Transcript ICYEGERANYO CY`IBYAGEZWEHO NA SENA (2003

CONFERENCE ON THE IMPACT OF LAW
REFORMS IN DOING BUSINESS IN RWANDA
Venue: Parliament Building
Date: 21st – 22nd November 2013
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF VOTED
LAWS IN DOING BUSINESS IN
RWANDA
Presented by Hon.RUGEMA Michel
 Introduction
 Rwanda before laws reform
 Laws reform in Rwanda
 Impact of laws in doing business
 Way forward
 Conclusion
 Through its indicators, Doing Business measures and
trucks changes in the economies that have no
regulations in the area being measured or do not apply
their regulations, penalizing them for lacking
appropriate regulations.
 The economies ranking highest on the ease of doing
business therefore are those whose governments have
managed to create a regular system with strong
institutions and low transactions costs.
World Bank indicators on "Doing Business“:
 Starting a business;
 Registering a property;
 Dealing with licenses;
 Getting a credit;
 Protecting investors;
 Paying taxes.
 “…..We aim, through this Vision, to transform our
country into a middle - income nation in which
Rwandans are healthier, educated and generally
more prosperous. The Rwanda we seek is one that
is united and competitive both regionally and
globally.”
(Vision 2020, Foreword message from HE Paul Kagame,
President of the Republic of Rwanda).
 The 2003 Constitution sets up a range of institutions in
order to promote economic growth, social welfare and
good governance;
 Rwanda has made tremendous progress in various
sectors, and a significant change of the legal
framework;
 In just six years, the country has moved from 150th
position to 32nd on the Index as of June 2013;
 Numerous laws have been enacted with an aim of
facilitating doing business in Rwanda.
 Before laws reform, Rwanda was at 139th Place in 155
countries (2006) according to a report of World Bank
Doing business indicators;
 In EAC, Rwanda was at the 3rd Place within the five
EAC member countries;
 To start a business, it t00k 43 days, cost 534$US and it
took 9 procedures;
 Since 2000, Rwanda developed a strong institutional
pipeline for designing and implementing business
regulation reforms;
 Since 2004, Rwanda has substantially improved access to
credit, streamlined procedures for starting a business,
reduced the time to register a property, simplified crossborder trade and made courts more accessible for resolving
commercial disputes;
 The business reforms are part of the government’s
extensive efforts to promote Rwanda as an attractive
business and investment destination, in order to drive the
growth of the private sector and generate wealth;
 The Parliament has played a key role in promoting a good
business environment by voting and enacting related laws.
Especially, for the period from 2009-2011;
 The Parliament passed business laws which match with the
global best practices;
 Examples of some reformed laws:
1. Law N° 07/2009 of 27/04/2009 relating to companies
 There is no requirement of minimum capital to start with and
there is no mandatory requirement to register your company while
in Kigali;
You can register online wherever you are;
The
requirement to have Articles of Association is no longer
there;
A company of one person is accepted;
Law N°13/2009 of 27/05/2009 regulating labor in Rwanda ( All
sectors)
 A balanced employee/employer relationship is created;
 In response to the Private Sector’s concern, a 3-month maternity
leave was reduced to one month and half;
An employee can enter into more than one employment contract;
3. Law N° 10/2009 of 14/05/2009 on mortgages ( Finance)
 Any owner of an immovable property has the right to mortgage
all or part of his property to secure an existing or a future debt;
A mortgage is considered to be valid when recorded in the
mortgage register in the office of the Registrar General;
The Registrar General of companies’ activities is also the
Registrar General of mortgages;
4. Law N° 11/2009 of 14/05/2009 on security interests in movable
property (Finance)

This Law governs security interests in Movable Property.
2.
5. Law Nº12/2009 of 26/05/2009 relating to commercial recovery and
settling of issues arising from insolvency (concern all companies)
 This Law governs all commercial recovery proceedings and the
settling of issues arising from insolvency whether related to a trader or
a company.
6. Law N°16/2010 of 07/05/2010 governing credit information system
in Rwanda (Finance)
All banks and micro finance companies are subscribed with the credit
reference bureau;
Other subscribers include utility providers and we look forward to
having others like supermarkets.
7. Law N°40/2011 of 20/09/2011 regulating collective investment
scheme in Rwanda ( Finance)
5. Other doing business related Laws and their purposes
Title of Approved and Published Laws.
