday work?

No No No No Yes No Yes No No No

Paid annual leave (working days)d

0.0 21.0 15.0 17.0 19.3 13.0 12.0 30.0 24.0 22.0

D iffi

cu lt

y o

f re

d u

n d

a n

Maximum length of probationary period (months)e

3.0 n.a. 3.0 6.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 6.0 n.a. 3.0

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law?

Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No No n.a. No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed?

No No No No n.a. No No No No Yes

Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed?

No No Yes No n.a. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed?

No No No No n.a. Yes No No No Yes

Retraining or reassignment?f

No No Yes No n.a. Yes No No No Yes

Priority rules for redundancies?

No No Yes No n.a. No No No No No

Priority rules for reemployment?

No No No No n.a. No No Yes No No

R e

d u

n d

a n

c y

o st

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d

0.0 0.0 8.7 9.3 n.a. 0.0 4.3 4.3 4.3 13.0

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (weeks of salary)d 0.0 20.8 8.7 23.1 n.a. 24.6 23.1 23.1 46.2 69.3

R e

s e

a rc

q u

e s

ti o

n s

Unemployment protection scheme?

Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No .. No No

Health insurance for permanent employees?

No No No No No Yes No No No No

Courts or court sections specializing in labor disputes?

No Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes

a. Including renewals. b. Economies for which 0.00 is shown have no minimum wage in the private sector. c. For 2 months a year in case of a seasonal increase in production.

d. Average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure. e. Some answers are not applicable (n.a.) for economies in which there is no statutory provision for a probationary period. f. Whether compulsory before redundancy.

g. No Doing Business data are available (..) for some economies. h. Some answers are not applicable (n.a.) for economies where dismissal due to redundancy is disallowed. Source: Doing Business database.

Doing Business 2015 Going Beyond Efficiency

Acknowledgments

Data collection and analysis for Doing

Business 2015 were conducted by a

team led by Rita Ramalho (Manager,

Doing Business) under the general direc-

tion of Augusto Lopez-Claros (Director,

Global Indicators Group, Development

Economics). Overall guidance for the

preparation of the report was provided

by Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President

and Chief Economist of the World Bank.

The project was managed with the

support of Adrian Gonzalez and Hulya

Ulku. Other team members included

Nadine Abi Chakra, Jean Arlet, Iana

Ashchian, Iryna Bilotserkivska, Erica

Bosio, Jiyeon Chang, Edgar Chavez,

Maya Choueiri, Catrice Christ, Santiago

Croci Downes, Salima Daadouche,

Baria Nabil Daye, Christian De la

Medina Soto, Marie Lily Delion, Laura

Diniz, Caroline Frontigny, Paula García

Serna, Dorina Georgieva, Anushavan

Hambardzumyan, Michelle-Christine

Hanf, Volha Hrytskevich, Joyce Ibrahim,

Nan (Charlotte) Jiang, Hervé Kaddoura,

Klaus Koch Saldarriaga, Olena Koltko,

Magdalini Konidari, Roman Kononenko,

Demetris Kouris, Khrystyna Kushnir,

Joy Lahoud, Fernanda Maretto de

Barros, Betty Mensah, Frédéric

Meunier, Joanna Nasr, Marie-Jeanne

Ndiaye, Nadia Novik, Jiawen Pan, María

Antonia Quesada Gámez, Parvina

Rakhimova, Morgann Courtney Reeves,

Julie Ryan, Valentina Saltane, Tanya

Maria Santillan, Ana Maria Santillana

Farakos, Melissa Scanlan, Ella

Shagabutdinova, Jayashree Srinivasan,

Brandon Thompson, Julien Vilquin,

Matthew Williger, Marilyne Youbi, Inés

Zabalbeitia Múgica and Yasmin Zand.

Garam Al Kastalani-Dexter, Clemente

Avila Para, Mario Lucio Carvalho

Nascimento, Rong Chen, Sarah Fakhry,

Nadine Ghobrial, Hernando Grueso

Hurtado, Papa Gyan-Baffour, Sameh

Hassan, Maisha Hyman, Wasiq Ismail,

Maksym Markevych, Yuliya Neyman,

Nicole Frances Ntungire, Marilyn Ryan,

Katrin Schulz, Paula Tavares, Augusto

Uribe Bello, Anna Xue Gu and Sonia

Zahkarenko assisted in the months

before publication. The team would

especially like to acknowledge the

comments and support of Indermit Gill

and Melissa Johns.

The online service of the Doing Business

database is managed by Andres

Baquero Franco, Varun Doiphode, Arun

Chakravarthi Nageswaran, Kunal Patel,

Mohan Pathapati, Vinod Thottikkatu

and Hashim Zia and was under the direc-

tion of Preeti Endlaw. The Doing Business

2015 outreach strategy is executed by

a communications team led by Nadine

Ghannam and including Hyun Kyong

Lee and Sushmitha Malini Narsiah, with

support from Merrell Tuck-Primdahl and

World Bank Group communications col-

leagues around the world.

The team is grateful for the valuable

comments provided by colleagues in

the World Bank Group (both on the

draft report and on the changes in the

methodology) and outside the World

Bank Group (on the changes in the meth-

odology) and for the guidance provided by

World Bank Group Executive Directors.

The team would especially like to ac-

knowledge the comments and guidance

253ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

of Aart C. Kraay. Comments were also

received from Gavin Adlington, Gabi

George Afram, Ahmad Ahsan, Sultan

Ibrahim Alakraf, Alejandro Alvarez de la

Campa, Inger Andersen, Mihasonirina

Andrianaivo, Vadim Andropov, Pedro

Antmann, Antonia Custance Baker, Luca

Bandiera, Sudeshna Ghosh Banerjee,

Najy Benhassine, Alexander Berg,

Sanford Berg, Anna M. Bjerde, Genevieve

Boyreau, Frédéric Bustelo, Cesar

Calderon, Enrico Campagnoli, Cesar

Chaparro Yedro, Constantine Chikosi,

Julian Latimer Clarke, Edward Cook,

Lucia Cordero Ledergerber, Monique

Courchesne, Fernando Dancausa Diaz,

Jean-Paul Decorps, Klaus Deininger,

Pasquale Di Benedetta, Raian Divanbeigi,

Julia Doherty, Omniah Ebeid, Alejandro

Espinosa-Wang, Jorge Familiar Calderon,

Francisco H. G. Ferreira, Penelope

Fidas, Vivien Foster, Jose Garrido, Tania

Ghossein, Willy Giacchino, Raluca

Golumbeanu, Flavio Gonzaga, David

Michael Gould, Heike Gramckow, Tim

Green, Cemile Hacibeyoglu, Iva Hamel,

Carl Patrick Hanlon, Caroline Heider,

Vivian Y. N. Hon, Thea Hilhorst, Neville

Howlett, Lin Huang, Alex Hunt, Giuseppe

Iarossi, Yoichiro Ishihara, Sebastian

S. James, Kaliza Karuretwa, Sunita

Kikeri, Markus Kitzmuller, Frederick

Krimgold, Arvo Kuddo, Peter Ladegaard,

Pascal Lalande, Tony Lamb, Philippe

Le Houérou, Anne-Marie Leroy, Jeffrey

D. Lewis, Wendy Liberante, Jonathan

Lindsay, Jean Michel Lobet, Gladys

Lopez-Acevedo, Jose Lopez Calix, Antony

Lythgoe, Oscar Madeddu, Mahamoud

Magassouba, Andres Martinez, Martin

Melecky, Eva Maria Melis, Antonia

Menezes, Julian S. Messina Granovsky,

Irit Mevorach, Trimor Mici, Andrei

Mikhnev, Nina Pavlova Mocheva, María

Paulina Mogollón, Komal Mohindra,

Alejandro Moreno, Tim Moss, Thomas

Moullier, Cyril Muller, Nataliya Mylenko,

Emmanuel Noubissie Ngankam, Cecile

Niang, Nicolas Nogueroles, Odile Obled,

Nuria de Oca, Corey O’Hara, Junko

Oikawa, Alice Ouedraogo, Madalina

Papahagi, Axel R. Peuker, Duc Minh

Pham, Nadia Fernanda Piffaretti,

Tanya Primiani, Alban Pruthi, Claudio

M. Radaelli, Martin Rama, Colin Ewell

Wesley Raymond, Melissa Rekas, Paolo

Ridolfi, David Robalino, Pilar Salgado

Otonel, Pilar Sanchez-Bella, Apurva

Sanghi, Massimiliano Santini, Hans

Schrader, Jordan Z. Schwartz, Sarmad

Shaikh, Katrina Sharkey, Sudhir Shetty,

Sylvia Solf, Victoria Stanley, Jevgenijs

Steinbuks, Adrian Stone, Jennifer

Stradtman, Vinaya Swaroop, Vijay

Srinivas Tata, Govinda R. Timilsina, Hans

Timmer, Marianne Tissier, Alain Traore,

Moussa Traoré, Mahesh Uttamchandani,

Maria Vagliasindi, Joachim Von Amsberg,

George Waggot, Wendy Werner,

Everett Theodore Wohlers, Sau Wong,

Alessio Zanelli, Stephane Zecevic and

members of the Working Party on

Land Administration (United Nations

Economic Commission for Europe).

The paying taxes project was conducted

in collaboration with PwC, led by Stef van

Weeghel.

Alison Strong edited the manuscript.

Corporate Visions, Inc. designed the

report and the graphs.

Doing Business would not be possible

without the expertise and generous

input of a network of more than 10,700

local partners, including legal experts,

business consultants, accountants,

freight forwarders, government of-

ficials and other professionals routinely

administering or advising on the rele-

vant legal and regulatory requirements

in the 189 economies covered. Contact

details for local partners are available

on the Doing Business website at http://

www.doingbusiness.org.

The names of the local partners wishing

to be acknowledged individually are listed

below. The global and regional contribu-

tors listed are firms that have completed

multiple questionnaires in their various

offices around the world.

DOING BUSINESS 2015254

GLOBAL CONTRIBUTORS ADVOCATES FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

ALLEN & OVERY LLP

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, SECTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

ASHURST LLP

BAKER & MCKENZIE

CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

DELOITTE

DLA PIPER

ERNST & YOUNG

IUS LABORIS, ALLIANCE OF LABOR, EMPLOYMENT, BENEFITS AND PENSIONS LAW FIRMS

KPMG

LAW SOCIETY OF ENGLAND AND WALES

LEX MUNDI, ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT LAW FIRMS

MAYER BROWN

PANALPINA

PWC1

RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

SDV INTERNATIONAL LOGISTICS

REGIONAL CONTRIBUTORS A.P. MOLLER-MAERSK GROUP

ASSOCIATION OF CONSUMER CREDIT INFORMATION SUPPLIERS (ACCIS)

CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO.

CMS LEGAL

COLIBRI LAW FIRM

DENTONS

DFDL

GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

GRATA LAW FIRM

MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS

RAPOSO BERNARDO & ASSOCIADOS

SORAINEN

TALAL ABU-GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

TRANSUNION INTERNATIONAL

AFGHANISTAN Farsheed Abdul-Rahman LAW OFFICES OF A. RAHMAN RAHIMGHIYASA - ATTORNEYS AND AGENTS

Taqi Ahmad A.F. FERGUSON & CO., CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, A MEMBER FIRM OF PWC NETWORK

Hassib Ahmad Amiry MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Mirwais Alami DA AFGHANISTAN BRESHNA SHERKAT

Bilal Alsamarrai RIZVI, ISA, AFRIDI AND ANGELL

Ziaullah Astana AFGHAN LAND CONSULTING ORGANIZATION (ALCO)

Joshua Atkinson MBC CONSTRUCTION

Shaheryar Aziz A.F. FERGUSON & CO., CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, A MEMBER FIRM OF PWC NETWORK

Mazhar Bangash RIZVI, ISA, AFRIDI AND ANGELL

Nadia Bazidwal MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Suleman Fatimie AFGHANISTAN FINANCIAL SERVICES, LLC

Amanda Galton ORRICK, HERRINGTON & SUTCLIFFE LLP

Abdul Wassay Haqiqi HAQIQI AUDITING & CONSULTING CO.

Saduddin Haziq AFGHAN UNITED BANK

Rashid Ibrahim A.F. FERGUSON & CO., CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, A MEMBER FIRM OF PWC NETWORK

Sanzar Kakar AFGHANISTAN HOLDING GROUP

Ahmad Jawid Karimzada KABUL MUNICIPALITY

Wisal Khan LEGAL ORACLES

Mohammed Masood Khwaja DA AFGHANISTAN BRESHNA SHERKAT

Gaurav Lekh Raj Kukreja AFGHAN CONTAINER TRANSPORT COMPANY

Tali Mohammad AFGHANISTAN INVESTMENT SUPPORT AGENCY

Siddiqullah Mujadiddi AFGHANISTAN INVESTMENT SUPPORT AGENCY

Abdul Naser Nazari MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

Shekeeb Nessar DA AFGHANISTAN BRESHNA SHERKAT

Gul Pacha AFGHANISTAN INVESTMENT SUPPORT AGENCY

Tamsil Rashid AFGHANISTAN INTERNATIONAL BANK

Abdul Rahim Saeedi MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Zahid Safi RIZVI, ISA, AFRIDI AND ANGELL

Khalil Sediq AFGHANISTAN INTERNATIONAL BANK

Saeeq Shajjan SHAJJAN & ASSOCIATES

Mohammad Ibrahim Shams AFGHANISTAN INVESTMENT SUPPORT AGENCY

Asiyah Sharifi AFGHANISTAN FINANCIAL SERVICES, LLC

Sharifullah Shirzad DA AFGHANISTAN BANK

Haris Syed Raza GERRY’S DNATA (PVT.) LTD.

Marium Waqar RIZVI, ISA, AFRIDI AND ANGELL

Najibullah Wardak MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Abdul Rahman Watanwal MBC CONSTRUCTION

Mohammadi Khan Yaqoobi DA AFGHANISTAN BANK

Mohammad Zarif KABUL MUNICIPALITY

Zmarak Zhouand AFGHANISTAN LAWYERS INTERNATIONAL

ALBANIA WOLF THEISS

Iris Ago ABKONS

Marsida Agolli ABKONS

Anjola Aliaj OPTIMA LEGAL AND FINANCIAL

Artur Asllani TONUCCI & PARTNERS

Sabina Baboci KALO & ASSOCIATES

Indrit Banka BANK OF ALBANIA

Redjan Basha ABKONS

Ledia Beçi HOXHA, MEMI & HOXHA

Jonida Beqiri DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Juna Bozdo BANK OF ALBANIA

Artan Bozo BOZO & ASSOCIATES LAW FIRM

Jori Bregasi HOXHA, MEMI & HOXHA

Denada Breshanaj ABKONS

Alban Caushi KALO & ASSOCIATES

Elfrida Cuku KALO & ASSOCIATES

Ina Curri PWC ALBANIA

Ilir Daci OPTIMA LEGAL AND FINANCIAL

Erinda Duraj BOZO & ASSOCIATES LAW FIRM

Sokol Elmazaj BOGA & ASSOCIATES TIRANA

Alba Fagu BANK OF ALBANIA

Lisjana Fusha ALB BB AUDITING SHPK - CORRESPONDENT OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Lorena Gega PWC ALBANIA

Aurela Gjokutaj AL-TAX CENTER

Ermira Gjoncaj KUEHNE + NAGEL LTD.

Valbona Gjonçari BOGA & ASSOCIATES TIRANA

Shirli Gorenca KALO & ASSOCIATES

Mateo Gosnishti ALB BB AUDITING SHPK - CORRESPONDENT OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Arta Gurabardhi ABKONS

Shpati Hoxha HOXHA, MEMI & HOXHA

Elona Hoxhaj BOGA & ASSOCIATES TIRANA

Xhet Hushi KALO & ASSOCIATES

Ilir Johollari HOXHA, MEMI & HOXHA

Endri Jorgoni KALO & ASSOCIATES

Miranda Kapllani BENIMPEX & CO.

Avenir Kika KIKA SH.P.K

Erlind Kodhelaj BOGA & ASSOCIATES TIRANA

Jonela Kuro DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Fatmir Lacej FATMIR LACEJ NOTARY PUBLIC

Rudi Laze BOZO & ASSOCIATES LAW FIRM

Renata Leka BOGA & ASSOCIATES TIRANA

Besnik Leskaj ABKONS

Ekflodia Leskaj DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Loreta Loli ALBAKONTROLL

Marvin Mborja BOGA & ASSOCIATES TIRANA

Andi Memi HOXHA, MEMI & HOXHA

Aigest Milo KALO & ASSOCIATES

Sabina Pasholli AVANNTIVE CONSULTING SH.P.K

Loreta Peci PWC ALBANIA

Merita Qato OFFICE OF REGISTRATION OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY

Laura Qorlaze AVANNTIVE CONSULTING SH.P.K

Loriana Robo KALO & ASSOCIATES

Mimoza Sadushaj MIMOZA SADUSHAJ

Ergis Sefa ERG MANAGERIAL

Ardjana Shehi KALO & ASSOCIATES

Alban Shehri ALBAKONTROLL

Majlinda Sulstarova TONUCCI & PARTNERS

Besa Tauzi BOGA & ASSOCIATES TIRANA

Ketrin Topçiu BOZO & ASSOCIATES LAW FIRM

Elda Toro Shuraja HOXHA, MEMI & HOXHA

Fioralba Trebicka HOXHA, MEMI & HOXHA

Alketa Uruçi BOGA & ASSOCIATES TIRANA

Gerhard Velaj BOGA & ASSOCIATES TIRANA

Elona Xhepa BOGA & ASSOCIATES TIRANA

Selena Ymeri HOXHA, MEMI & HOXHA

Evis Zaja OPTIMA LEGAL AND FINANCIAL

Enida Zeneli BOZO & ASSOCIATES LAW FIRM

1. “PwC” refers to the network of member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PwCIL), or, as the context requires, individual member firms of the PwC network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity and does not act as agent of PwCIL or any other member firm. PwCIL does not provide any services to clients. PwCIL is not responsible or liable for the acts or omissions of any of its member firms nor can it control the exercise of their professional judgment or bind them in any way. No member firm is responsible or liable for the acts or omissions of any other member firm nor can it control the exercise of another member firm’s professional judgment or bind another member firm or PwCIL in any way.

255ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ALGERIA DELOITTE ALGÉRIE

DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES DOUANES

Salima Aloui LAW FIRM GOUSSANEM & ALOUI

Mohammed Tahar Benabid CABINET MOHAMMED TAHAR BENABID

Abdelghani Benaired CABINET DU MAÎTRE ABDELGHANI BENAIRED

Abdelouahab Benali GLOBAL LOGISTIC PARTNER SARL

Samir Benslimane CABINET BENSLIMANE

Adnane Bouchaib BOUCHAIB LAW FIRM

Ahmed Reda Boudiaf SCP BOUDIAF & BOUDIAF

Amin Bouhaddi ENTREPRISE BOUHADDI

Ryad Chabouni NSC MAGHREB

Arnaud Chastel PWC ALGERIA

Said Dib BANQUE D’ALGÉRIE

Souhila Djamouh Chaib CABINET DJAMOUH

Ahmed Djouadi LAW FIRM HADJ-HAMOU & DJOUADI - ASSOCIATE OFFICE OF DENTONS

Khaled Goussanem LAW FIRM GOUSSANEM & ALOUI

Bachir Khodja SNC KHODJA ET CIE

Raffa Hakim Lakhdar NSC MAGHREB

Mohamed Lanouar B L & ASSOCIÉS - MEMBER OF DLA PIPER AFRICA

Vincent Lunel LEFÈVRE PELLETIER & ASSOCIÉS

Mohamed Mokrane MINISTÈRE DES FINANCES - DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DU DOMAINE NATIONAL

Hamid Ould Hocine STUDIO A

Fares Ouzegdouh TRANSPORT PORT LOGISTICS & SOLUTIONS

Malika Redouani PWC ALGERIA

Mourad Seghir GHELLAL & MEKERBA

Robin Souclier LEFÈVRE PELLETIER & ASSOCIÉS

Beatriz Torets Ruiz THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

Hassan Yassine THOMPSON & KNIGHT LLP

ANGOLA ANGOLA CUSTOMS NATIONAL DIRECTORATE

BANCO NACIONAL DE ANGOLA

ERNST & YOUNG

Maria Abrantes ANGOLA PRIVATE INVESTMENT AGENCY - ANIP

Sika Awoonor GLOBAL CHOICE ANGOLA LDA.

Nelson Couto Cabral LAW FIRM CCBS ADVOGADOS

Alexandre Caldas Menezes ESTRUCTURAL EMPREENDIMIENTOS IMOBILIARIOS LDA

Pedro Calixto PWC ANGOLA

Luis Filipe Carvalho VITOR CARVALHO & ASSOCIADOS

Vitor Carvalho VITOR CARVALHO & ASSOCIADOS

Arlete Conceição ANGOLA PRIVATE INVESTMENT AGENCY - ANIP

Hamilton Costa ANGOLA PRIVATE INVESTMENT AGENCY - ANIP

Yasmina Costa 3C LAW FIRM

Graciete Fernandes LOURDES CAPOSSO FERNANDES & ASSOCIADOS

Lourdes Caposso Fernandes LOURDES CAPOSSO FERNANDES & ASSOCIADOS

Berta Grilo FBL ADVOGADOS

N’Zinga Teixeira Jasse

Victor Leonel ORDEM DOS ARQUITECTOS

João Machado PWC ANGOLA

Sofia Maia do Vale FBL ADVOGADOS

Guirec Malfait SDV LOGISTICS

Arcelio Matias ARCÉLIO INÁCIO DE ALMEIDA MATIAS – ARDJA-PRESTAÇÃO DE SERVIÇOS E CONSULTORIA, LDA

Harrison Medina LOURDES CAPOSSO FERNANDES & ASSOCIADOS

Yuma Munana LOURDES CAPOSSO FERNANDES & ASSOCIADOS

Ivan Njinga ANGOLA PRIVATE INVESTMENT AGENCY - ANIP

Janota Nzogi EDEL-EP

Eduardo Paiva PWC ANGOLA

Joaquim Piedade UNICARGAS

Luis Filipe Pizarro

Gervasio Simao INTEL

Beatriz Calcida Soares Catumbela CONSERVATÓRIA DO REGISTRO PREDIAL DE LUANDA (1ª SECÇÃO)

Cristina Teixeira PWC ANGOLA

Ricardo Veloso GPA - GOUVEIA PEREIRA, COSTA FREITAS & ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA ANTIGUA PUBLIC UTILITY AUTHORITY

MINISTRY OF LABOR

Ricki Camacho ANTIGUA & BARBUDA INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & COMMERCE OFFICE (ABIPCO)

Neil Coates PWC ANTIGUA

Nicolette Doherty NICOLETTE M. DOHERTY ATTORNEY-AT-LAW AND NOTARY PUBLIC

Terence Dornellas CONSOLIDATED MARITIME SERVICES

Brian D’Ornellas OBM INTERNATIONAL, ANTIGUA LTD.

John Fuller JOHN E. FULLER & CO.

Cecile Hill LAND REGISTRY

Lenworth Johnson JOHNSON GARDINER

Lisa M. John Weste THOMAS, JOHN & CO.

Hugh C. Marshall MARSHALL & CO.

Jermaine C. Rhudd RHUDD & ASSOCIATES

Septimus A. Rhudd RHUDD & ASSOCIATES

Stacy A. Richards-Anjo RICHARDS & CO.

Andrea Roberts ROBERTS & CO.

Frank Schwartz ANTIGUA MARITIME AGENCIES

Denzil Solomon PLAN COM

Eleanor R. Solomon CLARKE & CLARKE

Frederick Southwell DEVELOPMENT CONTROL AUTHORITY

Arthur Thomas THOMAS, JOHN & CO.

Oliver Woollard CARIBBEAN CURRENT

ARGENTINA Ignacio Acedo GONZALEZ & FERRARO MILA

Fernando Aguinaga ZANG, BERGEL & VIÑES ABOGADOS

Sebastian Alvarez BRONS & SALAS ABOGADOS

Natalia Artmann ALFARO ABOGADOS

Ariadna Artopoulos M. & M. BOMCHIL

Alejo Baca Castex G. BREUER

Vanesa Balda VITALE, MANOFF & FEILBOGEN

Maria Laura Barbosa ZANG, BERGEL & VIÑES ABOGADOS

Fiorella Belsito SEVERGNINI, ROBIOLA, GRINBERG & TOMBEUR

Andrea N. Bermudez LAPRIDA, GOÑI MORENO & GONZÁLEZ URROZ

Alfredo Bissero Paratz WIENER SOTO CAPARRÓS

Pilar Etcheverry Boneo MARVAL, O’FARRELL & MAIRAL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ignacio Fernández Borzese LUNA REQUENA & FERNÁNDEZ BORZESE TAX LAW FIRM

Iván Burín ZANG, BERGEL & VIÑES ABOGADOS

Adriana Paola Caballero WIENER SOTO CAPARRÓS

Federico Carenzo LEONHARDT, DIETL, GRAF & VON DER FECHT

Mariano E. Carricart BADENI, CANTILO, LAPLACETTE & CARRICART

Luciano Cativa LUNA REQUENA & FERNÁNDEZ BORZESE TAX LAW FIRM

Pablo L. Cavallaro ESTUDIO CAVALLARO ABOGADOS

Roberto H. Crouzel ESTUDIO BECCAR VARELA

María Amalia Cruz ZANG, BERGEL & VIÑES ABOGADOS

Valeria D’Alessandro MARVAL, O’FARRELL & MAIRAL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Carola Del Rio SEVERGNINI, ROBIOLA, GRINBERG & TOMBEUR

Oscar Alberto del Río CENTRAL BANK OF ARGENTINA

Santiago D’Eramo G. BREUER

Andrés Edelstein PWC ARGENTINA

Dana Eizner SEVERGNINI, ROBIOLA, GRINBERG & TOMBEUR

Joaquín Eppens Echague FIORITO MURRAY & DIAZ CORDERO

Daniel Escolá LAPRIDA, GOÑI MORENO & GONZÁLEZ URROZ

Pablo Ferraro Mila GONZALEZ & FERRARO MILA

Diego M. Fissore G. BREUER

Arq. Eduardo Galleazzi ARCHITECT

Martín Gastaldi ESTUDIO BECCAR VARELA

Javier M. Gattó Bicain CANDIOTI GATTO BICAIN & OCANTOS

Giselle Rita Geuna ALFARO ABOGADOS

Juan Jose Glusman PWC ARGENTINA

Rosalina Goñi Moreno LAPRIDA, GOÑI MORENO & GONZÁLEZ URROZ

Matías Grinberg SEVERGNINI, ROBIOLA, GRINBERG & TOMBEUR

Sandra S. Guillan DE DIOS & GOYENA ABOGADOS CONSULTORES

Sofía Harilaos LAPRIDA, GOÑI MORENO & GONZÁLEZ URROZ

Gabriela Hidalgo GABRIELA HIDALGO

Daniel Intile RUSSELL BEDFORD ARGENTINA

Mariana Labombarda FIORITO MURRAY & DIAZ CORDERO

Federico Hernán Laprida LAPRIDA, GOÑI MORENO & GONZÁLEZ URROZ

Sofía Leggiero SEVERGNINI, ROBIOLA, GRINBERG & TOMBEUR

Lucas Loviscek ESTUDIO BECCAR VARELA

Alvaro Luna Requena LUNA REQUENA & FERNÁNDEZ BORZESE TAX LAW FIRM

Tomás M. Fiorito FIORITO MURRAY & DIAZ CORDERO

Juan Manuel Magadan PWC ARGENTINA

Alejandro Mao ZANG, BERGEL & VIÑES ABOGADOS

María Lucila Marchini ESTUDIO BECCAR VARELA

Pedro Mazer ALFARO ABOGADOS

Julian Melis CANDIOTI GATTO BICAIN & OCANTOS

Maria Fernanda Mierez ESTUDIO BECCAR VARELA

José Oscar Mira CENTRAL BANK OF ARGENTINA

Jorge Miranda CLIPPERS SA

Pablo Murray FIORITO MURRAY & DIAZ CORDERO

Alfredo Miguel O’Farrell MARVAL, O’FARRELL & MAIRAL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Gabriela E. Orsini SENTIDO COMÚN

Alejandro Poletto ESTUDIO BECCAR VARELA

Enrique Prini Estebecorena

José Miguel Puccinelli ESTUDIO BECCAR VARELA

María Clara Pujol WIENER SOTO CAPARRÓS

Ignacio Questa Etcheberry ALFARO ABOGADOS

Federico José Reibestein REIBESTEIN & ASOCIADOS

Armando Ricci ZANG, BERGEL & VIÑES ABOGADOS

Sebastián Rodrigo ALFARO ABOGADOS

Juan Ignacio Ruiz ALFARO ABOGADOS

Fernanda Sabbatini WIENER SOTO CAPARRÓS

Luz María Salomón J.P. O’FARRELL ABOGADOS

DOING BUSINESS 2015256

Mariela Alejandra Sas M. & M. BOMCHIL

Maria Florencia Sota Vazquez ALFARO ABOGADOS

Pablo Staszewski STASZEWSKI & ASSOCIATES

Javier Tarasido SEVERGNINI, ROBIOLA, GRINBERG & TOMBEUR

Adolfo Tombolini RUSSELL BEDFORD ARGENTINA

María Paola Trigiani ALFARO ABOGADOS

Susana Urresti EDESUR ELECTRICIDAD DISTRIBUIDORA SUR SA

Emilio Beccar Varela ESTUDIO BECCAR VARELA

Abraham Viera PLANOSNET.COM CONSULTORIA MUNICIPAL

Paz Villamil RATTAGAN, MACCHIAVELLO AROCENA & PEÑA ROBIROSA ABOGADOS

Roberto Wiman GREEN INGENIERÍA

Saúl Zang ZANG, BERGEL & VIÑES ABOGADOS

Joaquín Emilio Zappa J.P. O’FARRELL ABOGADOS

Carlos Zima PWC ARGENTINA

ARMENIA HSBC BANK

Ruzan Alaverdyan MINISTRY OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Arman Arzumanyan LEGAL LAB

Sedrak Asatryan

Narek Ashughatoyan LEGAL LAB

Albert Babayan MINISTRY OF ECONOMY

Anush Baghdasaryan AVENUE CONSULTING GROUP

Vahagn Balyan AVENUE CONSULTING GROUP

Irina Belubekyan UNION OF MANUFACTURERS AND BUSINESSMEN (EMPLOYERS) OF ARMENIA

Vardan Bezhanyan LAW FACULTY, YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Abgar Budaghyan PUBLIC SERVICES REGULATORY COMMISSION OF ARMENIA

Vahagn Dallakyan

Marine Derdzyan KPMG

Kristina Dudukchyan KPMG

Aikanush Edigaryan TRANS-ALLIANCE

Gagik Galstyan HORIZON 95

Ruzanna Gevorgyan GLOBAL SPC

Hrant Ghambaryan THE COLLEGIUM OF BUSINESS- MANAGERS’ BANKRUPTCY - SRO

Vahe Ghavalyan PARADIGMA ARMENIA CJSC

Arsen Ghazaryan UNION OF MANUFACTURERS AND BUSINESSMEN (EMPLOYERS) OF ARMENIA

Hayk Ghazazyan KPMG

Suren Gomtsyan CONCERN-DIALOG LAW FIRM

Armine Grigoryan THE STATE COMMITTEE OF THE REAL PROPERTY CADASTRE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

Tigran Grigoryan AVENUE CONSULTING GROUP

Vardan Grigoryan ELECTRIC NETWORKS OF ARMENIA

Sargis H. Martirosyan TRANS-ALLIANCE

Astghik Hakobyan GLOBAL SPC

Gevorg Hakobyan CONCERN-DIALOG LAW FIRM

Mariam Harutyunyan PARADIGMA ARMENIA CJSC

Artak Hovakimyan BIG ENERGO LLC

Ani Hovhannisyan GLOBAL SPC

Hovhannes Hovhannisyan THE STATE COMMITTEE OF THE REAL PROPERTY CADASTRE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

Isabella Hovhannisyan EBRD BUSINESS SUPPORT OFFICE

Vahe G. Kakoyan INVESTMENT LAW GROUP LLC

Izabella Kantarjyan GLOBAL SPC

Andranik Kasaryan REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA YEREVAN MUNICIPALITY

David Khachatryan AVENUE CONSULTING GROUP

Georgi Khachatryan AVENUE CONSULTING GROUP

Lilit Khachatryan GLOBAL SPC

Karen Khachaturyan THE STATE COMMITTEE OF THE REAL PROPERTY CADASTRE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

Stepan Khzrtian LEGAL LAB

Liana Kirakosyan

Tigran Kocharyan COMPACT REAL ESTATE AGENCY LLC

Stanislav Kolesnikov ELECTRIC NETWORKS OF ARMENIA

Arayik Kurdyan REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA YEREVAN MUNICIPALITY

Mushegh Manukyan ADR PARTNERS

Kamo Margaryan

Karen Martirosyan AVENUE CONSULTING GROUP

Lilit Matevosyan PWC ARMENIA

Arsen Matikyan CMA CGM

Robin McCone PWC GEORGIA

Anna Melik-Karamyan GLOBAL SPC

Armen Melkumyan FIDELITY CONSULTING CJSC

Ashot Musayan THE STATE COMMITTEE OF THE REAL PROPERTY CADASTRE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA

Narine Nersisyan PWC ARMENIA

Nerses Nersisyan PWC ARMENIA

Artur Nikoyan TRANS-ALLIANCE

Aram Orbelyan

Gohar Petrosyan CONCERN DIALOGUE LAW FIRM

Naira Petrosyan PARADIGMA ARMENIA CJSC

Aram Poghosyan GRANT THORNTON LLP

Hayk Pogosyan ARSARQTEX LLC

Nare Sahakyan ARDSHININVESTBANK CJSC

David Sargsyan AMERIA GROUP CJSC

Ruben Sarukhanyan GLOBAL SPC

Ruben Shakhmuradyan COMFORT R&V

Gayane Shimshiryan

Elena Sorokina TRANS-ALLIANCE

Hakob Tadevosyan GRANT THORNTON LLP

Tatevik Tadevosyan GLOBAL SPC

Arsen Tavadyan TER-TACHATYAN LEGAL AND BUSINESS CONSULTING

Albina Tevosyan TETRA TECH ES, INC.

Tserun Voskanyan ELECTRIC NETWORKS OF ARMENIA

Arman Yesayan ALFA SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES

Liana Yordanyan TER-TACHATYAN LEGAL AND BUSINESS CONSULTING

Samuel Zakarian GLOBAL SPC

Aram Zakaryan ACRA CREDIT BUREAU

AUSTRALIA AUSGRID

SDV LOGISTICS

TREASURY OF AUSTRALIA

VEDA ADVANTAGE

WORLDWIDE LOGISTICS PTY. LTD.

Jacinta Bishop MARQUE LAWYERS

Harold Bolitho KING & WOOD MALLESONS

Lynda Brumm PWC AUSTRALIA

David Buda RBHM COMMERCIAL LAWYERS

Gaibrielle Cleary GOULD RALPH PTY. LTD. - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

David Cross NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT

Mark Dalby OFFICE OF STATE REVENUE, NSW TREASURY

Kristy Dixon MARQUE LAWYERS

Laura Groves DLA PIPER

Philip Harvey KING & WOOD MALLESONS

Owen Hayford CLAYTON UTZ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ian Humphreys ASHURST LLP

Jennifer Ingram CLAYTON UTZ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Stephen Jauncey HENRY DAVIS YORK

John Karantonis CLAYTON UTZ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Morgan Kelly FERRIER HODGSON LIMITED

Peter Leonard GILBERT + TOBIN LAWYERS

John Martin THOMSONS LAWYERS

Mitchell Mathas NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT

Nicholas Mavrakis CLAYTON UTZ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Rick McEwen LIPMAN CONSTRUCTION

Patricia Muscat PWC AUSTRALIA

Maria Nicolof GILBERT + TOBIN LAWYERS

Kylie Parker LOGICCA CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Amanda Phillips FERRIER HODGSON LIMITED

Mark Pistilli CLIFFORD CHANCE

John Reid OFFICE OF STATE REVENUE, NSW TREASURY

Greg Saunders CONNECT INFRASTRUCTURE PTY. LTD.

Dean Schiller FAYMAN INTERNATIONAL PTY. LTD.

Ruwan Senanayake O.T.S. AUSTRALIA PTY. LTD.

Damian Sturzaker MARQUE LAWYERS

Simon Truskett CLAYTON UTZ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Jenae Webb ASHURST LLP

Ffion Whaley ASHURST LLP

Juliet Wright-Single DLA PIPER

Katarina Zlatar GILBERT + TOBIN LAWYERS

AUSTRIA KSV 1870

OESTERREICHISCHE NATIONAL BANK

Clemens Bärenthaler DLA PIPER WEISS-TESSBACH RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Viktoria Bernt FRESHFIELDS BRUCKHAUS DERINGER

Georg Brandstetter BRANDSTETTER, BAURECHT, PRITZ & PARTNER RECHTSANWÄLTE KG

Sonja Bydlinski MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Martin Eckel TAYLORWESSING E|N|W|C NATLACEN WALDERDORFF CANCOLA RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Agnes Eigner BRANDSTETTER, BAURECHT, PRITZ & PARTNER RECHTSANWÄLTE KG

Tibor Fabian BINDER GRÖSSWANG RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Julian Feichtinger CHSH CERHA HEMPEL SPIEGELFELD HLAWATI, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Martin Foerster GRAF & PITKOWITZ RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Ferdinand Graf GRAF & PITKOWITZ RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Andreas Hable BINDER GRÖSSWANG RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Friedrich Helml SCWP SCHINDHELM AUSTRIA

Alexander Hofmann RA DR. ALEXANDER HOFMANN, LL.M.

Armin Immervoll MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Alexander Isola GRAF & PITKOWITZ RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Rudolf Kaindl KOEHLER, KAINDL, DUERR & PARTNER, CIVIL LAW NOTARIES

Alexander Klauser BRAUNEIS KLAUSER PRÄNDL RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Christian Koettl MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Rudolf Krickl PWC AUSTRIA

Michaela Krist CHSH CERHA HEMPEL SPIEGELFELD HLAWATI, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Sophie Meierhofer FRESHFIELDS BRUCKHAUS DERINGER

257ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Gerald Mitteregger INTERNATIONAL LOGISTIC GATEWAY

Johannes Mrazek AUSTRIAN REGULATORY AUTHORITY

Radovan Mrvos STRABAG SE

Gerhard Muggenhuber BEV - FEDERAL OFFICE OF METROLOGY & SURVEYING

Elke Napokoj BPV HÜGEL RECHTSANWÄLTE OG

Felix Neuwirther FRESHFIELDS BRUCKHAUS DERINGER

Martin Österreicher GRAF & PITKOWITZ RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Christian Pöchlinger PWC AUSTRIA

Barbara Pogacar BPV HÜGEL RECHTSANWÄLTE OG

Stefanie Saghy

Moritz Salzgeber BINDER GRÖSSWANG RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Edwin Scharf SCWP SCHINDHELM AUSTRIA

Georg Schima KUNZ SCHIMA WALLENTIN RECHTSANWÄLTE OG, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Stephan Schmalzl GRAF & PITKOWITZ RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Ernst Schmidt HALPERN & PRINZ

Franz Schwarzinger REVISIONSTREUHAND - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Helmut Sprongl AUSTRIAN REGULATORY AUTHORITY

Teresa Steininger GRAF & PITKOWITZ RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Thomas Trettnak CHSH CERHA HEMPEL SPIEGELFELD HLAWATI, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Birgit Vogt-Majarek KUNZ SCHIMA WALLENTIN RECHTSANWÄLTE OG, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Sabine Waiss KUNZ SCHIMA WALLENTIN RECHTSANWÄLTE OG, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Lukas A. Weber BRAUNEIS KLAUSER PRÄNDL RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH

Markus Winkler CHSH CERHA HEMPEL SPIEGELFELD HLAWATI, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Elisabeth Zehetner AUSTRIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Kathrin Zeller

AZERBAIJAN STATE COMMITTEE FOR SECURITIES OF AZERBAIJAN REPUBLIC

Bahram Abdinov NTD SERVICE

Parviz Abdullayev PWC AZERBAIJAN

Sabit Abdullayev IJS LAW FIRM

Eldar Agayev ERNST & YOUNG

Eldar Abuzarovich Aliev AZERBAIJAN STATE AGENCY FOR THE CONTROL OF CONSTRUCTION SAFETY

Qabil Aliyev AGEX TRANS

Jamil Alizada BAKER & MCKENZIE - CIS, LIMITED

Nubar Allahguluyeva ERNST & YOUNG

Aykhan Asadov BM MORRISON PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Iftixar Axundov MINISTRY OF TAXES

Jamal Baghirov BM MORRISON PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Hikmet Brdaric KN IBRAKOM FZCO.

Zaur Fatizadeh MINISTRY OF TAXES

Simuzar Feyzullayeva BAKER & MCKENZIE - CIS, LIMITED

Abbas Guliyev BAKER & MCKENZIE - CIS, LIMITED

Arif Guliyev PWC AZERBAIJAN

Elchin Habibov CENTRAL BANK OF AZERBAIJAN

Ilgar I. Habiyev THE STATE COMMITTEE ON PROPERTY ISSUES

Samir Hadjiyev GRATA LAW FIRM

Arzu Hajiyeva ERNST & YOUNG

Farid Huseynov EKVITA LEGAL AND TAX

Mehti Ilgar EKVITA LEGAL AND TAX

Ummi Jalilova GRATA LAW FIRM

Emin Karimov

Elshad Khanalibayli THE STATE COMMITTEE ON PROPERTY ISSUES

Sevda Khanmamedova ARS EXPRESS & LOGISTICS

Kamal Mamedzade SALANS FMC SNR DENTON EUROPE (CENTRAL ASIA) LIMITED

Elnur Mammadov PWC AZERBAIJAN

Nurlan Mammadov BAKER & MCKENZIE - CIS, LIMITED

Zaur Mammadov ERNST & YOUNG

Mirsalim Mammadzada DELOITTE

Saif Mammedov NTD SERVICE

Faiq S. Manafov UNIBANK

Rauf Memmedov STATE CUSTOMS COMMITTEE

Farhad Mirzayev BM MORRISON PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Ruslan Mukhtarov BM MORRISON PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Lala Mustafayeva DELOITTE

Mamed Nuriyev THE STATE SOCIAL PROTECTION FUND

Jabbarly Polad IJS LAW FIRM

Elshan Rahmanov GRATA LAW FIRM

Sadig Sadiqov OJSC BAKIELEKTRIKSHEBEKE

Leyla Safarova BAKER & MCKENZIE - CIS, LIMITED

Mustafa Salamov BM MORRISON PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Sona Taghiyeva SALANS FMC SNR DENTON EUROPE (CENTRAL ASIA) LIMITED

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BAHAMAS, THE APD LIMITED

L. Gerard Archer TAYLOR INDUSTRIES LTD.

Kevin Basden BAHAMAS ELECTRICITY CORPORATION

Gowon Bowe PWC BAHAMAS

Sonia Brown GRAPHITE ENGINEERING LTD.

Jacklyn Burrows LORD ELLOR & CO.

Wayde A. B. Christie LORD ELLOR & CO.

Surinder Deal HIGGS & JOHNSON

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Shakera Forbes GRAPHITE ENGINEERING LTD.

Wendy Forsythe IMPORT EXPORT BROKERS LTD.

Colin Higgs MINISTRY OF WORKS & TRANSPORT

Simone Morgan-Gomez CALLENDERS & CO.

Lester J. Mortimer Jr. CALLENDERS & CO.

Michael Moss MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Portia Nicholson HIGGS & JOHNSON

Andrew G.S. O’Brien II GLINTON, SWEETING, O’BRIEN LAW FIRM

Lindsy Pinders PINDERS CUSTOMS BROKERAGE

Chad D. Roberts CALLENDERS & CO.

Castino D. Sands LENNOX PATON

Ronald Saunders RONALD SAUNDERS

Rochelle Sealy PWC BAHAMAS

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Burlington Strachan BAHAMAS ELECTRICITY CORPORATION

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BAHRAIN ERNST & YOUNG

TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Tamadhur Abdulaal MINISTRY OF MUNICIPALITIES AND URBAN PLANNING

Savio Aguiar PANALPINA WORLD TRANSPORT LLP

Mohamed Al Mahroos PWC BAHRAIN

Reem Al Mahroos CHARLES RUSSELL LLP

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Ali Nematallah Al Neamah ELECTRICITY & WATER AUTHORITY

Reem Al Rayes ZEENAT AL MANSOORI & ASSOCIATES

Bader Al Saad BAHRAIN INVESTORS CENTER

Waleed Al Sabbagh BAHRAIN CUSTOMS

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Mohamed Al-Ahmadi BAHRAIN INVESTORS CENTER

Ebtihal Al-Hashimi MINISTRY OF MUNICIPALITIES AND URBAN PLANNING

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Yousif Bubshait PORTS AND MARITIME AFFAIRS - MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION

Simon Green CHARLES RUSSELL LLP

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Ken Healy PWC BAHRAIN

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Ebrahim Karolia PWC BAHRAIN

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Najma Mohammed MINISTRY OF MUNICIPALITIES AND URBAN PLANNING

Eman Omar ZU’BI & PARTNERS ATTORNEYS & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

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Najib F. Saade ASAR – AL RUWAYEH & PARTNERS

Naji Sabt SURVEY AND LAND REGISTRATION BUREAU

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Thamer Salahuddin MOHAMED SALAHUDDIN CONSULTING ENGINEERING BUREAU

Hamza Saleem ZU’BI & PARTNERS ATTORNEYS & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Esmond Hugh Stokes ZU’BI & PARTNERS ATTORNEYS & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Waheed Sultan BAHRAIN INVESTORS CENTER

Baiju Thomas AGILITY LOGISTICS

Muneera Zubari ZU’BI & PARTNERS ATTORNEYS & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Hatim S. Zu’bi ZU’BI & PARTNERS ATTORNEYS & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

BANGLADESH RAHMAN’S CHAMBERS

Zainul Abedin A. QASEM & CO.

Noor Ahamad MJ ALAM AND ASSOCIATES

Jasim U. Ahmed BANGLADESH CONTAINER LINES LTD.

DOING BUSINESS 2015258

Sahahuddin Ahmed DR. KAMAL HOSSAIN & ASSOCIATES

Tasmiah Ahmed FM ASSOCIATES

Intekhab-Ul Alam A.S. & ASSOCIATES

K. M. Tanzib Alam TANJIB ALAM AND ASSOCIATES

Kazi Ershadul Alam TANJIB ALAM AND ASSOCIATES

Kazi Rifat Ara Alam LEGACY LEGAL CORPORATE

Mohammad Jahangir Alam MJ ALAM AND ASSOCIATES

Shajib Mahmood Alam SANWAR HOSSAINS LAW FIRM

M. Iqbal Ali AIR LINK BANGLADESH LIMITED

Tasmiah Ali AKHTAR IMAM & ASSOCIATES

M.D. Nurul Amin DEVELOPMENT CONSTRUCTIONS LTD.

Mehedy Amin DEVELOPMENT CONSTRUCTIONS LTD.

Saady Amin DEVELOPMENT CONSTRUCTIONS LTD.

Mohammed Asaduzzaman SYED ISHTIAQ AHMED & ASSOCIATES

Jennifer Ashraf LEGACY LEGAL CORPORATE

A.S.A. Bari A.S. & ASSOCIATES

Kazi Bari K.A. BARI & CO.

Banasree Barua AIR LINK BANGLADESH LIMITED

Probir Barua JUBILEE TRADERS

Jane Alam Bhuiyan CHITTAGONG WATER SUPPLY AND SEWERAGE AUTHORITY

Sharif Bhuiyan DR. KAMAL HOSSAIN & ASSOCIATES

Anupam Chakraborty DOULAH & DOULAH

Gouranga Chakraborty BANGLADESH BANK

Jamilur Reza Choudhury

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Fatima Chowdhury FM ASSOCIATES

Khairul Anam Chowdhury MODERN ERECTION LIMITED (MEL)

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Shafiqul Islam Chowdhury SUPREME COURT

Badrud Doulah DOULAH & DOULAH ADVOCATES

Nasirud Doulah DOULAH & DOULAH ADVOCATES

Rehena Ferdous UPRIGHT TEXTILE SUPPORTS

K. M. A. Halim UPRIGHT TEXTILE SUPPORTS

Maksud Haque BANGLADESH ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

Md. Russel Haque AMIR & AMIR LAW ASSOCIATES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Nazmul Haque BANGLADESH BANK

Abdullah Mahmood Hasan DR. KAMAL HOSSAIN & ASSOCIATES

Al-Mehedi Hasan BANGLADESH BANK

Mirza Quamrul Hasan ADVISER’S LEGAL ALLIANCE FIRM

Syed Afzal Hasan Uddin SYED ISHTIAQ AHMED & ASSOCIATES

Ehsanul Hoque (Rasel) AIR MARKET EXPRESS

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Faria Huq A.S. & ASSOCIATES

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Sohel Kasem A. QASEM & CO.

Arefin Khan AMIR & AMIR LAW ASSOCIATES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

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Amina Khatoon DOULAH & DOULAH

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Tasmiah Nuhiya Ahmed LEX LEGAL

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Al Amin Rahman FM ASSOCIATES

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Sk. La-Tainur Rahman LEGACY LEGAL CORPORATE

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Andrew F. Brathwaite AFB CONSULTING

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George Browne TOWN AND COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT PLANNING OFFICE

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Rosalind Bynoe BCF ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

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Andrew Cox MINISTRY OF LABOR AND SOCIAL SECURITY AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Madam Justice Maureen Crane-Scott SUPREME COURT OF BARBADOS

Mark Cummins TOWN AND COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT PLANNING OFFICE

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Andrew C. Ferreira CHANCERY CHAMBERS

Lorenzo Forde PWC BARBADOS

Basil A. Giles YEARWOOD AND BOYCE

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Stanton Gittens STANGITTS LIMITED

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Ruan C. Martinez BCF ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

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Percy Murrell BIG P. CUSTOMS BROKERS AND AIR SEA AND LAND TRANSPORT INC.

Noel M. Nurse THE BOOTH STEAMSHIP CO. BARBADOS LTD.

Laurel Odle PWC BARBADOS

Gina D. Patrick TOWN AND COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT PLANNING OFFICE

Chester Pitt EARLE & EARLE CONSULTING INC.

Joe Steinbok ROTHERLEY CONSTRUCTION INC.

Stephen Worme THE BARBADOS LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY LTD.

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REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

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Arthur Biryukov THE SUPREME ECONOMIC COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

Dmitry Bokhan VERKHOVODKO & PARTNERS LLC

Alexander Botian BOROVTSOV & SALEI LEGAL SERVICES

Ekaterina Burak REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

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Aliaksandr Danilevich DANILEVICH LAW OFFICE

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Ulyana Evseeva BNT LEGAL & TAX

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Tatiana Guretskaya REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

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Olga Karabeika REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

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Alexandre Khrapoutski SYSOUEV, BONDAR, KHRAPOUTSKI SBH LAW OFFICE

Sergey Khromov VERKHOVODKO & PARTNERS LLC

259ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Siarhei Khvastovich LEGAL COMPANY CRISIS CONSULTING

Alexander Kirilenko AGENCY OF TERNAROUND TECHNOLOGIES

Nina Knyazeva VERKHOVODKO & PARTNERS LLC

Michael Koltinov RAIDLA LEJINS & NORCOUS

Nadezhda Koroleva SYSOUEV, BONDAR, KHRAPOUTSKI SBH LAW OFFICE

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Olga Kuchinskaya VLASOVA MIKHEL & PARTNERS

Alexandra Kuchminskaya REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

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Valery Lovtsov RAIDLA LEJINS & NORCOUS

Polina Lukashova VERKHOVODKO & PARTNERS LLC

Tatiana Lyzo REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

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Sergei Makarchuk CHSH CERHA HEMPEL SPIEGELFELD HLAWATI

Mikalai Markounik VLASOVA MIKHEL & PARTNERS

Sergey Mashonsky ARZINGER & PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM

Tatiana I. Melnik THE SUPREME ECONOMIC COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

Elena Melnikova REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

Konstantin Mikhel VLASOVA MIKHEL & PARTNERS

Aleksandr Mironichenko MINISTRY OF ECONOMY

Helen Mourashko REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

Yulia Nazarenko REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

Inesa Nazarova PWC BELARUS

Valentina Neizvestnaya AUDIT AND CONSULTING LTD. BELARUS

Sergei Odintsov PWC BELARUS

Yulia Ovseichyk REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

Uladzimir Aliaksandravich Palishuk PROFELEKTROPROEKT

Ekaterina Pastukhovich NATIONAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

Sergey Pinchuk LAWYER

Victor Pleonkin NATIONAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

Tatyana Pozdneeva VLASOVA MIKHEL & PARTNERS

Raman Ramanau MINSK CABLE (ELECTRICAL) NETWORK

Rybakovskaja MINISTRY OF ENERGY

Evgenia Seregina ARZINGER & PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM

Anna Shalimo VERKHOVODKO & PARTNERS LLC

Kristina Shibeko ERGO INSURANCE COMPANY

Yulia Shuba BOROVTSOV & SALEI LEGAL SERVICES

Dmitry Skorodulin

Anna Skorodulina ATTORNEYS OF JURZNAK, ADVOCATES

Vyacheslav Slabodnik UNIVEST-M

Maksim Slepitch ARZINGER & PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM

Alla Sundukova MINISTRY OF TAXES AND DUTIES

Natalia Talai VLASOVA MIKHEL & PARTNERS

Nikita Tolkanitsa CHSH CERHA HEMPEL SPIEGELFELD HLAWATI

Fiodar Tsurko TIMIOR

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Alena Usenia ARZINGER & PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM

Irina Veremeichuk VERKHOVODKO & PARTNERS LLC

Igor Verkhovodko VERKHOVODKO & PARTNERS LLC

Dmitry Viltovsky ARZINGER & PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM

Igor Yatskovsky EGOROV PUGISNKY AFANASIEV AND PARTNERS (EPA&P)

Victoriya Yayakuta REVERA CONSULTING GROUP

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Vadzim Zakreuski MINISTRY OF ENERGY

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Maxim Znak ATTORNEYS OF JURZNAK, ADVOCATES

Nadya Znak ATTORNEYS OF JURZNAK, ADVOCATES

BELGIUM Hubert André-Dumont MCGUIREWOODS LLP

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Kris De Schutter LOYENS & LOEFF

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Frank Dierckx PWC BELGIUM

Vincent Dieudonné SIBELGA

Camille Dümm NATIONAL BANK OF BELGIUM

David DuPont ASHURST LLP

James Dupont CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL DU NOTARIAT BELGE

Jürgen Egger LAGA

Alain François EUBELIUS ATTORNEYS

Nicolas Ghorain NOTAIRES ASSOCIÉS CVBA/ SCRL

Tom Gladinez EUBELIUS ATTORNEYS

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Grégoire Jakhian LOYENS & LOEFF

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Emil Arguelles ARGUELLES & COMPANY LLC

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Herbert Bradley HERBERT BRADLEY CUSTOM HOUSE BROKERS

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Fred Lumor FRED LUMOR & CO.

Reynaldo Magaña MOORE STEPHENS MAGAÑA LLP

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Mark Usher PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

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DOING BUSINESS 2015260

Bonaventure Dansou AFRICA HANDLING AND LOGISTICS

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Brice Allassane Tamba LA MAIRIE DE COTONOU - SERVICE DES AFFAIRES DOMANIALES

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Jean-Bosco Todjinou ECOPLAN SARL

Gilbert Ulrich Togbonon TRIBUNAL DE PREMIÈRE INSTANCE DE COTONOU

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Rodrigue Tokpessi LA MAIRIE DE COTONOU - SERVICE DES AFFAIRES DOMANIALES

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Thierry Verdier SOCIÉTÉ D’EXPLOITATION DU GUICHET UNIQUE DU BÉNIN (SEGUB)

Francine Vittin OFFICE NOTARIAL OLAGNIKA SALAM

Zacharie Yalo MAIRIE DE LA VILLE DE COTONOU

Victorin Yehouenou CABINET DES EXPERTS ASSOCIÉS - CEA SARL

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BHUTAN BHUTAN POWER CORPORATION LTD.

Bhakta Acharya

Cheda UC ASSOCIATES: BHUTAN LAW OFFICE

Tshering Choden DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE AND CUSTOMS

Sonam Chophel CREDIT INFORMATION BUREAU OF BHUTAN

Jigme Dorji THIMPHU CITY CORPORATION

Kencho Dorji LEKO PACKERS

Lhundub Dorji EAST-WEST CONSTRUCTION

Mindu Dorji MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

Namgay Dorji OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Tashi Dorji JUDICIARY OF BHUTAN

Ugyen Dorji DRUK INTEGRATED GREEN BUILDINGS

Laxmi Prasad Giri BHUTAN NATIONAL BANK

N. B. Gurung GLOBAL LOGISTICS

Gyeltshen MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Tashi Pem

Tashi Penjor MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

Sonam Penjore BHUTAN NATIONAL BANK

Dorji Phuntsho ROYAL SECURITIES EXCHANGE OF BHUTAN LTD.

Sonam Tashi MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

Wang Tshering PCT CONSTRUCTION

Karma Tshewang VISIT ASIA

Pema Wangda MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND HUMAN RESOURCES

Karma Yeshey MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

BOLIVIA DELAPAZ

Christian Amestegui ASESORES LEGALES CP

Daniela Aragones Cortez SANJINÉS & ASOCIADOS - ABOGADOS

Eduardo Aramayo PWC BOLIVIA

Mauricio Ayala AC CONSULTORES LEGALES

Rigoberto Paredes Ayllón RIGOBERTO PAREDES & ASSOCIATES

Raúl A. Baldivia BALDIVIA UNZAGA & ASOCIADOS

Thais Baldivieso WÜRTH KIM COSTA DU RELS ABOGADOS SC

Adrián Barrenechea BM&O ABOGADOS

Fernando Bedoya C.R. & F. ROJAS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Armando Berdecio De Martini VANGUARD MUEBLES

Hugo Berthin BDO BERTHIN AMENGUAL & ASOCIADOS

Andrea Bollmann-Duarte SALAZAR, SALAZAR & ASOCIADOS, SOC. CIV.

Dionicio Calle CRIALES, URCULLO & ANTEZANA

Daniel Carlsen RIGOBERTO PAREDES & ASSOCIATES

Asdruval Columba Jofre AC CONSULTORES LEGALES

Dorian de Rojas GAVA BOLIVIA

Cynthia Diaz Quevedo FERRERE ATTORNEYS

Jose Luis Diaz Romero SERVICIOS GENERALES EN ELECTRICIDAD Y CONSTRUCCIÓN (SGEC)

Alejandra Guevara GUEVARA & GUTIÉRREZ SC

Primitivo Gutiérrez GUEVARA & GUTIÉRREZ SC

Jorge Luis Inchauste GUEVARA & GUTIÉRREZ SC

Jaime M. Jiménez Alvarez COLEGIO DE INGENIEROS ELECTRICISTAS Y ELECTRÓNICOS LA PAZ

Rodrigo Jimenez-Cusicanqui SALAZAR, SALAZAR & ASOCIADOS, SOC. CIV.

Paola Justiniano Arias SANJINÉS & ASOCIADOS - ABOGADOS

Julio César Landívar Castro GUEVARA & GUTIÉRREZ SC

César Lora Moretto PWC BOLIVIA

Marcelo Luna BDO BERTHIN AMENGUAL & ASOCIADOS

Ariel Morales Vasquez C.R. & F. ROJAS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Camilo Moreno BM&O ABOGADOS

Ana Carola Muñoz WÜRTH KIM COSTA DU RELS ABOGADOS SC

Jaime Muñoz-Reyes G. CORPORATIVE LAW BOLIVIA CONSULTORES ASOCIADOS

Mauricio Pacheco HACEMOS CIUDAD SRL

Carlos Andrés Peredo FERRERE ATTORNEYS

Carlos Pinto FERRERE ATTORNEYS

Rocio Plata RIGOBERTO PAREDES & ASSOCIATES

Oscar Antonio Plaza Ponte Sosa ENTIDAD DE SERVICIOS DE INFORMACIÓN ENSERBIC SA

Guillermo Pou Munt CEAS SRL

Gerardo Quelca AUTORIDAD DE SUPERVISIÓN DEL SISTEMA FINANCIERO

Julio Quintanilla Quiroga QUINTANILLA, SORIA & NISHIZAWA SOC. CIV.

Ingrid Reese BM&O ABOGADOS

Patricio Rojas C.R. & F. ROJAS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Mariela Rojas de Hamel ENTIDAD DE SERVICIOS DE INFORMACIÓN ENSERBIC SA

Sergio Salazar-Arce SALAZAR, SALAZAR & ASOCIADOS, SOC. CIV.

Sergio Salazar-Machicado SALAZAR, SALAZAR & ASOCIADOS, SOC. CIV.

Sandra Salinas C.R. & F. ROJAS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Raúl Sanjinés Elizagoyen SANJINÉS & ASOCIADOS - ABOGADOS

A. Mauricio Torrico Galindo QUINTANILLA, SORIA & NISHIZAWA SOC. CIV.

Andrea Urcullo CRIALES, URCULLO & ANTEZANA

Javier Urcullo CRIALES, URCULLO & ANTEZANA

Karla Würth WÜRTH KIM COSTA DU RELS ABOGADOS SC

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA LRC CREDIT BUREAU

Amar Bajramović LAW OFFICE BAJRAMOVIC

Samir Bajrović ENOVA D.O.O.

Edisa Bakovic LAW OFFICE FEMIL CURT - PART OF DLA PIPER GROUP

Mubera Brković PWC BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Zlatko Čengić UNIONINVEST D.D.

Femil Čurt LAW OFFICE FEMIL CURT - PART OF DLA PIPER GROUP

Mia Delić ADVOKATSKA KANCELARIJA SPAHO

Stevan Dimitrijevic KN KARANOVIĆ & NIKOLIĆ

Višnja Dizdarević MARIĆ & CO. LAW FIRM

Amina Djugum MARIĆ & CO. LAW FIRM

Jasmina Dzaferovic KN KARANOVIĆ & NIKOLIĆ

Jasmina Gabela UNIONINVEST D.D.

Igor Gavran FOREIGN TRADE CHAMBER OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT FORWARDERS ASSOCIATION

Semir Guzin KEBO & GUZIN

Dulizara Hadzimustafic FERK (REGULATORY COMMISSION FOR ELECTRICITY IN THE FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)

Zijad Hasović KOMORA REVIZORA FBIH

Belma Hodzic CMS REICH-ROHRWIG HAINZ D.O.O.

Ahmet Hukic FERK (REGULATORY COMMISSION FOR ELECTRICITY IN THE FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)

Nusmir Huskić HUSKIC LAW OFFICE

Emir Ibisevic DELOITTE ADVISORY SERVICES D.O.O.

Arela Jusufbasić-Goloman LAWYERS OFFICE TKALCIC- DULIC, PREBANIC, RIZVIC & JUSUFBASIC-GOLOMAN

Nedžada Kapidžić NOTARY

261ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Muhidin Karšić

Sejda Kruščica-Fejzić JP ELEKTROPRIVREDA BIH PODRUŽNICA ELEKTRODISTRIBUCIJA SARAJEVO

Saša Lemez CENTRAL BANK OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Nedžad Madžak CONFIDA D.O.O. SARAJEVO

Branko Marić MARIĆ & CO. LAW FIRM

Davorin Marinkovic KN KARANOVIĆ & NIKOLIĆ

Sead Miljković LAW OFFICE MILJKOVIĆ IN ASSOCIATION WITH WOLF THEISS

Emir Naimkadić JP ELEKTROPRIVREDA BIH PODRUŽNICA ELEKTRODISTRIBUCIJA SARAJEVO

Monija Nogulic FERK (REGULATORY COMMISSION FOR ELECTRICITY IN THE FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)

Aida Plivac PWC BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Olodar Prebanić LAWYERS OFFICE TKALCIC- DULIC, PREBANIC, RIZVIC & JUSUFBASIC-GOLOMAN

Marija Prskalo KN KARANOVIĆ & NIKOLIĆ

Predrag Radovanović MARIĆ & CO. LAW FIRM

Branka Rajicic PWC BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Nedzida Salihović-Whalen CMS REICH-ROHRWIG HAINZ D.O.O.

Hasib Salkić JUMP LOGISTICS D.O.O.

Adnan Sarajlić LAW OFFICE DURAKOVIC IN ASSOCIATION WITH WOLF THEISS

Jasmin Saric WOLF THEISS D.O.O.

Alma Šečić LAW OFFICE FEMIL CURT - PART OF DLA PIPER GROUP

Arjana Selimić JP ELEKTROPRIVREDA BIH PODRUŽNICA ELEKTRODISTRIBUCIJA SARAJEVO

Amela Selmanagic WOLF THEISS D.O.O.

Nihad Sijerčić KN KARANOVIĆ & NIKOLIĆ

Maja Šimunac WOLF THEISS D.O.O.

Mehmed Spaho ADVOKATSKA KANCELARIJA SPAHO

Bojana Tkalčić-Djulić LAWYERS OFFICE TKALCIC- DULIC, PREBANIC, RIZVIC & JUSUFBASIC-GOLOMAN

Edin Zametica DERK (STATE ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION)

BOTSWANA TRANSUNION ITC

Jeffrey Bookbinder BOOKBINDER BUSINESS LAW

John Carr-Hartley ARMSTRONGS ATTORNEYS

Gorata Dibotelo ARMSTRONGS ATTORNEYS

Madongo Direng MODIMO & ASSOCIATES

Tatenda Dumba ARMSTRONGS ATTORNEYS

Edward W. Fasholé-Luke II LUKE & ASSOCIATES

Julius Mwaniki Kanja CHIBANDA, MAKGALEMELE & CO.

David Lawrence SHARPS ELECTRICAL PTY. LTD.

Sylvester Lekone MANICA AFRICA PTY. LTD.

Pauline Mabelebele ARMSTRONGS ATTORNEYS

Mercia Bonzo Makgalemele CHIBANDA, MAKGALEMELE & CO.

Mark Mckee ARMSTRONGS ATTORNEYS

Finola McMahon OSEI-OFEI SWABI & CO.

Abel Walter Modimo MODIMO & ASSOCIATES

Setho Mokobi BOOKBINDER BUSINESS LAW

Mmatshipi Motsepe MANICA AFRICA PTY. LTD.

Olivia Muzvidziwa KPMG

Rajesh Narasimhan GRANT THORNTON LLP

Buhlebenkosi Ncube LAWYER

Kwadwo Osei-Ofei OSEI-OFEI SWABI & CO.

