WARSAW, October 25, 2016 – A new insolvency law, amendments to construction law and a speedier electricity connection process allowed Poland to advance to 24th place, one place higher than last year, in the Doing Business 2017 ranking, says the World Bank Group’s flagship report, released on Tuesday.
“Poland has been consistently advancing in the Doing Business ranking, thanks to reforms implemented by subsequent governments. Although it is increasingly difficult to advance in the ranking, as other countries also actively support entrepreneurs, Poland should be ambitious and further improve its business climate,” said Emilia Skrok, World Bank Acting Country Manager for Poland.
The country’s improved result this year is partially owed to the insolvency law, which has been in force since the beginning of 2016. The law made resolving insolvency easier by introducing new restructuring mechanisms, changing voting procedures for restructuring plans and allowing creditors greater participation in insolvency proceedings. It also established a central restructuring and bankruptcy register and released guidelines for the remuneration of insolvency representatives.
Moreover, following the example of other countries, Poland made dealing with construction permits simpler by streamlining the process of obtaining a building permit. It also eliminated the requirements to obtain technical conditions for utilities, and clearance and project approval from the public roads administrator.
The most recent Doing Business 2017 report indicates also a number of areas in which Poland could further improve its results, such as paying taxes, enforcing contracts, dealing with construction permits and starting a business. It takes longer to pay taxes and start a business in Poland than in most other European Union countries. Also, many entrepreneurs in Poland do not yet incorporate their businesses online.
“Registration of a company over the Internet has been possible for a number of years, but still too few entrepreneurs are aware of this option. This example shows that it’s not enough to enact a regulation - it is necessary to implement it effectively,” said Maciej Drozd, an Economist at the World Bank.
The annual World Bank Group flagship Doing Business report analyzes regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, such as trading across borders, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency. The aggregate ease of doing business rankings are based on the distance to frontier scores for 10 topics and cover 190 economies. This year’s report marks the 14th edition of the global Doing Business report series. For more information about the Doing Business reports, please visit doingbusiness.org
