The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Korea’s Ease of Doing Business
Commercial Legal Affairs Division
Ministry of Justice
Republic of Korea
Table of Contents
1. What is Doing Business? (Enforcing Contracts)
2. Korea’s Current Doing Business Status
3. Overview of the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Project
What does Doing Business measure?
Doing Business indicators:
 Focus on regulations relevant to the life cycle of
a small to medium-sized domestic business.
 Are built on standardized case scenarios.
 Are measured for the most populous city in each
country, and the second largest business city in
countries with more than 100 million
inhabitants.
 Are focused on the formal sector
DO NOT measure all aspects of the business environment such as security,
macroeconomic stability, prevalence of bribery and corruption, level of training
and skills of the labor force, proximity to markets, regulations specific to foreign
investment or the state of the financial system.
11 Areas of Business Regulation Measured by Doing Business
Affect Firms Throughout Their Life Cycle
As start-up
• Starting a business
• Labor market
regulation
When things go
wrong
• Enforcing contracts
• Resolving insolvency
In daily operations
• Paying taxes
• Trading across borders
In getting financing
• Getting credit
• Protecting minority
investors
In getting a location
• Dealing with
construction permits
• Getting electricity
• Registering property
Methodology – Case Study Assumptions
• Seller and Buyer are domestic companies
• Buyer orders custom made goods and then does not pay
• Value of the claim is 200% the GNI per capita or USD 5,000, whichever is
greater
• Seller sues Buyer before the court with jurisdiction over cases worth 200% of
the GNI per capita or USD 5,000
• Seller requests pre-trial attachment to secure claim
• Dispute on quality of the goods requires an expert opinion
• Judge decides in favor of Seller, Buyer does not appeal, and Seller enforces
judgment through a public sale of Buyer’s movable assets
METHODOLOGY CHANGE IN DOING BUSINESS 2015
Whenever the value of the claim determined as 200% of the GNI
per capita falls below USD 5,000, the equivalent of USD 5,000 in
local currency will be used instead
Ranking: Overall Doing Business Environment
Ranking: Korea’s Doing Business
Ranking: Enforcing Contracts
Korea’s Ranking from 2008 to 2015
Topic Rankings
2008 2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
① Starting a Business
107
126
53
60
24
24
34
17
② Dealing with Construction permits
22
23
23
22
26
26
18
12
-
-
-
-
11
3
2
1
④ Registering Property
62
67
71
74
71
75
75
79
⑤ Getting Credit
25
12
15
15
8
12
13
36
③ Getting Electricity
⑥ Protecting Investors
Enactment
E-Filing
Law
66 of 70
73
74
79
49
52
21
⑦ Paying Taxes
Establishment of E-Filing System
43
43
49
49
38
30
25
25
⑧ Trading Across Borders
13
12
8
8
4
3
3
3
⑨ Enforcing Contracts
9
8
5
5
2
2
2
4
⑩ Resolving Insolvency
11
12
12
13
13
14
15
5
Korea’s Reform Efforts
Topic Rankings
Enforcing Contracts
2009 2010
8
5
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
5
2
2
Benefits of E-Court
 Cost and space savings
 Security
 Transparency
 Access to justice
2
4
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
 Promote free trade and economic cooperation

2009 Singapore APEC Meeting : Action Plan
- 25% Improvement of Business Environment by 2015
- cheaper, faster and easier to do business
 Capacity-building activities, implementation of
reform programs
- Phase I, II
Korea’s Doing Business
KOREA – Doing Business
Ease of Doing Business Action Plan
 Starting a Business : USA, New Zealand
 Getting Credit : Japan
 Enforcing Contracts : Korea
 Trading across Borders : Singapore, Hong Kong
 Dealing with Permits : Singapore
5 Steps of Ease of Doing Business Project
Designation of Partner Economies
Analysis & Research on
Improvement Measures
Consultation with Government Offices
of Partner Economies
Workshops in Partner Economies
International Conference in Seoul
Phase 1: 2010
Phase 1: 2010
APEC Workshop on Enforcing Contracts
 World Bank
 Hong Kong
 Japan
 Malaysia
 Singapore
Phase 2: 2011
KOREA –Phase
Doing Business
2: 2011
Int’l Conference on Enforcing Contracts of
Indonesia and Peru
 World Bank
 UNCITRAL
 Indonesia
 Peru
Phase 2: 2012
KOREA –Phase
Doing Business
2: 2011
Int’l Conference on Enforcing Contracts of
Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia
 World Bank
 UNCITRAL
 Thailand
 Philippines
Phase 2: 2013
KOREA –Phase
Doing Business
2: 2011
Int’l Conference on Enforcing Contracts of
Vietnam, Brunei and Saudi Arabia
 World Bank
 UNCITRAL
 Vietnam
 Brunei
 Saudi Arabia
Phase 2: 2014
KOREA –Phase
Doing Business
2: 2011
Int’l Conference on Enforcing Contracts of
Mexico and Myanmar
 World Bank
 UNCITRAL
 Mexico
 Myanmar
Lessons Learned: Reform measures
Multiple Approaches to Reform
 Procedure: revising the Civil
Procedure Law
 Time: introducing IT system
 Cost: hiring more lawyers
Multiple Aspects of Reform:
Factors to be taken into
consideration
 Legal Aspect: revision of the law
 Political Aspect: opposition from
interest groups
 Cultural Aspect: improvement of
practices
CUSTOMIZED SOLUTION
2014 EoDB with Mexico and Myanmar: Suggestions
KOREAPhase
– Doing Business
2: 2014
Mexico
 Put in place e-filing and edelivery system
 Grant a wider and more
flexible provisional
enforcement
 Review and simplify steps of
preliminary trial
Myanmar
 Adopt collection procedures
for money claims
 Allocate small cases to lower
courts with simplified
procedure
 Establish more specialized
courts of chambers to enable
prompt and efficient dispute
resolution
THANK YOU!