Butler Phirie PWC BOTSWANA

Claudio Rossi SHARPS ELECTRICAL PTY. LTD.

Brent Rouse ELLIOTT MOBILITY

Piyush Sharma PIYUSH SHARMA ATTORNEYS

Frederick Webb ARMSTRONGS ATTORNEYS

Nilusha Weeraratne PWC BOTSWANA

Sipho Ziga ARMSTRONGS ATTORNEYS

BRAZIL EXPERTNESS BRAZIL FREIGHT FORWARDING & CONSULTING LTDA

Marina Agueda DE LUCA, DERENUSSON, SCHUTTOFF E AZEVEDO ADVOGADOS

Antônio Aires DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Pedro Almeida SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Maria Lúcia Almeida Prado e Silva DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Júlio Cesar Alves NORONHA ADVOGADOS

Ivana Amorim de Coelho Bomfim MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Octavio Moura Andrade DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Ubajara Arcas Dias GASPARINI, DE CRESCI E NOGUEIRA DE LIMA ADVOGADOS

Bruna Argento MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Alexandre Arlota KINCAID MENDES VIANNA ADVOGADOS

Leonardo Ricardo Arvate Alvares SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Mariana Assef SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Josef Azulay BARBOSA, MÜSSNICH & ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Rafael Baptista Baleroni SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Sarah Barbassa SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Marcelo Barbosa VIEIRA, REZENDE, BARBOSA E GUERREIRO ADVOGADOS

Priscyla Barbosa VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Matheus Barcelos BARBOSA, MÜSSNICH & ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Thiago Barroca NORONHA ADVOGADOS

Fernanda Bastos SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Gilberto Belleza BELLEZA & BATALHA C. DO LAGO ARQUITETOS ASSOCIADOS

David Benoliel NORONHA ADVOGADOS

Marcello Bernardes PINHEIRO NETO ADVOGADOS

João Pedro Berwanger MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Camila Biral DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Amir Bocayuva Cunha BARBOSA, MÜSSNICH & ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Adriano Borges DE VIVO, WHITAKER E CASTRO ADVOGADOS

Pedro Pio Borges MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Fernanda Bortolini PINHEIRO NETO ADVOGADOS

Carlos Braga SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Sérgio Bronstein VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Marcus Brumano DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Matheus Bueno de Oliveira COSTA, WAISBERG E TAVARES PAES SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Frederico Buosi VELLA PUGLIESE BUOSI GUIDONI

Guilherme Cacciari Veloni DEMAREST ADVOGADOS (RIO DE JANEIRO BRANCH)

Renata Câmara Mattos VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Renato Canizares DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Érika Carvalho SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Thiago Carvalho Stob NORONHA ADVOGADOS

Ramon Castilho SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Rodrigo Castro VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Isabela Coelho SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Ricardo E. Vieira Coelho PINHEIRO NETO ADVOGADOS

Roberta Coelho de Souza Batalha DEMAREST ADVOGADOS (RIO DE JANEIRO BRANCH)

Vivian Coelho dos Santos Breder ULHÔA CANTO, REZENDE E GUERRA-ADVOGADOS

Jarbas Contin PWC BRAZIL

Luiz Felipe Cordeiro CHEDIAK, LOPES DA COSTA, CRISTOFARO, MENEZES CÔRTES, RENNÓ E ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Marcel Cordeiro PWC BRAZIL

Pedro Costa BARBOSA, MÜSSNICH & ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Bruno Henrique Coutinho de Aguiar RAYES & FAGUNDES ADVOGADOS

Maria Cibele Crepaldi Affonso dos Santos COSTA, WAISBERG E TAVARES PAES SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Camilla Cunha BARBOSA, MÜSSNICH & ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Gabriel da Câmara de Queiroz DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Carlos da Costa e Silva Filho VIEIRA, REZENDE, BARBOSA E GUERREIRO ADVOGADOS

Gisela da Silva Freire PORTO ADVOGADOS

Adriana Daiuto DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Carolina Davies MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

João Luis Ribeiro de Almeida DEMAREST ADVOGADOS (RIO DE JANEIRO BRANCH)

Rafael De Conti DE CONTI LAW OFFICE

Aldo de Cresci Neto GASPARINI, DE CRESCI E NOGUEIRA DE LIMA ADVOGADOS

João Claudio De Luca Junior DE LUCA, DERENUSSON, SCHUTTOFF E AZEVEDO ADVOGADOS

Beatriz Gross Bueno de Moraes Visnevski DE VIVO, WHITAKER E CASTRO ADVOGADOS

Eduardo Depassier LOESER E PORTELA ADVOGADOS

Valter Deperon PWC BRAZIL

Claudia Derenusson Riedel DE LUCA, DERENUSSON, SCHUTTOFF E AZEVEDO ADVOGADOS

Heloisa Bonciani Nader di Cunto DUARTE GARCIA, CASELLI GUIMARÃES E TERRA ADVOGADOS

Daniel Antonio Dias LOBO & DE RIZZO ADVOGADOS

Renata Dias SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Rodrigo Dias VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Rafael Dinoa CHEDIAK, LOPES DA COSTA, CRISTOFARO, MENEZES CÔRTES, RENNÓ E ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

José Ricardo dos Santos Luz Júnior DUARTE GARCIA, CASELLI GUIMARÃES E TERRA ADVOGADOS

Andre Drighetti LAZZARINI MORETTI E MORAES ADVOGADOS

Ingrid E.T. Schwarz de Mendonça NORONHA ADVOGADOS

Marcelo Elias PINHEIRO GUIMARÃES ADVOGADOS

Camila Falkenburger PINHEIRO GUIMARÃES ADVOGADOS

Mauro Faria VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Ticiana Faveiro MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Vanessa Felício VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Beatriz Felitte SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Iara Ferfoglia Gomes Dias Vilardi MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Alexsander Fernandes de Andrade DUARTE GARCIA, CASELLI GUIMARÃES E TERRA ADVOGADOS

DOING BUSINESS 2015262

Ian Ferreira MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

João Guilherme Ferreira NORONHA ADVOGADOS

Rafael Figueiredo SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Clarissa Figueiredo de Souza Freitas MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Guilherme Filardi DE LUCA, DERENUSSON, SCHUTTOFF E AZEVEDO ADVOGADOS

Silvia Fiszman MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Paulo Roberto Fogarolli Filho DUARTE GARCIA, CASELLI GUIMARÃES E TERRA ADVOGADOS

Julian Fonseca Peña Chediak CHEDIAK, LOPES DA COSTA, CRISTOFARO, MENEZES CÔRTES, RENNÓ E ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Luiz França CASTRO, BARROS, SOBRAL, GOMES ADVOGADOS

Raphael Freitas VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Henrique Funk Lo Sardo LAZZARINI MORETTI E MORAES ADVOGADOS

Renato G.R. Maggio MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Rafael Gagliardi DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Diego Galvão MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Rodrigo Garcia da Fonseca OSORIO E MAYA FERREIRA ADVOGADOS

José Pedro Gevaerd DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Andréa Giamondo Massei Rossi LOBO & DE RIZZO ADVOGADOS

Juliana Gile DE LUCA, DERENUSSON, SCHUTTOFF E AZEVEDO ADVOGADOS

Michelle Giraldi PWC BRAZIL

Luiz Marcelo Gois BARBOSA, MÜSSNICH & ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Cláudio R. F. Golgo GOLGO ADVOGADOS

Rodrigo Gomes Maia NORONHA ADVOGADOS

Renata Gonçalves HALLIBURTON PRODUTOS LTDA

Diógenes Gonçalves Neto PINHEIRO NETO ADVOGADOS

Gilberto Gornati COSTA, WAISBERG E TAVARES PAES SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Eduardo Ferraz Guerra GUERRA E BATISTA ADVOGADOS

Helena Guimarães VIEIRA, REZENDE, BARBOSA E GUERREIRO ADVOGADOS

Enrique Hadad LOESER E PORTELA ADVOGADOS

Felipe Hanszmann VIEIRA, REZENDE, BARBOSA E GUERREIRO ADVOGADOS

Thiago Hatab CHEDIAK, LOPES DA COSTA, CRISTOFARO, MENEZES CÔRTES, RENNÓ E ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Ricardo Higashitani KLA-KOURY LOPES ADVOGADOS

Carlos Alberto Iacia PWC BRAZIL

Jaili Isabel Santos Quinta Cunha COSTA, WAISBERG E TAVARES PAES SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Rogério Jorge AES ELETROPAULO

Sabrina Justi PWC BRAZIL

Breno Kingma VIEIRA, REZENDE, BARBOSA E GUERREIRO ADVOGADOS

Gabriela Krieck SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Sarah Ladeira Lucas SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Claudio Lampert LEFOSSE ADVOGADOS

Rodrigo Lara Alves da Silva RAYES & FAGUNDES ADVOGADOS

Juliano Lazzarini Moretti LAZZARINI MORETTI E MORAES ADVOGADOS

José Augusto Leal CASTRO, BARROS, SOBRAL, GOMES ADVOGADOS

Alexandre Leite SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Flávia Leite SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Rodrigo Leite Moreira VIEIRA, REZENDE, BARBOSA E GUERREIRO ADVOGADOS

Alexandre Leite Ribeiro do Valle V,M&L ADVOGADOS

Karina Lerner BARBOSA, MÜSSNICH & ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Paloma Valeria Lima Martins MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Rafael Lins e Silva Nascimento COSTA, WAISBERG E TAVARES PAES SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Ana Lobo VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Ana Beatriz Lobo VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Maury Lobo de Athayde CAMPOS MELLO ADVOGADOS

Fernando Loeser LOESER E PORTELA ADVOGADOS

José Andrés Lopes da Costa Cruz CHEDIAK, LOPES DA COSTA, CRISTOFARO, MENEZES CÔRTES, RENNÓ E ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Ricardo Loureiro SERASA SA

Stefan Lourenço de Lima COSTA, WAISBERG E TAVARES PAES SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Marina Maccabelli DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Tiago Machado Cortez KLA-KOURY LOPES ADVOGADOS

Pedro Maciel VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Estêvão Mallet MALLET E ADVOGADOS ASSOCIADOS

Camila Mansur Haddad O. Santos LAZZARINI MORETTI E MORAES ADVOGADOS

Glaucia Mara Coelho MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Deborah Marques SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Renata Martins de Oliveira MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Thais Martone SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Laura Massetto Meyer PINHEIRO GUIMARÃES ADVOGADOS

Marcelo Mattos VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Felipe Oliveira Mavignier GASPARINI, DE CRESCI E NOGUEIRA DE LIMA ADVOGADOS

Davi Medina Vilela VIEIRA, REZENDE, BARBOSA E GUERREIRO ADVOGADOS

Aloysio Meirelles de Miranda ULHÔA CANTO, REZENDE E GUERRA-ADVOGADOS

Marianne Mendes Webber SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Alexandre Mesquita SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

João Montandon Borges MONTANDON BORGES - ADVOCACIA E CONSULTORIA

Adriano Morais

Renata M. Moreira Lima LAZZARINI MORETTI E MORAES ADVOGADOS

Gustavo Morel VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Cristiny Mroczkoski Rocha GOLGO ADVOGADOS

Vladimir Mucury Cardoso CHEDIAK, LOPES DA COSTA, CRISTOFARO, MENEZES CÔRTES, RENNÓ E ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Ian Muniz VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Cássio S. Namur SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Jorge Nemr LEITE, TOSTO E BARROS

Walter Nimir DE VIVO, WHITAKER E CASTRO ADVOGADOS

Antonio Noronha LEFOSSE ADVOGADOS

Flávio Pinto Nunes THYSSENKRUPP CSA SIDERURGICA DO ATLANTICO

Michael O’Connor GUERRA E BATISTA ADVOGADOS

Daniel Oliveira SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Evany Oliveira PWC BRAZIL

Taisa Oliveira KLA-KOURY LOPES ADVOGADOS

Eduardo Ono Terashima DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Gyedre Palma Carneiro de Oliveira SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Franco Parente SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Luis Filipe Pedro MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Rogerio Rabelo Peixoto BANCO CENTRAL DO BRASIL

Paulo Penteado de Faria e Silva Neto VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Luciana Pereira Costa ULHÔA CANTO, REZENDE E GUERRA-ADVOGADOS

Luiz Eduardo Pereira Paz LIGHT SERVICOS DE ELETRICIDADE S. A.

Luanda Pinto Backheuser DE LUCA, DERENUSSON, SCHUTTOFF E AZEVEDO ADVOGADOS

Antonio Claudio Pinto da Fonseca CONSTRUTORA MG LTDA

Cassia Pizzotti DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Raphael Polito RAYES & FAGUNDES ADVOGADOS

Renato Poltronieri DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

José Ribeiro do Prado Junior MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Aline Prado Silva DE CONTI LAW OFFICE

Antonio Celso Pugliese VELLA PUGLIESE BUOSI GUIDONI

Dario Rabay SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Ana Paula Rabello LEFOSSE ADVOGADOS

Carlos Alberto Ramos de Vasconcelos DEMAREST ADVOGADOS (RIO DE JANEIRO BRANCH)

Ronaldo Rayes RAYES & FAGUNDES ADVOGADOS

Gabriella Reao ULHÔA CANTO, REZENDE E GUERRA-ADVOGADOS

Clarissa Rebello LEFOSSE ADVOGADOS

Marília Rennó CHEDIAK, LOPES DA COSTA, CRISTOFARO, MENEZES CÔRTES, RENNÓ E ARAGÃO ADVOGADOS

Bruna Rey VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Elisa Rezende VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Andreza Ribeiro SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Juliana Ribeiro MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Eliane Ribeiro Gago DUARTE GARCIA, CASELLI GUIMARÃES E TERRA ADVOGADOS

Laura Ribeiro Vissotto 1º CARTÓRIO DE NOTAS DE SÃO JOSÉ DOS CAMPOS

Mariana Rodrigues SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Viviane Rodrigues SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Marcos Roriz MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Luis Augusto Roux Azevedo DE LUCA, DERENUSSON, SCHUTTOFF E AZEVEDO ADVOGADOS

José Samurai Saiani MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Carolina Santos Costa MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Priscilla Saraiva ULHÔA CANTO, REZENDE E GUERRA-ADVOGADOS

Anelise Maria Jircik Sasson AES ELETROPAULO

Carolina Schreier KLA-KOURY LOPES ADVOGADOS

Edson Schueler VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Sabine Schuttoff DE LUCA, DERENUSSON, SCHUTTOFF E AZEVEDO ADVOGADOS

Lucas Seabra MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Gabriel Seijo SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Erik Sernik VELLA PUGLIESE BUOSI GUIDONI

Rafael Setoguti Julio Pereira GASPARINI, DE CRESCI E NOGUEIRA DE LIMA ADVOGADOS

Donizetti A. Silva DAS CONSULTORIA

Laiza Silva SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

263ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sydney Simonaggio AES ELETROPAULO

Michel Siqueira Batista VIEIRA, REZENDE, BARBOSA E GUERREIRO ADVOGADOS

Beatriz Souza SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Walter Stuber WALTER STUBER CONSULTORIA JURÍDICA

Daniel Szyfman MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Rodrigo Takano MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Bernardo Teixeira VIEIRA, REZENDE, BARBOSA E GUERREIRO ADVOGADOS

Celina Teixeira 18º OFICIO DE NOTAS

Maurício Teixeira dos Santos SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Marcelo Tendolini Saciotto RAYES & FAGUNDES ADVOGADOS

Marcos Tiraboschi DE LUCA, DERENUSSON, SCHUTTOFF E AZEVEDO ADVOGADOS

Gisele Trindade VELLA PUGLIESE BUOSI GUIDONI

Oswaldo Cesar Trunci de Oliveira MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Suslei Tufaniuk AES ELETROPAULO

Luciana Macedo V.G. da Silva SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Bruno Valente PWC BRAZIL

Ronaldo C. Veirano VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Anna Carolina Venturini PINHEIRO NETO ADVOGADOS

Ademilson Viana DEMAREST E ALMEIDA ADVOGADOS

Rafael Vitelli Depieri 1º CARTÓRIO DE NOTAS DE SÃO JOSÉ DOS CAMPOS

Karina Vlahos DE LUCA, DERENUSSON, SCHUTTOFF E AZEVEDO ADVOGADOS

José Carlos Wahle VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Eduardo Guimarães Wanderley VEIRANO ADVOGADOS

Simone Weber MACHADO, MEYER, SENDACZ E OPICE ADVOGADOS

Thiago Wscieklica SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

Karin Yamauti Hatanaka SOUZA, CESCON, BARRIEU & FLESCH ADVOGADOS

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM ERNST & YOUNG

Rena Azlina Abd Aziz MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Abdul Aziz Abdullah DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL SERVICES

Mohd Anuwar Aziz NEW SUPER BRIGHT LIGHTING ENTERPRISE

Danny Chua BRUNEI TRANSPORTING COMPANY

Mohamad Daud Ismail DAUD ISMAIL AND COMPANY

Hajah Norahimah Haji Aji DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

Mohamad Saiful Adilin Haji Edin MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Roaizan Johari AUTORITI MONETARI BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

Zuleana Kassim LEE CORPORATEHOUSE ASSOCIATES

Cynthia Kong WKA & ASSOCIATES

Farah Kong AUTORITI MONETARI BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

Kin Chee Lee LEE CORPORATEHOUSE ASSOCIATES

Lennon Lee PWC SINGAPORE

Kelvin Lim RIDZLAN LIM ADVOCATES & SOLICITORS

Colin Ong DR. COLIN ONG LEGAL SERVICES

Karthigeyan Srinivasan AUTORITI MONETARI BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

Shazali Sulaiman KPMG

Ting Tiu Pheng ARKITEK TING

Cecilia Wong TRICOR (B) SDN BHD

BULGARIA TAX ACCOUNT LTD.

Svetlin Adrianov PENKOV, MARKOV & PARTNERS

Stefan Angelov V CONSULTING BULGARIA

Rusalena Angelova DJINGOV, GOUGINSKI, KYUTCHUKOV & VELICHKOV

Ganka Belcheva BELCHEVA & KARADJOVA LLP

Ilian Beslemeshki GEORGIEV, TODOROV & CO.

Plamen Borissov BORISSOV & PARTNERS

Christopher Christov PENEV LLP

Maria Danailova DANAILOVA, TODOROV AND PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Kostadinka Deleva GUGUSHEV & PARTNERS

Valeria Dieva KALAIDJIEV & GEORGIEV

Irina Dilkinska PENEV LLP

George Dimitrov DIMITROV, PETROV & CO.

Nataliya Dimova CEZ DISTRIBUTION BULGARIA AD, MEMBER OF CEZ GROUP

Ina Dobriyanova CEZ DISTRIBUTION BULGARIA AD, MEMBER OF CEZ GROUP

Silvia Dulevska BULGARIAN NATIONAL BANK

Tereza Enicharova DOBREV & LYUTSKANOV

Atanas Georgiev PUBLIC SERVICES OOD

Ralitsa Gougleva DJINGOV, GOUGINSKI, KYUTCHUKOV & VELICHKOV

Kristina Gouneva DOBREV & LYUTSKANOV

Katerina Gramatikova DOBREV & LYUTSKANOV

Mariya Grigorova DINOVA RUSEV & PARTNERS

Stefan Gugushev GUGUSHEV & PARTNERS

Velyana Hristova PENKOV, MARKOV & PARTNERS

Iliya Iliev PRIMORSKA AUDIT COMPANY - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Gergana Ilieva DOBREV & LYUTSKANOV

Ginka Iskrova PWC BULGARIA

Vesela Kabatliyska DINOVA RUSEV & PARTNERS

Angel Kalaidjiev KALAIDJIEV & GEORGIEV

Yavor Kambourov KAMBOUROV & PARTNERS

Mina Kapsazova PWC BULGARIA

Niya Kehayova CEZ DISTRIBUTION BULGARIA AD, MEMBER OF CEZ GROUP

Stoina Kirazova PENEV LLP

Hristina Kirilova KAMBOUROV & PARTNERS

Yordan Kostov LEGALEX LAW OFFICE

Tsvetan Krumov SCHOENHERR

Stephan Kyutchukov DJINGOV, GOUGINSKI, KYUTCHUKOV & VELICHKOV

Roumen Lyutskanov DOBREV & LYUTSKANOV

Jordan Manahilov BULGARIAN NATIONAL BANK

Dimitrinka Metodieva GUGUSHEV & PARTNERS

Slavi Mikinski LEGALEX LAW OFFICE

Blagomir Minov TSVETKOVA, BEBOV AND PARTNERS

Vladimir Natchev ARSOV NATCHEV GANEVA

Yordan Naydenov BOYANOV & CO.

Valentina Nedkova CIBANK

Maria Pashalieva PENKOV, MARKOV & PARTNERS

Lilia Pencheva EXPERIAN BULGARIA EAD

Stefan Radev MULTIBRANDS

Konstantin Rizov GYUROV & RIZOV LAW OFFICE

Milen Rusev DINOVA RUSEV & PARTNERS

Anna Saeva TSVETKOVA, BEBOV AND PARTNERS

Svetoslav Shterev VIRTUS

Elizabeth Sidi PWC BULGARIA

Dimitar Slavchev PENKOV, MARKOV & PARTNERS

Krum Stanchev

Konstantin Stoyanov GUGUSHEV & PARTNERS

Roman Stoyanov PENKOV, MARKOV & PARTNERS

Margarita Stoyanova KAMBOUROV & PARTNERS

Vessela Tcherneva-Yankova V CONSULTING BULGARIA

Alexandrina Terziyska GUGUSHEV & PARTNERS

Kaloyan Todorov DANAILOVA, TODOROV AND PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Svilen Todorov TODOROV & DOYKOVA LAW FIRM

Viktor Tokushev TOKUSHEV AND PARTNERS

Georgi Tsonchev SCHOENHERR

Irina Tsvetkova PWC BULGARIA

Georgi Tzvetkov DJINGOV, GOUGINSKI, KYUTCHUKOV & VELICHKOV

Rossitsa Valeva PWC BULGARIA

Miroslav Varnaliev UNIMASTERS LOGISTICS PLC.

Monika Yaneva KALAIDJIEV & GEORGIEV

BURKINA FASO DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DU CONTRÔLE DES OPÉRATIONS D’AMÉNAGEMENT ET DE CONSTRUCTION

NAVITRANS

Pierre Abadie CABINET PIERRE ABADIE

Seydou Balama ETUDE MAÎTRE BALAMA SEYDOU

Euphrasie Bambara BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Bassambie Bationo BCEAO

Dieudonne Bonkoungou CABINET BONKOUNGOU

Patrick D. Grahouan ERNST & YOUNG

Serge Damiba ARCHI CONSULT

Denis Dawende OFFICE NOTARIAL ME JEAN CELESTIN ZOURE

Seydou Diarra

Bertrand Fleury BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Mahaman Tahir Hamani BCEAO

Césaire Kambou CABINET D’ARCHITECTURE AGORA

Issaka Kargougou MAISON DE L’ENTREPRISE DU BURKINA FASO

Gilbert Kibtonré CEFAC

Alain Gilbert Koala ORDRE DES ARCHITECTES DU BURKINA

Abraham Liadan PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Adeline Messou PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Eric N’Guessan ERNST & YOUNG

André Ouedraogo CABINET BONKOUNGOU

Martin Ouedraogo UNION INTERNATIONALE DE NOTARIAT

N. Henri Ouedraogo DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES IMPÔTS

Oumarou Ouedraogo CABINET OUEDRAOGO

Ousmane Honore Ouedraogo MAISON DE L’ENTREPRISE DU BURKINA FASO

Linda Rakotonavalona CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Sariaka Randrianarisoa CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Bénéwendé S. Sankara CABINET MAÎTRE SANKARA

Moussa Sanogo BCEAO

Hermann Lambert Sanon GROUPE HAGE

Adama Saouadogo ONEA

Moussa Ousmane Sawadogo DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES IMPÔTS

Roland Sow BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Dominique Taty PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Moussa Traore MAISON DE L’ENTREPRISE DU BURKINA FASO

Fousséni Traoré PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Bouba Yaguibou SCPA YAGUIBOU & YANOGO

Emmanuel Yehouessi BCEAO

Bogore Zongo CHAMBRE NATIONALE DES HUISSIERS DE JUSTICE DU BURKINA FASO

Sylvie Zongo CABINET PIERRE ABADIE

DOING BUSINESS 2015264

BURUNDI BANQUE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE DU BURUNDI

MINISTÈRE DES FINANCES

OBR

Jean Marie Barambona UNIVERSITÉ DU BURUNDI

Adolphe Birehanisenge AGENCE DE PROMOTION DES INVESTISSEMENTS

Jean Marie Bukware API-BURUNDI

Ange Gakundwakazi GPO PARTNERS BURUNDI CORRESPONDENT FIRM OF DELOITTE

Jean Bosco Habumuremyi GUICHET UNIQUE DE BURUNDI

Gerard Handika GPO PARTNERS BURUNDI CORRESPONDENT FIRM OF DELOITTE

René-Claude Madebari ENSAFRICA BURUNDI LIMITED

Rodrigue Majambere BNM & CO. ADVOCATES

Stanislas Makoroka UNIVERSITÉ DU BURUNDI

Anatole Miburo CABINET ANATOLE MIBURO

Abdul Mtoka RUBEYA & CO. ADVOCATES

Anatole Nahayo UNIVERSITÉ DU BURUNDI

Horace Ncutiyumuheto NCUTI LAW FIRM & CONSULTANCY

Albert Ndereyimana GETRA SA

Grégoire Nduwimana SDV LOGISTICS

Lambert Nigarura MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

Charles Nihangaza

Alice Nijimbere MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

Consolate Ningarukiye RUBEYA & CO. ADVOCATES

Montfort Nininahazwe SEACO

Gustave Niyonzima MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

Amissi Ntangibingura GUICHET UNIQUE DE BURUNDI

Evelyne Ntibazonkiza AGENCE DE PROMOTION DES INVESTISSEMENTS

Antoine Ntisigana SODETRA LTD.

Happy Hervé Ntwari MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

Patrick-Didier Nukuri CABINET NUKURI

François Nyamoya CABINET D’AVOCAT ALI DINI

Gilbert L.P. Nyatanyi ENSAFRICA BURUNDI LIMITED

Déogratias Nzemba CABINET D’AVOCAT ALI DINI

Floribert Nzoyihera ABADT

Willy Rubeya RUBEYA & CO. ADVOCATES

Benjamin Rufagari GPO PARTNERS BURUNDI CORRESPONDENT FIRM OF DELOITTE

Thierry Rujerwaka LABORATOIRE NATIONAL DU BÂTIMENT ET DES TRAVAUX PUBLICS (LNBTP) BURUNDI

Fabien Segatwa ETUDE ME SEGATWA

Martin Sindabizera NOTAIRE SINDABIZERA

Jérôme Vejuru SWIFT FREIGHT INTERNATIONAL

CABO VERDE BANCO DE CABO VERDE

EMPRESA DE ELECTRICIDADE E AGUA (ELECTRA)

Lolanda Andrade PWC CAPE VERDE

Luisa Borges SF&LB, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS, RL

Vasco Carvalho Oliveira Ramos ENGIC ENGENHEIROS ASSOCIADOS LDA

Victor Constantino AVACO

Ilídio Cruz ILIDIO CRUZ & ASSOCIADOS- SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Manuel de Pina SAMP - SOCIEDADES DE ADVOGADOS

Jorge Lima Delgado Lopes NÚCLEO OPERACIONAL DA SOCIEDADE DE INFORMAÇÃO

Jair Dias PWC CAPE VERDE

Florentino Jorge Fonseca Jesus ENGINEER

Solange Furtado Sanches SF&LB, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS, RL

Joana Gomes Rosa ADVOCACIA - CONSULTORIA

Teresa Livramento Monteiro DULCE LOPES, SOLANGE LISBOA RAMOS, TERESA LIVRAMENTO MONTEIRO-SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Julio Martins Junior RAPOSO BERNARDO & ASSOCIADOS

Luis Pedro Maximiano MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE ACCOUNT - MCA CAPE VERDE

João Medina NEVILLE DE ROUGEMONT & ASSOCIADOS

João Pereira FPS

José Manuel Pinto Monteiro ADVOGADOS & JURISCONSULTOS

Rita Ramos LAND REGISTRY

Nelson Raposo Bernardo RAPOSO BERNARDO & ASSOCIADOS

André Rodrigues PWC CAPE VERDE

José Rui de Sena AGÊNCIA DE DESPACHO ADUANEIRO FERREIRA E SENA LDA

Tito Lívio Santos Oliveira Ramos ENGIC ENGENHEIROS ASSOCIADOS LDA

José Spinola FPS

Salvador Varela MJM ADVOGADOS

Liza Helena Vaz PWC PORTUGAL

Henrique Veiga HENRIQUE VEIGA ADVOGADO

Leendert Verschoor PWC PORTUGAL

CAMBODIA ERNST & YOUNG

RED FURNESSE CO. LTD.

SOK & HENG LAW OFFICE

Chankoulika Bo BNG LEGAL

Chanmalise Bun PWC CAMBODIA

Phanin Cheam MUNICIPALITY OF PHNOM PENH BUREAU OF URBAN AFFAIRS

Ouk Chittra ELECTRICITÉ DU CAMBODGE (EDC)

Sothea Chrek CREDIT BUREAU (CAMBODIA) CO. LTD.

Charya Chum ARBITRATION COUNCIL FOUNDATION

Naryth Hour Hem BNG LEGAL

Hak Sok Heng GORDON & ASSOCIATES

Pagnawat Heng P&A ASIA LAW FIRM

Sim Hongseang VDB LOI

Rutherford Hubbard VDB LOI

Phalla Im CBD PARTNER & CONSULTANCY

Chhorpornpisey Keo ACLEDA BANK PLC.

Sophorne Kheang DFDL MEKONG (CAMBODIA) CO., LTD.

Chan Kosal ACLEDA BANK PLC.

Alex Larkin DFDL MEKONG (CAMBODIA) CO., LTD.

Sereyvathny Mao P&A ASIA LAW FIRM

Peter Mewes HBS LAW

Samorn Mike HBS LAW

Jude Ocampo DFDL MEKONG (CAMBODIA) CO., LTD.

Sophea Om ACLEDA BANK PLC.

Vouchly Ou DFDL MEKONG (CAMBODIA) CO., LTD.

Piseth Path BNG LEGAL

Sotheaphal Pho BASSAC LAW OFFICE

Allen Prak P&A ASIA LAW FIRM

Borapyn Py DFDL MEKONG (CAMBODIA) CO., LTD.

Kry Rattanak ROYAL ACADEMY FOR JUDICIAL PROFESSIONS

Muny Samreth PWC CAMBODIA

Sokla San P&A ASIA LAW FIRM

Vathana Sar DFDL MEKONG (CAMBODIA) CO., LTD.

Bun Huy Seng P&A ASIA LAW FIRM

Chanthy Sin LINEHAUL EXPRESS (CAMBODIA) CO., LTD.

Sophea Sin BNG LEGAL

Billie Jean Slott SCIARONI & ASSOCIATES

Lor Sok ARBITRATION COUNCIL FOUNDATION

Pheang Sokvirak PWC CAMBODIA

Samnangvathana Sor ARBITRATION COUNCIL FOUNDATION

Vannaroth Sovann BNG LEGAL

Sokmeth Srey ARBITRATION COUNCIL FOUNDATION

Samnang Sun SCIARONI & ASSOCIATES

Ousaphea Suos ACLEDA BANK PLC.

Rathvisal Thara BNG LEGAL

Janvibol Tip TIP & PARTNERS

Sreychenda Ton ACLEDA BANK PLC.

Garry Wood CREDIT BUREAU (CAMBODIA) CO. LTD.

Potim Yun VDB LOI

CAMEROON Roland Abeng THE ABENG LAW FIRM

Tabi Adele Mah FON-NDIKUM & PARTNERS

Rosine Pauline Amboa MOJUFISC MONDE JURIDIQUE ET FISCAL

Abel Epse Piskopani Armelle Silvana MOJUFISC MONDE JURIDIQUE ET FISCAL

Queenta Asibong THE ABENG LAW FIRM

Armand Atono AES SONEL

Thomas Didier Remy Batoumbouck CADIRE

Isidore Biyiha GUICHET UNIQUE DES OPERATIONS DU COMMERCE EXTERIEUR-GIE

Hiol Bonheur FIDUCIAIRE RATIO

Miafo Bonny Bonn BONNY BONN ENTERPRISES

Aser Frederic Boulock ATANGA LAW OFFICE

Anne Marie Diboundje Njocke CABINET DIBOUNDJE NJOCKE & ASSOCIÉS

Paul Marie Djamen MOBILE TELEPHONE NETWORKS CAMEROON (MTN)

Aurélien Djengue Kotte CABINET EKOBO

Joseph Djeuga SOTRAFIC

Laurent Dongmo JING & PARTNERS

Tsafack Dongmo CABINETS D’AVOCATS ATANGA LAW OFFICE

William Douandji ARCHITECT AND PARTNERS

Mireille Essoh-Momo ETUDE ME ETOKE

Lucas Florent Essomba CABINET ESSOMBA & ASSOCIÉS

Joël Etoke ETUDE ME ETOKE

Marie-Claude Etoke ETUDE ME ETOKE

Joseph Evagle Dime CONSEIL NATIONAL DU CRÉDIT

Elvis Eyong THE ABENG LAW FIRM

Hyacinthe Clément Fansi Ngamou SCP NGASSAM NJIKE & ASSOCIES

Abdoullahi Faouzi GUICHET UNIQUE DES OPERATIONS DU COMMERCE EXTERIEUR-GIE

Berlise Fimeni Djieya ATANGA LAW OFFICE

Atsishi Fon Ndikum FON-NDIKUM & PARTNERS

Esah Fondu Fomenky FON-NDIKUM & PARTNERS

Philippe Fouda Fouda BEAC CAMEROON

Nicaise Ibohn THE ABENG LAW FIRM

Samuel Iyug Iyug GROUPEMENT DES ENTREPRISES DE FRÊT ET MESSAGERIE DU CAMEROUN (GEFMCAM)

Christian Kamdoum PWC CAMEROUN

Jean Michel Mbock Biumla M&N LAW FIRM

Augustin Yves Mbock Keked CADIRE

Constantin Medou CABINET MEDOU

Ivan Mélachéo VANTURE CONSULTING

Patrick Menyeng Manga THE ABENG LAW FIRM

Jules Minamo KARVAN FINANCE

Olivier Moteng FON-NDIKUM & PARTNERS

265ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Laurence Idelette Mouafo Djeutchou SCP NGASSAM NJIKE & ASSOCIES

Arielle Christiane Marthe Mpeck ATANGA LAW OFFICE

Marie Agathe Ndeme CADIRE

Franklin Ngabe Njumbe LEGAL POWER LAW FIRM

Ntah Charlote Ngara ATANGA LAW OFFICE

Virgile Ngassam Njiké SCP NGASSAM NJIKE & ASSOCIES

Solange Ngise Mbuge LEGAL POWER LAW FIRM

Irène Nadège Ngolize ETUDE ME ETOKE

Benga Nomen Christopher EXPRESS CARGO

Carine Danielle Obama MOJUFISC MONDE JURIDIQUE ET FISCAL

Olivier Priso VILLE DE DOUALA COMMUNAUTÉ URBAINE DE DOUALA

Bolleri Pym UNIVERSITÉ DE DOUALA

Herinjiva Tahirisoa Rakotonirina CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Noupoue Ngaffa Richard LEGAL POWER LAW FIRM

Magloire Tchande PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS TAX & LEGAL SARL

Emmanuel Tchiffo ATANGA LAW OFFICE

Pierre Morgant Tchuikwa CADIRE

Nadine Tinen Tchadgoum PWC CAMEROUN

Chrétien Toudjui AFRIQUE AUDIT CONSEIL BAKER TILLY

Tamfu Ngarka Tristel Richard LEGAL POWER LAW FIRM

Flavia Guilaine Wamba Nangmo ATANGA LAW OFFICE

Jean Vincent Whassom IMPACT INTERNATIONAL SA

Eliane Yomsi KARVAN FINANCE

Philippe Zouna PWC CAMEROUN

CANADA TORONTO HYDRO

TRANSUNION CANADA

Jon A. Levin FASKEN MARTINEAU DUMOULIN LLP

Bekhzod Abdurazzakov BORDEN LADNER GERVAIS LLP

David Bish TORYS LLP

Paul Boshyk MCMILLAN LLP

Charlotte Cameron TORYS LLP

Adrian Cochrane BLAKES, CASSELS & GRAYDON LLP, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ralph Cuervo-Lorens BLANEY MCMURTRY, LLP

Abe Dube AMERINDE LAW GROUP

James Farley MCCARTHY TETRAULT LLP

Isabelle Foley CORPORATIONS CANADA

Paul Gasparatto ONTARIO ENERGY BOARD

Rachel April Giguère MCMILLAN LLP

Yoine Goldstein MCMILLAN LLP

Yoni Grundland BLAKES, CASSELS & GRAYDON LLP, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Kyriakoula Hatjikiriakos NATIONAL BANK OF CANADA

John J. Humphries TORONTO CITY HALL

Jordan Knowles BLAKES, CASSELS & GRAYDON LLP, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Joshua Kochath COMAGE CONTAINER LINES

Christopher Kong PWC CANADA

May Luong BORDEN LADNER GERVAIS LLP

Catherine MacInnis BLANEY MCMURTRY, LLP

Alena Makavets PWC CANADA

Terry McCann MLG ENTERPRISES LTD.

William McCarthy FCT

Patricia Meehan PWC CANADA

William Northcote SHIBLEY RIGHTON LLP

Alfred Page BORDEN LADNER GERVAIS LLP

Eric Paton PWC CANADA

Yonatan Petel MCMILLAN LLP

Bruce Reynolds BORDEN LADNER GERVAIS LLP

Tony Rodrigues

Gaynor Roger SHIBLEY RIGHTON LLP

Lincoln Schreiner PWC CANADA

Amir Tajkarimi NATIONAL BANK OF CANADA

Karl J. Veldkamp VELDKAMP BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS

Sharon Vogel BORDEN LADNER GERVAIS LLP

George Waggot MCMILLAN LLP

Andrea White SHIBLEY RIGHTON LLP

Ronald Witton COOPER CONSTRUCTION LTD.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Elois Anguimate MINISTÈRE DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE DU TRAVAIL, DE LA SÉCURITÉ SOCIALE ET DE L’EMPLOI

Jean Christophe Bakossa L’ORDRE CENTRAFRICAIN DES ARCHITECTES

Paul Bangonalia GUICHET UNIQUE DE FORMALITÉS DES ENTREPRISES (GUFE)

Jean-Noël Bangue COUR DE CASSATION DE BANGUI

Blaise Banguitoumba ENERCA (ENERGIE CENTRAFRICAINE)

Désiré Blaise Dinguita GUICHET UNIQUE DE FORMALITÉS DES ENTREPRISES (GUFE)

Massamba Firmin AUDIT & REVISION COMPTABLE CABINET LAWSON & ASSOCIES

Philippe Fouda Fouda BEAC CAMEROON

Dolly Gotilogue AVOCATE À LA COUR

Marious Guibaut Metongo BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS EN RÉPUBLIQUE CENTRAFRICAINE

Laurent Hankoff ENERCA (ENERGIE CENTRAFRICAINE)

Jean Paul Maradas Nado MINISTÈRE DE L’URBANISME

Mauricette Monthe-Psimhis CABINET D’AVOCATS & JURISTES ASSOCIÉS

Jacob Ngaya MINISTÈRE DES FINANCES - DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES IMPÔTS ET DES DOMAINES

Hoby Harinirina Rakotoniary CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Sariaka Randrianarisoa CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

François Sabegala GUICHET UNIQUE DE FORMALITÉS DES ENTREPRISES (GUFE)

Venant Paul Sadam CABINET D’AVOCATS & JURISTES ASSOCIÉS

Jonas Zonaita GUICHET UNIQUE DE FORMALITÉS DES ENTREPRISES (GUFE)

CHAD CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Dana Abdelkader Waya CABINET NOTARIAL BONGORO

Adoum Daoud Adoum Haroun SCGADA ET FILS

Abdelkerim Ahmat SDV LOGISTICS

Théophile B. Bongoro CABINET NOTARIAL BONGORO

Olivier Charreau GUICHET UNIQUE DES AFFAIRES FONCIÈRES

Oscar d’Estaing Deffosso PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS TAX & LEGAL SARL

Thomas Dingamgoto CABINET THOMAS DINGAMGOTO

Innocent Dionyo SOCIETE AFRICAINE D’ARCHITECTURE ET D’INGENIERIE

Mahamat Ousman Djidda ARCHITECTURAL

Philippe Fouda Fouda BEAC CAMEROON

Delphine K. Djiraibe AVOCATE À LA COUR

Francis Kadjilembaye CABINET THOMAS DINGAMGOTO

Gérard Leclaire ARCHITECTURAL

Moustapha Ali Moustapha MINISTÈRE DE LA JUSTICE GARDE DES SCEAUX - TRIBUNAL DE COMMERCE DE N’DJAMENA

Hayatte N’Djiaye PROFESSION LIBÉRALE

Issa Ngarmbassa ETUDE ME ISSA NGAR MBASSA

Benga Nomen Christopher EXPRESS CARGO

Joseph Pagop Noupoué ERNST & YOUNG

Tchouafiene Pandare CABINET NOTARIAL BONGORO

Nissaouabé Passang ETUDE ME PASSANG

Ahmat Senoussi ARCHITECTURAL

Amos D. Tatoloum Onde SOCIETE AFRICAINE D’ARCHITECTURE ET D’INGENIERIE

Nadine Tinen Tchadgoum PWC CAMEROUN

Massiel Toudjoum Melyoel OFFICE NOTARIAL

Abdoulaye Yacouba MAIRIE DE N’DJAMENA

Sobdibé Zoua CABINET SOBDIBE ZOUA

Patedjore Zoukalne MINISTÈRE DE L’URBANISME, DE L’HABITAT, DES AFFAIRES FONCIÈRES ET DES DOMAINES

CHILE Paula Aguilera URENDA, RENCORET, ORREGO Y DÖRR

Christian Alcota Peña REYMOND & FLEISCHMANN ABOGADOS

Alejandra Anguita Avaria SUPERINTENDENCIA DE INSOLVENCIA Y REEMPRENDIMIENTO

Josefina Montenegro Araneda SUPERINTENDENCIA DE INSOLVENCIA Y REEMPRENDIMIENTO

Jonathan Arendt ALBAGLI ZALIASNIK ABOGADOS

Luis Avello PWC CHILE

Angeles Barría PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Sandra Benedetto PWC CHILE

Enrique Benitez Urrutia URRUTIA & CÍA

Jorge Benitez Urrutia RIOS, TAGLE, ALESSANDRI, ROMERO Y BENÍTEZ

Mario Bezanilla ALCAÍNO ABOGADOS

Manuel Brunet Bofill CÁMARA CHILENA DE LA CONSTRUCCIÓN

Raimundo Camus YRARRÁZAVAL, RUIZ-TAGLE, GOLDENBERG, LAGOS & SILVA

Miguel Capo Valdes BESALCO SA

Héctor Carrasco SUPERINTENDENCIA DE BANCOS Y INSTITUCIONES FINANCIERAS CHILE

Javier Carrasco NUÑEZ MUÑOZ VERDUGO & CÍA LTDA ABOGADOS

Paola Casorzo PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Juan Luis Castellon NUÑEZ MUÑOZ VERDUGO & CÍA LTDA ABOGADOS

Andrés Chirgwin CHIRGWIN LARRETA PEÑAFIEL

Manuel Concha Oyaneder COLEGIO DE ARQUITECTOS DE CHILE

Guillermo Correa ALESSANDRI

Karla Cortez PWC CHILE

Andrés Dighero ALESSANDRI

Oscar Douglas PWC CHILE

Gonzalo Errázuriz URENDA, RENCORET, ORREGO Y DÖRR

Maira Esteban URENDA, RENCORET, ORREGO Y DÖRR

Peter Faille URENDA, RENCORET, ORREGO Y DÖRR

Cristián Garcia-Huidobro BOLETÍN DE INFORMACIONES COMERCIALES

Juan Luis Goldenberg Serrano SUPERINTENDENCIA DE INSOLVENCIA Y REEMPRENDIMIENTO

Carolina Gonzalez PWC CHILE

Cristian Hermansen Rebolledo ACTIC CONSULTORES

Alexis Herrera Becerra BANCOESTADO

Jorge Hirmas ALBAGLI ZALIASNIK ABOGADOS

Daniela Hirsch ALBAGLI ZALIASNIK ABOGADOS

Fernando Jamarne ALESSANDRI

DOING BUSINESS 2015266

Ignacio Larraín PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Juan Ignacio Leon Lira REYMOND & FLEISCHMANN ABOGADOS

Jose Luis Letelier CARIOLA DIEZ PEREZ-COTAPOS & CIA

Santiago Lopez PWC CHILE

María Esther López Di Rubba FISCALÍA BANCO DE CHILE

Nicole Lüer URENDA, RENCORET, ORREGO Y DÖRR

Nicolás Maillard PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Nicolás Miranda Larraguibel ALESSANDRI

Enrique Munita PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Rodrigo Muñoz NUÑEZ MUÑOZ VERDUGO & CÍA LTDA ABOGADOS

Raúl Muñoz Prieto RUSSELL BEDFORD CHILE - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Fenanda Nash NUÑEZ MUÑOZ VERDUGO & CÍA LTDA ABOGADOS

Francisco Navarrete PWC CHILE

Juan Pablo Navarrete CAREY Y CÍA LTDA

Nicolás Ocampo CAREY Y CÍA LTDA

Cristian Olavarria PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Alberto Oltra DHL GLOBAL FORWARDING

Sergio Orrego URENDA, RENCORET, ORREGO Y DÖRR

Gerardo Ovalle YRARRÁZAVAL, RUIZ-TAGLE, GOLDENBERG, LAGOS & SILVA

Pablo Oyarce NUÑEZ MUÑOZ VERDUGO & CÍA LTDA ABOGADOS

Luis Parada Hoyl BAHAMONDEZ, ALVAREZ & ZEGERS

Gonzalo Paredes NUÑEZ MUÑOZ VERDUGO & CÍA LTDA ABOGADOS

Carmen Paz Cruz Lozano

Alberto Pulido A. PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Felipe Rencoret URENDA, RENCORET, ORREGO Y DÖRR

Alfonso Reymond Larrain REYMOND & FLEISCHMANN ABOGADOS

Ricardo Riesco PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Constanza Rodriguez PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Edmundo Rojas García CONSERVADOR DE BIENES RAÍCES Y COMERCIO DE SANTIAGO

Alvaro Rosenblut ALBAGLI ZALIASNIK ABOGADOS

Hugo Salinas PWC CHILE

Andrés Sanfuentes PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Bernardita Schmidt URENDA, RENCORET, ORREGO Y DÖRR

Francisco Selamé PWC CHILE

Ximena Silberman CAREY Y CÍA LTDA

Luis Fernando Silva YRARRÁZAVAL, RUIZ-TAGLE, GOLDENBERG, LAGOS & SILVA

Marcela Silva PHILIPPI, YRARRAZAVAL, PULIDO & BRUNNER, ABOGADOS LTDA

Alan Smith SMITH Y CÍA

Consuelo Tarud URENDA, RENCORET, ORREGO Y DÖRR

Tomás Truan ALESSANDRI

Víctor Hugo Valenzuela Millán

Nicolás Velasco Jenschke SUPERINTENDENCIA DE INSOLVENCIA Y REEMPRENDIMIENTO

Javiera Vicuña URENDA, RENCORET, ORREGO Y DÖRR

Gonzalo Villazon NUÑEZ MUÑOZ VERDUGO & CÍA LTDA ABOGADOS

Kenneth Werner AGENCIA DE ADUANA JORGE VIO Y CÍA LTDA

Arturo Yrarrázaval Covarrubias YRARRÁZAVAL, RUIZ-TAGLE, GOLDENBERG, LAGOS & SILVA

CHINA Bjarne Bauer SOFIA GROUP

Jacob Blacklock LEHMAN, LEE & XU

Elliott Youchun Chen JUN ZE JUN LAW OFFICES

Jie Chen JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Samuel Chen BYC

Fei Dang MMLC GROUP

Tina Dang LEHMAN, LEE & XU

Zhitong Ding CREDIT REFERENCE CENTER OF PEOPLE’S BANK OF CHINA

Yu Du MMLC GROUP

Helen Feng ANGELA WANG & CO.

Michael Feng DELMAR

Cindy Gao DELMAR

Grace Geng ZHONG LUN LAW FIRM

Ashley Gong NORONHA ADVOGADOS

Sherry Gong HOGAN LOVELLS

Joanna Guo ZHONG LUN LAW FIRM

Lawrence Linjun Guo JADE & FOUNTAIN PRC LAWYERS

Yong Hai BAKER & MCKENZIE

Shuquan He SHANGHAI UNIVESITY

Huizhong Hu BEIJING HUANZHONG & PARTNERS

Shan (Vivienne) Jin KING & WOOD MALLESONS LAWYERS

Jiang Junlu KING & WOOD MALLESONS LAWYERS

Edward E. Lehman LEHMAN, LEE & XU

Jack Kai Lei KUNLUN LAW FIRM

Xiao Lei FANGDA PARTNERS

Audry Li ZHONG LUN LAW FIRM

Kai Li FANGDA PARTNERS

Qing Li JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Sharon Li WYSELEAD LAW FIRM

Haiyan Liao MAYER BROWN JSM

Grace Liu HUA-ANDER CPAS - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Jingtao Liu JONES LANG LASALLE

Ning Liu JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Rui Liu JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Sherry Liu NORONHA ADVOGADOS

Tony Liu KUNLUN LAW FIRM

Xiaoyu Liu XIAOYU

Xing Liu JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Yanyan Liu KUNLUN LAW FIRM

Zeping Liu ALLIOTT, SHANGHAI J&J CPA FIRM LLP

Lucy Lu KING & WOOD MALLESONS LAWYERS

Xiabinyu Lu JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Hongli Ma JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Xiao Ma FANGDA PARTNERS

Jonathan Mok ANGELA WANG & CO.

Matthew Mui PWC CHINA

Matthew Murphy MMLC GROUP

Peter Ng PWC CHINA

Giovanni Pisacane GWA GREATWAY ADVISORY

Lori Qi BYC

Han Shen DAVIS POLK & WARDWELL

Tina Shi MAYER BROWN JSM

Rachel Song KING & WOOD MALLESONS LAWYERS

Sophie Su HOGAN LOVELLS

Ice Sun PWC CHINA

Peng Tan FANGDA PARTNERS

Terence Tung MAYER BROWN JSM

Rico W.K. Chan BAKER & MCKENZIE HONG KONG

Angela Wang ANGELA WANG & CO.

Celia Wang PWC CHINA

Guoqi Wang HUA-ANDER CPAS - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Lihua Wang JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Terry Wang DOCVIT

Thomas Wang JOIN WAY LAW FIRM

Xiaolei Wang CREDIT REFERENCE CENTER OF PEOPLE’S BANK OF CHINA

Xuehua Wang BEIJING HUANZHONG & PARTNERS

Anthea Wong PWC CHINA

Kent Woo GUANGDA LAW FIRM

Christina Wu CAPITALLAW & PARTNERS

Vincent Wu MAYER BROWN JSM

Jiajia Xiong CHANCE & BRIDGE PARTNERS

Di Xu JUN ZE JUN LAW OFFICES

Yaling Xu FANGDA PARTNERS

Flora Yang BAKER & MCKENZIE

Qing (Christine) Yang KUNLUN LAW FIRM

Yi Yang JUN ZE JUN LAW OFFICES

Stephen Ye ZHONG LUN LAW FIRM

Andy Yeo MAYER BROWN JSM

Tian Yongsheng Y-AXIS INTERNATIONAL TRADING CO.

Natalie Yu SHU JIN LAW FIRM

Xia Yu MMLC GROUP

Jianan Yuan JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Qiong Yuan JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Bing Zhai JUN HE LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Sarah Zhang HOGAN LOVELLS

Yi Zhang KING & WOOD MALLESONS LAWYERS

George Zhao KING & WOOD MALLESONS LAWYERS

Alina Zhu ZHONG LUN LAW FIRM

Jiong Zhu

Jun Zhu SIMMONS & SIMMONS

Ning Zhu CHANCE & BRIDGE PARTNERS

Roy Zhu ZHONG LUN LAW FIRM

Roy Zou HOGAN LOVELLS

COLOMBIA AGENCIA DE ADUANAS ALADUANA SA

AGENCIA DE ADUANAS GAMA SA

BIMBO

DIAN

HERRAMIENTAS AGRÍCOLAS

NOTARÍA 41 DE BOGOTÁ

ORGANIZACIÓN CORONA

PRODUCTOS FAMILIA

TECNOLOGÍA EN CUBRIMIENTO SA

Enrique Alvarez JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Jaime Mauricio Angulo Sanchez EXPERIAN - DATACRÉDITO

Santiago Arango JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Alexandra Arbeláez Cardona RUSSELL BEDFORD COLOMBIA - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Cristina Stiefken Arboleda LEWIN & WILLS ABOGADOS

María Alejandra Arboleda POSSE HERRERA RUIZ

Juan Sebastián Arias BRIGARD & URRUTIA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ingo Bach CORONA

Cesar Barajas PARRA RODRÍGUEZ SANÍN SAS

267ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Aurora Barroso PARRA RODRÍGUEZ SANÍN SAS

Jorge Beetar PRIETO & CARRIZOSA SA

Jairo Benavides BLU LOGISTICS COLOMBIA

Fernando Bermúdez Durana MUÑOZ TAMAYO & ASOCIADOS

Andres Bernal REAL CARGA LTDA

Carlos Bernal KPMG

Martha Bonett CAVELIER ABOGADOS

Joe Ignacio Bonilla Gálvez MUÑOZ TAMAYO & ASOCIADOS

Jose Luiz Bucheli Agualimpia CURADURIA URBANA 4

Leonardo Calderón Perdomo COLEGIO DE REGISTRADORES DE INSTRUMENTOS PÚBLICOS DE COLOMBIA

Carolina Camacho POSSE HERRERA RUIZ

Claudia Marcela Camargo Arias PWC COLOMBIA

Beatriz Elena Campuzano Restrepo AGENCIA DE ADUANA CARLOS E. CAMPUZANO

Wilson Camilo Cantor Pulido GÓMEZ-PINZÓN ZULETA ABOGADOS SA

Darío Cárdenas CÁRDENAS & CÁRDENAS

Natalia Caroprese JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Carlos Carvajal JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Luis Miguel Carvajal CODENSA SA ESP

Mauricio Castillo Benitez BURÓ DE CRÉDITO CIFIN SA

Natalia Carolina Chávez Moncada PARRA RODRÍGUEZ SANÍN SAS

Ernesto Jorge Clavejo Sierra CURADURIA URBANA 1

Juan Pablo Concha Delgado BAKER & MCKENZIE

Felipe Cuberos PRIETO & CARRIZOSA SA

Lorena Diaz JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Ana Lucia Fernandez de Soto POSSE HERRERA RUIZ

Jairo Flechas GENELEC DE COLOMBIA SAS

María Fernanda Florez POSSE HERRERA RUIZ

Ventura Jimmy Fonseca Díaz ALMAVIVA GLOBAL CARGO SA

Carlos Fradique-Méndez BRIGARD & URRUTIA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Carlos Frieri SOCIEDAD PORTUARIA REGIONAL DE CARTAGENA

Wilman Garzón CODENSA SA ESP

Yaneth Gómez ALPINA PRODUCTOS ALIMENTICIOS SA

Carolina Gómez Calderón QBCO SA

Francisco González PARRA RODRÍGUEZ SANÍN SAS

Juan Ignacio Guerra BRIGARD & URRUTIA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Santiago Gutiérrez JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

William Rene Gutierrez Oregon INSTITUTO COLOMBIANO AGROPECUARIO

Antonio Hincapie ELECTRICOL

Laura Villaveces Hollman BRIGARD & URRUTIA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

David Kassin BLU LOGISTICS COLOMBIA

Carlos Mario Lafaurie Escorce PWC COLOMBIA

Nubia Lamprea CODENSA SA ESP

Jorge Lara-Urbaneja LARA CONSULTORES

Alejandro Linares-Cantillo GÓMEZ-PINZÓN ZULETA ABOGADOS SA

Francisco Mariño GESTIÓN INTEGRAL ELÉCTRICA - GIE

Camilo Martínez Beltrán MARTINEZ NEIRA

Luís Humberto Martínez Lacouture INSTITUTO COLOMBIANO AGROPECUARIO

Alejandro Medina JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Juan Camilo Medina Contreras PWC COLOMBIA

Luis Mendoza JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Catalina Menjura POSSE HERRERA RUIZ

Carlos Mira Velasquez CI DE AZUCARES Y MIELES

Ricardo Molano POSSE HERRERA RUIZ

Luis Gabriel Morcillo-Méndez BRIGARD & URRUTIA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Juan Carlos Moreno Peralta RODRÍGUEZ, RETAMOSO & ASOCIADOS SAS

Francisco Javier Morón López PARRA RODRÍGUEZ SANÍN SAS

Julian Motta CAVELIER ABOGADOS

Nydia Constanza Muñoz Vivas ALTEA FARMA

Caterine Noriega Cardenas GESTIÓN LEGAL COLOMBIA

Juan Sebastian Noriega Cardenas GESTIÓN LEGAL COLOMBIA

Tonia Orozco BRIGARD & URRUTIA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Adriana Carolina Ospina Jiménez BRIGARD & URRUTIA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Jorge Osuna Díaz GESTIÓN INTEGRAL ELÉCTRICA - GIE

Juan Andres Palacios LEWIN & WILLS ABOGADOS

Santiago Parra PARRA RODRÍGUEZ SANÍN SAS

Silvia Patiño CAVELIER ABOGADOS

Daniel Peña BRIGARD & URRUTIA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Christian Pérez JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Estefanía Ponce Durán POSSE HERRERA RUIZ

Carolina Posada POSSE HERRERA RUIZ

Patricia Prieto PANALPINA SA

Raul Quevedo JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Natalia Eugenia Quijano Uribe CODENSA SA ESP

Juan Sebastián Reina Zapata SOCIEDAD PORTUARIA REGIONAL DE CARTAGENA

María Cristina Reyes BIOTECNO

Luisa Rico Sierra MUÑOZ TAMAYO & ASOCIADOS

Adrián Rodriguez LEWIN & WILLS ABOGADOS

Liliana Rodriguez RODRÍGUEZ, RETAMOSO & ASOCIADOS SAS

Iván Rodríguez PARRA RODRÍGUEZ SANÍN SAS

Jaime Alberto Rodríguez Cuestas NOTARÍA 13 DE BOGOTÁ

Bernardo Rodriguez Ossa PARRA RODRÍGUEZ SANÍN SAS

Sonia Elizabeth Rojas Izaquita GALLO MEDINA ABOGADOS ASOCIADOS

Cristina Rueda Londoño PRIETO & CARRIZOSA SA

Edgar Ruiz LEWIN & WILLS ABOGADOS

Juan Carlos Salazar Barragan CURADURIA URBANA 4

Juan Diego Saldarriaga L LEWIN & WILLS ABOGADOS

Paula Samper Salazar GÓMEZ-PINZÓN ZULETA ABOGADOS SA

Jose Rafael San Miguel Roldán INSTITUTO COLOMBIANO AGROPECUARIO

Edna Sarmiento CAVELIER ABOGADOS

María Carolina Sarmiento POSSE HERRERA RUIZ

Diego Sastoque PARRA RODRÍGUEZ SANÍN SAS

Omar Serrano CODENSA SA ESP

Alexandra Silveira JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Cristina Stiefken LEWIN & WILLS ABOGADOS

Juan Reinaldo Suarez CURADURIA URBANA 1

Raúl Alberto Suárez Arcila SUÁREZ ARCILA & ABOGADOS ASOCIADOS

Diana Talero SUPERINTENDENCY OF CORPORATION

Luis Daniel Tamara ALMAVIVA GLOBAL CARGO SA

Diego Munoz Tamayo MUÑOZ TAMAYO & ASOCIADOS

Gustavo Tamayo Arango JOSE LLOREDA CAMACHO & CO.

Faunier David Toro Heredia CODENSA SA ESP

Felipe Torres CAVELIER ABOGADOS

Jose Alejandro Torres POSSE HERRERA RUIZ

Angela Carolina Vaca Bohórquez PWC COLOMBIA

Ketty Valbuena Yamhure BURÓ DE CRÉDITO CIFIN SA

Diana Vaughan LEWIN & WILLS ABOGADOS

Frank Velandia TECLOGIC LTDA

Patricia Vergara GÓMEZ-PINZÓN ZULETA ABOGADOS SA

Ismael Visbal BAKER & MCKENZIE

Adriana Zapata CAVELIER ABOGADOS

Alberto Zuleta CARDENAS & CARDENAS

Diana Zuleta PARRA RODRÍGUEZ SANÍN SAS

COMOROS UCCIA - UNION DES CHAMBRES DE COMMERCE, D’INDUSTRIE, ET D’AGRICULTURE DES COMORES

Muhammad Abdallah Halifa GROUPE HASSANATI SOILIHI - GROUPE HASOIL

Issiaka Abdourazak ETUDE MAÎTRE ABDOURAZAK

Hilmy Aboudsaid COMORES CARGO INTERNATIONAL

Yassian Ahamed DIRECTION DE L’ENERGIE

Bahassani Ahmed CABINET D’AVOCAT BAHASSANI

Omar Said Allaoui E.C.D.I.

Mouzaoui Amroine COMMISSION NATIONALE DE PRÉVENTION ET DE LUTTE CONTRE LA CORRUPTION (CNPLC)

Said Ali Said Athouman UNION OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Youssoub Ibn Ismael Aticki BARREAU DE MORONI

Fahmi Said Ibrahim CABINET FAHMI SAID IBRAHIM

Youssouf Ismael DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES IMPÔTS

Madiane Mohamed Issa LAWYER

Mohamed Mbechezi CODETRANS

Abdoulatuf Moissuli ANPI INVEST IN COMOROS

Abdoulbastoi Moudjahidi

Farahati Moussa MOUVEMENT DES ENTREPRENEURS COMORIENS (MODEC)

Ibrahim A. Mzimba CABINET MZIMBA AVOCATS

Said Mohamed Nassur ENERGIE COMOROS

Nasser Radjabou DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES ROUTES ET TRANSPORT ROUTIERS

Marco Raymond

Faouzia Said Soilihi ANPI INVEST IN COMOROS

Daoud Saidali Toihiri ANPI INVEST IN COMOROS

CONGO, DEM. REP. CABINET D’ARCHITECTE MARC PERAZZONE

Barry Abdourahmane SDV LOGISTICS

Michel Alenda KLAM & PARTNERS AVOCATS

Yves Aloni Mukoko UNIVERSITÉ DE KINSHASA

Salavatrice Bahindwa Bahati ETUDE KABINDA - CABINET D’AVOCATS

Max Bandu Ngongala KPMG

Lucien Basubi KPMG

Jean Timothée Bisimwa PROVINCIAL COMMISSION

Jean Adolphe Bitenu ANAPI

Hugo Bolanshi YAV & ASSOCIATES

Guillaume Bononge Litobaka ROCAT SPRL

Nicaise Chikuru Munyiogwarha CHIKURU & ASSOCIÉS

Victor Créspel Musafiri CABINET D’AVOCAT JCC&A

Jean-Paul Dambana SOCODAM LTD.

