DOING BUSINESS 2009 - JOHN J. HADDAD, Ph.D.

50 Doing Business 2009Table 10.2Where is enforcing contracts the most efficient—and where the least?Procedures (number of steps)FewestIreland 20 Guinea 50Singapore 21 Kuwait 50Hong Kong, China 24 United Arab Emirates 50Rwanda 24 Belize 51Austria 25 Iraq 51Belgium 25 Oman 51Netherlands 25 Timor-Leste 51Iceland 26 Sudan 53Luxembourg 26 Syria 55Czech Republic 27 Brunei 58Time (days)Fastestof the court decision. Fully motivated,written court decisions are not needed.The 10 economies with the fastest averagetimes to enforce a contract tend tohave specialized commercial courts orspecialized commercial sections withinexisting courts and limits on the numberand length of adjournments once a casehas started.Reducing entry barriers in the marketfor legal services helps. Allowingwomen to enter the legal profession,for example, can increase competitionamong lawyers and reduce attorneys’MostSlowestSingapore 150 Sri Lanka 1,318Kyrgyz Republic 177 Trinidad and Tobago 1,340Uzbekistan 195 Colombia 1,346Lithuania 210 Slovenia 1,350Hong Kong, China 211 India 1,420New Zealand 216 Bangladesh 1,442Belarus 225 Guatemala 1,459Bhutan 225 Afghanistan 1,642Kazakhstan 230 Suriname 1,715Korea 230 Timor-Leste 1,800Cost (% of claim)LeastBhutan 0.1 Comoros 89.4Iceland 6.2 Cambodia 102.7Luxembourg 8.8 Burkina Faso 107.4United States 9.4 Papua New Guinea 110.3Norway 9.9 Indonesia 122.7Korea 10.3 Malawi 142.4Finland 10.4 Mozambique 142.5China 11.1 Sierra Leone 149.5Poland 12.0 Congo, Dem. Rep. 151.8Hungary 13.0 Timor-Leste 163.2Source: Doing Business database.Mostfees. Saudi Arabia saw its first female lawgraduates—170 of them—in June 2008.The Saudi government is sending thetop 4 to graduate programs abroad, toprepare them to return as the country’sfirst female law professors. Some countriesstill prohibit women from servingas judges. Others have recently startedallowing women on the bench. Bahrain,which did so in 2003, now has 3 femalejudges. And the first female federaljudge was appointed in Abu Dhabi in lateMarch 2008.Who reformed in 2007/08?Twelve economies reformed contract enforcementin 2007/08 (table 10.3). Thereforms reduced the time, cost or numberof steps in court proceedings by introducingspecialized commercial courtsand case management, simplifying rulesfor small cases, streamlining appealsand making enforcement of judgmentsmore efficient.Most reforms took place in EasternEurope and Central Asia—in Armenia,Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the formerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia andRomania. Among OECD high-incomeeconomies, Austria, Belgium and Portugalreformed. In Africa, Mozambiqueand Rwanda did. In South Asia, Bhutanwas the only economy that improved itscourts in 2007/08. In East Asia, Chinawas the only reformer. The Middle Eastand North Africa had no reforms.Mozambique, the top reformer inenforcing contracts, reduced the averagetime to resolve a commercial disputefrom 1,010 days to 730. The newly establishedcommercial courts have started toproduce results. Since March 2008 thecountry has also gained 22 new judges—a 10% increase. Besides hiring morejudges, Mozambique introduced performancemeasures for them. And courtadministrators now take care of administrativetasks that judges used to handle,such as paying creditors after a publicauction of a debtor’s assets.In the former Yugoslav Republic ofMacedonia, the runner-up reformer, acommercial division of the Skopje civilcourt started operating in November2007, after initial difficulties with allocatingjudges were resolved. Startingin January 2008, all cases have beenelectronically recorded. The Skopje commercialdivision will soon have 15 additionalcomputers to begin electronicregistration of cases.In Rwanda specialized commercialcourts started operating in May 2008.Three lower commercial courts—in Kigaliand in the Northern and SouthernProvinces—cover commercial disputes(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank