Regional Profile Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Region Pro le of Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Doing Business 2018 Indicators Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Region Pro le of Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Doing Business 2018 Indicators (in order of appearance in the document) Starting a business Procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital to start a limited liability company Dealing with construction Procedures, time and cost to complete all formalities to build a warehouse and the quality control and permits safety mechanisms in the construction permitting system Getting electricity Procedures, time and cost to get connected to the electrical grid, the reliability of the electricity supply and the transparency of tariffs Registering property Procedures, time and cost to transfer a property and the quality of the land administration system Getting credit Movable collateral laws and credit information systems Protecting minority investors Minority shareholders’ rights in related-party transactions and in corporate governance Paying taxes Payments, time and total tax rate for a firm to comply with all tax regulations as well as post-filing processes Trading across borders Time and cost to export the product of comparative advantage and import auto parts Enforcing contracts Time and cost to resolve a commercial dispute and the quality of judicial processes Resolving insolvency Time, cost, outcome and recovery rate for a commercial insolvency and the strength of the legal framework for insolvency About Doing Business The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. The Doing Business project, launched in 2002, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle. Doing Business captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment as it applies to local rms. It provides quantitative indicators on regulation for 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 features of labor market regulation. Although Doing Business does not present rankings of economies on the labor market regulation 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. By gathering and analyzing comprehensive quantitative data to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time, Doing Business encourages economies to compete towards more e cient regulation; o ers measurable benchmarks for reform; and serves as a resource for academics, journalists, private sector researchers and others interested in the business climate of each economy. In addition, Doing Business o ers detailed subnational reports, which exhaustively cover business regulation and reform in di erent cities and regions within a nation. These reports provide data on the ease of doing business, rank each location, and recommend reforms to improve performance in each of the indicator areas. Selected cities can compare their business regulations with other cities in the economy or region and with the 190 economies that Doing Business has ranked. The rst Doing Business report, published in 2003, covered 5 indicator sets and 133 economies. This year’s report covers 11 indicator sets and 190 economies. Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest business city of each economy, except for 11 economies that have a population of more than 100 million as of 2013 (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian Federation and the United States) where Doing Business, also collected data for the Page 2   second largest business city. The data for these 11 economies are a population-weighted average for the 2 largest business Resolving insolvency Time, cost, outcome and recovery rate for a commercial insolvency and the strength of the legal framework Doing Business 2018 for insolvency ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) ASIA-PACIFIC About Doing Business The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. The Doing Business project, launched in 2002, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle. Doing Business captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment as it applies to local rms. It provides quantitative indicators on regulation for 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 features of labor market regulation. Although Doing Business does not present rankings of economies on the labor market regulation 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. By gathering and analyzing comprehensive quantitative data to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time, Doing Business encourages economies to compete towards more e cient regulation; o ers measurable benchmarks for reform; and serves as a resource for academics, journalists, private sector researchers and others interested in the business climate of each economy. In addition, Doing Business o ers detailed subnational reports, which exhaustively cover business regulation and reform in di erent cities and regions within a nation. These reports provide data on the ease of doing business, rank each location, and recommend reforms to improve performance in each of the indicator areas. Selected cities can compare their business regulations with other cities in the economy or region and with the 190 economies that Doing Business has ranked. The rst Doing Business report, published in 2003, covered 5 indicator sets and 133 economies. This year’s report covers 11 indicator sets and 190 economies. Most indicator sets refer to a case scenario in the largest business city of each economy, except for 11 economies that have a population of more than 100 million as of 2013 (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Russian Federation and the United States) where Doing Business, also collected data for the second largest business city. The data for these 11 economies are a population-weighted average for the 2 largest business cities. The project has bene ted from feedback from governments, academics, practitioners and reviewers. The initial goal remains: to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the regulatory environment for business around the world. More about Doing Business (PDF, 5MB) The Business Environment For policy makers, knowing where their economy stands in the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business is useful. Also useful is to know how it ranks compared with other economies in the region and compared with the regional average. Another perspective is provided by the regional average rankings on the topics included in the ease of doing business ranking and the distance to frontier scores. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of doing business New Zealand (Rank 1) 86.55 Singapore (Rank 2) 84.57 Korea, Rep. (Rank 4) 83.92 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 5) 83.44 United States (Rank 6) 82.54 Australia (Rank 14) 80.14 Taiwan, China (Rank 15) 80.07 Page 3   Canada (Rank 18) 79.29 world. More Doingabout 2018 (PDF, Doing Business Business 5MB) ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) The Business Environment For policy makers, knowing where their economy stands in the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business is useful. Also useful is to know how it ranks compared with other economies in the region and compared with the regional average. Another perspective is provided by the regional average rankings on the topics included in the ease of doing business ranking and the distance to frontier scores. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of doing business New Zealand (Rank 1) 86.55 Singapore (Rank 2) 84.57 Korea, Rep. (Rank 4) 83.92 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 5) 83.44 United States (Rank 6) 82.54 Australia (Rank 14) 80.14 Taiwan, China (Rank 15) 80.07 Canada (Rank 18) 79.29 Malaysia (Rank 24) 78.43 Thailand (Rank 26) 77.44 Japan (Rank 34) 75.68 Russian Federation (Rank 35) 75.50 Mexico (Rank 49) 72.27 Chile (Rank 55) 71.22 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 56) 70.60 Peru (Rank 58) 69.45 Vietnam (Rank 68) 67.93 Indonesia (Rank 72) 66.47 China (Rank 78) 65.29 Papua New Guinea (Rank 109) 59.04 Philippines (Rank 113) 58.74 Regional Average (Rank 40) 74.69 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Note: Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1–190. The rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings for all economies are benchmarked to June 2017. The distance to frontier (DTF) 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. An economy’s distance to frontier is re ected on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 represents the frontier. Source: Doing Business database Page 4   Rankings on Doing Business topics - Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) lowest performance and 100 represents the frontier. Doing Source: Business Doing 2018 Business ASIA-PACIFIC database ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Rankings on Doing Business topics - Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Starting a Business (65) Resolving Insolvency (45) 0 Dealing with Construction Permits (52) 38 76 114 Enforcing Contracts (52) Getting Electricity (41) 152 190 Trading across Borders (75) Registering Property (58) Paying Taxes (65) Getting Credit (40) Protecting Minority Investors (47) Regional average ranking (Scale: Rank 190 center, Rank 1 outer edge) Source: Doing Business database. Distance to frontier scores on Doing Business topics - Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Starting a Business (88.98) Resolving Insolvency (66.63) 100 Dealing with Construction Permits (74.37) 80 60 40 Enforcing Contracts (65.75) Getting Electricity (84.44) 20 0 Trading across Borders (78.51) Registering Property (72.68) Paying Taxes (77.90) Getting Credit (72.86) Protecting Minority Investors (64.83) (Scale: Score 0 center, Score 100 outer edge) Note: Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1–190. The rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings for all economies are benchmarked to June 2017. The distance to frontier (DTF) 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. An economy’s distance to frontier is re ected on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 represents the frontier. Source: Doing Business database Starting a Business This topic measures the paid-in minimum capital requirement, number of procedures, time and cost for a small- to medium- sized limited liability company to start up and formally operate in economy’s largest business city. Page 5   lowest performance and 100 represents the frontier. Doing Source: Business Doing 2018 Business ASIA-PACIFIC database ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Rankings on Doing Business topics - Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Starting a Business (65) Resolving Insolvency (45) 0 Dealing with Construction Permits (52) 38 76 114 Enforcing Contracts (52) Getting Electricity (41) 152 190 Trading across Borders (75) Registering Property (58) Paying Taxes (65) Getting Credit (40) Protecting Minority Investors (47) Regional average ranking (Scale: Rank 190 center, Rank 1 outer edge) Source: Doing Business database. Distance to frontier scores on Doing Business topics - Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Starting a Business (88.98) Resolving Insolvency (66.63) 100 Dealing with Construction Permits (74.37) 80 60 40 Enforcing Contracts (65.75) Getting Electricity (84.44) 20 0 Trading across Borders (78.51) Registering Property (72.68) Paying Taxes (77.90) Getting Credit (72.86) Protecting Minority Investors (64.83) (Scale: Score 0 center, Score 100 outer edge) Note: Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1–190. The rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate distance to frontier scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings for all economies are benchmarked to June 2017. The distance to frontier (DTF) 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. An economy’s distance to frontier is re ected on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 represents the frontier. Source: Doing Business database Starting a Business This topic measures the paid-in minimum capital requirement, number of procedures, time and cost for a small- to medium- sized limited liability company to start up and formally operate in economy’s largest business city. Page 6   best performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies in the Doing Business sample since 2005. An economy’s distance to frontier is re ected on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 represents the frontier. Source: Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Doing database Business Starting a Business This topic measures the paid-in minimum capital requirement, number of procedures, time and cost for a small- to medium- sized limited liability company to start up and formally operate in economy’s largest business city. To make the data comparable across 190 economies, Doing Business uses a standardized business that is 100% domestically owned, has start-up capital equivalent to 10 times income per capita, engages in general industrial or commercial activities and employs between 10 and 50 people one month after the commencement of operations, all of whom are domestic nationals. Starting a Business considers two types of local limited liability companies that are identical in all aspects, except that one company is owned by 5 married women and the other by 5 married men. The distance to frontier score for each indicator is the average of the scores obtained for each of the component indicators. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally start and operate a To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions company (number) about the business and the procedures are used. It is assumed that any required information is readily available and that the entrepreneur will Pre-registration (for example, name verification or pay no bribes. reservation, notarization) Registration in economy’s largest business city The business: Post-registration (for example, social security - Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent). If there is more than one type of limited liability company in the economy, the most registration, company seal) common among domestic rms is chosen. Information on the most Obtaining approval from spouse to start business common form is obtained from incorporation lawyers or the statistical or leave home to register company o ce. Obtaining any gender-specific permission that can - Operates in the economy’s largest business city and the entire o ce impact company registration, company operations space is approximately 929 square meters (10,000 square feet). For 11 and process of getting national identity card economies the data are also collected for the second largest business Time required to complete each procedure city. (calendar days) - Is 100% domestically owned and has ve owners, none of whom is a Does not include time spent gathering information legal entity; and has a start-up capital of 10 times income per capita and Each procedure starts on a separate day (2 has a turnover of at least 100 times income per capita. - Performs general industrial or commercial activities, such as the procedures cannot start on the same day) production or sale of goods or services to the public. The business does Procedures fully completed online are recorded as not perform foreign trade activities and does not handle products ½ day subject to a special tax regime, for example, liquor or tobacco. It does not Procedure is considered completed once final use heavily polluting production processes. document is received - Leases the commercial plant or o ces and is not a proprietor of real No prior contact with officials estate and the amount of the annual lease for the o ce space is Cost required to complete each procedure (% equivalent to 1 times income per capita. of income per capita) - Does not qualify for investment incentives or any special bene ts. Official costs only, no bribes - Has at least 10 and up to 50 employees one month after the commencement of operations, all of whom are domestic nationals. No professional fees unless services required by - Has a company deed 10 pages long. law or commonly used in practice Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per The owners: capita) - Have reached the legal age of majority. If there is no legal age of majority, they are assumed to be 30 years old. Funds deposited in a bank or with third party - Are sane, competent, in good health and have no criminal record. before registration or up to 3 months after - Are married and the marriage is monogamous and registered with the incorporation authorities. - Where the answer di ers according to the legal system applicable to the woman or man in question (as may be the case in economies where there is legal plurality), the answer used will be the one that applies to the majority of the population. Starting a Business Page 7   there is legal plurality), the answer used will be the one that applies to Doing Business 2018 the majority ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC of the population. COOPERATION (APEC) Starting a Business Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy is it for entrepreneurs in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) to start a business? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of starting a business suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of starting a business New Zealand (Rank 1) 99.96 Canada (Rank 2) 98.23 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 3) 98.14 Singapore (Rank 6) 96.49 Australia (Rank 7) 96.47 Korea, Rep. (Rank 9) 95.83 Taiwan, China (Rank 16) 94.43 Russian Federation (Rank 28) 93.03 Thailand (Rank 36) 92.34 United States (Rank 49) 91.23 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 58) 90.23 Chile (Rank 65) 89.55 Mexico (Rank 90) 85.84 China (Rank 93) 85.47 Japan (Rank 106) 84.37 Malaysia (Rank 111) 83.78 Peru (Rank 114) 83.39 Vietnam (Rank 123) 82.02 Papua New Guinea (Rank 129) 81.04 Indonesia (Rank 144) 77.93 Philippines (Rank 173) 68.88 Regional Average (Rank 65) 88.98 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Source: Doing Business database. Starting a Business The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to start a business in each economy in the region: the number of procedures, the time, the cost and the paid-in minimum capital requirement. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. Page 8   0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Starting a Business The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to start a business in each economy in the region: the number of procedures, the time, the cost and the paid-in minimum capital requirement. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. What it takes to start a business in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Procedure – Men (number) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 8.4 South Asia (SA) 7.9 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 7.0 Regional Average 5.9 European Union (EU) 5.4 OECD High Income 4.9 Philippines 16.0 Indonesia 11.2 Japan 9.0 Vietnam 9.0 Malaysia 8.0 Mexico 7.8 Chile 7.0 China 7.0 Peru 7.0 Papua New Guinea 6.0 United States 6.0 Brunei 5.0 Thailand 5.0 Russia 4.0 Australia 3.0 Singapore 3.0 Taiwan, China 3.0 Canada 2.0 Hong Kong, China 2.0 Korea 2.0 New Zealand 1.0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Source: Doing Business database. Starting a Business Page 9   Time – Men (days) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Starting a Business Time – Men (days) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 31.7 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 22.7 South Asia (SA) 15.4 Regional Average 12.5 European Union (EU) 10.0 OECD High Income 8.5 Papua New Guinea 41.0 Philippines 28.0 Peru 26.5 Indonesia 23.1 China 22.9 Vietnam 22.0 Malaysia 18.0 Japan 12.2 Brunei 12.0 Russia 10.1 Taiwan, China 10.0 Mexico 8.4 United States 5.6 Chile 5.5 Thailand 4.5 Korea 4.0 Australia 2.5 Singapore 2.5 Canada 1.5 Hong Kong, China 1.5 New Zealand 0.5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Source: Doing Business database. Starting a Business Cost – Men (% of income per capita) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 37.5 South Asia (SA) 21.4 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 18.4 Page 10   Regional Average 5.6 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Starting a Business Cost – Men (% of income per capita) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 37.5 South Asia (SA) 21.4 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 18.4 Regional Average 5.6 European Union (EU) 3.4 OECD High Income 3.1 Mexico 17.0 Philippines 15.8 Korea 14.6 Papua New Guinea 11.5 Indonesia 10.9 Peru 10.0 Japan 7.5 Vietnam 6.5 Thailand 6.2 Malaysia 5.4 Chile 3.0 Taiwan, China 2.0 Brunei 1.1 Hong Kong, China 1.1 Russia 1.1 United States 1.1 Australia 0.7 China 0.6 Singapore 0.5 Canada 0.4 New Zealand 0.3 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Source: Doing Business database. Starting a Business Paid-in min. capital (% of income per capita) East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 15.1 European Union (EU) 10.1 OECD High Income 8.7 Page 11   Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 2.1 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Starting a Business Paid-in min. capital (% of income per capita) East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 15.1 European Union (EU) 10.1 OECD High Income 8.7 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 2.1 South Asia (SA) 0.2 Regional Average 0.1 Philippines 3.0 Australia 0.0 Brunei 0.0 Canada 0.0 Chile 0.0 China 0.0 Hong Kong, China 0.0 Indonesia 0.0 Japan 0.0 Korea 0.0 Malaysia 0.0 Mexico 0.0 New Zealand 0.0 Papua New Guinea 0.0 Peru 0.0 Russia 0.0 Singapore 0.0 Taiwan, China 0.0 Thailand 0.0 United States 0.0 Vietnam 0.0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Source: Doing Business database. Dealing with Construction Permits This topic tracks the procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse—including obtaining necessary the licenses and permits, submitting all required noti cations, requesting and receiving all necessary inspections and obtaining utility connections. In addition, the Dealing with Construction Permits indicator measures the building quality control index, evaluating the quality of building regulations, the strength of quality control and safety mechanisms, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certi cation requirements. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information Page 12   What the indicators measure Case study assumptions 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Dealing with Construction Permits This topic tracks the procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse—including obtaining necessary the licenses and permits, submitting all required noti cations, requesting and receiving all necessary inspections and obtaining utility connections. In addition, the Dealing with Construction Permits indicator measures the building quality control index, evaluating the quality of building regulations, the strength of quality control and safety mechanisms, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certi cation requirements. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally build a warehouse To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions (number) about the construction company, the warehouse project and the utility connections are used. Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining all necessary clearances, licenses, permits and The construction company (BuildCo): certificates - Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent) and operates in the Submitting all required notifications and receiving economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. all necessary inspections - Is 100% domestically and privately owned; has ve owners, none of Obtaining utility connections for water and whom is a legal entity. Has a licensed architect and a licensed engineer, sewerage both registered with the local association of architects or engineers. Registering and selling the warehouse after its BuildCo is not assumed to have any other employees who are technical completion or licensed experts, such as geological or topographical experts. Time required to complete each procedure - Owns the land on which the warehouse will be built and will sell the (calendar days) warehouse upon its completion. Does not include time spent gathering information Each procedure starts on a separate day—though The warehouse: procedures that can be fully completed online are - Will be used for general storage activities, such as storage of books or stationery. an exception to this rule - Will have two stories, both above ground, with a total constructed area Procedure is considered completed once final of approximately 1,300.6 square meters (14,000 square feet). Each oor document is received will be 3 meters (9 feet, 10 inches) high and will be located on a land plot No prior contact with officials of approximately 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) that is 100% Cost required to complete each procedure (% owned by BuildCo, and the warehouse is valued at 50 times income per of warehouse value) capita. Official costs only, no bribes - Will have complete architectural and technical plans prepared by a Building quality control index (0-15) licensed architect. If preparation of the plans requires such steps as obtaining further documentation or getting prior approvals from external Sum of the scores of six component indices: agencies, these are counted as procedures. Quality of building regulations (0-2) - Will take 30 weeks to construct (excluding all delays due to Quality control before construction (0-1) administrative and regulatory requirements). Quality control during construction (0-3) The water and sewerage connections: Quality control after construction (0-3) - Will be 150 meters (492 feet) from the existing water source and sewer Liability and insurance regimes (0-2) tap. If there is no water delivery infrastructure in the economy, a Professional certifications (0-4) borehole will be dug. If there is no sewerage infrastructure, a septic tank in the smallest size available will be installed or built. - Will have an average water use of 662 liters (175 gallons) a day and an average wastewater ow 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 ow of 1,136 liters (300 gallons) a day. - Will have a constant level of water demand and wastewater ow throughout the year; will be 1 inch in diameter for the water connection and 4 inches in diameter for the sewerage connection. Dealing with Construction Permits Where do the region’s economies stand today? Page 13   How easy it is for entrepreneurs in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) to legally build a warehouse? The throughout the year; will be 1 inch in diameter for the water connection Doing Business 2018 4 inches in diameter and COOPERATION ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC for the sewerage connection. (APEC) Dealing with Construction Permits Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy it is for entrepreneurs in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) to legally build a warehouse? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of dealing with construction permits suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of dealing with construction permits New Zealand (Rank 3) 86.36 Taiwan, China (Rank 4) 86.32 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 5) 84.86 Australia (Rank 6) 84.39 Malaysia (Rank 11) 82.19 Chile (Rank 15) 80.28 Singapore (Rank 16) 80.26 Vietnam (Rank 20) 79.03 Korea, Rep. (Rank 28) 77.74 United States (Rank 36) 75.77 Thailand (Rank 43) 74.58 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 48) 73.62 Japan (Rank 50) 73.36 Canada (Rank 54) 72.87 Peru (Rank 61) 71.90 Mexico (Rank 87) 68.28 Philippines (Rank 101) 66.84 Indonesia (Rank 108) 66.08 Russian Federation (Rank 115) 65.25 Papua New Guinea (Rank 117) 64.42 China (Rank 172) 47.28 Regional Average (Rank 52) 74.37 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Source: Doing Business database. Dealing with Construction Permits The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to comply with formalities to build a warehouse in each economy in the region: the number of procedures, the time and the cost. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. Page 14   0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Dealing with Construction Permits The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to comply with formalities to build a warehouse in each economy in the region: the number of procedures, the time and the cost. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. What it takes to comply with formalities to build a warehouse in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Time (days) South Asia (SA) 193.9 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 191.8 European Union (EU) 174.0 OECD High Income 154.6 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 138.2 Regional Average 135.6 Canada 249.0 China 247.1 Russia 239.4 Papua New Guinea 217.0 Indonesia 200.2 Japan 197.0 Peru 188.0 Vietnam 166.0 Chile 133.0 Philippines 122.0 Australia 121.0 Thailand 104.0 New Zealand 93.0 Taiwan, China 93.0 Brunei 83.0 Mexico 82.3 United States 80.6 Malaysia 78.0 Hong Kong, China 72.0 Singapore 54.0 Korea 27.5 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Source: Doing Business database. Dealing with Construction Permits Page 15   0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Dealing with Construction Permits Cost (% of warehouse value) South Asia (SA) 17.6 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 3.2 Regional Average 2.5 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 2.2 European Union (EU) 2.0 OECD High Income 1.6 Mexico 9.9 China 7.8 Singapore 6.2 Indonesia 4.8 Korea 4.4 Philippines 2.6 New Zealand 2.3 Canada 1.9 Brunei 1.8 Malaysia 1.4 Chile 1.3 Russia 1.3 Papua New Guinea 1.2 Peru 1.1 Australia 0.9 United States 0.9 Hong Kong, China 0.7 Vietnam 0.7 Japan 0.5 Taiwan, China 0.4 Thailand 0.1 0 5 10 15 20 Source: Doing Business database. Dealing with Construction Permits Building quality control index (0-15) Regional Average 11.8 European Union (EU) 11.6 OECD High Income 11.4 Page 16   East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 8.9 0 5 10 15 20 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Dealing with Construction Permits Building quality control index (0-15) Regional Average 11.8 European Union (EU) 11.6 OECD High Income 11.4 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 8.9 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 8.8 South Asia (SA) 8.7 New Zealand 15.0 Australia 14.0 Canada 14.0 Chile 13.0 Indonesia 13.0 Malaysia 13.0 Taiwan, China 13.0 Brunei 12.0 Hong Kong, China 12.0 Peru 12.0 Philippines 12.0 Singapore 12.0 Vietnam 12.0 Mexico 11.7 Japan 11.0 Thailand 11.0 Papua New Guinea 10.0 Russia 10.0 United States 10.0 China 9.6 Korea 8.0 0 3 6 9 12 15 Source: Doing Business database. Getting Electricity This topic tracks the procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed warehouse. In addition to assessing e ciency of connection process, Reliability of supply and transparency of tari index measures reliability of power supply and transparency of tari s and the price of electricity. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to obtain an electricity connection Page 17   To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions 0 3 6 9 12 15 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Getting Electricity This topic tracks the procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed warehouse. In addition to assessing e ciency of connection process, Reliability of supply and transparency of tari index measures reliability of power supply and transparency of tari s and the price of electricity. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to obtain an electricity connection To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions (number) are used. Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining all The warehouse: necessary clearances and permits - Is owned by a local entrepreneur and is used for storage of goods. Completing all required notifications and receiving - Is located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the all necessary inspections data are also collected for the second largest business city. Obtaining external installation works and possibly - Is located in an area where similar warehouses are typically located and purchasing material for these works is in an area with no physical constraints. For example, the property is Concluding any necessary supply contract and not near a railway. obtaining final supply - Is a new construction and is being connected to electricity for the rst Time required to complete each procedure time. (calendar days) - Has two stories with a total surface area of approximately 1,300.6 square meters (14,000 square feet). The plot of land on which it is built is Is at least 1 calendar day 929 square meters (10,000 square feet). Each procedure starts on a separate day Does not include time spent gathering information The electricity connection: Reflects the time spent in practice, with little follow- - Is a permanent one with a three-phase, four-wire Y connection with a up and no prior contact with officials subscribed capacity of 140-kilo-volt-ampere (kVA) with a power factor of Cost required to complete each procedure (% 1, when 1 kVA = 1 kilowatt (kW). of income per capita) - Has a length of 150 meters. The connection is to either the low- or Official costs only, no bribes medium-voltage distribution network and is either overhead or underground, whichever is more common in the area where the Value added tax excluded warehouse is located and requires works that involve the crossing of a The reliability of supply and transparency of 10- meter road (such as by excavation or overhead lines) but are all tari s index (0-8) carried out on public land. There is no crossing of other owners’ private Duration and frequency of power outages (0–3) property because the warehouse has access to a road. Tools to monitor power outages (0–1) - Does not require work to install the internal wiring of the warehouse. Tools to restore power supply (0–1) This has already been completed up to and including the customer’s Regulatory monitoring of utilities’ performance (0– service panel or switchboard and the meter base. 1) Financial deterrents limiting outages (0–1) The monthly consumption: Transparency and accessibility of tariffs (0–1) - It is assumed that the warehouse operates 30 days a month from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (8 hours a day), with equipment utilized at 80% of Price of electricity (cents per kilowatt-hour)* capacity on average and that there are no electricity cuts (assumed for Price based on monthly bill for commercial simplicity reasons) and the monthly energy consumption is 26,880 warehouse in case study kilowatt-hours (kWh); hourly consumption is 112 kWh. *Note: Doing Business measures the price of - If multiple electricity suppliers exist, the warehouse is served by the electricity, but it is not included in the distance to cheapest supplier. frontier score nor the ranking on the ease of - Tari s e ective in March of the current year are used for calculation of getting electricity. the price of electricity for the warehouse. Although March has 31 days, for calculation purposes only 30 days are used. Getting Electricity Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy it is for entrepreneurs in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) to connect a warehouse to electricity? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of getting electricity suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. Page 18   getting electricity. the price of electricity for the warehouse. Although March has 31 days, Doing Business 2018 for calculation ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATIONpurposes only 30 days are used. (APEC) Getting Electricity Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy it is for entrepreneurs in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) to connect a warehouse to electricity? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of getting electricity suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of getting electricity Korea, Rep. (Rank 2) 99.89 Taiwan, China (Rank 3) 99.45 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 4) 99.02 Malaysia (Rank 8) 94.33 Russian Federation (Rank 10) 92.81 Singapore (Rank 12) 91.33 Thailand (Rank 13) 90.99 Japan (Rank 17) 89.88 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 24) 86.46 Philippines (Rank 31) 84.31 New Zealand (Rank 37) 83.97 Indonesia (Rank 38) 83.87 Chile (Rank 44) 82.49 Australia (Rank 47) 82.31 United States (Rank 49) 82.14 Peru (Rank 63) 79.01 Vietnam (Rank 64) 78.69 Mexico (Rank 92) 70.99 China (Rank 98) 68.83 Canada (Rank 105) 66.89 Papua New Guinea (Rank 107) 65.53 Regional Average (Rank 41) 84.44 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Source: Doing Business database. Getting Electricity The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to get a new electricity connection in each economy in the region: the number of procedures, the time and the cost. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. Page 19   0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Getting Electricity The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to get a new electricity connection in each economy in the region: the number of procedures, the time and the cost. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. What it takes to get an electricity connection in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Procedures (number) South Asia (SA) 5.7 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 5.5 European Union (EU) 5.0 OECD High Income 4.7 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 4.5 Regional Average 4.5 Canada 7.0 Mexico 6.8 China 5.5 Australia 5.0 Brunei 5.0 Chile 5.0 New Zealand 5.0 Peru 5.0 Vietnam 5.0 United States 4.8 Indonesia 4.0 Malaysia 4.0 Papua New Guinea 4.0 Philippines 4.0 Singapore 4.0 Thailand 4.0 Japan 3.4 Hong Kong, China 3.0 Korea 3.0 Russia 3.0 Taiwan, China 3.0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Source: Doing Business database. Getting Electricity Time (days) Page 20   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Source: Doing Business database. Getting Electricity Time (days) South Asia (SA) 136.4 European Union (EU) 96.3 OECD High Income 79.1 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 71.6 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 66.0 Regional Average 60.4 China 143.2 Canada 137.0 Mexico 100.4 Japan 97.7 United States 89.6 Russia 83.0 Australia 75.0 Peru 67.0 Papua New Guinea 66.0 New Zealand 58.0 Vietnam 46.0 Chile 43.0 Philippines 37.0 Brunei 36.0 Indonesia 34.0 Thailand 32.0 Malaysia 31.0 Singapore 30.0 Hong Kong, China 27.0 Taiwan, China 22.0 Korea 13.0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 Source: Doing Business database. Getting Electricity Cost (% of income per capita) South Asia (SA) 1163.2 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 927.4 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 712.0 Page 21   Regional Average 148.5 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Source: Doing Business database. Getting Electricity Cost (% of income per capita) South Asia (SA) 1163.2 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 927.4 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 712.0 Regional Average 148.5 European Union (EU) 118.7 OECD High Income 63.0 Vietnam 1191.8 China 356.0 Peru 349.6 Mexico 314.3 Indonesia 276.1 Canada 125.3 New Zealand 72.4 Chile 68.1 Thailand 63.1 Brunei 41.5 Russia 41.5 Taiwan, China 38.9 Korea 37.0 Malaysia 28.0 Papua New Guinea 27.2 Philippines 25.3 Singapore 25.3 United States 23.7 Australia 12.4 Hong Kong, China 1.4 Japan 0.0 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Source: Doing Business database. Getting Electricity Reliability of supply and transparency of tariff index (0-8) European Union (EU) 7.4 OECD High Income 7.4 Regional Average 6.6 Page 22   Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 4.2 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Source: Doing Business database. Getting Electricity Reliability of supply and transparency of tariff index (0-8) European Union (EU) 7.4 OECD High Income 7.4 Regional Average 6.6 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 4.2 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 3.7 South Asia (SA) 2.1 Hong Kong, China 8.0 Japan 8.0 Korea 8.0 Malaysia 8.0 Russia 8.0 Taiwan, China 8.0 United States 7.2 Australia 7.0 Brunei 7.0 Canada 7.0 Mexico 7.0 New Zealand 7.0 Singapore 7.0 Thailand 7.0 Chile 6.0 China 6.0 Peru 6.0 Vietnam 6.0 Indonesia 5.0 Philippines 5.0 Papua New Guinea 0.0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Source: Doing Business database. Registering Property This topic examines the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute. In addition, the topic also measures the quality of the land administration system in each economy. The quality of land administration index has ve dimensions: reliability of infrastructure, transparency of information, geographic coverage, land dispute resolution, and equal access to property rights. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. Page 23   What the indicators measure Case study assumptions 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Registering Property This topic examines the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute. In addition, the topic also measures the quality of the land administration system in each economy. The quality of land administration index has ve dimensions: reliability of infrastructure, transparency of information, geographic coverage, land dispute resolution, and equal access to property rights. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Procedures to legally transfer title on To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions immovable property (number) about the parties to the transaction, the property and the procedures are used. Preregistration procedures (for example, checking for liens, notarizing sales agreement, paying The parties (buyer and seller): property transfer taxes) - Are limited liability companies (or the legal equivalent). Registration procedures in the economy's largest - Are located in the periurban area of the economy’s largest business business citya. city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest Postregistration procedures (for example, filling business city. title with municipality) - Are 100% domestically and privately owned. Time required to complete each procedure - Have 50 employees each, all of whom are nationals. (calendar days) - Perform general commercial activities. Does not include time spent gathering information Each procedure starts on a separate day - though The property (fully owned by the seller): procedures that can be fully completed online are - Has a value of 50 times income per capita, which equals the sale price. - Is fully owned by the seller. an exception to this rule - Has no mortgages attached and has been under the same ownership for Procedure is considered completed once final the past 10 years. document is received - Is registered in the land registry or cadastre, or both, and is free of title No prior contact with officials disputes. Cost required to complete each procedure (% - Is located in a periurban commercial zone, and no rezoning is required. of property value) - Consists of land and a building. The land area is 557.4 square meters (6,000 square feet). A two-story warehouse of 929 square meters (10,000 Official costs only (such as administrative fees, square feet) is located on the land. The warehouse is 10 years old, is in duties and taxes). good condition, has no heating system and complies with all safety Value Added Tax, Capital Gains Tax and illicit standards, building codes and legal requirements. The property, payments are excluded consisting of land and building, will be transferred in its entirety. Quality of land administration index (0-30) - Will not be subject to renovations or additional construction following the purchase. Reliability of infrastructure index (0-8) - Has no trees, natural water sources, natural reserves or historical Transparency of information index (0–6) monuments of any kind. Geographic coverage index (0–8) - Will not be used for special purposes, and no special permits, such as for Land dispute resolution index (0–8) residential use, industrial plants, waste storage or certain types of Equal access to property rights index (-2–0) agricultural activities, are required. - Has no occupants, and no other party holds a legal interest in it. Registering Property Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy it is for entrepreneurs in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) to transfer property? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of registering property suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of registering property Page 24   New Zealand (Rank 1) 94.47 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Registering Property Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy it is for entrepreneurs in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) to transfer property? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of registering property suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of registering property New Zealand (Rank 1) 94.47 Russian Federation (Rank 12) 88.72 Taiwan, China (Rank 18) 83.89 Singapore (Rank 19) 83.57 Canada (Rank 33) 79.31 United States (Rank 37) 76.80 Korea, Rep. (Rank 39) 76.34 China (Rank 41) 76.15 Malaysia (Rank 42) 76.06 Peru (Rank 44) 74.90 Australia (Rank 51) 74.17 Japan (Rank 52) 73.92 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 55) 73.54 Chile (Rank 61) 70.90 Vietnam (Rank 63) 70.61 Thailand (Rank 68) 68.75 Mexico (Rank 99) 60.81 Indonesia (Rank 106) 59.01 Philippines (Rank 114) 57.55 Papua New Guinea (Rank 122) 55.38 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 136) 51.48 Regional Average (Rank 58) 72.68 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Source: Doing Business database. Registering Property The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to complete a property transfer in each economy in the region: the number of procedures, the time and the cost. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. Page 25   0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Registering Property The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to complete a property transfer in each economy in the region: the number of procedures, the time and the cost. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. What it takes to register property in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Procedures (number) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 7.2 South Asia (SA) 6.8 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 5.5 Regional Average 5.4 European Union (EU) 5.0 OECD High Income 4.7 Philippines 9.0 Malaysia 8.0 Mexico 7.7 Brunei 7.0 Korea 7.0 Chile 6.0 Japan 6.0 Singapore 6.0 Australia 5.0 Canada 5.0 Hong Kong, China 5.0 Indonesia 5.0 Peru 5.0 Thailand 5.0 Vietnam 5.0 United States 4.4 China 4.0 Papua New Guinea 4.0 Russia 4.0 Taiwan, China 3.0 New Zealand 2.0 0 2 4 6 8 10 Source: Doing Business database. Registering Property Time (days) Page 26   0 2 4 6 8 10 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Registering Property Time (days) South Asia (SA) 111.6 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 74.5 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 63.3 Regional Average 33.2 European Union (EU) 24.5 OECD High Income 22.3 Brunei 298.5 Papua New Guinea 72.0 Vietnam 57.5 Mexico 38.8 Philippines 35.0 Chile 28.5 Indonesia 27.6 Hong Kong, China 27.5 China 19.5 United States 15.2 Japan 13.0 Malaysia 13.0 Russia 13.0 Peru 7.5 Thailand 7.0 Korea 5.5 Australia 4.5 Singapore 4.5 Canada 4.0 Taiwan, China 4.0 New Zealand 1.0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Source: Doing Business database. Registering Property Cost (% of property value) South Asia (SA) 7.0 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 5.8 European Union (EU) 4.8 Page 27   East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 4.3 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Registering Property Cost (% of property value) South Asia (SA) 7.0 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 5.8 European Union (EU) 4.8 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 4.3 OECD High Income 4.2 Regional Average 3.9 Indonesia 8.3 Hong Kong, China 7.7 Thailand 7.3 Taiwan, China 6.2 Japan 5.8 Mexico 5.6 Australia 5.2 Papua New Guinea 5.2 Korea 5.1 Philippines 4.3 Malaysia 3.5 China 3.4 Peru 3.3 Canada 2.9 Singapore 2.9 United States 2.5 Chile 1.2 Brunei 0.6 Vietnam 0.6 Russia 0.2 New Zealand 0.1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Source: Doing Business database. Registering Property Quality of the land administration index (0-30) European Union (EU) 22.7 OECD High Income 22.7 Regional Average 20.0 Page 28   East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 15.8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Registering Property Quality of the land administration index (0-30) European Union (EU) 22.7 OECD High Income 22.7 Regional Average 20.0 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 15.8 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 12.0 South Asia (SA) 8.0 Singapore 29.0 Taiwan, China 28.5 Hong Kong, China 27.5 Korea 27.5 Malaysia 27.5 New Zealand 26.0 Russia 26.0 Japan 24.5 Canada 21.5 Australia 20.0 China 18.3 Brunei 18.0 Thailand 18.0 United States 17.6 Peru 17.5 Mexico 16.3 Chile 14.0 Vietnam 14.0 Philippines 12.5 Indonesia 11.3 Papua New Guinea 4.5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Source: Doing Business database. Getting Credit This topic explores two sets of issues—the strength of credit reporting systems and the e ectiveness of collateral and bankruptcy laws in facilitating lending. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Strength of legal rights index (0–12) Doing Business assesses the sharing of credit information and the legal rights of borrowers and lenders with respect to secured transactions Page 29   Rights of borrowers and lenders through collateral through 2 sets of indicators. The depth of credit information index 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Source: Doing Business database. Getting Credit This topic explores two sets of issues—the strength of credit reporting systems and the e ectiveness of collateral and bankruptcy laws in facilitating lending. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Strength of legal rights index (0–12) Doing Business assesses the sharing of credit information and the legal rights of borrowers and lenders with respect to secured transactions Rights of borrowers and lenders through collateral through 2 sets of indicators. The depth of credit information index laws (0-10) measures rules and practices a ecting the coverage, scope and Protection of secured creditors’ rights through accessibility of credit information available through a credit registry or a bankruptcy laws (0-2) credit bureau. The strength of legal rights index measures the degree to Depth of credit information index (0–8) which collateral and bankruptcy laws protect the rights of borrowers and Scope and accessibility of credit information lenders and thus facilitate lending. For each economy it is first distributed by credit bureaus and credit registries determined whether a unitary secured transactions system exists. Then (0-8) two case scenarios, case A and case B, are used to determine how a nonpossessory security interest is created, publicized and enforced Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) according to the law. Special emphasis is given to how the collateral Number of individuals and firms listed in largest registry operates (if registration of security interests is possible). The credit bureau as a percentage of adult population case scenarios involve a secured borrower, company ABC, and a secured Credit registry coverage (% of adults) lender, BizBank. Number of individuals and firms listed in credit In some economies the legal framework for secured transactions will registry as a percentage of adult population 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 (or its legal equivalent). - ABC has up to 50 employees. - ABC has its headquarters and only base of operations in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city. - Both ABC and BizBank are 100% domestically owned. The case scenarios also involve assumptions. In case A, as collateral 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 allow nonpossessory security interests in movable property, ABC and BizBank use a fiduciary transfer- of-title arrangement (or a similar substitute for nonpossessory security interests). In case B, ABC grants BizBank a business charge, enterprise charge, floating 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. Getting Credit Where do the region’s economies stand today? How well do the credit information systems and collateral and bankruptcy laws in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) facilitate access to credit? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of getting credit suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of getting credit Page 30   ABC’s combined movable assets (or as much of ABC’s movable assets as Doing Business 2018 possible). ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC (APEC) and possession of the assets. ABC keeps ownership COOPERATION Getting Credit Where do the region’s economies stand today? How well do the credit information systems and collateral and bankruptcy laws in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) facilitate access to credit? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of getting credit suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of getting credit New Zealand (Rank 1) 100.00 United States (Rank 2) 95.00 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 2) 95.00 Mexico (Rank 6) 90.00 Australia (Rank 6) 90.00 Canada (Rank 12) 85.00 Peru (Rank 20) 80.00 Malaysia (Rank 20) 80.00 Russian Federation (Rank 29) 75.00 Vietnam (Rank 29) 75.00 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 29) 75.00 Singapore (Rank 29) 75.00 Papua New Guinea (Rank 42) 70.00 Thailand (Rank 42) 70.00 Korea, Rep. (Rank 55) 65.00 Indonesia (Rank 55) 65.00 China (Rank 68) 60.00 Japan (Rank 77) 55.00 Taiwan, China (Rank 90) 50.00 Chile (Rank 90) 50.00 Philippines (Rank 142) 30.00 Regional Average (Rank 40) 72.86 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Source: Doing Business database. Getting Credit Another way to assess how well regulations and institutions support lending and borrowing in the region is to see where the region stands in the distribution of scores across regions. The rst gure highlights the score on the strength of legal rights index in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) and comparator regions. The second gure shows the same thing for the depth of credit information index. Page 31   0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Getting Credit Another way to assess how well regulations and institutions support lending and borrowing in the region is to see where the region stands in the distribution of scores across regions. The rst gure highlights the score on the strength of legal rights index in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) and comparator regions. The second gure shows the same thing for the depth of credit information index. How strong are legal rights for borrowers and lenders Strength of legal rights index (0-12) Regional Average 7.4 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 7.2 OECD High Income 6.0 European Union (EU) 5.6 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 5.3 South Asia (SA) 5.3 Brunei 12.0 New Zealand 12.0 Australia 11.0 United States 11.0 Mexico 10.0 Canada 9.0 Papua New Guinea 9.0 Hong Kong, China 8.0 Malaysia 8.0 Peru 8.0 Russia 8.0 Singapore 8.0 Vietnam 8.0 Thailand 7.0 Indonesia 6.0 Japan 5.0 Korea 5.0 Chile 4.0 China 4.0 Taiwan, China 2.0 Philippines 1.0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Source: Doing Business database. Getting Credit Page 32   Depth of credit information index (0-8) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Getting Credit Depth of credit information index (0-8) Regional Average 7.1 OECD High Income 6.6 European Union (EU) 6.3 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 4.8 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 4.2 South Asia (SA) 4.0 Canada 8.0 China 8.0 Korea 8.0 Malaysia 8.0 Mexico 8.0 New Zealand 8.0 Peru 8.0 Taiwan, China 8.0 United States 8.0 Australia 7.0 Brunei 7.0 Hong Kong, China 7.0 Indonesia 7.0 Russia 7.0 Singapore 7.0 Thailand 7.0 Vietnam 7.0 Chile 6.0 Japan 6.0 Papua New Guinea 5.0 Philippines 5.0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Source: Doing Business database. Protecting Minority Investors This topic measures the strength of minority shareholder protections against misuse of corporate assets by directors for their personal gain as well as shareholder rights, governance safeguards and corporate transparency requirements that reduce the risk of abuse. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Extent of disclosure index (0–10): Review and Page 33   To make the data comparable across economies, a case study uses 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Source: Doing Business database. Protecting Minority Investors This topic measures the strength of minority shareholder protections against misuse of corporate assets by directors for their personal gain as well as shareholder rights, governance safeguards and corporate transparency requirements that reduce the risk of abuse. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Extent of disclosure index (0–10): Review and To make the data comparable across economies, a case study uses approval requirements for related-party several assumptions about the business and the transaction. transactions; Disclosure requirements for related- party transactions The business (Buyer): - Is a publicly traded corporation listed on the economy’s most important Extent of director liability index (0–10): Ability of stock exchange. If the number of publicly traded companies listed on minority shareholders to sue and hold interested that exchange is less than 10, or if there is no stock exchange in the directors liable for prejudicial related-party economy, it is assumed that Buyer is a large private company with transactions; Available legal remedies (damages, multiple shareholders. disgorgement of profits, fines, imprisonment, - Has a board of directors and a chief executive o cer (CEO) who may rescission of the transaction) legally act on behalf of Buyer where permitted, even if this is not Ease of shareholder suits index (0–10): Access to speci cally required by law. internal corporate documents; Evidence obtainable - Has a supervisory board (applicable to economies with a two-tier board during trial and allocation of legal expenses system) on which 60% of the shareholder-elected members have been Extent of conflict of interest regulation index appointed by Mr. James, who is Buyer’s controlling shareholder and a (0–10): Simple average of the extent of disclosure, member of Buyer’s board of directors. extent of director liability and ease of shareholder - Has not adopted any bylaws or articles of association that di er from indices default minimum standards and does not follow any nonmandatory codes, principles, recommendations or guidelines relating to corporate Extent of shareholder rights index (0-10): governance. Shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate - Is a manufacturing company with its own distribution network. decisions Extent of ownership and control index (0-10): The transaction involves the following details: Governance safeguards protecting shareholders - Mr. James owns 60% of Buyer and elected two directors to Buyer’s ve- from undue board control and entrenchment member board. Extent of corporate transparency index (0-10): - Mr. James also owns 90% of Seller, a company that operates a chain of Corporate transparency on ownership stakes, retail hardware stores. Seller recently closed a large number of its compensation, audits and financial prospects stores. Extent of shareholder governance index (0–10): - Mr. James proposes that Buyer purchase Seller’s unused eet of trucks Simple average of the extent of shareholders to expand Buyer’s distribution of its food products, a proposal to which rights, extent of ownership and control and extent Buyer agrees. The price is equal to 10% of Buyer’s assets and is higher than the market value. of corporate transparency indices - The proposed transaction is part of the company’s ordinary course of Strength of minority investor protection index business and is not outside the authority of the company. (0–10): Simple average of the extent of conflict of - Buyer enters into the transaction. All required approvals are obtained, interest regulation and extent of shareholder and all required disclosures made (that is, the transaction is not governance indices fraudulent). - The transaction causes damages to Buyer. Shareholders sue Mr. James and the other parties that approved the transaction. Protecting Minority Investors Where do the region’s economies stand today? How strong are investor protections against self-dealing in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC)? The global rankings of these economies on the strength of investor protection index suggest an answer. While the indicator does not measure all aspects related to the protection of minority investors, a higher ranking does indicate that an economy’s regulations o er stronger investor protections against self-dealing in the areas measured. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of protecting minority investors Page 34   - The transaction causes damages to Buyer. Shareholders sue Mr. James Doing Business 2018 the other parties that and COOPERATION ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC approved the transaction. (APEC) Protecting Minority Investors Where do the region’s economies stand today? How strong are investor protections against self-dealing in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC)? The global rankings of these economies on the strength of investor protection index suggest an answer. While the indicator does not measure all aspects related to the protection of minority investors, a higher ranking does indicate that an economy’s regulations o er stronger investor protections against self-dealing in the areas measured. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of protecting minority investors New Zealand (Rank 2) 81.67 Malaysia (Rank 4) 80.00 Singapore (Rank 4) 80.00 Canada (Rank 8) 78.33 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 9) 76.67 Thailand (Rank 16) 73.33 Korea, Rep. (Rank 20) 71.67 Taiwan, China (Rank 24) 70.00 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 40) 65.00 United States (Rank 42) 64.67 Indonesia (Rank 43) 63.33 Peru (Rank 51) 61.67 Russian Federation (Rank 51) 61.67 Australia (Rank 57) 60.00 Chile (Rank 57) 60.00 Japan (Rank 62) 58.33 Mexico (Rank 62) 58.33 Vietnam (Rank 81) 55.00 Papua New Guinea (Rank 89) 53.33 China (Rank 119) 48.33 Philippines (Rank 146) 40.00 Regional Average (Rank 47) 64.83 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Source: Doing Business database. Protecting Minority Investors The strength of minority investor protection index is the average of the extent of con ict of interest regulation index and the extent of shareholder governance index. The index ranges from 0 to 10, rounded to the nearest decimal place, with higher Page 35   values indicating stronger minority investor protections. The following two gures highlight the scores on the various minority 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Protecting Minority Investors The strength of minority investor protection index is the average of the extent of con ict of interest regulation index and the extent of shareholder governance index. The index ranges from 0 to 10, rounded to the nearest decimal place, with higher values indicating stronger minority investor protections. The following two gures highlight the scores on the various minority investor protection indices in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC). Comparing the scores across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. How extensive are con ict of interest regulations Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0-10) Regional Average 6.9 OECD High Income 6.4 European Union (EU) 6.0 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 5.7 South Asia (SA) 5.5 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 5.3 New Zealand 9.3 Singapore 9.3 Hong Kong, China 9.0 Canada 8.7 Malaysia 8.7 Thailand 8.3 United States 8.3 Chile 7.0 Japan 7.0 Korea 7.0 Peru 7.0 Brunei 6.7 Taiwan, China 6.7 Papua New Guinea 6.3 Australia 6.0 Mexico 6.0 Indonesia 5.7 China 5.0 Russia 5.0 Vietnam 4.3 Philippines 4.0 0 2 4 6 8 10 Source: Doing Business database. Protecting Minority Investors Page 36   0 2 4 6 8 10 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Source: Doing Business database. Protecting Minority Investors Extent of shareholder governance index (0-10) European Union (EU) 6.5 OECD High Income 6.4 Regional Average 6.0 South Asia (SA) 5.3 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 4.8 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 4.1 Korea 7.3 Malaysia 7.3 Russia 7.3 Taiwan, China 7.3 Canada 7.0 Indonesia 7.0 New Zealand 7.0 Singapore 6.7 Vietnam 6.7 Brunei 6.3 Hong Kong, China 6.3 Thailand 6.3 Australia 6.0 Mexico 5.7 Peru 5.3 Chile 5.0 China 4.7 Japan 4.7 United States 4.6 Papua New Guinea 4.3 Philippines 4.0 0 2 4 6 8 10 Source: Doing Business database. Paying Taxes This topic records the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a given year, as well as measures the administrative burden in paying taxes and contributions. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed on June 30, 2017 covering for the Paying Taxes indicator calendar year 2016 (January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016). Last year (Doing Business 2017) the scope of data collection was expanded to better understand the overall tax environment in an economy. The questionnaire was expanded to include new questions on post- ling processes: VAT refund and tax audit. The data shows where post- ling processes and practices work e ciently and what drives the di erences in the overall tax Page 37   compliance cost 0 2 4 6 8 10 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Paying Taxes This topic records the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a given year, as well as measures the administrative burden in paying taxes and contributions. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed on June 30, 2017 covering for the Paying Taxes indicator calendar year 2016 (January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016). Last year (Doing Business 2017) the scope of data collection was expanded to better understand the overall tax environment in an economy. The questionnaire was expanded to include new questions on post- ling processes: VAT refund and tax audit. The data shows where post- ling processes and practices work e ciently and what drives the di erences in the overall tax compliance cost across economies. The new section covers both the legal framework and the administrative burden on businesses to comply with post- ling processes. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Tax payments for a manufacturing company in Using a case scenario, Doing Business records taxes and mandatory 2016 (number per year adjusted for electronic contributions a medium size company must pay in a year, and measures and joint ling and payment) the administrative burden of paying taxes, contributions and dealing with post ling processes. Information is also compiled on frequency of ling Total number of taxes and contributions paid, and payments, time taken to comply with tax laws, time taken to comply including consumption taxes (value added tax, sales with the requirements of post ling processes and time waiting. tax or goods and service tax) Method and frequency of filing and payment To make data comparable across economies, several assumptions are Time required to comply with 3 major taxes used: (hours per year) - TaxpayerCo is a medium-size business that started operations on January 1, 2015. It produces ceramic flowerpots and sells them at Collecting information, computing tax payable retail. All taxes and contributions recorded are paid in the second year of Completing tax return, filing with agencies operation (calendar year 2016). Taxes and mandatory contributions are Arranging payment or withholding measured at all levels of government. Preparing separate tax accounting books, if required The VAT refund process: Total tax and contribution rate (% of pro t - In June 2016, TaxpayerCo. makes a large capital purchase: the value of before all taxes) the machine is 65 times income per capita of the economy. Sales are equally spread per month (1,050 times income per capita divided by 12) Profit or corporate income tax and cost of goods sold are equally expensed per month (875 times Social contributions, labor taxes paid by employer income per capita divided by 12). The machinery seller is registered for Property and property transfer taxes VAT and excess input VAT incurred in June will be fully recovered after Dividend, capital gains, financial transactions taxes four consecutive months if the VAT rate is the same for inputs, sales and Waste collection, vehicle, road and other taxes the machine and the tax reporting period is every month. Input VAT will Post ling Index exceed Output VAT in June 2016. Time to comply with a VAT refund The corporate income tax audit process: Time to receive a VAT refund - An error in calculation of income tax liability (for example, use of Time to comply with a corporate income tax audit incorrect tax depreciation rates, or incorrectly treating an expense as tax Time to complete a corporate income tax audit deductible) leads to an incorrect income tax return and a corporate income tax underpayment. TaxpayerCo. discovered the error and voluntarily noti ed the tax authority. The value of the underpaid income tax liability is 5% of the corporate income tax liability due. TaxpayerCo. submits corrected information after the deadline for submitting the annual tax return, but within the tax assessment period. Paying Taxes Where do the region’s economies stand today? What is the administrative burden of complying with taxes in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) —and how much do rms pay in taxes? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of paying taxes o er useful information for assessing the tax compliance burden for businesses. The average ranking of the region provides a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of paying taxes Page 38   submits corrected information after the deadline for submitting the Doing Business 2018 annual ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC tax return, but within COOPERATION (APEC) the tax assessment period. Paying Taxes Where do the region’s economies stand today? What is the administrative burden of complying with taxes in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) —and how much do rms pay in taxes? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of paying taxes o er useful information for assessing the tax compliance burden for businesses. The average ranking of the region provides a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of paying taxes Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 3) 98.82 Singapore (Rank 7) 91.58 New Zealand (Rank 9) 91.08 Canada (Rank 16) 88.05 Korea, Rep. (Rank 24) 86.69 Australia (Rank 26) 85.62 United States (Rank 36) 84.13 Russian Federation (Rank 52) 79.29 Taiwan, China (Rank 56) 77.96 Thailand (Rank 67) 76.73 Japan (Rank 68) 76.71 Chile (Rank 72) 76.17 Malaysia (Rank 73) 76.07 Vietnam (Rank 86) 72.77 Papua New Guinea (Rank 91) 71.71 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 104) 69.41 Philippines (Rank 105) 69.27 Indonesia (Rank 114) 68.04 Mexico (Rank 115) 67.01 Peru (Rank 121) 65.81 China (Rank 130) 62.90 Regional Average (Rank 65) 77.90 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Source: Doing Business database. Paying Taxes The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to comply with tax regulations in each economy in the region—the number of payments per year and the time required to prepare, and le and pay taxes the 3 major taxes (corporate income tax, VAT or sales tax and labor taxes and mandatory contributions)—as well Page 39   as the total tax rate. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Paying Taxes The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to comply with tax regulations in each economy in the region—the number of payments per year and the time required to prepare, and le and pay taxes the 3 major taxes (corporate income tax, VAT or sales tax and labor taxes and mandatory contributions)—as well as the total tax rate. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. How easy is it to pay taxes in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) - and what are the total tax rates Payments (number per year) South Asia (SA) 28.5 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 28.0 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 21.8 Regional Average 13.0 European Union (EU) 11.5 OECD High Income 10.9 Indonesia 43.0 Papua New Guinea 32.0 Thailand 21.0 Philippines 20.0 Brunei 15.0 Japan 14.0 Vietnam 14.0 Korea 12.0 Australia 11.0 Taiwan, China 11.0 United States 10.6 China 9.0 Peru 9.0 Canada 8.0 Malaysia 8.0 Chile 7.0 New Zealand 7.0 Russia 7.0 Mexico 6.0 Singapore 5.0 Hong Kong, China 3.0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Source: Doing Business database. Paying Taxes Page 40   0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Paying Taxes Time (hours per year) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 332.1 South Asia (SA) 277.3 Regional Average 191.2 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 189.2 European Union (EU) 171.4 OECD High Income 160.7 Vietnam 498.0 Chile 291.0 Thailand 262.0 Peru 260.0 Mexico 240.5 Taiwan, China 221.0 Indonesia 207.5 China 207.0 Papua New Guinea 199.0 Korea 188.0 Malaysia 188.0 Philippines 182.0 United States 175.0 Russia 168.0 Japan 151.0 New Zealand 140.0 Canada 131.0 Australia 105.0 Hong Kong, China 72.0 Brunei 64.2 Singapore 64.0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 Source: Doing Business database. Paying Taxes Total tax and contribution rate (% of profit) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 46.6 South Asia (SA) 43.0 European Union (EU) 40.6 Page 41   OECD High Income 40.1 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Paying Taxes Total tax and contribution rate (% of profit) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 46.6 South Asia (SA) 43.0 European Union (EU) 40.6 OECD High Income 40.1 Regional Average 36.5 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 33.6 China 67.3 Mexico 52.1 Australia 47.5 Russia 47.5 Japan 47.4 United States 43.8 Philippines 42.9 Papua New Guinea 39.3 Malaysia 39.2 Vietnam 38.1 Peru 35.6 New Zealand 34.5 Taiwan, China 34.3 Korea 33.1 Chile 33.0 Indonesia 30.0 Thailand 28.7 Hong Kong, China 22.9 Canada 20.9 Singapore 20.3 Brunei 8.0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Source: Doing Business database. Paying Taxes Postfiling index (0-100) OECD High Income 83.5 European Union (EU) 82.5 Regional Average 67.4 Page 42   East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 56.5 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Paying Taxes Postfiling index (0-100) OECD High Income 83.5 European Union (EU) 82.5 Regional Average 67.4 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 56.5 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 47.5 South Asia (SA) 41.0 Hong Kong, China 98.8 New Zealand 96.9 Vietnam 95.7 Australia 95.3 United States 94.0 Korea 93.0 Papua New Guinea 77.1 Thailand 73.4 Canada 73.2 Russia 73.1 Singapore 72.0 Japan 71.7 Indonesia 68.8 Taiwan, China 63.2 Chile 58.4 Malaysia 52.6 Philippines 50.0 China 49.1 Mexico 40.5 Peru 19.2 Brunei 0.0 0 20 40 60 80 100 Source: Doing Business database. Trading across Borders Doing Business records the time and cost associated with the logistical process of exporting and importing goods. Doing Business measures the time and cost (excluding tari s) associated with three sets of procedures—documentary compliance, border compliance and domestic transport—within the overall process of exporting or importing a shipment of goods. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Documentary compliance To make the data comparable across economies, a few assumptionsPage 43   are made about the traded goods and the transactions: 0 20 40 60 80 100 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Source: Doing Business database. Trading across Borders Doing Business records the time and cost associated with the logistical process of exporting and importing goods. Doing Business measures the time and cost (excluding tari s) associated with three sets of procedures—documentary compliance, border compliance and domestic transport—within the overall process of exporting or importing a shipment of goods. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Documentary compliance To make the data comparable across economies, a few assumptions are made about the traded goods and the transactions: Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents during transport, clearance, inspections and port or Time: Time is measured in hours, and 1 day is 24 hours (for example, 22 border handling in origin economy days are recorded as 22×24=528 hours). If customs clearance takes 7.5 Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents hours, the data are recorded as is. Alternatively, suppose documents are required by destination economy and any transit submitted to a customs agency at 8:00a.m., are processed overnight and economies can be picked up at 8:00a.m. the next day. The time for customs clearance Covers all documents required by law and in would be recorded as 24 hours because the actual procedure took 24 hours. practice, including electronic submissions of information as well as non-shipment-specific Cost: Insurance cost and informal payments for which no receipt is issued documents necessary to complete the trade are excluded from the costs recorded. Costs are reported in U.S. dollars. Border compliance Contributors are asked to convert local currency into U.S. dollars based on Customs clearance and inspections the exchange rate prevailing on the day they answer the questionnaire. Contributors are private sector experts in international trade logistics and Inspections by other agencies (if applied to more are informed about exchange rates. than 10% of shipments) Port or border handling Assumptions of the case study: - For all 190 economies covered by Doing Processing of documents during clearance, Business, it is assumed a shipment is in a warehouse in the largest inspections and port or border handling. business city of the exporting economy and travels to a warehouse in the Domestic transport largest business city of the importing economy. - It is assumed each economy imports 15 metric tons of containerized auto parts (HS 8708) Loading and unloading of shipment at warehouse, from its natural import partner—the economy from which it imports the dry port or border largest value (price times quantity) of auto parts. It is assumed each Transport by most widely used mode between economy exports the product of its comparative advantage (defined by the warehouse and terminal or dry port largest export value) to its natural export partner—the economy that is the Traffic delays and road police checks while largest purchaser of this product. Shipment value is assumed to be $50,000. - The mode of transport is the one most widely used for the shipment is en route chosen export or import product and the trading partner, as is the seaport, or land border crossing. - All electronic information submissions requested by any government agency in connection with the shipment are considered to be documents obtained, prepared and submitted during the export or import process. - A port or border is a place (seaport, airport or land border crossing) where merchandise can enter or leave an economy. - Relevant government agencies include customs, port authorities, road police, border guards, standardization agencies, ministries or departments of agriculture or industry, national security agencies and any other government authorities. Trading across Borders Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy it is for businesses in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) to export and import goods? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of trading across borders suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of trading across borders Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 31) 93.56 Page 44   of agriculture or industry, national security agencies and any other government authorities. Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Trading across Borders Where do the region’s economies stand today? How easy it is for businesses in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) to export and import goods? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of trading across borders suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of trading across borders Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 31) 93.56 Korea, Rep. (Rank 33) 92.52 United States (Rank 36) 92.01 Singapore (Rank 42) 89.57 Canada (Rank 46) 88.36 Japan (Rank 51) 86.51 Taiwan, China (Rank 55) 84.94 New Zealand (Rank 56) 84.63 Thailand (Rank 57) 84.10 Malaysia (Rank 61) 82.75 Mexico (Rank 63) 82.09 Chile (Rank 68) 80.56 Peru (Rank 92) 71.45 Vietnam (Rank 94) 70.83 Australia (Rank 95) 70.65 China (Rank 97) 69.91 Philippines (Rank 99) 69.39 Russian Federation (Rank 100) 69.20 Indonesia (Rank 112) 66.59 Papua New Guinea (Rank 137) 60.47 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 144) 58.70 Regional Average (Rank 75) 78.51 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Source: Doing Business database. Trading across Borders The indicators reported here are for trading a shipment of goods by the most widely used mode of transport (whether sea, land, air or some combination of these). The information on the time and cost to complete export and import is collected from local freight forwarders, customs brokers and traders. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. Page 45   0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Trading across Borders The indicators reported here are for trading a shipment of goods by the most widely used mode of transport (whether sea, land, air or some combination of these). The information on the time and cost to complete export and import is collected from local freight forwarders, customs brokers and traders. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. What it takes to trade across borders in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Time to export: Border compliance (hours) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 62.5 South Asia (SA) 59.4 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 55.9 Regional Average 36.8 OECD High Income 12.7 European Union (EU) 8.1 Brunei 117.0 Russia 72.0 Chile 60.0 Vietnam 55.0 Indonesia 53.3 Thailand 51.0 Peru 48.0 Malaysia 45.0 Papua New Guinea 42.0 Philippines 42.0 New Zealand 37.0 Australia 36.0 China 25.9 Japan 22.6 Mexico 20.4 Taiwan, China 17.0 Korea 13.0 Singapore 10.0 Canada 2.0 Hong Kong, China 2.0 United States 1.5 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Source: Doing Business database. Trading across Borders Page 46   Cost to export: Border compliance (USD) 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Trading across Borders Cost to export: Border compliance (USD) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 526.6 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 387.6 South Asia (SA) 369.8 Regional Average 351.9 OECD High Income 149.9 European Union (EU) 85.2 Australia 749.0 Russia 665.0 Papua New Guinea 660.0 China 484.1 Peru 460.0 Philippines 456.0 Mexico 400.0 Brunei 340.0 New Zealand 337.0 Singapore 335.0 Taiwan, China 335.0 Malaysia 321.0 Chile 290.0 Vietnam 290.0 Japan 264.9 Indonesia 253.7 Thailand 223.0 Korea 185.0 United States 175.0 Canada 167.0 Hong Kong, China 0.0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 Source: Doing Business database. Trading across Borders Time to export: Documentary compliance (hours) South Asia (SA) 77.0 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 68.1 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 53.3 Page 47   Regional Average 28.9 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Trading across Borders Time to export: Documentary compliance (hours) South Asia (SA) 77.0 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 68.1 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 53.3 Regional Average 28.9 OECD High Income 2.6 European Union (EU) 1.4 Brunei 155.0 Papua New Guinea 96.0 Philippines 72.0 Indonesia 61.3 Vietnam 50.0 Peru 48.0 Russia 25.4 Chile 24.0 China 21.2 Thailand 11.0 Malaysia 10.0 Mexico 8.0 Australia 7.0 Taiwan, China 5.0 New Zealand 3.0 Japan 2.4 Singapore 2.0 United States 1.5 Canada 1.0 Hong Kong, China 1.0 Korea 1.0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 Source: Doing Business database. Trading across Borders Cost to export: Documentary compliance (USD) South Asia (SA) 179.5 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 112.1 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 110.5 Page 48   Regional Average 84.0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Trading across Borders Cost to export: Documentary compliance (USD) South Asia (SA) 179.5 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 112.1 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 110.5 Regional Average 84.0 OECD High Income 35.5 European Union (EU) 17.0 Australia 264.0 Canada 156.0 Vietnam 139.0 Indonesia 138.8 Thailand 97.0 Russia 92.0 Brunei 90.0 China 84.6 Taiwan, China 84.0 Papua New Guinea 75.0 New Zealand 67.0 Mexico 60.0 United States 60.0 Hong Kong, China 57.0 Japan 54.0 Philippines 53.0 Chile 50.0 Peru 50.0 Malaysia 45.0 Singapore 37.0 Korea 11.0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Source: Doing Business database. Trading across Borders Time to import: Border compliance (hours) South Asia (SA) 113.8 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 70.5 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 64.4 Page 49   Regional Average 46.6 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Trading across Borders Time to import: Border compliance (hours) South Asia (SA) 113.8 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 70.5 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 64.4 Regional Average 46.6 OECD High Income 8.7 European Union (EU) 1.7 Indonesia 99.4 China 92.3 Papua New Guinea 72.0 Peru 72.0 Philippines 72.0 Malaysia 69.0 Vietnam 56.0 Chile 54.0 Thailand 50.0 Brunei 48.0 Taiwan, China 47.0 Mexico 44.2 Japan 39.6 Australia 39.0 Russia 38.6 Singapore 33.0 New Zealand 25.0 Hong Kong, China 19.0 Korea 6.0 Canada 2.0 United States 1.5 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Source: Doing Business database. Trading across Borders Cost to import: Border compliance (USD) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 684.0 South Asia (SA) 638.1 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 431.1 Page 50   Regional Average 400.4 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Trading across Borders Cost to import: Border compliance (USD) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 684.0 South Asia (SA) 638.1 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 431.1 Regional Average 400.4 OECD High Income 111.6 European Union (EU) 29.2 Papua New Guinea 790.0 China 745.0 Russia 587.5 Peru 583.0 Philippines 580.0 Australia 525.0 Mexico 450.0 Brunei 395.0 Indonesia 382.6 Vietnam 373.0 New Zealand 367.0 Taiwan, China 340.0 Malaysia 321.0 Korea 315.0 Japan 299.2 Chile 290.0 Hong Kong, China 266.0 Thailand 233.0 Singapore 220.0 United States 175.0 Canada 172.0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 Source: Doing Business database. Trading across Borders Time to import: Documentary compliance (hours) South Asia (SA) 104.7 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 79.9 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 65.6 Page 51   Regional Average 38.9 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Trading across Borders Time to import: Documentary compliance (hours) South Asia (SA) 104.7 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 79.9 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 65.6 Regional Average 38.9 OECD High Income 3.9 European Union (EU) 1.1 Brunei 132.0 Papua New Guinea 120.0 Indonesia 119.2 Philippines 96.0 Vietnam 76.0 Peru 72.0 China 65.7 Russia 42.5 Chile 36.0 Mexico 17.6 Malaysia 10.0 United States 7.5 Australia 4.0 Taiwan, China 4.0 Thailand 4.0 Japan 3.4 Singapore 3.0 Canada 1.0 Hong Kong, China 1.0 Korea 1.0 New Zealand 1.0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Source: Doing Business database. Trading across Borders Cost to import: Documentary compliance (USD) South Asia (SA) 341.6 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 119.6 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 111.5 Page 52   Regional Average 91.8 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Trading across Borders Cost to import: Documentary compliance (USD) South Asia (SA) 341.6 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 119.6 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 111.5 Regional Average 91.8 OECD High Income 25.7 European Union (EU) 4.5 Vietnam 183.0 China 170.9 Indonesia 164.4 Canada 163.0 Russia 152.5 Japan 107.0 Australia 100.0 Mexico 100.0 United States 100.0 Papua New Guinea 85.0 New Zealand 80.0 Peru 80.0 Taiwan, China 65.0 Malaysia 60.0 Hong Kong, China 57.0 Brunei 50.0 Chile 50.0 Philippines 50.0 Thailand 43.0 Singapore 40.0 Korea 27.0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 Source: Doing Business database. Enforcing Contracts The enforcing contracts indicator measures the time and cost for resolving a commercial dispute through a local rst-instance court, and the quality of judicial processes index, evaluating whether each economy has adopted a series of good practices that promote quality and e ciency in the court system. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to enforce a contract through Page 53   The dispute in the case study involves the breach of a sales contract 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Source: Doing Business database. Enforcing Contracts The enforcing contracts indicator measures the time and cost for resolving a commercial dispute through a local rst-instance court, and the quality of judicial processes index, evaluating whether each economy has adopted a series of good practices that promote quality and e ciency in the court system. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to enforce a contract through The dispute in the case study involves the breach of a sales contract the courts (calendar days) between 2 domestic businesses. The case study assumes that the court hears an expert on the quality of the goods in dispute. This distinguishes Time to file and serve the case the case from simple debt enforcement. Time for trial and to obtain the judgment Time to enforce the judgment To make the data comparable across economies, Doing Business uses Cost required to enforce a contract through several assumptions about the case: the courts (% of claim) - The dispute concerns a lawful transaction between two businesses (Seller and Buyer), both located in the economy’s largest business city. Attorney fees For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest Court fees business city. Enforcement fees - The buyer orders custom-made goods, then fails to pay. Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) - The value of the dispute is 200% of the income per capita or the Court structure and proceedings (-1-5) equivalent in local currency of USD 5,000, whichever is greater. - The seller sues the buyer before the court with jurisdiction over Case management (0-6) commercial cases worth 200% of income per capita or $5,000. Court automation (0-4) - The seller requests a pretrial attachment to secure the claim. Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) - The dispute on the quality of the goods requires an expert opinion. - The judge decides in favor of the seller; there is no appeal. - The seller enforces the judgment through a public sale of the buyer’s movable assets. Enforcing Contracts Where do the region’s economies stand today? How e cient is the process of resolving a commercial dispute through the courts in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC)? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of enforcing contracts suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of enforcing contracts Korea, Rep. (Rank 1) 84.15 Singapore (Rank 2) 83.61 Australia (Rank 3) 79.00 China (Rank 5) 78.23 Taiwan, China (Rank 10) 75.11 United States (Rank 16) 72.61 Russian Federation (Rank 18) 72.18 New Zealand (Rank 21) 71.48 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 28) 69.13 Thailand (Rank 34) 67.91 Page 54   Mexico (Rank 41) 67.01 - The seller enforces the judgment through a public sale of the buyer’s Doing Business 2018 movable ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC assets. COOPERATION (APEC) Enforcing Contracts Where do the region’s economies stand today? How e cient is the process of resolving a commercial dispute through the courts in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC)? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of enforcing contracts suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of enforcing contracts Korea, Rep. (Rank 1) 84.15 Singapore (Rank 2) 83.61 Australia (Rank 3) 79.00 China (Rank 5) 78.23 Taiwan, China (Rank 10) 75.11 United States (Rank 16) 72.61 Russian Federation (Rank 18) 72.18 New Zealand (Rank 21) 71.48 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 28) 69.13 Thailand (Rank 34) 67.91 Mexico (Rank 41) 67.01 Malaysia (Rank 44) 66.61 Japan (Rank 51) 65.26 Chile (Rank 56) 62.81 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 61) 60.95 Peru (Rank 63) 60.70 Vietnam (Rank 66) 60.22 Canada (Rank 114) 54.35 Indonesia (Rank 145) 47.23 Philippines (Rank 149) 45.96 Papua New Guinea (Rank 171) 36.21 Regional Average (Rank 52) 65.75 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Source: Doing Business database. Enforcing Contracts The indicators underlying the rankings may also be revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to enforce a contract through the courts in each economy in the region: the time, the cost and quality of judicial processes index. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. Page 55   0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Enforcing Contracts The indicators underlying the rankings may also be revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show what it takes to enforce a contract through the courts in each economy in the region: the time, the cost and quality of judicial processes index. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. What it takes to enforce a contract through the courts in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Time (days) South Asia (SA) 1101.7 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 767.2 European Union (EU) 621.0 OECD High Income 577.8 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 565.7 Regional Average 451.4 Philippines 962.0 Canada 910.0 Papua New Guinea 591.0 Brunei 540.0 Taiwan, China 510.0 China 496.3 Chile 480.0 Peru 426.0 Malaysia 425.0 Thailand 420.0 United States 420.0 Indonesia 403.2 Australia 402.0 Vietnam 400.0 Hong Kong, China 385.0 Japan 360.0 Mexico 341.0 Russia 337.0 Korea 290.0 New Zealand 216.0 Singapore 164.0 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Source: Doing Business database. Enforcing Contracts Cost (% of claim value) Page 56   0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Enforcing Contracts Cost (% of claim value) East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 47.3 Regional Average 31.8 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 31.4 South Asia (SA) 29.6 OECD High Income 21.6 European Union (EU) 21.3 Papua New Guinea 110.3 Indonesia 70.3 Malaysia 37.3 Brunei 36.6 Peru 35.7 Mexico 33.0 Philippines 31.0 United States 30.5 Vietnam 29.0 Chile 28.6 New Zealand 27.2 Singapore 25.8 Hong Kong, China 23.6 Japan 23.4 Australia 23.2 Canada 22.3 Taiwan, China 18.3 Thailand 16.9 Russia 16.5 China 16.2 Korea 12.7 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Source: Doing Business database. Enforcing Contracts Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) European Union (EU) 11.2 OECD High Income 11.0 Regional Average 10.6 Page 57   Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 8.4 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Enforcing Contracts Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) European Union (EU) 11.2 OECD High Income 11.0 Regional Average 10.6 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 8.4 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 7.9 South Asia (SA) 7.0 Australia 15.5 China 15.1 Singapore 15.0 Korea 14.5 Taiwan, China 14.0 United States 13.8 Malaysia 12.0 Brunei 10.5 Mexico 10.1 Hong Kong, China 10.0 Canada 9.5 New Zealand 9.5 Russia 9.5 Chile 9.0 Papua New Guinea 8.5 Peru 8.5 Thailand 8.5 Indonesia 7.9 Japan 7.5 Philippines 7.5 Vietnam 6.5 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Source: Doing Business database. Resolving Insolvency Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome of insolvency proceedings involving domestic legal entities. These variables are used to calculate the recovery rate, which is recorded as cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors through reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement (foreclosure or receivership) proceedings. To determine the present value of the amount recovered by creditors, Doing Business uses the lending rates from the International Monetary Fund, supplemented with data from central banks and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. Page 58   0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Source: Doing Business database. Resolving Insolvency Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome of insolvency proceedings involving domestic legal entities. These variables are used to calculate the recovery rate, which is recorded as cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors through reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement (foreclosure or receivership) proceedings. To determine the present value of the amount recovered by creditors, Doing Business uses the lending rates from the International Monetary Fund, supplemented with data from central banks and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2017. See the methodology for more information. What the indicators measure Case study assumptions Time required to recover debt (years) To make the data on the time, cost and outcome comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the case are Measured in calendar years used: Appeals and requests for extension are included Cost required to recover debt (% of debtor’s - A hotel located in the largest city (or cities) has 201 employees and 50 estate) suppliers. The hotel experiences nancial di culties. - The value of the hotel is 100% of the income per capita or the Measured as percentage of estate value equivalent in local currency of USD 200,000, whichever is greater. Court fees - The hotel has a loan from a domestic bank, secured by a mortgage over Fees of insolvency administrators the hotel’s real estate. The hotel cannot pay back the loan, but makes Lawyers’ fees enough money to operate otherwise. Assessors’ and auctioneers’ fees In addition, Doing Business evaluates the adequacy and integrity of the Other related fees existing legal framework applicable to liquidation and reorganization Outcome proceedings through the strength of insolvency framework index. The Whether business continues operating as a going index tests whether economies adopted internationally accepted good concern or business assets are sold piecemeal practices in four areas: commencement of proceedings, management of Recovery rate for creditors debtor’s assets, reorganization proceedings and creditor participation. Measures the cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors Outcome for the business (survival or not) determines the maximum value that can be recovered Official costs of the insolvency proceedings are deducted Depreciation of furniture is taken into account Present value of debt recovered Strength of insolvency framework index (0- 16) Sum of the scores of four component indices: Commencement of proceedings index (0-3) Management of debtor’s assets index (0-6) Reorganization proceedings index (0-3) Creditor participation index (0-4) Resolving Insolvency Where do the region’s economies stand today? How e cient are insolvency proceedings in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC)? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of resolving insolvency suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark for assessing the e ciency of insolvency proceedings. Speed, low costs and continuation of viable businesses characterize the top performing economies. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of resolving insolvency Japan (Rank 1) 93.44 Page 59   Reorganization proceedings index (0-3) Doing Business Creditor 2018 participation ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) index (0-4) Resolving Insolvency Where do the region’s economies stand today? How e cient are insolvency proceedings in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC)? The global rankings of these economies on the ease of resolving insolvency suggest an answer. The average ranking of the region and comparator regions provide a useful benchmark for assessing the e ciency of insolvency proceedings. Speed, low costs and continuation of viable businesses characterize the top performing economies. How economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) rank on the ease of resolving insolvency Japan (Rank 1) 93.44 United States (Rank 3) 91.07 Korea, Rep. (Rank 5) 89.33 Canada (Rank 11) 81.46 Australia (Rank 18) 78.79 Taiwan, China (Rank 20) 78.63 Thailand (Rank 26) 75.64 Singapore (Rank 27) 74.31 Mexico (Rank 31) 72.31 New Zealand (Rank 32) 71.85 Indonesia (Rank 38) 67.61 Hong Kong SAR, China (Rank 43) 65.69 Malaysia (Rank 46) 62.51 Chile (Rank 52) 59.47 Russian Federation (Rank 54) 57.83 China (Rank 56) 55.82 Philippines (Rank 59) 55.22 Brunei Darussalam (Rank 60) 55.11 Peru (Rank 84) 45.69 Vietnam (Rank 129) 35.16 Papua New Guinea (Rank 141) 32.31 Regional Average (Rank 45) 66.63 0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Source: Doing Business database. Resolving Insolvency The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show the average recovery rate and the average strength of insolvency framework index. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. Page 60   0 20 40 60 80 100 Distance to frontier score Doing Business 2018 Source: Doing Business database. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Resolving Insolvency The indicators underlying the rankings may be more revealing. Data collected by Doing Business show the average recovery rate and the average strength of insolvency framework index. Comparing these indicators across the region and with averages both for the region and for comparator regions can provide useful insights. How e cient is the insolvency process in economies in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) OECD High Income 71.2 European Union (EU) 63.2 Regional Average 62.7 East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) 35.4 South Asia (SA) 32.7 Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) 30.8 Japan 92.4 Singapore 88.7 Canada 87.5 Hong Kong, China 87.2 Korea 84.7 New Zealand 84.2 Australia 82.5 Taiwan, China 82.2 United States 82.1 Malaysia 81.3 Thailand 68.0 Mexico 67.6 Indonesia 64.7 Brunei 47.2 Chile 40.8 Russia 40.7 China 36.9 Peru 29.7 Papua New Guinea 25.2 Vietnam 21.8 Philippines 21.3 0 20 40 60 80 100 Source: Doing Business database. Business Reforms Starting a Business Page 61   In the year ending June 1, 2017, 137 economies implemented 283 total reforms across the di erent areas measured by Doing 0 20 40 60 80 100 Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) Source: Doing Business database. Business Reforms Starting a Business In the year ending June 1, 2017, 137 economies implemented 283 total reforms across the di erent areas measured by Doing Business, an increase of over 20% from last year. Doing Business has recorded more than 2,900 regulatory reforms making it easier to do business since 2004. Reforms inspired by Doing Business have been implemented by economies in all regions. The following are the reforms implemented in Asia-Paci c Economic Cooperation (APEC) since Doing Business 2008. DB Year Economy Reform Thailand made starting a business easier by abolishing the requirement to obtain DB2018 Thailand a company’s seal and eliminating the need for approval from the Labor Department of company work regulations. China made starting a business easier by streamlining registration procedures. DB2018 China This reform applies to both Beijing and Shanghai. Brunei Darussalam made starting a business faster by removing post- DB2018 Brunei Darussalam incorporation procedures. Indonesia made starting a business less costly by reducing the start-up fees for DB2018 Indonesia limited liability companies. This reform applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. Hong Kong SAR, China, made starting a business more expensive by DB2018 Hong Kong SAR, China reintroducing the business tax fee. China made starting a business easier by introducing a single form to obtain a DB2017 China business license, organization code and tax registration. This reform applies to both Shanghai and Beijing. Hong Kong SAR, China, made starting a business less costly by reducing the DB2017 Hong Kong SAR, China business registration fee. Indonesia made starting a business easier by creating a single form to apply for the company registration certificate and trading license. This reform applies to Jakarta. Indonesia also made starting a business easier by abolishing the DB2017 Indonesia minimum capital requirement for small and medium-size enterprises and by encouraging the use of an online system to reserve company names. This reform applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. The Republic of Korea made starting a business faster by eliminating post- DB2017 Korea, Rep. registration procedures. Malaysia made starting a business more difficult by requiring that companies DB2017 Malaysia with an annual revenue of more than MYR 500,000 register as a GST payer. Papua New Guinea reduced the time required to start a business by streamlining DB2017 Papua New Guinea business registration at the Investment Promotion Agency (IPA). Thailand made starting a business easier by creating a single window for DB2017 Thailand registration payment and reducing the time to obtain a company seal. Vietnam made starting a business more difficult by requiring entrepreneurs to DB2017 Vietnam receive approval of the seal sample before using it. Vietnam made starting a business easier by reducing the time required to get DB2016 Vietnam the company seal engraved and registered. The Philippines made starting a business easier by streamlining communications Page 62   receive approval of the seal sample before using it. Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION Vietnam made (APEC) starting a business easier by reducing the time required to get DB2016 Vietnam the company seal engraved and registered. The Philippines made starting a business easier by streamlining communications between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Social Security DB2016 Philippines System and thereby expediting the process of issuing an employer registration number. Indonesia made starting a business in Jakarta easier by reducing the time DB2016 Indonesia needed to register with the Ministry of Manpower. The Russian Federation made starting a business in Moscow easier by reducing DB2016 Russian Federation the number of days required to open a corporate bank account. Hong Kong SAR, China, made starting a business easier by eliminating the DB2016 Hong Kong SAR, China requirement for a company seal. Brunei Darussalam made starting a business easier by improving online DB2016 Brunei Darussalam procedures and simplifying registration and post registration requirements. Indonesia made starting a business easier by allowing the Ministry of Law and DB2015 Indonesia Human Rights to electronically issue the approval letter for the deed of establishment. This reform applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. China made starting a business easier by eliminating both the minimum capital DB2015 China requirement and the requirement to obtain a capital verification report from an auditing firm. This reform applies to both Beijing and Shanghai. In the United States starting a business became easier in New York City thanks to DB2015 United States faster online procedures. The Russian Federation made starting a business easier by eliminating the requirement to deposit the charter capital before company registration as well DB2015 Russian Federation as the requirement to notify tax authorities of the opening of a bank account. This reform applies to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. Hong Kong SAR, China, made starting a business more difficult by increasing the DB2015 Hong Kong SAR, China registration fee. Malaysia made starting a business less costly by reducing the company DB2014 Malaysia registration fees. Russia made starting a business easier by abolishing the requirement to have DB2014 Russian Federation the bank signature card notarized before opening a company bank account. Hong Kong SAR, China, made starting a business less costly by abolishing the DB2014 Hong Kong SAR, China capital duty levied on local companies. Chile made starting a business easier by creating a new online system for DB2014 Chile business registration. China made starting a business less costly by exempting micro and small DB2013 China companies from paying several administrative fees from January 2012 to December 2014. Mexico made starting a business easier by eliminating the minimum capital DB2013 Mexico requirement for limited liability companies. Thailand made starting a business easier by allowing the registrar at the DB2013 Thailand Department of Business Development to receive the company’s work regulations. Page 63   December 2014. Doing Business 2018 Mexico madeCOOPERATION ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC (APEC) starting a business easier by eliminating the minimum capital DB2013 Mexico requirement for limited liability companies. Thailand made starting a business easier by allowing the registrar at the DB2013 Thailand Department of Business Development to receive the company’s work regulations. Vietnam made starting a business easier by allowing companies to use self- DB2013 Vietnam printed value added tax invoices. Chile made business start-up easier by starting to provide an immediate temporary operating license to new companies, eliminating the requirement for DB2012 Chile an inspection of premises by the tax authority before new companies can begin operations and allowing free online publication of the notice of a company’s creation. Hong Kong SAR (China) made starting a business easier by introducing online DB2012 Hong Kong SAR, China electronic services for company and business registration. Taiwan (China) made starting a business easier by implementing an online one- DB2012 Taiwan, China stop shop for business registration. Indonesia made starting a business easier by introducing a simplified application DB2012 Indonesia process allowing an applicant to simultaneously obtain both a general trading license and a business registration certificate. Korea made starting a business easier by introducing a new online one-stop DB2012 Korea, Rep. shop, Start-Biz. Malaysia made starting a business easier by merging company, tax, social DB2012 Malaysia security and employment fund registrations at the one-stop shop and providing same-day registration. Peru made starting a business easier by eliminating the requirement for micro DB2012 Peru and small enterprises to deposit start-up capital in a bank before registration. DB2012 Thailand Thailand made starting a business easier by introducing a one-stop shop. Brunei Darussalam made starting a business easier by improving efficiency at DB2011 Brunei Darussalam the company registrar and implementing an electronic system for name searches. Chile made business start-up easier by introducing an online system for DB2011 Chile registration and for filing the request for publication. Taiwan (China) eased business start-up by reducing the time required to check DB2011 Taiwan, China company names, register retirement plans and apply for health, pension and labor insurance. Indonesia eased business start-up by reducing the cost for company name DB2011 Indonesia clearance and reservation and the time required to reserve the name and approve the deed of incorporation. DB2011 Malaysia Malaysia eased business start-up by introducing more online services. DB2011 Mexico Mexico launched an online one-stop shop for initiating business registration. Peru eased business start-up by simplifying the requirements for operating DB2011 Peru licenses and creating an online one-stop shop for business registration. The Philippines eased business startup by setting up a one-stop shop at the Page 64   DB2011 Philippines DB2011 Malaysia Malaysia eased business start-up by introducing more online services. Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) DB2011 Mexico Mexico launched an online one-stop shop for initiating business registration. Peru eased business start-up by simplifying the requirements for operating DB2011 Peru licenses and creating an online one-stop shop for business registration. The Philippines eased business startup by setting up a one-stop shop at the DB2011 Philippines municipal level. Vietnam eased company start-up by creating a one-stop shop that combines the DB2011 Vietnam processes for obtaining a business license and tax license and by eliminating the need for a seal for company licensing. Dealing with Construction Permits DB Year Economy Reform Brunei Darussalam made dealing with construction permits less cumbersome by DB2018 Brunei Darussalam streamlining the process of obtaining a building permit. Canada made dealing with construction permits more expensive by increasing DB2018 Canada fees for site plan approval and building permits. Mexico made dealing with construction permits costlier by increasing several DB2018 Mexico fees. This reform applies to both Mexico City and Monterrey. The Philippines made dealing with construction permits easier by increasing the DB2017 Philippines transparency of its building regulations. Russian Federation Saint Petersburg made dealing with construction permits DB2017 Russian Federation easier by removing the requirement to obtain permission to fence the construction site. Singapore made dealing with construction permits easier by streamlining DB2017 Singapore procedures and improving the online one-stop shop. Thailand made dealing with construction permits less time-consuming by DB2015 Thailand introducing a fast-track approval process for building permits for smaller buildings. Brunei Darussalam made dealing with construction permits easier by DB2015 Brunei Darussalam consolidating final inspections. Malaysia made dealing with construction permits easier by establishing a one- DB2014 Malaysia stop shop. Russia made dealing with construction permits easier by eliminating several DB2014 Russian Federation requirements for project approvals from government agencies and by reducing the time required to register a new building. The Philippines made dealing with construction permits easier by eliminating the DB2014 Philippines requirement to obtain a health certificate. Brunei Darussalam made dealing with construction permits easier by creating a DB2013 Brunei Darussalam one-stop shop for preconstruction approvals. China simplified the process of obtaining a construction permit by streamlining DB2013 China and centralizing preconstruction approvals. Taiwan, China, made dealing with construction permits easier by introducing a DB2013 Taiwan, China risk-based and self-regulatory inspection system and improving operational Page 65   features of the one-stop shop for building permits. one-stop shop for preconstruction approvals. Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION China simplified (APEC) a construction permit by streamlining the process of obtaining DB2013 China and centralizing preconstruction approvals. Taiwan, China, made dealing with construction permits easier by introducing a DB2013 Taiwan, China risk-based and self-regulatory inspection system and improving operational features of the one-stop shop for building permits. Malaysia made dealing with construction permits faster by improving the one- DB2013 Malaysia stop center for new buildings and by reducing the time to connect to telephone service. Peru made obtaining a construction permit easier by eliminating requirements DB2013 Peru for several preconstruction approvals. Russia made obtaining a construction permit simpler by eliminating DB2013 Russian Federation requirements for several preconstruction approvals. Taiwan (China) made dealing with construction permits easier by creating a one- DB2012 Taiwan, China stop center. Japan made dealing with construction permits costlier by increasing inspection DB2012 Japan fees. Mexico made dealing with construction permits faster by consolidating internal DB2012 Mexico administrative procedures. Peru streamlined construction permitting by implementing administrative DB2011 Peru reforms. The Philippines made construction permitting more cumbersome through DB2011 Philippines updated electricity connection costs. Russia eased construction permitting by implementing a single window for all DB2011 Russian Federation procedures related to land use. Vietnam made dealing with construction permits easier by reducing the cost to register newly completed buildings by 50% and transferring the authority to DB2011 Vietnam register buildings from local authorities to the Department of National Resources and Environment. Getting Electricity DB Year Economy Reform The Philippines reduced the time to get an electricity connection by DB2018 Philippines implementing a new asset management system and by creating a new scheduling and planning office. Thailand made getting electricity easier by streamlining procedures through the DB2018 Thailand implementation of a geographic information system, eliminating the external site inspection. Brunei Darussalam made getting electricity more difficult by increasing the number of procedures needed to obtain a new connection. At the same time, a DB2018 Brunei Darussalam new compensation scheme was introduced to incentivize the utility to improve reliability. Indonesia made getting electricity less costly by reducing connection and internal DB2018 Indonesia wiring certification fees. In Jakarta, getting electricity was also made easier after the utility streamlined the processing of new connection applications. Page 66   Vietnam increased the reliability of power supply by rolling out a Supervisory number of procedures needed to obtain a new connection. At the same time, a DB2018 Brunei Darussalam Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC scheme was(APEC) COOPERATION new compensation introduced to incentivize the utility to improve reliability. Indonesia made getting electricity less costly by reducing connection and internal DB2018 Indonesia wiring certification fees. In Jakarta, getting electricity was also made easier after the utility streamlined the processing of new connection applications. Vietnam increased the reliability of power supply by rolling out a Supervisory DB2018 Vietnam Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) automatic energy management system for the monitoring of outages and the restoration of service. Mexico (Mexico City) improved the reliability of electricity supply by installing DB2018 Mexico smart meters, extending the medium-voltage network and implementing a new system to remotely restore power service. The utility in Brunei Darussalam streamlined the processes of reviewing applications, and the time to issue an excavation permit was reduced. In addition, Brunei Darussalam increased the reliability of power supply by rolling out a DB2017 Brunei Darussalam Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) automatic energy management system for the monitoring of outages and the restoration of service. Hong Kong SAR, China, streamlined the processes of reviewing applications for DB2017 Hong Kong SAR, China new electrical connections and also reduced the time needed to issue an excavation permit. Indonesia made the process for getting an electricity connection faster by reducing the time for contractors to perform external work thanks to an increase DB2017 Indonesia in the stock of electrical material supplied by the utility. In Surabaya, getting electricity was also made easier after the utility streamlined the process for new connection requests. The utility in Vietnam reduced the time required for getting an electricity connection by reducing delays and increasing efficiency in approving connection DB2016 Vietnam applications and designs for connection works. Getting electricity was also made easier by eliminating the need to obtain a substation certification from the Fire Fighters Prevention Department for connections to the medium-voltage grid. The utility in Taiwan, China, reduced the time required for getting an electricity DB2016 Taiwan, China connection through a simplified procedure for obtaining excavation permits from the municipality. Russia made the process of obtaining an electricity connection simpler, faster and less costly by eliminating a meter inspection by electricity providers and DB2016 Russian Federation revising connection tariffs. This reform applies to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. The utility in New Zealand reduced the time required for getting an electricity DB2016 New Zealand connection by improving its payment monitoring and confirmation process for the connection works. The utility in Hong Kong SAR, China, made getting electricity easier by streamlining the process for reviewing connection applications and for DB2016 Hong Kong SAR, China completing the connection works and meter installation. In addition, the time needed to issue an excavation permit was reduced. In Indonesia the electricity company in Jakarta made getting electricity easier by eliminating the need for electrical contractors to obtain multiple certificates DB2015 Indonesia guaranteeing the safety of internal installations—though. The utility in Jakarta and Surabaya also increased the cost by introducing a security deposit for new Page 67   streamlining the process for reviewing connection applications and for DB2016 Hong Kong SAR, China Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION completing the (APEC) connection works and meter installation. In addition, the time needed to issue an excavation permit was reduced. In Indonesia the electricity company in Jakarta made getting electricity easier by eliminating the need for electrical contractors to obtain multiple certificates DB2015 Indonesia guaranteeing the safety of internal installations—though. The utility in Jakarta and Surabaya also increased the cost by introducing a security deposit for new connections. DB2015 Taiwan, China Taiwan, China, made getting electricity easier by eliminating site inspections. Mexico made getting electricity easier by increasing the efficiency of the utility’s DB2014 Mexico internal processes and by enforcing a “silence is consent” rule for the approval of the feasibility study for a new connection. Malaysia made getting electricity easier by increasing the efficiency of internal DB2014 Malaysia processes at the utility and improving its communication and dialogue with contractors. Russia made getting electricity simpler and less costly by setting standard DB2014 Russian Federation connection tariffs and eliminating many procedures previously required. Canada made getting an electricity connection easier by reducing the time DB2013 Canada needed for external connection works. Indonesia made getting electricity easier by eliminating the requirement for new DB2013 Indonesia customers applying for an electricity connection to show a neighbor’s electricity bill as a way to help determine their address. Korea made getting electricity less costly by introducing a new connection fee DB2013 Korea, Rep. schedule and