Prosper Djuma Bilali CABINET MASAMBA

Edouard Dunia Idumbo MINISTÈRE DES AFFAIRES FONCIÈRES

Holly Embonga Tomboli CHIKURU & ASSOCIÉS

Irénée Falanka CABINET IRÉNÉE FALANKA

Fumany Gymbadi SOCIÉTÉ NATIONALE D’ELECTRICITÉ (SNEL)

Amisi Herady GUICHET UNIQUE DE CREATION D’ENTREPRISE

Patou Ikoko Tangamu BANQUE CENTRALE DU CONGO

Lydie Isengingo Luanzo BARREAU DE KINSHASA/MATETE

Ida Jiazet KLAM & PARTNERS AVOCATS

Samuel Josso PWC CONGO (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF)

Rene Kala Konga EGEC

DOING BUSINESS 2015268

Gaston Kalambay Lumpungu UNIVERSITÉ DE KINSHASA

Nicky Kanyiki Katshindi PROCREDIT BANK

Benoit Kapila SDV LOGISTICS

Dieudonné Kasuva AL HEELAM TOURS & TRAVELS

Robert Katambu CABINET LUBALA & ASSOCIÉS

Onezime Kaunda REGISTRE COMMERCE ET CREDIT IMMOBILIER

Gracia Kavumvula MINISTÈRE DES AFFAIRES FONCIÈRES

Pierre Kazadi Tshibanda CABINET MASAMBA

Arly Khuty CABEMERY & ASSOCIATES

Dolores Sonia Kimpwene ETUDE KABINDA - CABINET D’AVOCATS

Baby Kitoko EXPERTS FREIGHT - RDC

Marc Kongomayi Mulumba SOCIÉTÉ NATIONALE D’ELECTRICITÉ (SNEL)

Christ Kuty CABEMERY & ASSOCIATES

Richard Léonard Lomami SDV LOGISTICS

Jules Wemby Lofudu MINISTÈRE DE L’ENSEIGNEMENT SUPÉRIEUR, INSTITUT SUPÉRIEUR D’ARCHITECTURE ET D’URBANISME

Christophe Louise-Julie PWC CONGO (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF)

Emmanuel Lubala Mugisho CABINET LUBALA & ASSOCIÉS

Christian Lukusa KLAM & PARTNERS AVOCATS

Serge Mwankana Lulu AVOCAT

Carol Lutaladio DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES DOUANES ET ACCISES

Vital Lwanga Bizanbila CABINET VITAL LWANGA

Aubin Mabanza KLAM & PARTNERS AVOCATS

Béatrice Mabanza KLAM & PARTNERS AVOCATS

Robert Majambo YAV & ASSOCIATES

Vita Mampuya VIM AGENCY

Roger Masamba Makela CABINET MASAMBA

Aristide Mbayo Makyata DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES DOUANES ET ACCISES

Paul Mbodi KPMG

Tanayi Mbuy-Mbiye CABINET MBUY-MBIYE & ASSOCIÉS

Marie-Thérèse Moanda KLAM & PARTNERS AVOCATS

Junior Mosei Mbongo CABINET MASAMBA

Louman Mpoy MPOY LOUMAN & ASSOCIÉS

Christine Mpunga Tshim BANQUE CENTRALE DU CONGO

Pierre Msimba CABINET DJUNGA & RISASI

Céléstine Mukalay Kionde SOCIÉTÉ NATIONALE D’ELECTRICITÉ (SNEL)

Freddy Mulamba Senene CENTRE D’ARBITRAGE DU CONGO

Kisolokele Mvete GUICHET UNIQUE DE CREATION D’ENTREPRISE

Philippe Mvita Kabasele BANQUE CENTRALE DU CONGO

Gabriel Mwepu Numbi DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES DOUANES ET ACCISES

Ilunga Israel Ndambi S.I.E.C. SPRL

Felly Ngobila KLAM & PARTNERS AVOCATS

Victorine Bibiche Nsimba Kilembe BARREAU DE KINSHASA/MATETE

Jean-Bienvenu Ntwali Byavulwa ETUDE KABINDA - CABINET D’AVOCATS

Laurent Okitonembo CABINET DJUNGA & RISASI

Moïse Omar Kanda B.TSHIBANGU ILUNGA & ASSOCIÉS

Abdoulaye G. Ouane KLAM & PARTNERS AVOCATS

Jean-Louis Paquet ATELIER D’ARCHITECTURE

Jean-Yves Parant KPMG

Destin Pelete DHL GLOBAL FORWARDING

Pierre Risasi CABINET DJUNGA & RISASI

Robert Safari Zilarirwa COMMERCIAL COURT (TRIBUNAL DE COMMERCE)

Freddy Mulamba Senene MULAMBA & ASSOCIATES LAW FIRM

Christie Madudu Sulubika CABINET MADUDU SULUBIKA

William Tsasa KLAM & PARTNERS AVOCATS

Christian Tshibanda Mulunda CABINET MASAMBA

Sylvie Tshilanda Kabongo CABINET MADUDU SULUBIKA

Seraphin Umba YAV & ASSOCIATES

Willy Vangu Malanda BUREAU D’ARCHITECTE

Nadine Mundala Walo CABINET MADUDU SULUBIKA

CONGO, REP. FRANCK EXPORT CONGO

Prosper Bizitou PWC

Antoine Bokolo Joue CAP ARCHITECTS

Lydie Diawara SNE (SOCIÉTÉ NATIONALE D’ELECTRICITÉ)

Mathias Essereke CABINET D’AVOCATS MATHIAS ESSEREKE

Philippe Fouda Fouda BEAC CAMEROON

Joe Pépin Foundoux PWC

Gaston Gapo ATELIER D’ARCHITECTURE ET D’URBANISME

Maria Eduarda de Lemos Godinho MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Emmanuel Le Bras PWC

Christian Eric Locko BRUDEY, ONDZIEL GNELENGA, LOCKO CABINET D’AVOCATS

Salomon Louboula ETUDE NOTARIALE LOUBOULA

Jay Makoundou PWC

Ado Patricia Marlene Matissa CABINET NOTARIAL MATISSA

Benic Mbanwie PWC

Zahour Mbemba BUSINESS LAWYER AND INTERPRETER

Firmin Moukengue CABINET MOUKENGUE

Robert Ngabou CAP ARCHITECTS

Regina Nicole Okandza Yoka DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES IMPÔTS

Jean Petro CABINET D’AVOCATS JEAN PETRO

Andre François Quenum CABINET ANDRE FRANCOIS QUENUM

Sariaka Randrianarisoa CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Jean Jacques Youlou MINISTÈRE DE LA CONSTRUCTION, DE L’URBANISME ET HABITAT

Alpha Zingamoko PWC

COSTA RICA AUTORIDAD REGULADORA DE LOS SERVICIOS PUBLICOS (ARESEP)

Luis Acuna ASESORES LEGALES EN PROPIEDAD INDUSTRIAL

Gloriana Alvarado PACHECO COTO

Arnoldo André ANDRE TINOCO ABOGADOS

Alejandro Antillon PACHECO COTO

Carlos Araya CENTRAL LAW - QUIROS ABOGADOS

Alejandro Bettoni Traube DONINELLI & DONINELLI - ASESORES JURÍDICOS ASOCIADOS

Monica Castillo Quesada CÁMARA COSTARRICENSE DE LA CONSTRUCCIÓN

Silvia Chacon SOLEY, SABORIO & ASOCIADOS

Margot Chinchilla SOCIACO

Andrey Dorado ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Roberto Esquivel OLLER ABOGADOS

Dieter Gallop Fernandez GLOBAL LOGISTICS

Neftali Garro BLP ABOGADOS

Miguel Golcher Valverde COLEGIO DE INGENIEROS ELECTRICISTAS, MECÁNICOS E INDUSTRIALES

Roy Guzman Ramirez COMPAÑÍA NACIONAL DE FUERZA Y LUZ

Jorge Hernández COLEGIO DE INGENIEROS ELECTRICISTAS, MECÁNICOS E INDUSTRIALES

Randall Zamora Hidalgo COSTA RICA ABC

Elvis Jiménez Gutiérrez SUPERINTENDENCIA GENERAL DE ENTIDADES FINANCIERAS

Margarita Libby Hernandez MARGARITA LIBBY Y ASOCIADOS SA

Vicente Lines ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Carlos Marin Castro MINISTERIO DE COMERCIO EXTERIOR

Andres Mercado OLLER ABOGADOS

Jaime Molina PROYECTOS ICC SA

Jorge Montenegro SCGMT ARQUITECTURA Y DISEÑO

Eduardo Montoya Solano SUPERINTENDENCIA GENERAL DE ENTIDADES FINANCIERAS

Ricardo Murillo SOCIACO

Cecilia Naranjo LEX COUNSEL

Pedro Oller OLLER ABOGADOS

Diana Pál-Hegedüs PÁL-HEGEDÜS & ORTEGA ABOGADOS

Marianne Pál-Hegedüs Ortega PÁL-HEGEDÜS & ORTEGA ABOGADOS

Roger Petersen ALLIANCE LAW GROUP, SRL

Alvaro Quesada Loría AGUILAR CASTILLO LOVE

Mauricio Quiros CENTRAL LAW - QUIROS ABOGADOS

Ana Quiros Vaglio TRANSUNION

Ricardo Rodriguez CENTRAL LAW - QUIROS ABOGADOS

Manrique Rojas LEXINCORP

Miguel Ruiz Herrera LEX COUNSEL

Sergio Salas SEYSA CONSULTORÍA Y CONSTRUCCIÓN

Jose Luis Salinas GRUPO INMOBILIARIO DEL PARQUE

Luis Sánchez FACIO & CAÑAS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ronny Michel Valverde Mena EXTRUSIONES DE ALUMINIO SA

Tracy Varela Calderón ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Ismael Vargas PWC COSTA RICA

Marianela Vargas PWC COSTA RICA

Jafet Zúñiga Salas SUPERINTENDENCIA GENERAL DE ENTIDADES FINANCIERAS

CÔTE D’IVOIRE BICICI - BANQUE INTERNATIONALE POUR LE COMMERCE ET L’INDUSTRIE DE LA CÔTE D’IVOIRE

IMBOUA-KOUAO-TELLA (IKT) & ASSOCIÉS

Monique Allou ETUDE DE MAITRE MONIQUE ALLOU

Claude Aman BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Ika Raymond Any-Gbayere ANYRAY & PARTNERS

Jean Baptiste Dotia CIE

Bassambie Bationo BCEAO

Diane Behiri ANYRAY & PARTNERS

Binde Binde AFRICA TRANS-LOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL

Michel Kizito Brizoua-Bi BILE-AKA, BRIZOUA-BI & ASSOCIÉS

Lassiney Kathann Camara CLK AVOCATS

Asman César CABINET N’GOAN, ASMAN & ASSOCIÉS

Ousmane Coulibaly MINISTÈRE DE LA CONSTRUCTION, DU LOGEMENT, DE L’ASSAINISSEMENT ET DE L’URBANISME

Patrick D. Grahouan ERNST & YOUNG

Arsène Dablé SCPA DOGUÉ-ABBÉ YAO & ASSOCIÉS

Zirignon Constant Delbe MINISTÈRE DE L’AGRICULTURE

Issa Diabaté KOFFI & DIABATÉ

Aboubakar-Sidiki Diarrassouba CLK AVOCATS

Cheick Diop CABINET DU DOCTEUR CHEICK DIOP, AVOCATS

Aly Djiohou IJF CONSEILS JURIDIQUES

269ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Marius Doh CIE

Laure Dosseh ETUDE DE MAÎTRE KONE MAHOUA

Yolande Doukoure Séhinabou DSY ARCHITECTE

Dorothée K. Dreesen ETUDE MAÎTRE DREESEN

Antoine Gahie EOLIS

Liadé Vaudy Gbetibouo CLK AVOCATS

Fatim Gliti ECOBANK CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Claude-Andrée Groga CABINET JEAN-FRANÇOIS CHAUVEAU

Mahaman Tahir Hamani BCEAO

Benoît-Joseph Hiahuat-Gadou CONSEIL NATIONAL DE L’ORDRE DES ARCHITECTES

Nanette Kaba Ackah BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Barnabe Kabore NOVELEC SARL

Guillaume Koffi CONSEIL NATIONAL DE L’ORDRE DES ARCHITECTES

Noël Koffi CABINET NOËL Y. KOFFI

François Komoin TRIBUNAL DE COMMERCE

Fatoumata Konate Toure-B. ETUDE DE ME KONATE TOURE-B. FATOUMATA

Dogbémin Gérard Kone SCPA NAMBEYA-DOGBEMIN & ASSOCIES

Mahoua Kone ETUDE DE MAÎTRE KONE MAHOUA

Kouassi Kongo Kouadio BOUYGUES ENERGIES & SERVICES

Dramane Kouakou BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Usher Kouakou EOLIS

Gilles Kouamé PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Angèle A. Kouassi CABINET KOUASSI ET ASSOCIÉS

Dominique Kouyate BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Koyo SABKA

Claude Lath UNIVERSAL SERVICE COMPANY

Cisse Mamadou TRIBUNAL DE COMMERCE

Bruno Messerschmitt DELOITTE

Adeline Messou PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Messou Augustin Messou Oi MINISTÈRE DE LA CONSTRUCTION, DU LOGEMENT, DE L’ASSAINISSEMENT ET DE L’URBANISME

Sylla Mory CIE

Nina Epse Moulot EOLIS

Diomande Moussa FCL - FRET, CONSIGNATION, LOGISTIQUE

Xavier Edouard N’cho MINISTÈRE DE L’AGRICULTURE

Georges N’Goan CABINET N’GOAN, ASMAN & ASSOCIÉS

Patricia N’guessan CABINET JEAN-FRANÇOIS CHAUVEAU

Jacques Otro CONSEIL NATIONAL DE L’ORDRE DES ARCHITECTES

Nanakan Ouattara MINISTÈRE DE L’AGRICULTURE

Vanja Ramanandraitsiory CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Sariaka Randrianarisoa CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Athanase Raux CABINET RAUX, AMIEN & ASSOCIÉS

Pierre Sahue EOLIS

Felix Sally UNIVERSAL SERVICE COMPANY

Desire Sampah NOVELEC SARL

Stephane Sampah NOVELEC SARL

Moussa Sanogo BCEAO

Zinda Sawadogo SOCIÉTÉ CIVILE PROFESSIONNELLE D’AVOCATS (SCPA) LE PARACLET

Dominique Taty PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Sandrine Tegnan GUICHET UNIQUE DE L’INVESTISSEMENT EN CÔTE D’IVOIRE - CEPICI

Karidja Toure-Ballo ETUDE DE MAITRE KARIDJA TOURE-BALLO

Djak Kady Traore CLK AVOCATS

Fousséni Traoré PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Flora Vabry SCPA DOGUÉ-ABBÉ YAO & ASSOCIÉS

Pascal Yao ETUDE DE MAITRE JEAN-THIERRY DEBEY

Emmanuel Yehouessi BCEAO

Tiede Robert Zizonhi MINISTÈRE DE L’AGRICULTURE

CROATIA Boris Andrejaš BABIĆ & PARTNERS

Ines Androić Brajčić MINISTRY OF PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

Stanislav Babic BABIĆ & PARTNERS

Dubravko Bačić UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

Milan Bandić CENTRAL CITY ADMINISTRATION OF ZAGREB

Hrvoje Bardek CMS LEGAL

Tena Baričić GLINSKA & MIŠKOVIĆ LTD.

Iva Bjelinski GLINSKA & MIŠKOVIĆ LTD.

Karmen Boban GLINSKA & MIŠKOVIĆ LTD.

Zoran Bohaček CROATIAN BANKING ASSOCIATION

Maja Zadravec Boloban EUGEN ZADRAVEC LAW FIRM

Mijo Brković HROK D.O.O.

Tony Budidjaja BUDIDJAJA & ASSOCIATES LAW OFFICES

Rajka Bunjevac CROATIAN CHAMBER OF ARCHITECTS

Belinda Čačić ČAČIĆ & PARTNERS

Mirjana Chour Hrsak ZAGREB COMMERCIAL COURT

Vlatka Cikac LAW OFFICE CIKAC

Ivan Ćuk VUKMIR & ASOCIATES

Carla Culi AGENCY FOR INVESTMENTS AND COMPETITIVENESS

Saša Divjak DIVJAK, TOPIĆ & BAHTIJAREVIĆ

Renata Duka MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Bozidar Feldman MATIC & FELDMAN

Tomislav Fridrich CARGO-PARTNER

Mirela Fučkar MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Tonka Gjoić GLINSKA & MIŠKOVIĆ LTD.

Ivan Gjurgjan GJURGJAN & ŠRIBAR RADIĆ LAW FIRM

Ana-Maria Gurdulić LAW FIRM BOŽIĆ AND ŠEGO

Lidija Hanźek HROK D.O.O.

Sonja Herceg CROATIAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Dunja Hitrec ERNST & YOUNG SAVJETOVANJE D.O.O.

Branimir Iveković IVEKOVIĆ LAW OFFICE

Vinka Jelavić AGENCY FOR INVESTMENTS AND COMPETITIVENESS

Irina Jelčić HANŽEKOVIĆ & PARTNERS LTD., MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Saša Jovičić WOLF THEISS

Domagoj Juricic CROATIAN CHAMBER OF ECONOMY

Sanja Jurković PWC CROATIA

Petra Jurković Mutabžija CROATIAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Ančica Kačić CITY OF ZAGREB OFFICE FOR PHYSICAL PLANNING, CONSTRUCTION OF THE CITY, UTILITY SERVICES AND TRANSPORT

Ozren Kobsa DIVJAK, TOPIĆ & BAHTIJAREVIĆ

Iva Kemec Kokot ZAGREB CIVIL LAW NOTARY

Gordana Kovačević MINISTRY OF PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

Linda Križić DIVJAK, TOPIĆ & BAHTIJAREVIĆ

Anita Krizmanić MAČEŠIĆ & PARTNERS, ODVJETNICKO DRUSTVO

Višnja Kufrin MINISTRY OF PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

Vesna Kusin CENTRAL CITY ADMINISTRATION OF ZAGREB

Krešimir Ljubić ODVJETNIČKO DRUŠTVO LEKO I PARTNERI

Andrea Lončar GLINSKA & MIŠKOVIĆ LTD.

Marko Lovrić DIVJAK, TOPIĆ & BAHTIJAREVIĆ

Josip Lozančić TAX ADMINISTRATION

Miran Mačešić MAČEŠIĆ & PARTNERS, ODVJETNICKO DRUSTVO

Miroljub Mačešić MAČEŠIĆ & PARTNERS, ODVJETNICKO DRUSTVO

Ivan Mandic ALFASTAN

Ivana Manovelo MAČEŠIĆ & PARTNERS, ODVJETNICKO DRUSTVO

Danko Markovinović STATE GEODETIC ADMINISTRATION

Josip Marohnić KN KARANOVIĆ & NIKOLIĆ

Josip Martinić WOLF THEISS

Iva Masten VIDAN ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Petra Matas MATIJEVICH LAW OFFICE

Petar-Pierre Matek BOARD OF CROATIAN FINANCIAL SERVICES SUPERVISORY AGENCY

Tin Matić TIN MATIĆ LAW OFFICE

Andrej Matijevich MATIJEVICH LAW OFFICE

Ema Menđušić Škugor DIVJAK, TOPIĆ & BAHTIJAREVIĆ

Danijel Meštrić MINISTRY OF PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

Ivanka Mikulinec MINISTRY OF PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

Slađana Miočić AGENCY FOR INVESTMENTS AND COMPETITIVENESS

Jan Mokos KORPER & PARTNERI LAW FIRM

Hrvoje Mršić MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Zeljana Muslim FINANCIAL AGENCY - CENTER FOR HITRO.HR

Marina Mustapic BOCASSY LLC

Mate Mustapic ALFASTAN

Lea Mužić DIVJAK, TOPIĆ & BAHTIJAREVIĆ

Vladimir Nol ERNST & YOUNG SAVJETOVANJE D.O.O.

Jelena Orlic WOLF THEISS

Ana Padjen MAČEŠIĆ & PARTNERS, ODVJETNICKO DRUSTVO

Zdenko Pajić MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Žana Pedić MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Tomislav Pedišić VUKMIR & ASOCIATES

Marija Petrović DIVJAK, TOPIĆ & BAHTIJAREVIĆ

Nikra Petrović CITY OF ZAGREB OFFICE FOR PHYSICAL PLANNING, CONSTRUCTION OF THE CITY, UTILITY SERVICES AND TRANSPORT

Tatjana Pinhak MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Krešimir Planinić PLANINIĆ & PARTNERS

Danijel Pribanić KN KARANOVIĆ & NIKOLIĆ

Tomislav Poljak HEP DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM OPERATOR LTD.

Nino Radic ZAGREB COMMERCIAL COURT

Hrvoje Radić GJURGJAN & ŠRIBAR RADIĆ LAW FIRM

Iva Rašić MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Josipa Rebrina ERNST & YOUNG SAVJETOVANJE D.O.O.

Gordan Rotkvić PWC CROATIA

Boris Šavorić ŠAVORIĆ & PARTNERS

Slaven Šego LAW FIRM BOŽIĆ AND ŠEGO

Zvonimir Sever CROATIAN CHAMBER OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

Bernard Sihombing BUDIDJAJA & ASSOCIATES LAW OFFICES

Dušanka Šimunović CROATIAN CHAMBER OF ARCHITECTS

Tea Škarpa PWC CROATIA

Ana-Marija Skoko CMS LEGAL

DOING BUSINESS 2015270

Alan Soric ALAN SORIC & ALEKSANDRA TOMEKOVIC DUNDA LAW OFFICE

Morena Šoštarić GJURGJAN & ŠRIBAR RADIĆ LAW FIRM

Manuela Špoljarić ODVJETNIČKO DRUŠTVO LEKO I PARTNERI

Irena Šribar Radić GJURGJAN & ŠRIBAR RADIĆ LAW FIRM

Ingrid Stefan TRANSADRIA

Marko Stilinović ČAČIĆ & PARTNERS

Lidija Svaljek CROATIAN CHAMBER OF ECONOMY, BUSINESS INFORMATION CENTER

Sandra Svaljek CENTRAL CITY ADMINISTRATION OF ZAGREB

Marin Svić PRALJAK & SVIČ

Zoran Tasić CMS LEGAL

Zrinka Terlep ZAGREB COMMERCIAL COURT

Vladislav Tomić PICARD KENTZ & ROWE LLP

Aleksander Topol CARGO-PARTNER

Marko Uljević MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Hrvoje Vidan VIDAN ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Željko Vrban HEP DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM OPERATOR LTD.

Marin Vuković DIVJAK, TOPIĆ & BAHTIJAREVIĆ

Gorana Vukušić LEKO I PARTNERI ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Boris Zelenika MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Petar Živković DIVJAK, TOPIĆ & BAHTIJAREVIĆ

CYPRUS Zenon Achillides CYPRUS STOCK EXCHANGE

Olga Adamidou ANTIS TRIANTAFYLLIDES & SONS LLC

Alexandros Alexandrou TORNARITIS LAW FIRM

Achilleas Amvrosiou ARTEMIS BANK INFORMATION SYSTEMS LTD.

Irene Anastassiou DR. K. CHRYSOSTOMIDES & CO. LLC

Anaxagoras Anaxagora DEMOS ANAXAGORAS LTD. ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS

Andreas Andreou CYPRUS GLOBAL LOGISTICS

Pavlos Aristodemou HARNEYS ARISTODEMOU LOIZIDES YIOLITIS LLC

Antonis Charalambous LIMASSOL MUNICIPALITY

Antonis Christodoulides PWC CYPRUS

Kypros Chrysostomides DR. K. CHRYSOSTOMIDES & CO. LLC

Andrea Chrysostomou PWC CYPRUS

Achilleas Demetriades LELLOS P. DEMETRIADES LAW OFFICE LLC

Eleni Droussioti DR. K. CHRYSOSTOMIDES & CO. LLC

Alexandros Economou ALEXANDROS ECONOMOU LLC

Tatia Efsathiou P.G. ECONOMIDES & CO LIMITED - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Lefteris S. Eleftheriou CYPRUS INVESTMENT PROMOTION AGENCY

Elena Frixou ARTEMIS BANK INFORMATION SYSTEMS LTD.

Demetris Georgiades HARNEYS ARISTODEMOU LOIZIDES YIOLITIS LLC

Elvira Georgiou ANTIS TRIANTAFYLLIDES & SONS LLC

Froso Gypsioti TORNARITIS LAW FIRM

Iacovos Hadjivarnavas FAMAGUSTA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Andreas Ioannides ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY OF CYPRUS

George Karakannas CH.P. KARAKANNAS ELECTRICAL LTD.

Georgios Karrotsakis DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES AND OFFICIAL RECEIVER

Spyros G. Kokkinos DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES AND OFFICIAL RECEIVER

Christina Koronis PWC CYPRUS

Nicholas Ktenas ANDREAS NEOCLEOUS & CO. LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Olga Lambrou MOUAIMIS & MOUAIMIS LLC

Pieris M. Markou DELOITTE

Christos Mavrellis CHRYSSES DEMETRIADES & CO. LLC

Costas Mavrocordatos PWC CYPRUS

Petros Mina ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY OF CYPRUS

Michalis Mouaimis MOUAIMIS & MOUAIMIS LLC

Panayotis Mouaimis MOUAIMIS & MOUAIMIS LLC

George Mouskides FOX SMART ESTATE AGENCY

Demetris Nicolaou HARNEYS ARISTODEMOU LOIZIDES YIOLITIS LLC

Varnavas Nicolaou PWC CYPRUS

Stella Papadopoulou MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

Christos Papamarkides DELOITTE

Marilou Pavlou ANTIS TRIANTAFYLLIDES & SONS LLC

Chrysilios Pelekanos PWC CYPRUS

Marios Pelekanos MESARITIS PELEKANOS ARCHITECTS - ENGINEERS

Costas Petrou ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY OF CYPRUS

Ioanna Petrou PWC CYPRUS

Maria Petsa CYPRUS STOCK EXCHANGE

Yiannos Pipis NICE DAY DEVELOPMENTS LTD.

Chryso Pitsilli - Dekatris DR. K. CHRYSOSTOMIDES & CO. LLC

Costas Stasopoulos ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY OF CYPRUS

Eliza Stasopoulou CYPRUS STOCK EXCHANGE

Anna Stylianou ARTEMIS BANK INFORMATION SYSTEMS LTD.

Stelios Stylianou ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY OF CYPRUS

Criton Tornaritis TORNARITIS LAW FIRM

Stelios Triantafyllides ANTIS TRIANTAFYLLIDES & SONS LLC

Irene Tziakouri PWC CYPRUS

Amalia Vassiliadou PWC CYPRUS

Christiana Vassiliou Miliou ANTIS TRIANTAFYLLIDES & SONS LLC

Xenios L. Xenopoulos XENIOS L. XENOPOULOS LLC

CZECH REPUBLIC NOTARY CHAMBER, CZECH REPUBLIC

Ondrej Antos SQUIRE SANDERS V.O.S. ADVOKÁTNÍ KANCELÁŘ

Libor Basl BAKER & MCKENZIE

Tomáš Bĕhounek BNT ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW S.R.O.

Stanislav Beran PETERKA & PARTNERS

Jiří Černỳ PETERKA & PARTNERS

Ivan Chalupa SQUIRE SANDERS V.O.S. ADVOKÁTNÍ KANCELÁŘ

Jakub Cisar DLA PIPER PRAGUE LLP

Martin Dančišin GLATZOVÁ & CO.

Kamila Dankova WHITE & CASE

Svatava Dokoupilova CZECH OFFICE FOR SURVEYING, MAPPING AND CADASTRE

Tereza Erényi PRK PARTNERS S.R.O. ADVOKÁTNÍ KANCELÁŘ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Josef Forejt PREDISTRIBUCE

Michal Hanko BUBNIK, MYSLIL & PARTNERS

Martin Hofman CRIF - CZECH CREDIT BUREAU AS

Vít Horáček GLATZOVÁ & CO.

Lukáš Hron BAKER & MCKENZIE

Pavel Jakab PETERKA & PARTNERS

Kateřina Jarolímková NOTÁŘSKÁ KOMORA ČESKÉ REPUBLIKY

Pavla Kopečková Přikrylová PETERKA & PARTNERS

Filip Košťál WOLF THEISS RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH & CO.

Jakub Krabec BAKER & MCKENZIE

Adela Krbcová PETERKA & PARTNERS

Petr Kucera CRIF - CZECH CREDIT BUREAU AS

Lukas Lejcek BDP-WAKESTONE S.R.O.

Pavel Marc DLA PIPER PRAGUE LLP

Peter Maysenhölder BNT ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW S.R.O.

Martina Milotová PETERKA & PARTNERS

David Musil PWC CZECH REPUBLIC

Jarmila Musilova CZECH NATIONAL BANK

Tereza Naučová KINSTELLAR

Helena Pajskrová KPMG IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Dana Sládečková CZECH NATIONAL BANK

Zuzana Slováková DLA PIPER PRAGUE LLP

Ladislav Smejkal WHITE & CASE

Pavel Srb WOLF THEISS RECHTSANWÄLTE GMBH & CO.

Martin Štěpaník PETERKA & PARTNERS

Paul Stewart PWC CZECH REPUBLIC

Marek Švehlík ŠVEHLÍ & MIKULÁŠ ADVOKÁTI S.R.O.

Růžena Trojánková KINSTELLAR

Daniel Vejsada PRK PARTNERS S.R.O. ADVOKÁTNÍ KANCELÁŘ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Jiri Vlastnik VEJMELKA & WÜNSCH, S.R.O.

Tomáš Volejník BNT ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW S.R.O.

Ludek Vrána VRÁNA & PELIKÁN

Martina Závodná BAKER & MCKENZIE

DENMARK CENTER FOR CONSTRUCTION

Elsebeth Aaes-Jørgensen NORRBOM VINDING, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Niels Bang GORRISSEN FEDERSPIEL

Peter Bang PLESNER

Thomas Bang LETT LAW FIRM

Ole Borch BECH-BRUUN LAW FIRM

Frants Dalgaard-Knudsen PLESNER

Pia Dalziel MILLER ROSENFALCK LLP

Frederik Jacob Estrup KROMANN REUMERT, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Anne Birgitte Gammeljord GORRISSEN FEDERSPIEL

Henrik Groos ACCURA ADVOKATPARTNERSELSKAB

Anne Louise Haack Andersen LETT LAW FIRM

Merry Hansen PLESNER

Mikkel Severin Hansen BRUUN & HJEJLE

Tove Hansen EXPERIAN NORTHERN EUROPE

Mette Højberg BECH-BRUUN LAW FIRM

Jens Steen Jensen KROMANN REUMERT, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Hans-Peter Jørgensen GORRISSEN FEDERSPIEL

Eva Kaya ADVOKATGRUPPEN

Lars Kjaer BECH-BRUUN LAW FIRM

Christian Kjølbye PLESNER LAW FIRM

Mette Klingsten BECH-BRUUN LAW FIRM

Mikkel Stig Larsen KROMANN REUMERT, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Susanne Schjølin Larsen KROMANN REUMERT, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Jesper Avnborg Lentz GORRISSEN FEDERSPIEL

Morten Bang Mikkelsen PWC DENMARK

Andreas Nielsen BRUUN & HJEJLE

Michael Vilhelm Nielsen PLESNER LAW FIRM

Susanne Nørgaard PWC DENMARK

Jim Øksnebjerg ADVOKATAKTIESELSKABET HORTEN

Carsten Pedersen BECH-BRUUN LAW FIRM

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Naguib Abadir NACITA CORPORATION

Mohamed Abd El-Sadek INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR LAW, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND ARBITRATION (ICLIPA)

Ghada Abdel Aziz IBRACHY & DERMARKAR LAW FIRM

Mostafa Mahmoud Abdel Kader EGYPTIAN TAX AUTHORITY

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Amr Abo Elfetouh MINISTRY OF INVESTMENT

Ahmed Abou Ali HASSOUNA & ABOU ALI

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Sayed Abuelkomsan MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

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Hazem Ahmed Fathi HASSOUNA & ABOU ALI

Mohamed Ali CENTRAL BANK OF EGYPT

Shaimaa Ali MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

Ashraf Alkafrawy CAIRO ECONOMIC COURT

Osama Abd Al-Monem MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

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Abd El Wahab Aly Ibrahim ABD EL WAHAB SONS

Ahmed Amin SHALAKANY LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

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Sherif Ibrahim Ashoor CENTRAL BANK OF EGYPT

Hoda Attia MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT

Khaled Balbaa KPMG

Wagih Barakat AAW CONSULTING ENGINEERS

Sherif Dabbous SHERIF DABBOUS - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Mohamed Darwish COBBETTS INTERNATIONAL CAIRO

Abdallah El Adly PWC EGYPT

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Mohamed Refaat El Houshi THE EGYPTIAN CREDIT BUREAU I-SCORE

Hassan El Maraashly AAW CONSULTING ENGINEERS

Amr El Monayer PWC EGYPT

Farah El Nahas SHALAKANY LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ahmed El Shalakany SHALAKANY LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

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Khaled El Shalakany SHALAKANY LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Aly El Shalakany SHALAKANY LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Menna Elabdeeny MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

Soheir Elbanna IBRACHY & PARTNERS

Amr Eleish GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR INVESTMENT GAFI

El-Gammal MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

Samir El-Gammal MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

Ashraf Elibrachy IBRACHY & PARTNERS

Ihab El-Mahdy REGISTERING PROPERTY PROJECT

Mohammad Elsayed MANSOURA ECONOMIC COURT

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Yara Elshennawy SHALAKANY LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ashraf Elwekeel CENTRAL BANK OF EGYPT

Amany Elwessal MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

Shahdan Essam TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Sara Ezzat SHALAKANY LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Mariam Fahmy SHALAKANY LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ghadeer Fathy IBRACHY & DERMARKAR LAW FIRM

Tarek Gadallah IBRACHY & PARTNERS

Mahmoud Gamal El-Din MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

Samir Ghareeb Al-Nahas MINISTRY OF LOCAL DEVELOPMENT

Mohamed Gomaa Ali MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

Farah Ahmed Haggag MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

Mohamed Hashish TELELAWS

Maha Hassan AFIFI WORLD TRANSPORT ALEXANDRIA

Ola Hassan Mohamed TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Tarek Hassib AL KAMEL LAW OFFICE

Omneia Helmy EGYPTIAN CENTER FOR ECONOMIC STUDIES

Ramy Hussein MINISTRY OF INVESTMENT

Mohamed Hussein El Saba MAHONEY SHIPPING & MARINE SERVICES

Badawi Ibrahim MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

Badawy Ibrahim CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION

Mohamed Kafafi THE EGYPTIAN CREDIT BUREAU I-SCORE

Mohamed Kamal SHALAKANY LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

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Mohanad Khaled BDO, KHALED & CO.

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Mahmoud Magdy NORTH CAIRO COURT

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Eman Moheyeldin HASSOUNA & ABOU ALI

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Mostafa Mostafa AL KAMEL LAW OFFICE

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Yousr Mounib MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN TRADE

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EL SALVADOR Miguel Angel Aguilar ALE CARGO SA DE CV

Francisco Armando Arias Rivera ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Francisco José Barrientos FRANCISCO JOSE BARRIENTOS SA DE CV

Abraham Bichara AES EL SALVADOR

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Hazel Alexandra Cabezas AGUILAR CASTILLO LOVE

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Christian Castro AES EL SALVADOR

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Celina Cruz LA OFICINA DE PLANIFICACIÓN DEL ÁREA METROPOLITANA DE SAN SALVADOR (OPAMSS)

Rina de Anaya UNEX

Lissette de Orantes

Porfirio Diaz Fuentes DLM, ABOGADOS, NOTARIOS & CONSULTORES

Lorena Dueñas SUPERINTENDENCIA DEL SISTEMA FINANCIERO

Ericka Elias PWC EL SALVADOR

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Camila Escobar LEXINCORP

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Thelma Dinora Lizama de Osorio SUPERINTENDENCIA DEL SISTEMA FINANCIERO

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Guillermo Massana ATCASAL ASOCIACIÓN DE TRANSPORTISTAS DE CARGA DE EL SALVADOR

273ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Astrud María Meléndez ASOCIACIÓN PROTECTORA DE CRÉDITOS DE EL SALVADOR (PROCREDITO)

Antonio R. Méndez-Llort ROMERO PINEDA & ASOCIADOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ricardo Molina NOVITAS

Jocelyn Mónico FRANCISCO JOSE BARRIENTOS SA DE CV

Fernando Montano ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Mario Moran M. REPRESENTACIONES

Moises Orlando Pacas M. ATCASAL ASOCIACIÓN DE TRANSPORTISTAS DE CARGA DE EL SALVADOR

Geraldine Palma AES EL SALVADOR

Carlos Pastrana RESTAURO ELETTRICITÀ È COSTRUZIONI

Sergio Perez AES EL SALVADOR

Ana Patricia Portillo Reyes GUANDIQUE SEGOVIA QUINTANILLA

Maura Quintanilla PWC EL SALVADOR

Kelly Beatriz Romero NASSAR ABOGADOS

Roxana Romero ROMERO PINEDA & ASOCIADOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Mario Enrique Sáenz SÁENZ & ASOCIADOS

Jaime Salinas GARCÍA & BODÁN

Alonso V. Saravia ASOCIACIÓN SALVADOREÑA DE INGENIEROS Y ARQUITECTOS (ASIA)

Eleonora Sol LEÓN SOL ARQUITECTOS

José Enrique Sorto Campbell LEXINCORP

Oscar Torres GARCÍA & BODÁN

Mauricio Antonio Urrutia SUPERINTENDENCIA DEL SISTEMA FINANCIERO

Julio Vargas GARCÍA & BODÁN

EQUATORIAL GUINEA ERNST & YOUNG

N.J. Ayuk CENTURION LLP

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Marcel Juetsop

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Angel Mba Abeso CENTURION LLP

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Veikko Toomere MAQS LAW FIRM ESTONIA TALLINN

Kristi Uibo MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

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Erle Uus KPMG BALTICS OÜ

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ETHIOPIA ERNST & YOUNG

FLINSTONE ENGINEERING

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Siraj Ahmed PACKFORD INTERNATIONAL

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Fikadu Asfaw FIKADU ASFAW AND ASSOCIATES LAW OFFICE

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Marina Bwile TESHOME GABRE-MARIAM BOKAN LAW FIRM

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Berhane Ghebray BERHANE GHEBRAY & ASSOCIATES

Yodit Gurji FIKADU ASFAW AND ASSOCIATES LAW OFFICE

Belay Kebede Alemu ETHIOPIAN INSURANCE CORPORATION

Adugnafirst Lelisa Sime

Tamrat Assefa Liban TAMRAT ASSEFA LIBAN LAW OFFICES

Deepak Mathur ETHIOPIAN ELECTRICAL UTILITY

Tewodros Meheret ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

Misrak Mengehsa PACKFORD INTERNATIONAL

Mahlet Mesganaw MAHLET MESGANAW LEGAL ADVISORY OFFICE

Hailye Sahle Seifu

Mekdes Shiferaw GREEN INTERNATIONAL LOGISTIC SERVICES

Ameha Sime AMEHA SIME B.C.

Mesfin Tafesse MESFIN TAFESE LAW OFFICE

Eyasu Tequame JEHOIACHIN TECHNO PVT. LTD. CO.

Amanuel Teshome AMAN & PARTNERS

Michael Teshome TESHOME GABRE-MARIAM BOKAN LAW FIRM

Tameru Wondmagegnehu

FIJI David Aidney WILLIAMS & GOSLING LTD.

Eddielin Almonte PWC FIJI

Jon Apted MUNRO LEYS

Nehla Basawaiya MUNRO LEYS

Francesca Boulton MUNRO LEYS

William Wylie Clarke HOWARDS LAWYERS

Delores Elliott DATA BUREAU (FIJI) LIMITED

Lawrence Fung MUNRO LEYS

Dilip Jamnadas JAMNADAS AND ASSOCIATES

Jerome Kado PWC FIJI

Viren Kapadia SHERANI & CO.

Netani Kau SUVA CITY COUNCIL

Mohammed Afzal Khan KHAN & CO BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS

Emily King MUNRO LEYS

Shelini Kumar FIJI REVENUE & CUSTOMS AUTHORITY

Roneel Lal WILLIAMS & GOSLING LTD.

Hemendra Nagin SHERANI & CO.

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Brenda Nanius SIWATIBAU & SLOAN

Jon Orton ORTON ARCHITECTS

Pradeep Patel BDO

Ramesh Prasad Lal CARPENTERS SHIPPING

Mele Rakai SHERANI & CO.

Rahul Ral CARPENTERS SHIPPING

Abhi Ram COMPANIES REGISTRAR

Kamal Reddy GIBSON FREIGHT INTERNATIONAL

Muni Reddy GIBSON FREIGHT INTERNATIONAL

Ronlyn Sahib SIWATIBAU & SLOAN

Jagindar Singh CARPENTERS SHIPPING

Shelvin Singh SHELVIN SINGH LAWYERS

Atunaisa Siwatibau SIWATIBAU & SLOAN

James Sloan SIWATIBAU & SLOAN

Narotam Solanki PWC FIJI

Shayne Sorby MUNRO LEYS

Eparama Tawake FIJI ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY

Vulisere Tukama SUVA CITY COUNCIL

Chirk Yam PWC FIJI

Eddie Yuen WILLIAMS & GOSLING LTD.

FINLAND Ville Ahtola CASTRÉN & SNELLMAN ATTORNEYS LTD.

Manne Airaksinen ROSCHIER ATTORNEYS LTD.

Timo Airisto WHITE & CASE

Petri Avikainen ASIANAJOTOIMISTO WHITE & CASE OY

Johanna Ellonen ROSCHIER ATTORNEYS LTD.

Maria Fagerström-Ryder ASIANAJOTOIMISTO WHITE & CASE OY

Joona Haapamäki ROSCHIER ATTORNEYS LTD.

Esa Halmari HEDMAN PARTNERS

Pekka Halme NATIONAL LAND SURVEY OF FINLAND

Johanna Haltia-Tapio HANNES SNELLMAN LLC

Joni Hatanmaa HEDMAN PARTNERS

Seppo Havia DITTMAR & INDRENIUS

Heikki Huhtamäki HANNES SNELLMAN LLC

Nina Isokorpi ROSCHIER ATTORNEYS LTD.

Lauri Jääskeläinen BUILDING CONTROL DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF HELSINKI

Pekka Jaatinen CASTRÉN & SNELLMAN ATTORNEYS LTD.

Oona Järvenpää ASIANAJOTOIMISTO WHITE & CASE OY

Juuso Jokela SUOMEN ASIAKASTIETO OY

Antti Juvonen VIP-SÄHKÖ OY

Mika Karpinnen HANNES SNELLMAN LLC

Elina Kataja TENGBOM ERIKSSON ARCHITECTS LTD.

Suvi Knaapila DITTMAR & INDRENIUS

Milla Kokko-Lehtinen PWC FINLAND

Markku Korvenmaa HH PARTNERS, ATTORNEYS-AT- LAW LTD.

Arto Kukkonen HH PARTNERS, ATTORNEYS-AT- LAW LTD.

Sini Laajala HEDMAN PARTNERS

Jan Lilius HANNES SNELLMAN LLC

Patrik Lindfors LINDFORS & CO, ATTORNEYS- AT-LAW LTD.

Tuomas Lukkarinen NATIONAL LAND SURVEY OF FINLAND

Annamari Männikkö PWC FINLAND

Kimmo Mettälä KROGERUS ATTORNEYS LTD.

Mia Mokkila ROSCHIER ATTORNEYS LTD.

Marta Monteiro HANNES SNELLMAN LLC

Eeva-Leena Niemelä ROSCHIER ATTORNEYS LTD.

Lasse Nikula TENGBOM ERIKSSON ARCHITECTS LTD.

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Elina Pesonen CASTRÉN & SNELLMAN ATTORNEYS LTD.

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Jani Pitkänen ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW JURIDIA BÜTZOW LTD.

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Tanja Törnkvist ASIANAJOTOIMISTO WHITE & CASE OY

Henrik Ungern NATIONAL LAND SURVEY OF FINLAND

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Kiira Viinamäki CASTRÉN & SNELLMAN ATTORNEYS LTD.

Marko Vuori KROGERUS ATTORNEYS LTD.

Gunnar Westerlund ROSCHIER ATTORNEYS LTD.

Samuli Woolston ALA ARCHITECTS

FRANCE ALLEN & OVERY LLP

MAYER BROWN

Yves Ardaillou BERSAY ASSOCIES

Nicolas Barberis ASHURST LLP

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Georges Cavalier LANDWELL & ASSOCIÉS

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Daniel Arthur Laprès AVOCAT À LA COUR D’APPEL DE PARIS

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Jean-Joel Mebaley DESTINY EXECUTIVES ARCHITECTS - AGENCE DU BORD DE MER

Jean Hilaire Moussavou FUMU TECHNOLOGIE

Célestin Ndelia ETUDE MAÎTRE NDELIA CÉLESTIN

Ruben Mindonga Ndongo

François Nguema Ebane CABINET ATELIER 5A

Lubin Ntoutoume CABINET SCP NTOUTOUME ET MEZHER

275ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Josette Cadie Olendo

Laurent Pommera PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS TAX & LEGAL SA

Christophe A. Relongoué PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS TAX & LEGAL SA

GAMBIA, THE Lamin A.K. Touray ATTORNEY GENERAL CHAMBERS OF GAMBIA

Victoria Andrews FARAGE ANDREWS LAW PRACTICE

Alpha Amadou Barry DT ASSOCIATES, INDEPENDENT CORRESPONDENCE FIRM OF DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED

Abdul Aziz Bensouda AMIE BENSOUDA & CO.

Amie N.D. Bensouda AMIE BENSOUDA & CO.

Nana Ama Dodoo PWC GHANA

Ida Denise Drameh IDA D. DRAMEH & ASSOCIATES

Loubna Farage FARAGE ANDREWS LAW PRACTICE

Dzidzedze Fiadjoe PWC GHANA

Badjie Ismaila

Alhaji Jallow NATIONAL WATER AND ELECTRICITY COMPANY LTD.

Cherno Alieu Jallow DT ASSOCIATES, INDEPENDENT CORRESPONDENCE FIRM OF DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED

Lamin S. Jatta DT ASSOCIATES, INDEPENDENT CORRESPONDENCE FIRM OF DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED

Sulayman M. Joof S.M. JOOF AGENCY

Nani Juwara NATIONAL WATER AND ELECTRICITY COMPANY LTD.

Sekou Ahmed Tidiane Kaba BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Lamin Keita MSITA ENTERPRISE

George Kwatia PWC GHANA

Baboucarr Owl NATIONAL WATER AND ELECTRICITY COMPANY LTD.

Lang Sabally NATIONAL WATER AND ELECTRICITY COMPANY LTD.

Janet Ramatoulie Sallah-Njie TORODO CHAMBERS

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Yassin Senghore SENGHORE LAW PRACTICE

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GEORGIA CHAMBER OF NOTARIES OF GEORGIA

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Giorgi Begiashvili BEGIASHVILI & CO. LIMITED LAW OFFICES

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Nino Berianidze MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

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Nana Gurgenidze LEGAL PARTNERS ASSOCIATED (LPA) LLC

Batu Gvasalia NATIONAL AGENCY OF PUBLIC REGISTRY

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Gia Jandieri NEW ECONOMIC SCHOOL

David Javakhadze MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Revaz Javelidze COLIBRI LAW FIRM

David Kakabadze COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Grigol Kakauridze MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Ana Kamkhadze ERISTAVI LAW GROUP

Mari Khardziani NATIONAL AGENCY OF PUBLIC REGISTRY

Anastasia Kipiani PWC GEORGIA

Victor Kipiani MGALOBLISHVILI, KIPIANI, DZIDZIGURI (MKD) LAW FIRM

Sergi Kobakhidze PWC GEORGIA

Aieti Kukava ALLIANCE GROUP HOLDING

Tea Loladze MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

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Elene Mebonia LEGAL PARTNERS ASSOCIATED (LPA) LLC

Ekaterina Meskhidze NATIONAL AGENCY OF PUBLIC REGISTRY

Roin Migriauli LAW OFFICE MIGRIAULI & PARTNERS

Nino Mirtskhulava APM TERMINALS POTI

Kakhaber Nariashvili

Sophio Natroshvili BGI LEGAL

Lasha Nodia NODIA, URUMASHVILI & PARTNERS

Tampa Nutsubidze BEGIASHVILI & CO. LIMITED LAW OFFICES

Maia Okruashvili GEORGIAN LEGAL PARTNERSHIP

Tamta Otiashvili MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Joseph Salukvadze TBILISI STATE UNIVERSITY

Manzoor Shah GLOBALINK LOGISTICS GROUP

Zaza Simaev ELECO LTD.

David Sukiasov ELECO LTD.

Otabek Suleimanov COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Giorgi Tavartkiladze DELOITTE

Tamara Tevdoradze BGI LEGAL

Nino Tsaturova LEGAL PARTNERS ASSOCIATED (LPA) LLC

Besik Tsimakuridze

Vakhtang Tsintsadze MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Samson Uridia GEORGIA REVENUE SERVICE

Zviad Voshakidze TELASI

GERMANY Stephan Bank CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Maren Beneke DLA PIPER UK LLP

Henning Berger WHITE & CASE

Eva Bergmann SCHUFA HOLDING AG

Jennifer Bierly GSK STOCKMANN + KOLLEGEN

Simeon-Tobias Bolz HEUSSEN RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT MBH

Tom Braegelmann DLA PIPER UK LLP

Michael Brems CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Thomas Büssow PWC GERMANY

Lorenz Czajka GRAF VON WESTPHALEN RECHTSANWÄLTE PARTNERSCHAFT

Andreas Eckhardt PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT

Dieter Endres PWC GERMANY

Tina Maria Erhardt HEUSSEN RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT MBH

Alexander Freiherr von Aretin GRAF VON WESTPHALEN RECHTSANWÄLTE PARTNERSCHAFT

Michael Frühmorgen HEUSSEN RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT MBH

Armineh Gharibian MAYER BROWN

Markus J. Goetzmann C·B·H RECHTSANWÄLTE

Andrea Gruss MERGET + PARTNER

Klaus Günther OPPENHOFF & PARTNER

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Rüdiger Harms CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Mareike Hasenau DLA PIPER UK LLP

Ralf-Thorsten Henn ASHURST LLP

Götz-Sebastian Hök DR. HÖK STIEGLMEIER & PARTNER

Ralph Hummel AVOCADO LAW

Markus Jakoby JAKOBY RECHTSANWÄLTE

Peter Jark DLA PIPER UK LLP

Helmuth Jordan JORDAN & WAGNER RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT MBH

Adnan Kapoor ASHURST LLP

Andreas Keller DLA PIPER UK LLP

Michael Kern CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Henrik Kirchhoff GSK STOCKMANN + KOLLEGEN

Thorsten Korder LOGWIN AIR & OCEAN DEUTSCHLAND GMBH

Jörg Kraffel WHITE & CASE

Ernst-Otto Kuchenbrandt DEUTSCHE BUNDESBANK

Peter Limmer NOTARE DR. LIMMER & DR. FRIEDERICH

Roland Maaß LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

Sabine Malik SCHUFA HOLDING AG

Thomas Stefan Malik HEUSSEN RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT MBH

Nora Matthaei AVOCADO LAW

Werner Meier KING & SPALDING LLP

Daniel Meier-Greve PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT

Dirk Otto GOBBERS & DENK

Oliver Otto DLA PIPER UK LLP

Laura Pfirrmann CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Marlena Polic PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT

Thomas Poss LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

Sebastian Prügel WHITE & CASE

Alexander Rahn CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Wilhelm Reinhardt LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

Sebastian Reinsch JANKE KÖNNECKE NAUJOK

Alexander Reus DIAZ REUS & TARG LLP

Philipp Ruehland PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT

Johannes Schmidt CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Sarah-Lena Schmidt CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Dietmar Schulz DLA PIPER UK LLP

Volker Schwarz HEUSSEN RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT MBH

Thomas Strassner ORRICK, HERRINGTON & SUTCLIFFE LLP

Tobias Taetzner PWC GERMANY

Nora Thies GRAF VON WESTPHALEN RECHTSANWÄLTE PARTNERSCHAFT

Arne Vogel M&P DR. MATZEN & PARTNER MBB

Heiko Vogt PANALPINA WELTTRANSPORT GMBH

Katharina von Rosenstiel ORRICK HÖLTERS & ELSING

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Torsten Wehrhahn NOERR LLP, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

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Boris Witt CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Uwe Witt PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT RECHTSANWALTSGESELLSCHAFT

Florian Wolff GRAF VON WESTPHALEN RECHTSANWÄLTE PARTNERSCHAFT

GHANA Samuel Abiaw ANDAH AND ANDAH CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Solomon Ackom GRIMALDI GHANA LTD.

George Kingsley Acquah STANDARD CHARTERED BANK GHANA LIMITED

Afua Addotey ADD LAW CONSULTANCY

Larry Adjetey LAW TRUST COMPANY

Benjamin Agbotse H & G ARCHITECTS AND CONSULTANTS

George Ahiafor XDSDATA GHANA LTD.

Kweku Ainuson AB LEXMALL & ASSOCIATES

Nana Akonu Amartey ANDAH AND ANDAH CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Nene Amegatcher SAM OKUDZETO & ASSOCIATES

Kennedy Paschal Anaba LAWFIELDS CONSULTING

Kweku Brebu Andah ANDAH AND ANDAH CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Wilfred Kwabena Anim-Odame LANDS COMMISSION

Angelina Asabea Anno ELECTRICITY COMPANY OF GHANA

Ellis Arthur BEYUO & COMPANY

Naa Ashong THE LAW OFFICES OF AYINE AND FELLI

Fred Asiamah-Koranteng BANK OF GHANA

Nana Akwasi Awuah AB LEXMALL & ASSOCIATES

Vera Ayisi AB & DAVID

Kwadwo Baafi BOLLORE AFRICA LOGISTICS GHANA

Ellen Bannerman BRUCE-LYLE BANNERMAN & ASSOCIATES

Reginald Bannerman BRUCE-LYLE BANNERMAN & ASSOCIATES

Kizito Beyuo BEYUO & COMPANY

Thomas Blankson XDSDATA GHANA LTD.

Stephen Boakye PWC GHANA

Ras Afful Davis CLIMATE SHIPPING & TRADING

Anthony Doku GHANA REVENUE AUTHORITY

Saviour Dzuali BOLLORE AFRICA LOGISTICS GHANA

James Fokuoh BENTSI-ENCHILL, LETSA & ANKOMAH, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Frank Fugar COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING

Abeku Gyan-Quansah PWC GHANA

Alwin Hoegerle GHANA COMMUNITY NETWORK SERVICES LIMITED

Roland Horsoo CROWN AGENTS LTD.

Daniel Imadi BENTSI-ENCHILL, LETSA & ANKOMAH, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Adam Imoru Ayarna CADESMEE INTERNATIONAL

Edem Kofi Penty LAW TRUST COMPANY

Sena Kpodo AB & DAVID

Rosa Kudoadzi BENTSI-ENCHILL, LETSA & ANKOMAH, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

George Kwatia PWC GHANA

Gloria Laryea BENTSI-ENCHILL, LETSA & ANKOMAH, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Stanley Mawuli Sallah ELECTRICITY COMPANY OF GHANA

Wordsworth Odame Larbi INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT GHANA

N.O. Odotei

Charles Okyere LAWFIELDS CONSULTING

Rexford Assasie Oppong KNUST

Mike Oppong Adusah BANK OF GHANA

Daniel Osei-Kufuor OSEI-KUFUOR, SOHNE & PARTNERS

Felix Saaka AB & DAVID

Frank Sarpong FAME SHIPPING AGENCY

Felix Tetteh TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING DEPARTMENT

GREECE Ioanna Alexopoulou KREMALIS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Sophia Ampoulidou DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Alexander Anagnostopoulos KARATZAS & PARTNERS

Amalia Balla POTAMITIS-VEKRIS

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Ira Charisiadou CHARISIADOU LAW OFFICE

Viktoria Chatzara IKRP ROKAS & PARTNERS

Theodora Christodoulou KLC LAW FIRM

Alkistis Marina Christofilou IKRP ROKAS & PARTNERS

Evangelia Christopoulou - Stamelou NOTARY

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Vasiliki Christou KLC LAW FIRM

Leda Condoyanni HELLENIC CORPORATE GOUVERNANCE COUNCIL

Sotiris Constantinou GRANT THORNTON LLP

Nikos Daskalakis HELLENIC CONFEDERATION OF PROFESSIONALS, CRAFTSMEN AND MERCHANTS

Eleni Dikonimaki TEIRESIAS SA - BANK INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Panagiotis Drakopoulos DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Anastasia Dritsa KYRIAKIDES GEORGOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Alkiviadis Feresidis MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Katerina Filippatou C. PAPACOSTOPOULOS & ASSOCIATES

Marianna Florou KARATZAS & PARTNERS

Sophia Fourlari COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

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Katerina Gavrielatou POTAMITIS-VEKRIS

Antonis Giannakodimos ZEPOS & YANNOPOULOS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Antigoni Gkarla PWC GREECE

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Chariklia Kalonarou TSIMIKALIS KALONAROU LAW FIRM

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Panayiotis Karakonstantis COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

Harry Karampelis KYRIAKIDES GEORGOPOULOS LAW FIRM

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Nikolaos Kazatzidis AGRONOMOS

Anastasia Kelveridou KYRIAKIDES GEORGOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Constantinos Klissouras K | P LAW FIRM

Ioanna Kombou ELIAS PARASKEVAS ATTORNEYS 1933

Alexandra Kondyli KARATZAS & PARTNERS

Nicholas Kontizas ZEPOS & YANNOPOULOS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Lena Kontogeorgou NOTARY

Panos Koromantzos BAHAS, GRAMATIDIS & PARTNERS

Olga Koromilia PWC GREECE

Joanna Kossina COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

Dimitrios Kotsionis MICHAEL KYPRIANOU & CO. LLC

Dimitrios Kremalis KREMALIS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Irene C. Kyriakides KYRIAKIDES GEORGOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Tom Kyriakopoulos KELEMENIS & CO.

Thomas Lamnidis KLC LAW FIRM

Konstantinos Logaras ZEPOS & YANNOPOULOS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Panos Lolonis HELLENIC CADASTRE AND MAPPING AGENCY

Margarita Louka KREMALIS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Christos Makris CONSULTANT & DESIGN ENGINEER

Stavros Makris KYRIAKIDES GEORGOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Antonis Mantonanakis PANMONOTIKI PROSTASIA

Evangelos Margaritis DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Emmanuel Mastromanolis ZEPOS & YANNOPOULOS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

John Mazarakos ELIAS PARASKEVAS ATTORNEYS 1933

Effie G. Mitsopoulou KYRIAKIDES GEORGOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Athena Moraiti ATHENA MORAITI LAW OFFICE

Konstantinos Nanopoulos TAXEXPERTS

Anthony Narlis CALBERSON SA

Effie Nestorides EYDAP SA

Marianna Niavi KELEMENIS & CO.

Kyriakos Oikonomou MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Antonis Pantazis PWC GREECE

Dionysios Pantazis PANTAZIS & ASSOCIATES

Stefanos Pantazis PANTAZIS & ASSOCIATES

Christina Papachristopoulou K | P LAW FIRM

Elena Papachristou ZEPOS & YANNOPOULOS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Konstantinos Papadiamantis POTAMITIS-VEKRIS

Stavros Papantonis ACTION AUDITING S.A. - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Alexios Papastavrou POTAMITIS-VEKRIS

Dimitris E. Paraskevas ELIAS PARASKEVAS ATTORNEYS 1933

Michalis Pattakos ZEPOS & YANNOPOULOS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Spiros Pilios PHOENIX

Stathis Potamitis POTAMITIS-VEKRIS

Ioanna Poulakou ZEPOS & YANNOPOULOS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Maria Preka LOGIKA

Vicky Psaltaki SARANTITIS LAW FIRM

Mary Psylla PWC GREECE

Terina Raptis SARANTITIS LAW FIRM

Kyriaki (Korina) Raptopoulou KYRIAKIDES GEORGOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Vasiliki Salaka KARATZAS & PARTNERS

Theofanis Salatas DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

277ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Ioannis Sarakinos ELIAS PARASKEVAS ATTORNEYS 1933

Aikaterini Savvaidou PWC GREECE

Ioannis Skandalis PWC GREECE

Nikolaos Stasinopoulos NOTARY

Alexia Stratou KREMALIS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Evangelia Tasiopoulou SARANTITIS LAW FIRM

John Tripidakis JOHN TRIPIDAKIS & ASSOCIATES LAW FIRM

Angeliki Tsatsi KARATZAS & PARTNERS

Antonios Tsavdaridis IKRP ROKAS & PARTNERS

Helena Tsertsiganni

Athanasios Tsimikalis TSIMIKALIS KALONAROU LAW FIRM

Stefanos Tsimikalis TSIMIKALIS KALONAROU LAW FIRM

Panagiota D. Tsitsa PANAGIOTA TSITSA

Alexia Tzouni POTAMITIS-VEKRIS

Spyros Valvis PWC GREECE

Anna Vamialis KELEMENIS & CO.

Penny Vithoulka C. PAPACOSTOPOULOS & ASSOCIATES

Konstantinos Vlachakis KONSTANTINOS VLACHAKIS

Kalliopi Vlachopoulou KELEMENIS & CO.

Ioanna Vourvoulia KYRIAKIDES GEORGOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Vassilis Voutsakis KLC LAW FIRM

Sofia Xanthoulea JOHN TRIPIDAKIS & ASSOCIATES LAW FIRM

Amalia Xeini KREMALIS LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Fredy Yatracou PWC GREECE

GRENADA PHYSICAL PLANNING UNIT

W.R. Agostini W. R. AGOSTINI & CO.

Raymond Anthony RAYMOND ANTHONY & CO.

James Bristol HENRY, HENRY & BRISTOL

Shawn Charles GRENADA ELECTRICITY SERVICES LTD.

Thaddeus Charles INLAND REVENUE DEPARTMENT

Linda Dolland SEON & ASSOCIATES

Kim George KIM GEORGE & ASSOCIATES

Carlyle Glean Jr. GLEAN’S CONSTRUCTION & ENGINEERING CO.

Cyrus Griffith LABOUR DEPARTMENT

Annette Henry MINISTRY OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

Keith Hosten HOSTEN’S (ELECTRICAL SERVICES) LTD.

Winston Hosten HOSTEN’S (ELECTRICAL SERVICES) LTD.

Clive Hoster GRENADA ELECTRICITY SERVICES LTD.

Ernie James

Nigel John LATITUDES CONSULT

Cheney Joseph TROPICAL SHIPPING

Henry Joseph PKF INTERNATIONAL

Gail Ann Newton GRENADA PORT AUTHORITY

Neil Noel HENRY HUDSON - PHILLIPS & CO.

Anthony Ross GRENADA ELECTRICITY SERVICES LTD.

Karen Samuel SAMUEL PHILLIP & ASSOCIATES

Ian H. Sandy AMICUS ATTORNEYS

Valentino Sawney TRADSHIP INTERNATIONAL

David R. Sinclair SINCLAIR ENTERPRISES LIMITED

Casandra Slocombe GRENADA ELECTRICITY SERVICES LTD.

Nichole St. Bernard DANNY WILLIAMS & CO.

Trevor St. Bernard LEWIS & RENWICK

Lisa Telesford SUPREME COURT REGISTRY

Shireen Wilkinson WILKINSON, WILKINSON & WILKINSON

Daniella Williams Mitchell DANNY WILLIAMS & CO.

Selwyn Woodroffe CONSULTING ENGINEERS PARTNERSHIP LTD.

GUATEMALA A.D. SOSA & SOTO

DHL GLOBAL FORWARDING

PROTECTORA DE CRÈDITO COMERCIAL

SUPERINTENDENCIA DE BANCOS

Rafael Alvarado-Riedel CONSORTIUM - RACSA

Pedro Aragón ARAGÓN & ARAGÓN

Mario R. Archila Cruz CONSORTIUM - RACSA

Pamela Arrechea CARRILLO & ASOCIADOS

Elías Arriaza Sáenz CONSORTIUM - RACSA

Gerson Baley ATA SERVICIOS

María de los Angeles Barillas Buchhalter SARAVIA & MUÑOZ

Jorge Rolando Barrios BONILLA, MONTANO, TORIELLO & BARRIOS

Alejandra Bermúdez CONSORTIUM - RACSA

Eva Cacacho González QUIÑONES, IBARGÜEN, LUJÁN & MATA SC

Emanuel Callejas CARRILLO & ASOCIADOS

Rodrigo Callejas Aquino CARRILLO & ASOCIADOS

Delia Cantoral ERNST & YOUNG

Carlos Cardoza CONSOLIDADOS 807 SA

Juan Carlos Castillo Chacón AGUILAR CASTILLO LOVE

Juan Carlos Chavarría ERNST & YOUNG

Jannet de Corzo CONSOLIDADOS 807 SA

Anabella de León Ruiz REGISTRO GENERAL DE LA PROPIEDAD DE GUATEMALA (RGP)

David Del Cid PRESIDENCIA NACIONAL DE ASISTENTES ADUANALES

Luis Diaz TRANSUNION GUATEMALA

Fanny Estrada ASOCIACIÓN GUATEMALTECA DE EXPORTADORES

Pedro Pablo García CARRILLO & ASOCIADOS

Antonio Roberto Garcia Escobar COMISIÓN NACIONAL DE ENERGÍA ELÉCTRICA

Jahzeel Alexander Garcia Osorio GES

José Estuardo Golóm CITY HALL OF GUATEMALA CITY

Jose Gonzalez PRECON

Carlos Guillermo Herrera REGISTRO GENERAL DE LA PROPIEDAD DE GUATEMALA (RGP)

Eva Maria Lima CITY HALL OF GUATEMALA CITY

Marco Antonio Martinez CPS LOGISTICS

Eduardo Mayora Alvarado MAYORA & MAYORA SC

Edgar Mendoza PWC GUATEMALA

Luis Armando Mendoza Morán ARMANDO ESPACIOS ESTUDIO DE ARQUITECTURA

Christian Michelangeli CARRILLO & ASOCIADOS

Edgar Montes REGISTRO GENERAL DE LA PROPIEDAD DE GUATEMALA (RGP)

Edvin Montoya LEXINCORP

Anajoyce Oliva CITY HALL OF GUATEMALA CITY

Monica Ordoñez REGISTRO GENERAL DE LA PROPIEDAD DE GUATEMALA (RGP)

Carlos Ortega MAYORA & MAYORA SC

Roberto Ozaeta PWC GUATEMALA

Marco Antonio Palacios PALACIOS & ASOCIADOS

Raul Antonio Palma Cruz ATA SERVICIOS

Maria Jose Pepio Pensabene CÁMARA GUATEMALTECA DE LA CONSTRUCCIÓN

Claudia Pereira MAYORA & MAYORA SC

Mélida Pineda CARRILLO & ASOCIADOS

Fernando Quezado Toruño Quezada BUFETE QUEZADA TORUÑO SA

Manuel Ramírez ERNST & YOUNG

Diego Ramírez Bathen GRUPO ICC

Delorean Randich PWC GUATEMALA

Marco Tulio Reyna CÁMARA GUATEMALTECA DE LA CONSTRUCCIÓN

Andres Rivera ACEROS ARQUITECTÓNICOS

Alfredo Rodríguez Mahuad CONSORTIUM - RACSA

Luis Alfonso Ruano CGW

Francisco Sagastume GARCÍA & BODÁN - GUATEMALA

Glendy Salguero PWC GUATEMALA

Rodrigo Salguero PWC GUATEMALA

Salvador A. Saravia Castillo SARAVIA & MUÑOZ

Cynthia Sequeira PALACIOS & ASOCIADOS

Klamcy Solorzano CITY HALL OF GUATEMALA CITY

José Augusto Toledo Cruz ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Estuardo Toruño DIRECTOR CORPORATIVO

Juan Francisco Toruño Rodriguez CONSOLIDADOS 807 SA

Elmer Vargas PACHECO COTO

GUINEA ELECTRICITÉ DE GUINÉE

Koulibaly Alpha oumar NIMBA CONSEIL SARL

Camara Aly Badara

Aminatou Bah TRANSCO SA & AQUA MARINE SA

Aminata Bah Tall TRANSCO SA & AQUA MARINE SA

Mohamed Baldé PWC GUINEA

Mamadou Barry MINISTÈRE DE LA CONSTRUCTION, DE L’URBANISME ET HABITAT

Mamadou Sanoussy Barry CABINET D’AVOCATS BAO & FILS

Mody Oumar Barry CABINET D’AVOCATS BAO & FILS

Ibrahima Kalil Berete SOGUFIRET

Martin BissyLeno NIMBA CONSEIL SARL

Eric Benjamin Colle TOPAZ MULTI-INDUSTRIES SARL

Hawa Condé MINISTÈRE DE LA CONSTRUCTION, DE L’URBANISME ET HABITAT

Gabriel Curtis AGENCE DE PROMOTION DES INVESTISSMENTS PRIVÉS

Zakaria Diakité NIMBA CONSEIL SARL

Ahmadou Diallo CHAMBRE DES NOTAIRES

Naby Moussa Fofana BANQUE CENTRALE DE GUINÉE (BCRG)

Soukeina Fofana BANQUE CENTRALE DE GUINÉE (BCRG)

Joachim Gbilimou

Christophe Grenier AMA (AFRICAN MARITIME AGENCIES) GUINEA

Amadou Thidiane Kaba AVOCAT AU BARREAU DE GUINÉE

Lansana Kaba CARIG

Mariama Ciré Keita Diallo NIMBA CONSEIL SARL

Fatoumata Koulibaly BANQUE CENTRALE DE GUINÉE (BCRG)

Joseph Koundouno MINISTÈRE DE LA CONSTRUCTION, DE L’URBANISME ET HABITAT

Nounké Kourouma ADMINISTRATION ET CONTRÔLE DES GRANDS PROJETS

Mohamed Lahlou PWC GUINEA

Martin Macauley AMA (AFRICAN MARITIME AGENCIES) GUINEA

Mohamed Y Sidibe GROUPE BCEIP

Mansa Moussa Sidibé GROUPE BCEIP

Satouma Yari Sounah ETUDE YANSANE

Assiatou Sow MINISTÈRE DE LA CONSTRUCTION, DE L’URBANISME ET HABITAT

Paul Tchagna PWC GUINEA

Aboubacar Salimatou Toure MTN AREEBA GUINÉE SA

Mariama Cire Traore ERNST & YOUNG

GUINEA-BISSAU ELECTRICIDADE E AGUAS DA GUINE-BISSAU

DOING BUSINESS 2015278

MINISTÉRIO DA ECONOMIA E INTEGRAÇÃO REGIONAL

MINISTÉRIO DA JUSTIÇA

Emílio Ano Mendes GB LEGAL - MIRANDA ALLIANCE

Bassambie Bationo BCEAO

Abú Camará MINISTÉRIO DAS INFRAESTRUTURAS

Humiliano Alves Cardoso GABINETE ADVOCACIA

Adelaida Mesa D’Almeida JURISCONTA SRL

Mahaman Tahir Hamani BCEAO

Miguel Mango AUDI - CONTA LDA

Vitor Marques da Cruz MC&A - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Ismael Mendes de Medina GB LEGAL - MIRANDA ALLIANCE

Teresa Pala MC&A - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Eduardo Pimentel CENTRO DE FORMALIZAÇÃO DE EMPRESAS

Osiris Francisco Pina Ferreira CONSELHO JUDICIAL DA MAGISTRADURA, REPÚBLICA DA GUINÉ-BISSAU

Rogério Reis ROGÉRIO REIS DESPACHANTE

Moussa Sanogo BCEAO

Fernando Tavares TRANSMAR SERVICES

Emmanuel Yehouessi BCEAO

GUYANA DIGICOM

Marcel Bobb FRASER, HOUSTY & YEARWOOD ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Desmond Correia CORREIA & CORREIA LTD.

