82959 Economy Profile: Singapore Doing Business 2014 Singapore 2 © 2013 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org All rights reserved. 1 2 3 4 15 14 13 12 A copublication of The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. Note that The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content included in the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of the content contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. The risk of claims resulting from such infringement rests solely with you. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. 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Cover design: The Word Express Doing Business 2014 Singapore 3 CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4 The business environment .......................................................................................................... 5 Starting a business ..................................................................................................................... 14 Dealing with construction permits ........................................................................................... 22 Getting electricity ....................................................................................................................... 33 Registering property .................................................................................................................. 42 Getting credit .............................................................................................................................. 52 Protecting investors ................................................................................................................... 59 Paying taxes ................................................................................................................................ 68 Trading across borders .............................................................................................................. 75 Enforcing contracts .................................................................................................................... 83 Resolving insolvency .................................................................................................................. 92 Employing workers .................................................................................................................... 97 Data notes ................................................................................................................................. 104 Resources on the Doing Business website ............................................................................ 110 Doing Business 2014 Singapore 4 INTRODUCTION Doing Business sheds light on how easy or difficult it is the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period for a local entrepreneur to open and run a small to January–December 2012). medium-size business when complying with relevant The Doing Business methodology has limitations. Other regulations. It measures and tracks changes in areas important to business—such as an economy’s regulations affecting 11 areas in the life cycle of a proximity to large markets, the quality of its business: starting a business, dealing with construction infrastructure services (other than those related to permits, getting electricity, registering property, trading across borders and getting electricity), the getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, security of property from theft and looting, the trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving transparency of government procurement, insolvency and employing workers. macroeconomic conditions or the underlying strength In a series of annual reports Doing Business presents of institutions—are not directly studied by Doing quantitative indicators on business regulations and the Business. The indicators refer to a specific type of protection of property rights that can be compared business, generally a local limited liability company across 189 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, operating in the largest business city. Because over time. The data set covers 47 economies in Sub- standard assumptions are used in the data collection, Saharan Africa, 33 in Latin America and the Caribbean, comparisons and benchmarks are valid across 25 in East Asia and the Pacific, 25 in Eastern Europe economies. The data not only highlight the extent of and Central Asia, 20 in the Middle East and North obstacles to doing business; they also help identify the Africa and 8 in South Asia, as well as 31 OECD high- source of those obstacles, supporting policy makers in income economies. The indicators are used to analyze designing regulatory reform. economic outcomes and identify what reforms have More information is available in the full report. Doing worked, where and why. Business 2014 presents the indicators, analyzes their This economy profile presents the Doing Business relationship with economic outcomes and presents indicators for Singapore. To allow useful comparison, it business regulatory reforms. The data, along with also provides data for other selected economies information on ordering Doing Business 2014, are (comparator economies) for each indicator. The data in available on the Doing Business website at this report are current as of June 1, 2013 (except for http://www.doingbusiness.org. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 5 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT For policy makers trying to improve their economy’s regulatory environment for business, a good place to ECONOMY OVERVIEW start is to find out how it compares with the regulatory environment in other economies. Doing Business provides an aggregate ranking on the ease of doing Region: East Asia & Pacific business based on indicator sets that measure and benchmark regulations applying to domestic small to Income category: High income medium-size businesses through their life cycle. Economies are ranked from 1 to 189 by the ease of Population: 5,312,400 doing business index. For each economy the index is calculated as the ranking on the simple average of its GNI per capita (US$): 47,210 percentile rankings on each of the 10 topics included in the index in Doing Business 2014: starting a business, DB2014 rank: 1 dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting DB2013 rank: 1* investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, Change in rank: 0 enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. The ranking on each topic is the simple average of the DB 2014 DTF: 92.21 percentile rankings on its component indicators (see the data notes for more details). The employing workers DB 2013 DTF: 91.39 indicators are not included in this year’s aggregate ease of doing business ranking, but the data are presented Change in DTF: 0.81 in this year’s economy profile. The aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business * DB2013 ranking shown is not last year’s published benchmarks each economy’s performance on the ranking but a comparable ranking for DB2013 that indicators against that of all other economies in the captures the effects of such factors as data Doing Business sample (figure 1.1). While this ranking corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, tells much about the business environment in an Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the economy, it does not tell the whole story. The ranking on sample this year. See the data notes for sources and the ease of doing business, and the underlying definitions. indicators, do not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors or that affect the competitiveness of the economy. Still, a high ranking does mean that the government has created a regulatory environment conducive to operating a business. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 6 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Figure 1.1 Where economies stand in the global ranking on the ease of doing business Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 7 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT For policy makers, knowing where their economy relative to the regional average (figure 1.2). The stands in the aggregate ranking on the ease of economy’s rankings on the topics included in the doing business is useful. Also useful is to know how ease of doing business index provide another it ranks relative to comparator economies and perspective (figure 1.3). Figure 1.2 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of doing business Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 8 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Figure 1.3 How Singapore ranks on Doing Business topics Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 9 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Just as the overall ranking on the ease of doing business Doing Business introduced the distance to frontier tells only part of the story, so do changes in that ranking. measure. This measure shows how far on average an Yearly movements in rankings can provide some indication economy is from the best performance achieved by any of changes in an economy’s regulatory environment for economy on each Doing Business indicator since 2005, firms, but they are always relative. except for the getting electricity indicators, which were introduced in 2009. Moreover, year-to-year changes in the overall rankings do not reflect how the business regulatory environment in an Comparing the measure for an economy at 2 points in economy has changed over time—or how it has changed time allows users to assess how much the economy’s in different areas. To aid in assessing such changes, regulatory environment as measured by Doing Business has changed over time—how far it has moved toward (or away from) the most efficient practices and strongest regulations in areas covered by Doing Business (figure 1.4). Figure 1.4 How far has Singapore come in the areas measured by Doing Business? Note: The distance to frontier measure shows how far on average an economy is from the best performance achieved by any economy on each Doing Business indicator since 2005, except for the getting electricity indicators, which were introduced in 2009. The measure is normalized to range between 0 and 100, with 100 representing the best performance (the frontier). The overall distance to frontier is the average of the distance to frontier in the first 9 indicator sets shown in the figure and does not include getting electricity. Data on the overall distance to frontier including getting electricity is available at http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/distance-to-frontier. See the data notes for more details on the distance to frontier measure. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 10 THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT The absolute values of the indicators tell another part business regulation—such as a regulatory process that of the story (table 1.1). The indicators, on their own or can be completed with a small number of procedures in comparison with the indicators of a good practice in a few days and at a low cost. Comparison of the economy or those of comparator economies in the economy’s indicators today with those in the previous region, may reveal bottlenecks reflected in large year may show where substantial bottlenecks persist — numbers of procedures, long delays or high costs. Or and where they are diminishing. they may reveal unexpected strengths in an area of Table 1.1 Summary of Doing Business indicators for Singapore Best performer globally Hong Kong SAR, China New Zealand DB2014 Korea, Rep. DB2014 Singapore DB2014 Singapore DB2013 Malaysia DB2014 Indicator Japan DB2014 China DB2014 DB2014 DB2014 Starting a Business 3 3 158 5 120 34 16 1 New Zealand (1) (rank) Procedures (number) 3 3 13 3 8 5 3 1 New Zealand (1)* Time (days) 2.5 2.5 33.0 2.5 22.0 5.5 6.0 0.5 New Zealand (0.5) Cost (% of income per 0.6 0.6 2.0 0.8 7.5 14.6 7.6 0.3 Slovenia (0.0) capita) Paid-in Min. Capital (% 0.0 0.0 78.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 112 Economies (0.0)* of income per capita) Dealing with Hong Kong SAR, Construction Permits 3 3 185 1 91 18 43 12 China (1) (rank) Hong Kong SAR, Procedures (number) 11 11 25 6 14 11 15 11 China (6) Time (days) 26.0 26.0 270.0 71.0 193.0 29.0 130.0 94.0 Singapore (26.0) Doing Business 2014 Singapore 11 Best performer globally Hong Kong SAR, China New Zealand DB2014 Korea, Rep. DB2014 Singapore DB2014 Singapore DB2013 Malaysia DB2014 Indicator Japan DB2014 China DB2014 DB2014 DB2014 Cost (% of income per 15.7 16.4 344.7 15.4 28.1 123.9 14.7 28.3 Qatar (1.1) capita) Getting Electricity 6 5 119 5 26 2 21 45 Iceland (1) (rank) Procedures (number) 4 4 5 4 3 4 5 5 10 Economies (3)* Time (days) 36 36 145 38 105 18 32 69 Germany (17) Cost (% of income per 27.5 28.6 499.2 1.5 0.0 17.7 49.1 97.0 Japan (0.0) capita) Registering Property 28 35 48 89 66 75 35 2 Georgia (1) (rank) Procedures (number) 5 5 4 5 6 7 5 2 4 Economies (1)* Time (days) 5.5 20.0 29.0 35.5 13.0 9.0 14.0 1.0 New Zealand (1.0)* Cost (% of property 2.9 2.9 3.6 7.7 5.8 5.1 3.3 0.1 5 Economies (0.0)* value) Getting Credit (rank) 3 11 73 3 28 13 1 3 Malaysia (1)* Strength of legal rights 10 10 5 10 7 8 10 10 10 Economies (10)* index (0-10) Depth of credit 5 4 5 5 6 6 6 5 31 Economies (6)* information index (0-6) Public registry coverage 0.0 0.0 30.2 0.0 0.0 100.0 52.9 0.0 Portugal (100.0)* (% of adults) Private bureau 60.3 58.3 0.0 93.6 100.0 100.0 77.2 100.0 22 Economies (100.0)* coverage (% of adults) Protecting Investors 2 2 98 3 16 52 4 1 New Zealand (1) (rank) Extent of disclosure 10 10 10 9 7 7 10 10 10 Economies (10)* Doing Business 2014 Singapore 12 Best performer globally Hong Kong SAR, China New Zealand DB2014 Korea, Rep. DB2014 Singapore DB2014 Singapore DB2013 Malaysia DB2014 Indicator Japan DB2014 China DB2014 DB2014 DB2014 index (0-10) Extent of director 9 9 1 8 6 4 9 9 Cambodia (10) liability index (0-10) Ease of shareholder 9 9 4 10 8 7 7 10 3 Economies (10)* suits index (0-10) Strength of investor 9.3 9.3 5.0 9.0 7.0 6.0 8.7 9.7 New Zealand (9.7) protection index (0-10) United Arab Emirates Paying Taxes (rank) 5 5 120 4 140 25 36 23 (1) Payments (number per Hong Kong SAR, 5 5 7 3 14 10 13 8 year) China (3)* United Arab Emirates Time (hours per year) 82 82 318 78 330 187 133 152 (12) Trading Across Borders 1 1 74 2 23 3 5 21 Singapore (1) (rank) Documents to export 3 3 8 3 3 3 4 4 Ireland (2)* (number) Time to export (days) 6 6 21 6 11 8 11 10 5 Economies (6)* Cost to export (US$ per 460 456 620 590 890 670 450 870 Malaysia (450) container) Documents to import 3 3 5 3 5 3 4 6 Ireland (2)* (number) Time to import (days) 4 4 24 5 11 7 8 9 Singapore (4) Cost to import (US$ per 440 439 615 565 970 695 485 825 Singapore (440) container) Enforcing Contracts 12 11 19 9 36 2 30 18 Luxembourg (1) (rank) Doing Business 2014 Singapore 13 Best performer globally Hong Kong SAR, China New Zealand DB2014 Korea, Rep. DB2014 Singapore DB2014 Singapore DB2013 Malaysia DB2014 Indicator Japan DB2014 China DB2014 DB2014 DB2014 Time (days) 150 150 406 360 360 230 425 216 Singapore (150) Cost (% of claim) 25.8 25.8 11.1 21.2 32.2 10.3 27.5 27.2 Bhutan (0.1) Procedures (number) 21 21 37 27 31 33 29 30 Singapore (21)* Resolving Insolvency 4 5 78 19 1 15 42 12 Japan (1) (rank) Time (years) 0.8 0.8 1.7 1.1 0.6 1.5 1.5 1.3 Ireland (0.4) Cost (% of estate) 3 3 22 9 4 4 10 4 Norway (1) Outcome (0 as piecemeal sale and 1 as 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 going concern) Recovery rate (cents on 89.4 89.4 36.0 81.2 92.8 82.3 48.9 83.3 Japan (92.8) the dollar) Note: DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB2013 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. For more information on “no practice” marks, see the data notes. * Two or more economies share the top ranking on this indicator. A number shown in place of an economy’s name indicates the number of economies that share the top ranking on the indicator. For a list of these economies, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 14 STARTING A BUSINESS Formal registration of companies has many WHAT THE STARTING A BUSINESS immediate benefits for the companies and for business owners and employees. Legal entities can INDICATORS MEASURE outlive their founders. Resources are pooled as several shareholders join forces to start a company. Procedures to legally start and operate a Formally registered companies have access to company (number) services and institutions from courts to banks as Preregistration (for example, name well as to new markets. And their employees can verification or reservation, notarization) benefit from protections provided by the law. An additional benefit comes with limited liability Registration in the economy’s largest companies. These limit the financial liability of business city company owners to their investments, so personal Postregistration (for example, social security assets of the owners are not put at risk. Where registration, company seal) governments make registration easy, more entrepreneurs start businesses in the formal sector, Time required to complete each procedure creating more good jobs and generating more (calendar days) revenue for the government. Does not include time spent gathering What do the indicators cover? information Doing Business measures the ease of starting a Each procedure starts on a separate day (2 business in an economy by recording all procedures cannot start on the same day). procedures officially required or commonly done in Procedures that can be fully completed practice by an entrepreneur to start up and online are an exception to this rule. formally operate an industrial or commercial Procedure completed once final document is business—as well as the time and cost required to received complete these procedures. It also records the paid-in minimum capital that companies must No prior contact with officials deposit before registration (or within 3 months). Cost required to complete each procedure The ranking on the ease of starting a business is (% of income per capita) the simple average of the percentile rankings on the 4 component indicators: procedures, time, cost Official costs only, no bribes and paid-in minimum capital requirement. No professional fees unless services required To make the data comparable across economies, by law Doing Business uses several assumptions about the Paid-in minimum capital (% of income business and the procedures. It assumes that all per capita) information is readily available to the entrepreneur and that there has been no prior contact with Deposited in a bank or with a notary before officials. It also assumes that the entrepreneur will registration (or within 3 months) pay no bribes. And it assumes that the business:  Has a start-up capital of 10 times income per  Is a limited liability company, located in the capita. largest business city and is 100% domestically  Has a turnover of at least 100 times income per owned. capita.  Has between 10 and 50 employees.  Does not qualify for any special benefits.  Conducts general commercial or industrial  Does not own real estate. activities. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 15 STARTING A BUSINESS Where does the economy stand today? What does it take to start a business in Singapore? costs 0.6% of income per capita and requires paid-in According to data collected by Doing Business, starting minimum capital of 0.0% of income per capita (figure a business there requires 3 procedures, takes 2.5 days, 2.1). Figure 2.1 What it takes to start a business in Singapore Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per capita): 0.0 Note: Time shown in the figure above may not reflect simultaneity of procedures. Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For more information on the methodology of the starting a business indicators, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). For details on the procedures reflected here, see the summary at the end of this chapter. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 16 STARTING A BUSINESS Globally, Singapore stands at 3 in the ranking of 189 regional average ranking provide other useful economies on the ease of starting a business (figure information for assessing how easy it is for an 2.2). The rankings for comparator economies and the entrepreneur in Singapore to start a business. Figure 2.2 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of starting a business Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 17 STARTING A BUSINESS What are the changes over time? The benchmarks provided by the economies that over 2.3) can help show what is possible in making it easier time have had the best performance regionally or to start a business. And changes in regional averages globally on the procedures, time, cost or paid-in can show where Singapore is keeping up—and where minimum capital required to start a business (figure it is falling behind. Figure 2.3 Has starting a business become easier over time? Procedures (number) Time (days) Doing Business 2014 Singapore 18 STARTING A BUSINESS Cost (% of income per capita) Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per capita) Note: Ninety economies globally have no paid-in minimum capital requirement. DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB2013 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 19 STARTING A BUSINESS Economies around the world have taken steps making greater firm satisfaction and savings and more it easier to start a business—streamlining procedures registered businesses, financial resources and job by setting up a one-stop shop, making procedures opportunities. simpler or faster by introducing technology and What business registration reforms has Doing Business reducing or eliminating minimum capital requirements. recorded in Singapore (table 2.1)? Many have undertaken business registration reforms in stages—and they often are part of a larger regulatory reform program. Among the benefits have been Table 2.1 How has Singapore made starting a business easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Reform Online start-up process simplification reduced the number of DB2009 procedures and days. Singapore further simplified business start up by making it DB2010 possible to incorporate the company and register for taxes simultaneously and seamlessly using the same online form. DB2011 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2014 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 20 STARTING A BUSINESS What are the details? Underlying the indicators shown in this chapter for STANDARDIZED COMPANY Singapore is a set of specific procedures—the bureaucratic and legal steps that an entrepreneur must complete to incorporate and register a new City: Singapore firm. These are identified by Doing Business through collaboration with relevant local Legal Form: Private Limited Liability Company professionals and the study of laws, regulations and Paid in Minimum Capital Requirement: None publicly available information on business entry in that economy. Following is a detailed summary of Start-up Capital: 10 times GNI per capita those procedures, along with the associated time and cost. These procedures are those that apply to a company matching the standard assumptions (the “standardized company”) used by Doing Business in collecting the data (see the section in this chapter on what the indicators measure). Summary of procedures for starting a business in Singapore—and the time and cost Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete Registration on-line with ACRA including company name search and filing the company incorporation and tax number (GST) The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is the national regulator of businesses and public accountants in Singapore. Incorporation is done through Bizfile, an electronic filing system. An application for the approval and reservation of a company name is to be submitted online via Bizfile. An application fee of SGD 15 is payable for each approved company name. It can generally be completed within an hour after payment online. Once a name has been approved, it will be reserved for 60 days. A one-time application for the extension of the reservation period by a further 60 days can be made before the expiry date. The application fee for the extension is SGD 10 per name. Entrepreneurs registering a new business can purchase the Business Less than one day 1 SGD 315 Profile on line at the same time of registration, when filling up the (online procedure) incorporation forms. The processing time is about 15 minutes from the time of successful submission of all documents and all information, and the registration fee payable is SGD 300. The ACRA will issue a notice of incorporation via electronic mail to the law firm or professional firm engaged for the purposes of incorporation upon the successful incorporation of the company together with the registration number of the company. The registration with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) for the goods and services tax (GST) when (a) its annual taxable turnover exceeds SGD 1 million can be done using the same online forms. From 1 December 2011, ACRA has introduced the option for the new Doing Business 2014 Singapore 21 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete business registrants to open a bank account with OCBC Bank also. Procedure can be done online Make a company seal The company seal is generally obtained from third-party stationers. Generally a market rate of SGD 35 will be charged if the seal is to be 1 day SGD 70 2 collected within 3 days or approximately SGD 70 if the seal is to be collected within 1 day Sign up for Employee Compensation Insurance at an insurance agency Under Section 23(1) of the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), Chapter 354, of Singapore, every employer shall insure and maintain insurance under one or more approved policies with an insurer against all liabilities which the company may incur under the provisions of this Act in respect of any employee employed by the company unless the 3 Minister, by notification in the Gazette, waives the requirement of such 1 day no charge insurance in relation to any employer. Time and cost may depend on the arrangement between the company and the insurance agency. * Takes place simultaneously with another procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 22 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Regulation of construction is critical to protect the WHAT THE DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION public. But it needs to be efficient, to avoid PERMITS INDICATORS MEASURE excessive constraints on a sector that plays an important part in every economy. Where complying with building regulations is excessively costly in Procedures to legally build a warehouse time and money, many builders opt out. They may (number) pay bribes to pass inspections or simply build Submitting all relevant documents and illegally, leading to hazardous construction that obtaining all necessary clearances, licenses, puts public safety at risk. Where compliance is permits and certificates simple, straightforward and inexpensive, everyone Submitting all required notifications and is better off. receiving all necessary inspections What do the indicators cover? Obtaining utility connections for water, Doing Business records the procedures, time and sewerage and a land telephone line cost for a business in the construction industry to Registering the warehouse after its obtain all the necessary approvals to build a completion (if required for use as collateral or warehouse in the economy’s largest business city, for transfer of the warehouse) connect it to basic utilities and register the Time required to complete each procedure property so that it can be used as collateral or (calendar days) transferred to another entity. Does not include time spent gathering The ranking on the ease of dealing with information construction permits is the simple average of the Each procedure starts on a separate day. percentile rankings on its component indicators: Procedures that can be fully completed online procedures, time and cost. are an exception to this rule. To make the data comparable across economies, Procedure considered completed once final Doing Business uses several assumptions about the document is received business and the warehouse, including the utility connections. No prior contact with officials The business: Cost required to complete each procedure (% of income per capita)  Is a limited liability company operating in Official costs only, no bribes the construction business and located in the largest business city.  Will be connected to water, sewerage (sewage system, septic tank or their  Is domestically owned and operated. equivalent) and a fixed telephone line. The  Has 60 builders and other employees. connection to each utility network will be 10 The warehouse: meters (32 feet, 10 inches) long.  Is a new construction (there was no  Will be used for general storage, such as of previous construction on the land). books or stationery (not for goods requiring special conditions).  Has complete architectural and technical plans prepared by a licensed architect or  Will take 30 weeks to construct (excluding all engineer. delays due to administrative and regulatory requirements). Doing Business 2014 Singapore 23 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Where does the economy stand today? What does it take to comply with the formalities to permits there requires 11 procedures, takes 26.0 days build a warehouse in Singapore? According to data and costs 15.7% of income per capita (figure 3.1). collected by Doing Business, dealing with construction Figure 3.1 What it takes to comply with formalities to build a warehouse in Singapore Note: Time shown in the figure above may not reflect simultaneity of procedures. Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For more information on the methodology of the dealing with construction permits indicators, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). For details on the procedures reflected here, see the summary at the end of this chapter. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 24 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Globally, Singapore stands at 3 in the ranking of 189 other useful information for assessing how easy it is for economies on the ease of dealing with construction an entrepreneur in Singapore to legally build a permits (figure 3.2). The rankings for comparator warehouse. economies and the regional average ranking provide Figure 3.2 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of dealing with construction permits Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 25 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS What are the changes over time? The benchmarks provided by the economies that over what is possible in making it easier to deal with time have had the best performance regionally or construction permits. And changes in regional globally on the procedures, time or cost required to averages can show where Singapore is keeping up— deal with construction permits (figure 3.3) help show and where it is falling behind. Figure 3.3 Has dealing with construction permits become easier over time? Procedures (number) Time (days) Doing Business 2014 Singapore 26 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Cost (% of income per capita) Note: DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB201 3 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. For more information on “no practice” marks, see the data notes. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 27 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS Smart regulation ensures that standards are met while building safety while keeping compliance costs making compliance easy and accessible to all. reasonable, governments around the world have Coherent and transparent rules, efficient processes and worked on consolidating permitting requirements. adequate allocation of resources are especially What construction permitting reforms has Doing important in sectors where safety is at stake. Business recorded in Singapore (table 3.1)? Construction is one of them. In an effort to ensure Table 3.1 How has Singapore made dealing with construction permits easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Reform Singapore made obtaining construction permits easier by DB2009 improving internal electronic process of data management and processing. Singapore has further eased the process of dealing with construction permits with a new Workplace Safety & Health DB2010 Regulations that allow low risk industries to submit documents on-line. DB2011 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2014 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2006), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 28 DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS What are the details? The indicators reported here for Singapore are BUILDING A WAREHOUSE based on a set of specific procedures—the steps that a company must complete to legally build a warehouse—identified by Doing Business through City : Singapore information collected from experts in construction licensing, including architects, civil engineers, Estimated construction lawyers, construction firms, utility SGD 1,300,000 Warehouse Value : service providers and public officials who deal with building regulations. These procedures are those The procedures, along with the associated time and that apply to a company and structure matching cost, are summarized below. the standard assumptions used by Doing Business in collecting the data (see the section in this chapter on what the indicators cover). Summary of procedures for dealing with construction permits in Singapore —and the time and cost Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete Obtain written permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority The application for permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) can be done electronically by a Qualified Professional (QP) through the Electronic Development Applications. The company must submit a form, along with the following: • Proposal and sketch plans • Survey plans for sloping or undulating sites Companies can apply to URA via two schemes: normal and Plan Lodgment Scheme. Launched in 1995, the Plan Lodgment Scheme allows for projects that fulfill the qualifying criteria (see http://www.ura.gov.sg/dc/lodgment/dc-lodgment-hdb_jtc.htm) to be submitted and approved online immediately. The application is made either through JTC system or through URA's EDA system. The fees for a 14 days SGD 2,680 1 plan lodgment are SGD 800.00 plus 7% GST. The Plan Lodgment Scheme is applicable to industrial and warehouse development on land owned by JTC and the HDB, which forms about 90% of industrial land in Singapore. All Qualified Persons (i.e. Architects or Engineers) are allowed to submit their development proposals under the Plan Lodgment Scheme. There is no restriction on the size or type of the industrial developments or the QP’s firms. In 2007, nearly 70% (562 out of 830) of the industrial and warehouse development proposals were eligible for approval under the Plan Lodgment Scheme. However, if the land is not under either JTC or Housing and Development Board scheme (HDB is for residential developments), and under freehold ownership the application would go through a normal clearance process. Although the application submitted under the normal scheme itself takes 1 day, it takes on average about 14 days for the URA to process it Doing Business 2014 Singapore 29 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete and grant permission. URA does not have a time limit, but rather operates under a targeted threshold. According to that target 90% of cases must be cleared in 4 weeks. The written permission is valid for 2 years, during which time the work must be completed. The application fee for normal process is SGD 2,500.00 for the first 1,000 sq. m. and SGD 60.00 for each additional 100 sq. m. (plus 7% general service tax which is not included in the case study). The case considered here assumes a commercial warehouse for storing books, which would be classified as a Group 3 land-intensive development. A fee schedule is available at http://www.ura.gov.sg/forms/doc/dc- fee2007.pdf. * Obtain structural plan approval and building commencement permit Qualified Professionals submit the structural plans through CORENET system operated by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA). The permit will not be issued without the written or provisional permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and payment of any development charges, if applicable. Most companies submit their application to URA and BCA for structural approval at the same time. They can time it in a way that the structural approval is granted a day after the URA issues planning permission. Construction work must commence within 24 months from the approval date. The structural plan approval can be granted along with the building commencement permit that gives the right to physically begin the construction. 14 days SGD 3,902 2 Since 2008 the BCA runs a data management module in its application processing system to monitor its performance standard. It also introduced mobile phone short message and e-mail notification to inform the applicants of their applications status instantaneously. Since September 1, 2005, the fee schedule is as follows: • SGD 300.00 per 100 sq. m. for the first 2,500 sq. m. of standard gross floor area (SGFA) • SGD 200.00 for each subsequent 100 sq. m. of SGFA Hence, in this case, the total fee charged for 1,300 sq. m. is 13 x SGD 300.00 = SGD 3,900.00 * Obtain technical clearance from the Fire Safety & Shelter Department (FSSD) of the Singapore Civil Defense Force 3 10 days SGD 1,951 Qualified Professional, acting on behalf of BuildCo, submits the relevant parts of the application to Fire Safety and Shelter Department (FSSD) of the Singapore Civil Defense Force. The application is made through Doing Business 2014 Singapore 30 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete CORENET system. Simultaneously, the applications can be submitted via CORENET to the National Environment Agency (NEA) for clearance of sewerage/sanitary works, drainage works, pollution control matters and environmental health matters, as well as Land and Transport Authority (LTA) for road plans and parking facility clearance. In other cases, plans must be submitted to the Marine and Port Authority and the National Parks Board. Although, officially it takes only 2 working days to obtain approval from FSSD, the overall time required for approval from NEA and LTA is closer to 7 working days. The technical clearances can be completed while the written permission from URA is still pending. * Hold technical consultation with the Central Building Plans Unit of the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources Qualified Professional obtains clearance from NEA on environmental building plan matters. The building plan for the warehouse 1 day no charge 4 development for storage of books is registered within 1 working day based on QP's declaration that the building plans are prepared in accordance with environmental codes. * Hold technical consultation with the Land Transport Authority Although no physical inspection is required the Qualified Professional 5 will have to pay SGD 10.00 per 100 sq. m. for clearance of parking 1 day SGD 130 proposal. The payment can be made electronically. * Obtain building plan approval Qualified Professionals can submit the architectural aspects of application along with structural plans through CORENET in a concurrent manner. The guidelines on this concurrent submission for structural plan approval and building plan application can be found on BCA's website (http://www.bca.gov.sg/StructuralPlan/asp_16.html). In 2007, more than 56% of the 3,937 structural plans were submitted in parallel with the building permits. 6 10 days no charge BCA has a target for building plan approval to be issued in 7 working days. This is in line with efforts to provide faster and more efficient service. The applications are reviewed on a random basis and can be cleared through interactions with Qualified Professionals. The system of random inspections is used for a high quantity of applications and drawings submitted by Qualified Professionals. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 31 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete * Make an online declaration of risk management implementation and notify the Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health Before March 2010, the Workplace Safety & Health (Registration of Factories) Regulations required all factories engaged in higher risk activities including construction worksites, shipyards, metalworking companies, wafer fabrication, petrochemical, chemical and pharmaceutical plants to be registered before they can commence operations. Registration was valid for only one year. An annual fee depending on the number of persons employed at the premise ranging from SGD 90 (5 or less workers in premise) to SGD 2340 (more than 500 workers in premise) was payable upon registration and renewal. Ministry of Manpower has reviewed the factory registration system for higher risk factories which includes construction worksites and 7 introduced a new one-time registration scheme. From 1 March 2010, 0.5 days no charge factories in the Building and Construction are amongst those which benefit from the new scheme. All factories under this scheme are required to register and pay once for their license with the Ministry without the need to renew their license. Qualifying factories were only required to do two things prior to the commencement of operations: To register once with the Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health of their operations via the On-line Business Licensing System (OBLS) at https://licences.business.gov.sg and complete the Safety and Health Management System audits/internal review within 2 months from the registration. Procedure can be done online * Obtain water and sewage connection All three connections can be applied for through a one-stop service provided by Singapore Power (SP) Services, a privatized utilities operator. The existing infrastructure allows a new connection within one week. Application for electrical power is to the Singapore Power; application for both portable and Newater water is to PUB. A water service worker has to be engaged by the developer/owner to make a notification for the water service work to PUB. Typically, the new connection can be laid within one week. The connection is made after opening of account and payment of the connection cost. 7 days SGD 1,400 8 The application for connection of the proposed sewerage/sanitary system to the public sewer is made by the QP through CORENET to the Water Reclamation Network Department (WRN) of PUB. PUB will audit inspect the sewer connection works. There is no charge for the sewer connection works. The cost of water connection depends on the size of the connection. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 32 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete * Obtain phone connection 9 Telephone connection can be acquired in one day. 1 day SGD 60 Receive final inspection Once the warehouse construction is completed the Qualified Professional files a request for inspection to BCA through CORENET. BuildCo may request the inspection in advance, that is, before construction activities are completed. A registered inspector, hired by both the Building Control Authority (BCA) and BuildCo, inspects the 10 completed warehouse. Independently but concurrently, Qualified 1 day no charge Professional can submit a request to the FSSD for fire system approval. There is no physical interaction with the FSSD and the inspection is performed by the Qualified Professional. The Qualified Professional sends the report to FSSD. The approval from FSSD is then sent to BCA electronically through an internal network. Obtain certificate of statutory completion BuildCo does not need to register the newly built warehouse after its 10 days no charge 11 completion. * Takes place simultaneously with another procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 33 GETTING ELECTRICITY Access to reliable and affordable electricity is vital WHAT THE GETTING ELECTRICITY for businesses. To counter weak electricity supply, many firms in developing economies have to rely INDICATORS MEASURE on self-supply, often at a prohibitively high cost. Whether electricity is reliably available or not, the Procedures to obtain an electricity first step for a customer is always to gain access by connection (number) obtaining a connection. Submitting all relevant documents and What do the indicators cover? obtaining all necessary clearances and permits Doing Business records all procedures required for Completing all required notifications and a local business to obtain a permanent electricity receiving all necessary inspections connection and supply for a standardized warehouse, as well as the time and cost to Obtaining external installation works and complete them. These procedures include possibly purchasing material for these works applications and contracts with electricity utilities, Concluding any necessary supply contract and clearances from other agencies and the external obtaining final supply and final connection works. The ranking on the ease of getting electricity is the simple average of Time required to complete each procedure the percentile rankings on its component (calendar days) indicators: procedures, time and cost. To make the Is at least 1 calendar day data comparable across economies, several assumptions are used. Each procedure starts on a separate day The warehouse: Does not include time spent gathering information  Is located in the economy’s largest business city, in an area where other Reflects the time spent in practice, with little warehouses are located. follow-up and no prior contact with officials  Is not in a special economic zone where Cost required to complete each procedure the connection would be eligible for (% of income per capita) subsidization or faster service. Official costs only, no bribes  Has road access. The connection works Excludes value added tax involve the crossing of a road or roads but are carried out on public land.  Is to either the low-voltage or the medium-  Is a new construction being connected to voltage distribution network and either overhead electricity for the first time. or underground, whichever is more common in the economy and area where the warehouse is  Has 2 stories, both above ground, with a located. The length of any connection in the total surface of about 1,300.6 square customer’s private domain is negligible. meters (14,000 square feet), and is built on a plot of 929 square meters (10,000 square  Requires crossing of a 10-meter road but all the feet). works are carried out in a public land, so there is no crossing into other people's private property. The electricity connection:  Involves installing one electricity meter. The  Is 150 meters long and is a 3-phase, 4-wire Y, monthly electricity consumption will be 0.07 140-kilovolt-ampere (kVA) (subscribed gigawatt-hour (GWh). The internal electrical capacity) connection. wiring has been completed. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 34 GETTING ELECTRICITY Where does the economy stand today? What does it take to obtain a new electricity procedures, takes 36 days and costs 27.5% of income connection in Singapore? According to data collected per capita (figure 4.1). by Doing Business, getting electricity there requires 4 Figure 4.1 What it takes to obtain an electricity connection in Singapore Note: Time shown in the figure above may not reflect simultaneity of procedures. For more information on the methodology of the getting electricity indicators, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). For details on the procedures reflected here, see the summary at the end of this chapter. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 35 GETTING ELECTRICITY Globally, Singapore stands at 6 in the ranking of 189 regional average ranking provide another perspective economies on the ease of getting electricity (figure in assessing how easy it is for an entrepreneur in 4.2). The rankings for comparator economies and the Singapore to connect a warehouse to electricity. Figure 4.2 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of getting electricity Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 36 GETTING ELECTRICITY Even more helpful than rankings on the ease of getting performers on these indicators may provide useful electricity may be the indicators underlying those benchmarks. rankings (table 4.1). And regional and global best Table 4.1 The ease of getting electricity in Singapore Best performer in Best performer Indicator Singapore DB2014 Singapore DB2013 East Asia & Pacific globally DB2014 DB2014 Rank Hong Kong SAR, 6 5 Iceland (1) China (5) Procedures (number) 4 4 Timor-Leste* (3) 10 Economies* (3) Time (days) 36 36 Taiwan, China (24) Germany (17) Cost (% of income per Hong Kong SAR, capita) 27.5 28.6 Japan (0.0) China (1.5) Note: DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB201 3 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. * Two or more economies share the top ranking on this indicator. For a list of these economies, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 37 GETTING ELECTRICITY Obtaining an electricity connection is essential to safety in the connection process while keeping enable a business to conduct its most basic operations. connection costs reasonable, governments around the In many economies the connection process is world have worked to consolidate requirements for complicated by the multiple laws and regulations obtaining an electricity connection. What reforms in involved—covering service quality, general safety, getting electricity has Doing Business recorded in technical standards, procurement practices and Singapore (table 4.2)? internal wiring installations. In an effort to ensure Table 4.2 How has Singapore made getting electricity easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Reform DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2014 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 38 GETTING ELECTRICITY What are the details? The indicators reported here for Singapore are based OBTAINING AN ELECTRICITY CONNECTION on a set of specific procedures—the steps that an entrepreneur must complete to get a warehouse connected to electricity by the local distribution City: Singapore utility—identified by Doing Business. Data are collected from the distribution utility, then completed and Name of Utility: SP PowerGrid Ltd. verified by electricity regulatory agencies and independent professionals such as electrical engineers, The procedures are those that apply to a warehouse electrical contractors and construction companies. The and electricity connection matching the standard electricity distribution utility surveyed is the one assumptions used by Doing Business in collecting the serving the area (or areas) in which warehouses are data (see the section in this chapter on what the located. If there is a choice of distribution utilities, the indicators cover). The procedures, along with the one serving the largest number of customers is associated time and cost, are summarized below. selected. Summary of procedures for getting electricity in Singapore—and the time and cost Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete The client’s Licensed Electrical Worker (LEW) submits application to SP Services Ltd and awaits quotation of connection fees The customer has to engage and appoint an Electrical Worker licensed (LEW) with the Energy Market Authority (EMA) to design the internal electrical installation, a LEW for the electrical installation works, and a LEW to operate on the installation. The client however, can appoint the same LEW for all three duties. The licensed electrical worker acts as the client's agent for the connection to the grid system. There are three classes of LEW, namely licensed electrician (load 1 9 calendar days no charge SP Services Ltd serves as a one-stop customer center for electricity connections. SP Services Ltd receives electricity supply applications, receives payment of connection fee, opens electricity account and makes turn-on appointment with the customer. The appointed LEW submits an application to SP Services Ltd to connect to the grid system, along with 2 copies of the site plan. SP Services Ltd advises the appointed LEW and the client on the approval of the application and provides them with a quotation within 7 calendar days for premises receiving direct service connection from streets mains. Direct service connection from SP PowerGrid's LV network to the client's installation is available for a small load requirement not exceeding 280kVA (400A) in commercial or industrial areas. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 39 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete The client opens an electricity account, makes connection fee payment to SP Services Ltd and receives external works from SP PowerGrid Ltd The customer’s appointed LEW only liaises with one single external party which is SP Services Ltd for opening of account and making payment of connection fee which are done on the same day and same place. External work from SP PowerGrid Ltd commences automatically upon payment for connection fee. No further action is required from the customer. The documents required for opening of account are: - Completed and signed application form; - Copy of business/company registration certificate; - Copy of NRIC/FIN (National Registration Identity Card / Foreign Identification Number) for the authorised signatory of company representative or a letter of authorisation issued by the company indicating the company representative’s name and NRIC/FIN, proof of ownership or tenancy agreement; - Letter from the Authority (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore) confirming the official address of the premises, and - Initial security deposit in cash (which is refundable when the customer terminates the account) or by the form of banker Guarantee (BG) at the 2 point of application; 23 calendar days SGD 17,566.1 For the warehouse, direct connection is applicable as the applied load is 140 kVA. Services for the provision of electricity supply from the existing overground box to industrial premises in built up area with load demand between 76 kVA and 140 kVA will be managed as follows by SP Services Ltd and SP PowerGrid Ltd: a. Upon receipt of connection fee payment by SP Services Ltd, SP PowerGrid Ltd will commence work and inform the appointed LEW and the client about the date for fixing meter and turn-on of electricity supply; b. The service provided is underground. Thus an excavation permit is needed before SP PowerGrid Ltd can start laying cables. For pragmatic reasons, SP PowerGrid will only apply for the permit after the client has made the connection fee payment and had their intake point ready for connection. c. SP PowerGrid Ltd would work closely with the agencies to have road openings approved within 6 calendar days and thereafter commence the physical cable installation work; Doing Business 2014 Singapore 40 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete d. SP PowerGrid Ltd will carry out meter fixing once the cable installation work is started; e. The service cable will be energised on the next day after the cable installation work is completed. The appointed Licensed Electrical Worker (LEW) submits and obtains an electrical installation licence from the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on behalf of the customer The appointed licensed electrical worker (LEW) submits and obtains an electrical installation license from the Energy Market Authority (EMA) on behalf of the customer. For safety reasons, an electrical installation license issued by EMA is required for the use or operation of an electrical installation with an approved load exceeding 45kVA in a non-domestic premises. The customer has to engage and appoint a LEW who will inspect and certify fitness of the electrical installation. Thereafter the LEW will submit an application for the electrical installation license online through the EMA's ELISE portal at www.ema.gov.sg. The license fee of SGD100/= (for a 12-month license) is to be paid online together with the application. 2 calendar days SGD 100.0 3 The EMA will check the completeness of the application before issuing the electrical installation license. Application for license may be submitted well in advance of the electricity supply connection date. The LEW may also arrange for the license commencement date to coincide with the electricity supply connection date. Upon approval of the license application, connection of electricity supply can be made anytime when the customer's switchgear and service cable are ready. The appointed Licensed Electrical Worker (LEW) submits a turn-on appointment application to SP Services Ltd The documents required for turn-on appointment are: 4 4 calendar days no charge - Certificate of Compliance (COC) issued by the appointed LEW certifying that the (internal) electrical work is conforming to the requirements of the Electricity Regulations and the relevant Singapore Standard Code of Practice; and Doing Business 2014 Singapore 41 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete - A copy of valid electrical installation license obtained from the Energy Market Authority (EMA). SP Services Ltd process the turn-on appointment application received from the LEW and issues an appointment letter to the LEW for the energisation of the service connection. SP Services Ltd will inform SP PowerGrid Ltd to fix the revenue meter and fix the date for the energisation of the service connection according to SP PowerGrid's service cable installation schedule. SP PowerGrid Ltd carries out the fixing of revenue meter once the installation of service cable work is started and turn-on the service cable a day after the completion of service cable connection. * Takes place simultaneously with another procedure. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 42 REGISTERING PROPERTY Ensuring formal property rights is fundamental. WHAT THE REGISTERING PROPERTY Effective administration of land is part of that. If INDICATORS MEASURE formal property transfer is too costly or complicated, formal titles might go informal again. And where property is informal or poorly Procedures to legally transfer title on administered, it has little chance of being immovable property (number) accepted as collateral for loans—limiting access to Preregistration (for example, checking for liens, finance. notarizing sales agreement, paying property transfer taxes) What do the indicators cover? Registration in the economy’s largest business Doing Business records the full sequence of city procedures necessary for a business to purchase property from another business and transfer the Postregistration (for example, filing title with the municipality) property title to the buyer’s name. The transaction is considered complete when it is opposable to Time required to complete each procedure third parties and when the buyer can use the (calendar days) property, use it as collateral for a bank loan or Does not include time spent gathering resell it. The ranking on the ease of registering information property is the simple average of the percentile rankings on its component indicators: procedures, Each procedure starts on a separate day. time and cost. Procedures that can be fully completed online are an exception to this rule. To make the data comparable across economies, Procedure considered completed once final several assumptions about the parties to the document is received transaction, the property and the procedures are used. No prior contact with officials The parties (buyer and seller): Cost required to complete each procedure (% of property value)  Are limited liability companies, 100% domestically and privately owned. Official costs only, no bribes  Are located in the economy’s largest No value added or capital gains taxes included business city. and no rezoning is required.  Have 50 employees each, all of whom are  Has no mortgages attached and has been nationals. under the same ownership for the past 10  Perform general commercial activities. years. The property (fully owned by the seller):  Consists of 557.4 square meters (6,000 square feet) of land and a 10-year-old, 2-story  Has a value of 50 times income per capita. warehouse of 929 square meters (10,000 The sale price equals the value. square feet). The warehouse is in good  Is registered in the land registry or cada- condition and complies with all safety stre, or both, and is free of title disputes. standards, building codes and legal requirements. There is no heating system. The  Is located in a periurban commercial zone, property will be transferred in its entirety. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 43 REGISTERING PROPERTY Where does the economy stand today? What does it take to complete a property transfer in procedures, takes 5.5 days and costs 2.9% of the Singapore? According to data collected by Doing property value (figure 5.1). Business, registering property there requires 5 Figure 5.1 What it takes to register property in Singapore Note: Time shown in the figure above may not reflect simultaneity of procedures. Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For more information on the methodology of the registering property indicators, see the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). For details on the procedures reflected here, see the summary at the end of this chapter. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 44 REGISTERING PROPERTY Globally, Singapore stands at 28 in the ranking of 189 regional average ranking provide other useful economies on the ease of registering property (figure information for assessing how easy it is for an 5.2). The rankings for comparator economies and the entrepreneur in Singapore to transfer property. Figure 5.2 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of registering property Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 45 REGISTERING PROPERTY What are the changes over time? The benchmarks provided by the economies that over what is possible in making it easier to register time have had the best performance regionally or property. And changes in regional averages can show globally on the procedures, time or cost required to where Singapore is keeping up—and where it is falling complete a property transfer (figure 5.3) help show behind. Figure 5.3 Has registering property become easier over time? Procedures (number) Time (days) Doing Business 2014 Singapore 46 REGISTERING PROPERTY Cost (% of property value) Note: DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB2013 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. For more information on “no practice” marks, see the data notes. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 47 REGISTERING PROPERTY Economies worldwide have been making it easier for have cut the time required substantially—enabling entrepreneurs to register and transfer property—such buyers to use or mortgage their property earlier. What as by computerizing land registries, introducing time property registration reforms has Doing Business limits for procedures and setting low fixed fees. Many recorded in Singapore (table 5.1)? Table 5.1 How has Singapore made registering property easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Reform DB2009 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Singapore eased property registration by improving its DB2010 computerized system DB2011 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Singapore made transferring property easier by introducing an DB2014 online procedure for property transfers. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 48 REGISTERING PROPERTY What are the details? The indicators reported here are based on a set of STANDARD PROPERTY TRANSFER specific procedures—the steps that a buyer and seller must complete to transfer the property to the buyer’s name—identified by Doing Business through information collected from local property City: Singapore lawyers, notaries and property registries. These procedures are those that apply to a transaction Property Value: SGD 3,215,748 matching the standard assumptions used by Doing Business in collecting the data (see the section in The procedures, along with the associated time and this chapter on what the indicators cover). cost, are summarized below. Summary of procedures for registering property in Singapore—and the time and cost Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete Conduct various online searches Legal Requisition Due diligence checks at several agencies can be done on-line through the one-stop portal called ‘Intereq’ (www.starsinfo.com.sg), which Fees (for provides access to the online services of the following agencies: transaction • Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (for Property Tax) through the portal • Land Transport Authority (with respect to Rapid Transit System and www.starsinfo.com Street Works on as to whether property is affected by Public Transport .sg) projects) • National Environment Agency (Environmental Health Department and - Inland Revenue Pollution Control Department on whether the property is affected by Authority of public sewerage or environmental-health related projects) Singapore: • PUB-Water Reclatmation Network Department (to check whether there SDG43.93 + are any swewrage regulstaions/requirement/conditions/outstanding SDG3.07GST = liabilities associated with/affecting the property) SDG47 • Urban Redevelopment Authority (planning regulations). 3 days 1 A land register check at the Singapore Land Authority can be made online too at www.inlis.gov.sg. - Land Transport A bankruptcy check is conducted online at www.lawnet.com.sg in order Authority | : SDG10 to ascertain if the seller is affected by winding up actions. + SDG0.70 GST = A company search (for the seller’s company) is also conducted online SDG10.70 | through www.lawnet.com.sg. Once the necessary legal requisition has established that the title of the - Ministry of property is in order, a deposit for the property is paid. Thereafter, Environment | : pursuant to Section 117 of the Land Titles Act, Chapter 157, a caveat SDG16.74 + should be lodged with SLA, once a deposit has been paid. The caveat SDG1.26 GST = serves as a precautionary step taken by the caveat or pending completion of his transaction as well as a notice to others that the SDG18.90 | caveator has an interest in the property. The caveat can be lodged online via its online registration system called STARS E-Lodgment at Doing Business 2014 Singapore 49 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete www.starsinfo.com.sg - PUB-Water The cost of lodging this Caveat Prior Completion is S$ 64.45 Reclamation Network Once lodged, a caveat notice will usually be served on the owner of the Department | property. :SDG7+SDG0.49 GST = SDG7.49 | - Urban Redevelopment Authority | : SDG50+SDG3.50 GST = SDG53.50 | Administrative fees (total SDG18.21) to use the portal, calculated on the following basis: - Acknowledgement : SDG 0.20 per acknowledgement =SDG1.54 - Transaction Fee: SDG 1.61 per legal requisition per Government Agency =SDG11.27 - Transmission Charge SSDG 0.54 per kbyte =approx SDG5.40 - Fees for Long- Term Archive: SSDG 428 per retrieval (if needed) * Property Title Information : SDG14.95+SDG1.0 5 GST =SDG16 Doing Business 2014 Singapore 50 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete (using www.inlis.gov.sg ) * Property Ownership Information: SDG5.25 (using www.inlis.gov.sg ) * Property Encumbrances Information: SDG10.28+SDG0.7 2 GST = SDG11 (using www.inlis.gov.sg ) * Enhanced Company Search: SDG17,12 (www.questnet.sg ) Company/ Winding-Up Search: SDG7 (using www.lawnet.com.s g) Parties sign the contract at the lawyer's office The contract is drafted by the parties' solicitors. Legal fees in Singapore 1 day SGD 2,000-3,500 2 range between SGD 2000-3500. Buyer Stamp Duty: - Every $100 or part thereof of the Buyer pays the Stamp Duty via electronic transfer first $180,000 -- $1.00 The buyer needs to pay Stamp Duty within 14 days of the date of Less than a day - Every $100 or Contract. The Stamp Duty can be paid via online transfer at (online part thereof of the 3 www.estamp.iras.gov.sg. The seller of commercial property is exempt procedure) next $180,000 -- from paying Stamp duty. GST is 7%. $2.00 - Thereafter, every $100 or part thereof -- $3.00 Doing Business 2014 Singapore 51 Time to No. Procedure Cost to complete complete Lodge the property transfer at the Singapore Land Authority The property transfer can be lodged online through SLA’s Singapore Titles Automated Registration System portal www.stars.gov.sg. Effective 1 April 2013, SLA has implemented a fast track registration process for Less than a day single transfer for value. Such transfers will be registered within the same (online SGD 68.30 4 day of lodgment. The Transfer document has to be lodged at SLA for procedure) registration together with the original title deed. File the transfer notice with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore When the property is sold or transferred, an e-Notice of Transfer has to be filed with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (the "IRAS") within 1 month after the sale or transfer. Party may incur a composition fee if the time limit is not complied with. Notice of transfer can only be filed with Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (the "IRAS") online. IRAS has launched an enhanced version of the e-Notice of Transfer (eNT) system on 8 Oct 2008. This enhanced web-based e-NT service allows lawyers to submit Notice of Transfer via IRAS’ myTax Portal at no cost. The site can be accessed at www.mytax.iras.gov.sg myTaxPortal is available every day, except during the daily maintenance period from Less than a day 5 2am to 6am(SGT) from Monday to Saturday and from 2am to 8.30am (online no cost (SGT) on Sunday. procedure) Information required for filing of the notice of transfer include: - Completion Account (already available in the sale and purchase agreement) - Sales and Purchase Agreement - Identification No. and name of the Transferor / Transferee (already available in the sale and purchase agreement) There are no charges when filing the e-Notice of Transfer via myTaxPortal. * Takes place simultaneously with another procedure. Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 52 GETTING CREDIT Two types of frameworks can facilitate access to WHAT THE GETTING CREDIT INDICATORS credit and improve its allocation: credit information MEASURE systems and borrowers and lenders in collateral and bankruptcy laws. Credit information systems enable lenders’ rights to view a potential borrower’s Strength of legal rights index (0–10) financial history (positive or negative)—valuable Rights of borrowers and lenders through information to consider when assessing risk. And collateral laws they permit borrowers to establish a good credit Protection of secured creditors’ rights through history that will allow easier access to credit. Sound bankruptcy laws collateral laws enable businesses to use their assets, especially movable property, as security to generate Depth of credit information index (0–6) capital—while strong creditors’ rights have been Scope and accessibility of credit information associated with higher ratios of private sector credit distributed by public credit registries and to GDP. private credit bureaus What do the indicators cover? Public credit registry coverage (% of adults) Doing Business assesses the sharing of credit Number of individuals and firms listed in information and the legal rights of borrowers and public credit registry as percentage of adult lenders with respect to secured transactions population through 2 sets of indicators. The depth of credit Private credit bureau coverage (% of adults) information index measures rules and practices Number of individuals and firms listed in affecting the coverage, scope and accessibility of largest private credit bureau as percentage of credit information available through a public credit adult population registry or a private credit bureau. The strength of legal rights index measures whether certain features that facilitate lending exist within the applicable collateral and bankruptcy laws. Doing Business uses case scenarios to determine the scope of the  Has up to 100 employees. secured transactions system, involving a secured  Is 100% domestically owned, as is the lender. borrower and a secured lender and examining legal The ranking on the ease of getting credit is based on restrictions on the use of movable collateral. These the percentile rankings on the sum of its component scenarios assume that the borrower: indicators: the depth of credit information index and  Is a private, incorporated, limited liability the strength of legal rights index. company.  Has its headquarters and only base of operations in the largest business city. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 53 GETTING CREDIT Where does the economy stand today? How well do the credit information system and Globally, Singapore stands at 3 in the ranking of 189 collateral and bankruptcy laws in Singapore facilitate economies on the ease of getting credit (figure 6.1). access to credit? The economy has a score of 5 on the The rankings for comparator economies and the depth of credit information index and a score of 10 on regional average ranking provide other useful the strength of legal rights index (see the summary of information for assessing how well regulations and scoring at the end of this chapter for details). Higher institutions in Singapore support lending and scores indicate more credit information and stronger borrowing. legal rights for borrowers and lenders. Figure 6.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of getting credit Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 54 GETTING CREDIT What are the changes over time? While the most recent Doing Business data reflect how institutions and regulations have been strengthened — well the credit information system and collateral and and where they have not (table 6.1). That can help bankruptcy laws in Singapore support lending and identify where the potential for improvement is borrowing today, data over time can help show where greatest. Table 6.1 The ease of getting credit in Singapore over time By Doing Business report year Indicator DB2005 DB2006 DB2007 DB2008 DB2009 DB2010 DB2011 DB2012 DB2013 DB2014 Rank .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 11 3 Strength of legal rights 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 index (0-10) Depth of credit 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 information index (0-6) Public registry coverage 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 (% of adults) Private bureau 33.5 38.6 38.6 42.7 48.3 40.3 60.8 53.8 58.3 60.3 coverage (% of adults) Note: n.a. = not applicable (the economy was not included in Doing Business for that year). DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB2013 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 55 GETTING CREDIT One way to put an economy’s score on the getting and shows the number of economies with this score in credit indicators into context is to see where the 2013 as well as the regional average score. Figure 6.3 economy stands in the distribution of scores across shows the same thing for the depth of credit economies. Figure 6.2 highlights the score on the information index. strength of legal rights index for Singapore in 2013 Figure 6.2 How strong are legal rights for borrowers Figure 6.3 How much credit information is shared— and lenders? and how widely? Number of economies with each score on strength of legal Number of economies with each score on depth of credit rights index (0–10), 2013 information index (0–6), 2013 Note: Higher scores indicate that collateral and bankruptcy Note: Higher scores indicate the availability of more credit laws are better designed to facilitate access to credit. information, from either a credit registry or a credit bureau, Source: Doing Business database. to facilitate lending decisions. Regional averages for the depth of credit information index exclude economies with no credit registry or credit bureau. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 56 GETTING CREDIT When economies strengthen the legal rights of lenders credit information, they can increase entrepreneurs’ and borrowers under collateral and bankruptcy laws, access to credit. What credit reforms has Doing and increase the scope, coverage and accessibility of Business recorded in Singapore (table 6.2)? Table 6.2 How has Singapore made getting credit easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Reform DB2009 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2010 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Singapore improved its credit information system by collecting DB2011 and distributing information on firms. DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Singapore improved its credit information system by DB2014 guaranteeing by law borrowers’ right to inspect their own data. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 57 GETTING CREDIT What are the details? The getting credit indicators reported here for The data on the legal rights of borrowers and lenders Singapore are based on detailed information collected are gathered through a survey of financial lawyers and in that economy. The data on credit information verified through analysis of laws and regulations as sharing are collected through a survey of a credit well as public sources of information on collateral and registry and/or credit bureau (if one exists). To bankruptcy laws. For the strength of legal rights index, construct the depth of credit information index, a a score of 1 is assigned for each of 8 aspects related to score of 1 is assigned for each of 6 features of the legal rights in collateral law and 2 aspects in credit registry or credit bureau (see summary of bankruptcy law. scoring below). Summary of scoring for the getting credit indicators in Singapore East Asia & Pacific OECD high income Indicator Singapore average average Strength of legal rights index (0-10) 10 7 7 Depth of credit information index (0-6) 5 4 5 Public registry coverage (% of adults) 0.0 35.6 42.9 Private bureau coverage (% of adults) 60.3 44.8 73.9 Note: In cases where an economy’s regional classification is “OECD high income,” regional averages above are only displayed once. Regional averages for the depth of credit information index exclude economies with no credit registry or credit bureau. Regional averages for the credit registry coverage exclude economies with no credit registry. Regional averages for the credit bureau coverage exclude economies with no credit bureau. Strength of legal rights index (0–10) Index score: 10 Can any business use movable assets as collateral while keeping possession of the assets; and Yes any financial institution accept such assets as collateral ? Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in a single category of Yes movable assets, without requiring a specific description of collateral? Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in substantially all of Yes its assets, without requiring a specific description of collateral? May a security right extend to future or after-acquired assets, and may it extend automatically Yes to the products, proceeds or replacements of the original assets ? Is a general description of debts and obligations permitted in collateral agreements; can all types of debts and obligations be secured between parties; and can the collateral agreement Yes include a maximum amount for which the assets are encumbered? Is a collateral registry in operation, that is unified geographically and by asset type, with an Yes electronic database indexed by debtor's names? Doing Business 2014 Singapore 58 Strength of legal rights index (0–10) Index score: 10 Are secured creditors paid first (i.e. before tax claims and employee claims) when a debtor Yes defaults outside an insolvency procedure? Are secured creditors paid first (i.e. before tax claims and employee claims) when a business is Yes liquidated? Are secured creditors either not subject to an automatic stay on enforcement when a debtor enters a court-supervised reorganization procedure, or does the law provide secured Yes creditors with grounds for relief from an automatic stay or/and sets a time limit to it? Does the law allow parties to agree in a collateral agreement that the lender may enforce its Yes security right out of court, at the time a security interest is created? Depth of credit information index (0–6) Credit bureau Credit registry Index score: 5 Are data on both firms and individuals distributed? Yes No 1 Are both positive and negative data distributed? Yes No 1 Does the registry distribute credit information from retailers, trade creditors or utility companies as well as No No 0 financial institutions? Are more than 2 years of historical credit information Yes No 1 distributed? Is data on all loans below 1% of income per capita Yes No 1 distributed? Is it guaranteed by law that borrowers can inspect Yes No 1 their data in the largest credit registry? Note: An economy receives a score of 1 if there is a "yes" to either private bureau or public registry. Credit bureau Credit registry Coverage (% of adults) (% of adults) Number of firms 170,000 0 Number of individuals 2,193,000 0 Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 59 PROTECTING INVESTORS Protecting investors matters for the ability of WHAT THE PROTECTING INVESTORS companies to raise the capital they need to grow, INDICATORS MEASURE innovate, diversify and compete. If the laws do not protect minority shareholders, investors may be reluctant to provide funding to companies through Extent of disclosure index (0–10) the purchase of shares unless they become the Approval process for related-party controlling shareholders. Effective regulations define transactions related-party transactions precisely, promote clear Disclosure requirements in case of related- and efficient disclosure requirements, require party transactions shareholder participation in major decisions of the company and set detailed standards of accountability Extent of director liability index (0–10) for company insiders. Ability of minority shareholders to file a direct or derivative lawsuit What do the indicators cover? Ability of minority shareholders to hold Doing Business measures the strength of minority interested parties and members of the shareholder protections against directors’ use of approving body liable for prejudicial related- corporate assets for personal gain—or self-dealing. party transactions The indicators distinguish 3 dimensions of investor protections: transparency of related-party Available legal remedies (damages, repayment of profits, fines, imprisonment and rescission transactions (extent of disclosure index), liability for of the transaction) self-dealing (extent of director liability index) and minority shareholders’ access to evidence before and Ease of shareholder suits index (0–10) during trial (ease of shareholder suits index). The Access to internal corporate documents ranking on the strength of investor protection index is (directly or through a government inspector) the simple average of the percentile rankings on these 3 indices. To make the data comparable across Documents and information available during trial economies, a case study uses several assumptions about the business and the transaction. Strength of investor protection index (0–10) The business (Buyer): Simple average of the extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of  Is a publicly traded corporation listed on the shareholder suits indices economy’s most important stock exchange (or at least a large private company with multiple shareholders). the company purchase used trucks from another company he owns.  Has a board of directors and a chief executive officer (CEO) who may legally act on behalf of  The price is higher than the going price for used Buyer where permitted, even if this is not trucks, but the transaction goes forward. specifically required by law.  All required approvals are obtained, and all The transaction involves the following details: required disclosures made, though the transaction is prejudicial to Buyer.  Mr. James, a director and the majority shareholder of the company, proposes that  Shareholders sue the interested parties and the members of the board of directors. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 60 PROTECTING INVESTORS Where does the economy stand today? How strong are investor protections against self- index (figure 7.1). While the indicator does not dealing in Singapore? The economy has a score of 9.3 measure all aspects related to the protection of on the strength of investor protection index, with a minority investors, a higher ranking does indicate that higher score indicating stronger protections (see the an economy’s regulations offer stronger investor summary of scoring at the end of this chapter for protections against self-dealing in the areas measured. details). Globally, Singapore stands at 2 in the ranking of 189 economies on the strength of investor protection Figure 7.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the strength of investor protection index Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 61 PROTECTING INVESTORS What are the changes over time? While the most recent Doing Business data reflect how the global ranking on the strength of investor well regulations in Singapore protect minority protection index over time shows whether the investors today, data over time show whether the economy is slipping behind other economies in protections have been strengthened (table 7.1). And investor protections—or surpassing them. Table 7.1 The strength of investor protections in Singapore over time By Doing Business report year Indicator DB2006 DB2007 DB2008 DB2009 DB2010 DB2011 DB2012 DB2013 DB2014 Rank .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 2 Extent of disclosure 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 index (0-10) Extent of director 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 liability index (0-10) Ease of shareholder 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 suits index (0-10) Strength of investor protection index (0- 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.3 9.3 10) Note: n.a. = not applicable (the economy was not included in Doing Business for that year). DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB2013 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 62 PROTECTING INVESTORS One way to put an economy’s scores on the protecting shows the number of economies with this score in investors indicators into context is to see where the 2013 as well as the regional average score. Figure 7.3 economy stands in the distribution of scores across applies to the extent of director liability index, and economies. Figure 7.2 highlights the score on the figure 7.4 to the ease of shareholder suits index. extent of disclosure index for Singapore in 2013 and Figure 7.2 How strong are disclosure requirements? Figure 7.3 How strong is the liability regime for directors? Number of economies with each score on the extent of Number of economies with each score on the extent of director liability index (0–10), 2013 disclosure index (0–10), 2013 Note: Higher scores indicate greater liability of directors. Note: Higher scores indicate greater disclosure. Source: Doing Business database. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 63 PROTECTING INVESTORS Figure 7.4 How easy is accessing internal corporate documents? Number of economies with each score on the ease of shareholder suits index (0–10), 2013 Note: Higher scores indicate greater minority shareholder access to evidence before and during trial. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 64 PROTECTING INVESTORS The scores recorded over time for Singapore on the changes over time in the regional average score on strength of investor protection index may also be this index. revealing (figure 7.5). Equally interesting may be the Figure 7.5 Have investor protections become stronger over time? Strength of investor protection index (0–10) Note: The higher the score, the stronger the protections. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 65 PROTECTING INVESTORS Economies with the strongest protections of minority reasonable time. As a result, reforms to strengthen investors from self-dealing require detailed disclosure investor protections may move ahead on different and define clear duties for directors. They also have fronts—such as through new or amended company well-functioning courts and up-to-date procedural laws, securities regulations or civil procedure rules. rules that give minority shareholders the means to What investor protection reforms has Doing Business prove their case and obtain a judgment within a recorded in Singapore (table 7.2)? Table 7.2 How has Singapore strengthened investor protections—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Reform DB2009 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2010 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2011 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2014 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2006), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 66 PROTECTING INVESTORS What are the details? The protecting investors indicators reported here for ease of shareholder suits indices, scores are assigned Singapore are based on detailed information collected to each based on a range of conditions relating to through a survey of corporate and securities lawyers disclosure, director liability and shareholder suits in a about securities regulations, company laws and court standard case study transaction (see the data notes at rules of evidence and procedure. To construct the the end of this chapter). The summary below shows extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and the details underlying the scores for Singapore. Summary of scoring for the protecting investors indicators in Singapore East Asia & OECD high income Indicator Singapore Pacific average average Extent of disclosure index (0-10) 10 5 7 Extent of director liability index (0-10) 9 5 5 Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10) 9 6 7 Strength of investor protection index (0-10) 9.3 5.3 6.2 Note: In cases where an economy’s regional classification is “OECD high income,” regional averages above are only displayed once. Score Score description Extent of disclosure index (0-10) 10 Both board of directors and What corporate body provides legally sufficient 3 shareholders meeting and Mr. James approval for the transaction? is not allowed to vote Whether disclosure of the conflict of interest by Mr. 2 Full disclosure of all material facts James to the board of directors is required? Whether immediate disclosure of the transaction to Disclosure on the transaction and Mr. 2 the public and/or shareholders is required? James' conflict of interest Whether disclosure of the transaction in published Disclosure on the transaction and Mr. 2 periodic filings (annual reports) is required? James' conflict of interest Whether an external body must review the terms of 1 Yes the transaction before it takes place? Extent of director liability index (0-10) 9 Whether shareholders can sue directly or derivatively for the damage that the Buyer-Seller transaction 1 Yes causes to the company? Whether shareholders can hold Mr. James liable for Liable for unfair/oppressive the damage that the Buyer-Seller transaction causes 2 transaction or prejudicial to minority to the company? shareholders Whether shareholders can hold members of the Liable for unfair/oppressive approving body liable for the damage that the Buyer- 2 transaction or prejudicial to minority Seller transaction causes to the company? shareholders Doing Business 2014 Singapore 67 Score Score description Possible when the transaction is Whether a court can void the transaction upon a 1 oppressive or prejudicial to minority successful claim by a shareholder plaintiff? shareholders Whether Mr. James pays damages for the harm caused to the company upon a successful claim by 1 Yes the shareholder plaintiff? Whether Mr. James repays profits made from the transaction upon a successful claim by the 1 Yes shareholder plaintiff? Whether fines and imprisonment can be applied 1 Yes against Mr. James? Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10) 9 Whether shareholders owning 10% or less of Buyer's shares can inspect transaction documents before 0 No filing suit? Whether shareholders owning 10% or less of Buyer's shares can request an inspector to investigate the 1 Yes transaction? Whether the plaintiff can obtain any documents from Any information that may lead to the 4 the defendant and witnesses during trial? discovery of relevant information Whether the plaintiff can request categories of documents from the defendant without identifying 1 Yes specific ones? Whether the plaintiff can directly question the 2 Yes, without approval from the judge defendant and witnesses during trial? Whether the level of proof required for civil suits is 1 Yes lower than that of criminal cases? Strength of investor protection index (0-10) 9.3 Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 68 PAYING TAXES Taxes are essential. They fund the public amenities, WHAT THE PAYING TAXES INDICATORS infrastructure and services that are crucial for a MEASURE properly functioning economy. But the level of tax rates needs to be carefully chosen—and needless Tax payments for a manufacturing company complexity in tax rules avoided. According to in 2012 (number per year adjusted for Doing Business data, in economies where it is more electronic and joint filing and payment) difficult and costly to pay taxes, larger shares of economic activity end up in the informal sector — Total number of taxes and contributions paid, where businesses pay no taxes at all. including consumption taxes (value added tax, sales tax or goods and service tax) What do the indicators cover? Method and frequency of filing and payment Using a case scenario, Doing Business measures Time required to comply with 3 major taxes the taxes and mandatory contributions that a (hours per year) medium-size company must pay in a given year as well as the administrative burden of paying taxes Collecting information and computing the tax and contributions. This case scenario uses a set of payable financial statements and assumptions about Completing tax return forms, filing with transactions made over the year. Information is proper agencies also compiled on the frequency of filing and Arranging payment or withholding payments as well as time taken to comply with tax laws. The ranking on the ease of paying taxes is Preparing separate tax accounting books, if the simple average of the percentile rankings on required its component indicators: number of annual Total tax rate (% of profit before all taxes) payments, time and total tax rate, with a threshold 1 Profit or corporate income tax being applied to the total tax rate. To make the data comparable across economies, several Social contributions and labor taxes paid by assumptions about the business and the taxes and the employer contributions are used. Property and property transfer taxes  TaxpayerCo is a medium-size business that Dividend, capital gains and financial started operations on January 1, 2011. transactions taxes  The business starts from the same financial Waste collection, vehicle, road and other taxes position in each economy. All the taxes  Taxes and mandatory contributions include and mandatory contributions paid during corporate income tax, turnover tax and all the second year of operation are recorded. labor taxes and contributions paid by the  Taxes and mandatory contributions are company. measured at all levels of government.  A range of standard deductions and exemptions are also recorded. 1 The threshold is defined as the highest total tax rate among the top 15% of economies in the ranking on the total tax rate. It is calculated and adjusted on a yearly basis. The threshold is not based on any economic theory of an “optimal tax rate” that minimizes distortions or maximizes efficiency in the tax system of an economy overall. Instead, it is mainly empirical in nature, set at the lower end of the distribution of tax rates levied on medium-size enterprises in the manufacturing sector as observed through the paying taxes indicators. This reduces the bias in the indicators toward economies that do not need to levy significant taxes on companies like the Doing Business standardized case study company because they raise public revenue in other ways—for example, through taxes on foreign companies, through taxes on sectors other than manufacturing or from natural resources (all of which are outside the scope of the methodology). This year’s threshold is 25.5%. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 69 PAYING TAXES Where does the economy stand today? What is the administrative burden of complying with Globally, Singapore stands at 5 in the ranking of 189 taxes in Singapore—and how much do firms pay in economies on the ease of paying taxes (figure 8.1). The taxes? On average, firms make 5 tax payments a year, rankings for comparator economies and the regional spend 82 hours a year filing, preparing and paying average ranking provide other useful information for taxes and pay total taxes amounting to 27.1% of profit assessing the tax compliance burden for businesses in (see the summary at the end of this chapter for Singapore. details). Figure 8.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of paying taxes Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 70 PAYING TAXES What are the changes over time? The benchmarks provided by the economies that over show what is possible in easing the administrative time have had the best performance regionally or burden of tax compliance. And changes in regional globally on the number of payments or the time averages can show where Singapore is keeping up— required to prepare and file taxes (figure 8.2) help and where it is falling behind. Figure 8.2 Has paying taxes become easier over time? Payments (number per year) Time (hours per year) Doing Business 2014 Singapore 71 PAYING TAXES Total tax rate (% of profit) Note: DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB201 3 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. DB2013 rankings reflect changes to the methodology. For all economies with a total tax rate below the threshold of 25.5% applied in DB2014, the total tax rate is set at 25.5% for the purpose of calculating the ranking on the ease of paying taxes. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 72 PAYING TAXES Economies around the world have made paying taxes concrete results. Some economies simplifying tax faster and easier for businesses—such as by payment and reducing rates have seen tax revenue consolidating filings, reducing the frequency of rise. What tax reforms has Doing Business recorded in payments or offering electronic filing and payment. Singapore (table 8.1)? Many have lowered tax rates. Changes have brought Table 8.1 How has Singapore made paying taxes easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Reform DB2009 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2010 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2011 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2014 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2006), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 73 PAYING TAXES What are the details? The indicators reported here for Singapore are LOCATION OF STANDARDIZED COMPANY based on a standard set of taxes and contributions that would be paid by the case study company used by Doing Business in collecting the data (see City: Singapore the section in this chapter on what the indicators cover). Tax practitioners are asked to review standard financial statements as well as a standard list of transactions that the company completed The taxes and contributions paid are listed in the during the year. Respondents are asked how much summary below, along with the associated number of in taxes and mandatory contributions the business payments, time and tax rate. must pay and what the process is for doing so. Summary of tax rates and administrative burden in Singapore East Asia & Pacific OECD high income Indicator Singapore average average Payments (number per year) 5 25 12 Time (hours per year) 82 208 175 Profit tax (%) 4.9 16.4 16.1 Labor tax and contributions (%) 17.6 10.7 23.1 Other taxes (%) 4.7 7.4 2.0 Total tax rate (% profit) 27.1 34.5 41.3 Note: In cases where an economy’s regional classification is “OECD high income,” regional averages above are only displayed once. Total tax Notes on Tax or mandatory Payments Notes on Time Statutory Tax base rate (% of total tax contribution (number) payments (hours) tax rate profit) rate Employer paid - Social gross 1 online filing 10 16% 17.6 security contributions salaries taxable Corporate income tax 1 online filing 32 17% 4.9 profit property Property tax 1 0 10% 4.7 value Doing Business 2014 Singapore 74 Total tax Notes on Tax or mandatory Payments Notes on Time Statutory Tax base rate (% of total tax contribution (number) payments (hours) tax rate profit) rate engine Road tax 1 0 fixed fee 0 size value not Value added tax (GST) 1 online filing 40 7% 0 added included Totals 5 82 27.1 Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 75 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS In today’s globalized world, making trade between WHAT THE TRADING ACROSS BORDERS economies easier is increasingly important for INDICATORS MEASURE business. Excessive document requirements, burdensome customs procedures, inefficient port operations and inadequate infrastructure all lead to Documents required to export and import extra costs and delays for exporters and importers, (number) stifling trade potential. Research shows that Bank documents exporters in developing countries gain more from Customs clearance documents a 10% drop in their trading costs than from a similar reduction in the tariffs applied to their Port and terminal handling documents products in global markets. Transport documents What do the indicators cover? Time required to export and import (days) Doing Business measures the time and cost Obtaining, filling out and submitting all the (excluding tariffs and the time and cost for sea documents transport) associated with exporting and importing Inland transport and handling a standard shipment of goods by sea transport, and the number of documents necessary to Customs clearance and inspections complete the transaction. The indicators cover Port and terminal handling procedural requirements such as documentation Does not include sea transport time requirements and procedures at customs and other regulatory agencies as well as at the port. They also Cost required to export and import (US$ per cover trade logistics, including the time and cost of container) inland transport to the largest business city. The All documentation ranking on the ease of trading across borders is the simple average of the percentile rankings on its Inland transport and handling component indicators: documents, time and cost Customs clearance and inspections to export and import. Port and terminal handling To make the data comparable across economies, Official costs only, no bribes Doing Business uses several assumptions about the business and the traded goods. The business: military items.  Is of medium size and employs 60 people.  Do not require refrigeration or any other special environment.  Is located in the periurban area of the economy’s largest business city.  Do not require any special phytosanitary or environmental safety standards other than  Is a private, limited liability company, accepted international standards. domestically owned, formally registered and operating under commercial laws and  Are one of the economy’s leading export or regulations of the economy. import products. The traded goods:  Are transported in a dry-cargo, 20-foot full container load.  Are not hazardous nor do they include Doing Business 2014 Singapore 76 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Where does the economy stand today? What does it take to export or import in Singapore? Globally, Singapore stands at 1 in the ranking of 189 According to data collected by Doing Business, economies on the ease of trading across borders exporting a standard container of goods requires 3 (figure 9.1). The rankings for comparator economies documents, takes 6 days and costs $460. Importing the and the regional average ranking provide other useful same container of goods requires 3 documents, takes information for assessing how easy it is for a business 4 days and costs $440 (see the summary of procedures in Singapore to export and import goods. and documents at the end of this chapter for details). Figure 9.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of trading across borders Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 77 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS What are the changes over time? The benchmarks provided by the economies that over possible in making it easier to trade across borders. time have had the best performance regionally or And changes in regional averages can show where globally on the documents, time or cost required to Singapore is keeping up—and where it is falling export or import (figure 9.2) help show what is behind. Figure 9.2 Has trading across borders become easier over time? Documents to export (number) Time to export (days) Doing Business 2014 Singapore 78 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Cost to export (US$ per container) Documents to import (number) Doing Business 2014 Singapore 79 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS Time to import (days) Cost to import (US$ per container) Note: DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB201 3 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 80 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS In economies around the world, trading across borders systems. These changes help improve the trading as measured by Doing Business has become faster and environment and boost firms’ international easier over the years. Governments have introduced competitiveness. What trade reforms has Doing tools to facilitate trade—including single windows, Business recorded in Singapore (table 9.1)? risk-based inspections and electronic data interchange Table 9.1 How has Singapore made trading across borders easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Reform DB2009 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2010 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2011 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2014 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2006), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 81 TRADING ACROSS BORDERS What are the details? The indicators reported here for Singapore are LOCATION OF STANDARDIZED COMPANY based on a set of specific procedural requirements for trading a standard shipment of goods by ocean transport (see the section in this chapter on what City: Singapore the indicators cover). Information on the procedures as well as the required documents and the time and cost to complete each procedure is The procedural requirements, and the associated time collected from local freight forwarders, shipping and cost, for exporting and importing a standard lines, customs brokers, port officials and banks. shipment of goods are listed in the summary below, along with the required documents. Summary of procedures and documents for trading across borders in Singapore East Asia & Pacific OECD high income Indicator Singapore average average Documents to export (number) 3 6 4 Time to export (days) 6 21 11 Cost to export (US$ per container) 460 856 1,070 Documents to import (number) 3 7 4 Time to import (days) 4 22 10 Cost to import (US$ per container) 440 884 1,090 Note: In cases where an economy’s regional classification is “OECD high income,” regional averages above are only displayed once. Procedures to export Time (days) Cost (US$) Documents preparation 2 120 Customs clearance and technical control 1 50 Ports and terminal handling 1 150 Inland transportation and handling 2 140 Totals 6 460 Procedures to import Time (days) Cost (US$) Documents preparation 1 100 Doing Business 2014 Singapore 82 Procedures to import Time (days) Cost (US$) Customs clearance and technical control 1 50 Ports and terminal handling 1 150 Inland transportation and handling 1 140 Totals 4 440 Documents to export Documents to import Bill of lading Bill of lading Commercial Invoice Commercial invoice Customs export declaration Customs import declaration Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 83 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Effective commercial dispute resolution has many WHAT THE ENFORCING CONTRACTS benefits. Courts are essential for entrepreneurs INDICATORS MEASURE because they interpret the rules of the market and protect economic rights. Efficient and transparent Procedures to enforce a contract through courts encourage new business relationships the courts (number) because businesses know they can rely on the courts if a new customer fails to pay. Speedy trials Steps to file and serve the case are essential for small enterprises, which may lack Steps for trial and judgment the resources to stay in business while awaiting the outcome of a long court dispute. Steps to enforce the judgment Time required to complete procedures What do the indicators cover? (calendar days) Doing Business measures the efficiency of the Time to file and serve the case judicial system in resolving a commercial dispute before local courts. Following the step-by-step Time for trial and obtaining judgment evolution of a standardized case study, it collects Time to enforce the judgment data relating to the time, cost and procedural complexity of resolving a commercial lawsuit. The Cost required to complete procedures (% of ranking on the ease of enforcing contracts is the claim) simple average of the percentile rankings on its Average attorney fees component indicators: procedures, time and cost. Court costs The dispute in the case study involves the breach Enforcement costs of a sales contract between 2 domestic businesses. The case study assumes that the court hears an expert on the quality of the goods in dispute. This distinguishes the case from simple debt enforcement. To make the data comparable across economies, Doing Business uses several assumptions about the case:  The seller and buyer are located in the economy’s largest business city.  The dispute on the quality of the goods requires an expert opinion.  The buyer orders custom-made goods, then fails to pay.  The judge decides in favor of the seller; there is no appeal.  The seller sues the buyer before a competent court.  The seller enforces the judgment through a public sale of the buyer’s movable assets.  The value of the claim is 200% of income per capita.  The seller requests a pretrial attachment to secure the claim. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 84 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Where does the economy stand today? How efficient is the process of resolving a commercial Globally, Singapore stands at 12 in the ranking of 189 dispute through the courts in Singapore? According to economies on the ease of enforcing contracts (figure data collected by Doing Business, contract enforcement 10.1). The rankings for comparator economies and the takes 150 days, costs 25.8% of the value of the claim regional average ranking provide other useful and requires 21 procedures (see the summary at the benchmarks for assessing the efficiency of contract end of this chapter for details). enforcement in Singapore. Figure 10.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of enforcing contracts Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 85 ENFORCING CONTRACTS What are the changes over time? The benchmarks provided by the economies that over help show what is possible in improving the efficiency time have had the best performance regionally or of contract enforcement. And changes in regional globally on the number of steps, time or cost required averages can show where Singapore is keeping up— to enforce a contract through the courts (figure 10.2) and where it is falling behind. Figure 10.2 Has enforcing contracts become easier over time? Time (days) Cost (% of claim) Doing Business 2014 Singapore 86 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Procedures (number) Note: DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB2013 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 87 ENFORCING CONTRACTS Economies in all regions have improved contract often work on reducing backlogs by introducing enforcement in recent years. A judiciary can be periodic reviews to clear inactive cases from the docket improved in different ways. Higher-income economies and by making procedures faster. What reforms tend to look for ways to enhance efficiency by making it easier (or more difficult) to enforce contracts introducing new technology. Lower-income economies has Doing Business recorded in Singapore (table 10.1)? Table 10.1 How has Singapore made enforcing contracts easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Reform DB2009 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2010 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2011 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2014 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 88 ENFORCING CONTRACTS What are the details? The indicators reported here for Singapore are COURT NAME based on a set of specific procedural steps required to resolve a standardized commercial dispute through the courts (see the section in this City: Singapore chapter on what the indicators cover). These procedures, and the time and cost of completing Claim Value LCU: 123377 them, are identified through study of the codes of civil procedure and other court regulations, as well Singapore District Court, as through surveys completed by local litigation Court Name: Subordinate Court lawyers (and, in a quarter of the economies covered by Doing Business, by judges as well). The procedures for resolving a commercial lawsuit, and the associated time and cost, are listed in the summary below. Summary of procedures for enforcing a contract in Singapore—and the time and cost East Asia & Pacific OECD high income Indicator Singapore average average Time (days) 150 551 529 Filing and service 6 Trial and judgment 118 Enforcement of judgment 26 Cost (% of claim) 25.8 48.7 21.0 Attorney cost (% of claim) 20.9 Court cost (% of claim) 2.8 Enforcement Cost (% of claim) 2.1 Procedures (number) 21 37 31 Number of procedures (without bonus points) 23 Electronic filing of court cases -1 Specialized commercial courts -1 Total number of procedures (including bonus 21 points) Note: In cases where an economy’s regional classification is “OECD high income,” regional averages above are only displayed once. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 89 ENFORCING CONTRACTS No. Procedure Filing and service: Plaintiff requests payment: Plaintiff or his lawyer asks Defendant orally or in writing to comply with the 1 contract. 2 Plaintiff’s hiring of lawyer: Plaintiff hires a lawyer to represent him before the court. Plaintiff’s filing of summons and complaint: Plaintiff files his summons and complaint with the court, orally * or in writing. * Plaintiff’s payment of court fees: Plaintiff pays court duties, stamp duties, or any other type of court fee. Registration of court case: The court administration registers the lawsuit or court case. This includes 3 assigning a reference number to the lawsuit or court case. Assignment of court case to a judge: The court case is assigned to a specific judge through a random * procedure, automated system, ruling of an administrative judge, court officer, etc. Arrangements for physical delivery of summons and complaint: Plaintiff takes whatever steps are * necessary to arrange for physical service of process on Defendant, such as instructing a court officer or a (private) bailiff. First attempt at physical delivery: A first attempt to physically deliver summons and complaint to 4 Defendant is successful in the majority of cases. * Proof of service: Plaintiff submits proof of service to court. Trial and judgment: Defendant’s filing of defense or answer to Plaintiff’s claim: Defendant files a written pleading whic h includes his defense or answer on the merits of the case. Defendant's written answer may or may not 5 include witness statements, expert statements, the documents Defendant relies on as evidence and the legal authori Plaintiff’s written response to Defendant's defense or answer: Plaintiff responds to Defendant’s defense or 6 answer with a written pleading. Plaintiff's answer may or may not include a witness statements or expert (witness) statements. Filing of pleadings: Plaintiff and Defendant file written pleadings and submissions with the court and 7 transmit copies of the written pleadings or submissions to one another. The pleadings may or may not include witness statements or expert (witness) statements. Pre-trial conference on procedure: The judge meets with the parties to discuss procedural issues (for 8 example which applications and motions parties intend to file, which documents parties intend to rely on, what will be presented as evidence the oral hearing or trial, etc.) 9 Request for oral hearing or trial: Plaintiff applies for the date(s) for the oral hearing or trial. * Setting of date(s) for oral hearing or trial: The judge sets the date(s) for the oral hearing or trial. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 90 No. Procedure Pre-trial conference aimed at preparing for trial: The judge meets with parties to make practical 10 arrangements for the trial (for example, the number of witnesses parties intend to call on during trial, how much time each party is given to present oral arguments etc.). * List of (expert) witnesses: The parties file a list of (expert) witnesses with the court. (see assumption 6-a) Trial (prevalent in common law): The parties argue the merits of the case at (an) oral session(s) before the 11 court. Witnesses and expert witnesses are questioned and cross-examined during trial. Order for submission of final arguments: The judge sets the deadline for the submission of final factual 12 and legal arguments. Final arguments: The parties present their final factual and legal arguments to the court either by oral * presentation or by a written submission. 13 Notification of judgment in court: The parties are notified of the judgment at a court hearing. Registration of judgment: The court office registers the judgment after receiving a written copy of the 14 judgment. Appeal period: By law, Defendant has the opportunity to appeal the judgment during a period specified in 15 the law. Defendant decides not to appeal. Judgment becomes final the day the appeal period ends. Reimbursement by Defendant of Plaintiff's court fees: The judgment obliges Defendant to reimburse 16 Plaintiff for the court fees Plaintiff has advanced, because Defendant has lost the case. Enforcement of judgment: Plaintiff’s hiring of lawyer: Plaintiff hires a lawyer to enforce the judgment or continues t o be represented * by a lawyer during the enforcement of judgment phase. Plaintiff’s request for enforcement order: Plaintiff applies to the court to obtain the enforcement order * ('seal' on judgment). Plaintiff’s advancement of enforcement fees: Plaintiff pays the fees related to the enforcement of the 17 judgment. Delivery of enforcement order: The court's enforcement order is delivered to a court enforcement officer * or a (private) bailiff. Plaintiff’s identification of Defendant's assets for attachment: Plaintiff identifies Defendant's assets for 18 attachment. Attachment: Defendant’s movable goods are attached (physically or by registering, marking or separating 19 assets). Report on execution of attachment: A court enforcement officer or private process server delivers a report 20 on the attachment of Defendant's movable goods to the judge. 21 Sale through public auction: The Defendant’s movable property is sold at public auction. Distribution of proceeds: The proceeds of the public auction are distributed to various creditors (including 22 Plaintiff), according to the rules of priority. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 91 No. Procedure Reimbursement of Plaintiff’s enforcement fees: Defendant reimburses Plaintiff's enforcement fees which 23 Plaintiff had advanced previously. * Not counted in the total number of procedures. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 92 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY A robust bankruptcy system functions as a filter, WHAT THE RESOLVING INSOLVENCY ensuring the survival of economically efficient companies and reallocating the resources of INDICATORS MEASURE inefficient ones. Fast and cheap insolvency proceedings result in the speedy return of Time required to recover debt (years) businesses to normal operation and increase Measured in calendar years returns to creditors. By improving the expectations of creditors and debtors about the outcome of Appeals and requests for extension are insolvency proceedings, well-functioning included insolvency systems can facilitate access to finance, Cost required to recover debt (% of debtor’s save more viable businesses and thereby improve estate) growth and sustainability in the economy overall. Measured as percentage of estate value What do the indicators cover? Court fees Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome Fees of insolvency administrators of insolvency proceedings involving domestic entities. It does not measure insolvency Lawyers’ fees proceedings of individuals and financial Assessors’ and auctioneers’ fees institutions. The data are derived from survey Other related fees responses by local insolvency practitioners and verified through a study of laws and regulations as Outcome well as public information on bankruptcy systems. Whether business continues operating as a The ranking on the ease of resolving insolvency is going concern or business assets are sold based on the recovery rate, which is recorded as piecemeal cents on the dollar recouped by creditors through Recovery rate for creditors (cents on the reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement dollar) (foreclosure) proceedings. The recovery rate is a Measures the cents on the dollar recovered function of time, cost and other factors, such as by creditors lending rate and the likelihood of the company continuing to operate. Present value of debt recovered To make the data comparable across economies, Official costs of the insolvency proceedings Doing Business uses several assumptions about the are deducted business and the case. It assumes that the Depreciation of furniture is taken into company: account  Is a domestically owned, limited liability Outcome for the business (survival or not) company operating a hotel. affects the maximum value that can be recovered  Operates in the economy’s largest business city.  Has 201 employees, 1 main secured  Has a higher value as a going concern—and creditor and 50 unsecured creditors. the efficient outcome is either reorganization or sale as a going concern, not piecemeal liquidation. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 93 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY Where does the economy stand today? Speed, low costs and continuation of viable businesses concern. The average recovery rate is 89.4 cents on the characterize the top-performing economies. How dollar. efficient are insolvency proceedings in Singapore? Globally, Singapore stands at 4 in the ranking of 189 According to data collected by Doing Business, economies on the ease of resolving insolvency (figure resolving insolvency takes 0.8 years on average and 11.1). The rankings for comparator economies and the costs 3% of the debtor’s estate, with the most likely regional average ranking provide other useful outcome being that the company will be sold as going benchmarks for assessing the efficiency of insolvency proceedings in Singapore. Figure 11.1 How Singapore and comparator economies rank on the ease of resolving insolvency Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 94 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY What are the changes over time? The benchmarks provided by the economies that over possible in improving the efficiency of insolvency time have had the best performance regionally or proceedings. And changes in regional averages can globally on the time or cost of insolvency proceedings show where Singapore is keeping up—and where it is or on the recovery rate (figure 11.2) help show what is falling behind. Figure 11.2 Has resolving insolvency become easier over time? Time (years) Cost (% of estate) Doing Business 2014 Singapore 95 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) Note: DB2013 rankings shown are not last year’s published rankings but comparable rankings for DB2013 that capture the effects of such factors as data corrections and the addition of 4 economies (Libya, Myanmar, San Marino and South Sudan) to the sample this year. “No practice” indicates that in each of the previous 5 years the economy had no cases involving a judicial reorganization, judicial liquidation or debt enforcement procedure (foreclosure). This means that creditors are unlikely to recover their money through a formal legal process (in or out of court). The recovery rate for “no practice” economies is 0. Regional averages on time and cost exclude economies with a “no practice” mark. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 96 RESOLVING INSOLVENCY A well-balanced bankruptcy system distinguishes change. Many recent reforms of bankruptcy laws have companies that are financially distressed but been aimed at helping more of the viable businesses economically viable from inefficient companies that survive. What insolvency reforms has Doing Business should be liquidated. But in some insolvency systems recorded in Singapore (table 11.1)? even viable businesses are liquidated. This is starting to Table 11.1 How has Singapore made resolving insolvency easier—or not? By Doing Business report year DB year Reform DB2009 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2010 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2011 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2014 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Note: For information on reforms in earlier years (back to DB2005), see the Doing Business reports for these years, available at http://www.doingbusiness.org. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 97 EMPLOYING WORKERS Doing Business measures flexibility in the regulation of employing workers methodology proposed by the employment, specifically as it affects the hiring and consultative group are available on the Doing Business redundancy of workers and the rigidity of working website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). The data on hours. Over the period from 2007 to 2011 employing workers are based on a detailed survey of improvements were made to align the methodology employment regulations that is completed by local for the employing workers indicators with the letter lawyers and public officials. Employment laws and and spirit of the International Labour Organization regulations as well as secondary sources are reviewed (ILO) conventions. Only 4 of the 188 ILO conventions to ensure accuracy. cover areas measured by Doing Business: employee To make the data comparable across economies, termination, weekend work, holiday with pay and night several assumptions about the worker and the work. The Doing Business methodology is fully business are used. consistent with these 4 conventions. The ILO conventions covering areas related to the Employing The worker: Workers indicators do not include the ILO core labor  Earns a salary plus benefits equal to the standards—8 conventions covering the right to economy’s average wage during the entire collective bargaining, the elimination of forced labor, period of his employment. the abolition of child labor and equitable treatment in  Has a pay period that is the most common for workers in the economy. employment practices.  Is a lawful citizen who belongs to the same race and religion as the majority of the Between 2009 and 2011 the World Bank Group worked economy’s population. with a consultative group—including labor lawyers,  Resides in the economy’s largest business city. employer and employee representatives, and experts  Is not a member of a labor union, unless from the ILO, OECD, civil society and the private membership is mandatory. sector—to review the employing workers methodology and explore future areas of research. A i The business:  Is a limited liability company. full report with the conclusions of the consultative  Operates in the economy’s largest business group is available at city. http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology/employin  Is 100% domestically owned. g-workers.  Operates in the manufacturing sector.  Has 60 employees. This year Doing Business continued research collecting  Is subject to collective bargaining agreements additional data on regulations covering the in economies where such agreements cover probationary period for new employees. more than half the manufacturing sector and apply even to firms not party to them. Doing Business 2014 presents the data on the  Abides by every law and regulation but does not grant workers more benefits than employing workers indicators in an annex. The report mandated by law, regulation or (if applicable) does not present rankings of economies on the collective bargaining agreement. employing workers indicators nor include the topic in the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business. Detailed data collected on labor regulations and the Doing Business 2014 Singapore 98 EMPLOYING WORKERS What do some of the data show? One of the employing workers indicators is the worker in his or her first job. Doing Business data show difficulty of hiring index. This measure assesses, among the trend in the minimum wage applied by Singapore other things, the minimum wage for a 19-year-old (figure 12.1). Figure 12.1 Has the minimum wage for a 19-year-old worker or an apprentice increased over time? Minimum wage (US$ per month) Note: A horizontal line along the x-axis of the figure indicates that the economy has no minimum wage. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 99 EMPLOYING WORKERS Employment laws are needed to protect workers from past 5 years did so in ways that increased labor market arbitrary or unfair treatment and to ensure efficient flexibility. What changes did Singapore adopt that contracting between employers and workers. Many affected the Doing Business indicators on employing economies that changed their labor regulations in the workers (table 12.1)? Table 12.1 What changes did Singapore make in employing workers in 2013? DB year Reform DB2009 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2010 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2011 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2012 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2013 No reform as measured by Doing Business. DB2014 No reform as measured by Doing Business. Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 100 EMPLOYING WORKERS What are the details? The data on employing workers reported here for lawyers and public officials. Employment laws and Singapore are based on a detailed survey of regulations as well as secondary sources are reviewed employment regulations that is completed by local to ensure accuracy. Rigidity of employment index The rigidity of employment index measures 3 areas of labor regulation: difficulty of hiring, rigidity of hours and difficulty of redundancy. Difficulty of hiring index The difficulty of hiring index measures whether fixed- worker. (The average value added per worker is the term contracts are prohibited for permanent tasks; the ratio of an economy’s gross national income per capita maximum cumulative duration of fixed-term contracts; to the working-age population as a percentage of the and the ratio of the minimum wage for a trainee or total population.) first-time employee to the average value added per Difficulty of hiring index Data Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks? No Maximum length of a single fixed-term contract (months) No limit Maximum length of fixed-term contracts, including renewals (months) No limit Minimum wage for a 19-year old worker or an apprentice (US$/month) 0.0 Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker 0.00 Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 101 EMPLOYING WORKERS Rigidity of hours index The rigidity of hours index has 5 components: whether respond to a seasonal increase in production; and there are restrictions on night work; whether there are whether the average paid annual leave for a worker restrictions on weekly holiday work; whether the with 1 year of tenure, a worker with 5 years and a workweek can consist of 5.5 days or is more than 6 worker with 10 years is more than 26 working days or days; whether the workweek can extend to 50 hours or fewer than 15 working days. more (including overtime) for 2 months a year to Rigidity of hours index Data 8 hours (For employees earning less than S$1600/month, the normal workday in the absence of any Standard workday in manufacturing (hours) agreement is 8 or 9 hrs., depending on the situation. Overtime is payable beyond these hours.) 50-hour workweek allowed for 2 months a year in case of a seasonal Yes increase in production? Maximum working days per week 6.0 Premium for night work (% of hourly pay) in case of continuous 0% operations Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay) in case of 100% continuous operations Major restrictions on night work in case of continuous operations? No Major restrictions on weekly holiday in case of continuous operations? No Paid annual leave for a worker with 1 year of tenure (in working days) 7.0 Paid annual leave for a worker with 5 years of tenure (in working days) 11.0 Paid annual leave for a worker with 10 years of tenure (in working days) 14.0 Paid annual leave (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure, in 10.7 working days) Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 102 EMPLOYING WORKERS Difficulty of redundancy index The difficulty of redundancy index has 8 components: worker; whether the employer needs approval from a whether redundancy is disallowed as a basis for third party to terminate a group of 9 redundant terminating workers; whether the employer needs to workers; whether the law requires the employer to notify a third party (such as a government agency) to reassign or retrain a worker before making the worker terminate 1 redundant worker; whether the employer redundant; whether priority rules apply for needs to notify a third party to terminate a group of 9 redundancies; and whether priority rules apply for redundant workers; whether the employer needs reemployment. approval from a third party to terminate 1 redundant Difficulty of redundancy index Data Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law? Yes Third-party notification if 1 worker is dismissed? No Third-party approval if 1 worker is dismissed? No Third-party notification if 9 workers are dismissed? No Third-party approval if 9 workers are dismissed? No Retraining or reassignment obligation before redundancy? No Priority rules for redundancies? No Priority rules for reemployment? No Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 103 EMPLOYING WORKERS Redundancy cost The redundancy cost indicator measures the cost of notice requirements and severance payments advance notice requirements, severance payments and applicable to a worker with 1 year of tenure, a worker penalties due when terminating a redundant worker, with 5 years and a worker with 10 years is used to expressed in weeks of salary. The average value of assign the score. Redundancy cost indicator Data Notice period for redundancy dismissal (for a worker with 1 year of tenure, in salary 1.0 weeks) Notice period for redundancy dismissal (for a worker with 5 years of tenure, in 4.0 salary weeks) Notice period for redundancy dismissal (for a worker with 10 years of tenure, in 4.0 salary weeks) Notice period for redundancy dismissal (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years 3.0 of tenure, in salary weeks) Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (for a worker with 1 year of tenure, in 0.0 salary weeks) Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (for a worker with 5 years of tenure, in 0.0 salary weeks) Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (for a worker with 10 years of tenure, in 0.0 salary weeks) Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years 0.0 of tenure, in salary weeks) Source: Doing Business database. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 104 DATA NOTES The indicators presented and analyzed in Doing rounds of verification, leading to revisions or Business measure business regulation and the expansions of the information collected. protection of property rights—and their effect on businesses, especially small and medium-size domestic firms. First, the indicators document the complexity of ECONOMY CHARACTERISTICS regulation, such as the number of procedures to start a business or to register and transfer commercial property. Second, they gauge the time and cost to Gross national income per capita achieve a regulatory goal or comply with regulation, such as the time and cost to enforce a contract, go Doing Business 2014 reports 2012 income per capita through bankruptcy or trade across borders. Third, as published in the World Bank’s World Development they measure the extent of legal protections of Indicators 2013. Income is calculated using the Atlas property, for example, the protections of investors method (current U.S. dollars). For cost indicators against looting by company directors or the range of expressed as a percentage of income per capita, assets that can be used as collateral according to 2012 gross national income (GNI) in U.S. dollars is secured transactions laws. Fourth, a set of indicators used as the denominator. GNI data were not documents the tax burden on businesses. Finally, a set available from the World Bank for Afghanistan, The of data covers different aspects of employment Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Brunei Darussalam, regulation. The 11 sets of indicators measured in Djibouti, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Doing Business were added over time, and the sample Myanmar, New Zealand, Oman, San Marino, the of economies expanded. Syrian Arab Republic, West Bank and Gaza, and the Republic of Yemen. In these cases GDP or GNP per The data for all sets of indicators in Doing Business 2 capita data and growth rates from other sources, 2014 are for June 2013. such as the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook database and the Economist Intelligence Unit, were used. Methodology Region and income group The Doing Business data are collected in a standardized way. To start, the Doing Business team, Doing Business uses the World Bank regional and with academic advisers, designs a questionnaire. The income group classifications, available at questionnaire uses a simple business case to ensure http://data.worldbank.org/about/country- classifications. The World Bank does not assign comparability across economies and over time—with regional classifications to high-income economies. assumptions about the legal form of the business, its For the purpose of the Doing Business report, high- size, its location and the nature of its operations. income OECD economies are assigned the “regional” Questionnaires are administered to more than 10,200 classification OECD high income. Figures and tables local experts, including lawyers, business consultants, presenting regional averages include economies accountants, freight forwarders, government officials from all income groups (low, lower middle, upper and other professionals routinely administering or middle and high income). advising on legal and regulatory requirements (table Population 21.2). These experts have several rounds of interaction with the Doing Business team, involving conference Doing Business 2014 reports midyear 2012 calls, written correspondence and visits by the team. population statistics as published in World For Doing Business 2014 team members visited 33 Development Indicators 2013. economies to verify data and recruit respondents. The data from questionnaires are subjected to numerous The Doing Business methodology offers several advantages. It is transparent, using factual information about what laws and regulations say and allowing 2 The data for paying taxes refer to January – December 2012. multiple interactions with local respondents to clarify Doing Business 2014 Singapore 105 potential misinterpretations of questions. Having entrepreneurs reported in the World Bank Enterprise representative samples of respondents is not an issue; Surveys or other perception surveys. Doing Business is not a statistical survey, and the texts This year Doing Business completed subnational of the relevant laws and regulations are collected and studies in Colombia, Italy and the city of Hargeisa answers checked for accuracy. The methodology is (Somaliland) and is currently updating indicators in inexpensive and easily replicable, so data can be Egypt, Mexico and Nigeria. Doing Business also collected in a large sample of economies. Because published regional studies for the g7+ and the East standard assumptions are used in the data collection, African Community. The g7+ group is a country- comparisons and benchmarks are valid across owned and country-led global mechanism established economies. Finally, the data not only highlight the in April 2010 to monitor, report and draw attention to extent of specific regulatory obstacles to business but the unique challenges faced by fragile states. The also identify their source and point to what might be member countries included in the report are reformed. Information on the methodology for each Afghanistan, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Doing Business topic can be found on the Doing Chad, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Business website at Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology. Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Timor-Leste and Togo. Limits to what is measured The subnational studies point to differences in business regulation and its implementation—as well as The Doing Business methodology has 5 limitations that in the pace of regulatory reform—across cities in the should be considered when interpreting the data. First, same economy. For several economies subnational the collected data refer to businesses in the economy’s studies are now periodically updated to measure largest business city (which in some economies differs change over time or to expand geographic coverage from the capital) and may not be representative of to additional cities. This year that is the case for all the regulation in other parts of the economy. To address subnational studies published. this limitation, subnational Doing Business indicators were created (box 21.1). Second, the data often focus on a specific business form—generally a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent) of a specified Changes in what is measured size—and may not be representative of the regulation The methodology for 2 indicator sets—trading across on other businesses, for example, sole proprietorships. borders and paying taxes—was updated this year. For Third, transactions described in a standardized case trading across borders, documents that are required scenario refer to a specific set of issues and may not purely for purposes of preferential treatment are no represent the full set of issues a business encounters. longer included in the list of documents (for example, Fourth, the measures of time involve an element of a certificate of origin if the use is only to qualify for a judgment by the expert respondents. When sources preferential tariff rate under trade agreements). For indicate different estimates, the time indicators paying taxes, the value of fuel taxes is no longer reported in Doing Business represent the median included in the total tax rate because of the difficulty values of several responses given under the of computing these taxes in a consistent way across all assumptions of the standardized case. economies covered. The fuel tax amounts are in most cases very small, and measuring these amounts is Finally, the methodology assumes that a business has often complicated because they depend on fuel full information on what is required and does not consumption. Fuel taxes continue to be counted in the waste time when completing procedures. In practice, number of payments. completing a procedure may take longer if the business lacks information or is unable to follow up In a change involving several indicator sets, the rule promptly. Alternatively, the business may choose to establishing that each procedure must take at least 1 disregard some burdensome procedures. For both day was removed for procedures that can be fully reasons the time delays reported in Doing Business completed online in just a few hours. This change 2014 would differ from the recollection of affects the time indicator for starting a business, Doing Business 2014 Singapore 106 dealing with construction permits and registering with one another, while the distance to frontier property. For procedures that can be fully completed measure benchmarks economies to the frontier in 3 online, the duration is now set at half a day rather than regulatory practice, measuring the absolute distance to a full day. the best performance on each indicator. Both measures can be used for comparisons over time. The threshold for the total tax rate introduced in 2011 When compared across years, the distance to frontier for the purpose of calculating the ranking on the ease measure shows how much the regulatory environment of paying taxes was updated. All economies with a for local entrepreneurs in each economy has changed total tax rate below the threshold (which is calculated over time in absolute terms, while the ease of doing and adjusted on a yearly basis) receive the same business ranking can show only relative change. ranking on the total tax rate indicator. The threshold is not based on any economic theory of an “optimal tax Ease of doing business rate” that minimizes distortions or maximizes efficiency The ease of doing business index ranks economies in the tax system of an economy overall. Instead, it is from 1 to 189. For each economy the ranking is mainly empirical in nature, set at the lower end of the calculated as the simple average of the percentile distribution of tax rates levied on medium-size rankings on each of the 10 topics included in the index enterprises in the manufacturing sector as observed in Doing Business 2014: starting a business, dealing through the paying taxes indicators. This reduces the with construction permits, getting electricity, bias in the indicators toward economies that do not registering property, getting credit, protecting need to levy significant taxes on companies like the investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, Doing Business standardized case study company enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency. The because they raise public revenue in other ways—for employing workers indicators are not included in this example, through taxes on foreign companies, through year’s aggregate ease of doing business ranking. taxes on sectors other than manufacturing or from natural resources (all of which are outside the scope of Construction of the ease of doing business index the methodology). This year the threshold is 25,5%. Here is one example of how the ease of doing business index is constructed. In Denmark it takes 4 procedures, 5.5 days and 0.2% of annual income per capita in fees Data challenges and revisions to open a business. The minimum capital requirement Most laws and regulations underlying the Doing is 24% of annual income per capita. On these 4 Business data are available on the Doing Business indicators Denmark ranks in the 12th, 11th, 1st and website at http://www.doingbusiness.org. All the 79th percentiles. So on average Denmark ranks in the sample questionnaires and the details underlying the 25th percentile on the ease of starting a business. It indicators are also published on the website. Questions ranks in the 21st percentile on getting credit, 19th on the methodology and challenges to data can be percentile on paying taxes, 27th percentile on submitted through the website’s “Ask a Question” enforcing contracts, 5th percentile on resolving function at http://www.doingbusiness.org. insolvency and so on. Higher rankings indicate simpler regulation and stronger protection of property rights. Ease of doing business and distance to The simple average of Denmark’s percentile rankings frontier on all topics is 17th. When all economies are ordered Doing Business 2014 presents results for 2 aggregate by their average percentile rankings, Denmark stands measures: the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing at 5 in the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business and the distance to frontier measure. The business. ease of doing business ranking compares economies More complex aggregation methods—such as 3 For getting electricity the rule that each procedure must take a principal components and unobserved components— minimum of 1 day still applies because in practice there are no yield a ranking nearly identical to the simple average cases in which procedures can be fully completed online in less than a day. For example, even though in some cases it is possible to apply for an electricity connection online, additional requirements mean that the process cannot be completed in less than 1 day. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 107 4 used by Doing Business. Thus, Doing Business uses 58 on enforcing contracts, 116 on dealing with the simplest method: weighting all topics equally and, construction permits and 145 on getting electricity. within each topic, giving equal weight to each of the Variation in performance across the indicator sets is topic components. not at all unusual. It reflects differences in the degree If an economy has no laws or regulations covering a of priority that government authorities give to specific area—for example, insolvency—it receives a particular areas of business regulation reform and the “no practice” mark. Similarly, an economy receives a ability of different government agencies to deliver “no practice” or “not possible” mark if regulation exists tangible results in their area of responsibility. but is never used in practice or if a competing Distance to frontier measure regulation prohibits such practice. Either way, a “no practice” mark puts the economy at the bottom of the A drawback of the ease of doing business ranking is ranking on the relevant indicator. that it can measure the regulatory performance of economies only relative to the performance of others. The ease of doing business index is limited in scope. It It does not provide information on how the absolute does not account for an economy’s proximity to large quality of the regulatory environment is improving markets, the quality of its infrastructure services (other over time. Nor does it provide information on how than services related to trading across borders and large the gaps are between economies at a single getting electricity), the strength of its financial system, point in time. the security of property from theft and looting, macroeconomic conditions or the strength of The distance to frontier measure is designed to underlying institutions. address both shortcomings, complementing the ease of doing business ranking. This measure illustrates the Variability of economies’ rankings across topics distance of an economy to the “frontier,” and th e Each indicator set measures a different aspect of the change in the measure over time shows the extent to business regulatory environment. The rankings of an which the economy has closed this gap. The frontier is economy can vary, sometimes significantly, across a score derived from the most efficient practice or indicator sets. The average correlation coefficient highest score achieved on each of the component between the 10 indicator sets included in the indicators in 10 Doing Business indicator sets aggregate ranking is 0.38, and the coefficients (excluding the employing workers indicators) by any between any 2 sets of indicators range from 0.18 economy. In starting a business, for example, Canada (between getting electricity and getting credit) to 0.58 and New Zealand have achieved the highest (between trading across borders and resolving performance on the number of procedures required (1) insolvency and between trading across borders and and on the time (0.5 days), Denmark and Slovenia on getting electricity). These correlations suggest that the cost (0% of income per capita) and Chile, Zambia economies rarely score universally well or universally and 99 other economies on the paid-in minimum badly on the indicators. capital requirement (0% of income per capita) (table 22.2). Consider the example of Canada. It stands at 19 in the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business. Its Calculating the distance to frontier for each economy ranking is 2 on starting a business, 4 on protecting involves 2 main steps. First, individual indicator scores investors, and 8 on paying taxes. But its ranking is only are normalized to a common unit: except for the total tax rate, each of the 31 component indicators y is rescaled to (max − y)/(max − min), with the minimum 4 See Simeon Djankov, Darshini Manraj, Caralee McLiesh and Rita Ramalho, “Doing Business Indicators: Why Aggregate, and How to value (min) representing the frontier—the highest Do It” (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005). Principal components performance on that indicator across all economies and unobserved components methods yield a ranking nearly since 2003 or the first year the indicator was collected. 5 identical to that from the simple average method because both these methods assign roughly equal weights to the topics, since the For the total tax rate, consistent with the calculation of pairwise correlations among indicators do not differ much. An alternative to the simple average method is to give different weights to the topics, depending on which are considered of more or less 5 Even though scores for the distance to frontier are calculated from importance in the context of a specific economy. 2005, data from as early as 2003 are used to define the frontier Doing Business 2014 Singapore 108 the rankings, the frontier is defined as the total tax rate Economies that improved the most across 3 or at the 15th percentile of the overall distribution of more Doing Business topics in 2012/13 total tax rates for all years. Second, for each economy Doing Business 2014 uses a simple method to calculate the scores obtained for individual indicators are which economies improved the most in the ease of aggregated through simple averaging into one doing business. First, it selects the economies that in distance to frontier score, first for each topic and then 2012/13 implemented regulatory reforms making it across all topics. An economy’s distance to frontier is easier to do business in 3 or more of the 10 topics indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents included in this year’s ease of doing business ranking. 6 the lowest performance and 100 the frontier. Twenty-nine economies meet this criterion: Azerbaijan, The maximum (max) and minimum (min) observed Belarus, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Djibouti, values are computed for all economies included in the Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, the Doing Business sample since 2003 and for all years former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malaysia, (from 2003 to 2013). To mitigate the effects of extreme Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, outliers in the distributions of the rescaled data (very Panama, the Philippines, the Republic of Congo, few economies need 694 days to complete the Romania, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, procedures to start a business, but many need 9 days), Ukraine, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates. th the maximum (max) is defined as the 95 percentile of Second, Doing Business sorts these economies on the the pooled data for all economies and all years for increase in their distance to frontier measure from the each indicator. The exceptions are the getting credit, previous year using comparable data. protecting investors and resolving insolvency Selecting the economies that implemented regulatory indicators, whose construction precludes outliers. In reforms in at least 3 topics and improved the most in addition, the cost to export and cost to import for each the distance to frontier measure is intended to year are divided by the GDP deflator, so as to take the highlight economies with ongoing, broadbased reform general price level into account when benchmarking programs. The criterion for identifying the top these absolute-cost indicators across economies with improvers was changed from last year. The different inflation trends. The base year for the deflator improvement in ease of doing business ranking is no is 2013 for all economies. longer used. The improvement in the distance to The difference between an economy’s distance to frontier measure is used instead because under this frontier score in any previous year and its score in measure economies are sorted according to their abs- 2013 illustrates the extent to which the economy has olute improvement instead of relative improvement. closed the gap to the frontier over time. And in any given year the score measures how far an economy is from the highest performance at that time. Take Colombia, which has a score of 70.5 on the distance to frontier measure for 2014. This score indicates that the economy is 29.5 percentage points away from the frontier constructed from the best performances across all economies and all years. Colombia was further from the frontier in 2009, with a score of 66.2. The difference between the scores shows an improvement over time. The distance to frontier measure can also be used for comparisons across economies in the same year, complementing the ease of doing business ranking. For example, Colombia stands at 63 this year in the ease of doing business ranking, while Peru, which is 6 Doing Business reforms making it more difficult to do business are 29.3 percentage points from the frontier, stands at 42. subtracted from the total number of those making it easier to do business. Doing Business 2014 Singapore 110 RESOURCES ON THE DOING BUSINESS WEBSITE Current features Doing Business reforms News on the Doing Business project Short summaries of DB2014 business regulation http://www.doingbusiness.org reforms, lists of reforms since DB2008 and a ranking simulation tool Rankings http://www.doingbusiness.org/reforms/ How economies rank—from 1 to 189 http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings/ Historical data Customized data sets since DB2004 Data http://www.doingbusiness.org/custom-query/ All the data for 189 economies—topic rankings, indicator values, lists of regulatory procedures and Law library details underlying indicators Online collection of business laws and regulations http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/ relating to business and gender issues http://www.doingbusiness.org/law-library/ Reports http://wbl.worldbank.org/ Access to Doing Business reports as well as subnational and regional reports, reform case Contributors studies and customized economy and regional More than 10,200 specialists in 189 economies profiles who participate in Doing Business http://www.doingbusiness.org/reports/ http://www.doingbusiness.org/contributors/doing- business/ Methodology The methodologies and research papers Entrepreneurship data underlying Doing Business Data on business density for 139 economies http://www.doingbusiness.org/methodology/ http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploretopics/e ntrepreneurship Research Abstracts of papers on Doing Business topics and Doing Business iPhone App related policy issues Doing Business at a Glance App presents the full http://www.doingbusiness.org/research/ report, rankings and highlights http://www.doingbusiness.org/specialfeatures/ iphone Doing Business 2014 Singapore 111