|
Between the lines: Legal review reveals reforms
First EBRD Country Law Assessment evaluates Slovenia’s commercial laws
The EBRD is launching a new means of judging the progress made by a single
country in making its commercial law internationally acceptable. Slovenia is
the first country to be assessed, in a report published today on www.ebrd.com.
The new tool, known as a Country Law Assessment, draws on more than a decade
of experience by the Bank in tracking legal transition across central and
eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Each assessment
evaluates core commercial laws using international standards as a benchmark –
and takes a hard look at how laws actually work in practice, drawing on the
views of local lawyers working in private practice.
Slovenia, for instance, is found to have made extensive reforms in the legal
system it inherited from the former Yugoslavia. Its path towards joining the
European Union earlier in 2004 has been smoothed not only by the establishment
of a market-oriented economy and stable democratic institutions but also by
significant progress in its legislative alignment to the acquis communautaire.
Yet, although it has developed a legal system comparable to that of other
advanced transition countries in central and eastern Europe, the assessment
reveals that a number of aspects of Slovenia’s commercial law remain to be
reformed. A draft Law on Concessions, prepared with EBRD assistance, is
designed to improve the situation. Insolvency laws are in particular need of
reform, as reflected in the assessment which identifies where specifically the
law is deficient. The table below is taken from the assessment and reveals
that the reorganisation processes and the treatment of estate assets are
perceived as particularly weak in Slovenian insolvency law.
Quality of insolvency legislation –
Slovenia (2004)
 (0.1Mb)
Assessments for other countries will be released when the corresponding
country strategy is published on the Bank’s website.
The Country Law Assessments are published primarily for the benefit of those
who make or influence legal reform policy in the countries in which the EBRD
operates. It is hoped that they will also be of value to everyone interested
in understanding the commercial laws in the region and how they work.
|