Lucia Desir-John D & J SHIPPING SERVICES

Marlon Gonsalves RODRIGUES ARCHITECTS LTD.

Orin Hinds ORIN HINDS & ASSOCIATES ARCH. LTD.

Gary Holder ORIN HINDS & ASSOCIATES ARCH. LTD.

Renford Homer GUYANA POWER & LIGHT INC.

Rexford Jackson SINGH, DOODNAUTH LAW FIRM

Cliffton Mortimer Llewelyn John ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Kalam Azad Juman-Yassin GUYANA OLYMPIC ASSOCIATION

Kashir Khan ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Rakesh Latchana RAM & MCRAE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Edward Luckhoo LUCKHOO & LUCKHOO

Alexis Monize GUYANA OFFICE FOR INVESTMENT

Harry Noel Narine PKF INTERNATIONAL

Charlie Ogle MINISTRY OF LABOUR, HUMAN SERVICES AND SOCIAL SECURITY

Alvin Parag PAS CARGO GUYANA INC (PAS CARGO GROUP)

Carolyn Paul AMICE LEGAL CONSULTANTS INC.

Christopher Ram RAM & MCRAE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Vishwamint Ramnarine PFK BARCELLOS, NARINE & CO.

Albert Rodrigues RODRIGUES ARCHITECTS LTD.

Shantel Scott FRASER, HOUSTY & YEARWOOD ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Judy Semple-Joseph CREDITINFO GUYANA

Leslie Sobers ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Gidel Thomside NATIONAL SHIPPING CORPORATION LTD.

Allyson West PWC

Tonika Wilson PWC

HAITI MÉROVÉ-PIERRE - CABINET D’EXPERTS-COMPTABLES

Ronald Augustin LE CABINET AUGUSTIN

Jean Baptiste Brown BROWN LEGAL GROUP

Djacaman Charles CABINET GASSANT

Diggan d’Adesky D’ADESKY IMPORT EXPORT SA

Lucien Fresnel CABINET GASSANT

Frédéric Fritz LE CABINET AUGUSTIN

Enerlio Gassant CABINET GASSANT

Georgette Jean-Louis BANQUE DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE D’HAITI

Nadyne M. Joseph UNIBANK

Robert Laforest CABINET LAFOREST

Ronald Laraque AAU

Patrick Laurent CABINET PATRICK LAURENT & ASSOCIÉS

Camille Leblanc CABINET LEBLANC & ASSOCIÉS

Ludwig Leblanc CABINET LEBLANC & ASSOCIÉS

Garry Lhérisson ATELIER D’ARCHITECTURE ET D’URBANISME

Roberson Louis CABINET GASSANT

Kathia Magloire CABINET GASSANT

Dieuphète Maloir SAM CONSTRUCTION

Joseph Paillant BUCOFISC

Jean Louis Richard BUCOFISC

Michel Succar CABINET LISSADE

Jean Vandal VANDAL & VANDAL

HONDURAS CNBS - COMISION NACIONAL DE BANCOS Y SEGUROS

Vanessa Aguilera TRANSCOMA

Juan José Alcerro Milla AGUILAR CASTILLO LOVE

Karla Andino Peñalva CONSORTIUM CENTRO AMÉRICA ABOGADOS

José Simón Azcona INMOBILIARIA ALIANZA SA

Felipe G. Bautista AGENCIA NAVIERA HERMANOS BAUTISTA

Vanessa Borjas HONDURAS LOGISTIC

César Augusto Cabrera Zapata TRANSUNION

Fredy Castillo GARCÍA & BODÁN

Ruth de Rivera GRUPO VESTA

Denia Escalon PWC HONDURAS

Gilda Espinal Veliz ASJ - ASOCIACION PARA UNA SOCIEDAD MAS JUSTA

Oscar Armando Girón ASOCIACIÓN HONDUREÑA DE COMPAÑÍAS Y REPRESENTANTES NAVIEROS (AHCORENA)

Ramón Guzmán ALCALDÍA MUNICIPAL DEL DISTRITO CENTRAL (TEGUCIGALPA)

Jessica Handal ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Miguel Fabián Hernández ADUANAS HENRY ARÉVALO

Maria Irias IRÍAS & ASOCIADOS - CORRESPONDENT OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Evangelina Lardizábal ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Armida María López de Arguello ACZALAW

Issmary Medina SECRETARIA DE RECURSOS NATURALES Y AMBIENTE

Jesús Humberto Medina-Alva CENTRAL LAW MEDINA, ROSENTHAL & ASOCIADOS

Juan Carlos Méndez GARCÍA & BODÁN

Claudia Midence Soto ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Vanessa Oquelí GARCÍA & BODÁN

Danna Paredes PWC HONDURAS

José Ramón Paz CONSORTIUM CENTRO AMÉRICA ABOGADOS

Yoni Pineda GRUPO VESTA

Armando Ponce ENP/AGENCIA ADUANERA

Dino Rietti ARQUITECNIC

Julio Rivera GARCÍA & BODÁN

Milton Rivera PWC HONDURAS

Enrique Rodriguez Burchard AGUILAR CASTILLO LOVE

Martha R Saenz ZACARÍAS & ASOCIADOS

Germany Salgado ADVOCATUS LAW FIRM

René Serrano ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Nelson Ulloa SECRETARIA DE RECURSOS NATURALES Y AMBIENTE

Marco Valladares

Roberto Manuel Zacarías Urrutia ZACARÍAS & ASOCIADOS

Saydi Zapata GRUPO VESTA

Gabriela Zelaya ACZALAW

Mario Zelaya DGUERRERO INGS. SA

Mario Rubén Zelaya ENERGÍA INTEGRAL S. DE RL DE CV

Carlos Zúniga IRÍAS & ASOCIADOS - CORRESPONDENT OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

HONG KONG SAR, CHINA Albert P.C. Chan THE HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

Kenneth Chan HONG KONG ECONOMIC & TRADE OFFICE

Leonard Chan JLA-ASIA

Nick Chan SQUIRE SANDERS

Vashi Chandiramani EXCELLENCE INTERNATIONAL

Selraniy Chow PWC HONG KONG

Robert Chu ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND BUSINESS FACILITATION UNIT

Jimmy Chung JAMES NGAI & PARTNERS CPA LIMITED - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Victor Dawes TEMPLE CHAMBERS

Wilson Fung MAYER BROWN JSM

Dominic Gregory ASHURST LLP

Keith Man Kei Ho WILKINSON & GRIST

Reynold Hung PWC HONG KONG

Salina Ko APL HONG KONG

Peter Kwon ASHURST LLP

Billy Lam MAYER BROWN JSM

Christie Lam HONG KONG FINANCIAL SECRETARY

Andas Lau THE LAND REGISTRY OF HONG KONG

Kitty Lau ASIA BUSINESS SERVICE LIMITED

Candas Lee EDMUND W. H. CHOW & CO

Juliana Lee MAYER BROWN JSM

John Robert Lees JLA-ASIA

Shung Chi Leung CUSTOMS AND EXCISE DEPARTMENT

Tommy Li EDMUND W. H. CHOW & CO

Terry LK Kan SHINEWING SPECIALIST ADVISORY SERVICES LIMITED

Dickson Lo MAUNSELL AECOM GROUP

Psyche S.F. Luk FAIRBAIRN CATLEY LOW & KONG

Mat Ng JLA-ASIA

Kok Leong Ngan CLP POWER HONG KONG LIMITED

Yeung Or INLAND REVENUE DEPARTMENT, HKSAR

Martinal Quan METOPRO ASSOCIATES LIMITED

Matthias Schemuth ASHURST LLP

Holden Slutsky PACIFIC CHAMBERS

Thomas Tang MAUNSELL AECOM GROUP

Charles To SQUIRE SANDERS

Hong Tran MAYER BROWN JSM

Anita Tsang PWC HONG KONG

Derek Tsang MAYER BROWN JSM

William Tsang Y H TSANG & CO.

Laurence Tsong TRANSUNION HONG KONG

Cliff Tsui JLA-ASIA

Paul Tsui HONG KONG ASSOCIATION OF FREIGHT FORWARDING & LOGISTICS LTD (HAFFA)

Christopher Whiteley ASHURST LLP

Agnes Wong COMPANIES REGISTRY, HKSAR

Charlton Wong MAUNSELL AECOM GROUP

Fergus Wong PWC HONG KONG

279ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Patrick Wong MAYER BROWN JSM

Erica Xiong RUSSELL BEDFORD JAMES NGAI CPA LIMITED - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Elaine Yeung MAYER BROWN JSM

HUNGARY CARGO-PARTNER

HELLMANN WORLDWIDE LOGISTICS KFT

Mark Balastyai FUTUREAL GROUP

Balázs Balog RETI, ANTALL AND PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Péter Bárdos LAW FIRM DR. PÉTER AND RITA BÁRDOS

Sándor Békési PARTOS & NOBLET HOGAN LOVELLS

Blanka Börzsönyi SIEGLER LAW OFFICE / WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES

Hedi Bozsonyik SZECSKAY ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Zsuzsanna Cseri CSERI & PARTNERS LAW OFFICES

Maria Csik PARTOS & NOBLET HOGAN LOVELLS

Gábor Dohány PARTOS & NOBLET HOGAN LOVELLS

András Elekes IMMOBILIA REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT KFT

Tamás Esze BPV|JÁDI NÉMETH ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Zsuzsa File PARTOS & NOBLET HOGAN LOVELLS

Veronika Francis-Hegedűs BPV|JÁDI NÉMETH ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Anna Gáspár BUILD-ECON LTD.

Tamas Halmos PARTOS & NOBLET HOGAN LOVELLS

Dóra Horváth RETI, ANTALL AND PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Dóra Emese Horváth PWC HUNGARY

Gergely Horváth WHITE & CASE

Norbert Izer PWC HUNGARY

Andrea Jádi Németh BPV|JÁDI NÉMETH ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Gábor Kertész BDO HUNGARY

Adrienn Keszei BISZ CENTRAL CREDIT INFORMATION PLC

Dóra Máthé PWC HUNGARY

László Mohai MOHAI LAW OFFICE

Róbert Nagy BISZ CENTRAL CREDIT INFORMATION PLC

Sándor Németh SZECSKAY ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Christopher Noblet PARTOS & NOBLET HOGAN LOVELLS

Gabriella Pataki WHITE & CASE

Örs Pénzes

Rita Rado CSERI & PARTNERS LAW OFFICES

István Sándor KELEMEN, MESZAROS, SANDOR & PARTNERS

Konrád Siegler SIEGLER LAW OFFICE / WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES

Zsófia Siegler BDO HUNGARY

Szilvia Szeleczky BUDAPEST 1ST DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY

Ágnes Szent-Ivány SÁNDOR SZEGEDI SZENT-IVÁNY KOMÁROMI EVERSHEDS

Gergely Szoboszlai SIEGLER LAW OFFICE / WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES

Angéla Szőke BDO HUNGARY

Adrienn Tar SZECSKAY ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Ádám Tóth DR. TÓTH ÁDÁM KÖZJEGYZŐI IRODA

Annamária Tóth PARTOS & NOBLET HOGAN LOVELLS

Gábor Zoltán Szabó SIEGLER LAW OFFICE / WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES

ICELAND Ásta Sólveig Andrésdóttir REGISTERS ICELAND

Ásta Guðrún Beck REGISTERS ICELAND

Karen Bragadóttir TOLLSTJÓRI - DIRECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

þórður Ólafur Búason REYKJAVIK MUNICIPAL BUILDING CONTROL OFFICE

Eymundur Einarsson ENDURSKOðUN OG RÁðGJÖF EHF

Ólafur Eiríksson LOGOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Sigríður Anna Ellerup REGISTERS ICELAND

Skuli Th. Fjeldsted FJELDSTED, BLÖNDAL & FJELDSTED

Anna Björg Guðjónsdóttir BBA LEGAL

Gudrun Gudmundsdottir JÓNAR TRANSPORT

Andri Gunnarsson NORDIK LEGAL SERVICES

Reynir Haraldsson JÓNAR TRANSPORT

Hörður Davíð Harðarson TOLLSTJÓRI - DIRECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

Jón Ingi Ingibergsson PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL EHF

Aðalsteinn E. Jónasson LEX LAW OFFICES

Thora Jónsdóttir JURIS LAW OFFICE

Jóhann Magnús Jóhannsson LOGOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Helga Melkorka Óttarsdóttir LOGOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Kristján Pálsson JÓNAR TRANSPORT

Ásgeir Á. Ragnarsson BBA LEGAL

Eyvindur Sólnes CATO LÖGMENN

Jóhannes Stephensen CREDITINFO ICELAND

Gunnar Sturluson LOGOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Rúnar Svavar Svavarsson ORKUVEITA REYKJAVÍKUR, DISTRIBUTION-ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Helgi þór þorsteinsson LEX LAW OFFICES

Steinþór þorsteinsson TOLLSTJÓRI - DIRECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

Jon Vilhjalmsson EFLA CONSULTING ENGINEERS

INDIA GAYATRI INTERNATIONAL TRADING CO.

ROOPA TEXTILES AND TRIMMINGS

SOUTH DELHI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

SUHASINI IMPEX

Dulal Acharyya G. D. INTERNATIONAL

Alfred Adebare LEXCOUNSEL

Ankit Agarwal FOX MANDAL & CO.

Kritika Agarwal MAJMUDAR & PARTNERS

Sundeep Agarwal PWC INDIA

Neeharika Aggarwal KNM & PARTNERS, LAW OFFICES

P.S. Atree P.S. ATREE & CO. PVT. LTD.

Aditi Bagri JURIS CORP

Raghav Bansal RSB LEAGUE CONSULTANTS, ATTORNEYS & SOLICITORS

Shashwat Bansal RSB LEAGUE CONSULTANTS, ATTORNEYS & SOLICITORS

Subhash Bansal RSB LEAGUE CONSULTANTS, ATTORNEYS & SOLICITORS

Sumitava Basu JURIS CORP

Soumi Benerji FOX MANDAL & CO.

Hetal Bhagat MEHTA & MEHTA

Neeraj Bhagat NEERAJ BHAGAT & CO.

M.L Bhakta KANGA & CO.

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Mirza Karim KARIMSYAH LAW FIRM

Galinar R. Kartakusuma MAKARIM & TAIRA S.

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Bintang Manik MAKARIM & TAIRA S.

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Heru Mardijarto MAKARIM & TAIRA S.

Agus Marsudi INDONESIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS

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Any Miami PWC INDONESIA

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Ilman Rakhmat KARIMSYAH LAW FIRM

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Umberto Antonelli STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Stefano Aprile PENAL COURT OF ROME

Gea Arcella CIVIL LAW NOTARY, LAWYER

Gaetano Arnò PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Romina Ballanca PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Paola Barazzetta PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Gianluigi Baroni PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Alvise Becker PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Vlad Beffa STUDIO SAVOIA

Susanna Beltramo STUDIO LEGALE BELTRAMO

Carlotta Benigni DLA PIPER

Marta Bianchi PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Andrea Bossola ACEA S.P.A.

Giampaolo Botta SPEDIPORTO - ASSOCIAZIONE SPEDIZIONIERI CORRIERI E TRASPORTATORI DI GENOVA

Francesca Brilli STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Giuseppe Broccoli BDA STUDIO LEGALE

Carlo Andrea Bruno RAYNAUD AND PARTNERS - STUDIO LEGALE

Claudio Burello PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Sergio Calderara ALMAVIVA S.P.A. - DIREZIONE AFFARI LEGALI

Federico Calloni STUDIO CORNO - MMEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Gianluca Cambareri TONUCCI & PARTNERS, IN ALLIANCE WITH MAYER BROWN LLP

Paolo Canal ORSINGHER ORTU – AVVOCATI ASSOCIATI

Stefano Cancarini PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Alessandro Cardia GRIECO E ASSOCIATI

Cecilia Carrara LEGANCE - STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO

Paolo Carta ACEA S.P.A.

Maria Castiglione Minischetti PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Lucia Ceccarelli PORTOLANO CAVALLO STUDIO LEGALE

Giorgio Cherubini PIROLA PENNUTO ZEI & ASSOCIATI

Domenico Colella ORSINGHER ORTU – AVVOCATI ASSOCIATI

Viviana Colella ACEA S.P.A.

Stefano Colla PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Fabrizio Colonna LCA - LEGA COLUCCI E ASSOCIATI

Mattia Colonnelli de Gasperis COLONNELLI DE GASPERIS STUDIO LEGALE

Barbara Corsetti PORTOLANO CAVALLO STUDIO LEGALE

Filippo Corsini CHIOMENTI STUDIO LEGALE

Barbara Cortesi STUDIO LEGALE GUASTI

Massimo Cremona PIROLA PENNUTO ZEI & ASSOCIATI

Salvina Crisafulli ASHURST LLP

Salvatore Cuzzocrea PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Daniele de Benedetti STUDIO BENESSIA - MACCAGNO

Francesco De Gennaro STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Antonio De Martinis SPASARO DE MARTINIS LAW FIRM

Raffaella De Martinis SPASARO DE MARTINIS LAW FIRM

Francesca De Paolis STUDIO LEGALE SALVATORE DE PAOLIS

Rosa Del Sindaco ABBATESCIANNI STUDIO LEGALE E TRIBUTARIO

Claudio Di Falco CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Federica Di Mario STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Maria Di Noia BANK OF ITALY

Massimiliano Di Tommaso CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Maddalena Ferrari STUDIO NOTARILE FERRARI

Guiseppe Ferrelli STUDIO LEGALE SINATRA

Barbara Mirta Ferri PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Gianclaudio Fischetti PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Tommaso Foco PORTOLANO CAVALLO STUDIO LEGALE

Pier Andrea Fré Torelli Massini CARABBA & PARTNERS

Luca Gambini PORTOLANO CAVALLO STUDIO LEGALE

Andrea Gangemi PORTOLANO CAVALLO STUDIO LEGALE

Daniele Geronzi LEGANCE - STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO

Carlo Ghia STUDIO LEGALE GHIA

283ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Enrica Maria Ghia STUDIO LEGALE GHIA

Lucio Ghia STUDIO LEGALE GHIA

Ilario Giangrossi ASHURST LLP

Andrea Grappelli TONUCCI & PARTNERS, IN ALLIANCE WITH MAYER BROWN LLP

Antonio Grieco GRIECO E ASSOCIATI

Valentino Guarini PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Federico Guasti STUDIO LEGALE GUASTI

Francesco Iodice CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Giovanni Izzo ABBATESCIANNI STUDIO LEGALE E TRIBUTARIO

Ignazio La Candia PIROLA PENNUTO ZEI & ASSOCIATI

Mario Landriani GC ARCHITECTURE BURO

Laura Liguori PORTOLANO CAVALLO STUDIO LEGALE

Alessandra Livreri A. HARTRODT ITALIANA SRL

Enrico Lodi CRIF S.P.A.

Cesare Lombrassa STUDIO LEGALE LOMBRASSA

Paolo Lucarini PWC ITALY

Stefano Macchi di Cellere

Matteo Magistrelli PORTOLANO CAVALLO STUDIO LEGALE

Corrado Malberti LAWYER

Francesco Manzari STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Luigi Mariani STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Fabrizio Mariotti STUDIO LEGALE BELTRAMO

Laura Marretta ROMOLOTTI MARRETTA

Donatella Martinelli STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO TOMMASINI E MARTINELLI

Carloandrea Meacci STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Valeria Melissan PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Laura Mellone BANK OF ITALY

Priscilla Merlino NUNZIANTE MAGRONE

Andrea Messuti LCA - LEGA COLUCCI E ASSOCIATI

Mario Miccoli NOTAIO MICCOLI

Stefano Miniati PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Marco Monaco Sorge TONUCCI & PARTNERS, IN ALLIANCE WITH MAYER BROWN LLP

Luisa Monti CRIF S.P.A.

Micael Montinari PORTOLANO CAVALLO STUDIO LEGALE

Eliana Morandi STUDIO NOTARILE ELIANA MORANDI

Valeria Morosini TOFFOLETTO E SOCI LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Davide Neirotti PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Gianmatteo Nunziante NUNZIANTE MAGRONE

Francesco Nuzzolo PWC ITALY

Luciano Panzani TORINO COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

Giovanni Patti ABBATESCIANNI STUDIO LEGALE E TRIBUTARIO

Federica Periale STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Davide Petris PORTOLANO CAVALLO STUDIO LEGALE

Riccardo Piaggi ORSINGHER ORTU – AVVOCATI ASSOCIATI

Paolo Piccoli LAWYER

Annamaria Pinzuti STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Andrea Pivanti STUDIO LEGALE GHIA

Galileo Pozzoli CURTIS MALLET - PREVOST, COLT & MOSLE LLP

Maria Progida PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Francesca Ravallese

Daniele Raynaud RAYNAUD AND PARTNERS - STUDIO LEGALE

Sharon Reilly LABLAW STUDIO LEGALE

Fabrizio Revelli LAWYER

Consuelo Rigo CRIF S.P.A.

Marianna Ristuccia RISTUCCIA & TUFARELLI

Filippo Maria Riva PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Cinzia Romano STUDIO LEGALE SALVATORE DE PAOLIS

Tommaso Edoardo Romolotti ROMOLOTTI MARRETTA

Michele Salemo KRCOM

Francesca Salerno LEGANCE - STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO

Mike Salerno KRCOM

Filippo Savoia STUDIO SAVOIA

Michele Scibettai STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Mario Scofferi GIGLIO & SCOFFERI STUDIO LEGALE DEL LAVORO

Susanna Servi CARABBA & PARTNERS

Massimiliano Silvetti NUNZIANTE MAGRONE

Carlo Sinatra STUDIO LEGALE SINATRA

Elisa Sulcis STUDIO LEGALE SINATRA

Michele Tamburini CURTIS MALLET - PREVOST, COLT & MOSLE LLP

Maria Antonietta Tanico STUDIO LEGALE TANICO

Andrea Tedioli STUDIO LEGALE TEDIOLI

Francesca Tironi PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

Giacinto Tommasini STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO TOMMASINI E MARTINELLI

Nicola Toscano STUDIO LEGALE ASSOCIATO AD ASHURST LLP

Stefano Tresca ISEED

Luca Tufarelli RISTUCCIA & TUFARELLI

Rachele Vacca de Dominicis GRIECO E ASSOCIATI

Mario Valentini PIROLA PENNUTO ZEI & ASSOCIATI

Elisabetta Ventrella BDA STUDIO LEGALE

Emilio Zendri ACEA S.P.A.

Bruno Benvenuto Zerbini STUDIO LEGALE BELTRAMO

Filippo Zucchinelli PWC - TAX AND LEGAL SERVICES

JAMAICA CRIF NM CREDIT ASSURE LIMITED

Martin Addington INTERPLAN

Dania Beckford JAMAICA CUSTOMS DEPARTMENT

Frances Blair NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT & PLANNING AGENCY

Christopher Bovell DUNNCOX

Mitzie W. Gordon Burke-Green JAMAICA TRADING SERVICES LTD.

Errington Case JAMAICA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY LIMITED

Carl Chen CARL CHEN & ASSOCIATES

Eric Crawford PWC JAMAICA

Jemelia Davis THE SUPREME COURT OF JAMAICA

Megan Deane CREDITINFO JAMAICA LIMITED

Natalie Farrell-Ross MYERS, FLETCHER & GORDON, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Nicole Foga FOGA DALEY

Rivi Gardener RIVI GARDENER & ASSOCIATE LTD.

Gavin Goffe MYERS, FLETCHER & GORDON, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Hugh Gordon NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT & PLANNING AGENCY

Narda Graham DUNNCOX

Herbert Winston Grant GRANT, STEWART, PHILLIPS & CO.

Lissa L. Grant PRIDE JAMAICA

Kelly Greenaway SAMUDA & JOHNSON ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Wilbert Hoo

Donovan Jackson NUNES, SCHOLEFIELD DELEON & CO.

Peter Knight NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT & PLANNING AGENCY

Joan Lawla UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Grace Lindo NUNES, SCHOLEFIELD DELEON & CO.

Melinda Lloyd JAMAICA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY LIMITED

Zaila McCalla THE SUPREME COURT OF JAMAICA

Karen McHugh PWC JAMAICA

Marlene McIntosh FERSAN

Celia Middleton ATTORNEY GENERAL’S CHAMBERS

Roxanne Miller DUNNCOX

Alton Morgan LEGIS-ALTON E. MORGAN & CO. ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Viveen Morrison PWC JAMAICA

Wilford Morrison COMPANIES OFFICE OF JAMAICA

Carol Palmer THE SUPREME COURT OF JAMAICA

Judith Ramlogan COMPANIES OFFICE OF JAMAICA

Hilary Reid MYERS, FLETCHER & GORDON, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Milton J. Samuda SAMUDA & JOHNSON ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Jacqueline Simmonds JAMAICA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY LIMITED

Craig Stephen CREDITINFO JAMAICA LIMITED

Danielle Stiebel MYERS, FLETCHER & GORDON, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Humprey Taylor TAYLOR CONSTRUCTION LTD.

Coleen Weise

Patricka Wiggan Chambers JAMAICA CUSTOMS DEPARTMENT

Dominic Williams JAMAICA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY LIMITED

Maia Wilson LEX CARIBBEAN

Angelean Young-Daley JAMAICA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY LIMITED

JAPAN PWC JAPAN

TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY INC.

Okamoto Aya OSAKA BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT CENTER

Isayama Ayaka KANSAI ELECTRIC POWER

Yoshio Azuma TEIKOKU DATABANK

Naoaki Eguchi BAKER & MCKENZIE

Toyoki Emoto ATSUMI & SAKAI

Miho Fujita ADACHI, HENDERSON, MIYATAKE & FUJITA

Tatsuya Fukui ATSUMI & SAKAI

Shinnosuke Fukuoka NISHIMURA & ASAHI

Tomoyoshi Furukawa OHARA LAW OFFICE

Michiyasu Futami BANK OF TOKYO-MITSUBISHI UFJ

Keiko Harada ATSUMI & SAKAI

Taichi Haraguchi ERNST & YOUNG TAX CO.

Yuichi Hasegawa ADACHI, HENDERSON, MIYATAKE & FUJITA

Haruyo Hatada KANSAI ELECTRIC POWER

Nakanishi Hiroshi THE BUILDING CENTER OF JAPAN

Takashi Ikeda TAKASHI IKEDA LAW OFFICE

Seisuke Imai NISHIMURA & ASAHI

Tamotsu Inami TEIKOKU DATABANK

Ruriko Iwase ATSUMI & SAKAI

Nicholas R. Jesson OHARA LAW OFFICE

Tomomi Kagawa CREDIT INFORMATION CENTER CORP.

Chie Kasahara ATSUMI & SAKAI

Hiroshi Kasuya BAKER & MCKENZIE

Takahiro Kato NISHIMURA & ASAHI

DOING BUSINESS 2015284

Kohei Kawamura NISHIMURA & ASAHI

Hayato Kimura ATSUMI & SAKAI

Yasuyuki Kuribayashi CITY-YUWA PARTNERS

Yuji Masaki TEIKOKU DATABANK

Staoh Masami THE BUILDING CENTER OF JAPAN

Takafumi Masukata NIPPON EXPRESS CO., LTD.

Junichiro Matsuo CREDIT INFORMATION CENTER CORP.

Nobuaki Matsuoka OSAKA INTERNATIONAL LAW OFFICES

Nomuaki Matsuoka OSAKA INTERNATIONAL LAW OFFICES

Katsuhito Matsuura MAERSK LINE

Nakano Michiaki SOUTH TORANOMON LAW OFFICES

Toshio Miyatake ADACHI, HENDERSON, MIYATAKE & FUJITA

Kenjiro Mori OSAKA INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PROMOTION CENTER

Michihiro Mori NISHIMURA & ASAHI

Hirosato Nabika CITY-YUWA PARTNERS

Hideto Nakai KINDEN CORP.

Shigenobu Namiki ANDERSON MORI & TOMOTSUNE

Sasaki Nanako THE BUILDING CENTER OF JAPAN

Nozomu Ohara OHARA LAW OFFICE

Kanayo Okai OHARA LAW OFFICE

Shun Otsuka NISHIMURA & ASAHI

Kozonoi Ryo TOKYO BUSINESS ENTRY POINT

Takashi Saito CITY-YUWA PARTNERS

Yuka Sakai CITY-YUWA PARTNERS

Noriyuki Sano MAERSK LINE

Tetsuro Sato BAKER & MCKENZIE

Hiroaki Shinomiya DAVIS & TAKAHASHI

Sachiko Sugawara ATSUMI & SAKAI

Junya Suzuki BAKER & MCKENZIE

Hiroaki Takahashi DAVIS & TAKAHASHI

Mikio Tasaka NITTSU RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND CONSULTING, INC.

Junichi Tobimatsu MORI HAMADA & MATSUMOTO

Terakawa Tokiwa THE BUILDING CENTER OF JAPAN

Yukiko Tomimatsu NISHIMURA & ASAHI

Yamamoto Tomohide KINDEN CORP.

Takaharu Totsuka ANDERSON MORI & TOMOTSUNE

Yoshito Tsuji OBAYASHI CORPORATION

Mikio Tsukahara TEIKOKU DATABANK

Hideki Tsutsui OSAKA INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PROMOTION CENTER

Shino Uenuma SOUTH TORANOMON LAW OFFICES

Kenji Utsumi NAGASHIMA OHNO & TSUNEMATSU

Ritsuko Watanabe TAKASHI IKEDA LAW OFFICE

Michi Yamagami ANDERSON MORI & TOMOTSUNE

Shinjiro Yamamoto ERNST & YOUNG TAX CO.

Koji Yawataya ERNST & YOUNG TAX CO.

Amano Youichiro THE BUILDING CENTER OF JAPAN

JORDAN ERNST & YOUNG

MOUNIR HAJJIRI & ASSOCIATES

Hassan Abdullah THE JORDANIAN ELECTRIC POWER CO. LTD. (JEPCO)

Mazen Abu Alghanam NATHAN ASSOCIATES

Hayja’a Abu AlHayja’a TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Nayef Abu Alim PREMIER LAW FIRM LLP

Deema Abu Zulaikha TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Ibrahim Abunameh ABUNAMEH & PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Maha Al Abdallat CENTRAL BANK OF JORDAN

Eman M. Al-Dabbas INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LEGAL ASSOCIATES

Gehad Ali ARAB BANK

Omar Aljazy ALJAZY & CO. ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Faris Allouzi KHALIFEH & PARTNERS LAWYERS

Mohammad Al-Said NATHAN ASSOCIATES

Essa Amawi AMAWI & CO. ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Mohammed Amawi AMAWI & CO. ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Khaled Asfour ALI SHARIF ZU’BI, ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Michael T. Dabit MICHAEL T. DABIT & ASSOCIATES

Anwar Elliyan THE JORDANIAN ELECTRIC POWER CO. LTD. (JEPCO)

Vincent Flamant AQABA CONTAINER TERMINAL

George Hazboun INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATED FOR LEGAL CONSULTATIONS

Reem Hazboun INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATED FOR LEGAL CONSULTATIONS

Emad Karkar PWC JORDAN

Basel Kawar KAWAR TRANSPORT & TRANSIT KARGO

Ola Khalil CENTRAL BANK OF JORDAN

Hazem Khirfan ALI SHARIF ZU’BI, ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Hussein Kofahy CENTRAL BANK OF JORDAN

Rasha Laswi ZALLOUM & LASWI LAW FIRM

Firas Malhas INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LEGAL ASSOCIATES

Omar B. Naim NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

Ridha Nasair LAW GATE ATTORNEYS & LEGAL COUNSELORS

Khaldoun Nazer KHALIFEH & PARTNERS LAWYERS

Main Nsair NSAIR & PARTNERS - LAWYERS

Mutasem Nsair NSAIR & PARTNERS - LAWYERS

Moutaz Qtaitat INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATED FOR LEGAL CONSULTATIONS

Ahmad Quandour KHALIFEH & PARTNERS LAWYERS

Hala Qutteineh ALI SHARIF ZU’BI, ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Osama Y. Sabbagh THE JORDANIAN ELECTRIC POWER CO. LTD. (JEPCO)

Stephan Stephan PWC JORDAN

Dima Taan LAW GATE ATTORNEYS & LEGAL COUNSELORS

Mohammed Tarawneh

Mahmoud Wafa CUSTOMS DEPARTMENT

Azzam Zalloum ZALLOUM & LASWI LAW FIRM

KAZAKHSTAN BDO KAZAKHSTANAUDIT, LLP

Ainur Abdalova COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Serkebay Abdikadyrov SIGNUM LAW FIRM

Kuben Abzhanov GRATA LAW FIRM

Kirill Afanasyev KAZAKHSTAN CONSULTING

Zulfiya Akchurina GRATA LAW FIRM

Azamat Akhmedov SIGNUM LAW FIRM

Duman Akhmetov INTEGRITES KAZAKHSTAN LLP

Jypar Beishenalieva MICHAEL WILSON & PARTNERS LTD.

Madiyar Bekturganov ORIS LAW FIRM

Arman Berdalin SAYAT ZHOLSHY & PARTNERS

Talgat Bidaybekov OLYMPEX ADVISERS

Aidyn Bikebayev SAYAT ZHOLSHY & PARTNERS

Richard Bregonje PWC KAZAKHSTAN

Svetlana Ceban PWC KAZAKHSTAN

Inara Elemanova COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Julia Fattorini BMF GROUP LLP

Alexandr Giros ARISTAN PROJECT MANAGEMENT GROUP (APMG)

Mariyash Kabikenova REHABILITATION MANAGER

Elena Kaeva PWC KAZAKHSTAN

Assel Kalmagambetova SYNERGY PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Aigoul Kenjebayeva DENTONS KAZAKHSTAN, LLP

Elvira Khairoullina INTEGRITES KAZAKHSTAN LLP

Yekaterina Khamidullina AEQUITAS LAW FIRM

Olga Kim COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Marina Kolesnikova GRATA LAW FIRM

Askar Konysbayev GRATA LAW FIRM

Anna Kravchenko GRATA LAW FIRM

Yuliya Lazareva AEQUITAS LAW FIRM

Tatyana Lee COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Aituar Madin ORIS LAW FIRM

Marzhan Mardenova PWC KAZAKHSTAN

Yessen Massalin OLYMPEX ADVISERS

Saida Moldasheva CRUZ LOGISTICS LLP

Nazira Nurbayeva PWC KAZAKHSTAN

Ruslan Omarov FIRST CREDIT BUREAU

Bogdan Piskorskiy DENTONS KAZAKHSTAN, LLP

Elvis Roberts CRUZ LOGISTICS LLP

Kamillya Sarsembina AEQUITAS LAW FIRM

Yerlan Serikbayev MICHAEL WILSON & PARTNERS LTD.

Sofia Shakhraziyeva COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Gennady Shestakov KAZAKHSTAN LOGISTICS SERVICE

Nurlan Sholanov AEQUITAS LAW FIRM

Svetlana Shtopol INTEGRITES KAZAKHSTAN LLP

Nurzhan Stamkulov SYNERGY PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Otabek Suleimanov COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Zarina Syzdykova GRATA LAW FIRM

Kurmangazy Talzhanov INTEGRITES KAZAKHSTAN LLP

Zhandos Taukenov OLYMPEX ADVISERS

Almas Tleupov INTEGRITES KAZAKHSTAN LLP

Victoriya Trofimovich SIGNUM LAW FIRM

Bakhyt Tukulov GRATA LAW FIRM

Amir Tussupkhanov ORIS LAW FIRM

Azim Usmanov COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Vitaliy Vodolazkin SAYAT ZHOLSHY & PARTNERS

Severin Wilson KAZAKHSTAN CONSULTING

Arlan Yerzhanov BMF GROUP LLP

Yerzhan Yessimkhanov GRATA LAW FIRM

Dubek Zhabykenov BA OILFIELD SERVICES

Serik Zhamanbalin OLYMPEX ADVISERS

Askhat Zhanatuly GRATA LAW FIRM

Birzhan Zharasbayev DENTONS KAZAKHSTAN, LLP

Aiman Zhekeyeva INTEGRITES KAZAKHSTAN LLP

Liza Zhumakhmetova SIGNUM LAW FIRM

Sofiya Zhylkaidarova SIGNUM LAW FIRM

Anton Zinoviev BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON

Zarina Ziyayeva INTEGRITES KAZAKHSTAN LLP

KENYA METROPOL CORPORATION LTD.

George Akoto AKOTO & AKOTO ADVOCATES

Jill Barasa ORARO & COMPANY ADVOCATES

Mohammed A. Bhatti BHATTI ELECTRICAL LIMITED

Oliver Fowler KAPLAN & STRATTON

Peter Gachuhi KAPLAN & STRATTON

Chacha Odera Hillary ORARO & COMPANY ADVOCATES

William Ikutha Maema ISEME, KAMAU & MAEMA ADVOCATES

285ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Milly Jalega ISEME, KAMAU & MAEMA ADVOCATES

Kenneth Kamaitha KAPLAN & STRATTON

Kamau Karori ISEME, KAMAU & MAEMA ADVOCATES

Hamish Keith DALY & FIGGIS ADVOCATES

Erick Keli AKOTO & AKOTO ADVOCATES

John Kung’u WARUHIU K’OWADE & NG’ANG’A ADVOCATES

David Lekerai ISEME, KAMAU & MAEMA ADVOCATES

Victor Majani CROWE HORWATH EA, MEMBER CROWE HORWATH INTERNATIONAL

Rosemary Mburu INSTITUTE OF TRADE DEVELOPMENT

James Mburu Kamau ISEME, KAMAU & MAEMA ADVOCATES

Mansoor A. Mohamed RUMAN SHIP CONTRACTORS LIMITED

George Muchiri DALY & FIGGIS ADVOCATES

Peter Mungai PWC KENYA

John Muoria WARUHIU K’OWADE & NG’ANG’A ADVOCATES

Murigu Murithi ARCS AFRICA

Wachira Ndege CREDIT REFERENCE BUREAU AFRICA LTD.

Sammy Ndolo HAMILTON HARRISON & MATHEWS LAW FIRM

Killian Ngala MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING COMPANY (MSC), OCEANFREIGHT (E.A.) LTD.

Mbage Ng’ang’a WARUHIU K’OWADE & NG’ANG’A ADVOCATES

Joseph Ngangira DALY & FIGGIS ADVOCATES

James Ngomeli THE KENYA POWER AND LIGHTING COMPANY LTD.

Eddy Ochieng ORARO & COMPANY ADVOCATES

Desmond Odhiambo DALY & FIGGIS ADVOCATES

Edwin Odundo ORARO & COMPANY ADVOCATES

Andrew Oduor ORARO & COMPANY ADVOCATES

Daniel Okoth ORARO & COMPANY ADVOCATES

Richard Omwela HAMILTON HARRISON & MATHEWS LAW FIRM

Jackson Onyango Awele ORARO & COMPANY ADVOCATES

Hannington O. Ouko COOPERATIVE BANK OF SOUTH SUDAN

Ersatus Rabut ORARO & COMPANY ADVOCATES

Deepen Shah WALKER KONTOS ADVOCATES

Rajesh Shah PWC KENYA

Joseph Taracha CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA

Angela Waweru KAPLAN & STRATTON

KIRIBATI Mary Amanu MOEL TRADING CO. LTD.

Amoro Amten ANZ BANK (KIRIBATI) LTD.

Neiran Areta MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND COOPERATIVES

Kenneth Barden ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Moanataake Beiabure

Natan Brechtefeld NATAN BRECHTEFELD LEGAL MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Tomitiana Eritama MINISTRY OF LABOUR & HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT

Anthony Frazier

Pesega Iaribwebwe MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND COOPERATIVES

Willie Karakaua Maen MOEL TRADING CO. LTD.

Seri Kautuntamoa BUSINESS & COMPANIES REGULATORY DIVISION, BUSINESS REGULATORY CENTRE, MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY & COOPERATIVES

Mary Kum Kee MOEL TRADING CO. LTD.

King KumKee KING HOLDINGS LTD.

Aaron Levine ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Kinateao Rokonimwane MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND COOPERATIVES

Naare Taukoriri SWIRE SHIPPING SERVICE

Tetoka Tionatam KIRIBATI PROVIDENT FUND

Reei Tioti MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, LANDS & AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT (MELAD)

KOREA, REP. Jaebeom Ahn AHNSE LAW OFFICES

Won-Mo Ahn AHN & CHANG

Darren Bean SOJONG PARTNERS

Jennifer Min-Sook Chae KOREA CREDIT BUREAU

Grace Change SHINHAN CUSTOMS SERVICE INC.

Jun-Yong Chang KOREA CUSTOMS SERVICE

Kyoung Soo Chang SHIN & KIM

Yoonyoung Chang HWANG MOK PARK PC

Hyeong-Tae Cho SAMIL PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

Jeong-Hun Cho KOREA CUSTOMS SERVICE

Ji Won Choi HWANG MOK PARK PC

Sung-Soo Choi KIM & CHANG

Han-Jun Chon SAMIL PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

Eui Jong Chung BAE, KIM & LEE LLC

Robert Flemer KIM & CHANG

Sang Hoon Han SHIN & KIM

Jun-Seok Heo SOJONG PARTNERS

Jin-Young Hwang SAMIL PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

C.W. Hyun KIM & CHANG

James I.S. Jeon SOJONG PARTNERS

Bo Moon Jung KIM & CHANG

Goo-Chun Jung KOREA CUSTOMS SERVICE

Jinku Kang LEE & KO

Sang Wook Kang KOREAN ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION

Young-Ju Kang SOJONG PARTNERS

Young Seok Ki SHIN & KIM

Eun-Kyung Kim KOREA CREDIT BUREAU

Hyeon-Jeong Kim KOREA INSTITUTE OF STARTUP & ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT (KISED)

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Véronique Hoffeld LOYENS & LOEFF

Christian Jungers KLEYR GRASSO

François Kremer ARENDT & MEDERNACH

Antoine Laniez LOYENS & LOEFF

Paul Lanois

Olivier Lardinois BNP PARIBAS

Tom Loesch LAW FIRM LOESCH

Nathalie Mangen BONN & SCHMITT

Jeannot Medinger CREOS LUXEMBOURG SA

Marc Meyer CREOS LUXEMBOURG SA

Paul Mousel ARENDT & MEDERNACH

Marco Peters CREOS LUXEMBOURG SA

Françoise Pfeiffer SPEECHLY BIRCHAM PFEIFFER & PARTNERS

Alexandra Pizzo BNP PARIBAS

Judith Raijmakers LOYENS & LOEFF

Sandra Rapp KLEYR GRASSO

Jean-Luc Schaus PIERRE THIELEN AVOCATS

Roger Schintgen PAUL WURTH SA SOCIÉTÉ

Alex Schmitt BONN & SCHMITT

Frank Thihatmar AVEGA RÉVISION SARL - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Bénédicte Zahnd BNP PARIBAS

MACEDONIA, FYR Igor Aleksandrovski APOSTOLSKA & ALEKSANDROVSKI

Ljubinka Andonovska CENTRAL REGISTRY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Natasha Andreeva NATIONAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Zlatko Antevski LAWYERS ANTEVSKI

Emilija Apostolska APOSTOLSKA & ALEKSANDROVSKI

Rubin Atanasoski TIMELPROJECT ENGINEERING

Maja Atanasova GEORGI DIMITROV ATTORNEYS

Ljupka Avramovic SINKO DOO

Benita Beleshkova IKRP ROKAS & PARTNERS

Vera Belkoska CENTRAL REGISTRY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Dragan Blažev TIMELPROJECT ENGINEERING

Slavica Bogoeva MACEDONIAN CREDIT BUREAU AD SKOPJE

Sandra Cakmakova CAKMAKOVA ADVOCATES

Ljupco Cubrinovski ENERGO DIZAJN

Dragan Dameski DDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Georgi Dimitrov GEORGI DIMITROV ATTORNEYS

Ana Georgievska DIMA FORWARDERS

Dimche Georgievski DIMA FORWARDERS

Bojan Georvski IKRP ROKAS & PARTNERS

Katarina Ginoska GEORGI DIMITROV ATTORNEYS

Marijana Gjoreska CENTRAL REGISTRY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Oliver Gjurovski CENTRAL REGISTRY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Werner Hengst EVN MACEDONIA

Aleksandar Ickovski

Jasmina Ilieva Jovanovikj DDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Orce Ivanoski LAW FIRM TRPENOSKI

Mare Ivanovska CAKMAKOVA ADVOCATES

Maja Jakimovska CAKMAKOVA ADVOCATES

Vase Jakov MUNICIPALITY OF GAZI BABA - SKOPJE

Marija Jankuloska GEORGI DIMITROV ATTORNEYS

Svetlana Jovanoska MUNICIPALITY OF GAZI BABA - SKOPJE

Aneta Jovanoska Trajanovska LAWYERS ANTEVSKI

Stefan Jovanovski PWC MACEDONIA

Lenche Karpuzovska EVN MACEDONIA

Emilija Kelesoska Sholjakovska DDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Dejan Knezović LAW OFFICE KNEZOVIC & ASSOCIATES

Vancho Kostadinovski CENTRAL REGISTRY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

George Kostov TP GJORGE KOSTOV – SKOPJE

Ivana Kostovska APOSTOLSKA & ALEKSANDROVSKI

Dimitar Kostovski CAKMAKOVA ADVOCATES

Irena Lazarova CENTRAL REGISTRY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Ivana Lekic PWC MACEDONIA

Aleksandar Malezanski LAW FIRM TRPENOSKI

Miroslav Marchev PWC MACEDONIA

Mirjana Markovska STOJKOSKA ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Elena Miceva DDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Oliver Mirchevski EVN MACEDONIA

Sladjana Miteva TIVA-AS D.O.O.E.L. - VALANDOVO

Irena Mitkovska LAWYERS ANTEVSKI

Jovana Mitrovska LAW FIRM TRPENOSKI

Biljana Mladenovska Dimitrova LAWYERS ANTEVSKI

Martin Monevski MONEVSKI LAW FIRM

Valerjan Monevski MONEVSKI LAW FIRM

Vladimir Naumovski CENTRAL REGISTRY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Svetlana Neceva LAW OFFICE PEPELJUGOSKI

Ilija Nedelkoski CAKMAKOVA ADVOCATES

Elena Nikodinovska DDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Marina Nikoloska CAKMAKOVA ADVOCATES

Marija Nikolova LAW OFFICE KNEZOVIC & ASSOCIATES

Vesna Nikolovska LAW OFFICE NIKOLOVSKI

Goran Nikolovski LAW OFFICE NIKOLOVSKI

Martin Odzaklieski MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Jasmina Rafajlovska RAFAJLOVSKI KONSALTING D.O.O.

Goran Rafajlovski RAFAJLOVSKI KONSALTING D.O.O.

Viktor Ristovski CAKMAKOVA ADVOCATES

Ljubica Ruben MENS LEGIS LAW FIRM

Lidija Sarafimova-Danevska NATIONAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Simonida Shosholceva-Giannitsakis IKRP ROKAS & PARTNERS

Alexander Sipek EVN MACEDONIA

Dime Spasov AGENCY FOR REAL ESTATE CADASTRE

Ivan Stojanov RAFAJLOVSKI KONSALTING D.O.O.

Blagoj Stojevski EVN MACEDONIA

Margareta Taseva CAKMAKOVA ADVOCATES

289ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Dragica Tasevska NATIONAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Borjanka Todorovska DONEVSKI LAW FIRM

Toni Trajkovski MUNICIPALITY OF GAZI BABA - SKOPJE

Svetlana Trendova APOSTOLSKA & ALEKSANDROVSKI

Stefan Trost EVN MACEDONIA

Natasha Trpenoska Trenchevska LAW FIRM TRPENOSKI

Slavce Trspeski AGENCY FOR REAL ESTATE CADASTRE

Vladimir Vasilevski BETASPED D.O.O.

Pamela Veljanoska LAW OFFICE PEPELJUGOSKI

Marija Zekmanovska RAFAJLOVSKI KONSALTING D.O.O.

Sonja Zuber ANALYTICA MK

MADAGASCAR BANQUE CENTRALE DE MADAGASCAR

BUILD CONSULTING ENGINEERS

JUDGE NATANAELA RAKOTOMANANA

Serge Andretseheno CABINET AS ARCHITECTE

Tsiry Andriamisamanana MADAGASCAR CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL

Herilova Andriampenomanana PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS TAX AND LEGAL

Eddy Ramangason Andrianarisoa AVOCAT AU BARREAU DE MADAGASCAR

Yves Duchateau SDV LOGISTICS

Raphaël Jakoba MADAGASCAR CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL

Hanna Keyserlingk CABINET HK JURIFISC

Ravelojaona Marie Albert JIRO SY RANO MALAGASY (JIRAMA)

Pascaline R. Rasamoeliarisoa DELTA AUDIT DELOITTE

Sahondra Rabenarivo MADAGASCAR LAW OFFICES

Tahina Rajaona MADAGASCAR LAW OFFICES

Pierrette Rajaonarisoa SDV LOGISTICS

Mino Tahina Rajaonson JIRO SY RANO MALAGASY (JIRAMA)

Serge Lucien Rajoelina JIRO SY RANO MALAGASY (JIRAMA)

Manantsoa Rakoto CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Fetrahanta Sylviane Rakotomanana PWC MADAGASCAR

Harivola Joan Rakotomanjaka MADAGASCAR CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL

Haingotiana Rakotondratsiory PWC MADAGASCAR

Heritiana Rakotosalama LEGISLINK CONSULTING

Mamisoa Rakotosalama LEGISLINK CONSULTING

Lanto Tiana Ralison PWC MADAGASCAR

Roland Ramarijaona DELTA AUDIT DELOITTE

Laingo Ramarimbahoaka MADAGASCAR CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL

Heridja Patrick Ramaroson MINISTÈRE DE LA JUSTICE

Heritiana Rambeloson JIRO SY RANO MALAGASY (JIRAMA)

William Randrianarivelo PWC MADAGASCAR

Fetiarinjara Randrianarivo MADAGASCAR LAW OFFICES

Sahondra Rasoarisoa DELTA AUDIT DELOITTE

Michael Ratrimo MADAGASCAR INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINAL SERVICES LTD.

Théodore Raveloarison JARY - BUREAU D’ÉTUDES ARCHITECTURE INGÉNIERIE

Andriamisa Ravelomanana PWC MADAGASCAR

Jean Marcel Razafimahenina DELTA AUDIT DELOITTE

Louis Sagot CABINET D’AVOCAT LOUIS SAGOT

Ida Soamiliarimana MADAGASCAR CONSEIL INTERNATIONAL

MALAWI MANICA AFRICA PTY. LTD.

Dino Amritlal Raval WILSON & MORGAN

Vincent Chikaonda SAVJANI & CO.

Marshal Chilenga TF & PARTNERS

Andrew Chimpololo UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI

Gautoni D. Kainja KAINJA & DZONZI

Griffin Kamanga 2PS CARGO CO.

Dannie J. Kamwaza KAMWAZA DESIGN PARTNERSHIP

James Masumbu TEMBENU, MASUMBU & CO.

Raphael Mhone RACANE ASSOCIATES

Vyamala Aggriel Moyo PWC MALAWI

Misheck Msiska ERNST & YOUNG

Charles Mvula DUMA ELECTRICS LTD. - CONTROL SYSTEMS AND ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Davis Njobvu SAVJANI & CO.

Grant Nyirongo ELEMECH DESIGNS

Donns Shawa RD CONSULTANTS

Samuel Tembenu TEMBENU, MASUMBU & CO.

Shiraz Yusuf ERNST & YOUNG

MALAYSIA BANK NEGARA MALAYSIA

Parameswaran A. Shanmughanathan TENAGA NASIONAL BERHAD

Nor Azimah Abdul Aziz COMPANIES COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA

Halimi Abd Manaf MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Abu Daud Abd Rahim AZMI & ASSOCIATES

Ahmad Danial Abdul Rahim AZMI & ASSOCIATES

Mohammad Rohaimy Abdul Rahim MINISTRY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Sonia Abraham AZMAN, DAVIDSON & CO.

Wilfred Abraham ZUL RAFIQUE & PARTNERS, ADVOCATE & SOLICITORS

Noorlida Hanum Ahmad COMPANIES COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA

Rosli Ahmad COMPANIES COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA

Azmi Mohs Ali AZMI & ASSOCIATES

Andy SUMISO

Wan Mohd Azzuddin FOCUS ARCHITECTS

Mohd Zakri Baharudin MALAYSIAN EMPLOYERS FEDERATION

Anita Balakrishnan SHEARN DELAMORE & CO.

Shamsuddin Bardan MALAYSIAN EMPLOYERS FEDERATION

Abdul Murad Bin Che Chik ZAIN MEGAT & MURAD

Mohd Nawawi bin Hj Said Abdullah TENAGA NASIONAL BERHAD

Nawawi bin Hj. Said Abdullah ENERGY COMMISSION

Ahmad Fuad bin Md Kasim TENAGA NASIONAL BERHAD

Che Adnan Bin Mohamad NADI CONSULT ERA SDN BHD

Tahir bin Mohd Deni TENAGA NASIONAL BERHAD

Abdul Aziz Bin Yusoff KUALA LUMPUR CITY HALL

Ria Binti Sachlin DEPARTMENT OF DIRECTOR GENERAL OF LAND & MINES

Chiah Kim Chai MALAYSIA BAR COUNCIL

Janet Chai CHOOI & ASSOCIATES

Hong Yun Chang TAY & PARTNERS

Mary Chin Chee Foong HSBC MALAYSIA

David Foo Khar Ching NATIONAL HOUSE BUYERS ASSOCIATION

H.Y. Chong AZMAN, DAVIDSON & CO.

Jack Chor CHRISTOPHER LEE & CO.

Eddie Chuah WONG & PARTNERS

Tze Keong Chung CTOS DATA SYSTEMS SDN BHD

Wong Tat Chung WONG BEH & TOH

Melinda Marie D’Angelus AZMI & ASSOCIATES

Mohd Naim Daruwish COMPANIES COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA

Nadesh Ganabaskaran ZUL RAFIQUE & PARTNERS, ADVOCATE & SOLICITORS

Sabariah Ghazali MINISTRY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Tiew Hai San MINISTRY OF FEDERAL TERRITORIES AND URBAN WELLBEING

Ar. Ezumi Harzani Ismail ARKITEK MAA

Zulkurnain Hassan KUALA LUMPUR CITY HALL

Ramli Hazra Izadi LKMD ARCHITECTURE

Ivan Yue Chan Ho SHOOK LIN & BOK

Hung Hoong SHEARN DELAMORE & CO.

Ray Chong Kok Hou SHOOK LIN & BOK

Michael Chiam Tow Hui COMMERCIAL EMPLOYERS’ ASSOCIATION OF PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Sallehuddin Ishah DEPARTMENT OF DIRECTOR GENERAL OF LAND & MINES

Mohamed Zanyuin Ismail COMPANIES COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA

Rohani Ismail SESSIONS COURT KUALA LUMPUR

Rosnani Ismail INLAND REVENUE DEPARTMENT LEMBAGA HASIL DALAM NEGERI (LHDN)

Norhaiza Jemon COMPANIES COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA

Hj Mohd Nazam Md Kassim FOCUS ARCHITECTS

Mohd. Fauzi Abdul Kayum EDARAN IT SERVICES SDN BHD

Aishah Abdul Manap Khalid FOCUS ARCHITECTS

LOH Kok Leong RUSSELL BEDFORD LC & COMPANY - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Christopher Lee CHRISTOPHER LEE & CO.

Wai Hsian Lian AZMI & ASSOCIATES

Joo Ho Lim ZUL RAFIQUE & PARTNERS, ADVOCATE & SOLICITORS

Koon Huan Lim SKRINE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

San Peen Lim PWC MALAYSIA

Chang Kim Loong NATIONAL HOUSE BUYER ASSOCIATION

Ahmad Lufti Abdull Mutalip AZMI & ASSOCIATES

Ir. Bashir Ahamed Maideen NADI CONSULT ERA SDN BHD

Pari Malaba SUMISO

Abd. Shukor Marsuhaida MINISTRY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Suzana Mohd Razali COMPANIES COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA

Zuhaidi Mohd Shahari AZMI & ASSOCIATES

Shameen Mohd. Haaziq Pillay WONG & PARTNERS

Chew Yin Mok BDO

Nur Azwani Hasleem bt Nasrun DEPARTMENT OF DIRECTOR GENERAL OF LAND AND MINES - MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT

Marina Nathan COMPANIES COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA

Connie Ng PANALPINA WORLD TRANSPORT LLP

Oy Moon Ng CTOS DATA SYSTEMS SDN BHD

Swee Kee Ng SHEARN DELAMORE & CO.

Mahadi Ngah KUALA LUMPUR CITY HALL

Allison Ong AZMAN, DAVIDSON & CO.

Jal Othman SHOOK LIN & BOK

Tan Kar Peng KAMARUDDIN WEE & CO ADVOCATES & SOLICITORS

Rospawarna Rabbu PEJABAT TANAH DAN GALIAN SELANGOR

Aminah BT Abd. Rahman MINISTRY OF URBAN WELLBEING HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Nirmala Ramadass COMPANIES COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA

Zulaini Rohani PORT KLANG AUTHORITIES

DOING BUSINESS 2015290

Siti Zurina Sabarudin AZMI & ASSOCIATES

Shaleni Sangaran SKRINE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Andy Seo

Fiona Sequerah CHRISTOPHER LEE & CO.

Hadiman Bin Simin MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Jagdev Singh PWC MALAYSIA

Rishwant Singh ZUL RAFIQUE & PARTNERS, ADVOCATE & SOLICITORS

Koh Suan Suan AZMAN, DAVIDSON & CO.

Adeline Thor Sue Lyn RUSSELL BEDFORD LC & COMPANY - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Nor Fajariah Sulaiman CITY HALL OF KUALA LUMPUR

Jamilah Haji Mohd Taib COMPANIES COMMISSION OF MALAYSIA

Ee Ling Tan TAY & PARTNERS

Cindy Thong PANALPINA WORLD TRANSPORT LLP

Kenneth Tiong THE ASSOCIATED CHINESE CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF MALAYSIA (ACCCIM)

Sahrom Ujang KUALA LUMPUR CITY HALL

Sue Wan WONG & PARTNERS

Wan Rosmawati Wan Ibrahim MALAYAN BANKING BERHAD

Chee Lin Wong SKRINE, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Justin Wong AZMI & ASSOCIATES

Yim Fat Wong THE ASSOCIATED CHINESE CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF MALAYSIA (ACCCIM)

Wei Kwang Woo WONG & PARTNERS

Clifford Eng Hong Yap PWC MALAYSIA

Elaine Yap WONG & PARTNERS

Henry Yeam NATIONAL HOUSE BUYERS ASSOCIATION

Susan Yeo CITY BANK

Chui Wen Yong AZMI & ASSOCIATES

Ismail Mohd Yusof KUALA LUMPUR CITY HALL

Norina Zainol Abidin MALAYSIA DEPARTMENT OF INSOLVENCY

Mohamad Hazrin Zakaria PEJABAT TANAH DAN GALIAN SELANGOR

Megat Zulazizi B. Fahimudin WESTPORTS MALAYSIA SDN BHD

MALDIVES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

MALÉ CITY COUNCIL

MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Mohamed Shahdy Anwar SUOOD ANWAR & CO - ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Jatindra Bhattray PWC MALDIVES

Asma Chan-Rahim SHAH, HUSSAIN & CO. BARRISTERS & ATTORNEYS

Fathmath Fazleena Fakir MALDIVES MONETARY AUTHORITY

Nuwan Fernando KPMG

Aishath Haifa SHAH, HUSSAIN & CO. BARRISTERS & ATTORNEYS

Mohamed Hameed ANTRAC MALDIVES PVT. LTD.

Dheena Hussain SHAH, HUSSAIN & CO. BARRISTERS & ATTORNEYS

Abdul Rasheed Ibrahim CUSTOMS SERVICE

Shehan Kurukuththala ERNST & YOUNG

Nasiha Malik SHAH, HUSSAIN & CO. BARRISTERS & ATTORNEYS

Laila Manik ATTORNEY

Prasanta Misra PWC MALDIVES

Abdulla Muizzu PRAXIS LAW FIRM

Ahmed Murad MAZLAN & MURAD LAW ASSOCIATES

Ismail Nashid MALDIVES CUSTOMS SERVICE

Hussain Nazeer OTIUM GROUP

Ismail Rasheed ARCHITECT

Gayan Senanyake KPMG

Mohamed Shafaz Wajeeh PRAXIS LAW FIRM

Shuaib M. Shah SHAH, HUSSAIN & CO. BARRISTERS & ATTORNEYS

Fathimath Shaheen

Upul Shantha KPMG

Fathimath Sodhaf MALDIVES CUSTOMS SERVICE

Lubna Zahir Hussain THE LAW COMMISSION OF THE MALDIVES

MALI CENTRE NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE ET D’EXPÉRIMENTATION EN BÂTIMENT ET TRAVAUX PUBLICS (CNREX-BTP)

Bassambie Bationo BCEAO

Nianti Bouaré LABOGEC - LABORATOIRE GÉNIE CIVIL

Amadou Camara SCP CAMARA TRAORÉ

Céline Camara Sib ETUDE ME CELINE CAMARA SIB

Boubacar Coulibaly MATRANS

Elvis Danon PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Sekou Dembele ETUDE MAÎTRE SEKOU DEMBELE

Mamadou Diarra CABINET JURI-PARTNER

Fatimata Dicko Zouboye

Djibril Guindo JURIFIS CONSULT

Mahaman Tahir Hamani BCEAO

Yacouba Massaman Keïta

Gaoussou A. G. Konaté AGENCE CADET

Abdoul Karim Kone CABINET BERTH - KONE - AVOCATS ASSOCIÉS

Siriki Zana Kone CABINET JURI-PARTNER

Adeline Messou PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Bérenger Y. Meuke JURIFIS CONSULT

Vanja Ramanandraitsiory CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Alassane T. Sangaré NOTARY

Moussa Sanogo BCEAO

Djibril Semega CABINET SEAG CONSEIL

Dominique Taty PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Boubacar Thiam ASSOCIATION PROFESSIONNELLE DES BANQUES ET ETABLISSEMENT FINANCIERS DU MALI

Imirane A. Touré DIRECTION NATIONALE DE L’URBANISME ET DE L’HABITAT

Alassane Traoré ICON SARL

Fousséni Traoré PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Emmanuel Yehouessi BCEAO

MALTA ARCHITECTURE PROJECT

BANK OF VALLETTA

ENEMALTA CORPORATION

MECS ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS

Leonard Bonello GANADO ADVOCATES

Paul Bonello MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS

Kris Borg DR KRIS BORG & ASSOCIATES - ADVOCATES

Mario Raymond Borg INLAND REVENUE DEPARTMENT

Nicolai Borg Sant PWC MALTA

Ann M. Bugeja CSB ADVOCATES

Charles Buhagiar MED DESIGN ASSOCIATES

Johann Buttigieg MALTA ENVIRONMENT & PLANNING AUTHORITY (MEPA)

Pierre Buttigieg CSB ADVOCATES

Simon Camilleri CREDITINFO

Joseph Caruana MALTA FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY (MFSA)

Kirsten Cassar CAMILLERI PREZIOSI

Stephen Ferrito MALTA ENVIRONMENT & PLANNING AUTHORITY (MEPA)

Neville Gatt PWC MALTA

Christabelle Gauci CSB ADVOCATES

Steve Gingell PWC MALTA

Paul Gonzi FENECH & FENECH ADVOCATES

Kurt Hyzler CSB ADVOCATES

Kevin Loughborough COBRA INSTALLATIONS

Henri Mizzi CAMILLERI PREZIOSI

John Paris CREDITINFO

Matthew Saliba CSB ADVOCATES

Lynne Satariano CSB ADVOCATES

Abigail Scerri PWC MALTA

Ian Stafrace IAN STAFRACE LEGAL

Audrey Vassallo LAND REGISTRY

Quentin Zahra EUROFREIGHT

Andrew J. Zammit CSB ADVOCATES

MARSHALL ISLANDS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY - MARSHALL ISLANDS

HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE

MAJURO WATER AND SEWER COMPANY

MARSHALL ISLANDS REGISTRY

MARSHALLS ENERGY COMPANY

MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS

PKF INTERNATIONAL

Kenneth Barden ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Tatyana E. Cerullo MARSHALL ISLANDS LAWYERS

Raquel De Leon MARSHALL ISLANDS SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

Anthony Frazier

Avelino R. Gimao Jr. MARSHALL ISLANDS SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

Don Hess COLLEGE OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS

Jerry Kramer PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL, INC.