Law n°2 of 11/03/96 on Privatization and Public Investment (
Finance);
Law no 05/2008 of 14/02/2008 on arbitration and conciliation in
commercial matters;
Law No. 8/99 of 18/6/1999 Relating to Regulations Governing
Banks and Other Financial Institutions ( Finance)
Law No. 09/2006 of 02/03/2006 Modifying and Complementing
Law N° 18/2004 of 20/06/2004 Relating to the Civil, Commercial,
Labour and Administrative Procedures ;
Investment Code (All companies );
 Organic law No 43/2013 of 16/06/2013 governing Land
in Rwanda;
 Law N° 21/2006 of 28/04/2006 Establishing the
Customs System ( All companies);
 Law no 40/2008 of 26/08/2008 establishing the
organization of Micro finance activities ( Finance);
 Law no 32/2009 of 18/11/2009 governing negotiable
instruments;
 Law N°15/2010 of 07/05/2010 creating and organizing
condominiums and setting up procedures for their
registration;
 Law Nº 18/2010 of 12/05/2010 relating to electronic
messages, electronic signatures and electronic
transactions.
 Law no 31/2009 of 26/10/2009 on the protection of
Intellectual Property
( Manufacturing and ICT);
 Law N°01/2011 of 10/02/2011 regulating capital market
in Rwanda ( Finance);
 Law N°05/2011 of 21/03/2011 regulating special
economic zones in Rwanda (All companies);
Laws establishing key institutions for business promotion
 The
Parliament passed the Law establishing the Rwanda
Development Board (RDB) with a mission of fast tracking
economic development in Rwanda by enabling private sector
growth;
 Law no 11/2011 of 18/05/2011 establishing the capital Market
Authority (CMA) and determining its mission, powers,
organization and functioning;
 Law n°51/2010 of 10/01/2010 establishing the Kigali International
Arbitration Centre and determining its organisation, functioning
and competence;
 Organic Law no 59/2009 of 16/12/2007 establishing the
Commercial Courts and determining their Organization,
functioning and Jurisdiction;
Role of law Reforms in Doing Business
 The reform of business law has significantly contributed to the ease of
doing business;
 Rwanda has become the # 2 global reformer over a period of 5 years from
2006-2011, after Georgia;
 Rwanda has become the 3rd easiest place to do business in Africa (1st is
Mauritius which ranks 23rd globally, and 2nd is South Africa which ranks
35th globally);
 Rwanda has improved in the following areas of Doing Business:
o Starting a business: Rwanda is the 8th easiest in the world from 9th last
year. This was eased by shortening required procedures and
introducing free online registration;
oGetting a credit: Rwanda ranks 8th in the world (from 32nd last year)
after putting in place a fully functional private credit reference bureau;
oPaying taxes: Rwanda moved from 43rd last year to 19th easiest place to
pay taxes in the world;
oEnforcing contracts: Rwanda is the 39th easiest in the world; this 39th
position remains unchanged from last year;
Impact of laws in doing business (Con’t.)
 Legal reform has eased doing business in various sectors
while giving the private sector confidence to go about their
business backed by law;
 The mortgage law amendment has fast tracked to encourage
banks to restart lending;
 It takes about three months for a commercial dispute to be
heard and disposed of, making Rwanda’s one of the top 50
fastest commercial judicial systems in the world;
 Some of the business laws have promoted investment in
innovation and new areas of business opportunity e.g.
electronic transactions etc.
Way Forward
 Reform is a process and not a one-off approach. We need to
ensure that the business laws voted are sustained, forward
looking and respond to the needs of the population;
 It is important to sensitize the business community to fully
understand these business laws and use them accordingly;
 Some reforms require regional efforts like in trading across
borders. There is therefore a need for a coordinated regional
approach in implementing some of these reforms by
implementing uniform laws.
Conclusion
 If we want investments to grow our economy, there is a
need to make our environment conducive and
attractive to both national and foreign investors;
 If we want respectability and recognition as a business
location, there is a strong need to improve efficiencies
and responsiveness of our Country’s systems;
 If we want our exports to grow, we must promote
investments in our productive capacity and
positioning our products in international markets.
Thank you for your
kind attention!!!