Doing Business in the European Union 2017

Abstract

Doing Business in the European Union 2017 focuses on business regulations and their enforcement in five Doing Business areas. It goes beyond Sofia, Budapest and Bucharest to benchmark 19 additional cities. The annual Doing Business report aims to draw attention to how red tape affects small and medium-size businesses and encourage governments to look outward to learn from global good practices. This report highlights differences both among and within countries. Differences in regulatory performance across locations can help national and local policy makers to identify priority areas for reform and to find good practices that can guide the way forward. Good local and global practices are identified throughout the report, as well as opportunities for regulatory reform in each country. The study’s results are revealing: the gap between the benchmarked cities is significant, even within the same country—with the biggest regulatory differences found within Bulgaria and Romania. Yet each country also has cities that are world class in at least one area. This study will benefit our partner countries as a tool to promote competition between the cities and regions, to encourage peer learning, and to inspire policy makers to improve the ease of doing business in their jurisdictions. Small administrative improvements can make a big difference in the life of small firms—unlike larger businesses that face the same bureaucratic inefficiencies, they do not have access to the resources and skills needed to get better and faster service.