Reforming Business Registration Regulatory Procedures at the National Level

Formalized businesses hold important growth potential for both individual enterprises and emerging economies. Licensed entrepreneurs have access to credit, and help bring dead capital to life while broadening the tax bases of the countries they operate in. Burdensome business registration processes, however, incentivize informality, and keep potential gains out of the growth equation.

Reforming defunct registration procedures is key to maximizing the private sector’s impact on economies. There is no one-size fits all solution to simplification. Reforms must be country-specific, and can happen at three distinct levels of intervention, including changes to laws and institutions, simplification of processes in an existing framework, or the introduction of operational tools to streamline procedures and enhance their efficacy. At any level, reforms must be designed with the challenges of implementation in mind, achieving in particular the buy-in and cooperation of stakeholders in both the public and private sectors.

This toolkit provides project officers with a foundational understanding of best practices in business registration processes and tools, and uses case studies to supplement specific guidance for the design and implementation of reforms.

Download the toolkit (PDF, 1.3MB)