Donna Lacuesta ROBERT REIMERS ENTERPRISES, INC.

James McCaffrey THE MCCAFFREY FIRM, LTD.

Steve Philip CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Michael Slinger CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Scott H. Stege LAW OFFICES OF SCOTT STEGE

Charles Stinnett MAJURO STEVEDORE AND TERMINAL COMPANY

David M. Strauss CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Itibo Tofinga MARSHALL ISLANDS TAX AUTHORITY

MAURITANIA Sid’Ahmed Abeidna SOGECO MAURITANIA

Esteit Mohamedou Amane ETUDES RECHERCHES ET MAINTENANCE

Tidiane Bal BSD & ASSOCIÉS

Maroufa Diabira LAWYER

Brahim Ebety LAWYER

Hamoud Ismail SMPN

Cheikany Jules CHEIKHANY JULES LAW OFFICE

Oumar Sada Kelly ASSURIM CONSULTING

Mohamed Lemine Salem Ould Béchir EXACO

Abdou M’Bodj COMMUNAUTÉ URBAINE DE NOUAKCHOTT

Wedou Mohamed MAURIHANDLING

Ishagh Ould Ahmed Miské CABINET ISHAGH MISKE

Moustapha Ould Bilal TRIBUNAL DE COMMERCE DE NOUAKCHOTT

Mohamed Ould Bouddida ETUDE MAÎTRE MOHAMED OULD BOUDDIDA

Ahmed Salem Ould Bouhoubeyni CABINET BOUHOUBEYNI

Abdellahi Ould Charrouck ATELIER ARCHITECTURE ET DESIGN

Abdallahi Ould Gah ETUDE GAH

Moulaye El Ghali Ould Moulaye Ely AVOCAT

Ahmed Ould Radhi BANQUE CENTRALE DE MAURITANIE

Aliou Sall ETUDE ME ALIOU SALL & ASSOCIÉS

291ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Cheikh Sall ETUDE HADY MAOULOUDVALL

Aicha Coura Samake BSD & ASSOCIÉS

Aissetou Sy BSD & ASSOCIÉS

Dominique Taty PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Khalidou Traoré COMMUNAUTÉ URBAINE DE NOUAKCHOTT

MAURITIUS CONYERS, DILL & PEARMAN

Shameemah Abdool Raman-Sahebally PWC MAURITIUS

Kursline Bégué CEB

Latasha Bissessur Jugroo BANYMANDHUB BOOLELL CHAMBERS

Jean-François Boisvenu BLC CHAMBERS

Urmila Boolell BANYMANDHUB BOOLELL CHAMBERS

Poonam Calcutteea BLC CHAMBERS

Nicolas Carcasse DAGON INGENIEUR CONSEIL LTÉE

D.P. Chinien REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES AND BUSINESSES, CORPORATE AND BUSINESS REGISTRATION DEPARTMENT

Sandy Chuong GEROUDISGLOVER GHURBURRUN

Chandansingh Chutoori VYYAASS CONSULTING ENGINEER LTD.

Roland Constantin ETUDE CONSTANTIN

Bert C. Cunningham CUSTOMS AND EXCISE DEPARTMENT

Marc Daruty de Grandpre DARUTY DE GRANDPRE & PARTNERS ARCHITECTS LTD.

Rajendra Dassyne CHAMBERS OF NOTARIES OF MAURITIUS

Catherine de Rosnay LEGIS & PARTNERS

Sufyaan Dosemahamed PWC MAURITIUS

Shalinee Dreepaul-Halkhoree JURISTCONSULT CHAMBERS

Yannick Fok GEROUDISGLOVER GHURBURRUN

Poonam Geemul BANYMANDHUB BOOLELL CHAMBERS

Gavin Glover GEROUDISGLOVER GHURBURRUN

J. Gilbert Gnany THE MAURITIUS COMMERCIAL BANK LIMITED

Yandraduth Googoolye BANK OF MAURITIUS

Darmalingum Goorriah ETUDE ME DARMALINGUM GOORRIAH

Raymond Marie Marc Hein JURISTCONSULT CHAMBERS

Rubishwur Hemoo MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND OUTER ISLANDS

Elodie Hermelin LEGIS & PARTNERS

Nooreena Hosany MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND OUTER ISLANDS

Tania Huet GEROUDISGLOVER GHURBURRUN

Reshma Hurday KROSS BORDER TRUST SERVICES LTD. - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Nitish Hurnaum GEROUDISGLOVER GHURBURRUN

Imalambal Kichenin JURISTAX

Poornima Kisto PWC MAURITIUS

James John Lenaghan CUSTOMS AND EXCISE DEPARTMENT

Anthony Leung Shing PWC MAURITIUS

Jayram Luximon CEB

Malcolm Moller APPLEBY

Ramdas Mootanah ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN LTD.

Loganayagan Munian ARTISCO INTERNATIONAL

Mushtaq Namdarkhan BLC CHAMBERS

Khemila Narraidoo JURISTCONSULT CHAMBERS

Daniel Ng Cheong Hin MAURITIUS CARGO COMMUNITY SERVICES LTD

Bilshan Nursimulu JURISTCONSULT CHAMBERS

Ammar Oozeer JURISTCONSULT CHAMBERS

Dheerend Puholoo PWC MAURITIUS

Iqbal Rajahbalee BLC CHAMBERS

Vivekanand Ramburun MAURITIUS REVENUE AUTHORITY

André Robert ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Caroline Samy GEROUDISGLOVER GHURBURRUN

Purmessur Sarwansingh MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND OUTER ISLANDS

Hurrydeo Seebchurrun CEB

Geetanjali Seewoosurrun CEB

Gilbert Seeyave BDO FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD.

Deviantee Sobarun MINISTRY OF FINANCE & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Mohamad Issa Soormally BANK OF MAURITIUS

Oudesh Suddul KROSS BORDER TRUST SERVICES LTD. - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Menzie Sunglee CEB

Parikshat Teeluck DAMCO LOGISTICS (MAURITIUS)

D. Thakoor BANK OF MAURITIUS

Shiam Krisht Thannoo CEB

Muhammad R.C. Uteem UTEEM CHAMBERS

Aynur Visram BANYMANDHUB BOOLELL CHAMBERS

MEXICO Francisco Acevedo Ramos INSTALACIONES ELÉCTRICAS EN ALTA Y BAJA TENSIÓN ACEVEDO SA DE CV

Beatriz A. Robles Acosta CAF-SIAC CONTADORES

Gustavo I. Alarcón Caballero BAKER & MCKENZIE

Alejandro Aldrette Aguirre CANALES Y SOCIOS ABOGADOS SC

Jaime Alejandro Gutiérrez Vidal INSTITUTO FEDERAL DE ESPECIALISTAS DE CONCURSOS MERCANTILES

Gabriel Andrade KPMG

José Manuel Arce Ruíz STANDARD GO

Francisco Samuel Arias González NOTARY PUBLIC 28

José Alejandro Astorga Hilbert INSTITUTO FEDERAL DE ESPECIALISTAS DE CONCURSOS MERCANTILES

Alfonso Azcona Anaya ZITYMERKA SA DE CV

Antonio Barrera Ríos SÁNCHEZ DEVANNY ESEVERRI, S.C

Arturo Ojeda Becerra VISION GLOBAL INTEGRAL (VGI, HUMAN LEGAL & TAX SERVICES)

Claudia D. Beltrán Cavazos EUROPARTNERS

Gilberto Calderon GALAZ, YAMAZAKI, RUIZ URQUIZA SC, MEMBER OF DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED

Enrique Camarena Dominguez MAQUEO ABOGADOS SC

Carlos Cano PWC MEXICO

Homero Cantú NOTARIA 71 - NUEVO LEÓN

Fernando Antonio Cardenas Gonzalez NOTARY PUBLIC #44

Pedro Carreon PWC MEXICO

María Casas López BAKER & MCKENZIE

Carlos Chávez GALICIA ABOGADOS SC

Ernesto Chávez INTERCONTINENTAL NETWORK SERVICES

Rodrigo Conesa RITCH MUELLER, SC

Andres Corcuera Habsburg Lothringen CREEL, GARCÍA-CUÉLLAR, AIZA Y ENRIQUEZ SC

Jose Covarrubias-Azuela SOLÓRZANO, CARVAJAL, GONZÁLEZ Y PÉREZ-CORREA, S.C

Julio César Cristiani Arce MIRANDA & ESTAVILLO SC

Miguel de la Fuente NADER, HAYAUX & GOEBEL

Carlos De la Garza MARTINEZ, ALGABA, DE HARO, CURIEL Y GALVAN-DUQUE SC

Jorge de Presno BASHAM, RINGE Y CORREA, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Nicolas del Olmo NDA NAJERA DANIELI & ASOCS.

Franco Alberto Del Valle Prado MIRANDA & ESTAVILLO SC

Tracy Delgadillo Miranda J.A. TREVIÑO ABOGADOS SA DE CV

Julia Díaz MULTITRASLADOS

Carlos Diaz de Leon Sanchez GONZALEZ CALVILLO SC

Carlos Ramon Diaz Sordo LOPEZ VELARDE, HEFTYE Y SORIA SC

Carlos Diez Garcia GONZALEZ CALVILLO SC

Felipe Dominguez P. MOORE STEPHENS OROZCO MEDINA SC

Dolores Enriquez PWC MEXICO

Miguel Espitia BUFETE INTERNACIONAL

Martha Samira Esquiliano Sllim CREEL, GARCÍA-CUÉLLAR, AIZA Y ENRIQUEZ SC

Lucía Fernández GONZALEZ CALVILLO SC

Victor Fernandez Sanchez COMISIÓN FEDERAL DE ELECTRICIDAD

Miguel Angel Ferriz FEGAMO Y VASAF SC

Adrian Flores FEGAMO Y VASAF SC

Pedro Flores Carillo MOORE STEPHENS OROZCO MEDINA SC

Julio Flores Luna GOODRICH, RIQUELME Y ASOCIADOS

Manuel Galicia GALICIA ABOGADOS SC

Mauricio Gamboa TRANSUNION DE MEXICO SA SIC

Francisco Andrés Gámez-Garza SÁNCHEZ DEVANNY ESEVERRI SC

Jose Martin Garcia GALAZ, YAMAZAKI, RUIZ URQUIZA SC, MEMBER OF DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED

Luis Alfonso García Campuzano KURI BREÑA, SÁNCHEZ UGARTE Y AZNAR SC

Mauricio Garza Bulnes J.A. TREVIÑO ABOGADOS SA DE CV

Hans Goebel NADER, HAYAUX & GOEBEL

Alfredo Gómez Pérez KURI BREÑA, SÁNCHEZ UGARTE Y AZNAR SC

Patricia Gonzalez PWC MEXICO

Alvaro Gonzalez-Schiaffino PWC MEXICO

James Graham DEFOREST ABOGADOS

Andres Guerra Gomez GUERRA GOMEZ HERNANDEZ ABOGADOS

Antonio Guerra Gomez GUERRA GOMEZ HERNANDEZ ABOGADOS

Ignacio Oswaldo Guillén Ángel LOPEZ VELARDE, HEFTYE Y SORIA SC

Mario Alberto Gutiérrez PWC MEXICO

Yves Hayaux-du-Tilly NADER, HAYAUX & GOEBEL

Francisco Abimael Hernández SOLÓRZANO, CARVAJAL, GONZÁLEZ Y PÉREZ-CORREA, S.C

Sandra Hernández KPMG

Roberto Hernandez Garcia COMAD SC

Mauricio Hurtado PWC MEXICO

Jorge Jiménez LOPEZ VELARDE, HEFTYE Y SORIA SC

Jorge Jiménez RUSSELL BEDFORD MÉXICO - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Luis Lavalle Moreno MARTÍNEZ, ALGABA, ESTRELLA, DE HARO Y GALVAN-DUQUE

Josue Lee INAKI ECHEVERRIA ARQUITECTOS

Giovanna Lizárraga Osuna SÁNCHEZ DEVANNY ESEVERRI, S.C

Leonor Llamas GOODRICH, RIQUELME Y ASOCIADOS

Salvador Alexandro López Cavazos INSTITUTO REGISTRAL Y CATASTRAL DEL ESTADO DE NUEVO LEÓN

Alfonso López Lajud SÁNCHEZ DEVANNY ESEVERRI, S.C

Diego López Vargas PWC MEXICO

Gerardo Maltos GRUPO SYS

DOING BUSINESS 2015292

Gabriel Manrique RUSSELL BEDFORD MÉXICO - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Esteban Maqueo Barnetche MAQUEO ABOGADOS SC

José Antonio Marquez González NOTARY PUBLIC #2

José Martínez NOTARÍA PÚBLICA 29 - NUEVO LEÓN

Ana Lilia Martínez Valdés SECRETARÍA DE ECONOMÍA - MINISTRY OF ECONOMY

Carla E. Mendoza Pérez BAKER & MCKENZIE

Carlos E. Montemayor PWC MEXICO

Erika Mora Tinoco SÁNCHEZ DEVANNY ESEVERRI, S.C

Mario Morales COMISIÓN FEDERAL DE ELECTRICIDAD

Ricardo Morales-Barron FEGAMO Y VASAF SC

Daniel Moran GONZALEZ CALVILLO SC

Guillermo Moran GALAZ, YAMAZAKI, RUIZ URQUIZA SC, MEMBER OF DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED

Olga Estefanía Moreno Salazar KURI BREÑA, SÁNCHEZ UGARTE Y AZNAR SC

Oscar Moreno Silva GONZALEZ CALVILLO SC

Eloy F. Muñoz M. IMEYEL SOLUCIONES INTEGRALES SA DE CV

Juan Nájera NDA NAJERA DANIELI & ASOCS.

Carlos Narváez Alarcón INSTALACIONES Y PROYECTO DEL NORTE SA DE CV (IPNSA)

Javier Luis Navarro Velasco BAKER & MCKENZIE, ABOGADOS

Gricelda Nieblas Aldana INSTITUTO FEDERAL DE ESPECIALISTAS DE CONCURSOS MERCANTILES

Pablo Nosti Herrera MIRANDA & ESTAVILLO SC

María Isabel Nuñez Vargas GONZALEZ CALVILLO SC

Juan Manuel Ochoa RIVADENEYRA, TREVINO & DE CAMPO SC

Luis Ordaz Ledezma COMISIÓN FEDERAL DE ELECTRICIDAD

María José Ortiz Haro GALICIA ABOGADOS SC

Kathalina Chapa Peña CAF-SIAC CONTADORES

Gabriel Peña Mouret KURI BREÑA, SÁNCHEZ UGARTE Y AZNAR SC

Arturo Perdomo GALICIA ABOGADOS SC

Eduardo Perez Armienta MOORE STEPHENS OROZCO MEDINA SC

José Jacinto Pérez Silva KE DESARROLLADORA SA DE CV

Fernando Perez-Correa SOLÓRZANO, CARVAJAL, GONZÁLEZ Y PÉREZ-CORREA, S.C

Guillermo Piecarchic PMC & ASOCIADOS

Gizeh Polo Ballinas CREEL, GARCÍA-CUÉLLAR, AIZA Y ENRIQUEZ SC

Francisco Puente Peña INSTALACIONES ELÉCTRICAS EN ALTA Y BAJA TENSIÓN ACEVEDO SA DE CV

Alvaro Quintana ALVARO QUINTANA SC

Manuel Ramos BUFETTE DE OBRAS, SERVICIOS Y SUMINISTROS SA DE CV

Eduardo Reyes Díaz-Leal BUFETE INTERNACIONAL

Claudia Ríos PWC MEXICO

Fernando Rivadeneyra RIVADENEYRA, TREVINO & DE CAMPO SC

Jose Ignacio Rivero GONZALEZ CALVILLO SC

Irazu Rodríguez Garza COMISIÓN FEDERAL DE ELECTRICIDAD

Cecilia Rojas GALICIA ABOGADOS SC

Raúl Sahagun BUFETE INTERNACIONAL

Juan Pablo Sainz NADER, HAYAUX & GOEBEL

Jorge Bibiano Ruiz Sanchez VISION GLOBAL INTEGRAL (VGI, HUMAN LEGAL & TAX SERVICES)

Ignacio Sánchez MULTITRASLADOS

Rodrigo Sanchez Mejorada SÁNCHEZ-MEJORADA, VELASCO Y RIBÉ

Cristina Sanchez Vebber SÁNCHEZ DEVANNY ESEVERRI SC

Cristina Sánchez-Urtiz MIRANDA & ESTAVILLO SC

Ricardo Sandoval Ortega COMISIÓN FEDERAL DE ELECTRICIDAD

Enrique A. Santos SANTOS & SAUCEDO

Enrique G. Santos SANTOS & SAUCEDO

Francisco Santoyo COMISIÓN FEDERAL DE ELECTRICIDAD

Mario M. Saucedo SANTOS & SAUCEDO

Mario R. Saucedo SANTOS & SAUCEDO

Monica Schiaffino Pérez LITTLER DE LA VEGA Y CONDE SC

Romina Soriano PWC MEXICO

Daniel Sosa SKYNET

Pietro Straulino-Rodriguez SÁNCHEZ DEVANNY ESEVERRI, S.C

Arturo Suárez KPMG

Yazbek Taja RIVADENEYRA, TREVINO & DE CAMPO SC

Miguel Téllez CREEL, GARCÍA-CUÉLLAR, AIZA Y ENRIQUEZ SC

Juan Francisco Torres Landa Ruffo BARRERA, SIQUEIROS Y TORRES LANDA SC

Jaime A. Treviño J.A. TREVIÑO ABOGADOS

Carlos Treviño Vives DEFOREST ABOGADOS

Maribel Trigo Aja GOODRICH, RIQUELME Y ASOCIADOS

Layla Vargas Muga GOODRICH, RIQUELME Y ASOCIADOS

Favio Camilo Vazquez Lopez SANTAMARINA Y STETA SC

Diego Velasco-Fuhrken BAKER & MCKENZIE

Alejandra Velazquez COMAD SC

Adrian Villagomez Aleman COMAD SC

Claudio Villavicencio GALAZ, YAMAZAKI, RUIZ URQUIZA SC, MEMBER OF DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED

Juan Pablo Villela Vizcaya CREEL, GARCÍA-CUÉLLAR, AIZA Y ENRIQUEZ SC

Ernesto Viveros Domínguez COLEGIO DE INGENIEROS MECÁNICOS ELECTRICISTAS Y ELECTRÓNICOS DE NUEVO LEÓN (CIME-NL)

Judith A. Wilson BRYAN, GONZÁLEZ BAZ

Ismael Alejandro Zamarripa Jorge BANORTE

Fernando Zapata CREEL, GARCÍA-CUÉLLAR, AIZA Y ENRIQUEZ SC

MICRONESIA, FED. STS. POHNPEI TRANSFER & STORAGE, INC.

Shiro Akinaga APSCO CONSTRUCTION CO.

Kenneth Barden ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Lam Dang CONGRESS OF THE FSM

Mark Heath MICRONESIA REGISTRATION ADVISORS, INC.

Albert Johnny MESENIENG CREDIT UNION

Jerry Kramer PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL, INC.

Charles Lohn POHNPEI STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Quirino Loyola REGISTRAR OF CORPORATIONS, POHJNPEI STATE GOVERNMENT

Sisananto Loyola POHNPEI STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Silberio S. Mathias MICROPC

Douglas Nelber POHNPEI STATE DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Ronald Pangelinan A&P ENTERPRISES, INC.

Kevin Pelep OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR OF CORPORATIONS

Salomon Saimon MICRONESIAN LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION

Nora Sigrah FSM DEVELOPMENT BANK

Larry Wentworth FSM SUPREME COURT

MOLDOVA Valerian Batcu ASOCIATA BROKERILOR VAMALI (ABV) MOLDOVA

Sergiu Bivol COBZAC & PARTNERS

Gabrielle Bulgari VERNON DAVID & ASSOCIATES

Victor Burac VICTOR BURAC LAW FIRM

Sergiu Carmanski ICPT ENERGOPROJECT

Vitalie Ciofu GLADEI & PARTNERS

Daniel Cobzac COBZAC & PARTNERS

Sergiu Codreanu UNION FENOSA

Ion Comendant UNION FENOSA

Alexandru Covalenco INTERACTIV SA

Anastasia Dereveanchina PWC MOLDOVA

Viorica Diminet-Bejan GLADEI & PARTNERS

Dorin Dulghieru BUICIANI COURT

Silviu Foca BIROUL DE CREDIT - MOLDOVA

Cristina Furtuna MOLDOVA AGROINDBANK

Iulia Furtuna TURCAN CAZAC

Ana Galus TURCAN CAZAC

Roger Gladei GLADEI & PARTNERS

Vitalie Goncear GRADA LOGISTIC

Galina Grecu MOLDOVA AGROINDBANK

Silvia Grosu PWC MOLDOVA

Andrian Guzun SCHOENHERR

Vladimir Iurkovski SCHOENHERR

Roman Ivanov VERNON DAVID & ASSOCIATES

Gregory Kitriyakov GONVARO-CON

Grigorii Lobodiuc GRADA LOGISTIC

Ciubaciuc Ludmila ACI PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Vitalie Lungu MOLDOVA AGROINDBANK

Angela Matcov AGENCY OF LAND RELATIONS AND CADASTRE STATE ENTERPRISE “CADASTRU”

Stefan Milicenco GLADEI & PARTNERS

Mihaela Mitroi PWC ROMANIA

Elena Mocanu PUBLIC NOTARY

Alexandru Munteanu PWC MOLDOVA

Oxana Novicov NATIONAL UNION OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS

Igor Odobescu ACI PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Aelita Orhei GLADEI & PARTNERS

Vladimir Palamarciuc TURCAN CAZAC

Nataliya Palii VALAH

Ilona Panurco PWC MOLDOVA

Carolina Parcalab ACI PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Oleg Pereverzev ICPT ENERGOPROJECT

Irina Perevoznik GRADA LOGISTIC

Vladimir Plehov MARITIMTRANS

Bodiu Pontelimon SRL RECONSCIVIL

Dumitru Popescu PWC MOLDOVA

Pavel Postolachi GONVARO-CON

Alexandru Savva TURCAN CAZAC

Ionut Simion PWC ROMANIA

Alexandru Sipitca ICS ERNST AND YOUNG SRL

Adrian Sorocean ACI PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Tatiana Stavinschi PWC MOLDOVA

Adrian Suruceanu COBZAC & PARTNERS

Cristina Tiscul-Diaconu ACI PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Alexander Tuceac TURCAN CAZAC

Nikolay Urievich MARITIMTRANS

Ghenadie Veretco UNION FENOSA

Irina Verhovetchi ACI PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Carolina Vieru IM PAA SRL

Victor Vintu UNION FENOSA

Jigau Viorica ASSOCIATE LAWYERS OFFICE NAGACEVSCHI & PARTNERS

Corina Voda GLADEI & PARTNERS

293ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Vitalie Zama ASSOCIATE LAWYERS’ OFFICE NAGACEVSCHI & PARTNERS

MONGOLIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE

PWC MONGOLIA

USAID

Michael Aldrich HOGAN LOVELLS

Telenged Baast MONLOGISTICS WORLDWIDE LLC

Bayarmaa Badarch GLOBAL INVESTMENT AND EQUITY ADVISORY PARTNERS LLC

Bolortsogoo Baldandorj ULAANBAATAR ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION NETWORK COMPANY

Tuya Balijinnyam ERDMON CO. LTD.

Nandinchimeg Banzragch TSOGT & NANDIN

Mandy Batmandakh Bayarbat MINTER ELLISON

T. Battulga GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR STATE REGISTRATION

Altanduulga Bazarragchaa UBEDN

David Beckstead LEHMAN, LEE & XU

Sammy Beedan MAHONEY LIOTTA LLC

Eboné Bishop MAHONEY LIOTTA LLC

Batzaya Bodikhuu ANAND ADVOCATES LAW FIRM

Bayar Budragchaa ELC LLP ADVOCATES

David C. Buxbaum ANDERSON AND ANDERSON LLP

Khatanbat Dashdarjaa ARLEX CONSULTING SERVICES

Tseveensuren Davkharbayar MONGOL ADVOCATES

Brett D’Cruz MINTER ELLISON

Dorjkhuu MONGOLIAN NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION ASSOCIATION

Elisabeth Ellis MINTER ELLISON

Tsolmonchimeg Enkhbat GTS ADVOCATES LLP

Oyunchimeg Enkhbayar UB TRANS LLC

Enhtor ELITE NETWORK

Batzorig Erdenee BILIG CAPITAL

Munkhjargal Galsanjamts ANAND ADVOCATES LAW FIRM

Selenge Gantulga MAHONEY LIOTTA LLC

Mergenbayar Gulkhuu MONGOLIA MINISTRY OF CONSTRUCTION AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Darin Hoffman MAHONEY LIOTTA LLC

Aynagul Japar DASTAN LLC

Tuvshin Javkhlant GLOBAL INVESTMENT AND EQUITY ADVISORY PARTNERS LLC

Batbayar Jigmedsuren UB TRANS LLC

Sholtoi Jolbars GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR STATE REGISTRATION

James Liotta MAHONEY LIOTTA LLC

Bat-Ulzii Lkhaasuren MONSAR LLC

Ganzorig Luvsan UBEDN

Daniel Mahoney MAHONEY LIOTTA LLC

Christopher Melville HOGAN LOVELLS

Ganbat Munkhbold GRATA LAW FIRM

Gerelmaa Myagmarsuren LEHMAN, LEE & XU

Tuya Namsan TITLE REGISTRATION DEPARTMENT

Jigjidsuren Nanjid ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

Byambasuren Narantuya GTS ADVOCATES LLP

Ganbaatar Narantuya BORHOIN TAL

Tsogt Natsagdorj TSOGT & NANDIN

Enkhtsetseg Nergui ANAND ADVOCATES LAW FIRM

Munkhsoyombo Nyamsuren GTS ADVOCATES LLP

Sara K. Phillips ANDERSON AND ANDERSON LLP

Ariuntuya Rentsen MAHONEY LIOTTA LLC

Gandolgor Sambuu ERDENET TEX CORPORATION

Norovtseren Sanjmyatav ARLEX CONSULTING SERVICES

Sharkhuu AABB LLC

Tumurkhuu Sukgbaatar UBEDN

Erdenetuya Togtuun MONGOLIA MUNICIPAL PLANNING AGENCY

Ganzaya Tsogtgerel ANDERSON AND ANDERSON LLP

Arslaa Urjin ULAANBAATAR ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION NETWORK COMPANY

Yu SUNDAY GROUP

Shagdarsuren Zuunai GRATA LAW FIRM

MONTENEGRO NOTARY CHAMBER OF MONTENEGRO

Aleksandar Adamovic PACORINI MONTENEGRO

Veselin Anđjušić BUSINESS CENTER ČELEBIĆ

Bojana Andrić BUSINESS CENTER ČELEBIĆ

Marija Bojović BOJOVIC & PARTNERS

Bojana Bošković MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Zona Cimpl BOJOVIC & PARTNERS

Dragan Ćorac LAW OFFICE VUJAČIĆ

Vladimir Dasić BDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Savo Djurović ADRIATIC MARINAS D.O.O.

Dragan Draca PWC SERBIA

Veselin Dragićević CHAMBER OF ECONOMY OF MONTENEGRO, SECTOR FOR ASSOCIATIONS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Sladana Dragović NORMAL COMPANY

Dragana Filipovic MINISTRY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM

Darko Globarević ZETATRANS

Mile Grujić NORMAL COMPANY

Danilo Gvozdenović MINISTRY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM

Ana Jankov BDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Maja Jokanović MINISTRY OF ECONOMY

Miomir Joksimovic LAW OFFICE VUJAČIĆ

Nada Jovanovic CENTRAL BANK OF MONTENEGRO

Jelena Jovetic MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Radoŝ-Lolo Kastratović ADVOKATSKA KANCELARIJA

Ana Krsmanović MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Dejan lBorić MORAVČEVIĆ VOJNOVIĆ I PARTNERI

Dragana Ljumovic BDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Edita Mehovic LAW OFFICE VUJAČIĆ

Ivan Nikolic TOTAL SPED

Nenad Pavličić PAVLIČIĆ LAW OFFICE

Predrag Pavličić MONTECCO INC D.O.O.

Bojana Pekovic R&P AUDITING

Nikola Perović PLANTAŽE

Novica Pesic PESIC & BAJCETA

Zorica Pesic Bajceta PESIC & BAJCETA

Ana Radivojević PWC SERBIA

Andrea Radonjanin MORAVČEVIĆ VOJNOVIĆ I PARTNERI

Vladimir Radonjic HARRISONS LAW FIRM

Radovan Radulovic MONTENOMAX

Vesna Radunović R&P AUDITING

Dražen Raičković FINANCEPLUS

Branka Rajicic PWC BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Miljan Sestovic ASSOCIATION OF FREIGHT FORWARDERS

Velimir Strugar EPCG AD NIKŠIĆ

Snezana Terzic STADION

Marko Tintor CENTRAL BANK OF MONTENEGRO

Renata Todorović LAW OFFICE VUJAČIĆ

Vera Vucelic HARRISONS SOLICITORS

Saša Vujačić LAW OFFICE VUJAČIĆ

Jelena Vujisić LAW OFFICE VUJAČIĆ

Tatjana Vujosevic MINISTRY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM

Lana Vukmirovic Misic HARRISONS SOLICITORS

Jelena Zivkovic EUROFAST GLOBAL, PODGORICA OFFICE

MOROCCO CENTRALE D’INGENIERIE ET SERVICES

Idriss Abou Mouslim BHIRAT

Sidimohamed Abouchikhi EXPERIAN

Abdelkrim Karim Adyel CABINET ADYEL

Karim Adyel CABINET AYDEL

Hanane Ait Addi BASSAMAT & ASSOCIÉE

Redouane Assakhen CENTRE RÉGIONAL D’INVESTISSEMENT

Fassi-Fihri Bassamat BASSAMAT & ASSOCIÉE

Maria Belafia ETUDE MAÎTRE BELAFIA

Hamid Ben Elfadil CENTRE RÉGIONAL D’INVESTISSEMENT

Azel-Arab Benjelloun AGENCE D’ARCHITECTURE D’URBANISME ET DE DECORATION

Karim Benkirane ESPACE TRANSIT

Mohamed Benkirane ESPACE TRANSIT

Richard Cantin JURISTRUCTURES - PROJECT MANAGEMENT & LEGAL ADVISORY SERVICES LLP

Mahat Chraibi PWC ADVISORY MAROC

Driss Debbagh KETTANI ASSOCIÉS

Giglio Del Borgo EXPERIAN

Michel Durand-Meyrier CHASSANY WATRELOT & ASSOCIÉS

Yahia El Fadil PWC ADVISORY MAROC

Moulay El Amine El Hammoumi Idrissi HAJJI & ASSOCIÉS

Naoufal El Khatib MAZARS AUDIT ET CONSEIL

Hamid Errida GARRIGUES MAROC

Driss Ettaki ADMINISTRATION DES DOUANES ET IMPOTS INDIRECTS

Nadia Fajr AVOCATE AU BARREAU DE CASABLANCA

Youssef Fassi Fihri FYBA LAWYERS

Nasser Filali ZIMAG

Bahya Ibn Khaldoun UNIVERSITÉ M.V. SOUISSI RABAT, MAROC

Agathe Jaudeau CHASSANY WATRELOT & ASSOCIÉS

Mehdi Kettani KETTANI ASSOCIÉS

Nadia Kettani KETTANI LAW FIRM

Rita Kettani KETTANI ASSOCIÉS

Nabyl Lakhdar ADMINISTRATION DES DOUANES ET IMPOTS INDIRECTS

Amine Mahfoud AMINE MAHFOUD NOTAIRE

Anis Mahfoud ABOUAKIL, BENJELLOUN & MAHFOUD AVOCATS

Noureddine Marzouk PWC ADVISORY MAROC

Abdelkhalek Merzouki ADMINISTRATION DES DOUANES ET IMPOTS INDIRECTS

Lahlou M’hamed ETUDE DE NOTARIAT MODERNE

Azdine Nekmouche ORDRE DES ARCHITECTES DE CASABLANCA

Abderrahim Outass COMMUNE URBAINE DE CASABLANCA

Hassane Rahmoun ETUDE NOTARIALE HASSANE RAHMOUN

Nesrine Roudane NERO BOUTIQUE LAW FIRM

Ghalia Sebti AIT MANOS

Rachid Senhaji ORDRE DES ARCHITECTES DE CASABLANCA

Khalil Yassir YASSIR KHALIL STUDIO

Meryem Zoubir CHASSANY WATRELOT & ASSOCIÉS

MOZAMBIQUE Calu Abubacar ELECTROVISAO LDA

DOING BUSINESS 2015294

Miguel Almeida SAL & CALDEIRA ADVOGADOS LDA

Carolina Balate PWC MOZAMBIQUE

Ebrahim Bhikha PWC MOZAMBIQUE

Eduardo Calú SAL & CALDEIRA ADVOGADOS LDA

Adelia Canda SILVA GARCIA

Henrique Castro AMARO ARQUITECTOS E ASSOCIADOS LDA

Liliana Chacon CGA - COUTO, GRAÇA E ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Pedro Couto CGA - COUTO, GRAÇA E ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Alcinda Cumba FERNANDA LOPES & ASSOCIADOS ADVOGADOS

Avelar da Silva INTERTEK INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Thera Dai CGA - COUTO, GRAÇA E ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Alberto de Deus MACURRU LAW, SOCIEDADE UNIPESSOAL, LDA

Carla de Sousa FERNANDA LOPES & ASSOCIADOS ADVOGADOS

Elisio De Sousa FERNANDA LOPES & ASSOCIADOS ADVOGADOS

Fulgêncio Dimande MANICA FREIGHT SERVICES SARL

Rita Donato CGA - COUTO, GRAÇA E ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Vanessa Fernandes CGA - COUTO, GRAÇA E ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Telmo Ferreira CGA - COUTO, GRAÇA E ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Maria Fatima Fonseca MAPUTO CITY COURT (COMMERCIAL CHAMBER)

Pinto Fulane BANCO DE MOÇAMBIQUE

Isabel Garcia SILVIA GARCIA ADVOGADOS & CONSULTORES

Jorge Graça CGA - COUTO, GRAÇA E ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Victoria Gundanhane SDV MOÇAMBIQUE SA

Fabricia Henriques MOZAMBIQUE LEGAL CIRCLE

Rui Loforte CGA - COUTO, GRAÇA E ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Fernanda Lopes FERNANDA LOPES & ASSOCIADOS ADVOGADOS

Rufino Lucas TEC TÉNICOS CONSTRUTORES LDA

Eugénio Luis BANCO DE MOÇAMBIQUE

Gimina Luís Mahumana SAL & CALDEIRA ADVOGADOS LDA

Mónica Marques MOZAMBIQUE LEGAL CIRCLE

Vítor Marques da Cruz MC&A - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

João Martins PWC MOZAMBIQUE

Cláudio Nhandamo Jr. SAL & CALDEIRA ADVOGADOS LDA

Teresa Pala MC&A - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Álvaro Pinto Basto CGA - COUTO, GRAÇA E ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

Diana Ramalho SAL & CALDEIRA ADVOGADOS LDA

Malaika Ribeiro PWC MOZAMBIQUE

Paula Duarte Rocha MOZAMBIQUE LEGAL CIRCLE

Belisário Tamele MOZAMBIQUE LEGAL CIRCLE

Ricardo Veloso GPA - GOUVEIA PEREIRA, COSTA FREITAS & ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

MYANMAR AGX LOGISTICS MYANMAR CO. LTD.

ALLEN & OVERY MYANMAR

CARE FREIGHT SERVICES LTD.

CB BANK

CP WORLD LTD.

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS MYANMAR CO. LTD.

Khin Leinmar Ban Aye KELVIN CHIA YANGON LTD.

Jaime Casanova DFDL

Cheah Swee Gim KELVIN CHIA YANGON LTD.

Florence Grangerat AUDIER & PARTNERS MYANMAR CO. LTD.

Chris Hughes BAKER & MCKENZIE MYANMAR LEGAL SERVICES LIMITED

Jean Loi VDB LOI MYANMAR

Oliver Massmann DUANE MORRIS & SELVAM (MYANMAR)

Adam McCarty MEKONG ECONOMICS

U Maung Maung (Arthur) Myint LS HORIZON (MYANMAR) LIMITED

SanSan Myint Wai (Susan) LS HORIZON (MYANMAR) LIMITED

Alessio Polastri POLASTRI WINT & PARTNERS

Mya Sandar LS HORIZON (MYANMAR) LIMITED

Regula Schmidhauser DFDL

Helen Sullivan-Looney VDB LOI MYANMAR

Thuy Tran DUANE MORRIS & SELVAM (MYANMAR)

Edwin Vanderbruggen VDB LOI MYANMAR

Pakpoom Vetvitayanuwat LS HORIZON (MYANMAR) LIMITED

Tepparak Yadtong LS HORIZON (MYANMAR) LIMITED

NAMIBIA NAMIBIA REAL ESTATE

Joos Agenbach KOEP & PARTNERS

Robert Araeb KPMG NAMIBIA

Mark Badenhorst PWC SOUTH AFRICA

Tiaan Bazuin NAMIBIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

Adeline Beukes KPMG NAMIBIA

Ronnie Beukes CITY OF WINDHOEK ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT

Benita Blume H.D. BOSSAU & CO.

Christian Bohlke MAYER CONSULTING ENGINEERS

Hanno D. Bossau H.D. BOSSAU & CO.

Ferdi Brinkman DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, WATER & WASTE MANAGEMENT

Elysia Brits BANK WINDHOEK

Lorna Celliers BDO

Esi Chase ADVOCATE

André Davids WOKER FREIGHT SERVICES

Anton de Wit BANK WINDHOEK

Luziem Diergaardt TRANSWORLD CARGO PTY. LTD.

Marcha Erni TRANSUNION

Johann Espag CLARKE ARCHITECTS

Stefan Hugo PWC NAMIBIA

Chantell Husselmann PWC NAMIBIA

Stefan Hyman H.D. BOSSAU & CO.

Jaco Jacobs ELLIS SHILENGUDWA

Ritja Kamupingene KPMG NAMIBIA

Rochelle Kandjella KÖPPLINGER BOLTMAN

Edward Kawesha CITY OF WINDHOEK ELECTRICITY DEPARTMENT

Frank Köpplinger KÖPPLINGER BOLTMAN

Cameron Kotze ERNST & YOUNG

Norbert Liebich TRANSWORLD CARGO PTY. LTD.

Marie Mandy MMM CONSULTANCY

Henk Mayer MAYER CONSULTING ENGINEERS

Johan Nel PWC NAMIBIA

Mari-Nelia Nieuwoudt PWC NAMIBIA

Tim Parkhouse NAMIBIAN EMPLOYER’S FEDERATION

Hugo Van den Berg KOEP & PARTNERS

NEPAL Anil Chandra Adhikari CREDIT INFORMATION BUREAU LTD. NEPAL

Lalit Aryal LA & ASSOCIATES CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Narayan Bajaj NARAYAN BAJAJ & ASSOCIATES

Kapil Basu PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS PVT. LTD.

Jaya Raj Bhandari ECONOMIST

Bhojraj Bhattarai NEPAL ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY

Narayan Chaulagain PIONEER LAW ASSOCIATES

Tankahari Dahal NIRAULA LAW CHAMBER & CO.

BM Dhungana B&B ASSOCIATES - CORRESPONDENT FIRM OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Shirshak Ghimire PRADHAN & ASSOCIATES

Tika Ram Ghimire MINISTRY OF LAND REFORM AND MANAGEMENT

Sunil Gupta GUPTA COUNSEL

Shreedhar Kapali SHANGRI-LA FREIGHT PVT. LTD.

Jagat Bahadur Khadka NEPAL SHIPPING & AIR LOGISTICS PVT. LTD.

Gourish K. Kharel KTO INC.

Aayushi Koirala PIONEER LAW ASSOCIATES

Amir Maharjan SAFE CONSULTING ARCHITECTS & ENGINEERS PVT. LTD.

Ashok Man Kapali SHANGRI-LA FREIGHT PVT. LTD.

Bijaya Mishra PRADHAN & ASSOCIATES

Anjan Neupane NEUPANE LAW ASSOCIATES

Matrika Niraula NIRAULA LAW CHAMBER & CO.

Rajan Niraula NIRAULA LAW CHAMBER & CO.

Dev Raj Paudyal MINISTRY OF LAND REFORM AND MANAGEMENT

Devendra Pradhan PRADHAN & ASSOCIATES

Purnachitra Pradhan KARJA SUCHANA KENDRA LTD. (CIB)

Bharat Raj Upreti PIONEER LAW ASSOCIATES

Deepak K. Shrestha NEPAL INVESTMENT BANK

Kusum Shrestha

P. L. Shrestha EVERGREEN CARGO SERVICES PVT. LTD.

Rajeshwor Shrestha SINHA VERMA LAW CONCERN

Ramji Shrestha PRADHAN & ASSOCIATES

Rup Narayan Shrestha AVENUE LAW FIRM

Suman Lal Shrestha H.R. LOGISTIC PVT. LTD.

Nab Raj Subedi MINISTRY OF LAND REFORM AND MANAGEMENT

Ram Chandra Subedi APEX LAW CHAMBER

Krishna Suwal PRADHAN & ASSOCIATES

Mahesh Kumar Thapa SINHA VERMA LAW CONCERN

NETHERLANDS Johan Admiraal LIANDER

Maarten Appels VAN DOORNE NV

Ben Arends KEIZERS ADVOCATEN

Sytso Boonstra PWC NETHERLANDS

Peter Bouterse OCEANEXPRESS NETHERLANDS BV

Roland Brandsma PWC NETHERLANDS

Mirjam de Blecourt BAKER & MCKENZIE AMSTERDAM NV

Margriet de Boer DE BRAUW BLACKSTONE WESTBROEK

Taco de Lange LEXENCE

Jantien Dekkers HOUTHOFF BURUMA

Henriette Derks LIANDER

Wilfrank Driesprong STICHTING BUREAU KREDIET REGISTRATIE

Boris Emmerig DLA PIPER NEDERLAND NV

Sebastian Frankenberg DLA PIPER NEDERLAND NV

Andy Furr DE BRAUW BLACKSTONE WESTBROEK

Edik Huseinov HVK LEGAL BV

295ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Marcel Kettenis PWC NETHERLANDS

Edwin M.A.J. Kleefstra KAB WEST - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Christian Koedam PWC NETHERLANDS

Andrej Kwitowski AKADIS BV

Stefan Leening PWC NETHERLANDS

Matthias Noorlander AUTHORITY FOR CONSUMERS AND MARKETS

Johan Polet SIMMONS & SIMMONS LLP

Peter Radema MERZARIO

Mark G. Rebergen DE BRAUW BLACKSTONE WESTBROEK

Hugo Reumkens VAN DOORNE NV

Maayke Rooijendijk DE BRAUW BLACKSTONE WESTBROEK

Jan Willem Schenk HVK LEGAL BV

Jack Schrijver BAKER & MCKENZIE AMSTERDAM NV

Hans Londonck Sluijk HOUTHOFF BURUMA

Arnout Stroeve VAN DOORNE NV

Natusia Szeliga BAKER & MCKENZIE AMSTERDAM NV

Fedor Tanke BAKER & MCKENZIE AMSTERDAM NV

Maarten Tinnemans DE BRAUW BLACKSTONE WESTBROEK

Agata Uceda DLA PIPER NEDERLAND NV

Liane van de Vrugt VÉDÉVÉ LEGAL BV

Leonard Van den Ende BAKER & MCKENZIE AMSTERDAM NV

Shanna Van Den Maagdenberg DLA PIPER NEDERLAND NV

Jos van der Schans DE BRAUW BLACKSTONE WESTBROEK

Emilia L.C. van Egmond-de Wilde de Ligny FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT, EINDHOVEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Gert-Jan van Gijs VAT LOGISTICS (OCEAN FREIGHT) BV

Sjaak van Leeuwen STICHTING BUREAU KREDIET REGISTRATIE

Jan van Oorschot LIANDER

Petra van Raad PWC NETHERLANDS

IJsbrand Van Straten STIBBE

Frederik Veldhuijzen DE BRAUW BLACKSTONE WESTBROEK

Reinout Vriesendorp DE BRAUW BLACKSTONE WESTBROEK

Frank Werger PWC NETHERLANDS

Stephan Westera LEXENCE

Marcel Willems KENNEDY VAN DER LAAN

Christiaan Zijderveld SIMMONS & SIMMONS LLP

NEW ZEALAND SDV LOGISTICS

VEDA ADVANTAGE

Lara Bird BELL GULLY

James Caird SIMPSON GRIERSON, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Hamish Cameron INLAND REVENUE DEPARTMENT

Ross Crotty LOWNDES ASSOCIATES - CORPORATE AND COMMERCIAL LAW SPECIALISTS

John Cuthbertson PWC NEW ZEALAND

Joanne Dickson SIMPSON GRIERSON, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Igor Drinkovic MINTER ELLISON RUDD WATTS

Bethany Frowein LOWNDES ASSOCIATES - CORPORATE AND COMMERCIAL LAW SPECIALISTS

Ian Gault BELL GULLY

Tony Gault PWC NEW ZEALAND

Andy Glenie BELL GULLY

Joseph Harrop MINTER ELLISON RUDD WATTS

Paul Heaslip PAUL HEASLIP LAWYER

Matt Kersey RUSSELL MCVEAGH

Michelle Kilham LOWNDES ASSOCIATES - CORPORATE AND COMMERCIAL LAW SPECIALISTS

Kate Lane MINTER ELLISON RUDD WATTS

John Lawrence AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL

Mandy McDonald MINISTRY OF BUSINESS, INNOVATION & EMPLOYMENT

Shaun McMaster MINTER ELLISON RUDD WATTS

Andrew Minturn QUALTECH INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Robert Muir LAND INFORMATION NEW ZEALAND

Michael O’Brien HESKETH HENRY LAWYERS

Catherine Otten NEW ZEALAND COMPANIES OFFICE

Ian Page BRANZ

Mihai Pascariu MINTER ELLISON RUDD WATTS

Michael Pollard SIMPSON GRIERSON, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

John Powell RUSSELL MCVEAGH

Jim Roberts HESKETH HENRY LAWYERS

Silvana Schenone MINTER ELLISON RUDD WATTS

Maxim Sherstobitov EASY FREIGHT

Kelvin Sue SIMPSON GRIERSON, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Mike Tames PWC NEW ZEALAND

Ben Thomson SIMPSON GRIERSON, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Susan Tov PWC NEW ZEALAND

Ben Upton SIMPSON GRIERSON, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Matthew Wentz BELL GULLY

Mike Whale LOWNDES ASSOCIATES - CORPORATE AND COMMERCIAL LAW SPECIALISTS

NICARAGUA CARRION CRUZ CONSTRUCCIONES

Elias Alvarez PWC NICARAGUA

Bertha Argüello de Rizo ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Alfredo Artiles KPMG

Margina Baca GARCÍA & BODÁN

Maria Alejandra Baldizon TABOADA & ASOCIADOS

Alberto Jose Ballardes-Bendana GARCÍA & BODÁN

Henrik Bang EXPORTADORA ATLANTIC SA

Olga Barreto CONSORTIUM TABOADA Y ASOCIADOS

Favio Josué Batres P. ALVARADO Y ASOCIADOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Minerva Adriana Bellorín Rodríguez PACHECO COTO

Camilo Bendana SALAZAR & BENDANA

Flavio Andrés Berríos Zepeda MULTICONSULT & CIA LTDA

Carlos Alberto Bonilla López SUPERINTENDENCIA DE BANCOS

Blanca Buitrago GARCÍA & BODÁN

Orlando Cardoza BUFETE JURIDICO OBREGON Y ASOCIADOS

Thelma Carrion AGUILAR CASTILLO LOVE

Dorisabel Conrado CONSORTIUM TABOADA Y ASOCIADOS

Eugenia Cruz CETREX

Brenda Darce CETREX

Gloria Maria de Alvarado ALVARADO Y ASOCIADOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Maricarmen Espinosa de Molina MOLINA & ASOCIADOS CENTRAL LAW

Luis Fuentes Balladares ARQUITECTURA FUENTES

Terencio Garcia Montenegro GARCÍA & BODÁN

Engelsberth Gómez PRONICARAGUA

Claudia Guevara AGUILAR CASTILLO LOVE

Maryeling Guevara ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Federico Gurdian GARCÍA & BODÁN

Eduardo Gutierrez PACHECO COTO

Marianela Gutierrez AGUILAR CASTILLO LOVE

Gerardo Hernandez CONSORTIUM TABOADA Y ASOCIADOS

Rodrigo Ibarra Rodney ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Eduardo Lacayo TRANSUNION

Brenda Martinez CONSORTIUM TABOADA Y ASOCIADOS

Fabiola Martinez VENTANILLA UNICA DE INVERSIONES

Jose Ivan Mejia Miranda GARCÍA & BODÁN

Jorge Molina Lacayo CETREX

Soraya Montoya Herrera MOLINA & ASOCIADOS CENTRAL LAW

Norma Elena Morales Barquero ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Jeanethe Morales Núñez SUPERINTENDENCIA DE BANCOS

Tania Muñoz KPMG

Dania Navarrete GARCÍA & BODÁN

Amilcar Navarro Amador GARCÍA & BODÁN

Michael Navas PRONICARAGUA

Francisco Ortega FRANCISCO ORTEGA & ASOCIADOS

Róger Pérez ARIAS & MUÑOZ

Alonso Porras PACHECO COTO

Jessica Porras GARCÍA & BODÁN

Erwin Rodriguez PWC NICARAGUA

Ricardo Trillos Rodriguez MULTITRANS

Patricia Rodríguez MULTICONSULT & CIA LTDA

Paúl Rodríguez GARCÍA & BODÁN

Carlos Mario Rostan ROSTRAN Y ASOCIADOS

Gabriel Sánchez G. PRONICARAGUA

Alfonso José Sandino Granera CONSORTIUM TABOADA Y ASOCIADOS

Arling Solórzano PWC NICARAGUA

Rodrigo Taboada CONSORTIUM TABOADA Y ASOCIADOS

Carlos Téllez GARCÍA & BODÁN

Joe Henry Thompson ESUDIO JURÍDICO ADUANERO

Diogenes Velasquez PACHECO COTO

NIGER AFRIGLOBE SHIPPING LINES LTD.

Kassoum Abari VILLE DE NIAMEY

Sidi Sanoussi Baba Sidi CABINET D’AVOCATS SOUNA-COULIBALY

Kaoura Bachir MAISON DE L’ENTREPRISE NIGER

Bassambie Bationo BCEAO

Moussa Coulibaly CABINET D’AVOCATS SOUNA-COULIBALY

Moussa Dantia CENTRE DES FORMALITES DES ENTREPRISES

Abdou Djando EMTEF

Aïssatou Djibo ETUDE DE MAÎTRE DJIBO AÏSSATOU

Halima Gambo MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE ACCOUNT

Ibrahim Baoua Gogé MINISTÈRE DE L’ECONOMIE ET DES FINANCES

Sani Halilou Alkali DAMCO NIGER SA - A.P. MOLLER MAERSK GROUP’S REPRESENTATIVE

Mahaman Tahir Hamani BCEAO

Souley Hammi Illiassou CABINET KOUAOVI

Issoufou Harouna CABINET D’AVOCAT HAROUNA ISSOUFOU

Ali Idrissa Sounna TOUTELEC NIGER SA

Abary Insa CELLULE DE PARTENARIAT PUBLIC PRIVÉ

Seybou Issifi VILLE DE NIAMEY

Habibou Kane Kadoure AGENCE PROJEDIS AFRIQUE

Bernar-Oliver Kouaovi CABINET KOUAOVI

Issaka Manzo EGTC

DOING BUSINESS 2015296

Adeline Messou PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

André Abboh Joseph Monso PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Moussa Moussa MINISTÈRE DU COMMERCE ET DE LA PROMOTION DU SECTEUR PRIVÉ

Venance Père LCA

Linda Rakotonavalona CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Naissa Sabiou Mamane TRIBUNAL DE GRANDE INSTANCE HORS CLASSE DE NIAMEY

Daouda Samna SCPA MANDELA

Moussa Sanogo BCEAO

Dominique Taty PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Idrissa Tchernaka ETUDE D’AVOCATS MARC LE BIHAN & COLLABORATEURS

Fousséni Traoré PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Emmanuel Yehouessi BCEAO

NIGERIA Ijeoma Abalogu GBENGA BIOBAKU & CO.

Ismail Abdulaziz POINTBLANK ATTORNEYS

Mohammed K. Abdulsalam GITRAS LTD.

Innocent Abidoye NNENNA EJEKAM ASSOCIATES

Oluseyi Abiodun Akinwunmi AKINWUNMI & BUSARI LEGAL PRACTITIONERS

Chetanna Achara OKONJO, ODIAWA & EBIE

Temiloluwa Adebayo OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Olaleye Adebiyi WTS ADEBIYI & ASSOCIATES

Kentuadei Adefe KENTUADEI ADEFE, LEGAL PRACTITIONERS, MEDIATORS AND ARBITRATORS

Kunle Adegbite CANAAN SOLICITORS

Steve Adehi STEVE ADEHI AND CO.

Olabanji Adenusi AINA BLANKSON LP

Tolulope Aderemi PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Adekunle Adewale JACKSON, ETTI & EDU

Albert Adu ALLIANCE LAW FIRM

Daniel Agbor UDO UDOMA & BELO-OSAGIE

Michael Ajaegbo ALLIANCE LAW FIRM

Kunle Ajagbe PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Olaoluwa Ajala GBENGA BIOBAKU & CO.

Gbeminiyi Ajayi OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Konyin Ajayi OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Olawale Ajetunmobi PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Babatunde Ajibade SPA AJIBADE & CO.

Mayowa Ajibade WTS ADEBIYI & ASSOCIATES

Olatoye Akinboro KPMG

Manuel Akinshola JACOBS & BIGAELS

Iwilade Akintayo KUSAMOTU & KUSAMOTU

Dafe Akpeneye PWC NIGERIA

Folake Alabi OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Oluwatosin Alabi PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Belema Alagun OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Olugboyega Alawode ALLIANCE LAW FIRM

Ramatou Aliyu PLANNED SHELTER CONSULT

Usman Aliyu Mahmud NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Sola Arifayan IKEYI & ARIFAYAN

Temitayo Arikenbi CRC CREDIT BUREAU LIMITED

Oluseye Arowolo DELOITTE

Ige Asemudara PUNUKA ATTORNEYS & SOLICITORS

Oluwapelumi Asiwaju G. ELIAS & CO. SOLICITORS AND ADVOCATES

Popoola Atilola Omosanya LATEEF O. FAGBEMI SAN & CO.

Olusola Ayodele NIGERIA EMPLOYERS’ CONSULTATIVE ASSOCIATION (NECA)

Reginald Aziza OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Bisola Babington PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Zainab Bello AKINWUNMI & BUSARI LEGAL PRACTITIONERS

Ngozi Chianakwalam INVESTMENTS AND SECURITIES TRIBUNAL

Chinwe Chiwete PUNUKA ATTORNEYS & SOLICITORS

Ukata Christian AFRIGLOBE SHIPPING LINES LTD.

Peter Crabb NNENNA EJEKAM ASSOCIATES

Aliyu Yusuf Dada

Matthias Dawodu SPA AJIBADE & CO.

Nnamd Dimbga OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Francis Edet PWC NIGERIA

Olubukola Edun JACKSON, ETTI & EDU

Emmanuel Egwuagu OBLA & CO.

Oyindamola Ehiwere ALSEC NOMINEES LIMITED

Nnenna Ejekam NNENNA EJEKAM ASSOCIATES

Mary Ekemezie UDO UDOMA & BELO-OSAGIE

Samuel Etuk 1ST ATTORNEYS

Marcellina Eya Abang NIGERIAN ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION (NERC)

Chris Eze NNENNA EJEKAM ASSOCIATES

Chibuzor Ezegamba OBLA & CO.

Anse Agu Ezetah CHIEF LAW AGU EZETAH & CO.

Kenechi Ezezika IKEYI & ARIFAYAN

John Ezike 1ST ATTORNEYS

Violet Ezirike AINA BLANKSON LP

Omowumi Fajemiroye OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Fatai Folarin DELOITTE

Bolaji Gabari SPA AJIBADE & CO.

Adejoke A. Gbenro ADEBANKE ADEOLA & CO.

Sagir Gezawa S. S. GEZAWA & CO.

Simon Gusah URBAN BASE CONSULTING

Louis Gyoh YORKSHIRE CONSULT

Aminu Isa Hashim

Ibrahim Hashim ABUJA ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION COMPANY

Chinedu Ihenetu-Geoffrey OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Bukola Iji SPA AJIBADE & CO.

Emmanuel Ikeakonwu DELOITTE

El-shaddai Ikeh PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Nduka Ikeyi IKEYI & ARIFAYAN

Femi David Ikotun ZIONGATE CHAMERS

Ifedolapo Ilesanmi KUSAMOTU & KUSAMOTU

Ifedayo Iroche PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Oyinlola Iwaeni PWC NIGERIA

Okorie Kalu PUNUKA ATTORNEYS & SOLICITORS

Babatunde Kolawole HLB Z.O. OSOSANYA & CO.

Rajeev Kumar ETC AGRO CO LTD

Ayodele Kusamotu KUSAMOTU & KUSAMOTU

Hadiyah Lawal FEMI SUNMONU & ASSOCIATES- QAIS CONRAD LAUREATE SOLICITORS & NOTARY PUBLIC

Ishaya Livinus Etsu NIGERIAN ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION (NERC)

Enyioma Madubuike OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Abubakar Mahmoud DIKKO AND MAHMOUD SOLICITORS AND ADVOCATES

Victor Munis TRLP LAW

Chibueze Ngozi ALLIANCE LAW FIRM

Chinelo Nkemnele PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Nnenna Nwaokobia NNENNA EJEKAM ASSOCIATES

Olamide Obajimi IKEYI & ARIFAYAN

Victor Obaro LIBRA LAW OFFICE

Afolake Obawunmi OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Collins Obi KPMG

V. Uche Obi ALLIANCE LAW FIRM

Blessing Obi Ajunwo ALLIANCE LAW FIRM

Godwin Obla OBLA & CO.

Mami Obla OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Abimbola Odeyemi FORTIS LP

Chijioke Odo DELOITTE

Onyinye Odogwu PUNUKA ATTORNEYS & SOLICITORS

Oluwakemi Oduntan JADE & STONE SOLICITORS

Toluwalogo Odutayo DELOITTE

Oscar Ogbakpan EMPIREX

Godson Ogheneochuko UDO UDOMA & BELO-OSAGIE

Ozofu Ogiemudia UDO UDOMA & BELO-OSAGIE

Ayokunle Ogundipe PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Yvonne Ogunoiki IKEYI & ARIFAYAN

Chudi Ojukwu INFRASTRUCTURE CONSULTING PARTNERSHIP

Ikenna Okafor PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Anwuli Okeke ALLIANCE LAW FIRM

Patrick Okonjo OKONJO, ODIAWA & EBIE

Stephen Ola Jagun JAGUN ASSOCIATES

Tumininu Oladipo NNENNA EJEKAM ASSOCIATES

Mariam Olafuyi OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Moshood Olajide PWC NIGERIA

Olayinka Olazewere SPA AJIBADE & CO.

Adebayo Ologe PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Ajibola Olomola KPMG

Afolasade Olowe JACKSON, ETTI & EDU

Abijo Oluwasegun FMA ARCHITECTS LTD.

Tolulope Omidiji PWC NIGERIA

David Omoloye KANO DISTRIBUTION ELECTRICITY COMPANY

Chris Erhi Omoru CHANCERY SOLICITORS

Ekundayo Onajobi UDO UDOMA & BELO-OSAGIE

Funke Onakoya AKINWUNMI & BUSARI LEGAL PRACTITIONERS

Akoji Onekutu KANO DISTRIBUTION ELECTRICITY COMPANY

Gabriel Onojason ALLIANCE LAW FIRM

Fred Onuobia G. ELIAS & CO. SOLICITORS AND ADVOCATES

Amede Oputa DE SPLENDOR SOLICITORS

Chiago Orakwusi KPMG

Ben Oregbemhe SPA AJIBADE & CO.

Tunde Osasona WHITESTONE WORLDWIDE LTD.

Olufemi Ososanya HLB Z.O. OSOSANYA & CO.

Ignatius Nwosu Owelle HOMELUX CONSTRUCTION & EQUIPMENT CO. LTD.

Abraham Oyakhilome FIRST & FIRST INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES

Taiwo Oyedele PWC NIGERIA

Feyisola Oyeti SPA AJIBADE & CO.

Femi Oyetosho BIOS 2 LIMITED

Bukola Oyinlola PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Tunde Popoola CRC CREDIT BUREAU LIMITED

Damilola Salisu BAYO OSIPITAN & CO.

Isiaku Sani DIGIBITS CONTROLS NIGERIA LTD.

Habibat Sanusi IKEYI & ARIFAYAN

Yewande Senbore OLANIWUN AJAYI LP

Taofeek ‘Bola Shittu IKEYI & ARIFAYAN

Christine Sijuwade UDO UDOMA & BELO-OSAGIE

Olalekan Sowande SPA AJIBADE & CO.

297ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Adeola Sunmola UDO UDOMA & BELO-OSAGIE

Rafiu Sunmonu DELMORE ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LIMITED

Adesegun Talabi PERCHSTONE & GRAEYS

Garba Ahmed Tijani AHMED TIJANI & CO.

Nneamaka Udekwe PWC NIGERIA

Kelechi Ugbeva WTS ADEBIYI & ASSOCIATES

Uche Ugonabo OBLA & CO.

Maxwell Ukpebor WTS ADEBIYI & ASSOCIATES

Ebere Uzum UDO UDOMA & BELO-OSAGIE

Kamaluddeen Yahaya KAMALUDDEEN YAHAYA & CO.

Tijjani Yahaya TIJJANI YAHAYA & COMPANY

Funke Yesufu AKINWUNMI & BUSARI LEGAL PRACTITIONERS

Umar Bala Yorce KANO URBAN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (KNUPDA)

Isma’ila M. Zakari AHMED ZAKARI & C

NORWAY EXPERIAN NORWAY

Guro Bakke Haga PWC NORWAY

Stig Berge ADVOKATFIRMAET THOMMESSEN AS

Ingrid Fladberg Brucker ADVOKATFIRMA SIMONSEN VOGT WIIG

Wibecke Brusdal AF GROUP

Margrethe Buskerud Christoffersen ADVOKATFIRMAET THOMMESSEN AS

Carl Christiansen RAEDER DA

Per Arne Dæhli ADVOKATFIRMAET SELMER DA

Tron Dalheim ARNTZEN DE BESCHE ADVOKATFIRMA AS

Magnar Danielsen MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Lars Davidsen HAFSLUND

Knut Ekern PWC NORWAY

Lars Eliassen THE BRONNOYSUND REGISTER CENTER

Marie Eltervaag PWC NORWAY

Lars Engen ADVOKATFIRMA RÆDER DA

Ragnar Furru AF GROUP

Jon Galtung Dysvik ADVOKATFIRMAET GALTUNG DYSVIK MNA

Erlend Haaskjold ARNTZEN DE BESCHE ADVOKATFIRMA AS

Sverre Hærem AF GROUP

Robert Haugen AF GROUP

Hilde Høksnes ADVOKATFIRMAET SELMER DA

Heidi Holmelin ADVOKATFIRMAET SELMER DA

Odd Hylland PWC NORWAY

Pål Jæger-Pedersen PWC NORWAY

Andreas Jarbø ADVOKATFIRMAET SELMER DA

Jøran Kallmyr ADVOKATFIRMA RÆDER DA

Ane Kallmyr Lerheim HOMBLE OLSBY ADVOKATFIRMA AS

Kyrre Kielland ADVOKATFIRMA RÆDER DA

Bård Ivar Koppang PWC NORWAY

Kim Robert Lisø SKANSKA I NORGE

Carl Longva GAC NORWAY AS

Per Einar Lunde PWC NORWAY

Knut Martinsen ADVOKATFIRMAET THOMMESSEN AS

Ida Muller-Winters HOMBLE OLSBY ADVOKATFIRMA AS

Halfdan Nitter NITTER AS - CORRESPONDENT OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

William Peter Nordan ADVOKATFIRMA SIMONSEN VOGT WIIG

Hege Oftedal PWC NORWAY

Ole Kristian Olsby HOMBLE OLSBY ADVOKATFIRMA AS

Pål Egil Rønn AF GROUP

Peter Simonsen SIMONSEN ADVOKATFIRMA DA

Ståle Skutle Arneson ADVOKATFIRMA SIMONSEN VOGT WIIG

Svein Sulland ADVOKATFIRMAET SELMER DA

Anders Utne ADVOKATFIRMA RÆDER DA

Oyvind Vagan THE BRONNOYSUND REGISTER CENTER

OMAN CAPITAL MARKET AUTHORITY OF OMAN

ERNST & YOUNG

THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR INVESTMENT PROMOTION & EXPORT DEVELOPMENT (PAIPED)

Jehanzeb Afridi AL BUSAIDY MANSOOR JAMAL & CO.

Al Hassan Al Alawi AL ALAWI & CO.

Hussein Al Balushi MAZOON ELECTRICITY COMPANY

Zubaida Fakir Mohamed Al Balushi CENTRAL BANK OF OMAN (CBO)

Hamed Amur Al Hajri OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY (SAOG)

Hanaan Al Marhuby PWC OMAN

Zuhaira Al Sulaimani CURTIS MALLET - PREVOST, COLT & MOSLE LLP

Majid Al Toky TROWERS & HAMLINS

Ibrahim Al-Abri MUSCAT MUNICIPALITY

Mohsin Ahmed Alawi Al-Hadad MOHSIN AL-HADAD & AMUR AL-KIYUMI & PARTNERS

Khalid Khamis Al-Hashmi MUSCAT MUNICIPALITY

Zaid Al-Khattab TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Leyan Al-Mawali TROWERS & HAMLINS

Hilal Almayahi MUSCAT MUNICIPALITY

Mohamed Alrashdi MUSCAT MUNICIPALITY

Mohammed Alshahri MOHAMMED ALSHAHRI & ASSOCIATES

Zareen Austin CURTIS MALLET - PREVOST, COLT & MOSLE LLP

Hasan Juma Backer HASAN JUMA BACKER TRADING & CONTRACTING

Jamie Gibson TROWERS & HAMLINS

Justine Harding SNR DENTON & CO.

