JC&A worked with the Department of Enterprise Registration and Management (DERM) of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MOIC) and other relevant line ministries and agencies. The project’s objective was to streamline the processes and procedures to register a business in Lao PDR. It focused on implementing the enacted reforms to the business registration procedures proposed by JC&A during the 2017 BRP project.
The JC&A conducted a detailed process map to start a business in Lao PDR and, using BPR techniques, prepared a new re-engineered process. The proposal included eliminating inefficient and unnecessary tasks and reducing business time and cost. The reengineered process also included the adoption of online business registration.
The project focused on shifting governmental controls on business startups, including business registration, from an ex-ante to an ex-post approach, including rural and women-led enterprises. This was done by providing training and guidance to local registration offices and raising awareness about the new system amongst business stakeholders. JC&A also participated in reforming the Enterprise Law and other relevant legal measures and further improvements to the business registration process, for instance, accelerating the adoption of a “one business-one number” policy, which simplified the process of identifying a business in Lao PDR.
JC&A prepared the technical requirements for implementing a state-of-the-art online business registration system in Lao PDR.
The JC&A provided the following:
- Detailed guidelines on international practices for business registration
- Action plan to adopt the proposed legislative reforms to improve the World Bank Doing Business Starting of Business Indicator at national and provincial levels.
- