Sector Specific Laws

 

  Bankruptcy Law

  Tax Law

  Property Rights

  Corporate Governance

  Financial Sector Laws  

Bankruptcy Law

The 2002 paper attached below documents how often bankruptcy is used in 35 countries, and investigates the relation between specific design features of insolvency regimes, considering also the relation of the quality of the countries' overall judicial systems with the use of bankruptcy. The recent literature on law and finance has drawn attention to the importance of creditors rights in influencing the development of financial systems and in affecting firm corporate governance and financing patterns. Recent financial crises have also highlighted the importance of insolvency systems -- a key element of creditors' rights -- to prevent and resolve corporate sector financial distress. Yet, little is known on how much formal insolvency systems are actually being used, how the use of the courts to resolve financial distress relates to creditor rights, and whether any specific creditor rights matter more. Findings of the study documented by this paper (after controlling for macroeconomic factors) indicate that bankruptcies are higher in common-law countries and in market-oriented financial systems and that greater judicial efficiency is associated with more use of bankruptcy, though stronger creditor rights combined with greater judicial efficiency is associated with less use. The study's findings suggest that the relationship between specific creditor rights features and the use of bankruptcy systems is more complex than perhaps thought, and the results may help to clarify the interdependent relationship between creditor rights, the development of financial systems, corporate ownership, and financing patterns.

The Global Insolvency Law Database

A resource dedicated to all aspects of credit and debt, including debtor and creditor rights, the creation and enforcement of security interests, corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, reorganization and liquidation.

 

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Tax Law

Tax Policy, Law, and Administration

This link will take you to the website maintained by the World Bank's Tax Policy and Administration Thematic Group. This site contains materials on the drafting and enforcement of tax statutes.

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Property Rights

Women's Rights to Land in Karnataka

Rural women throughout India contribute greatly to agricultural production and are highly dependant on agricultural sources of income. Yet these women who both contribute to and depend on agriculture do not have secure rights to the most important agricultural asset: land. The purpose of this 2002 report, and the research upon which it is based, is to evaluate women's land rights in Karnataka and to provide policy recommendations aimed at enhancing the position of rural women. The report includes and analysis of laws, and the results of field research, including the effects of practices such as dowry and the consequences a woman's marital status has on her rights.

The World Bank Land and Policy Network

The World Bank's Thematic Team on Land Policy and Administration represents a community of about 120 specialists with a wide range of professional backgrounds working on issues related to rights to land and the control of access to land, and the use and disposal of its associated natural resources in the quest to promote economically efficient, socially equitable and environmentally sustainable development.  This site provides information to people interested in improving and applying policy related to land tenure, land access, land titling, and administration.

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Corporate Governance

The World Bank Corporate Governance website

Corporate governance is concerned with the systems of law, regulation, and practice which will promote enterprise and ensure accountability.  This website contains research on best practices of corporate governance, Bank projects that deal with corporate governance, and a library with links to corporate governance texts.

 

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Financial Sector Laws

Commercial laws are an integral part of the market economy. The soundness of commercial laws, and their effective implementation, are essential to the development of a well-functioning economy. Many sets of standards have been developed in recent years to assess various aspects of the financial sectors. The standards and codes set forth are not exclusively legal, but do provide standards for analyzing the legal framework for the financial sector and the institutions implementing the legal framework.

Basle Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision

The Basle Committee was established by the central-bank Governors of the Group of Ten countries at the end of 1974, and meets regularly four times a year. It has about thirty technical working groups and task forces which also meet regularly. The Committee's members come from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. The Committee formulates broad supervisory standards and guidelines and recommends statements of best practice that are not legally binding. In September 1997, the Committee, with the endorsement of the central bank Governors of the Group of Ten countries, released the Basle Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision, comprised of twenty-five basic principles which must be in place for a banking supervisory system to be effective. The Core Principles were drawn up by the Committee in close collaboration with the supervisory authorities in fifteen emerging market countries and have benefited from broad consultation with many other supervisory authorities throughout the world. The Core Principles, with a defined rating system, are widely used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and others in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the banking systems of countries.

Bank for International Settlements
Basle Principles
Copy of the Principles

World Bank Principles and Guidelines for Effective Insolvency and Creditor Rights Systems

This document contains principles developed by a working group formed and headed by the World Bank, who finalized these guidelines in order to provide a tool for evaluating creditors' rights and insolvency. The principles have been formally approved by the World Bank in April 2001. The guidelines include principles related to the law itself, and to the institutions implementing it. The principles were developed against the backdrop of earlier and ongoing initiatives to promote cross-border cooperation on multi-jurisdictional insolvencies, modernization of national insolvency and secured transactions laws, and development of principles for out-of-court corporate workouts. The principles draw on common themes and policy choices of those initiatives and on the views of staff, insolvency experts and participants in regional workshops sponsored by the Bank and its partner organizations. The consultative process on the Principles and Guidelines has been among the most extensive of its kind, involving more than 70 international experts as members of the Bank's Task Force and working groups, and with regional participation by more than 700 public and private sector specialists from approximately 75 mostly developing countries. The Bank also included papers and consultative drafts on its website to obtain feedback from the international community. This document is the basis of several evaluations of creditors' rights and insolvency systems being conducted worldwide by the World Bank, through the Financial Sector Assessment Program, and the program for Reports on Observance of Standards and Codes. Visit the Global Insolvency Law Database for more information.

 Insolvency Principles and Guidelines (English, French, Russian, Spanish) 

 Database

OECD Principles of Corporate Governance

The OECD principles on corporate governance were developed by the OECD as guidelines to assist both member and non-member governments in their efforts to evaluate and to improve the legal, institutional and regulatory framework for corporate governance in their countries. The initiative began at an OECD Council meeting at ministerial level on April 27-28, 1998. To develop the principles, the OECD formed an Ad Hoc Task Force on Corporate Governance to develop a set of non-binding principles based on the views of the member countries. The principles in the document build on experiences from national initiatives in member countries and previous work within the OECD. The experience of the OECD Business Sector Advisory Group on Corporate Governance is also included. Other OECD committees involved in the preparation are the Committee on Financial Markets, the Committee on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises, the Industry Committee, and the Environment Policy committee. Non-OECD countries, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the business sector, investors, trade unions and other interested parties also had broad input. [The OECD Principles and Guidelines are used by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund when assessing corporate governance compliance through the Financial Sector Assessment Program]. Visit the OECD website for more information.

Principles

OECD Website

International Organization of Security Commissions (OSCO) Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation consist of thirty principles of securities regulation that give practical effect to the following objectives: 1) the protection of investors, 2) ensuring that markets are fair, efficient, and transparent and 3) the reduction of systemic risk. They were developed by IOSCO, which is comprised of member agencies. The organization has a Presidents' Committee, and an Executive Committee that is comprised of the chairmen of the various committees formed to address regional and substantive securities' market issues. The members in their endorsement of the Objectives and Principles express their commitment to the objectives and principles it sets out. The organization has numerous conferences throughout the year, and member securities' authorities have resolved to cooperate to establish international standards that promote the integrity of markets. The IOSCO Objectives and Principles, with a defined rating system, are widely used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and others in assessing the health of the securities markets of countries.

 IOSCO

Mortgages in Transition Economies-The Legal Framework for Mortgages and Mortgage Securities

This new EBRD publication aims to guide and assist transition economies in reforming and modernizing their legal and institutional framework for mortgages. It also intends to help them prepare in due course for the secondary mortgage market (in the form of covered bonds or mortgage-backed securities). A Russian language version is available.


EBRD

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