Abraham Jacob MOHSIN AL-HADAD & AMUR AL-KIYUMI & PARTNERS

Diana Jarrar TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

O. A. Kuraishy HASAN JUMA BACKER TRADING & CONTRACTING

P.E. Lalachen MJ KHALIFA AL HINAI ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANCY

Jose Madukakuzhy KHIMJI RAMDAS

Pushpa Malani PWC OMAN

Krishnadas Mathilakath BANK MUSCAT

Akhil Nair AL ALAWI & CO.

Githa Nair CURTIS MALLET - PREVOST, COLT & MOSLE LLP

Ahmed Naveed Farooqui OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY (SAOG)

Bruce Palmer CURTIS MALLET - PREVOST, COLT & MOSLE LLP

Dhanalakshmi Pillai Perumal SNR DENTON & CO.

Khalid Al Riyami Dy AMJAAD ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY

George Sandars SNR DENTON & CO.

Paul Sheridan SNR DENTON & CO.

Saman Tahir Malik AL BUSAIDY MANSOOR JAMAL & CO.

Roy Thomas OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY (SAOG)

PAKISTAN Ali Jafar Abidi STATE BANK OF PAKISTAN

Ali Adnan PORT LINE SHIPPING & LOGISTIC

Malik Muhammad Afzal AFZAL CARGO ENTERPRISES

Nadeem Ahmad ORR, DIGNAM & CO., ADVOCATES

Taqi Ahmad A.F. FERGUSON & CO., CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, A MEMBER FIRM OF PWC NETWORK

Zahra Ahmad HAIDERMOTABNR & CO.

Jawad Ahmed MUHAMMAD FAROOQ & CO. CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Syed Aftab Ahmed PYRAMID PAKISTAN

Syed Akhter Ahmed PYRAMID PAKISTAN

Ali Ahsan HAIDERMOTABNR & CO.

Ashraf Ali ABRAHAM & SARWANA

Syed Asif Ali PYRAMID PAKISTAN

Zulfiqar Ali Khan MEER & HASAN

Syed Ali Zafar MANDVIWALLA & ZAFAR

Muhammad Amjad PYRAMID PAKISTAN

Anum Anum Gulraze Mir HAIDERMOTABNR & CO.

Armughan Ashfaq SURRIDGE & BEECHENO

Zeeshan Ashraf Meer MEER & HASAN

Zarina Aslam ABRAHAM & SARWANA

Shaheryar Aziz A.F. FERGUSON & CO., CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, A MEMBER FIRM OF PWC NETWORK

Shariq Aziz ONLINE SHIPPING & LOGISTICS

Muhammad Bilal NEWS-VIS CREDIT INFORMATION SERVICES PVT. LTD.

Amjad Bokhari

Faisal Daudpota KHALID DAUDPOTA & CO.

Junaid Daudpota KHALID DAUDPOTA & CO.

Diana Dsouza DATACHECK PVT. LTD.

Huma Ejaz Zaman MANDVIWALLA & ZAFAR

Mahwish Elahi ABRAHAM & SARWANA

Rana Amaar Faaruq MANDVIWALLA & ZAFAR

Ahmed Farooq MEER & HASAN

Kausar Fecto KAUSAR FECTO & CO. CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Asim Hameed Khan BROTHERS TRADING CORPORATION PAKISTAN PVT. LTD.

Asma Hameed Khan SURRIDGE & BEECHENO

Ikramul Haq HUZAIMA & IKRAM

Salim Hasan MEER & HASAN

Syed Ahmad Hassan Shah HASSAN KAUNAIN NAFEES

Rashid Ibrahim A.F. FERGUSON & CO., CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, A MEMBER FIRM OF PWC NETWORK

Fiza Islam LEGIS INN ATTORNEYS & CORPORATE CONSULTANTS

Muzaffar Islam LEGIS INN ATTORNEYS & CORPORATE CONSULTANTS

Saila Jamshaid SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN

Tariq Nasim Jan DATACHECK PVT. LTD.

Assad Ullah Jaral AUJ LAWYERS

Haina Karim BUBBLEWRAPP INC.

Aftab Ahmed Khan SURRIDGE & BEECHENO

Manahil Khan HASSAN KAUNAIN NAFEES

Malik Muhammad Akram Khokhar AFZAL CARGO ENTERPRISES

Mohsin Malik BUILDERS ASSOCIATES PVT. LTD.

Rashid Rahman Mir RAHMAN SARFARAZ RAHIM IQBAL RAFIQ - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Moazzam Mughal BOXING WINNER

Rana Muhammad RANA IJAZ & PARTNERS

Faiza Muzaffar LEGIS INN ATTORNEYS & CORPORATE CONSULTANTS

Saqib Naveed ANAYA SALT CRAFTS

Jamal Panhwar TRAVEL AND CULTURE SERVICES

Rizwan Pir Muhammad MAERSK LINE

Fayez Qamar Rasheed CKR & ZIA

DOING BUSINESS 2015298

Manzar Naeem Qureshi HAGLER BAILLEY PAKISTAN PVT. LTD.

Zaki Rahman EBRAHIM HOSAIN, ADVOCATES AND CORPORATE COUNSEL

Ameeruddin Rana ABRAHAM & SARWANA

Robeen Rana MEDICAL TOWERS

Abdur Rehman PAKISTAN REVENUE DEPARTMENT

Khalid Rehman SURRIDGE & BEECHENO - KARACHI

Rana Sajjad RANA IJAZ & PARTNERS

Jawad A. Sarwana ABRAHAM & SARWANA

Safdar Sayed ABRAHAM & SARWANA

Mohammad Ali Seena SURRIDGE & BEECHENO - KARACHI

Mohammad Shafique ONLINE SHIPPING & LOGISTICS

Naeem Shah MEER & HASAN

Muhammad Siddique SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN

Mian Hamdoon Subhani M.H.S. ASSOCIATES

Haris Syed Raza GERRY’S DNATA (PVT.) LTD.

Chaudhary Usman EBRAHIM HOSAIN, ADVOCATES AND CORPORATE COUNSEL

Saleem uz Zaman SALEEM UZ ZAMAN & CO.

Javed Ahmed Vohra FAIR BROTHERS INTERNATIONAL

Ilyas Zafar ZAFAR & ASSOCIATES LLP

Muneeb Zafar ZAFAR & ASSOCIATES LLP

Murtaza Zahoor CKR & ZIA

Vaqar Zakaria HAGLER BAILLEY PAKISTAN PVT. LTD.

PALAU PALAU PUBLIC UTILITY CORPORATION

Lisa Abraham SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER (SBDC)

Maggy Antonio KOROR PLANNING AND ZONING OFFICE

Kenneth Barden ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Ricardo Bausoch BUREAU OF REVENUE, CUSTOMS AND TAXATION

Maria Cristina Castro WESTERN CAROLINE TRADING CO.

Yukiwo P. Dengokl DENGOKL, DIMITRUK & NAKAMURA, ATTORNEYS AT LAW

Rachel Dimitruk DIMITRUK LAW OFFICE

Suzanne Finney PALAU HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE

Anthony Frazier

Ramsey Ngiraibai KOROR PLANNING AND ZONING OFFICE

Lily Rdechor PALAU ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY PROTECTION BOARD

Gershwin Rengiil KOROR PLANNING AND ZONING OFFICE

William L. Ridpath WILLIAM L. RIDPATH, ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

V. Tikei Sbal FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS COMMISSION

Peter C. Tsao WESTERN CAROLINE TRADING CO.

PANAMA Hernando Abraham Carrasquilla REGISTRO PÚBLICO DE PANAMÁ

Alvaro Aguilar LOMBARDI AGUILAR GROUP

Gabriel Aguilar LOMBARDI AGUILAR GROUP

Ascanio Alberola MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND FINANCES

Aristides Anguizola MORGAN & MORGAN

Mercedes Araúz de Grimaldo MORGAN & MORGAN

Luis Arrocha LOMBARDI AGUILAR GROUP

Khatiya Asvat PATTON, MORENO & ASVAT

Ana Ayarza PANALPINA WORLD TRANSPORT LLP

Francisco A. Barrios G. PWC PANAMA

Gustavo Adolfo Bernal SOCIEDAD PANAMEÑA DE INGENIEROS Y ARQUITECTOS

Klaus Bieberach

Javier Bouche UNION FENOSA - EDEMET - EDECHI

Jose Ignacio Bravo COCOLPAN

Luis Carlos Bustamante PANAMÁ SOLUCIONES LOGÍSTICAS INT. - PSLI

Irene Carrizo MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND FINANCES

José Carrizo Durling MORGAN & MORGAN

Mariana Castillo PWC PANAMA

Luis Chalhoub ICAZA, GONZALEZ-RUIZ & ALEMAN

Julio Cesar Contreras III AROSEMENA NORIEGA & CONTRERAS

Gonzalo Córdoba APC BURÓ SA

Juan Carlos Croston MANZANILLO INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL OPERATOR [MIT]

Eduardo De Alba ARIAS, FÁBREGA & FÁBREGA

Claudio De Castro ARIAS, FÁBREGA & FÁBREGA

Jorge G. Lombardi Dutari LOMBARDI AGUILAR GROUP

Mailyn Espinosa PWC PANAMA

Enna Ferrer ALFARO, FERRER & RAMÍREZ

Gina Gómez

William Gonzalez PWC PANAMA

Angie Guzmán MORGAN & MORGAN

Ivette Elisa Martínez Saenz PATTON, MORENO & ASVAT

Maricela Moreno DIRECCIÓN DE OBRAS Y CONSTRUCCIONES MUNICIPIO DE PANAMA

Erick Rogelio Muñoz SUCRE, ARIAS & REYES

Alejandro Nolan Aikman MORGAN & MORGAN

Boris Nuñez REGISTRO PÚBLICO DE PANAMÁ

Malory Olmos PWC PANAMA

Mario Rognoni AROSEMENA NORIEGA & CONTRERAS

Nelson E. Sales ALFARO, FERRER & RAMÍREZ

Carla Salvatierra DIRECCIÓN DE OBRAS Y CONSTRUCCIONES MUNICIPIO DE PANAMA

Mayte Sánchez González MORGAN & MORGAN

Verónica Sinisterra AROSEMENA NORIEGA & CONTRERAS

Raul Soto AROSEMENA NORIEGA & CONTRERAS

Marlaine Tuñón MINISTERIO DE COMERCIO E INDUSTRIA

Ramón Varela MORGAN & MORGAN

Juan Manuel Vasquez DIRECCIÓN DE OBRAS Y CONSTRUCCIONES MUNICIPIO DE PANAMA

Raúl Zuñiga Brid ALEMAN, CORDERO, GALINDO & LEE

PAPUA NEW GUINEA PT SEA HORSE PACIFIC-PNG

Paul Barker CONSULTATIVE IMPLEMENTATION & MONITORING COUNCIL

Simon Bendo DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND PHYSICAL PLANNING

Vincent Bull ALLENS ARTHUR ROBINSON

David Caradus PWC PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Dickson NCDC MUNICIPALITY

Moira Eka ASHURST LLP

Richard Flynn ASHURST LLP

Anthony Frazier

Gibson Geroro LEAHY LEWIN NUTLEY SULLIVAN LAWYERS

Goiye Gileng POSMAN KUA AISI LAWYERS, IN ASSOCIATION WITH MALLESON STEPHEN JAQUES

Clarence Hoot IPA

Jack Kariko IPA

Leo Kasi PWC PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Timothy Koris PNG POWER LTD.

Sarah Kuman ALLENS ARTHUR ROBINSON

Peter Lowing LEAHY LEWIN NUTLEY SULLIVAN LAWYERS

Bruce Mackinlay CREDIT & DATA BUREAU LIMITED

Nigel Merrick WARNER SHAND LAWYERS LAE

Vaughan Mills ALLENS ARTHUR ROBINSON

Antonia Nohou PWC PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Lou Pipi NCDC MUNICIPALITY

Ivan Pomaleu IPA

Eduardo Rejano EXPRESS FREIGHT MANAGEMENT

Thomas Tarabu IPA

Alex Tongayu IPA

Hellen White EXPRESS FREIGHT MANAGEMENT

Stuart Wilson LCS ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL CONSTRACTORS

PARAGUAY INFORMCONF SA

SUPERINTENDENCIA DE BANCOS - BCP

Magalí Rodríguez Alcalá BERKEMEYER, ATTORNEYS & COUNSELORS

Perla Alderete VOUGA ABOGADO

Leyla Apud ESTUDIO JURIDICO GROSS BROWN

Enrique Benítez BDO RUBINSZTEIN & GUILLÉN

Hugo T. Berkemeyer BERKEMEYER, ATTORNEYS & COUNSELORS

Luis Alberto Breuer BERKEMEYER, ATTORNEYS & COUNSELORS

Esteban Burt PERONI, SOSA, TELLECHEA, BURT & NARVAJA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Giselle Deiró BERKEMEYER, ATTORNEYS & COUNSELORS

Paolo Doria PERONI, SOSA, TELLECHEA, BURT & NARVAJA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Natalia Enciso Benitez NOTARY PUBLIC

Bruno Fiorio Carrizosa FIORIO, CARDOZO & ALVARADO

Juan Bautista Fiorio Gimenez FIORIO, CARDOZO & ALVARADO

Edgardo Fleitas ABC CONSULTORES

Néstor Gamarra SERVIMEX SACI

Jorge Guillermo Gomez PWC PARAGUAY

Santiago Gomez FERRERE ABOGADOS

Roberto Wilfrido Escobar González NOTARIA DE ROBERTO W. ESCOBAR

Nadia Gorostiaga PWC PARAGUAY

Sigfrido Gross Brown ESTUDIO JURIDICO GROSS BROWN

Carl Gwynn GWYNN & GWYNN - LEGAL COUNSELLORS

Norman Gwynn SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE

Pablo Livieres Guggiari ESTUDIO JURÍDICO LIVIERES GUGGIARI

Nestor Loizaga FERRERE ABOGADOS

Alessandro Molfesi PANALPINA PARAGUAY

Roberto Moreno Rodríguez Alcalá MORENO RUFFINELLI & ASOCIADOS

Natalia Oddone BERKEMEYER, ATTORNEYS & COUNSELORS

Rocío Penayo MORENO RUFFINELLI & ASOCIADOS

Yolanda Pereira BERKEMEYER, ATTORNEYS & COUNSELORS

Raúl H. Pereira de Souza Fleury FIORIO, CARDOZO & ALVARADO

Guadalupe Peroni Mazón

María Antonia Ramírez de Gwynn GWYNN & GWYNN - LEGAL COUNSELLORS

Natalio Rubinsztein BDO RUBINSZTEIN & GUILLÉN

Mauricio Salgueiro VOUGA ABOGADO

Federico Silva FERRERE ABOGADOS

Ruben Taboada PWC PARAGUAY

Carlos Torres SDI SERVICIOS DE INGENIERIA

Ninfa Rolanda Torres de Paredes AGENCIA PAREDES

299ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Ernesto Velázquez-Argaña CENTRAL BANK OF PARAGUAY

Walter Vera VOUGA ABOGADO

Rossana Villalba Hermosa NOTARIA DE ROBERTO W. ESCOBAR

Lia Zanotti-Cavazonni PERONI, SOSA, TELLECHEA, BURT & NARVAJA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

PERU PLFA & CIA ABOGADOS, ASESORES Y CONSULTORES

SUPERINTENDENCY OF BANKING, INSURANCE AND PRIVATE PENSION FUND ADMINISTRATOR

Guillermo Acuña Roeder RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Fanny Aguirre ESTUDIO ALVAREZ CALDERON

Walter Aguirre AGUIRRE ASESORES & ABOGADOS

Marco Antonio Alarcón Piana ESTUDIO LUIS ECHECOPAR GARCÍA SRL

Alfonso Alvarez Calderón ESTUDIO ALVAREZ CALDERON

Luis Alza RUSSELL BEDFORD PERÚ / BARZOLA & ASOCIADOS SC - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Guilhermo Auler FORSYTH ABOGADOS

Macarena Barrios BARRIOS & FUENTES ABOGADOS

Maritza Barzola RUSSELL BEDFORD PERÚ / BARZOLA & ASOCIADOS SC - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Stephany Giovanna Bravo de Rueda Arce RANSA COMERCIAL SA

Jorge Calle RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Alfredo Cardona EXPERIAN PERÚ SAC

Ursula Caro RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Cecilia Catacora ESTUDIO OLAECHEA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Norka Chirinos La Torre SUNARP

Ricardo de la Piedra ESTUDIO OLAECHEA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Roberto de la Torre Aguayo CONUDFI

Pamela Duffy GALLO BARRIOS PICKMANN

Maite Fernández ESTUDIO OLAECHEA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Guillermo Ferrero ESTUDIO FERRERO ABOGADOS

Mariana Franco ESTUDIO FERRERO ABOGADOS

Luis Fuentes BARRIOS & FUENTES ABOGADOS

Alfredo Gastañeta GARCÍA SAYÁN ABOGADOS

Cecilia Guzmán-Barrón GALLO BARRIOS PICKMANN

Carlos Hernández Ladera RANSA COMERCIAL SA

Jose Antonio Honda ESTUDIO OLAECHEA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Diego Huertas del Pino BARRIOS & FUENTES ABOGADOS

César Ballón Izquierdo RANSA COMERCIAL SA

Juan Carlos Leon ADEX

Milagros Maravi Sumar RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Carlos Martínez RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Ricardo Martinez Alvarez EXPERIAN PERÚ SAC

Carlos Martínez Ebell RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Jesús Matos ESTUDIO OLAECHEA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Alejandro Medina SUPERINTENDENCY OF BANKING, INSURANCE AND PRIVATE PENSION FUND ADMINISTRATOR

Cecilia Mercado GAMMA CARGO SAC

Alessandro Mussio ESTUDIO FERRERO ABOGADOS

Ariel Orrego-Villacorta BARRIOS & FUENTES ABOGADOS

Max Panay Cuya SUNARP

Verónica Perea BARRIOS & FUENTES ABOGADOS

Lucianna Polar ESTUDIO OLAECHEA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Maribel Príncipe RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Bruno Marchese Quintana RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Fernando M. Ramos BARRIOS & FUENTES ABOGADOS

Jorge Reategui ESTUDIO FERRERO ABOGADOS

Alonso Rey Bustamante PAYET, REY, CAUVI ABOGADOS

Jose M. Reyes BARRIOS & FUENTES ABOGADOS

Rossana Rodriguez GARCÍA SAYÁN ABOGADOS

Alonso Rojas ESTUDIO OLAECHEA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Erick Rojas CAMARA PERUANA DE LA CONSTRUCCION

Emil Ruppert RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Carolina Sáenz Llanos RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Carolina Salcedo ESTUDIO MUÑIZ, RAMIREZ, PEREZ-TAIMAN & OLAYA

Adolfo Sanabria Mercado GARCÍA SAYÁN ABOGADOS

Arturo Ruiz Sanchez RUBIO LEGUÍA NORMAND

Raúl Sanchez BARRIOS & FUENTES ABOGADOS

Victor Scarsi LUZ DEL SUR

Martin Serkovic ESTUDIO OLAECHEA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Hugo Silva RODRIGO, ELÍAS, MEDRANO ABOGADOS

Ricardo P. Silva ESTUDIO MUÑIZ, RAMIREZ, PEREZ-TAIMAN & OLAYA

Mario Solari Zerpa SUNARP

Gina Uscata Barrenechea RANSA COMERCIAL SA

Jack Vainstein VAINSTEIN & INGENIEROS SA

Mariella Vilela Guevara SUNARP

Manuel Villa-García ESTUDIO OLAECHEA, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Rafael Villaran ESTUDIO LUIS ECHECOPAR GARCÍA SRL

Agustín Yrigoyen GARCÍA SAYÁN ABOGADOS

Laura Zuñiga PAYET, REY, CAUVI ABOGADOS

Heidy Zuzunaga AGUIRRE ASESORES & ABOGADOS

PHILIPPINES DBO

MANILA WATER COMPANY, INC.

MAYNILAD WATER SERVICES, INC.

Ma Christina Abalos DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OF THE PHILIPPINES

Gerard Aguirre BDO LEASING & FINANCE INC

Arveen Agunday CASTILLO LAMAN TAN PANTALEON & SAN JOSE

Jose Aquino SEC – DEPARTMENT OF INVESTORS PROTECTION

Joanne Babon FOLLOSCO MORALLOS & HERCE

Manuel Batallones BAP CREDIT BUREAU, INC.

Vera Marie Bautista SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Jose A. Bernas BERNAS LAW

Pearl Grace Cabali PUYAT JACINTO SANTOS LAW OFFICE

Erlida Cabatic SEC

Justina Callangan SEC – DEPARTMENT OF INVESTORS PROTECTION

Ruben Gerald Capones SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Jon Edmarc Castillo SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Joseph Omar A. Castillo PUYAT JACINTO SANTOS LAW OFFICE

Kenneth L. Chua QUISUMBING TORRES, MEMBER FIRM OF BAKER & MCKENZIE INTERNATIONAL

Juan Paolo Colet CASTILLO LAMAN TAN PANTALEON & SAN JOSE

Aristotle Cristobal LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF QUEZON CITY

Arnaldo L. Cruz CREDIT INFORMATION CORPORATION

Emerico O. de Guzman ANGARA ABELLO CONCEPCION REGALA & CRUZ LAW OFFICES (ACCRALAW)

Emilio S. De Quiros Jr. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM

Anthony Dee SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Kennedy Diokno LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF QUEZON CITY

Redel Domingo MERALCO

Teddy Esteban F. Rigoroso RIGOROSO, GALINDEZ & RABINO LAW OFFICES

Rachel Follosco FOLLOSCO MORALLOS & HERCE

Florida Fomaneg ISLA LIPANA & CO.

Antonieta Fortuna-Ibe SEC

Catherine Franco QUISUMBING TORRES, MEMBER FIRM OF BAKER & MCKENZIE INTERNATIONAL

Pablito Lito Freo POWERLOOPS

Enrique Galang CASTILLO LAMAN TAN PANTALEON & SAN JOSE

Gilberto Gallos ANGARA ABELLO CONCEPCION REGALA & CRUZ LAW OFFICES (ACCRALAW)

Jaime P. Garchitorena CREDIT INFORMATION CORPORATION

Geraldine S. Garcia FOLLOSCO MORALLOS & HERCE

Marta Luisa B. Garcia-Morera ANGARA ABELLO CONCEPCION REGALA & CRUZ LAW OFFICES (ACCRALAW)

Andres Gatmaitan SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Jose Amado Genilo III GENILO & PARTNERS LAW OFFICES

Victor Genuino MERALCO

Vicente Gerochi SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Arvin Philip Gotladera LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF QUEZON CITY

Mary Grace Morales-Joboco PUNONGBAYAN & ARAULLO

Tadeo F. Hilado ANGARA ABELLO CONCEPCION REGALA & CRUZ LAW OFFICES (ACCRALAW)

Reynald Paul Imjada LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF QUEZON CITY

Nancy Joan M. Javier JAVIER LAW

Benito Jose L. de los Santos LAW FIRM OF A.B. SALUMBIDES

Salma Kuhutan PUYAT JACINTO SANTOS LAW OFFICE

Leo Labco PANALPINA WORLD TRANSPORT LLP

Carina Laforteza SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Earla Kahlila Langit SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Hiyasmin Lapitan SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Francisco Ed. Lim ANGARA ABELLO CONCEPCION REGALA & CRUZ LAW OFFICES (ACCRALAW)

Timothy Lim ROMULO, MABANTA, BUENAVENTURA, SAYOC & DE LOS ANGELES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ronald Mark Lleno SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Roberto Locsin INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINAL SERVICES, INC.

Eleanor Lucas Roque PUNONGBAYAN & ARAULLO

Herbert M. Bautista LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF QUEZON CITY

Araceli Macabalo SECURITY BANK SAVINGS

Myra Mallari SEC

Joel A. Mañacop MAÑACOP LAW OFFICE

Katrina Michelle Mancao QUASHA ANCHETA PENA & NOLASCO

Yolanda Mendoza-Eleazar CASTILLO LAMAN TAN PANTALEON & SAN JOSE

Maria Teresa Mercado-Ferrer SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Marianne Miguel SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Jesusito G. Morallos FOLLOSCO MORALLOS & HERCE

Freddie Naagas SCM CREATIVE CONCEPTS INC.

Ronald Ortile LAND REGISTRATION ADMINISTRATION AUTHORITY

Maria Christina Ortua SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN

Joselito A. Pineda LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF QUEZON CITY

DOING BUSINESS 2015300

Maybellyn Pinpin ISLA LIPANA & CO.

Mikkel Puyat INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINAL SERVICES, INC.

Senen Quizon PUNONGBAYAN & ARAULLO

Revelino Rabaja ISLA LIPANA & CO.

Ethel Regiado LAND REGISTRATION ADMINISTRATION AUTHORITY

Elaine Patricia S. Reyes-Rodolfo ANGARA ABELLO CONCEPCION REGALA & CRUZ LAW OFFICES (ACCRALAW)

Ruben Gerald Ricasata PUYAT JACINTO SANTOS LAW OFFICE

Ricardo J. Romulo ROMULO, MABANTA, BUENAVENTURA, SAYOC & DE LOS ANGELES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Patrick Henry Salazar QUISUMBING TORRES, MEMBER FIRM OF BAKER & MCKENZIE INTERNATIONAL

Ferdinand Sales SEC

Rowena Fatima Salonga PUYAT JACINTO SANTOS LAW OFFICE

Neptali Salvanera ANGARA ABELLO CONCEPCION REGALA & CRUZ LAW OFFICES (ACCRALAW)

Froilan Savet MERALCO

Antonio Jr. Serrano FOLLOSCO MORALLOS & HERCE

Abigail D. Sese CASTILLO LAMAN TAN PANTALEON & SAN JOSE

Hans B. Sicat THE PHILIPPINE STOCK EXCHANGE, INC.

Richmund Sta Lucia BAKER & MCKENZIE

Felix Sy BAKER & MCKENZIE

Geronimo Sy DEAPRTMENT OF JUSTICE OF THE PHILIPPINES

Maria Christina Sy BANCO DE ORO

Nora Terrado DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Amando Tetangco Jr. BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS

Steffen Treiber PANALPINA WORLD TRANSPORT LLP

Roland Glenn T. Tuazon ROMULO, MABANTA, BUENAVENTURA, SAYOC & DE LOS ANGELES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Priscela Verzonilla LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF QUEZON CITY

Virginia B. Viray PUYAT JACINTO SANTOS LAW OFFICE

Peter Young INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINAL SERVICES, INC.

Roselle Yu ISLA LIPANA & CO.

Oliver S. Yuan YUAN & ASSOCIATES LAW FIRM

Redentor C. Zapata QUASHA ANCHETA PENA & NOLASCO

Gil Roberto Zerrudo QUISUMBING TORRES, MEMBER FIRM OF BAKER & MCKENZIE INTERNATIONAL

POLAND BANK ZACHODNI WBK SA

BUSINESS & LAW BLOG

ENERGY REGULATORY OFFICE

PWC POLAND

Michał Anastasiu KANCELARIA PRAWA GOSPODARCZEGO I EKOLOGICZNEGO DR BARTOSZ DRANIEWICZ

Celestyna Bargańska WINDMILL GĄSIEWSKI & ROMAN LAW OFFICE

Michał Barłowski WARDYŃSKI & PARTNERS

Michal Białobrzeski HOGAN LOVELLS (WARSZAWA) LLP

Katarzyna Bilewska DENTONS

Urszula Brzezińska BLACKSTONES

Joanna Bugajska JAMP

Mariusz Cholewa BIURO INFORMACJI KREDYTOWEJ SA

Krzysztof Ciepliński GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL POLAND WARSAW

Tomasz Czech RAIFFEISEN BANK POLSKA SA

Michał Dąbrowski MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Tomasz Dąbrowski MINISTRY OF ECONOMY

Andrzej Dmowski RUSSELL BEDFORD DZO SP. Z O.O. - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Bartosz Draniewicz KANCELARIA PRAWA GOSPODARCZEGO I EKOLOGICZNEGO DR BARTOSZ DRANIEWICZ

Anna Drozd MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Edyta Dubikowska SQUIRE SANDERS ŚWIĘCICKI KRZEŚNIAK SP.K.

Rafal Dziedzic GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL POLAND WARSAW

Marek Firlej MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Jan Furtas CRIDO TAXAND

Jan Gawąd AGS GAWĄD

Rafał Godlewski WARDYŃSKI & PARTNERS

Amelia Górniak CRIDO TAXAND

Jaromir Grabowski WOJEWÒDZKI INSPEKTORAT NADZORU BUDOWLANEGO W WARSZAWIE

Piotr Graczyk RACZKOWSKI I WSPÓLNICY SP.K.

Dominik Gruca WINDMILL GĄSIEWSKI & ROMAN LAW OFFICE

Andrzej Grześkiewicz GRIDNET

Monika Hartung WARDYŃSKI & PARTNERS

Mariusz Hildebrand BIG INFOMONITOR SA

Łukasz Iwański ERGONOMIX

Justyna Jamroży CHADBOURNE & PARKE LLP

Marcin Kamola DEEPWATER CONTAINER TERMINAL GDAŃSK

Mariusz Każuch MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Katarzyna Kopyłowska DLA PIPER WIATER SP.K.

Olga Koszewska CHADBOURNE & PARKE LLP

Ewa Łachowska - Brol WIERZBOWSKI EVERSHEDS, MEMBER OF EVERSHEDS INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Magdalena Laskowska HOGAN LOVELLS (WARSZAWA) LLP

Pawel Leszoski BIG INFOMONITOR SA

Konrad Piotr Lewandowski MAURICE WARD & CO. SP.Z.O.O.

Agnieszka Lisiecka WARDYŃSKI & PARTNERS

Mariusz Lorencki

Paweł Ludwiniak ELTECH

Jarosław Malicki RWE STOEN OPERATOR SP.

Agnieszka Marzec BIURO INFORMACJI KREDYTOWEJ SA

Pawel Meuse GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL POLAND WARSAW

Tomasz Michalak MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Tomasz Michalik MDDP MICHALIK DŁUSKA DZIEDZIC I PARTNERZY

Michal Niemirowicz-Szczytt BNT NEUPERT ZAMORSKA & PARTNERZY SP.J.

Joanna Nowakowska-Drapała NOTARIAT POLSKI

Filip Opoka DLA PIPER WIATER SP.K.

Łukasz Piebiak MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Tomasz Pietrzak HOGAN LOVELLS (WARSZAWA) LLP

Michał Pietuszko DLA PIPER WIATER SP.K.

Kamilla Piotrowska-Król TERRAMAR LTD.

Adrian Praczuk MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Andrzej Puncewicz CRIDO TAXAND

Bartłomiej Raczkowski BARTŁOMIEJ RACZKOWSKI KANCELARIA PRAWA PRACY

Andrzej Rogowski NAPRAWA KABLI ENERGETYCZNYCH ANDRZEJ ROGOWSKI

Piotr Sadownik GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL POLAND WARSAW

Katarzyna Sarek RACZKOWSKI I WSPÓLNICY SP.K.

Zbigniew Skórczyński CHADBOURNE & PARKE LLP

Marek Sosnowski GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL POLAND WARSAW

Michał Steinhagen WARDYŃSKI & PARTNERS

Ewelina Stobiecka TAYLOR WESSING, E|N|V|C

Michal Suska ERGONOMIX

Peter Święcicki SQUIRE SANDERS ŚWIĘCICKI KRZEŚNIAK SP.K.

Emil Szczepanik

Łukasz Szegda WARDYŃSKI & PARTNERS

Maciej Szwedowski SQUIRE SANDERS ŚWIĘCICKI KRZEŚNIAK SP.K.

Anna Tarasiuk-Flodrowska HOGAN LOVELLS (WARSZAWA) LLP

Dariusz Tokarczuk GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL POLAND WARSAW

Ryszard Trykosko POLISH ASSOCIATION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

Dominika Wagrodzka BNT NEUPERT ZAMORSKA & PARTNERZY SP.J.

Dariusz Wasylkowski WARDYŃSKI & PARTNERS

Maciej Wesołowski DLA PIPER WIATER SP.K.

Robert Windmill WINDMILL GĄSIEWSKI & ROMAN LAW OFFICE

Steven Wood BLACKSTONES

Agata Małgorzata Zakrzewska WINDMILL GĄSIEWSKI & ROMAN LAW OFFICE

Cezary Zalewski

Małgorzata Zamorska BNT NEUPERT ZAMORSKA & PARTNERZY SP.J.

Grazyna Zaremba RUSSELL BEDFORD DZO SP. Z O.O. - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Adam Żołnowski DEEPWATER CONTAINER TERMINAL GDAŃSK

Sylwester Żydowicz TAYLOR WESSING, E|N|V|C

PORTUGAL CREDINFORMAÇÕES - EQUIFAX

Victor Abrantes

Maria Isabel Abreu POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE OF BRAGANÇA

Luis Filipe Aguiar BANCO DE PORTUGAL

Anabela Aguilar Salvado PEDRO RAPOSO & ASSOCIADOS

Bruno Andrade Alves PWC PORTUGAL

Natália Garcia Alves ABREU ADVOGADOS

Nuno Alves Mansilha MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Joana Andrade Correia RAPOSO BERNARDO & ASSOCIADOS

Filipa Arantes Pedroso MORAIS LEITÃO, GALVÃO TELES, SOARES DA SILVA & ASSOCIADOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

João Banza PWC PORTUGAL

Mark Bekker BEKKER LOGISTICA

João Cadete de Matos BANCO DE PORTUGAL

Vitor Campos NATIONAL LABORATORY FOR CIVI ENGINEERING - LNEC

Rui Capote PLEN - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS, RL

Fernando Cardoso da Cunha GALI MACEDO & ASSOCIADOS

Tiago Castanheira Marques ABREU ADVOGADOS

Susana Cebola INSTITUTO DOS REGISTOS E DO NOTARIADO

Joaquim Correia Teixeira EDP DISTRIBUIÇÃO - ENERGIA, SA

Cristina Dein DEIN ADVOGADOS

João Duarte de Sousa GARRIGUES PORTUGAL SLP - SUCURSAL

Jaime Esteves PWC PORTUGAL

Sofia Ferreira Enriquez RAPOSO BERNARDO & ASSOCIADOS

Ana Filipa Ribeiro PWC PORTUGAL

Tereza Garcia André MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Rui Gloria TOCHA, CHAVES & ASSOCIADOS, SROC - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Inês Godinho GÓMEZ-ACEBO & POMBO ABOGADOS, SLP SUCURSAL EM PORTUGAL

Nuno Pimentel Gomes PLMJ – SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS, RL

301ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Nuno Gundar da Cruz MORAIS LEITÃO, GALVÃO TELES, SOARES DA SILVA & ASSOCIADOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Paulo Henriques P. HENRIQUES - CONSULTORIA, LDA

Tiago Lemos PLEN - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS, RL

Jorge Pedro Lopes POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE OF BRAGANÇA

Tiago Gali Macedo GALI MACEDO & ASSOCIADOS

Ana Margarida Maia MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Miguel Marques dos Santos GARRIGUES PORTUGAL SLP - SUCURSAL

Isabel Martínez de Salas GARRIGUES PORTUGAL SLP - SUCURSAL

Bruna Melo PWC PORTUGAL

Susana Melo GRANT THORNTON LLP

Joaquim Luis Mendes GRANT THORNTON LLP

José Carlos Monteiro TOCHA, CHAVES & ASSOCIADOS, SROC - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Andreia Morins PWC PORTUGAL

João Moucheira INSTITUTO DOS REGISTOS E DO NOTARIADO

Rodrigo Natanael Costa PWC PORTUGAL

Ines Neves dos Santos ABREU ADVOGADOS

Vânia Nicolau PEDRO RAPOSO & ASSOCIADOS

Rita Nogueira Neto GARRIGUES PORTUGAL SLP - SUCURSAL

Catarina Nunes PWC PORTUGAL

Vitorino Oliveira INSTITUTO DOS REGISTOS E DO NOTARIADO

Eduardo Paulino MORAIS LEITÃO, GALVÃO TELES, SOARES DA SILVA & ASSOCIADOS, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

João Branco Pedro NATIONAL LABORATORY FOR CIVI ENGINEERING - LNEC

Rui Peixoto Duarte ABREU ADVOGADOS

Pedro Pereira Coutinho GARRIGUES PORTUGAL SLP - SUCURSAL

António Luís Pereira Figueiredo INSTITUTO DOS REGISTOS E DO NOTARIADO

Frederica Pinto RAPOSO BERNARDO & ASSOCIADOS

Andreia Pires Prazeres PWC PORTUGAL

Acácio Pita Negrão PLEN - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS, RL

Margarida Ramalho ASSOCIAÇÃO DE EMPRESAS DE CONSTRUÇÃO, OBRAS PÚBLICAS E SERVIÇOS

Ana Cláudia Rangel RAPOSO BERNARDO & ASSOCIADOS

Nelson Raposo Bernardo RAPOSO BERNARDO & ASSOCIADOS

Pedro Reis e Silva PEDRO RAPOSO & ASSOCIADOS

Maria João Ricou CUATRECASAS, GONÇALVES PEREIRA

Filomena Rosa INSTITUTO DOS REGISTOS E DO NOTARIADO

Pedro Santos GRANT THORNTON LLP

Vanessa Santos GÓMEZ-ACEBO & POMBO ABOGADOS, SLP SUCURSAL EM PORTUGAL

Filipe Santos Barata GÓMEZ-ACEBO & POMBO ABOGADOS, SLP SUCURSAL EM PORTUGAL

Susana Santos Valente PEDRO RAPOSO & ASSOCIADOS

Lora Seita PEDRO RAPOSO & ASSOCIADOS

Cristina Serrazina PEDRO RAPOSO & ASSOCIADOS

Ana Sofia Silva CUATRECASAS, GONÇALVES PEREIRA

Rui Silva PWC PORTUGAL

Luís Filipe Sousa PWC PORTUGAL

Carmo Sousa Machado ABREU ADVOGADOS

Rui Souto PEDRO RAPOSO & ASSOCIADOS

Nuno Telleria BARROS, SOBRAL, G. GOMES & ASSOCIADOS

Ricardo Veloso GPA - GOUVEIA PEREIRA, COSTA FREITAS & ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

PUERTO RICO (U.S.) TRANSUNION DE PUERTO RICO

Viviana Aguilu PWC PUERTO RICO

Alfredo Alvarez-Ibañez O’NEILL & BORGES

Salvador Antonetti O’NEILL & BORGES

Juan Aquino O’NEILL & BORGES

Antonio A. Arias-Larcada MCCONNELL VALDÉS LLC

Carlos Baralt O’NEILL & BORGES

Hermann Bauer O’NEILL & BORGES

Nikos Buxeda Ferrer ADSUAR MUÑIZ GOYCO SEDA & PÉREZ-OCHOA, PSC

Jorge Capó Matos O’NEILL & BORGES

Solymar Castillo-Morales GOLDMAN ANTONETTI & CÓRDOVA PSC

Samuel Céspedes Jr. MCCONNELL VALDÉS LLC

Odemaris Chacon WILLIAM ESTRELLA | ATTORNEYS & COUNSELORS

Walter F. Chow O’NEILL & BORGES

Manuel De Lemos MANUEL DE LEMOS AIA ARQUITECTOS

Miguel Del Rio DEL RIO ARQUITECTOS

Antonio Escudero MCCONNELL VALDÉS LLC

Alfonso Fernandez IVYPORT LOGISTICAL SERVICES INC.

Ubaldo Fernandez O’NEILL & BORGES

Julio A. Galíndez FPV & GALÍNDEZ CPAS, PSC - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Paul Hammer WILLIAM ESTRELLA | ATTORNEYS & COUNSELORS

Pedro Janer CMA ARCHITECTS & ENGINEERS LLP

Jerry Marrero O’NEILL & BORGES

Oscar O. Meléndez-Sauri MALLEY TAMARGO & MELÉNDEZ-SAURI, LLC

Antonio Molina PIETRANTONI MÉNDEZ & ALVAREZ LLP

Luis Mongil-Casasnovas MARTINEZ ODELL & CALABRIA

Jose Morales JAM CARGO SALES INC.

Isis Perez O’NEILL & BORGES

Marta Ramirez O’NEILL & BORGES

Thelma Rivera GOLDMAN ANTONETTI & CÓRDOVA PSC

Kenneth Rivera-Roles FPV & GALÍNDEZ CPAS, PSC - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Victor Rodriguez MULTITRANSPORT & MARINE CO.

Victor Rodriguez PWC PUERTO RICO

Lourdes Rodriguez-Morera IMMIGRATION STRATEGIES PA

Edgardo Rosa-Ortiz FPV & GALÍNDEZ CPAS, PSC - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Jorge M. Ruiz Montilla MCCONNELL VALDÉS LLC

Patricia Salichs-Rosselló MCCONNELL VALDÉS LLC

Jaime Santos PIETRANTONI MÉNDEZ & ALVAREZ LLP

Christian Sobrino PIETRANTONI MÉNDEZ & ALVAREZ LLP

Eduardo Tamargo MALLEY TAMARGO & MELÉNDEZ-SAURI, LLC

Joseph Vergara O’NEILL & BORGES

Raúl Vidal y Sepúlveda OMNIA ECONOMIC SOLUTIONS LLC

Travis Wheatley O’NEILL & BORGES

Nayuan Zouairabani O’NEILL & BORGES

QATAR ALLEN & OVERY

BADRI AND SALIM EL MEOUCHI LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF INTERLEGES

MAERSK QATAR MARITIME SERVICES

Hani Al Naddaf AL TAMIMI & COMPANY ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Rashed Albuflasa NOBLE GLOBAL LOGISTICS

Ahmed Bin Khalid Al-Thani QATAR CREDIT BUREAU

Maryam Bint Khalifa Al-Thani QATAR CREDIT BUREAU

Dina Al-Wahabit AL TAMIMI & COMPANY ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Jason Arnedo NOBLE GLOBAL LOGISTICS

Karim El Gebaily TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Fouad El Haddad LALIVE LLC

Karim Hamdy SULTAN AL-ABDULLA & PARTNERS

Conan Higgins TSI LEGAL ENTERPRISES, PC

Rafiq Jaffer AL TAMIMI & COMPANY ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Kristen M. Jarvis Johnson PATTON BOGGS LLP

Upuli Kasthuriarachchi PWC QATAR

Pradeep Kumar DIAMOND SHIPPING SERVICES

Frank Lucente AL TAMIMI & COMPANY ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Zaher Nammour DENTONS

Sujani Nisansala PWC QATAR

Neil O’Brien PWC QATAR

Michael Palmer PATTON BOGGS LLP

Sony Pereira NATIONAL SHIPPING AND MARINE SERVICES COMPANY WLL

Mohamed Riaz SULTAN AL-ABDULLA & PARTNERS

Marie-Anne Roberty-Jabbour LALIVE LLC

Sohaib Rubbani PWC QATAR

Zain Al Abdin Sharar QATAR FINANCIAL MARKETS AUTHORITY (QFMA)

Yuenping Wong AL TAMIMI & COMPANY ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

ROMANIA Adelina Anghel GEBRUEDER WEISS ROMANIA SRL

Cosmin Anghel CLIFFORD CHANCE BADEA SCA

Mihai Anghel ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Gabriela Anton ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Andrei Badiu 3B EXPERT AUDIT - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Georgiana Balan D&B DAVID ŞI BAIAS LAW FIRM

Florina Balanescu ENEL

Ioana Bălu ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Irina Elena Bănică POP PEPA SCA ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Iulian Berbece POP PEPA SCA ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Monica Biciusca ANGHEL STABB & PARTNERS

Paula Boteanu DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Sandra Cahu DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Maria Cambien PWC ROMANIA

Ioana Cercel D&B DAVID ŞI BAIAS LAW FIRM

Ioan Chiper STOICA & ASOCIAŢII - SOCIETATE CIVILĂ DE AVOCAŢI

Alin Chitu ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Crina Ciobanu MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII

Mariana Ciocoiu MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Veronica Cocârlea MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Valentin Cocean DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Raluca Coman CLIFFORD CHANCE BADEA SCA

Anamaria Corbescu SALANS FMC SNR DENTON EUROPE – TODOR SI ASOCIATII SCA

Oana Cornescu ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Alexandru Cretu ZAMFIRESCU RACOŢI & PARTNERS ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

DOING BUSINESS 2015302

Sergius Creţu ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Tiberiu Csaki SALANS FMC SNR DENTON EUROPE – TODOR SI ASOCIATII SCA

Radu Damaschin NESTOR NESTOR DICULESCU KINGSTON PETERSEN

Anca Danilescu ZAMFIRESCU RACOŢI & PARTNERS ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Dan Dascalu D&B DAVID ŞI BAIAS LAW FIRM

Adrian Deaconu TAXHOUSE SRL

Oana Diaconu MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Luminita Dima NESTOR NESTOR DICULESCU KINGSTON PETERSEN

Diana Dimitriu RADU TĂRĂCILĂ PĂDURARI RETEVOESCU SPRL IN ASSOCIATION WITH ALLEN & OVERY

Livia Dinu ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Madalina Dobre D&B DAVID ŞI BAIAS LAW FIRM

Rodica Dobre PWC ROMANIA

Monia Dobrescu MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII

Ion Dragulin NATIONAL BANK OF ROMANIA

Panagiotis Drakopoulos DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Laura Adina Duca NESTOR NESTOR DICULESCU KINGSTON PETERSEN

Alina Dumitrascu CABINET CONSULTANTA ECONOMICA MERCESCU

Geanina Dumitru ENEL (FORMER ELECTRICA MUNTENIA SUD)

Lidia Dutu DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Oana Dutu-Buzura DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Serban Epure BIROUL DE CREDIT

Georgiana Evi CLIFFORD CHANCE BADEA SCA

Sonia Fedorovici MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Iulia Ferăstrău-Grigore MARAVELA & ASOCIAȚII

Adriana Gaspar NESTOR NESTOR DICULESCU KINGSTON PETERSEN

Monica Georgiadis DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Laurentiu Gorun DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Daniela Gramaticescu NESTOR NESTOR DICULESCU KINGSTON PETERSEN

Adina Grosu SALANS FMC SNR DENTON EUROPE – TODOR SI ASOCIATII SCA

Argentina Hincu SALANS FMC SNR DENTON EUROPE – TODOR SI ASOCIATII SCA

Ana-Maria Hrituc SULICA PROTOPOPESCU VONICA

Camelia Iantuc CLIFFORD CHANCE BADEA SCA

Alexandra Ichim MARAVELA & ASOCIAȚII

Ilinca Iliescu RADU TĂRĂCILĂ PĂDURARI RETEVOESCU SPRL IN ASSOCIATION WITH ALLEN & OVERY

Diana Emanuela Ispas NESTOR NESTOR DICULESCU KINGSTON PETERSEN

Horia Ispas ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Madalina Ivan ZAMFIRESCU RACOŢI & PARTNERS ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Mihai Jelea EVERSHEDS LINA & GUIA SCA

Andreea Roxana Lepadatu SALANS FMC SNR DENTON EUROPE – TODOR SI ASOCIATII SCA

Cristian Lina EVERSHEDS LINA & GUIA SCA

Edita Lovin RETIRED JUDGE OF ROMANIAN SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE

Bogdan Lucan DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Smaranda Mandrescu POP PEPA SCA ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Dumitru Viorel Manescu NATIONAL UNION OF CIVIL LAW NOTARIES OF ROMANIA

Gelu Titus Maravela MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Carmen Medar D&B DAVID ŞI BAIAS LAW FIRM

Vlad Meraru PWC ROMANIA

Mariana Mercescu CABINET CONSULTANTA ECONOMICA MERCESCU

Mirela Metea MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Maria Cristina Metelet POP PEPA SCA ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Cătălina Mihăilescu ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Florian Mihalce SC ELECTRICA SA

Ana Mirea CLIFFORD CHANCE BADEA SCA

Mihaela Mitroi PWC ROMANIA

Geanina Moraru CLIFFORD CHANCE BADEA SCA

Mona Musat MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII

Carmen Năstase ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Adriana Neagoe NATIONAL BANK OF ROMANIA

Larisa Negoias DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Manuela Marina Nestor NESTOR NESTOR DICULESCU KINGSTON PETERSEN

Alexandru Oană MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Andrei Ormenean MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII

Delia Paceagiu NESTOR NESTOR DICULESCU KINGSTON PETERSEN

Ariana Elena Pantea JINGA & ASOCIAŢII

Mircea Parvu SCPA PARVU SI ASOCIATII

Marius Pătrăşcanu MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Laurentiu Petre SĂVESCU & ASOCIAŢII

Alina Pintica ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Ana Maria Placintescu MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII

Carolina Pletniuc LINA & GUIA SCA

Claudiu Pop POP PEPA SCA ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Alina Elena Popescu MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Iulian Popescu MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII

Mariana Popescu NATIONAL BANK OF ROMANIA

Tiberiu Potyesz BITRANS LTD.

Olga Preda POP PEPA SCA ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Elena Preotescu DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Sebastian Radocea ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Cristian Radu ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Laura Radu STOICA & ASOCIAŢII - SOCIETATE CIVILĂ DE AVOCAŢI

Bogdan Riti MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII

Angela Rosca TAXHOUSE SRL

Adrian Roseti DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Adrian Rotaru CLIFFORD CHANCE BADEA SCA

Raluca Sanucean ŢUCA ZBÂRCEA & ASOCIAŢII

Daniel Sava DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Andrei Săvescu SĂVESCU & ASOCIAŢII

Alina Solschi MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII

Oana Soviani SALANS FMC SNR DENTON EUROPE – TODOR SI ASOCIATII SCA

David Stabb ANGHEL STABB & PARTNERS

Claudiu Stan DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Lorena Stanciulescu LAW OFFICES LORENA STANCIULESCU

Ionut Stancu NESTOR NESTOR DICULESCU KINGSTON PETERSEN

Sorin Corneliu Stratula STRATULA MOCANU & ASOCIATII

Cătălina Sucaciu MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Miruna Suciu MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII

Ruxandra Talpan DRAKOPOULOS LAW FIRM

Ruxandra Tarlescu PWC ROMANIA

Amelia Teis D&B DAVID ŞI BAIAS LAW FIRM

Florin Tineghe DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Laura Tiuca SALANS FMC SNR DENTON EUROPE – TODOR SI ASOCIATII SCA

Florina Toma DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Andra Trantea DLA PIPER DINU SCA

Ada Ţucă MARAVELA & ASOCIAŢII

Anca Maria Ulea MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII

Tatiana Urimescu NATIONAL UNION OF CIVIL LAW NOTARIES OF ROMANIA

Cristina Vedel POP PEPA SCA ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

RUSSIAN FEDERATION BADIS

GREENWAY

KPMG RUSSIA

Michail Abramov FEDERAL SERVICE FOR STATE REGISTRATION CADASTRE AND CARTOGRAPHY

Elena Agaeva EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Julia Andreeva CAPITAL LEGAL SERVICES LLC

Anatoly E. Andriash NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT (CENTRAL EUROPE) LLP

Aleksandr Androsov MOSENERGOSBYT

Elena Anisimova CAPITAL LEGAL SERVICES LLC

Irina Anyukhina ALRUD LAW FIRM

Stefan Bakh PUBLISHING HOUSE CUSTOMS TERMINALS

Konstantin Baranov CMS LEGAL

Maria Baranovskaya HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS CIS LLP

Andrey Belykh BANK SAINT PETERSBURG

Egor Bogdanov GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Julia Borozdna PEPELIAEV GROUP

Thomas Brand BRAND & PARTNER

Ilya Bulgakov DLA PIPER RUS LIMITED

Ekaterina Buzina RUSSIN & VECCHI

Maria Bykovskaya GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Dmitry Churin CAPITAL LEGAL SERVICES LLC

David Cranfield CMS LEGAL

Marina Dmitrieva DLA PIPER RUS LIMITED

Olga Duchenko KACHKIN & PARTNERS

Vasina Ekaterina ALRUD LAW FIRM

Gleb Fayzullaev PWC RUSSIA

Liliya Gaynullina LEVINE BRIDGE

Roman Goldberg

Vladimir Gorbunov TSDS GROUP OF COMPANIES

Lidia Gorshkova PEPELIAEV GROUP

Robert Gurdyumov HELLEVIG, KLEIN & USOV

Andrey Ignatenko MORGAN LEWIS

Ekaterina Ilina DS LAW

Armen Isaakyan TRANSAS

Roman Ishbulatov CAPITAL LEGAL SERVICES LLC

Roman Ishmukhametov BAKER & MCKENZIE

Maria Ivakina ALRUD LAW FIRM

Ivan Ivanov FINEC

Maxim Kalinin BAKER & MCKENZIE

Diana Kalyaeva PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS RUSSIA BV

Alexey Karchiomov EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Mitrofan Karpekin BANK SAINT PETERSBURG

Pavel Karpunin CAPITAL LEGAL SERVICES LLC

Ekaterina Karunets BAKER & MCKENZIE - CIS, LIMITED

Pavel Karusev PEPELIAEV GROUP

Denis Kazantsev MOSENERGOSBYT

Evgeny Khazanov ROLLSTANDARD

Alexander Khretinin HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS CIS LLP

Snezhana Kitaeva LENENERGO

Alexander Klochkov DLA PIPER RUS LIMITED

Elena Klyuchareva DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP

Olga Klyzhenko WHITE & CASE

303ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Vadim Kolomnikov DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP

Anastasia Konovalova NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT (CENTRAL EUROPE) LLP

Alexander Korkin PEPELIAEV GROUP

Sergey Korolyov EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Ilya Kotov ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW BORENIUS

Vadim Kovalyov CAPITAL LEGAL SERVICES LLC

Oksana Kozhevnikova CAPITAL LEGAL SERVICES LLC

Alyona Kozyreva NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT (CENTRAL EUROPE) LLP

Natalia Kruglova

Artem Kukin INFRALEX LAW FIRM

Dmitry Kunitsa MORGAN LEWIS

David Lasfargue GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Sergei Lee CASTRÉN & SNELLMAN INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Elena Legashova EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Sergey Logunov CMS LEGAL

Maxim Losik CASTREN & SNELLMAN INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Stepan Lubavsky FINEC

Sergey Lubimov DLA PIPER RUS LIMITED

Dmitry Lyakhov RUSSIN & VECCHI

Igor N. Makarov BAKER & MCKENZIE - CIS, LIMITED

Grigory Marinichev MORGAN LEWIS

Igor Marmalidi PEPELIAEV GROUP

Anna Maximenko DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP

Olga Mazur BAKER & MCKENZIE

Andrei Mikhailov HOUGH TROFIMOV & PARTNERS

Anastasia Mikhailova MORGAN LEWIS

Elena Morozova EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Dmitry Nekrestyanov KACHKIN & PARTNERS

Tatyana Neveeva EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Natalie Neverovskaya UNICOMLEGAL RUSSIA

Alexey Nikitin BORENIUS ATTORNEYS AT LAW

Elena Novikova ALRUD LAW FIRM

Egor Viktorovich Novoselov MOESK

Gennady Odarich PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS RUSSIA BV

Elena Ogawa LEVINE BRIDGE

Reena Ohri GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ekaterina Palagina WHITE & CASE

Aleksandr Panarin LOGISTIC SERVICE

Svetlana Panfilova DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP

Sergey Parinov RUSSIN & VECCHI

Roman Perekhodov TRANSAS

Eugene Perkunov HOGAN LOVELLS

Yulia Petrakova ALRUD LAW FIRM

Maya Petrova BORENIUS ATTORNEYS AT LAW

Daria Plotnikova WHITE & CASE LLC

Anton Poddubny ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW BORENIUS

Gulnara Ponomarenko ZENITH BANK

Svetlana Prokopenko RECHT & PARTNER

Ivan Rossokhin CMS LEGAL

Alexander Rostovsky CASTREN & SNELLMAN INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Jonathan Russin RUSSIN & VECCHI

Natalia Ryasina DS LAW

Anna Rybalko DELOITTE & TOUCHE CIS

Kirill Saskov KACHKIN & PARTNERS

Alexei Shcherbakov TSDS GROUP OF COMPANIES

Roman Anatolyevich Shcherbakov MOESK

Yulia Aleksandrovna Shirokova MOESK

Victoria Sivachenko ALRUD LAW FIRM

Inga Skvortsova LAW FIRM CLIFF

Vladislav Smirnov DELOITTE & TOUCHE CIS

Julia Solomkina LEVINE BRIDGE

Ksenia Soloschenko CASTRÉN & SNELLMAN INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Alexandra Stelmakh EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Anna Stroeva INFRALEX LAW FIRM

Ivetta Tchistiakova-Berd GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Evgenia Teterevkova ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW BORENIUS

Alexander Tikhov NATIONAL CONTAINER COMPANY

Pavel Timofeev HANNES SNELLMAN LLC

Ilya Titov HOUGH TROFIMOV & PARTNERS

Ksenia Tomilina GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Philip Tsukanov WHITE & CASE LLC

Ilya Tur EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Aleksandra Ulezko KACHKIN & PARTNERS

Igor Vasiliev FEDERAL SERVICE FOR STATE REGISTRATION CADASTRE AND CARTOGRAPHY

Artem Vasyutin DELOITTE & TOUCHE CIS

Sergey Vasilievich Vasyutin LENENERGO

Darya Vetrova CASTREN & SNELLMAN INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Aleksei Volkov NATIONAL BUREAU OF CREDIT HISTORIES

Dmitry Volkov SU-33

Taisiya Vorotilova BAKER & MCKENZIE

Jens Wergin RÖDL & PARTNER

Maria Yadykina Gorban GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Alexandra Yaroshook DLA PIPER RUS LIMITED

Maxim Yashkov PUBLISHING HOUSE CUSTOMS TERMINALS

Vladislav Zabrodin CAPITAL LEGAL SERVICES LLC

Roman Zhavner EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Maria Zhilina KACHKIN & PARTNERS

RWANDA BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

NATIONAL BANK OF RWANDA

Alberto Basomingera CABINET D’AVOCATS MHAYIMANA

Natacha Bugondo ADVOCARE RWANDA

Flavia Busingye RWANDA CUSTOMS

Louis de Gonzague Mussengangabo VISION TECHNOLOGIES COMPANY

Paul Frobisher Mugambwa PWC UGANDA

Daniel Gasaatura TRUST LAW CHAMBERS

Patrick Gashagaza GPO PARTNERS RWANDA

Felix Gatanazi EWSA

Jean Claude Gwiza Muzaribara CREDIT REFERENCE BUREAU AFRICA LTD.

Titien Habumugisha KIGALI INDEPENDENT UNIVERSITY

Jean Havugimana ECODESEP LTD.

Francois Xavier Kalinda UNIVERSITÉ NATIONALE DU RWANDA

Désiré Kamanzi ENSAFRICA RWANDA

Marcellin Kamanzi

Tushabe Karim RWANDA DEVELOPMENT BOARD

Julien Kavaruganda K-SOLUTIONS AND PARTNERS

Didas Kayihura FOUNTAIN ADVOCATES

Eudes Kayumba LANDMARK STUDIES

Théophile Kazeneza CABINET D’AVOCATS KAZENEZA

Bernice Kimacia PWC

Kanamugire Makuza Aloys

Lewis Manzi Rugema ECOBANK

Abdou Mbaya SPEDAG INTERFREIGHT

Isaïe Mhayimana CABINET D’AVOCATS MHAYIMANA

Alvin Mihigo R & PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Merard Mpabwanamaguru CITY OF KIGALI - ONE STOP CENTER FOR CONSTRUCTION

Jean Népomuscène Mugengangabo BONA FIDE LAW CHAMBERS

Léopold Munderere CABINET D’AVOCATS-CONSEILS

Alloys Mutabingwa AIMS EAST AFRICA LAW PARTNERS

Patrick Mutimura BMP CONSULTING

Pothin Muvara RWANDA NATURAL RESOURCES AUTHORITY, OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR OF LAND TITLES

Frank Muvunyi EWSA

Geoffrey Mwine GM CORPORATE CONSULT LIMITED (GMCC)

Ernest Mwiza TOWN NICE VIEW

Da Costa Ndahayo SWIFT FREIGHT INTERNATIONAL (RWANDA)

Grace Nishimwe RWANDA NATURAL RESOURCES AUTHORITY, OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR OF LAND TITLES

Kizito Niyonshuti ENSAFRICA RWANDA

Frederick Niyonzima PWC

Aimable Nkuranga CREDIT REFERENCE BUREAU AFRICA LTD.

Martin Nkurunziza GPO PARTNERS RWANDA

Abel Nsengiyumva CABINET ABEL NSENGIYUMVA

Hervé Ntege ENSAFRICA RWANDA

Emmanuel Nyamurangwa CITY OF KIGALI - ONE STOP CENTER FOR CONSTRUCTION

Aaron Nzeyimana SPEDAG INTERFREIGHT

Nelson Ogara PWC

Josue Penaloza Quispe BRALIRWA LTD.

Gakuba Rugambya SPEDAG INTERFREIGHT

Arthur Rugango

Damas Rurangwa EWSA

Lucien Ruterana EWSA

Richard Rwihandagaza R & PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Fred Rwihunda RFM ENGINEERING LTD.

Kizito Safari BONA FIDE LAW CHAMBERS

Yves Sangano RWANDA DEVELOPMENT BOARD, OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR GENERAL OF RWANDA

Sandrali Sebakara BUREAU D’ETUDES CAEDEC

Nelly Umugwaneza ADVOCARE RWANDA

M. Aimee Uwanyiligira EWSA

Lilian Uwanziga Mupende CITY OF KIGALI - ONE STOP CENTER FOR CONSTRUCTION

Prasad Varma SWIFT FREIGHT INTERNATIONAL (RWANDA)

Maureen Wamahiu CREDIT REFERENCE BUREAU AFRICA LTD.

Stephen Zawadi MILLENIUM LAW CHAMBERS

SAMOA BETHAM BROTHERS ENTERPRISES LTD.

MINISTRY OF WORKS, TRANSPORT & INFRASTRUCTURE

SOLOI SURVEY SERVICES

Lawrie Burich QUANTUM CONTRAX LTD.

Shelley Burich QUANTUM CONTRAX LTD.

Murray Drake DRAKE & CO.

Fiona Ey CLARKE EY LAWYERS

Anthony Frazier

Margaret Fruean MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND LABOUR

Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu LATU LAWYERS

Misa Ioane Esoto MISA ELECTRICAL

DOING BUSINESS 2015304

Siíliíli Aumua Isaia Lameko MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND LABOUR

George Latu LATU LAWYERS

Uputaua Lauvi MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND LABOUR

Tima Leavai LEAVAI LAW

Tuala Pat Leota PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT

Leulua’iali’i Tasi Malifa MALIFA LAW

Albert Meredith MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND LABOUR

Tomasi Peni MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND LABOUR

Arthur R. Penn LESA MA PENN

Peato Sam Ling SAMOA SHIPPING SERVICES LTD.

Faiiletasi Elaine Seuao MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND LABOUR

Sala Theodore Sialau Toalepai SAMOA SHIPPING SERVICES LTD.

Leilani Va’a- Tamat VAAI HOGLUND & TAMATI LAW FIRM

SAN MARINO Simone Arcangeli AVVOCATO E NOTAIO

Renzo Balsimelli UFFICIO URBANISTICA

Dennis Beccari AVV. ERIKA MARANI

Gianna Burgagni STUDIO LEGALE E NOTARILE

Cecilia Cardogna STUDIO LEGALE E NOTARILE

Fabrizio Castiglioni COSTRUZIONI EDILIZIE SAMMARINESI (CES) SA

Debora Cenni STUDIO LEGALE E NOTARILE

Alberto Chezzi STUDIO CHEZZI

Simone Gatti WORLD LINE

Giovanni Guerra TELECOM ITALIA SAN MARINO S.P.A.

Anna Maria Lonfernini STUDIO LEGALE E NOTARILE

Erika Marani AVV. ERIKA MARANI

Lucia Mazza UFFICIO TECNICO DEL CATASTO

Daniela Mina STUDIO COMMERCIALE

Gianlucca Minguzzi ANTAO PROGETTI S.P.A

Lorenzo Moretti STUDIO LEGALE E NOTARILE

Alfredo Nicolini LAWYER

Sara Pelliccioni STUDIO LEGALE E NOTARILE AVV. MATTEO MULARONI - IN ASSOCIAZIONE CON BUSSOLETTI NUZZO & ASSOCIATI

Cesare Pisani TELECOM ITALIA SAN MARINO S.P.A.

Roberto Ragini ANTAO PROGETTI S.P.A.

Marco Giancarlo Rossini STUDIO LEGALE E NOTARILE

Daniela Tombeni S.M. STUDIO SPED

Stefano Trenta ANTAO PROGETTI S.P.A.

SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE AMADO PEREIRA & ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS

GUICHÉ ÚNICO PARA EMPRESAS

António de Barros A. Aguiar SOCOGESTA

Eudes Aguiar AGUIAR & PEDRONHO STUDIO

Helder Batista DESPACHANTE HELDER BATISTA

Pascoal Daio PASCOAL DAIO - ADVOGADO & CONSULTOR

Amadeu Goncalves MANUEL ROQUE LTDA

Pedro Guiomar SUPERMARITIME SÃO TOMÉ

Idalina Martinho DESPACHANTE HELDER BATISTA

Raul Mota Cerveira MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Virna Neves MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

João Branco Pedro NATIONAL LABORATORY FOR CIVI ENGINEERING - LNEC

Guilherme Posser da Costa POSSER DA COSTA ADVOGADOS ASSOCIADOS

Hugo Rita TERRA FORMA

Ana Roque MANUEL ROQUE LTDA

José Manuel Roque MANUEL ROQUE LTDA

Cláudia Santos Malaquias MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Rui Veríssimo SOARES DA COSTA

Teresa Veríssimo SOARES DA COSTA

Antônio Vicente Marques AVM ADVOGADOS

SAUDI ARABIA ERNST & YOUNG

Asad Abedi THE LAW FIRM OF HATEM ABBAS GHAZZAWI & CO.