an installment payment system. In Mexico the distribution utility made getting electricity easier by streamlining procedures, offering training opportunities to private contractors, using a DB2013 Mexico geographic information system (GIS) to map the electricity distribution network and increasing the stock of materials. Brunei Darussalam made getting electricity easier by establishing a one-stop DB2012 Brunei Darussalam shop and reducing the time required to obtain an excavation permit. Hong Kong SAR (China) made getting electricity easier by increasing the DB2012 Hong Kong SAR, China efficiency of public agencies and streamlining the utility’s procedures with other government agencies. DB2012 Indonesia Indonesia made getting electricity more difficult by increasing connection fees. Russian Federation made getting electricity less costly by revising the tariffs for DB2012 Russian Federation connection. Registering Property DB Year Economy Reform Thailand improved the reliability of its land administration system by DB2018 Thailand implementing a geographic information system and by scanning maps for most of Bangkok. Brunei made registering property easier by increasing the transparency of its DB2018 Brunei Darussalam land administration system and by improving the land administration system’s dispute resolution mechanisms. Page 68   The Russian Federation made it easier to transfer property by decreasing the Thailand improved the reliability of its land administration system by Doing DB2018 ThailandASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC Business 2018 COOPERATION implementing (APEC)system and by scanning maps for most a geographic information of Bangkok. Brunei made registering property easier by increasing the transparency of its DB2018 Brunei Darussalam land administration system and by improving the land administration system’s dispute resolution mechanisms. The Russian Federation made it easier to transfer property by decreasing the DB2018 Russian Federation time necessary to apply for state registration of title transfer. This reform applies to both Moscow and Saint Petersburg Indonesia made registering property easier by reducing the transfer tax. This DB2018 Indonesia reform applies to Jakarta and Surabaya. Mexico (Monterrey) made registering property more expensive by increasing DB2018 Mexico the municipal property transfer tax. Hong Kong SAR, China, improved the quality of its land administration system by DB2018 Hong Kong SAR, China enhancing its reliability and establishing a complaints mechanism. Indonesia made it easier to register property by digitizing its cadastral records DB2017 Indonesia and setting up a geographic information system. Mexico made registering property easier by digitizing its land records, improving DB2017 Mexico the quality of the Land Registry infrastructure and making the registration process more efficient. Singapore made it easier to transfer a property by introducing an independent DB2017 Singapore mechanism for reporting errors on titles and maps. Russia made transferring property easier by reducing the time required for DB2016 Russian Federation property registration. This reform applies to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Russian Federation made transferring property easier by eliminating the requirement for notarization and introducing tighter time limits for completing DB2015 Russian Federation the property registration. This reform applies to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Republic of Korea made transferring property easier by reducing the time DB2015 Korea, Rep. needed to buy housing bonds and to register the property transfer. Russia made transferring property easier by streamlining procedures and DB2014 Russian Federation implementing effective time limits for processing transfer applications. Singapore made transferring property easier by introducing an online procedure DB2014 Singapore for property transfers. Hong Kong SAR, China, made transferring property more costly by increasing the DB2014 Hong Kong SAR, China stamp duty. Malaysia substantially reduced the number of days it takes to register property DB2013 Malaysia transfers. Russia made registering property transfers easier by eliminating the DB2012 Russian Federation requirement to obtain cadastral passports on land plots. Thailand made registering property more expensive by increasing the DB2012 Thailand registration fee. Malaysia’s introduction of online stamping reduced the time and cost to transfer DB2011 Malaysia property. Page 69   requirement to obtain cadastral passports on land plots. Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION Thailand made (APEC) registering property more expensive by increasing the DB2012 Thailand registration fee. Malaysia’s introduction of online stamping reduced the time and cost to transfer DB2011 Malaysia property. Peru introduced fast-track procedures at the land registry, cutting by half the DB2011 Peru time needed to register property. Thailand made registering property more costly by repealing a 2-year temporary DB2011 Thailand tax reduction for property transfers. Getting Credit DB Year Economy Reform Thailand strengthened access to credit by adopting new legislation that broadens the scope of assets that can be used as collateral. Thailand now allows a general description of assets granted as collateral and allows the security interest to DB2018 Thailand automatically attach to the proceeds of the original asset. It also establishes clear grounds for relief from a stay for secured creditors during reorganisation procedures and allows out-of-court enforcement of collateral. Brunei Darussalam strengthened access to credit by adopting a new law on secured transactions that establishes a unified legal framework for movable DB2018 Brunei Darussalam assets and creates a modern, notice-based collateral registry. The law also establishes priority rules for secured creditors inside and outside of insolvency proceedings as well as allows for out of court enforcement. Russia improved access to credit by adopting a new law that establishes a DB2018 Russian Federation modern collateral registry. This reform applies to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. Indonesia improved access to credit information by launching a new credit DB2018 Indonesia bureau. This reform applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. Malaysia strengthened access to credit by adopting a new law that establishes a DB2018 Malaysia modern collateral registry. Vietnam strengthened access to credit by adopting a new civil code that DB2018 Vietnam broadens the scope of assets that can be used as collateral. Brunei Darussalam strengthened access to credit by adopting a new insolvency law that contemplates protections for secured creditors during an automatic stay DB2017 Brunei Darussalam in reorganization proceedings. Brunei also improved access to credit information by beginning to distribute data from two utility companies. China improved access to credit information by starting to report payment DB2017 China histories from utility companies and providing credit scores to banks and financial institutions. This reform applies to both Shanghai and Beijing. Indonesia strengthened access to credit by establishing a modern collateral DB2017 Indonesia registry. DB2017 Malaysia In Malaysia the credit bureau began to provide consumer credit scores. Papua New Guinea strengthened access to credit by adopting a new law on secured transactions that implemented a functional secured transactions system DB2017 Papua New Guinea and established a centralized, notice-based collateral registry. The new law broadens the scope of assets that can be used as collateral and allows out-of- court enforcement of collateral. Page 70   Indonesia strengthened access to credit by establishing a modern collateral DB2017 Indonesia registry. Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) DB2017 Malaysia In Malaysia the credit bureau began to provide consumer credit scores. Papua New Guinea strengthened access to credit by adopting a new law on secured transactions that implemented a functional secured transactions system DB2017 Papua New Guinea and established a centralized, notice-based collateral registry. The new law broadens the scope of assets that can be used as collateral and allows out-of- court enforcement of collateral. Thailand improved access to credit information by starting to provide credit DB2017 Thailand scores to banks and financial institutions. Vietnam guaranteed borrowers’ right to inspect their credit data while the new DB2016 Vietnam credit bureau expanded borrower coverage, improving the credit information system. Papua New Guinea improved access to credit information by expanding the DB2016 Papua New Guinea bureau's coverage. Indonesia improved access to credit by enabling searches of the collateral DB2016 Indonesia registry by the debtor’s name. This reform applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. Peru improved its credit information system by implementing a new law on DB2016 Peru personal data protection. Mexico improved access to credit by implementing a decree allowing a general DB2016 Mexico description of assets granted as collateral. This reform applies to both Mexico City and Monterrey. Russia improved access to credit by adopting a new law on secured transactions that established a centralized collateral registry and allows a general description DB2016 Russian Federation of a combined category of assets granted as collateral. This reform applies to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. Hong Kong SAR, China, improved access to credit by implementing a modern DB2016 Hong Kong SAR, China collateral registry. Vietnam improved its credit information system by establishing a new credit DB2015 Vietnam bureau. Mexico improved access to credit by amending its insolvency proceedings law and establishing clear grounds for relief from a stay of enforcement actions by DB2015 Mexico secured creditors during reorganization procedures. This reform applies to both Mexico City and Monterrey. Taiwan, China, improved access to credit information by beginning to include DB2015 Taiwan, China data from utility companies in credit reports. New Zealand improved access to credit information by beginning to distribute DB2015 New Zealand both positive and negative credit information. Indonesia improved its credit information system through a new regulation DB2014 Indonesia setting up a legal framework for establishing credit bureaus. China improved its credit information system by introducing credit information DB2014 China industry regulations, which guarantee borrowers’ right to inspect their data. Australia improved its credit information system through the Privacy DB2014 Australia Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012, which permits credit bureaus to collect account payment history with improved privacy protection. Page 71   setting up a legal framework for establishing credit bureaus. Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION China improved (APEC) its credit information system by introducing credit information DB2014 China industry regulations, which guarantee borrowers’ right to inspect their data. Australia improved its credit information system through the Privacy DB2014 Australia Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012, which permits credit bureaus to collect account payment history with improved privacy protection. Singapore improved its credit information system by guaranteeing by law DB2014 Singapore borrowers’ right to inspect their own data. Korea revised its secured transactions framework by creating new types of DB2014 Korea, Rep. security rights that can be publicized through registration. Brunei Darussalam improved access to credit information by establishing a DB2014 Brunei Darussalam public credit registry. Vietnam improved its credit information system through a decree setting up a DB2014 Vietnam legal framework for the establishment of private credit bureaus. The Philippines improved access to credit information by beginning to distribute DB2014 Philippines both positive and negative information and by enacting a data privacy act that guarantees borrowers’ right to access their data. Australia strengthened its secured transactions system by adopting a new DB2013 Australia national legal regime governing the enforceability of security interests in personal property and implementing a unified collateral registry. New Zealand improved access to credit information by allowing credit bureaus to DB2013 New Zealand collect positive information on individuals. Chile strengthened its secured transactions system by implementing a unified DB2012 Chile collateral registry and a new legal framework for nonpossessory security interests. Mexico strengthened its secured transactions system by implementing a DB2012 Mexico centralized collateral registry with an electronic database that is accessible online. Operation of a new private credit bureau improved the credit information DB2011 Papua New Guinea system in Papua New Guinea. Singapore improved its credit information system by collecting and distributing DB2011 Singapore information on firms. Vietnam improved its credit information system by allowing borrowers to DB2011 Vietnam examine their own credit report and correct errors. Protecting Minority Investors DB Year Economy Reform Thailand strengthened minority investor protections by making it easier to sue directors in case of prejudicial related-party transactions, increasing shareholder DB2018 Thailand rights and role in major corporate decisions and clarifying ownership and control structures. Brunei Darussalam strengthened minority investor protections by increasing DB2018 Brunei Darussalam shareholder rights and role in major corporate decisions, clarifying ownership and control structures and requiring greater corporate transparency. Indonesia strengthened minority investor protections by increasing shareholder Page 72   DB2018 Indonesia rights and role in major corporate decisions and requiring greater corporate Brunei Darussalam strengthened minority investor protections by increasing Doing DB2018Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC Brunei Darussalam COOPERATION shareholder rights (APEC) and role in major corporate decisions, clarifying ownership and control structures and requiring greater corporate transparency. Indonesia strengthened minority investor protections by increasing shareholder DB2018 Indonesia rights and role in major corporate decisions and requiring greater corporate transparency. This reform applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. Malaysia strengthened minority investor protections by requiring greater DB2018 Malaysia corporate transparency. Brunei Darussalam strengthened minority investor protections by clarifying ownership and control structures, making it easier to sue directors in case of DB2017 Brunei Darussalam prejudicial related-party transactions, and allowing the rescission of related-party transactions that harm the company. The Russian Federation strengthened minority investor protections by increasing DB2017 Russian Federation shareholder rights and role in major corporate decisions. Vietnam strengthened minority investor protections by making it easier to sue directors in cases of prejudicial transactions between interested parties, by DB2017 Vietnam increasing shareholder rights and role in major corporate decisions, by strengthening the ownership and control structures of companies and by increasing corporate transparency requirements. The Republic of Korea strengthened minority investor protections by increasing DB2015 Korea, Rep. the level of transparency expected from companies on managerial compensation. Hong Kong SAR, China, strengthened minority investor protections by DB2015 Hong Kong SAR, China introducing requirements for directors to provide more detailed disclosure of conflicts of interest to the other board members. Vietnam strengthened investor protections by introducing greater disclosure DB2014 Vietnam requirements for publicly held companies in cases of related-party transactions. Taiwan, China, strengthened investor protections by increasing disclosure DB2013 Taiwan, China requirements for related-party transactions and improving the liability regime for company directors in cases where such transactions are abusive. Korea strengthened investor protections by making it easier to sue directors in DB2013 Korea, Rep. cases of prejudicial related-party transactions. Peru strengthened investor protections through a new law regulating the DB2013 Peru approval of related-party transactions and making it easier to sue directors when such transactions are prejudicial. Peru strengthened investor protections through a new law allowing minority DB2012 Peru shareholders to request access to nonconfidential corporate documents. Vietnam strengthened investor protections by requiring higher standards of DB2012 Vietnam accountability for company directors. An amendment to Chile’s securities law strengthened investor protections by DB2011 Chile requiring greater corporate disclosure and regulating the approval of transactions between interested parties. Paying Taxes DB Year Economy Reform The Philippines made paying taxes easier by introducing a new electronic system Page 73   DB2018 Philippines Paying Taxes Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) DB Year Economy Reform The Philippines made paying taxes easier by introducing a new electronic system DB2018 Philippines for payment and collection of the housing development fund contributions. Thailand made paying taxes easier by introducing an automatic risk-based DB2018 Thailand system for selecting companies for a tax audit. It also made paying taxes less costly by reducing the property transfer tax rate. China made paying taxes easier by introducing several measures for easing DB2018 China compliance. Brunei Darussalam made paying taxes easier by introducing an online system for DB2018 Brunei Darussalam filing and paying labor contributions. New Zealand made paying taxes easier by improving the online portal for filing DB2018 New Zealand and paying general sales tax. Indonesia made paying taxes easier by promoting the online filing of taxes and by lowering the rate for capital gains tax. Indonesia also increased the ceiling DB2018 Indonesia used in the calculation of health care contribution. These reforms apply to both Jakarta and Surabaya. Vietnam made paying taxes easier by abolishing the 12-month mandatory carry DB2018 Vietnam forward period for VAT credit and by introducing an online platform for filing social security contributions. Japan made paying taxes less costly by reducing the statutory rate for corporate DB2018 Japan income tax and rates for other taxes including mandatory labor contributions. This reforms apply to Osaka and Tokyo. Brunei Darussalam made paying taxes easier by fully implementing an electronic DB2017 Brunei Darussalam system for filing and paying corporate income tax. Indonesia made paying taxes easier by introducing an online system for filing and paying health contributions. Indonesia also made paying taxes more costly DB2017 Indonesia by levying a new pension contribution at a rate of 2% paid by employers. These reforms apply to both Jakarta and Surabaya. Japan made paying taxes easier by disclosing the technical specifications of the eTax platform and allowing the upload of additional information in comma separated value (CSV) format. The restoration surtax was also abolished. However, a local corporation tax was introduced and the rates of special local DB2017 Japan corporation tax, inhabitants tax and enterprise tax were raised. Welfare pension premiums were also raised. These reforms apply to both Tokyo and Osaka. However, the rate for health insurance contributions paid by employers was reduced only in Osaka. Malaysia made paying taxes easier by introducing an online system for filing and DB2017 Malaysia paying the Goods and Services Tax (GST) while also making it is more complex by replacing sales tax with GST. New Zealand made paying taxes easier by abolishing the cheque levy. New Zealand made paying less costly by decreasing the rate of accident DB2017 New Zealand compensation levy paid by employers. At the same time, New Zealand made paying taxes more costly by raising property tax and road user levy rates. DB2017 Peru Peru made paying taxes less costly by decreasing the corporate income tax rate. Page 74   The Philippines made paying taxes easier by introducing an online system for Zealand made paying less costly by decreasing the rate of accident DB2017 New Zealand Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION compensation (APEC) levy paid by employers. At the same time, New Zealand made paying taxes more costly by raising property tax and road user levy rates. DB2017 Peru Peru made paying taxes less costly by decreasing the corporate income tax rate. The Philippines made paying taxes easier by introducing an online system for DB2017 Philippines filing and paying health contributions and by allowing for the online corporate income tax and VAT returns to be completed offline. Singapore made paying taxes easier by introducing improvements to the online system for filing corporate income tax returns and VAT returns. At the same, the DB2017 Singapore social security contribution rate paid by employers increased and the rebate of 30% on vehicle tax expired. Vietnam made paying taxes easier and less costly by streamlining the DB2017 Vietnam administrative process of complying with tax obligations and abolishing environmental protection fees. Vietnam made paying taxes less costly for companies by reducing the corporate income tax rate—and made it easier by reducing the number of procedures and documents for filing VAT and social security contributions, reducing the number DB2016 Vietnam of filings for VAT and replacing quarterly filings of corporate income tax with quarterly advance payments. On the other hand, Vietnam increased the rate for social security contributions paid by employers. Indonesia made paying taxes easier and less costly for companies by introducing an online system for paying social security contributions and by reducing both DB2016 Indonesia the rate paid by employers and the ceiling for the contributions. This reform applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. Peru made paying taxes easier for companies by creating an advanced online DB2016 Peru registry with up-to-date information on employees. Mexico made paying taxes easier for companies by abolishing the business flat tax—though it also made paying taxes more costly by allowing only a portion of DB2016 Mexico salaries to be deductible. These changes apply to both Mexico City and Monterrey. In addition, the payroll tax rate paid by employers was increased for Mexico City. Malaysia made paying taxes easier and less costly for companies by making DB2016 Malaysia electronic filing mandatory and reducing the property tax rate. At the same time, it also increased the capital gains tax. China made paying taxes less costly for companies in Shanghai by reducing the DB2016 China social security contribution rate. Russia made paying taxes less costly for companies by excluding movable property from the corporate property tax base—though it also raised the wage DB2016 Russian Federation ceiling used in calculating social contributions. These changes apply to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. In addition, the cadastral value of land in Moscow was updated. The Republic of Korea made paying taxes more complicated and costly for companies by requiring separate filing and payment of the local income tax and DB2016 Korea, Rep. by increasing the rates for unemployment insurance and national health insurance paid by employers. Hong Kong SAR, China, made paying taxes easier and less costly for companies by simplifying compliance with the mandatory provident fund obligations and DB2016 Hong Kong SAR, China increasing the allowance for profit tax. At the same time, it increased the Page 75   companies by requiring separate filing and payment of the local income tax and DB2016 Korea, Rep. Doing Business 2018 by increasingCOOPERATION ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC (APEC) insurance and national health the rates for unemployment insurance paid by employers. Hong Kong SAR, China, made paying taxes easier and less costly for companies by simplifying compliance with the mandatory provident fund obligations and DB2016 Hong Kong SAR, China increasing the allowance for profit tax. At the same time, it increased the maximum contribution to the mandatory provident fund and reduced the property tax waiver. Brunei Darussalam made paying taxes easier and less costly for companies by merging contributions for the Employee Provident Fund and the Supplemental DB2016 Brunei Darussalam Pension Fund and increasing the capital allowance for industrial buildings. In addition, it reduced the corporate income tax rate, though it also abolished the partial exemption of income and introduced a flat rate. Chile made paying taxes more costly for companies by increasing the corporate DB2016 Chile income tax rate. Vietnam made paying taxes less costly for companies by reducing the corporate DB2015 Vietnam income tax rate. Indonesia made paying taxes less costly for companies by reducing employers’ DB2015 Indonesia health insurance contribution rate. This reform applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. China made paying taxes easier for companies by enhancing the electronic system for filing and paying taxes and adopting new communication channels DB2015 China within its taxpayer service, changes applying to both Beijing and Shanghai. In addition, China made paying taxes less costly for companies in Shanghai by reducing the social security contribution rate. Taiwan, China, made paying taxes easier for companies by introducing an DB2015 Taiwan, China electronic system for paying the vehicle license tax. Brunei Darussalam made paying taxes easier for companies by allowing joint filing and payment of supplemental contributory pension and employee DB2015 Brunei Darussalam provident fund contributions and by introducing an online system for paying these 2 contributions. Thailand made paying taxes less costly for companies by reducing employers' DB2014 Thailand social security contribution rate. Vietnam made paying taxes more costly for companies by increasing employers' DB2014 Vietnam social security contribution rate. The Philippines made paying taxes easier for companies by introducing an DB2014 Philippines electronic filing and payment system for social security contributions. Brunei Darussalam made paying taxes less costly for companies by reducing the DB2013 Brunei Darussalam profit tax rate. Japan made paying taxes less costly for companies by reducing the corporate DB2013 Japan income tax rate—though it also introduced a restoration surtax for a 3-year period. Korea made paying taxes less costly for companies by reducing the profit tax DB2013 Korea, Rep. rate. Russia eased the administrative burden of taxes for firms by simplifying DB2013 Russian Federation compliance procedures for value added tax and by promoting the use of tax Page 76   accounting software and electronic services. period. Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION Korea made paying (APEC) taxes less costly for companies by reducing the profit tax DB2013 Korea, Rep. rate. Russia eased the administrative burden of taxes for firms by simplifying DB2013 Russian Federation compliance procedures for value added tax and by promoting the use of tax accounting software and electronic services. Thailand made paying taxes less costly for companies by reducing the profit tax DB2013 Thailand rate. Canada made paying taxes easier and less costly for companies by reducing DB2012 Canada profit tax rates, eliminating the Ontario capital tax and harmonizing sales taxes. Korea eased the administrative burden of paying taxes for firms by merging DB2012 Korea, Rep. several taxes, allowing 4 labor taxes and contributions to be paid jointly and continuing to increase the use of the online tax payment system. Malaysia made paying taxes costlier for firms by reintroducing the real estate DB2012 Malaysia capital gains tax—but also made tax compliance easier by improving electronic systems and the availability of software. Mexico continued to ease the administrative burden of paying taxes for firms by DB2012 Mexico ending the requirement to file a yearly value added tax return and reduced filing requirements for other taxes DB2012 New Zealand New Zealand reduced its corporate income tax rate and fringe benefit tax rate. Peru made paying taxes easier for companies by improving electronic filing and DB2012 Peru payment of the major taxes and promoting the use of the electronic option among the majority of taxpayers. DB2012 Russian Federation Russia increased the social security contribution rate for employers. Brunei Darussalam reduced the corporate income tax rate from 23.5% to 22% DB2011 Brunei Darussalam while also introducing a lower tax rate for small businesses, ranging from 5.5% to 11%. Canada harmonized the Ontario and federal tax returns and reduced the DB2011 Canada corporate and employee tax rates. China’s new corporate income tax law unified the tax regimes for domestic and DB2011 China foreign enterprises and clarified the calculation of taxable income for corporate income tax purposes. DB2011 Hong Kong SAR, China Hong Kong SAR (China) abolished the fuel tax on diesel. Taiwan (China) reduced the corporate income tax rate and simplified tax return DB2011 Taiwan, China forms, rules for assessing corporate income tax and the calculation of interim tax payments. DB2011 Indonesia Indonesia reduced its corporate income tax rate. Mexico increased taxes on companies by raising several tax rates, including the corporate income tax and the rate on cash deposits. At the same time, the DB2011 Mexico administrative burden was reduced slightly with more options for online payment and increased use of accounting software. Thailand temporarily lowered taxes on business by reducing its specific business DB2011 Thailand tax for 12 months. In the United States the introduction of a new tax on payroll increased taxesPage 77   on corporate income tax and the rate on cash deposits. At the same time, the DB2011 Mexico Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION administrative (APEC) burden was reduced slightly with more options for online payment and increased use of accounting software. Thailand temporarily lowered taxes on business by reducing its specific business DB2011 Thailand tax for 12 months. In the United States the introduction of a new tax on payroll increased taxes on DB2011 United States companies operating within the New York City metropolitan commuter transportation district. The government of Vietnam eased paying taxes by reducing corporate income DB2011 Vietnam tax rate. Trading across Borders DB Year Economy Reform Taiwan, China made exporting easier by allowing different organizations to DB2018 Taiwan, China electronically issue certificates of origin. Brunei Darussalam made exporting and importing easier by enhancing the DB2018 Brunei Darussalam Brunei Darussalam National Single Window and the customs clearance process. Russia made exporting and importing easier by opening a new deep water port on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, increasing competition and reducing the cost DB2018 Russian Federation of border compliance at the Port of St. Petersburg. This reform applies to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. Indonesia made importing faster by introducing an electronic single billing DB2018 Indonesia system. This reform applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. Singapore made exporting and importing easier by improving infrastructure and DB2018 Singapore electronic equipment at the port. Malaysia made importing and exporting easier by improving the infrastructure, DB2018 Malaysia equipment and facilities at Port Klang. Vietnam made exporting and importing easier by upgrading the automated DB2018 Vietnam cargo clearance system and extending the operating hours of the customs department. Indonesia made exporting and importing easier by improving the customs DB2017 Indonesia services and document submission functions of the Indonesia National Single Window. Vietnam made exporting and importing easier by implementing electronic DB2017 Vietnam customs clearance system. In the Philippines trading across borders became more difficult because of a new DB2015 Philippines city ordinance restricting truck traffic in Manila. In Indonesia trading across borders became more difficult because of insufficient DB2015 Indonesia infrastructure at the Tanjung Priok Port Jakarta. This change applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. Mexico made trading across borders easier by implementing an electronic DB2014 Mexico single-window system. Russia made trading across borders easier by implementing an electronic DB2014 Russian Federation system for submitting export and import documents and by reducing the number of physical inspections. Page 78   Jakarta and Surabaya. Doing Business 2018 Mexico madeCOOPERATION ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC (APEC) trading across borders easier by implementing an electronic DB2014 Mexico single-window system. Russia made trading across borders easier by implementing an electronic DB2014 Russian Federation system for submitting export and import documents and by reducing the number of physical inspections. Chile made trading across borders faster by implementing an online electronic DB2012 Chile data interchange system for customs operations. Russia made trading across borders easier by reducing the number of DB2012 Russian Federation documents needed for each export or import transaction and lowering the associated cost. The introduction of an electronic customs system in Brunei Darussalam made DB2011 Brunei Darussalam trading easier. DB2011 Indonesia Indonesia reduced the time to export by launching a single-window service. Peru made trading easier by implementing a new web-based electronic data DB2011 Peru interchange system, risk-based inspections and payment deferrals. The Philippines reduced the time and cost to trade by improving its electronic DB2011 Philippines customs systems, adding such functions as electronic payments and online submission of declarations. Enforcing Contracts DB Year Economy Reform Taiwan, China, made enforcing contracts easier by introducing an electronic filing DB2018 Taiwan, China system. Thailand made enforcing contracts easier by introducing a system that allows DB2018 Thailand users to pay court fees electronically. Thailand also reduced enforcement times by increasing the automation and efficiency of enforcement processes. Brunei Darussalam made enforcing contracts easier by introducing an electronic DB2018 Brunei Darussalam case management system for the use of judges and lawyers. New Zealand made enforcing contracts more difficult by suspending the filing of DB2018 New Zealand new commercial cases before the Commercial List of the High Court of New Zealand during the establishment of a new Commercial Panel. Vietnam made enforcing contracts easier by adopting a new code of civil DB2018 Vietnam procedure and by introducing a consolidated law on voluntary mediation. Brunei Darussalam made enforcing contracts easier by introducing an electronic DB2017 Brunei Darussalam filing system as well as a platform that allows users to pay court fees electronically. Indonesia made enforcing contracts easier by introducing a dedicated procedure DB2017 Indonesia for small claims that allows for parties’ self-representation.This reform applies to both Jakarta and Surabaya. The Russian Federation made enforcing contracts more difficult by mandating DB2017 Russian Federation pre-trial resolution before filing a claim, thereby lengthening the initial phase of judicial proceedings. This reform applies to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. Singapore made enforcing contracts easier by introducing a new electronic DB2015 Singapore litigation system that streamlines litigation proceedings. Page 79   The Russian Federation made enforcing contracts more difficult by mandating Doing DB2017 Russian ASIA-PACIFIC Business 2018 Federation ECONOMIC COOPERATION pre-trial resolution (APEC) before filing a claim, thereby lengthening the initial phase of judicial proceedings. This reform applies to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. Singapore made enforcing contracts easier by introducing a new electronic DB2015 Singapore litigation system that streamlines litigation proceedings. Mexico made enforcing contracts easier by creating small claims courts, with oral DB2014 Mexico proceedings, that can hear both civil and commercial cases. China made enforcing contracts easier by amending its civil procedure code to DB2014 China streamline and speed up all court proceedings. New Zealand made enforcing contracts easier by improving its case DB2014 New Zealand management system to ensure a speedier and less costly adjudication of cases. Korea made filing a commercial case easier by introducing an electronic case DB2012 Korea, Rep. filing system. Malaysia continued to improve the computerization of its courts by introducing a DB2012 Malaysia system making it possible to file complaints electronically. Russia made filing a commercial case easier by introducing an electronic case DB2012 Russian Federation filing system. Canada increased the efficiency of the courts by expanding electronic document DB2011 Canada submission and streamlining procedures. Reforms implemented in the civil justice system of Hong Kong SAR (China) will DB2011 Hong Kong SAR, China help increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of commercial dispute resolution. New Zealand enacted new district court rules that make the process for DB2011 New Zealand enforcing contracts user friendly. Resolving Insolvency DB Year Economy Reform Thailand made resolving insolvency easier by changing the voting procedures for DB2018 Thailand reorganization plans. Singapore made resolving insolvency easier by establishing a new scheme of arrangement procedure with features of the debtor-in-possession DB2018 Singapore reorganization regime and introducing provisions applicable to prepackaged restructurings. Brunei Darussalam made resolving insolvency easier by adopting a new insolvency law that introduced a reorganization procedure and facilitated DB2017 Brunei Darussalam continuation of the debtor’s business during insolvency proceedings. Brunei Darussalam also introduced regulations for insolvency practitioners. Thailand made resolving insolvency easier by introducing new restructuring for DB2017 Thailand small and medium-size companies and by streamlining provisions related to company liquidation. Vietnam made resolving insolvency easier by clarifying and simplifying provisions on liquidation and reorganization, modifying the standard for commencement of DB2016 Vietnam insolvency proceedings, changing provisions on voidable transactions, regulating the profession of insolvency trustees and establishing the rules for enterprise asset managers. Page 80   Chile made resolving insolvency easier by clarifying and simplifying provisions on Thailand made resolving insolvency easier by introducing new restructuring for Doing DB2017 ThailandASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC Business 2018 COOPERATION small and medium-size (APEC) companies and by streamlining provisions related to company liquidation. Vietnam made resolving insolvency easier by clarifying and simplifying provisions on liquidation and reorganization, modifying the standard for commencement of DB2016 Vietnam insolvency proceedings, changing provisions on voidable transactions, regulating the profession of insolvency trustees and establishing the rules for enterprise asset managers. Chile made resolving insolvency easier by clarifying and simplifying provisions on liquidation and reorganization, introducing provisions to facilitate the DB2016 Chile continuation of the debtor’s business during insolvency, establishing a public office responsible for the general administration of insolvency proceedings and creating specialized insolvency courts. Mexico made resolving insolvency easier by clarifying several rules, shortening the time extensions allowed during reorganization, facilitating the electronic DB2015 Mexico 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. Korea expedited the insolvency process by implementing a fast track for DB2013 Korea, Rep. company rehabilitation. Australia clarified the priority of claims of unsecured creditors over all DB2012 Australia shareholders’ claims and introduced further regulation of the profession of insolvency practitioners. Malaysia established dedicated commercial courts to handle foreclosure DB2012 Malaysia proceedings. The Philippines adopted a new insolvency law that provides a legal framework DB2012 Philippines for liquidation and reorganization of financially distressed companies. Japan made it easier to deal with insolvency by establishing a new entity, the DB2011 Japan Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation, to support the revitalization of companies suffering from excessive debt but professionally managed. Korea made it easier to deal with insolvency by introducing postfiling financing, DB2011 Korea, Rep. granting superpriority to the repayment of loans given to companies undergoing reorganization. Russia introduced a series of legislative measures in 2009 to improve creditor DB2011 Russian Federation rights and the insolvency system. Page 81   reorganization. Doing Business 2018 ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION Russia introduced (APEC)measures in 2009 to improve creditor a series of legislative DB2011 Russian Federation rights and the insolvency system. Page 82