Fayyaz Ahmad JONES LANG LASALLE

Fayez Ghaith Al Jabri ELECTRICITY & CO-GENERATION REGULATORY AUTHORITY

Ahmad Al Kassem TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Nasser H. Al Qahtani ELECTRICITY & CO-GENERATION REGULATORY AUTHORITY

Shareef Mohamed Al-Barrak ELECTRICITY & CO-GENERATION REGULATORY AUTHORITY

Fayez Aldebs PWC SAUDI ARABIA

Abdullah Al-Hashim AL-JADAAN & PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Omar AlHoshan ALHOSHAN CPAS & CONSULTANTS - CORRESPONDENT OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Mohammed Al-Jadaan AL-JADAAN & PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Turki Al-Joufi TATWEER EDUCATIONAL TRANSPORTATION COMPANY

Yousef A. Al-Joufi AL-JOUFI LAW FIRM

Nabil Abdullah Al-Mubarak SAUDI CREDIT BUREAU - SIMAH

Bander A. Alnogaithan THE LAW OFFICE OF BANDER ALNOGAITHAN

Abbas Alrady AL-SOAIB LAW FIRM

Wisam AlSindi ALSINDI LAW FIRM

Mohammed Al-Soaib AL-SOAIB LAW FIRM

Farrah Andejani ELECTRICITY & CO-GENERATION REGULATORY AUTHORITY

Shaimaa Atbani ALSINDI LAW FIRM

Lamisse Bajunaid ALSINDI LAW FIRM

John Balouziyeh DENTONS

Majed Mohammed Garoub LAW FIRM OF MAJED M. GAROUB

Stuart Hind PANALPINA WORLD TRANSPORT LLP

Chadi F. Hourani HOURANI & ASSOCIATES

Amgad Husein DENTONS

Zaid Mahayni LAW OFFICE OF HASSAN MAHASSNI

Humaid Mudhaffr SAUDI CREDIT BUREAU - SIMAH

Fazal Rahman FAWAZ SHAWAN CUSTOMS BORKERS

Mustafa Saleh EMDAD ARRIYADH

Nadeem Shaikh GLOBE MARINE SERVICES CO.

Abdul Shakoor GLOBE MARINE SERVICES CO.

Peter Stansfield AL-JADAAN & PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Juergen Villmer AL-SOAIB LAW FIRM

Abdul Aziz Zaibag ALZAIBAG CONSULTANTS

Soudki Zawaydeh PWC SAUDI ARABIA

SENEGAL SENELEC

Khaled Abou El Houda CABINET KANJO KOITA

Bassambie Bationo BCEAO

Souadou Diagne Camara BCEAO

Cheikhou Dia RMA SÉNÉGAL

Ibrahima Diagne GAINDE 2000

Amadou Diouldé Diallo MINISTÈRE DE L’URBANISME ET DE L’ASSAINISSEMENT

Maciré Diallo SCP NDIAYE & DIAGNE, NOTAIRES ASSOCIÉS

Abdoul Aziz Dieng CENTRE DE GESTION AGRÉÉ DE DAKAR

Abdou Birahim Diop DIRECTION DU DEVELOPPEMENT URBAIN

Alassane Diop DP WORLD

Amadou Diop GAINDE 2000

Angelique Pouye Diop AGENCE CHARGÉE DE LA PROMOTION DE L’INVESTISSEMENT ET DES GRANDS TRAVAUX

Babacar Biram Diop CABINET BABACAR BIRAM DIOP

Fodé Diop ART INGÉNIERIE SUARL

Madjiguene Diop RMA SÉNÉGAL

Mohamed Abdoulaye Diop BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Andrée Diop-Depret GA 2 D

Abdoulaye Drame CABINET ABDOULAYE DRAME

Fayz Fakry SCP SENGHOR & SARR, NOTAIRES ASSOCIÉS

Cheikh Fall CABINET D’AVOCAT CHEIKH FALL

Khadidja Fayez Fall Cisse BCEAO

Bakary Faye BDS

Catherine Faye Diop ORDRE DES ARCHITECTES DU SÉNÉGAL

Sylvie Gomis SCP SENGHOR & SARR, NOTAIRES ASSOCIÉS

Papa Bathie Gueye RMA SÉNÉGAL

Mahaman Tahir Hamani BCEAO

Alioune Ka ÉTUDE SCP MES KA

Abdou Kader Konaté ARCHITECTE DPLG

Abdou Dialy Kane CABINET MAÎTRE ABDOU DIALY KANE

Mahi Kane PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS TAX & LEGAL SA

Mouhamed Kebe GENI & KEBE

Ousseynou Lagnane BDS

Moussa Mbacke ETUDE NOTARIALE MOUSSA MBACKE

Dame Mbaye TRANSFRET DAKAR

Birame Mbaye Seck DIRECTION DU DEVELOPPEMENT URBAIN

Ibrahima Mbodj AVOCAT À LA COUR

Papa Alboury Ndao RMA SÉNÉGAL

Aly Mar Ndiaye COMMISSION DE RÉGULATION DU SECTEUR DE L’ELECTRICITÉ

Amadou Ndiaye CABINET D’AVOCAT CHEIKH FALL

Amadou Moustapha Ndiaye SCP NDIAYE & DIAGNE, NOTAIRES ASSOCIÉS

Elodie Dagneaux Ndiaye AGENCE CHARGÉE DE LA PROMOTION DE L’INVESTISSEMENT ET DES GRANDS TRAVAUX

Layti Ndiaye BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Ndéné Ndiaye

Macodou Ndour CABINET MOCODOU NDOUR

Moustapha Ndoye CABINET MAITRE MOUSTAPHA NDOYE

Dominique Picard SOCIÉTÉ CIVILE PROFESSIONNELLE D’AVOCATS FRANÇOIS SARR & ASSOCIÉS

Herinjiva Tahirisoa Rakotonirina CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Babacar Sall BDS

Moussa Sanogo BCEAO

François Sarr SOCIÉTÉ CIVILE PROFESSIONNELLE D’AVOCATS FRANÇOIS SARR & ASSOCIÉS

Daniel-Sédar Senghor SCP SENGHOR & SARR, NOTAIRES ASSOCIÉS

Yaya Sow CADASTRE SENEGAL

Codou Sow-Seck GENI & KEBE

Traore Tamsir Ousmane TEX COURRIER

Dominique Taty PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Ibra Thiombane CABINET JURAFRIK CONSEIL EN AFFAIRES (JCA)

Emmanuel Yehouessi BCEAO

SERBIA PD ELEKTRODISTRIBUCIJA BEOGRAD D.O.O.

Jelena Adamovic HARRISON SOLICITORS

305ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Ivana Ajdanic PRICA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Milos Andjelkovic WOLF THEISS

Aleksandar Andrejic PRICA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Vlada Babic AIR SPEED

Bojana Bregovic WOLF THEISS

Milan Brkovic ASSOCIATION OF SERBIAN BANKS

Milena Buha AJILON SOLUTIONS

Marina Bulatovic WOLF THEISS

Ana Čalić PRICA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Jovan Cirkovic HARRISON SOLICITORS

Vladimir Dabić THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR FINANCIAL MARKET DEVELOPMENT

Vladimir Dasić BDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Simon Dayes CMS CAMERON MCKENNA

Uroš Djordjević ŽIVKOVIĆ & SAMARDŽIĆ LAW OFFICE

Jelena Kuveljic Dmitric LAW OFFICES ZECEVIC & LUKIC

Veljko Dostanic MARIĆ, MALIŠIĆ & DOSTANIĆ O.A.D., CORRESPONDENT LAW FIRM OF GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL

Dragan Draca PWC SERBIA

Jovana Gavrilovic PRICA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Saša Gavrilović MARIĆ, MALIŠIĆ & DOSTANIĆ O.A.D., CORRESPONDENT LAW FIRM OF GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL

Jelena Gazivoda LAW OFFICES JANKOVIĆ, POPOVIĆ & MITIĆ

Danica Gligorijevic PRICA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Ana Jankov BDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Milovan Jocovic BDK ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Nemanja Kačavenda A.D. INTEREUROPA, BELGRADE

Miodrag Klančnik MARIĆ, MALIŠIĆ & DOSTANIĆ O.A.D., CORRESPONDENT LAW FIRM OF GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL

Vidak Kovacevic WOLF THEISS

Ivan Krsikapa NINKOVIĆ LAW OFFICE

Zach Kuvizić KUVIZIC & TADIC LAW OFFICE

Ruzica Macukat SERBIAN BUSINESS REGISTERS AGENCY

Miladin Maglov SERBIAN BUSINESS REGISTERS AGENCY

Rastko Malisic MARIĆ, MALIŠIĆ & DOSTANIĆ O.A.D., CORRESPONDENT LAW FIRM OF GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL

Aleksandar Mančev PRICA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Ines Matijević-Papulin HARRISON SOLICITORS

Aleksandar Mladenović IKRP ROKAS & PARTNERS

Marina Nikolic MORAVČEVIĆ, VOJNOVIĆ & ZDRAVKOVIĆ U SARADNJI SA SCHONHERR

Djurdje Ninković NINKOVIĆ LAW OFFICE

Bojana Noskov WOLF THEISS

Jelena Obradović Živković & Samardžić Law Office

Zvonko Obradović SERBIAN BUSINESS REGISTERS AGENCY

Darija Ognjenović PRICA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Igor Oljačić ADVOKATSKA KANCELARIJA OLJAČIĆ

Vladimir Perić PRICA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Mihajlo Prica PRICA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Ana Radivojević PWC SERBIA

Branka Rajicic PWC BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Mirjana Stankovic DEVELOPMENT CONSULTING GROUP

Dragana Stanojević USAID BUSINESS ENABLING PROJECT - BY CARDNO EMERGING MARKETS USA

Milica Stojanovic LAW OFFICES JANKOVIĆ, POPOVIĆ & MITIĆ

Petar Stojanović JOKSOVIC, STOJANOVIC AND PARTNERS

Robert Sundberg DEVELOPMENT CONSULTING GROUP

Ana Tomic JOKSOVIC, STOJANOVIC AND PARTNERS

Jovana Tomić ŽIVKOVIĆ & SAMARDŽIĆ LAW OFFICE

Vladislav Tomić PICARD KENTZ & ROWE LLP

Snežana Tosić SERBIAN BUSINESS REGISTERS AGENCY

Srećko Vujaković MORAVČEVIĆ, VOJNOVIĆ & ZDRAVKOVIĆ U SARADNJI SA SCHONHERR

Tanja Vukotić Marinković SERBIAN BUSINESS REGISTERS AGENCY

Miloš Vulić PRICA & PARTNERS LAW OFFICE

Miloš Živković ŽIVKOVIĆ & SAMARDŽIĆ LAW OFFICE

Igor Živkovski ŽIVKOVIĆ & SAMARDŽIĆ LAW OFFICE

SEYCHELLES ATTORNEY GENERAL’S CHAMBERS

COMPANY AND LAND REGISTRY

MINISTRY OF FINANCE, TRADE AND INVESTMENT

MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT

PUBLIC UTILITIES CORPORATION

SEYCHELLES NATIONAL PLANNING AUTHORITY

SEYCHELLES PORTS AUTHORITY

SEYCHELLES PUBLIC UTILITIES CORPORATION

SEYCHELLES REVENUE COMMISSION

Oliver Bastienne EY SEYCHELLES

Leslie Boniface COMPANY AND LAND REGISTRY

Lanka Dorby SEYCHELLES REGISTRAR GENERAL

FMS Egonda-Ntende SUPREME COURT OF SEYCHELLES

Alex Ellenberger ADD LOCUS ARCHITECTS LTD.

Conrad Lablache PARDIWALLA TWOMEY LABLACHE

Franky Madeleine SEYCHELLES LICENSING AUTHORITY

Malcolm Moller APPLEBY

Joe Morin MAHE SHIPPING CO. LTD.

Margaret Nourice STAMP DUTY COMMISSION

Brian Orr MEJ ELECTRICAL

Poonkhothai Pillay EY SEYCHELLES

Serge Rouillon ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Divino Sabino PARDIWALLA TWOMEY LABLACHE

Kieran B. Shah BARRISTER & ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

SIERRA LEONE NATIONAL REVENUE AUTHORITY

NATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY AND INSURANCE TRUST

Amos Odame Adjei PWC GHANA

Gideon Ayi-Owoo PWC GHANA

Abdul Akim Bangura ASSOCIATION OF CLEARING AND FORWARDING AGENCIES SIERRA LEONE

Mallay F. Bangura NATIONAL POWER AUTHORITY

Philip Bangura BANK OF SIERRA LEONE

Cheryl Blake B&J PARTNERS

Beatrice Chaytor CHARIOT EIGHT

Leslie Theophilus Clarkson AHMRY SERVICES

Grace Coleridge-Taylor CHARIOT EIGHT

Abu Bakr Dexter E.E.C. SHEARS-MOSES & CO.

Ibrahim Dumbuya BANK OF SIERRA LEONE

Mariama Dumbuya RENNER THOMAS & CO., ADELE CHAMBERS

Momoh Dumbuya NATIONAL POWER AUTHORITY

Joseph Fofanah OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR AND REGISTRAR GENERAL (OARG)

Manilius Garber JARRETT-YASKEY, GARBER & ASSOCIATES: ARCHITECTS (JYGA)

Emilia Gbomor CLAS CONSULT LTD.

Olive Gooding Ajax CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION OF SIERRA LEONE

Ransford Johnson RENNER THOMAS & CO., ADELE CHAMBERS

Mariama Seray Kallay GOVERNMENT OF SIERRA LEONE

Alieyah Keita

Adekunle Milton King PETROLEUM DIRECTORATE

George Kwatia PWC GHANA

Peter Larvai BANK OF SIERRA LEONE

Millicent Lewis-Ojumu CLAS CONSULT LTD.

Michala Mackay CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION OF SIERRA LEONE

Corneleius Max-Williams DESTINY SHIPPING AGENCIES LTD.

Harold McCarthy NATIONAL POWER AUTHORITY

Mohamed Pa Momoh Fofanah EDRINA CHAMBERS

Sidney Ojumu CLAS CONSULT LTD.

John Dudley Okrafo-Smart CLAS CONSULT LTD.

Afolabi Oluwole CUSTOMERWORTH

Kargbo Santigie A+S BUSINESS CENTRE

Julia Sarkodie-Mensah JUDICIARY OF SIERRA LEONE

Nana Adjoa Anaisewa Sey PWC GHANA

Alpha Tejan-Jalloh TROPICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSOCIATES

Valisius Thomas ADVENT CHAMBERS

Mohamed Ahmad Tunis AHMRY SERVICES

Franklyn Williams SIERRA LEONE BUSINESS FORUM LTD.

Yada Williams YADA WILLIAMS AND ASSOCIATE

SINGAPORE ALLEN & GLEDHILL LLP

CHIP ENG SENG CORPORATION LTD.

ERNST & YOUNG

KONG HWA CHAN TRADING PTE. LTD.

RDC ARCHITECTS

SINGAPORE CUSTOMS

Lim Ah Kuan SP POWERGRID LTD.

Rachel Chan PAUL HYPE PAGE MANAGEMENT SERVICE PTE. LTD.

Shi-Chien Chia MINISTRY OF TRADE & INDUSTRY

Ng Chin Lock SP POWERGRID LTD.

Kit Min Chye TAN PENG CHIN LLC

Kamil Dada TETRAFLOW PTE LTD.

Denny Dunsford MINISTRY OF MANPOWER

Miah Fok CREDIT BUREAU SINGAPORE PTE. LTD.

Sandy Foo DREW NAPIER

Stephanie Kam MINISTRY OF TRADE & INDUSTRY

You Ying Karen Hsu WONG TAN & MOLLY LIM LLC

Soo How Koh PWC SINGAPORE

Wong Kum Hoong ENERGY MARKET AUTHORITY

K. Latha ACCOUNTING & CORPORATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY, ACRA

Yvonne Lay MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Lee Lay See RAJAH & TANN LLP

Eng Beng Lee RAJAH & TANN LLP

Ho Ming Lee ACCOUNTING & CORPORATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY, ACRA

James Leong STATE COURTS

Yik Wee Liew WONG PARTNERSHIP LLP

Carrie Lim PWC SINGAPORE

William Lim CREDIT BUREAU SINGAPORE PTE. LTD.

Joseph Liow STRAITS LAW

Madan Mohan YEO-LEONG & PEH LLC

Girish Naik PWC SINGAPORE

Sushil Nair DREW NAPIER

Beng Hong Ong WONG TAN & MOLLY LIM LLC

DOING BUSINESS 2015306

Shari Rasanayagam KINETICA PTE. LTD., IN ASSOCIATION WITH KELVIN CHIA PARTNERSHIP

Manoj Pillay Sandrasegara WONGPARTNERSHIP LLP

Douglas Tan STEVEN TAN PAC - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Hak Khoon Tan ENERGY MARKET AUTHORITY

Nicole Tang CREDIT BUREAU SINGAPORE PTE. LTD.

Siu Ing Teng SINGAPORE LAND AUTHORITY

Peck Wong STATE COURTS

Siew Kwong Wong ENERGY MARKET AUTHORITY

Jennifer Yeo YEO-LEONG & PEH LLC

Stefanie Yuen Thio TSMP LAW CORPORATION

SLOVAK REPUBLIC Martin Bednár HMG & PARTNERS, S.R.O.

Silvia Belovičová WHITE & CASE S.R.O.

Ján Budinský SLOVAK CREDIT BUREAU, S.R.O.

Peter Cavojsky CLS ČAVOJSKÝ & PARTNERS, S.R.O.

Katarína Čechová ČECHOVÁ & PARTNERS S. R. O.

Kristina Čermáková PETERKA & PARTNERS

Tomas Cibula WHITE & CASE S.R.O.

Peter Drenka HAMALA KLUCH VÍGLASKÝ S.R.O.

Jan Dvorecky GREEN INTEGRATED LOGISTICS (SLOVAKIA) S.R.O.

Matúš Fojtl GEODESY, CARTOGRAPHY AND CADASTRE AUTHORITY OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Juraj Foltýn PETERKA & PARTNERS

Simona Haláková ČECHOVÁ & PARTNERS S. R. O.

Roman Hamala HAMALA KLUCH VÍGLASKÝ S.R.O.

Peter Hodál WHITE & CASE S.R.O.

Veronika Hrušovská PRK PARTNERS S.R.O.

Lucia Huntatová JNC LEGAL S.R.O.

Vladimir Ivanco WHITE & CASE S.R.O.

Miroslav Jalec ZÁPADOSLOVENSKÁ DISTRIBUČNÁ AS

Martin Kluch HAMALA KLUCH VÍGLASKÝ S.R.O.

Roman Konrad PROFINAM, S.R.O.

Miroslav Kopac NATIONAL BANK OF SLOVAKIA

Lukas Kralovic WHITE & CASE S.R.O.

Jaroslav Krupec PETERKA & PARTNERS

Soňa Lehocká ALIANCIAADVOKÁTOV AK, S.R.O.

Filip Lukáč HMG & PARTNERS, S.R.O.

Maria Malovcova PWC SLOVAKIA

Přemysl Marek PETERKA & PARTNERS

Nikoleta Molnárová CLS ČAVOJSKÝ & PARTNERS, S.R.O.

Jaroslav Niznansky JNC LEGAL S.R.O.

Andrea Olšovská PRK PARTNERS S.R.O.

Peter Ondrejka MINISTRY OF ECONOMY

Simona Rapavá WHITE & CASE S.R.O.

Ivana Šaková ČECHOVÁ & PARTNERS S. R. O.

Gerta Sámelová-Flassiková ALIANCIAADVOKÁTOV AK, S.R.O.

Marek Samoš WHITE & CASE S.R.O.

Zuzana Satkova PWC SLOVAKIA

Christiana Serugova PWC SLOVAKIA

Katarina Simurdova PWC SLOVAKIA

Jakub Skaloš MINISTRY OF ECONOMY

Jaroslav Škubal PRK PARTNERS S.R.O.

Stanislava Valientová WHITE & CASE S.R.O.

Ondrej Vaňovič HMG & PARTNERS, S.R.O.

Otakar Weis PWC SLOVAKIA

Tomas Zahradník HMG & PARTNERS, S.R.O.

Dagmar Zukalová ZUKALOVÁ - ADVOKÁTSKA KANCELÁRIA S.R.O.

SLOVENIA Marjan Babič AGENCY FOR PUBLIC LEGAL RECORDS AND RELATED SERVICES

Nataša Božović BANK OF SLOVENIA

Lana Brlek PWC CROATIA

Markus Bruckmüller WOLF THEISS

Črtomir Brvar ENERGY AGENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

Miodrag Dordevic SUPREME COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

Mojca Fakin CMS REICH-ROHRWIG HAINZ

Alenka Gorenčič DELOITTE

Mira Goršič PWC SLOVENIA

Eva Gostisa LAW OFFICE JADEK & PENSA D.N.O. - O.P.

Hermina Govekar Vičič KREDITNI BIRO SISBON, D.O.O.

Damijan Gregorc LAW FIRM MIRO SENICA AND ATTORNEYS, D.O.O.

Damjana Iglič BANK OF SLOVENIA

Andraž Jadek LAW OFFICE JADEK & PENSA D.N.O. - O.P.

Andrej Jarkovič LAW FIRM JANEŽIČ & JARKOVIČ LTD.

Jernej Jeraj CMS REICH-ROHRWIG HAINZ

Sabina Jereb MINISTRY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SPATIAL PLANNING

Ana Kavčič AGENCY FOR PUBLIC LEGAL RECORDS AND RELATED SERVICES

Lovro Kleindienst TRANSOCEAN SHIPPING

Miro Košak NOTARY OFFICE KOŠAK

Nina Kristarič LAW OFFICE JADEK & PENSA D.N.O. - O.P.

Tjaša Lahovnik ODVETNIKI ŠELIH & PARTNERJI

Borut Leskovec LAW OFFICE JADEK & PENSA D.N.O. - O.P.

Tanja Magister DELOITTE

Jera Majzelj ODVETNIKI ŠELIH & PARTNERJI

Matjaž Miklavčič SODO D.O.O.

Mateja Mikloška ODVETNIKI ŠELIH & PARTNERJI

Bojan Mlaj ENERGY AGENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

Mojca Muha LAW FIRM MIRO SENICA AND ATTORNEYS, D.O.O.

Evelina Novak PWC SLOVENIA

Pavle Pensa LAW OFFICE JADEK & PENSA D.N.O. - O.P.

Nataša Pipan Nahtigal ODVETNIKI ŠELIH & PARTNERJI

Bojan Podgoršek NOTARIAT

Marija Remic AGENCY FOR PUBLIC LEGAL RECORDS AND RELATED SERVICES

Kostanca Rettinger KREDITNI BIRO SISBON, D.O.O.

Marijana Ristevski PWC SLOVENIA

Ema Rode MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Patricija Rot LAW OFFICE JADEK & PENSA D.N.O. - O.P.

Sanja Savic DELOITTE

Bostjan Sedmak ATTORNEY OFFICE KOSMAC D.O.O.

Jaka Simončič LAW OFFICE JADEK & PENSA D.N.O. - O.P.

Andreja Škofič Klanjšček DELOITTE

Teja Skrt BDO SVETOVANJE D.O.O.

Zoran Skubic MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Branka Španič LAW OFFICE JADEK & PENSA D.N.O. - O.P.

Rok Starc NOTARY OFFICE KOŠAK

Maja Stojko LAW FIRM MIRO SENICA AND ATTORNEYS, D.O.O.

Ana Terlep ODVETNIKI ŠELIH & PARTNERJI

Tilen Terlep ODVETNIKI ŠELIH & PARTNERJI

Melita Trop LAW FIRM MIRO SENICA AND ATTORNEYS, D.O.O.

Urša Volk AGENCY FOR PUBLIC LEGAL RECORDS AND RELATED SERVICES

Katja Wostner BDO SVETOVANJE D.O.O.

Nina Žefran DELOITTE

Alojz Zupančič CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

Tina Žvanut Mioč LAW OFFICE JADEK & PENSA D.N.O. - O.P.

SOLOMON ISLANDS Hugo Baulo SOLOMON ISLANDS PORTS AUTHORITY

Don Boykin PACIFIC ARCHITECTS LTD.

Anthony Frazier

Chris Harpa PACIFIC LAWYERS

Thomas Kama SOL - LAW

John Katahanas SOL - LAW

Mathew Korinihona SOLOMON ISLANDS ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY

Judah Kulabule SOLOMON ISLANDS PORTS AUTHORITY

Aaron Levine ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Veronica Manedika MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY, LABOR AND IMMIGRATION

Wayne Morris MORRIS & SOJNOCKI CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Norman Nicholls SOLOMON ISLANDS ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY

Haelo Pelu MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND LEGAL AFFAIRS

Livingston Saepio HONIARA CITY COUNCIL

Leonard Saii SPARK ELECTRICAL SERVICES

Martin B. Sam SOLOMON ISLANDS ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY

Gregory Joseph Sojnocki MORRIS & SOJNOCKI CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

Gerald Stenzel TRADCO SHIPPING

John Sullivan SOL - LAW

Makario Tagini GLOBAL LAWYERS, BARRISTERS & SOLICITOR

Whitlam K. Togamae WHITLAM K TOGAMAE LAWYERS

Yolande Yates

Katalaini Ziru SOLOMON ISLANDS BAR ASSOCIATION

SOUTH AFRICA BIDVEST PANALPINA LOGISTICS

Nicolaos Akritidis PARADIGM ARCHITECTS

Ross Alcock ENS

Claire Barclay CLIFFE DEKKER HOFMEYR INC.

Lauren Barnett WERKSMANS INC.

Kobus Blignaut ATTORNEY

Lourens Botes DAMCO

Chantel Bredenhann WHITE & CASE LLP

Brendon Christian BUSINESS LAW BC

Beric Croome ENS

Haydn Davies WEBBER WENTZEL

Anneen De Jay WHITE & CASE LLP

Henk De Klerk DN FREIGHT

Gretchen de Smit ENS

Thulani Dyasi BOWMAN GILFILLAN INC.

Pieter Faber PWC SOUTH AFRICA

Elise Gibson GROSSKOPFF LOMBART HUYBERECHTS & ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS

Kim Goss BOWMAN GILFILLAN INC.

Anine Greeff TRANSUNION

Njabulo Hlophe WERKSMANS INC.

Christopher Holfeld WEBBER WENTZEL

Tobie Jordaan CLIFFE DEKKER HOFMEYR INC.

Lisa Koenig TRANSUNION

Leza Marie Kotzé SHEPSTONE & WYLIE

307ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Paul Lategan SHEPSTONE & WYLIE

Johnathan Leibbrandt WEBBER WENTZEL

Eric Levenstein WERKSMANS INC.

Thomas Makamo RIVONINGO ENGINEERS

Kyle Mandy PWC SOUTH AFRICA

Ina Meiring WERKSMANS INC.

Burton Meyer CLIFFE DEKKER HOFMEYR INC.

Gabriel Meyer NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT SOUTH AFRICA

Katlego Mmuoe

Sizwe Msimang BOWMAN GILFILLAN INC.

Graeme Palmer GARLICKE & BOUSFIELD INC.

Joshua Parbhu WHITE & CASE LLP

Kwanele Radebe THE STANDARD BANK OF SOUTH AFRICA LIMITED

Steve Raney WHITE & CASE LLP

Philippa Reyburn ENS

Lucinde Rhoodie CLIFFE DEKKER HOFMEYR INC.

Lauren Richards BOWMAN GILFILLAN INC.

Matthew Richards WHITE & CASE LLP

Marc Schulman BOWMAN GILFILLAN INC.

Dennis Seemela NATIONAL ENERGY REGULATOR OF SOUTH AFRICA (NERSA)

Andres Sepp OFFICE OF THE CHIEF REGISTRAR OF DEEDS

Richard Shein BOWMAN GILFILLAN INC.

Alex Short WATERMARK AUDITORS INCORPORATED - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

David Short FAIRBRIDGES ATTORNEYS

Archana Sinha RCS PVT. LTD. BUSINESS ADVISORS GROUP

Arvind Sinha RCS PVT. LTD. BUSINESS ADVISORS GROUP

Rajat Ratan Sinha RCS PVT. LTD. BUSINESS ADVISORS GROUP

Riaan Stipp PWC SOUTH AFRICA

Jane Strydom TRANSUNION

Zarene van den Bergh PWC SOUTH AFRICA

Dawid Van der Berg BDO

Eleni Vassilopoulos NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT SOUTH AFRICA

Anastasia Vatalidis WERKSMANS INC.

Allen West DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM

Gareth Williams-Wynn KARTER MARGUB & ASSOCIATES

Kerri Wilson WEBBER WENTZEL

Merwyn Wolder REDLOW SOLAR POWER

Andrew Wood GROSSKOPFF LOMBART HUYBERECHTS & ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS

SOUTH SUDAN SOUTHERN SUDAN ELECTRICITY CORPORATION

Gabriel Aliga EQUITY BANK SOUTH SUDAN LTD.

Roda Allison Dokolo LOMORO & CO. ADVOCATES

Monyluak Alor Kuol LIBERTY ADVOCATES LLP

Gabriel Isaac Awow MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Premal Bataviya INFOTECH GROUP

Michael Fend SOUTH SUDAN ELECTRICITY COMPANY

Biju Kumar MS BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

Josepho Lokuku JOPHCO ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

Robert Lwoki SOUTH SUDAN LAND COMMISSION

Kris Mbaya UAP INSURANCE SUDAN LIMITED

Ramadhan A.M. Mogga RAMADHAN & LAW ASSOCIATES

Issa Muzamil JUBA ASSOCIATED ADVOCATES

Hannington O. Ouko COOPERATIVE BANK OF SOUTH SUDAN

Lomoro Robert Bullen LOMORO & CO. ADVOCATES

Jeremaih Sauka MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Paul Wanambuko ACCOUNTANT

SPAIN Basilio Aguirre REGISTRO DE LA PROPIEDAD DE ESPAÑA

David Alcobre Torre CONSIGNACIONES TORO & BETOLAZA, SA

Angel Alonso Hernández URÍA & MENÉNDEZ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

José Luis Amérigo Sánchez GÓMEZ-ACEBO & POMBO ABOGADOS

Ana Armijo ASHURST LLP

Antonio Bautista CLEANERGETIC SEERS SOLUTIONS SLU

Denise Bejarano PÉREZ - LLORCA

Andrés Berral CLIFFORD CHANCE

Vicente Bootello J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Agustín Bou JAUSAS

Laura Camarero BAKER & MCKENZIE

Jesús Camy REGISTRO DE LA PROPIEDAD GRANADA 6

Ignacio Castrillón Jorge IBERDROLA SA

Lorenzo Clemente Naranjo J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Juan Jose Corral Moreno CUATRECASAS, GONÇALVES PEREIRA

Beatriz Corredor COLEGIO DE REGISTRADORES DE LA PROPIEDAD Y MERCANTILES DE ESPAÑA

Miguel Cruz Amorós PWC SPAIN

Guillermo De La Cruz García CONERSA - GRUPO PROINGEC

Pelayo de Salvador Morell DESALVADOR REAL ESTATE LAWYERS

Iván Delgado González PÉREZ - LLORCA

Rossanna D’Onza BAKER & MCKENZIE

Iván Escribano J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Antonio Fernández J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Luis Fernandez Del Pozo COLEGIO DE REGISTRADORES DE LA PROPIEDAD Y MERCANTILES DE ESPAÑA

Idoya Fernandez Elorza CUATRECASAS, GONÇALVES PEREIRA

Héctor Gómez Ferrero DLA PIPER SPAIN SL

Silvia García DELOITTE ABOGADOS SL

Ignacio García Errandonea J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Borja García-Alamán J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Ana Gómez MONEREO MEYER MARINEL-LO ABOGADOS

Juan Ignacio Gomeza Villa NOTARIO DE BILBAO

Carlos Rueda Gómez-Calcerrada GÓMEZ-ACEBO & POMBO ABOGADOS

Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez-Barquin ASOCIACIÓN ESPAÑOLA DE LA INDUSTRIA ELÉCTRICA

Esther González Pérez URÍA & MENÉNDEZ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Wenceslao Gracia Zubiri GRACIA CARABANTES ABOGADOS

David Grasa Graell MONEREO, MEYER & MARINEL- LO ABOGADOS SLP

Jorge Hernandez EQUIFAX IBERICA

Carlos Hernández METROPOLITANA DE ADUANAS Y TRANSPORTES & ICONTAINERS. COM

Gabriele Hofmann FOURLAW ABOGADOS

Alejandro Huertas León J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Jaime Llopis CUATRECASAS, GONÇALVES PEREIRA

Marina Lorente J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Alberto Lorenzo BANCO DE ESPAÑA

Julio Isidro Lozano LVA LUIS VIDAL + ARCHITECTS

Diego Luis Luque Hurtado CAZORLA ABOGADOS, SLP

Joaquin Macias ASHURST LLP

Alberto Manzanares ASHURST LLP

Juan Carlos Marhuenda Gómez TLACORP

Daniel Marín GÓMEZ-ACEBO & POMBO ABOGADOS

Ignacio Martín Martín Fernández CAZORLA ABOGADOS, SLP

Lidia Martínez URÍA & MENÉNDEZ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Jorge Martín-Fernández CLIFFORD CHANCE

Alberto Mata GÓMEZ-ACEBO & POMBO ABOGADOS

José Manuel Mateo J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Valentin Merino Lopez VALENTIN MERINO ARQUITECTOS, SL.

Alberto Monreal Lasheras PWC SPAIN

Pedro Moreira SCA LEGAL

Eva Mur Mestre PWC SPAIN

Nicolás Nogueroles Peiró COLEGIO DE REGISTRADORES DE LA PROPIEDAD Y MERCANTILES DE ESPAÑA

Alejandro Nuñez Jimenez CLEANERGETIC SEERS SOLUTIONS SLU

Rafael Núñez-Lagos URÍA & MENÉNDEZ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Teresa Nuño DLA PIPER SPAIN SL

Álvaro Felipe Ochoa Pinzón J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Juan Oñate LINKLATERS

Isabel Palacios CLIFFORD CHANCE

Carla Palau Segura GÓMEZ-ACEBO & POMBO ABOGADOS

Daniel Parejo Ballesteros J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Julio Peralta de Arriba WHITE & CASE

Maria Jose Perez Martin COLEGIO DE REGISTRADORES DE LA PROPIEDAD Y MERCANTILES DE ESPAÑA

Carolina Posse GÓMEZ-ACEBO & POMBO ABOGADOS

Ignacio Quintana PWC SPAIN

Nelson Raposo Bernardo RAPOSO BERNARDO & ASSOCIADOS

Maria Redondo BAKER & MCKENZIE

Álvaro Rifá URÍA MENÉNDEZ

Guillermo Rodrigo García CLIFFORD CHANCE

Eduardo Rodríguez-Rovira URÍA & MENÉNDEZ, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Álvaro Rojo J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Javier Romeu TIBA INTERNACIONAL SA

Javier Ruz Cerezo GRUPOTEC RENEWABLES

Jaime Salvador RUSSELL BEDFORD ESPAÑA AUDITORES Y CONSULTORES SL - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Eduardo Santamaría Moral J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Ramón Santillán BANCO DE ESPAÑA

Cristina Soler GÓMEZ-ACEBO & POMBO ABOGADOS

Raimon Tagliavini URÍA MENÉNDEZ

Francisco Téllez de Gregorio FOURLAW ABOGADOS

Adrián Thery J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Ivan Tintore Subirana METROPOLITANA DE ADUANAS Y TRANSPORTES & ICONTAINERS. COM

Roberto Tojo Thomas de Carranza CLIFFORD CHANCE

Victoriano Travieso STEPINLAW SLP

Alejandro Valls BAKER & MCKENZIE

Juan Verdugo J&A GARRIGUES SLP

Fernando Vives Ruiz J&A GARRIGUES SLP

SRI LANKA Melissa Abeyasinghe TIRUCHELVAM ASSOCIATES

Asanka Abeysekera TIRUCHELVAM ASSOCIATES

Surangi Arawwawala PWC SRI LANKA

Pradeep Banduwansa COMMERCIAL BANK

Senajith Dasanayake CEYLON ELECTRICITY BOARD

Savantha De Saram D.L. & F. DE SARAM

DOING BUSINESS 2015308

Rupa Dheerasinghe CENTRAL BANK OF SRI LANKA

Manjula Ellepola F.J. & G. DE SARAM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Anjali Fernando F.J. & G. DE SARAM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ayomi Fernando EMPLOYERS’ FEDERATION OF CEYLON

P.N.R. Fernando COLOMBO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Ranil Gamage SUPER NEAT TECHNOLOGY PVT. LTD.

Lasantha Garusinghe TIRUCHELVAM ASSOCIATES

Jivan Goonetilleke D.L. & F. DE SARAM

Naomal Goonewardena NITHYA PARTNERS

Locana Gunaratna GUNARATNA ASSOCIATES

P. Mervyn Gunasekera LAN MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT SERVICE

Thilanka Namalie Haputhanthrie JULIUS & CREASY

Halin Hettigoda SAMPATH BANK PLC

M. Basheer Ismail DELOITTE

David Jacob DELLOGISTICS INTERNATIONAL PVT. LTD.

Jayantha Jayasekara COLOMBO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Sonali Jayasuriya-Rajapakse D.L. & F. DE SARAM

Shamalie Jayatunge TIRUCHELVAM ASSOCIATES

Sanjaya Jayawardene PROGRESSIVE DESIGN ASSOCIATES

Niral Kadawatharatchie FREIGHT LINKS INTERNATIONAL (PTE.) LTD.

Yudhishtran Kanagasabai PWC SRI LANKA

Charana Kanankegamage F.J. & G. DE SARAM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Neelakandan Kandiah NEELAKANDAN & NEELAKANDAN

Amila Karunaratne FREIGHT LINE INTERNATIONAL (PVT.) LTD.

Sankha Karunaratne F.J. & G. DE SARAM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Nihal Keppetipola SRI LANKA PORTS AUTHORITY

Janaka Lakmal CREDIT INFORMATION BUREAU LTD.

Ishara Madarasinghe F.J. & G. DE SARAM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Poorna Mendis

Fathima Amra Mohamed SUDATH PERERA ASSOCIATES

Ramani Muttettuwegama TIRUCHELVAM ASSOCIATES

Sumith Nandana TECHWELL ENGINEERING PVT. LTD.

Laila Nasry TIRUCHELVAM ASSOCIATES

Abirami Nithiananthan TIRUCHELVAM ASSOCIATES

Michael Paiva TIRUCHELVAM ASSOCIATES

Nirosha Peiris TIRUCHELVAM ASSOCIATES

Priyantha Peiris COLOMBO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Ravi Peiris EMPLOYERS’ FEDERATION OF CEYLON

Dayaratne Perera COLOMBO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

K.L.G. Thilak Perera DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS

Nissanka Perera PWC SRI LANKA

Sudath Perera SUDATH PERERA ASSOCIATES

Priyantha Punchihewa MIT CARGO PVT. LTD.

M. Puviharan DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS

S. Rajendran DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS

Hiranthi Ratnayake PWC SRI LANKA

Sanjeewanie Ratnayake CREDIT INFORMATION BUREAU LTD.

Mohamed Rizni SPEED INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT SYSTEMS LTD.

Nihal Rodrigo SRI LANKA EMPLOYEES’ TRUST FUND DEPARTMENT

Shane Silva JULIUS & CREASY

Volya Siriwardana TIRUCHELVAM ASSOCIATES

Priya Sivagananathan JULIUS & CREASY

Bharatha Subasinghe D.P.R. CONSULTANTS PVT. LIMITED

A.H. Sumathipala NEELAKANDAN & NEELAKANDAN

Harshana Suriyapperuma SECURITIES & EXCHANGE COMMISSION OF SRI LANKA

J.M. Swaminathan JULIUS & CREASY

Bandula S. Tilakasena CEYLON ELECTRICITY BOARD

Neil Tissera COLOMBO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Dhanika Umagiliya AMARASURIYA ASSOCIATES

Shehara Varia F.J. & G. DE SARAM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

G.G. Weerakkody COLOMBO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Charmalie Weerasekera LAWYER

Priyath B Wickrama SRI LANKA PORTS AUTHORITY

Jagath P. Wijeweera DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS

John Wilson JOHN WILSON PARTNERS

ST. KITTS AND NEVIS Charlene Acquisto SCOTIABANK

Michella Adrien THE LAW OFFICES OF MICHELLA ADRIEN

Nicholas Brisbane BRISBANE O’GARRO ALVARANGA

Jan Dash LIBURD AND DASH

Marsha T. Henderson HENDERSON LEGAL CHAMBERS

Stanley Jacobs SKIPA

Damian E. S. Kelsick KELSICK, WILKIN AND FERDINAND

Mickia Mills NISBETTS

Adeola Moore INLAND REVENUE AUTHORITY

Jeoffrey Nisbett NISBETTS

Nervin Rawlins INLAND REVENUE AUTHORITY

Heidi Lynn Sutton LAW OFFICES OF T.A.C.T. LIBURD & H.D. SUTTON

Warren Thompson CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AND CONSULTING AGENCY INC. (CMCAI)

Larry Vaughan CUSTOMS AND EXCISE DEPARTMENT

Leonora Walwyn WALWYNLAW

ST. LUCIA Michelle Anthony-Desir DU BOULAY, ANTHONY & CO.

Clive Antoine MINISTRY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, ENERGY, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Thaddeus M. Antoine TM ANTOINE PARTNERS

Oswald Augustin JOSEPH SHIPPING

Gerard Bergasse TROPICAL SHIPPING

Glenn Charlemagne SUPERIOR SHIPPING SERVICES

Willibald Charles BARON SHIPPING & BROKERAGE INC.

Sean Compton MELON|DESIGN:ARCHITECTURE

Swithin Donelly MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, ECONOMIC PLANNING & NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Raquel Du Boulay-Chastanet DU BOULAY, ANTHONY & CO.

Brenda M. Duncan BDO ST. LUCIA

Kurt Elibox BLUEPRINT CONSTRUCTION LTD.

Barbara Eloi CARRIBEAN CARGO DC

Peter I. Foster PETER I. FOSTER & ASSOCIATES

Peterson D. Francis PETERSON D. FRANCIS WORLDWIDE SHIPPING & CUSTOMS SERVICES LTD.

Carol J. Gedeon CHANCERY CHAMBERS

Garth George ST. LUCIA ELECTRICITY SERVICES LTD.

Claire Greene-Malaykhan PETER I. FOSTER & ASSOCIATES

Claude Guillaume INTERISLAND ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS

Shelda London WEST INDES SHIPPING & TRADING CO.

Cuthbert McDiarmed MINISTRY OF PHYSICAL PLANNING, HOUSING, AND URBAN RENEWAL

Stephen Mcnamara MCNAMARA & CO.

Richard Peterkin GRANT THORNTON

Trevor Philipe TREVOR PHILIP AGENCIES LTD.

Joanna Raynold-Arthurton MINISTRY OF PHYSICAL PLANNING, HOUSING, AND URBAN RENEWAL

Janelle Sagusingh TROPICAL SHIPPING

Catherine Sealys PROCUREMENT SERVICES INTERNATIONAL

Michael Sewordor MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS, WORKS, TRANSPORT AND PUBLIC UTILITIES

Renee St. Rose PETER I. FOSTER & ASSOCIATES

Leandra Gabrielle Verneuil CHAMBERS OF JENNIFER REMY & ASSOCIATES

Andie Wilkie GORDON & GORDON CO.

ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES CENTRAL WATER AND SEWERAGE AUTHORITY

ST. VINCENT ELECTRICITY SERVICES LTD.

Michaela N. Ambrose BAPTISTE & CO. LAW FIRM

Kay R.A. Bacchus-Browne KAY BACCHUS-BROWNE CHAMBERS

Rene M. Baptiste BAPTISTE & CO. LAW FIRM

Allan P. Burke PERRY’S CUSTOMS AND SHIPPING AGENCY, LTD.

Mikhail A.X. Charles BAPTISTE & CO. LAW FIRM

Mira E. Commissiong EQUITY CHAMBERS

Jarand Cummings CARDINAL LAW FIRM

Stanley DeFreitas DEFREITAS & ASSOCIATES

Vilma Diaz de Gonsalves BDO EASTERN CARIBBEAN

Bernadine Dublin LABOUR DEPARTMENT

Theona R. Elizee-Stapleton COMMERCE & INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE (CIPO)

Ralph Henry SCOTIABANK

Stanley John ELIZABETH LAW CHAMBERS

Errol E. Layne ERROL E. LAYNE CHAMBERS

Isaac Legair DENNINGS

Louisa Lewis-Ward PWC BARBADOS

Moulton Mayers MOULTON MAYERS ARCHITECTS

Martin Sheen COMMERCE & INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE (CIPO)

Shelford Stowe MINISTRY OF HOUSING, INFORMAL HUMAN SETTLEMENTS, LANDS AND SURVEYS

SUDAN Omer Abdel Ati OMER ABDEL ATI SOLICITORS

Ali Abdelrahman Khalil SHAMI, KHALIL & SIDDIG ADVOCATES

Wael Abdin SUDANESE COMMERCIAL LAW OFFICE

Yousif Abdulatif DARKA FOR TRADING & SERVICES CO. LTD.

Abdalla Abuzeid ABDALLA A. ABUZEID & ASSOCIATES

Mohamed Ibrahim Adam DR. ADAM & ASSOCIATES

Al Fadel Ahmed Al Mahdi AL MAHDI LAW OFFICE

Emtinan Ali CIASA

Mohanad Almokashfi CIASA

Abdalla Bashir Ibrahim Alataya MAHMOUD ELSHEIKH OMER & ASSOCIATES ADVOCATES

Awad Darwish DARKA FOR TRADING & SERVICES CO. LTD.

Alaa El Numan DARKA FOR TRADING & SERVICES CO. LTD.

Mohamed Elebodi CIASA

Ahmed M. Elhillali AMERICAN SUDANESE CONSULTING INC.

Hiba Elsayed Abdo MAHMOUD ELSHEIKH OMER & ASSOCIATES ADVOCATES

Asmaa Hamad Abdellatif MAHMOUD ELSHEIKH OMER & ASSOCIATES ADVOCATES

Elwaleed Hussein CIASA

Mohamed Ibrahim SOMARAIN ORIENTAL CO.

Ahmed Mahdi MAHMOUD ELSHEIKH OMER & ASSOCIATES ADVOCATES

309ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Tariq Mahmoud El Sheikh Omer MAHMOUD ELSHEIKH OMER & ASSOCIATES ADVOCATES

Ghada Mahmoud Eljeedawi SOMARAIN ORIENTAL CO.

Amin Mekki Medani EL KARIB & MEDANI ADVOCATES

Amel Mohamed Shrif MAHMOUD ELSHEIKH OMER & ASSOCIATES ADVOCATES

Tarig Monim STRATEGY CONSULTANTS

Tariq Mubarak EL KARIB & MEDANI ADVOCATES

Abdulhakim Omar SDV LOGISTICS

Rayan Omer OMER ABDEL ATI SOLICITORS

Mohamed Alaaeldin Osman DARKA FOR TRADING & SERVICES CO. LTD.

Sayab Mohammed Osman Ibrahim Swar MAHMOUD ELSHEIKH OMER & ASSOCIATES ADVOCATES

Mahasin Siddig SHAMI, KHALIL & SIDDIG ADVOCATES

Marwa Taha SHAMI, KHALIL & SIDDIG ADVOCATES

Abdel Gadir Warsama Ghalib DR. ABDEL GADIR WARSAMA GHALIB & ASSOCIATES LEGAL FIRM

SURINAME AURORA ARCHITECTS

Kathleen Juanita Brandon ADVOCATENKANTOOR KRAAG

Sieglien Burleson COMPETITIVENESS UNIT SURINAME

G. Clide Cambridge PARAMARIBO CUSTOM BROKER & PACKER

Dennis Chandansingh DCA ACCOUNTANTS & CONSULTANTS

Anneke Chin-A-Lin NOTARIAAT ALEXANDER

Anoeschka Debipersad A.E. DEBIPERSAD & ASSOCIATES

Helen Doelwijt VERENIGING SURINAAMS BEDRIJFSLEVEN, SURINAME TRADE & INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

Marcel K. Eyndhoven N.V. ENERGIEBEDRIJVEN SURINAME

Kenneth Foe A. Man SURIPRINT

Dirk Heave MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Siegfried Kenswil KPMG

Susilkumar Gyandath Rudrepersad Khoen Khoen ACHARYA ADVOCATEN

Henk Naarendorp CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

Marcel Persad BDO ABRAHAMS RAIJMANN & PARTNERS

Frank E. M. Raijmann BDO ABRAHAMS RAIJMANN & PARTNERS

Natasja Robles VERENIGING SURINAAMS BEDRIJFSLEVEN, SURINAME TRADE & INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

Adiel Sakoer N.V. GLOBAL EXPEDITION

Albert D. Soedamah LAWFIRM SOEDAMAH & ASSOCIATES

Radjen A. Soerdjbalie NOTARIAAT R.A. SOERDJBALIE

Silvano Tjong-Ahin MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE GLIS

Carol-Ann Tjon-Pian-Gi LAWYER & SWORN TRANSLATOR

Cindy Uden BDO ABRAHAMS RAIJMANN & PARTNERS

Milton van Brussel BDO ABRAHAMS RAIJMANN & PARTNERS

Jennifer van Dijk-Silos LAW FIRM VAN DIJK-SILOS

Dayenne Wielingen-Verwey VERENIGING SURINAAMS BEDRIJFSLEVEN, SURINAME TRADE & INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

Andy B. Wong N.V. ENERGIEBEDRIJVEN SURINAME

Anthony Wong GENERAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION OF SURINAME

SWAZILAND TRANSUNION ITC

Daniel Bediako KOBLA QUASHIE AND ASSOCIATES

Susanne DeBeer MNS GROUP

Musa Dlamini M.L. DLAMINI ATTORNEYS

Ray Dlamini BICON CONSULTING ENGINEERS

Veli Dlamini INTERFREIGHT PTY. LTD.

Muzikayise Dube SWAZILAND INVESTMENT PROMOTION AUTHORITY

John Earl Henwood CLOETE HENWOOD

Thulasizwe Clyde Hlophe OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR SWAZILAND

Phumlile Tina Khoza SWAZILAND BUILDING SOCIETY

Andrew Linsey PWC SWAZILAND

Mangaliso Magagula MAGAGULA & HLOPHE

Nhlanhla Maphanga LANG MITCHELL ASSOCIATES

Sabelo Masuku MAPHANGA HOWE MASUKU NSIBANDE

Bongani Mtshali FEDERATION OF SWAZILAND EMPLOYERS AND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

George Mzungu M&E CONSULTING ENGINEERS

Jerome Ndzimandze FJ BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Knox Nxumalo ROBINSON BERTRAM

Emmanuel Ofori KOBLA QUASHIE AND ASSOCIATES

Kobla Quashie KOBLA QUASHIE AND ASSOCIATES

José Rodrigues RODRIGUES & ASSOCIATES

Bongani Simelane MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF MBABANE

John Thomson MORMOND ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS

Bradford Mark Walker BRAD WALKER ARCHITECTS

SWEDEN BILFINGER CONSTRUCTION

ROSCHIER SWEDEN

VATTENFALL ELDISTRIBUTION AB

Charles Andersson ASHURST ADVOKATBYRÅ AB

Bo Bergman STOCKHOLM CITY HALL

Mats Berter MAQS LAW FIRM

Helena Brännvall ADVOKATFIRMAN VINGE KB, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Teodor Brissman ÖHRLINGS PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AB

Alexander Broch ÖRESUNDS REDOVISNING AB

Laura Carlson STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF LAW

Åke Dahlqvist UC

Per Gustaf Ekbom ASHURST ADVOKATBYRÅ AB

Isabelle Emanuelsson TIME ADVOKATBYRÅ

Johan Gregow ASHURST ADVOKATBYRÅ AB

Peder Hammarskiöld HAMMARSKIÖLD & CO.

Lars Hartzell ELMZELL ADVOKATBYRÅ AB, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Elisabeth Heide ASHURST ADVOKATBYRÅ AB

Camilla Holmkvist ASHURST ADVOKATBYRÅ AB

James Hope ADVOKATFIRMAN VINGE KB, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Erik Hygrell WISTRAND ADVOKATBYRÅ

Jenny Jilmstad ASHURST ADVOKATBYRÅ AB

Magnus Johnsson ÖHRLINGS PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AB

Mikael Klang ASHURST ADVOKATBYRÅ AB

Niklas Körling WISTRAND ADVOKATBYRÅ

Rikard Lindahl ADVOKATFIRMAN VINGE KB, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Dennis Linden LANTMÄTERIET

Inger Lindhe LANTMÄTERIET

Christoffer Monell MANNHEIMER SWARTLING ADVOKATBYRÅ

Mikael Nelson TIME ADVOKATBYRÅ

Johan Nylander CMA SCANDINAVIA AB

Karl-Arne Olsson GÄRDE WESSLAU ADVOKATBYRÅ

Khatereh Razazi MAQS LAW FIRM

Therese Säde ADVOKATFIRMAN VINGE KB, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Bojana Saletic HAMMARSKIÖLD & CO.

Jesper Schönbeck ADVOKATFIRMAN VINGE KB, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Gustav Ståhl BAKER & MCKENZIE

Albert Wållgren ADVOKATFIRMAN VINGE KB, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Petter Wenehult ELMZELL ADVOKATBYRÅ AB, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

SWITZERLAND ERNST & YOUNG

HANDELSREGISTERAMT DES KANTONS

ZEK SWITZERLAND

Beat M. Barthold FRORIEP

Marc Bernheim STAIGER, SCHWALD & PARTNER LTD.

Sébastien Bettschart ABELS AVOCATS

Myriam Büchi-Bänteli PWC SWITZERLAND

Martin Burkhardt LENZ & STAEHELIN

Massimo Calderan ALTENBURGER LTD. LEGAL AND TAX

Andrea Cesare Canonica SWISS CUSTOMS

Boudry Charles LALIVE

Sonia de la Fuente ABELS AVOCATS

Stefan Eberhard ABELS AVOCATS

Suzanne Eckert WENGER PLATTNER

Jana Essebier VISCHER AG

Robert Furter PESTALOZZI, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Gaudenz Geiger STAIGER, SCHWALD & PARTNER LTD.

Riccardo Geiser ALTENBURGER LTD. LEGAL AND TAX

Debora Ghilardotti MOLINO ADAMI GALANTE

Olivier Hari SCHELLENBERG WITTMER

Nicolas Herzog NIEDERMANN RECHTSANWÄLTE

Jakob Hoehn PESTALOZZI, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Ani Homberger LALIVE

Patrick Hünerwadel LENZ & STAEHELIN

Sara Ianni VISCHER AG

David Jenny VISCHER AG

Mattias Johnson FRORIEP

Marina Joos LALIVE

Cyrill Kaeser LENZ & STAEHELIN

Fabian Koch LENZ & STAEHELIN

Michael Kramer PESTALOZZI, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Yury Kudryavtsev AUDICONSULT SA - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Cédric Lenoir LALIVE

Armin Marti PWC SWITZERLAND

Barbara Meyer VISCHER AG

Andrea Molino MOLINO ADAMI GALANTE

Daniela Reinhardt PWC SWITZERLAND

Guy-Philippe Rubeli PESTALOZZI, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Stefan Schmiedlin HUG SCHMIEDLIN SCHNYDER

Daniel Schmitz PWC SWITZERLAND

Urs Schuppisser KELLER ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Andreas Staubli PWC SWITZERLAND

Daniel Steudler SWISSTOPO, DIRECTORATE FOR CADASTRAL SURVEYING

Beatrice Vetsch PWC SWITZERLAND

Jean-Paul Vulliéty LALIVE

Patrick Weber EKZ ELEKTRIZITÄTSWERKE DES KANTONS ZÜRICH

Stefan Zangger BELGLOBE INTERNATIONAL LLC

SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC ERNST & YOUNG

DOING BUSINESS 2015310

Wadih Abou Nasr PWC LEBANON

Alina Achy PWC LEBANON

Mouazza Al Ashhab AUDITING CONSULTING ACCOUNTING CENTER

Bisher Al-Houssami AL-ISRAA INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT FORWARDER

Anas Alsaadi SYRIAN STRATEGIC THINK TANK RESEARCH CENTER

H. Altass DAMASCUS UNIVERSITY

Jamil Ammar SYRIAN STRATEGIC THINK TANK RESEARCH CENTER

Ghada Armali SARKIS & ASSOCIATES

Karen Baroud PWC LEBANON

Diaa Dannan TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Mohammad Khaled Darwicheh TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Nada ElSayed PWC LEBANON

Anas Ghazi MEETHAK - LAWYERS & CONSULTANTS

Yazan Hosari CENTRAL BANK OF SYRIA

Mohammad Joumaa PWC LEBANON

Fadi Kardous KARDOUS LAW OFFICE

Mamon Katbeh CENTRAL BANK OF SYRIA

Randa Moftah CENTRAL BANK OF SYRIA

Gabriel Oussi OUSSI LAW FIRM

Housam Safadi SAFADI BUREAU

Fadi Sarkis SARKIS & ASSOCIATES

TAIWAN, CHINA GIBSIN ELECTRICAL CONSULTANCY

Mark Brown WINKLER PARTNERS

Victor I. Chang LCS & PARTNERS

Christine Chen WINKLER PARTNERS

Daniel Chen WINKLER PARTNERS

Edgar Y. Chen TSAR & TSAI LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Yo-Yi Chen FORMOSA TRANSNATIONAL

Chun-Yih Cheng FORMOSA TRANSNATIONAL

Chia Yi Chiang PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL

Chih-Hung Chiang MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

Ying-Che Chiu TAIPEI CITY GOVERNMENT

Dennis Chou VIA JUSTICE LAW OFFICES

May Chou APL

Philip T. C. Fei FEI & CHENG ASSOCIATES

Mark Harty LCS & PARTNERS

Sophia Hsieh TSAR & TSAI LAW FIRM, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Barbara Hsu SDV LOGISTICS

Robert Hsu SDV LOGISTICS

Margaret Huang LCS & PARTNERS

Nicole Huang LCS & PARTNERS

T.C. Huang HUANG & PARTNERS

Charles Hwang YANGMING PARTNERS

Lin Jim TOPTECH. ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT

Joan Jing PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL

Nathan Kaiser EIGER

Tzu-Di Kao TAIPEI CITY GOVERNMENT

Howard Kuo PWC TAIWAN

Kuo-Ching Lai JOINT CREDIT INFORMATION CENTER

En Fan Lan PRIMORDIAL LAW FIRM

Vivian Lee HUANG & PARTNERS

Yu Lee TAIPEI CITY GOVERNMENT

John Li LCS & PARTNERS

Che-Wei Liang JUDICIAL YUAN

Justin Liang BAKER & MCKENZIE

Lawerence Liao YANGMING PARTNERS

Jeffrey Lin JOINT CREDIT INFORMATION CENTER

Kien Lin JOINT CREDIT INFORMATION CENTER

Ming-Yen Lin DEEP & FAR, ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Nelson J. Lin HUANG & PARTNERS

Rich Lin LCS & PARTNERS

Sheau Chyng Lin PRIMORDIAL LAW FIRM

Jasmin Yen-Lin Liu FINANCIAL SUPERVISORY COMMISSION, BANKING BUREAU

Kang-Shen Liu LEXCEL PARTNERS

Chung Pi Luan MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

Joseph Ni GOOD EARTH CPA

Lawrence S. Ong PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL

Patrick Pai-ChiangChu LEE AND LI, ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Jin-Fang Pun CHEN, SHYUU & PUN

Lloyd Roberts EIGER

Tanya Y. Teng HUANG & PARTNERS

Bee Leay Teo BAKER & MCKENZIE

Alex Tsai EIGER

C.F. Tsai DEEP & FAR, ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

David Tsai LEXCEL PARTNERS

Eric Tsai PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL

Rita Tsai APL

Felix Wang YANGMING PARTNERS

Richard Watanabe PWC TAIWAN

Ja Lin Wu NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

Pei-Yu Wu BAKER & MCKENZIE

Alex Yeh LCS & PARTNERS

TAJIKISTAN CIBT - CREDIT INFORMATION BUREAU IN TAJIKISTAN

Bakhtiyor Abdulloev ABM TRANS SERVICE LLC

Zulfiya Akchurina GRATA LAW FIRM

Atabek Akhmedov GRATA LAW FIRM

Ilhom Amirhonov ABM TRANS SERVICE LLC

Khujanazar Aslamshoev COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Amirbek Azizov MINISTRY OF LABOR & SOCIAL PROTECTION

Denis Bagrov COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Jienshoh Bukhoriev ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Ashraf Sharifovich Ikromov DELTA INVEST STROY

Elena Kaeva PWC KAZAKHSTAN

Assel Khamzina PWC KAZAKHSTAN

Alisher Khoshimov COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Larisa Kislyakova ABBAT ASSOCIATION

Shirinbek Milikbekov COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Kamoliddin Mukhamedov GRATA LAW FIRM

Takhir Nabiev AITEN CONSULTING GROUP

Rustam Nazrisho NAZRISHO & MIRZOEV LAW FIRM LLC

Aloviddin Nosirov GERMAN TECHNICAL COOPERATION

Firdavs S. Mirzoev NAZRISHO & MIRZOEV LAW FIRM LLC

Emin Sanginov MINISTRY OF LABOR & SOCIAL PROTECTION

Tatyana Savinykh PWC KAZAKHSTAN

Marina Shamilova LEGAL CONSULTING GROUP

Takdir Sharifov ASSOCIATION OF ANTI CRISIS MANAGERS

Sherzod Sodatkadamov NAZRISHO & MIRZOEV LAW FIRM LLC

Aliya Utegaliyeva PWC KAZAKHSTAN

Abdurakhmon Yuldoshev MINISTRY OF LABOR & SOCIAL PROTECTION

Orif Zakirov DEGERTAJ

TANZANIA Ofotsu A. Tetteh-Kujorjie MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

Patrick Ache MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

Zukra Ally PWC TANZANIA

Said Athuman TANZANIA REVENUE AUTHORITY

Magori Cosmas Magori TRADE FACILITATION UNIT, CUSTOMS

Christopher Giattas REXATTORNEYS

Hanif Habib HANIF HABIB & CO. - CORRESPONDENT OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Asma Hilal CRB AFRICA LEGAL

Sujata Jaffer PKF ACCOUNTANTS & BUSINESS ADVISOR TANZANIA

Johnson Jasson JOHNSON JASSON & ASSOCIATES ADVOCATES

Edward John Urio TANZANIA FREIGHT FORWARDERS ASSOCIATION

Davith Kahwa CREDITINFO TANZANIA LIMITED

Kamanga Wilbert Kapinga MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

Wilbert B. Kapinga MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

Mary Kwarteng PWC TANZANIA

Adam Lovett NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT

Victoria Lyimo Makani VELMA LAW

Siri A. Malai MALAI FREIGHT FORWARDERS LTD.

Lawrence Masha ISHENGOMA, KARUME, MASHA & MAGAI ADVOCATES

Henry Sato Massaba M&A ATTORNEYS

Jafari Mbaye PWC TANZANIA

Nimrod Mkono MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

Steven Mlote ENGINEERS REGISTRATION BOARD

George Mpeli Kilindu REXATTORNEYS

Ali Mufuruki INFOTECH INVESTMENT GROUP

Carolyne Muro REXATTORNEYS

Shabani Mwatawala PSM ARCHITECTS CO. LTD.

Maningo Nassoro PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE

Raymond Ngatuni REXATTORNEYS

Alex Thomas Nguluma REXATTORNEYS

Cyril Pesha CRB AFRICA LEGAL

Deogratius Rutabanzibwa BREVIS CONSULTS

Charles R.B. Rwechungura CRB AFRICA LEGAL

Pendo Shamte CRB AFRICA LEGAL

Eve Hawa Sinare REX CONSULTING LIMITED

Aisha Ally Sinda MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

David Tarimo PWC TANZANIA

Jacqueline Tarimo MKONO & CO. ADVOCATES

Regis Tissier BOLLORÉ AFRICA LOGISTICS

THAILAND Janist Aphornratana PWC THAILAND

Chanakarn Boonyasith SIAM CITY LAW OFFICES LTD.

Somsak Bumroongwad METROPOLITAN ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY

Thunyaporn Chartisathian DFDL

Chinnavat Chinsangaram WEERAWONG, CHINNAVAT & PEANGPANOR LTD.

Sirijitt Choosak SIAM CITY LAW OFFICES LTD.

Suphakorn Chueabunchai CHANDLER & THONG-EK

Paul Connelly INTERNATIONAL LEGAL COUNSELLORS THAILAND LIMITED (ILCT)

Frederic Favre VOVAN & ASSOCIES

Seetha Gopalakrishnan PWC THAILAND

Yothin Intaraprasong CHANDLER & THONG-EK

Muncharee Ittipalin APL

311ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Kanok Jullamon THE SUPREME COURT OF THAILAND

Nuttinee Kaewsa-ard NATIONAL CREDIT BUREAU CO. LTD.

Siri Lerdsirisopon VOVAN & ASSOCIES

Panupas Likittanasombat PWC THAILAND

Sakchai Limsiripothong WEERAWONG, CHINNAVAT & PEANGPANOR LTD.

Anuwat Ngamprasertkul PWC THAILAND

Surapol Opasatien NATIONAL CREDIT BUREAU CO. LTD.

Tanadee Pantumkomon CHANDLER & THONG-EK

Thawatchai Pittayasophon SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Ratana Poonsombudlert CHANDLER & THONG-EK

Cynthia M. Pornavalai TILLEKE & GIBBINS

Kanya Pujjusamai THAI CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION UNDER H.M. THE KING’S PATRONAGE

Chinnavit Putanapibul SIAM CITY LAW OFFICES LTD.

Rangsima Rattana LEGAL EXECUTION DEPARTMENT

Thavorn Rujivanarom PWC THAILAND

Kunal Sachdev DFDL

Maythawee Sarathai MAYER BROWN JSM

Somchai Sathiramongkolkul PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL & TAX CONSULTANTS LIMITED

Alexander James Seeley INTERNATIONAL LEGAL COUNSELLORS THAILAND LIMITED (ILCT)

Kraisorn Singharajwarapan LEGAL EXECUTION DEPARTMENT

Kowit Somwaiya LAWPLUS LTD.

Kaittipat Sonchareon BANGKOK METROPOLITAN ADMINISTRATION

Audray Souche DFDL

Picharn Sukparangsee SIAM CITY LAW OFFICES LTD.

Kesara Summacarava MAYER BROWN JSM

Luxsiri Supakijjanusorn SIAM CITY LAW OFFICES LTD.

Siripong Supakijjanusorn PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LEGAL & TAX CONSULTANTS LIMITED

Sodsruang Suvarnakuta PWC THAILAND

Naddaporn Suwanvajukkasikij LAWPLUS LTD.

Hunt Talmage CHANDLER & THONG-EK

Paisan Tulapornpipat BLUE OCEAN LOGISTICS CO., LTD.

Chunant Tunhapran METROPOLITAN ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY

Pleotian Uttarachai SIAM CITY LAW OFFICES LTD.

Sutharm Valaisathien INTERNATIONAL LEGAL COUNSELLORS THAILAND LIMITED (ILCT)

Pattara Vasinwatanapong VICKERY & WORACHAI LTD.

Harold K. Vickery Jr. VICKERY & WORACHAI LTD.

Athicha Vuttiviroj MAYER BROWN JSM

Wasantachai Watanavongvisudhi INTERNATIONAL LEGAL COUNSELLORS THAILAND LIMITED (ILCT)

Patcharaporn Wechayasopon SIAM CITY LAW OFFICES LTD.

Auradee P. Wongsaroj CHANDLER & THONG-EK

Ahmet Yesilkaya TILLEKE & GIBBINS

Somchai Yungkarn CHANDLER & THONG-EK

TIMOR-LESTE BANCO CENTRAL DE TIMOR- LESTE (BCTL)

MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Henrique Araujo Sobreira MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS

Andreia Bento Simões MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS

Luis Carvalho ENGIPRO

Joel Castro de Abreu CRA TIMOR

Catarina Cunha MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS - SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS RL

Joana Custóias MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS

Brigida da Silva CUSTOMS, MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Anthony Frazier

João Galamba de Oliveira WONG ALLIANCE

Alejandro Garcia CUSTOMS, MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Renato Guerra de Almeida MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS

Eusebio Guterres UNIDO BUSINESS REGULATORY CONSULTANT

Zeca Guterres SDV LOGISTICS

Aaron Levine ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Alexander Lukito PWC INDONESIA

Helena Madeira LAWYER

Roberto Monteiro SDV LOGISTICS

Vega Ramadhan PWC INDONESIA

Ricardo Silva MIRANDA CORREIA AMENDOEIRA & ASSOCIADOS

Duarte Simões Carneiro CRA TIMOR

Jose Teixeira DA SILVA TEIXEIRA & ASSOCIADOS, LDA

Christiara Tiffani PWC INDONESIA

Tim Robert Watson PWC INDONESIA

TOGO AGENCE EPAUC NOUVELLE

DIRECTION DES SERVICES TECHNIQUE DE LA MAIRIE

Folly Adama CABINET AQUEREBURU AND PARTNERS

Jean-Marie Adenka CABINET ADENKA

Mensah Adje AQUEREBURU AND PARTNERS CABINET D’AVOCATS

Kokou Gadémon Agbessi CABINET LUCREATIF

Franck Akakpo MAERSK LINE

Martial Akakpo SCP MARTIAL AKAKPO ET ASSOCIÉS

Nicolas Kossi Akidjetan ORDRE NATIONAL DES ARCHITECTES DU TOGO (ONAT)

Richard Kowovi A. Akpoto-Kougblenou STUDIO ALPHA A.I.C.

Prosper Gato Amegnido GROUPE GATO

Coffi Alexis Aquereburu AQUEREBURU AND PARTNERS CABINET D’AVOCATS

Cécile Assogbavi ETUDE NOTARIALE ASSOGBAVI

Sylvanus Dodzi Awutey CABINET LUCREATIF

Apow K. Bakoh AQUEREBURU AND PARTNERS CABINET D’AVOCATS

Bassambie Bationo BCEAO

Sockna Diaby PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Koffi Joseph Dogbevi CABINET LUCREATIF

Komi Simon Dogbo MAERSK LINE

Yvette A. Ehonam Gamisso Yevenou AQUEREBURU AND PARTNERS CABINET D’AVOCATS

Mahaman Tahir Hamani BCEAO

Komlan Houssin SCP MARTIAL AKAKPO ET ASSOCIÉS

Atchroe Leonard Johnson SCP AQUEREBURU & PARTNERS

Molgah Kadjaka-Abougnima CABINET DE NOTAIRE KADJAKA-ABOUGNIMA

Amatékoé Kangni SCP MARTIAL AKAKPO ET ASSOCIÉS

Vitalice Kangni SCP MARTIAL AKAKPO ET ASSOCIÉS

Bleounou Komlan CABINET D’AVOCAT

Emmanuel Mamlan SCP MARTIAL AKAKPO ET ASSOCIÉS

Adeline Messou PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Yawovi Negbegble AUTORITÉ DE RÉGLEMENTATION DU SECTEUR DE L’ELECTRICITÉ

Adoko Pascal TRIANGLE CONSTRUCTEUR

Olivier Pedanou CABINET LUCREATIF

Venance Père LCA

Herinjiva Tahirisoa Rakotonirina CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Sariaka Randrianarisoa CABINET JOHN W. FFOOKS & CO., MEMBER OF BOWMAN GILFILLAN AFRICA GROUP

Moussa Sanogo BCEAO

Diagne Souadou BCEAO

Dominique Taty PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Inès Mazalo Tekpa CABINET LUCREATIF

Fousséni Traoré PWC CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Emmanuel Yehouessi BCEAO

Edem Zotchi SCP MARTIAL AKAKPO ET ASSOCIÉS

TONGA RT. HON. LORD DALGETY OF THE ELECTRICITY COMMISSION

Delores Elliott DATA BUREAU (TONGA) LIMITED

Taniela Fonna KRAMER AUSENCO TONGA

Anthony Frazier

Taaniela Kula MINISTRY OF LANDS, SURVEY, NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT

Fisilau Leone ITS PACIFIC ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS

James Lutui CROWN LAW

Salesi Mataele OCEANTRANZ TONGA LTD.

Laki M. Niu LAKI NIU OFFICES

Jemma San Jose ELECTRICITY COMMISSION

Daphney Stone INLAND REVENUE TONGA

Tuipulotu Taufoou DATELINE TRANS-AM SHIPPING

Vaimoana Taukolo MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, TOURISM AND LABOUR

Fine Tohi DATELINE TRANS-AM SHIPPING

Lesina Tonga LESINA TONGA LAW FIRM

Distquaine P. Tu’ihalamaka MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, TOURISM AND LABOUR

Petunia Tupou FUNGATEIKI LAW OFFICE

Lepaola B. Vaea INLAND REVENUE TONGA

Mele Vunipola MINISTRY OF COMMERCE, TOURISM AND LABOUR

Dianna Warner SKIP’S CUSTOM JOINERY LTD.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PWC

REGULATED INDUSTRIES COMMISSION

Christopher Alexander PHOENIX LOGISTICS (TRINIDAD) LTD.

Rene Austin TRINIDAD & TOBAGO ELECTRICITY COMMISSION

Angelique Bart M. HAMEL-SMITH & CO., MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Andre Bass THE FAST FREIGHT GROUP

Marlon Beharry MINISTRY OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND INVESTMENT

Tiffanny Castillo M. HAMEL-SMITH & CO., MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Thomas Escalante TRANSUNION

Hadyn-John Gadsby J.D. SELLIER & CO.

Glenn Hamel-Smith M. HAMEL-SMITH & CO., MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Melissa Inglefield M. HAMEL-SMITH & CO., MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Randall Karim MINISTRY OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND INVESTMENT

Bijili Lalla K. R. LALLA & COMPANY

Sunil Lalloo LAWYER

Mariella Lange HSMDT LTD.

Marlon Leben ASSOCIATED BRANDS INDUSTRIES LTD.

Marcia Leonard THE FAST FREIGHT GROUP

Orrisha Maharajh JOHNSON, CAMACHO & SINGH

Nassim Mohammed ERNST & YOUNG

Sheldon Mycoo SYNOVATIONS LIMITED

Marjorie Nunez LEX CARIBBEAN

Kevin Nurse JOHNSON, CAMACHO & SINGH

DOING BUSINESS 2015312

Donna Phillips BROKERAGE SOLUTION

Sonji Pierre Chase JOHNSON, CAMACHO & SINGH

Fanta Punch M. HAMEL-SMITH & CO., MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Alvin Ramsaran TRINIDAD & TOBAGO ELECTRICITY COMMISSION

Kelvin Ramsook TRINIDAD & TOBAGO ELECTRICITY COMMISSION

Myrna Robinson-Walters M. HAMEL-SMITH & CO., MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Alice Salandy GSAL DESIGNS LTD.

Gregory Salandy GSAL DESIGNS LTD.

Arun Seenath DELOITTE

Nicholas Sinanan JOHNSON, CAMACHO & SINGH

Neshan Singh MINISTRY OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND INVESTMENT

Stephen A. Singh JOHNSON, CAMACHO & SINGH

Jonathan Walker M. HAMEL-SMITH & CO., MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Turkessa Warwick BROKERAGE SOLUTION

Dion Wilson THE UNIVERSITY OF WEST INDIES

TUNISIA Adly Bellagha ADLY BELLAGHA & ASSOCIATES

Hend Ben Achour ADLY BELLAGHA & ASSOCIATES

Wassim Ben Mahmoud ARCHITECT

Amel Ben Rahal BANQUE CENTRALE DE TUNISIE

Abdelfetah Benahji FERCHIOU & ASSOCIÉS

Peter Bismuth TUNISIE ELECTRO TECHNIQUE

Salaheddine Caid Essebsi CAID ESSEBSI AND PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Riadh Chabbout ARCHITECT

Elyes Chafter CHAFTER RAOUADI LLP

Zine el Abidine Chafter CHAFTER RAOUADI LLP

Abdelmalek Dahmani DAHMANI TRANSIT INTERNATIONAL

Mohamed Derbel BDO

Mohamed Lotfi El Ajeri EL AJERI LAWYERS, PARTENAIRE DE DS AVOCATS

Wafa Essayeh PWC TUNISIA

Abderrahmen Fendri PWC TUNISIA

Yessine Ferah F&A LAW FIRM

Noureddine Ferchiou FERCHIOU & ASSOCIÉS

Slim Gargouri CPA

Samah Ghrab CAF JURIDIQUE ET FISCAL SARL

Anis Jabnoun GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Badis Jedidi GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Sami Kallel KALLEL & ASSOCIATES

Mabrouk Maalaoui PWC TUNISIA

Dina Magroun EL AJERI LAWYERS, PARTENAIRE DE DS AVOCATS

Sarah Mebazaa COMETE ENGINEERING

Radhi Meddeb COMETE ENGINEERING

Faouzi Mili MILI AND ASSOCIATES

Adel Mokhtar HORIZONS MARITIMES

Mohamed Taieb Mrabet BANQUE CENTRALE DE TUNISIE

Imen Nouira CONSERVATION FONCIÈRE TUNISIA

Olfa Othmane BANQUE CENTRALE DE TUNISIE

Habiba Raouadi CHAFTER RAOUADI LLP

Sahbi SDV LOGISTICS

Borhene Tmar PWC TUNISIA

Rachid Tmar CAF JURIDIQUE ET FISCAL SARL

Wassim Turki AWT AUDIT & CONSEIL

Anis Wahabi AWT AUDIT & CONSEIL

TURKEY ARMADA LTD. STI.

SOMAY HUKUK BÜROSU

Metin Abut MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Erol Acun ÖZAK TEKSTIL

Emre Akarkarasu PWC TURKEY

Serdar Akinci MINISTRY OF ECONOMY

Simge Akyüz DEVRES LAW OFFICE

Inci Alaloglu TABOGLU & DEMIRHAN

Mehmet Babür Alçi MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Duygu Alkan ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Cansu Alparman ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Ekin Altıntaş PWC TURKEY

Selin Barlin Aral PAKSOY LAW FIRM

Melsa Ararat CORPORATE GOVERNANCE FORUM OF TURKEY, SABANCI UNIVERSITY

Ergun Benan Arseven MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Ilkay Arslantaslı Bilen KPMG

Özgür Asik INLAWCO LAW FIRM

Banu Aslan BEZEN & PARTNERS

Pınar Atik SARIIBRAHIMOĞLU LAW OFFICE

Levent Aydaş AYDAŞ LIMAN KURMAN ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Nejla Aydin Ozer MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Aybike Aygun AYGÜN & ÖZTERZI LAW OFFICE

Murat Ayyıldız ERYÜREKLI LAW OFFICE

Elvan Aziz PAKSOY LAW FIRM

Derya Baksı TARLAN – BAKSI LAW FIRM

Z. İlayda Balkan ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Naz Bandik Hatipoglu ÇAKMAK AVUKATLIK BÜROSU

Burçin Barlas BARLAS LAW

Sedef Başcı DEVRES LAW OFFICE

Erdem Basgul ÇAKMAK AVUKATLIK BÜROSU

Ayça Bayburan ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Türkan Bayraktar PWC TURKEY

Harun Bayramoglu ITKIB ISTANBUL TEXTILE AND APPAREL EXPORTERS’ ASSOCIATION

Nergis Beşiroğlu CERRAHOĞLU LAW FIRM

Serdar Bezen BEZEN & PARTNERS

Yeşim Bezen BEZEN & PARTNERS

Ayşe Eda Biçer ÇAKMAK AVUKATLIK BÜROSU

Nurettin Emre Bilginoğlu ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Yildirim Bozbiyik

Melis Buhan PEKIN & PEKIN

Irfan Bumin PERA CONSTRUCTION

İdil Çağal Kuyan PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

Cansu Caglar PEKIN & PEKIN

Esin Çamlıbel TURUNÇ LAW OFFICE

Maria Lianides Çelebi BENER LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

M. Fadlullah Cerrahoğlu CERRAHOĞLU LAW FIRM

Meline Cilingir BEZEN & PARTNERS

lsa Coşkun MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Melandiz Dalyan INLAWCO LAW FIRM

Yavuz Dayıoğlu PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

Orkun Deniz KREDIT KAYIT BUREAU

Rüçhan Derici 3E DANIŞMANLIK LTD. ŞTI.

Kazım Derman KREDIT KAYIT BUREAU

Emine Devres DEVRES LAW OFFICE

Deniz Dinc BARLAS LAW

Hamide Handan Diri MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Irmak Dirik PEKIN & PEKIN

Nur Dogan ÇAKMAK AVUKATLIK BÜROSU

Orcun Dogancali DÜLGER LAW FIRM

Alper Dönmez ÖZAK TEKSTIL

Cumhur Dulger PWC TURKEY

Dilara Duman DUMAN LAW OFFICE

Safa Mustafa Durakoğlu ÇAKMAK AVUKATLIK BÜROSU

Özgür Ekinci PWC TURKEY

Diler Emiroğlu AYGÜN & ÖZTERZI LAW OFFICE

Mehveş Erdem CERRAHOĞLU LAW FIRM

Gökben Erdem Dirican PEKIN & PEKIN

Aycan Erdoğan PWC TURKEY

Onur Ergun TABOGLU & DEMIRHAN

Muzaffer Eroğlu KOCAELI UNIVERSITY, HUKUK FAKÜLTESI

Nurhan Ersoy GUNDUZ SIMSEK GAGO AVUKATLIK ORTAKLIGI

Deniz Zeynep Erverdi ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Umurcan Gago PWC TURKEY

Özgür Can Geçim ERNST & YOUNG

Sabiha Nur Göllü BENER LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Osman Nuri Gönenç CENTRAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

Damla Gonul PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

Berkay Gül MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Nurettin Gündogmus AKTIF INVESTMENT BANK AS

Zeki Gündüz PWC TURKEY

Remzi Orkun Guner ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Burcu Guray MOROGLU ARSEVEN

E. Nazlı Gürdal TURUNÇ LAW OFFICE

Ayşegül Gürsoy CERRAHOĞLU LAW FIRM

Özhan Güven

Barış Hınçal PWC TURKEY

Ece İlçi BEZEN & PARTNERS

Ece Ilter PWC TURKEY

Selahattin Burak Iplikci PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

Serpilgül Işık BANKS ASSOCIATION OF TURKEY

Sevi Islamagec MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Kadir Orcun Issevenler MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Murat Kamisli BALKAN SULFUR LTD.

Ibrahim Kara KREDIT KAYIT BUREAU

Nihat Karadirek 3E DANIŞMANLIK LTD. ŞTI.

Çagil Karahasanoglu MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Faruk Kavak CENTRAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

Betül Kencebay TUYID - TURKISH IR SOCIETY

Burak Kepkep

Ekin Kiral SARIIBRAHIMOĞLU LAW OFFICE

Süleyman Kısaç TURK TELEKOM

Özlem Kızıl Voyvoda ÇAKMAK AVUKATLIK BÜROSU

Fatih Koca

Çiğdem Koğar CENTRAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

Mert Kutlar ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Altan Liman AYDAŞ LIMAN KURMAN ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Francesca Maran PEKIN & PEKIN

Orhan Yavuz Mavioğlu ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Günes Mermer ÇAKMAK AVUKATLIK BÜROSU

Erhan Seyfi Moroglu MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Müjde Müminoğlu BARLAS LAW

Şila Muratoğlu BAYIRLI & MURATOĞLU LAW FIRM

Pelin Oguzer MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Mert Oner KPMG

Mehmet Otrar CERRAHOĞLU LAW FIRM

313ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Begum Durukan Ozaydin BIRSEL LAW OFFICES

Kaan Ozaydin SERAP ZUVIN LAW OFFICES

Dursun Ozcan ERNST & YOUNG

Can Özilhan BEZEN & PARTNERS

Onur Özterzi AYGÜN & ÖZTERZI LAW OFFICE

İdil Öztürk AYDAŞ LIMAN KURMAN ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Gülce Peker GUNDUZ SIMSEK GAGO AVUKATLIK ORTAKLIGI

Ahmed Pekin PEKIN & PEKIN

Batuhan Şahmay BENER LAW OFFICE, MEMBER OF IUS LABORIS

Selim Sarıibrahimoğlu SARIIBRAHIMOĞLU LAW OFFICE

Ömer Kayhan Seyhun CENTRAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

Birol Sezer ISTANBUL DENETIM VE YEMINLI MALI MÜŞAVIRLIK A.Ş.

Sezil Simsek PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

Zafer Ertunç Sirin ISTANBUL UNIVERSITESI

Ayse Ülkü Solak MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Çağıl Sünbül PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

Semih Sütçü SOLMAZ CUSTOMS BROKERAGE & CONSULTANCY CO.

Esin Taboğlu TABOGLU & DEMIRHAN

Aylin Tarlan Tüzemen TARLAN – BAKSI LAW FIRM

Tugba Tasci PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

Elif Tezcan Bayırlı BAYIRLI & MURATOĞLU LAW FIRM

Ece Tokat AYDAŞ LIMAN KURMAN ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Elif Tulunay TURUNÇ LAW OFFICE

Noyan Turunç TURUNÇ LAW OFFICE

Ibrahim Tutar PENETRA CONSULTING AND AUDITING

Burcu Tuzcu Ersin MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Nursel Ucuzsatar SOLMAZ CUSTOMS BROKERAGE & CONSULTANCY CO.

Ürün Ülkü ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Furkan Ünal AKTIF INVESTMENT BANK AS

Mustafa Ünal ERYÜREKLI LAW OFFICE

Anil Uysal TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Barış Yalçın PWC TURKEY

Erman Yalçın PWC TURKEY

Ayşegül Yalçınmani CERRAHOĞLU LAW FIRM

Sena Yasaroglu MOROGLU ARSEVEN

Alican Yazdıç BEZEN & PARTNERS

Cansu Yazıcı PEKIN & PEKIN

A.Çağrı Yıldız ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Bilge Yilmaz ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Murat Yülek PGLOBAL GLOBAL ADVISORY AND TRAINING SERVICES LTD.

Ali Sina Yurtsever ADMD - MAVIOGLU & ALKAN LAW OFFICE

Çağlar Yurttürk YUKA LAW OFFICE

Serap Zuvin SERAP ZUVIN LAW OFFICES

UGANDA Rose Mary Brenda Aeko UGANDA ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION

Daniel Angualia ANGUALIA, BUSIKU & CO. ADVOCATES

Leria Arinaitwe SEBALU & LULE ADVOCATES

Justine Bagyenda BANK OF UGANDA

Edward Balaba ERNST & YOUNG

Mark Bwambale KAMPALA CAPITAL CITY AUTHORITY (KCCA)

Matovu Emmy MARMA TECHNICAL SERVICES

Ninsiima Irene ANGUALIA, BUSIKU & CO. ADVOCATES

Sarfaraz Jiwani SEYANI BROTHERS & CO. (U) LTD.

Lwanga John Bosco MARMA TECHNICAL SERVICES

MacDusman Kabega TUMSIIME, KABEGA & CO. ADVOCATES

Godwin Kakande TUMUSIIME, KABEGA & CO. ADVOCATES

Francis Kamulegeya PWC UGANDA

Ali Kankaka KYAZZE, KANKAKA & CO. ADVOCATES

Phillip Karugaba MMAKS ADVOCATES

David Katende ENVIROKAD

Didymus Byenkya Kato GLOBAL AVIATION LOGISTICS LTD.

Enoch Kibamu UGANDA SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTS

Innocent Kihika SHONUBI, MUSOKE & CO. ADVOCATES

Geoffrey Kiryabwire HIGH COURT OF UGANDA

Anita Kusiima KAMPALA CAPITAL CITY AUTHORITY (KCCA)

Michael Malan COMPUSCAN CRB LTD.

Albert Mukasa KANDUHO & CO. ADVOCATES

Ahmed Mukasa Kalule CRANE ASSOCIATED ADVOCATES

Cornelius Mukiibi C. MUKIIBI SENTAMU & CO. ADVOCATES

Rachel Mwanje Musoke MMAKS ADVOCATES

Sarah Musumba PWC UGANDA

Victoria Nakaddu SEBALU & LULE ADVOCATES

Robina Nakato BANK OF UGANDA

Rehema Nakirya MMAKS ADVOCATES

Eva Nalwanga Gitta KASIRYE BYARUHANGA AND CO.

Plaxeda Namirimu PWC UGANDA

Priscilla Namusikwe SHONUBI, MUSOKE & CO. ADVOCATES

Doreen Nawaali MMAKS ADVOCATES

James Kagiri Njoroge PRICE & KING CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

Florence Nsubuga UMEME LIMITED

Kefa Nsubuga LAWYER

Kizito Nusula ANGUALIA, BUSIKU & CO. ADVOCATES

Charles Odere LEX UGANDA ADVOCATES & SOLICITORS

William Okello

Busiku Peter ANGUALIA, BUSIKU & CO. ADVOCATES

Harriet Wandira Rumanyika SDV TRANSAMI

Moses Segawa SEBALU & LULE ADVOCATES

Benedict Sekabira BANK OF UGANDA

Monica Kisubi Senjako SDV TRANSAMI

Alan Shonubi SHONUBI, MUSOKE & CO. ADVOCATES

Charles Lwanga Ssemanda MUKWANO GROUP OF COMPANIES

Winifred Tarinyeba Kiryabwire MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

Obed Tindyebwa GRAND & NOBLE, CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

Milton Turyaguma P.M. CONSULT LTD.

Ambrose Turyahabwe DHL GLOBAL FORWARDING (U) LTD.

Isaac Walukagga MMAKS ADVOCATES

UKRAINE Denis Absalyamov JSC UKRENERGOCHERMET

Oleksandr Aleksyeyenko ILF INTEGRITES

Oleg Y. Alyoshin VASIL KISIL & PARTNERS

Inna Antipova CMS CAMERON MCKENNA

Leonid Antonenko SAYENKO KHARENKO

Andrey Astapov ASTAPOV LAWYERS INTERNATIONAL LAW GROUP

Anna Babych VASIL KISIL & PARTNERS

Ron J. Barden PWC UKRAINE

Yevgen Blok ILF INTEGRITES

Oleg Boichuk EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Glib Bondar AVELLUM PARTNERS

Yulia Bondar HLB UKRAINE

Timur Bondaryev ARZINGER & PARTNERS

Alexander Borisov ZOVNISHINFORMAUDIT C

Andriy Bozhko KPMG

Maksym Bugai CMS CAMERON MCKENNA

Alexander Buryak PWC UKRAINE

Taras Chernikov EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Luliia Chervonooka VASIL KISIL & PARTNERS

Serhiy Chorny BAKER & MCKENZIE

Sergey Chulkov KIEVENERGO

Stefan Clenciu MAERSK UKRAINE LTD.

Aleksandr Deputat ELIT GROUP

Nadiia Dmytrenko EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Olga Dubanevych KPMG

Mariana Dudnyk PWC UKRAINE

Igor Dykunskyy BNT ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Max Fedorchenko LAW FIRM IP & C. CONSULT, LLC

Oleksandr Fomenko KYIVENERGO

Ivan Nikolaevich Gelyukh KIEVENERGO

Leonid Gilevich ILYASHEV & PARTNERS

Yulia Goptarenko PJSC SEB CORPORATE BANK

Volodymyr Grabchak ARZINGER & PARTNERS

Sergiy Gryshko CMS CAMERON MCKENNA

Valeriia Gudiy ILYASHEV & PARTNERS

Mykola Heletiy CHADBOURNE & PARKE LLP

Oksana Ilchenko EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Jon Johannesson IBCH

Yuriy Katser KPMG

Oleksii Kharitonov INYURPOLIS LAW FIRM

Tatiana Kheruvimova KPMG

Tetyana Kistynyuk PETERKA & PARTNERS

Natalia Klochun ARZINGER & PARTNERS

Andrii Knysh EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Maksym Kopeychykov ILYASHEV & PARTNERS

Vitaliy Kornev ASTERS

Anton Korobeynikov SAYENKO KHARENKO

Andrey Kosharny ELIT GROUP

Oksana Krasnokutska VASIL KISIL & PARTNERS

Vitaliy Kulinich EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Tatyana Kuzmenko ASTAPOV LAWYERS INTERNATIONAL LAW GROUP

Oleksii Latsko EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Maksym Lavrynovych LAVRYNOVYCH & PARTNERS LAW FIRM

Pavel Liaskovskyi PETERKA & PARTNERS

Pavlo Liaskovskyi PETERKA & PARTNERS

Maksym Libanov NATIONAL SECURITIES AND STOCK MARKET COMMISSION

Olga Lubiv KPMG

Artem Lukyanov CMS CAMERON MCKENNA

Anzhela Makhinova SAYENKO KHARENKO

Yulia Malyshko DAMCO

Oleg Matiusha DLA PIPER UKRAINE LLC

Arsenyy Milyutin EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Svitlana Musienko DLA PIPER UKRAINE LLC

Adam Mycyk DENTONS

DOING BUSINESS 2015314

Nataliya Mykolska SAYENKO KHARENKO

Artem Naumov INYURPOLIS LAW FIRM

Aleksandra Odynets GRISCHENKO & PARTNERS

Olexander Olshansky SAYENKO KHARENKO

Oksana Orlova DENTONS

Oleksandr Padalka ASTERS

Konstantin Pilkov CAI & LENARD

Yuliana Revyuk KPMG

Anatolii Rybak-Sikorskiy KPMG

Dmytro Rylovnikov DLA PIPER UKRAINE LLC

Vadym Samoilenko ASTERS

Maryana Sayenko ASTERS

Viktor Semenyuta KIEVENERGO

Olga Serbul LAW FIRM IP & C. CONSULT, LLC

Alla Shevchenko BNT ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Hanna Shtepa BAKER & MCKENZIE

Anzhelika Shtukaturova DENTONS

Taras Shyb SAYENKO KHARENKO

Anna Sisetska VASIL KISIL & PARTNERS

Anna Spichenko CMS CAMERON MCKENNA

Natalia Spiridonova EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Roman Stepanenko EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Mykola Stetsenko AVELLUM PARTNERS

Olesya Stolyarska GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Dmitriy Sukhin KIEVENERGO

Kristina Tataru PWC UKRAINE

Yaroslav Teklyuk VASIL KISIL & PARTNERS

Svitlana Teush ARZINGER & PARTNERS

Anna Tkachenko DENTONS

Zakhar Tropin PROXEN & PARTNERS

Valeriia Tryfonova VASIL KISIL & PARTNERS

Mariia Tsarova ASTERS

Andriy Tsvyetkov GESTORS

Ruslan Tumanyan GLOBALINK TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS WORLDWIDE LLP

Oleg Tymkiv PWC UKRAINE

Anna Vlasiuk ASTERS

Slava Vlasov PWC UKRAINE

Yuriy Volovnik EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Olexiy Yanov LAW FIRM IP & C. CONSULT, LLC

Anna Yarenko ASTAPOV LAWYERS INTERNATIONAL LAW GROUP

Yulia Yashenkova ASTAPOV LAWYERS INTERNATIONAL LAW GROUP

Aleksandra Yevstafyeva EGOROV PUGINSKY AFANASIEV & PARTNERS

Tatiana Zamorska KPMG

Anton Zinchuk INYURPOLIS LAW FIRM

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Qurashi Alsheikh Abdulghani Qurashi DUBAI MUNICIPALITY

Farid Ahmadi NATIONAL TRADING AND DEVELOPMENT EST.

M. Zeeshan Ahmed ARBROS FOREST RESOURCES

Makhdoom Ahmed VERACOR PRINTING PRESS LLC

Yakud Ahmed ORCHID GULF

Kiran Ahuja UNILEVER UAE

Sultan Al Akraf DUBAI LAND DEPARTMENT

Mahmood Al Bastaki DUBAI TRADE

Obaid Saif Atiq Al Falasi DUBAI ELECTRICITY AND WATER AUTHORITY

Alya Hussain Al Hammadi DUBAI TRADE

Ibrahim Al Hosani DUBAI COURTS

Mohammad Al Shaikh DP WORLD

Humam Al Zaqqa ADNAN SAFFARINI CONSULTANTS

Saeed Al-Hamiz CENTRAL BANK OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Sajid Ali TRANS WORLD SHIPPING SERVICES LLC

Ahmed Khalifa Al-Mazrouei EMCREDIT

Adite Aloke AFRIDI & ANGELL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Mohammed AlSuboosi DUBAI COURTS

Yousef Al-Suwaidi DUBAI COURTS

Wicki Andersen BAKER BOTTS LLP

Syed Qaiser Anis ALLIOTT HADI SHAHID

Manavalan Arumugam EROS GROUP

Elmugtaba Bannaga BIN SUWAIDAN ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Haroon Baryalay AFRIDI & ANGELL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Hiten Bhatia SILVER LINE TRANSPORTATION

Jennifer Bibbings TROWERS & HAMLINS LLP

Rashid Bin Humaidan DUBAI ELECTRICITY AND WATER AUTHORITY

Maryam Bin Lahej DUBAI COURTS

Aed Bouchakra HUQOOQ LEGAL PRACTICE

Mazen Boustany HABIB AL MULLA & CO.

James Bowden AFRIDI & ANGELL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

R. Chandran TRANSWORLD SHIPPING & LOGISTICS LLC

Maggie Chang PWC UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Sudesh Chaturvedi GULF AGENCY COMPANY LLC

Nasser Chhipa CARGO LINE SHIPPING SERVICES LLC

Satheesh Chundayil DANZAS AEI EMIRATES LLC

Hasan Daboul NAIF MARINE SERVICES CO.

Lisa Dale AL TAMIMI & COMPANY ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Krishna Das CEVA LOGISTICS

Shirish Deshpande ARABIAN AUTOMOBILES

Karim El Gebaily TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Mohammed El Ghul HABIB AL MULLA & CO.

Savio Fonseca PANALPINA GULF

Michael George DAR AL-HANDASAH

Rohit Ghai GADURR HOLDINGS

Jamal Guzlan AL-AJMI CONSULTANTS

Saleem H.B. NATIONAL TRADING AND DEVELOPMENT EST.

Omar Ziyad Hadi AFRIDI & ANGELL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Samer Hamzeh TROWERS & HAMLINS LLP

Sydene Helwick AL TAMIMI & COMPANY ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Ashiq Hussain DUBAI TRADE

Mustafa Ibrahim MONAWALAT AL KHALEEJ LOGISTICS

Mohamed Ifthikar Jamaldeen KUEHNE + NAGEL LLC

Firdosh Irani QATAR NAVIGATION LOGISTICS CO.

Meena Jairaj RETAIL LOGISTICS

Viji John FREIGHT SYSTEMS

Omar Kalaji TROWERS & HAMLINS LLP

Kanan Kasuya AFRIDI & ANGELL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Mohammad Z. Kawasmi AL TAMIMI & COMPANY ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Samantha Kelsey BAKER BOTTS LLP

Dean Kern PWC UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Amjad Ali Khan AFRIDI & ANGELL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Naeem Khan MOHAMMED ESHAQ TRADING COMPANY

Salim Ahmed Khan DUBAI TRADE

Waseem Khokhar PWC UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Jai Kishan Khushaldasani JMD CLEARING & FORWARDING

Khaled Kilani ARAMEX EMIRATES LLC

Vipul Kothari KOTHARI AUDITORS & ACCOUNTANTS

Ravi Kumar DUBAI TRADE

Senthil Kumar GLG SHIPPING

John Kunjappan MAERSK KANOO LLC

Ashraf Kunjimoidu AL YOUSUF ELECTRONICS

Charles S. Laubach AFRIDI & ANGELL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Zachriya M. APL EMIRATES LLC

A. Mahadevan MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING COMPANY (UAE) LLC

Sohail Maklai MOHAMMED ESHAQ TRADING COMPANY

Gagan Malhotra DUBAI TRADE

Harish Matabonu ARTY TRANSPORT CO. LLC

Joanna Matthews-Taylor DLA PIPER MIDDLE EAST LLP

Salim Mohammed KABULTEX

Tarig Monim STRATEGY CONSULTANTS

Roland Monteath AGILITY GLOBAL LOGISTICS

Badih Moukarzel HUQOOQ LEGAL PRACTICE

Kumar Nair DP WORLD

Senthil Nathan FREIGHT SYSTEMS

Ghazanfar Ali Nazir DP WORLD

Cathy Ninen AMI MIDDLE EAST

Rana Odeh DUBAI MUNICIPALITY

Ravi Parambott IAL LOGISTICS EMIRATES LLC

Afzal Patanwala EASA SALEH AL GURG GROUP

Vijendra Vikram Singh Paul TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Tejal Poojary APPAREL FZCO

Praveen Pudhuvail DUBAI EXPRESS LLC (FREIGHTWORKS BRANCH)

Anish Punwani PANACORE RESOURCES

Samer Qudah AL TAMIMI & COMPANY ADVOCATES & LEGAL CONSULTANTS

Yusuf Rafiudeen DUBAI ELECTRICITY AND WATER AUTHORITY

Mangat Ram ABBAS JUMA CLEARING & FORWARDING CO. LLC

Jochem Rossel PWC UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Valiyakath Sabu NISSAN MIDDLE EAST

Shahram Safai AFRIDI & ANGELL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Mohammed Ahmed Saleh DUBAI MUNICIPALITY

Khalid Mohamed Saleh Al Mulla DUBAI MUNICIPALITY

Abdus Samad AFRIDI & ANGELL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Sarathe NAFFCO

Narendra Sawant CARGOSOL LLC

Claus Schmidt PANALPINA WORLD TRANSPORT

Herbert Schroder EMCREDIT

Derrick Sequeira KUEHNE + NAGEL LLC

Osama Shabaan TALAL ABU GHAZALEH LEGAL (TAG-LEGAL)

Khurram Shahzad PANALPINA GULF

Hassan Shakrouf HYDER CONSULTING

Vivek Sharma PIL (U.A.E) LLC

Vasant Shetty RAIS HASSAN SAADI LLC

Ishita Shome AFRIDI & ANGELL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Arvind Sinha RCS PVT. LTD. BUSINESS ADVISORS GROUP

Shekhar Sinha RAIS HASSAN SAADI LLC

315ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sreekumar Sivasankaran GLOBELINK WEST STAR SHIPPING LLC

Johnson Soans EXTRON ELECTRONICS M.E.

Jayanthi Suseelan MAERSK KANOO LLC

Taha Tawawala AL SUWAIDI & COMPANY

Hamad Thani Mutar DUBAI COURTS

Sebastian Thomas ZAFCO

Yusuf Timalia CP WORLD LLC

Nitin Tirath DUBAI TRADE

Baher Yousef ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS GROUP (ECG)

Natasha Zahid BAKER BOTTS LLP

UNITED KINGDOM HMRC

Paul Bagon WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP

Ji-Whan Bang DLA PIPER UK LLP

Lesley Batchelor INSTITUTE OF EXPORT

Marie Batchelor BIRKETTS LLP

Kacey Brown BAKER & MCKENZIE

Michael Canvin CROWN AGENTS LTD.

Sanah Choudhry GRANT DAWE LLP

Brendon Christian BUSINESS LAW BC

Michael Collard 5 PUMP COURT CHAMBERS

Elouisa Crichton SHEPHERD & WEDDERBURN

Michael Dawes MEMERY CRYSTAL LLP

Richard Dickman PINSENT MASONS LLP

Kathryn Donovan LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

Zaki Ejaz RIGHT LEGAL ADVICE

Kristy Ewer WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES LLP

Hannah Faulkner LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

Matthew Fisher CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Nick Francis PWC UNITED KINGDOM

James Franklin LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

Donald Gray DARWIN GRAY LLP

Helen Hall DLA PIPER UK LLP

Neville Howlett PWC UNITED KINGDOM

Daden Hunt BIRKETTS LLP

Karl Hurley OFGEM

Shahid Jamil LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

Hannah Jones SHERRARDS SOLICITORS

Michael Josypenko INSTITUTE OF EXPORT

Jolita Kajtazi SHERIDANS

Amrit Khosa LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

Pascal Lalande HER MAJESTY’S LAND REGISTRY

Keavy Larkin OFGEM

Sinead Lawrence CBI - THE CONFEDERATION OF BRITISH INDUSTRY

Catherine Ledger BAA AIRPORTS LIMITED

Alasdair Lewis HER MAJESTY’S LAND REGISTRY

Zoe Lomax DLA PIPER UK LLP

Malin Lundin LUBBOCK FINE - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Neil Maclean SHEPHERD & WEDDERBURN

Neil Magrath UK POWER NETWORKS

Christopher Mallon SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER & FLOM LLP

Aliss Mansfield BAKER & MCKENZIE

Andrew Maple APPROVED INSPECTOR SERVICES LIMITED

Paul Marmor SHERRARDS SOLICITORS

Andrew Masraf PINSENT MASONS LLP

Charles Mayo SIMMONS & SIMMONS LLP

Antoinette McManus PWC UNITED KINGDOM

Victoria Miller MEMERY CRYSTAL LLP

Phil Moss LUBBOCK FINE - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Neil Munroe EQUIFAX LTD.

Deborah Newton THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND

Kevin Nicholson PWC UNITED KINGDOM

Genna Oakes PINSENT MASONS LLP

Frances Okosi BAKER & MCKENZIE

Steve Parker DHL GLOBAL FORWARDING

William Paterson CROWN AGENTS LTD.

Söla Paterson-Marke DLA PIPER UK LLP

Stewart Perry CLYDE & CO.

Steve Pocock CROWN AGENTS LTD.

Arun Pontin OFGEM

Ross Pooley LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

Piermario Porcheddu PINSENT MASONS LLP

Kathryn Ramsden LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

Alex Rogan SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER & FLOM LLP

Christopher Ryan

Aimee Saunders BAKER & MCKENZIE

Thilo Schneider PINSENT MASONS LLP

Ian Sharpe EXPERIAN LTD.

Sandra Simoni DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Mike Smith MORRISON UTILITY CONNECTIONS

Susanna Strandell DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Paul Timmins APPROVED INSPECTOR SERVICES LIMITED

Dhanshuklal Vekaria PINSENT MASONS LLP

Tony Walpole

Christopher Wigley LONDON BUILDING CONTROL LTD.

Geoff Wilkinson WILKINSON CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANTS

Dermot Winters MERRIT & COMPANY

David Ziyambi LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

UNITED STATES HARMONY IMPORTS

LOS ANGELES BUREAU OF ENGINEERING

LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT

Maria Abrego SDV LOGISTICS

Manish Antani GOULD & RATNER LLP

Pamy J. S. Arora CORNELL GROUP, INC.

Arley M. Baker THE PORT OF LOS ANGELES

Sam Baniqued UPS SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS

Luke A. Barefoot CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Thierry Blangy SDV LOGISTICS

Eve Brackmann STUART KANE

Joel A. Cassel JEFFER MANGELS BUTLER & MITCHELL LLP (JMBM)

Victor Chiu CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Sheri P. Chromow KATTEN MUCHIN ROSENMAN LLP

Steven Clark CLARK FIRM PLLC

Anna Collica YUSEN LOGISTICS

Vilas Dhar DHAR LAW, LLP

Laurent Dionneau SDV LOGISTICS

Joshua L. Ditelberg SEYFARTH SHAW LLP

Dara Duguay EXPERIAN

Roger Fisher TEC MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS

Max Frid M & A ACCOUNTING SOLUTIONS INC.

Patrick Fuller CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Lauren Gans PEITZMAN WEG LLP

George Gibbs GIBBS BROTHERS ELECTRIC CO. LTD.

Jaswant S. Gill JASWANT S. GILL CPA PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION

Robert Goethe CORNELL GROUP, INC.

Carol Goforth UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS SCHOOL OF LAW

Peter Gordon PETER D. GORDON AND ASSOCIATES

William Gould TROYGOULD PC

Boris Grosman L & B ELECTRICAL INTERNATIONAL

Joseph Gulino DIAZ REUS & TARG LLP

Sonya H.S. Lee CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Tony Hadley EXPERIAN

Thomas Halket HALKET WEITZ LLP

Timi Anyon Hallem MANATT, PHELPS & PHILLIPS, LLP

Donald Hamman STUART KANE

Frank Hernandez YUSEN LOGISTICS

Conan Higgins TSI LEGAL ENTERPRISES, PC

Sanford Hillsberg TROYGOULD PC

Mark Hirzel LOS ANGELES CUSTOMS BROKERS & FREIGHT FORWARDERS ASSOCIATION INC.

Steven Horowitz CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Nancy Israel LAW OFFICE OF NANCY D. ISRAEL

Nicole Jadelrab BLAQK DIAMOND GROUP

Christopher Andrew Jarvinen BERGER SINGERMAN

Charles L. Kerr MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP

Joshua Kochath COMAGE CONTAINER LINES

Eigi Koh YUSEN LOGISTICS

Arthur Kohn CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

John LaBar HNERY, MCCORD, BEAN, MILLER, GABRIEL & LABAR, PLLC

Jen Leary CLIFTONLARSONALLEN

Lincoln Lee LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING SAFETY

Shara Lerman LERMAN LAW GROUP

Bryan D. Lewitt CBRE

Bradford L. Livingston SEYFARTH SHAW LLP

Samuel L. Lovitch

Jim MacLellan THE PORT OF LOS ANGELES

A Edward Major A EDWARD MAJOR, COUNSELLORS-AT-LAW

Haggai Mazler LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING SAFETY

Kevin McDonnell JEFFER MANGELS BUTLER & MITCHELL LLP (JMBM)

Todd McLawhorn MCLAWHORN LAW OFFICES PC

Alene McMahon CROWN AGENTS LTD.

Dietrick Miller TROYGOULD PC

Kerry Mohan SEYFARTH SHAW LLP

Kelly J. Murray PWC UNITED STATES

David Newberg COLLIER, HALPERN, NEWBERG, NOLLETTI, & BOCK

Christopher O’Connell PARKER, MILLIKEN, CLARK, O’HARA & SAMUELIAN

Malhar Pagay PACHULSKI STANG ZIEHL & JONES LLP

Darrell Pierce DYKEMA

Shanen Prout BLY LAW, PC

Angela Reimer DIAZ REUS & TARG LLP

Jonathan Reinstein CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Alexander Reus DIAZ REUS & TARG LLP

Sandra Rocks CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON LLP

Kenneth Rosen UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA SCHOOL OF LAW

Joshua Roy MORRISON & FOERSTER LLP

James Rusin UPS SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS

DOING BUSINESS 2015316

George Saadian FIRE PROTECTION GROUP INC.

Manuel Santiago MILROSE CONSULTANTS, INC.

William Shawn SHAWNCOULSON LLP

Manjosh Sidhu MS CONSULTING LLC

Joseph Tannous JT CONSTRUCTION

Michael Temin FOX ROTHSCHILD LLP

Magda Theodate GLOBAL EXECUTIVE LIFE COACHING

Steve Thomas CROWN AGENTS LTD.

Rebecca Tingstrom CATHEDRAL CONSULTING GROUP, LLC

Frederick Turner TURNER & TURNER

Maxim Vaynerov BARNHILL & VAYNEROV LLP

Robert James Voetsch CROWN AGENTS LTD.

Robert Wallace STUART KANE

Seth Weissman JEFFER MANGELS BUTLER & MITCHELL LLP (JMBM)

Shannon Williams CROWN AGENTS LTD.

Darryl Wilson

Olga Zalomiy LAW OFFICES OF OLGA ZALOMIY, PC

URUGUAY GRAETZ NUÑEZ

SUPERINTENDENCIA DE SERVICIOS FINANCIEROS - BANCO CENTRAL DEL URUGUAY

Lucía Alvarez de Betolaza GUYER & REGULES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Gaston Atchugarry GASTON ATCHUGARRY ARQUITECTURA-URUGUAY

Fernando Bado ESTUDIO DR. MEZZERA

Pablo F. Balao Gay PANALPINA WORLD TRANSPORT

Alicia Barral PWC URUGUAY

Leticia Barrios Bentancourt BERGSTEIN ABOGADOS

Beatriz Bezon CONSULTORES CIUDAD VIEJA

Juan Bonet GUYER & REGULES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Virginia Brause JIMÉNEZ DE ARÉCHAGA, VIANA & BRAUSE

Luis Burastero Servetto LUIS BURASTERO & ASOC.

Martín Chiesa PWC URUGUAY

Augusto Cibils PWC URUGUAY

Leonardo Couto JOSE MARIA FACAL & CO.

María Durán HUGHES & HUGHES

Maria Jose Echinope JIMÉNEZ DE ARÉCHAGA, VIANA & BRAUSE

Florencia Farias DCA CONTADORES & ASOCIADOS

Fabrizio Fava COVIDIEN URUGUAY

Marianela Fernandez PWC URUGUAY

Analía Fernández BERGSTEIN ABOGADOS

María Noel Fernández GUYER & REGULES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Javier Fernández Zerbino BADO, KUSTER, ZERBINO & RACHETTI

Hector Ferreira HUGHES & HUGHES

Federico Fischer HUGHES & HUGHES

Juan Federico Fischer FISCHER & SCHICKENDANTZ

Federico Florin GUYER & REGULES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Marisa Franco CONSULTORES CIUDAD VIEJA

Sergio Franco PWC URUGUAY

Diego Galante GALANTE & MARTINS

Alejandra García FERRERE ABOGADOS

Nelson Alfredo Gonzalez SDV URUGUAY

Renato Guerrieri GUYER & REGULES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Andres Hermida URSEA (UNIDAD REGULADORA DE SERVICIOS DE ENERGÍA Y AGUA)

Marcela Hughes HUGHES & HUGHES

Alfredo Inciarte Blanco ESTUDIO INCIARTE

Ignacio Lopez PWC URUGUAY

Santiago Madalena GUYER & REGULES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Enrique Martínez Schickendantz ASOCIACIÓN DE DESPACHANTES DE ADUANA DEL URUGUAY

Matilde Milicevic Santana EQUIFAX - CLEARING DE INFORMES

Alejandro Miller Artola GUYER & REGULES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Javier Noblega JIMÉNEZ DE ARÉCHAGA, VIANA & BRAUSE

Mariana Pisón BERGSTEIN ABOGADOS

Agustín Rachetti Pérez BADO, KUSTER, ZERBINO & RACHETTI

Mariana Saracho GUYER & REGULES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Eliana Sartori PWC URUGUAY

Leonardo Slinger GUYER & REGULES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Beatriz Spiess GUYER & REGULES, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Diego Tognazzolo PWC URUGUAY

Augusto Tricotti SOFTRON

Juan Ignacio Troccoli FISCHER & SCHICKENDANTZ

María Eugenia Yavarone FERRERE ABOGADOS

UZBEKISTAN ADVOKAT-HIMOYA LAW OFFICE

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

GLOBALINK LOGISTICS GROUP

NATIONAL CENTRE OF GEODESY & CARTOGRAPHY

PWC UZBEKISTAN

Ravshan Adilov COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Mels Akhmedov BAS LAW FIRM

Shokir Alimov AGENCY UZSTANDART

Umid Aripdjanov COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Elvina Asanova GRATA LAW FIRM

Vlada Burlachenko INTERLINK GLOBAL SERVICES

Peter Burnie PWC KAZAKHSTAN

Kariev Alimdjon Davrondjonovich TASHKENT COMMERCIAL COURT

Nelly Djurabaeva M&M MILITZER & MÜNCH

Umarzhon Usmanalievich Egamberdiev UZGOSENERGONADZOR

Renata Gafarova M&M MILITZER & MÜNCH

Dilshad Habibullaev COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Nail Hassanov LEGES ADVOKAT LAW FIRM

Evgeniya Indina KRESTON TASHKENT

Nizamiddin Kadirov NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CREDIT INFORMATION (NICI) OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

Abdukhamid Karimov AGENCY UZSTANDART

Khurshid Kasimdzhanov M&M MILITZER & MÜNCH

Khurshida Khabibullaeva GRATA LAW FIRM

Nurali Eshibaevich Khalmuratov NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CREDIT INFORMATION (NICI) OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

Kamilla Khamraeva COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Artem Klimenko COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Zafar Malikov COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Sherzod Nasirov CREDIT INFORMATION ANALITIC CENTRE LLC

Abboskhon Jabbarovich Nematullaev UZGOSENERGONADZOR

Akhtamova Valida Rustamovna TASHKENT COMMERCIAL COURT

Umarov Zokir Sabirdjanovich TASHKENT COMMERCIAL COURT

Muzaffar Salomov CREDIT INFORMATION ANALITIC CENTRE LLC

Nizomiddin Shakhabutdinov LEGES ADVOKAT LAW FIRM

Sofia Shakhrazieva COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Otabek Suleimanov COLIBRI LAW FIRM

Nargiza Turgunova GRATA LAW FIRM

Sunatulla Valikhanov UZGOSENERGONADZOR

VANUATU VANUATU FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMISSION

Tony Joel Alvos UNELCO

Barry Amoss SOUTH SEA SHIPPING (VANUATU) LTD.

Loïc Bernier CAILLARD & KADDOUR

Paul de Montgolfier CABINET AJC, AN INDEPENDENT CORRESPONDENT MEMBER OF DFK INTERNATIONAL

Frederic Derousseau VATE ELECTRICS

Delores Elliott DATA BUREAU (VANUATU) LIMITED

Anthony Frazier

Didier Hamel-Landry CABINET AJC, AN INDEPENDENT CORRESPONDENT MEMBER OF DFK INTERNATIONAL

David Hudson HUDSON & SUGDEN

Remy Janet UNELCO

Bill Jimmy FR8 LOGISTICS LTD.

Colin B. Leo COLIN BRIGHT LEO LAWYERS

Philippe Mehrenberger UNELCO

Edward Nalyal EDWARD NALYAL & PARTNERS

Mark Pardoe SOUTH SEA SHIPPING (VANUATU) LTD.

Harold Qualao QUALAO CONSULTING LTD. QCL

Katua Rezel DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, SURVEYS & RECORDS

John Ridgway PLN LAWYERS

Martin Saint Hilaire CABINET AJC, AN INDEPENDENT CORRESPONDENT MEMBER OF DFK INTERNATIONAL

Mark Stafford BARRETT & PARTNERS

VENEZUELA, RB TRANSPORTE INTERNACIONAL LÓGICA OCEÁNICA, C.A.

Jorge Acedo-Prato HOET PELAEZ CASTILLO & DUQUE

Tamara Adrian ADRIAN & ADRIAN

Yanet Aguiar DESPACHO DE ABOGADOS MIEMBROS DE NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT SC

Juan Enrique Aigster HOET PELAEZ CASTILLO & DUQUE

Pierre Aivasovsky BAKER & MCKENZIE

Enrique Altimari BAKER & MCKENZIE

Servio T. Altuve Jr. SERVIO T. ALTUVE R. & ASOCIADOS

Sergio Casinelli DESPACHO DE ABOGADOS MIEMBROS DE NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT SC

Arturo De Sola Lander DE SOLA PATE & BROWN, ABOGADOS - CONSULTORES

Carlos Domínguez Hernández HOET PELAEZ CASTILLO & DUQUE

Maria Gabriela Galavis HOET PELAEZ CASTILLO & DUQUE

Jose Garcia PWC VENEZUELA

Lynne H. Glass DESPACHO DE ABOGADOS MIEMBROS DE NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT SC

Diego Gonzalez Crespo CASAS RINCON GONZALEZ RUBIO & ASOCIADOS

Andres Felipe Guevara BAKER & MCKENZIE

Alfredo Hurtado HURTADO ESTEBAN & ASOCIADOS - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Enrique Itriago RODRIGUEZ & MENDOZA

Gabriela Longo PALACIOS, ORTEGA Y ASOCIADOS

Maritza Meszaros BAKER & MCKENZIE

Lorena Mingarelli Lozzi DE SOLA PATE & BROWN, ABOGADOS - CONSULTORES

Amayris Muñoz HOET PELAEZ CASTILLO & DUQUE

Luis Esteban Palacios PALACIOS, ORTEGA Y ASOCIADOS

Luis Esteban Palacios Wannoni PALACIOS, ORTEGA Y ASOCIADOS

317ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Bruno Paredes LOGISTIKA TSM

John R. Pate DE SOLA PATE & BROWN, ABOGADOS - CONSULTORES

Margie Pirela PWC VENEZUELA

Bernardo Pisani RODRIGUEZ & MENDOZA

Eduardo Porcarelli CONAPRI

Juan Carlos Pró-Rísquez DESPACHO DE ABOGADOS MIEMBROS DE NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT SC

Melissa Puga Santaella CONAPRI

Aaron Quintero DESPACHO DE ABOGADOS MIEMBROS DE NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT SC

José Alberto Ramirez HOET PELAEZ CASTILLO & DUQUE

Pedro Saghy DESPACHO DE ABOGADOS MIEMBROS DE NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT SC

Laura Silva Aparicio HOET PELAEZ CASTILLO & DUQUE

Oscar Ignacio Torres TRAVIESO EVANS ARRIA RENGEL & PAZ

John Tucker HOET PELAEZ CASTILLO & DUQUE

Felipe Urdaneta DATACRÉDITO - EXPERIAN VENEZUELA

Carlos Velandia Sanchez ASOCIACIÓN VENEZOLANA DE DERECHO REGISTRAL (AVEDER)

José Vivas LAWYER

VIETNAM PANALPINA WORLD TRANSPORT LLP

Samantha Campbell GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Giles Thomas Cooper DUANE MORRIS LLC

Nhung Dang LVN & ASSOCIATES

Phuong Dzung Dang VISION & ASSOCIATES

Nguyen Dang Viet BIZCONSULT LAW FIRM

Thuy Linh Do KTC ASSURANCE & BUSINESS ADVISORS - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Linh Doan LVN & ASSOCIATES

Dang The Duc INDOCHINE COUNSEL

Thanh Long Duong ALIAT LEGAL

Lien Duong Hong PWC VIETNAM

David Fitzgerald PWC VIETNAM

Giang Ha Thi Phuong PWC VIETNAM

Lan Nghiem Hoang PWC VIETNAM

Le Hong Phong BIZCONSULT LAW FIRM

Tran Quang Huy VILAF LAW FIRM

Dai Thang Huynh DFDL

Tuong Long Huynh GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Jean Claude Junin SDV LOGISTICS

Hai Long Khuat INDOCHINE COUNSEL

Milton Lawson FRESHFIELDS BRUCKHAUS DERINGER

Anh Tuan Le CREDIT INFORMATION CENTRE - STATE BANK OF VIETNAM

Nguyen Huy Thuy Le INDOCHINE COUNSEL

Uyen Le Thi Canh LUATVIET - ADVOCATES & SOLICITORS

Nhan Lee DUANE MORRIS LLC

Le Thi Loc YKVN

Tien Ngoc Luu VISION & ASSOCIATES

Le Thi Luyen HO CHI MINH CITY POWER CORPORATION (EVN HCMC)

Hoang Minh Duc DUANE MORRIS LLC

Tung Ngo Thanh VILAF LAW FIRM

Ngoc Bui Ngoc DS AVOCATS

Nguyen Ngoc Oanh INDOCHINE COUNSEL

Hoang Anh Nguyen MAYER BROWN LLP

Hoang Kim Oanh Nguyen BAKER & MCKENZIE

Khanh Ly Nguyen KTC ASSURANCE & BUSINESS ADVISORS - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Lan Phuong Nguyen VIETNAM CREDIT INFORMATION JSC (PCB)

Linh D. Nguyen VILAF LAW FIRM

Minh Tuan Nguyen VIET PREMIER LAW LTD.

Mui Nguyen WEISS-ROHLIG VIETNAM

Ngoc Duc Nguyen VIETNAM CREDIT INFORMATION JSC (PCB)

Phong Nguyen GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Quoc Phong Nguyen ALIAT LEGAL

Quynh Hoa Nguyen DFDL

Thanh Hai Nguyen BAKER & MCKENZIE

Trang Nguyen CREDIT INFORMATION CENTRE - STATE BANK OF VIETNAM

Tram Nguyen Huyen GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Trang Nguyen Kim INDOCHINE COUNSEL

Hung Duy Pham KTC ASSURANCE & BUSINESS ADVISORS - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Viet D. Phan LUATPVD

Vu Anh Phan INDOCHINE COUNSEL

Dang Anh Quan RUSSIN & VECCHI

Nguyen Que Tam CSP LEGAL LLC

Van Anh Thai KTC ASSURANCE & BUSINESS ADVISORS - MEMBER OF RUSSELL BEDFORD INTERNATIONAL

Thao Nguyen Thi PWC VIETNAM

Tan Heng Thye CSP LEGAL LLC

Antoine Toussaint GIDE LOYRETTE NOUEL, MEMBER OF LEX MUNDI

Hien Tran MAYER BROWN LLP

Quang Tran INDOCHINE COUNSEL

Quang Tuong Tran INDOCHINE COUNSEL

Dang Dinh Truong INDOCHINE COUNSEL

Giang Truong SDV LOGISTICS

Nam Hoai Truong INDOCHINE COUNSEL

Ho Anh Tuyet YKVN

Anh Thu Vu MAYER BROWN LLP

Dzung Vu LVN & ASSOCIATES

Phuong Vu LVN & ASSOCIATES

Son Ha Vuong VISION & ASSOCIATES

WEST BANK AND GAZA Hani Abdel Jaldeh

Sari Abdo ITTQAN CONSULTING SERVICES

Murad Abu Mwis MINISTRY OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

Salah Alodeh RAMALLAH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

Haytham L. Al-Zubi AL-ZUBI LAW OFFICE

Mohammad Amarneh EU POLICE MISSION IN THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (EUPOL COPPS)

Thaer Amro AMRO & ASSOCIATES LAW OFFICE

Hanna Atrash AEG

Firas Attereh HUSSAM ATTEREH GROUP FOR LEGAL SERVICES

Amjad Badran USAID WEST BANK AND GAZA

Andrew W. Craig HUSSEINI & HUSSEINI

Ali Faroun PALESTINIAN MONETARY AUTHORITY

Fadi Hamad USAID WEST BANK AND GAZA

Ali Hamoudeh JERUSALEM DISTRICT ELECTRICITY CO. LTD.

Maher Hanania EQUITY LEGAL GROUP

George Handal BETHLEHEM FREIGHT

Samir Hulileh PADICO HOLDINGS

Hiba I. Husseini HUSSEINI & HUSSEINI

Amjad Issa PALESTINE INVESTMENT PROMOTION AGENCY

Hussein Jaloudi MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Bilal Kamal ITTQAN ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Rasem Kamal KAMAL & ASSOCIATES - ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELLORS-AT-LAW

Mohamed Khader LAUSANNE TRADING CONSULTANTS

Tony H. Nassar A.F. & R. SHEHADEH LAW OFFICE

Hisham Omari JERUSALEM DISTRICT ELECTRICITY CO. LTD.

Raed Rajab INVESTMENT CLIMATE IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

Samir Sahhar HLB SAMIR B. SAHHAR CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS

Maysa Sarhan PALESTINIAN MONETARY AUTHORITY

Abdulrahman Sawayfeh STONE AND MARBLE CLUSTER

Kareem Fuad Shehadeh A.F. & R. SHEHADEH LAW OFFICE

Nadeem Shehadeh A.F. & R. SHEHADEH LAW OFFICE

Husein Sholi JUSTICE SECTOR ASSISTANCE PROJECT - JSAPII

Richard Wolfe CHEMONICS

Odeh Zaghmori PALESTINIAN FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIES

YEMEN, REP. CENTRAL BANK OF YEMEN

SAS FOR CARGO SERVICES

Qusai Abdalla ABDALLA AL-MEQBELI & ASSOCIATES

Khalid Abdullah SHEIKH MOHAMMED ABDULLAH SONS (EST. 1927)

Tariq Abdullah LAW OFFICES OF SHEIKH TARIQ ABDULLAH

Shafiq Adat LAW OFFICES OF SHEIKH TARIQ ABDULLAH

Khaled Al Wazir KHALED AL WAZIR LAW FIRM

Ramzi Al-Ariqi GRANT THORNTON YEMEN

Mohamed Taha Hamood Al-Hashimi MOHAMED TAHA HAMOOD & CO.

Abdulkader Al-Hebshi ADVOCACY AND LEGAL CONSULTATIONS OFFICE (ALCO)

Ali Al-Hebshi ADVOCACY AND LEGAL CONSULTATIONS OFFICE (ALCO)

Maher Alkladi LAW OFFICES OF SHEIKH TARIQ ABDULLAH

Abdalla Al-Meqbeli ABDALLA AL-MEQBELI & ASSOCIATES

Ameen Al-Rabeei SAWSIA ORGANIZATION

Qais Alsanabani Q&A LAW OFFICE

Anis Ebrahim

Esam Nadeesh ADVOCACY AND LEGAL CONSULTATIONS OFFICE (ALCO)

Saeed Sohbi SAEED HASSAN SOHBI

Khaled Hassan Zaid YEMEN CHAMBER OF SHIPPING

ZAMBIA ENERGY MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Azizhusein Adam AD ADAMS & CO.

Sudhir Balsure SWIFT FREIGHT INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Dickson Bwalya LISULO + BWALYA

Mwelwa Chibesakunda CHIBESAKUNDA & COMPANY, MEMBER OF DLA PIPER GROUP

Sydney Chisenga CORPUS LEGAL PRACTITIONERS

Vishal Joshi SWIFT FREIGHT INTERNATIONAL LTD.

Bruce Kaemba ZAMBIA CUSTOMS AND FORWARDING AGENTS ASSOCIATION

Chance Kaonga NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR CONSTRUCTION

Mutale Kasonde CHIBESAKUNDA & COMPANY, MEMBER OF DLA PIPER GROUP

Perine N. Kasonde ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL OF ZAMBIA

Walusiku Lisulo LISULO + BWALYA

Johan Lombaard MANICA AFRICA PTY. LTD.

DOING BUSINESS 2015318

Mumba Makumba PACRA

Sylvester Mashamba NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR CONSTRUCTION

Bonaventure Mbewe BARCLAYS BANK

Chosani Mbewe PWC ZAMBIA

Harriet Mdala MUSA DUDHIA & COMPANY

Jyoti Mistry PWC ZAMBIA

Mwape Mondoloka BARCLAYS BANK

Mutule Museba CORPUS LEGAL PRACTITIONERS

Henry Musonda KIRAN & MUSONDA ASSOCIATES

Lloyd Musonda PACRA

Francis Mwape NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR CONSTRUCTION

Nchima Nchito NCHITO AND NCHITO ADVOCATES

Kanti Patel CHRISTOPHER RUSSELL COOK & CO.

Solly Patel CHRISTOPHER RUSSELL COOK & CO.

Rodwyn Peterson CHIBESAKUNDA & COMPANY, MEMBER OF DLA PIPER GROUP

John Serlemitsos PLATINUM GOLD EQUITY

Valerie Sesia CUSTOMIZED CLEARING AND FORWARDING LTD.

Sharon K. Sichilongo ZAMBIA DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

Mildred Stephenson CREDIT REFERENCE BUREAU AFRICA LTD.

Thomas Story PWC ZAMBIA

Mephias Triboyi MUSA DUDHIA & COMPANY

Enos Zulu PACRA

ZIMBABWE ERNST & YOUNG

Richard Beattie THE STONE/BEATTIE STUDIO

Tim Boulton MANICA AFRICA PTY. LTD.

Peter Cawood PWC ZIMBABWE

Antony Chagonda SAWYER & MKUSHI

Lindsay Cook ATHERSTONE & COOK

Grant Davies MANICA AFRICA PTY. LTD.

Beloved Dhlakama DHLAKAMA B. ATTORNEYS

Farayi Dyirakumunda EXPERT DECISION SYSTEMS ZIMBABWE

Paul Fraser LOFTY & FRASER

Daniel Garwe PLANET

R.T. Katsande ZIMBABWE ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION COMPANY

Abraham Kudzai Maguchu DUBE, MANIKAI AND HWACHA LEGAL PRACTITIONERS - DMH COMMERCIAL LAW CHAMBERS

Peter Lloyd GILL, GODLONTON & GERRANS

Manuel Lopes PWC ZIMBABWE

Memory Mafo SCANLEN & HOLDERNESS

Faro Mahere GILL, GODLONTON & GERRANS

Rita Makarau HIGH COURT ZIMBABWE

Zanudeen Makorie COGHLAN, WELSH & GUEST

Chris Masimu DIVINE FREIGHT

Thembiwe Mazingi COGHLAN, WELSH & GUEST

Lloyd Mhishi MHISHI LEGAL PRACTICE

H.P. Mkushi SAWYER & MKUSHI

T. Muringani SPEARTEC

Joseph Musariri SFAAZ

Eldard Mutasa HIGH COURT ZIMBABWE

Ostern Mutero SAWYER & MKUSHI

Alec Tafadzwa Muza MAWERE & SIBANDA LEGAL PRACTITIONERS

Phathisile Paula Ncube MAWERE & SIBANDA LEGAL PRACTITIONERS

Duduzile Ndawana GILL, GODLONTON & GERRANS

Raymond Nembo SAWYER & MKUSHI

Maxwell Ngorima BDO TAX & ADVISORY SERVICES PVT. LTD.

Oleen Singizi EXPERT DECISION SYSTEMS ZIMBABWE

Ruvimbo Zhewe EXPERT DECISION SYSTEMS ZIMBABWE

www.doingbusiness.org

ISBN 978-1-4648-0351-2

SKU 210351

9 781464 803512

9 0 0 0 0

2004 20132008

2007

2 0 11

2006 20 10

COMPARING BUSINESS REGULATIONS FOR DOMESTIC FIRMS IN 185 ECONOMIES

10TH EDITION

DOING BUSINESS 2013

Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises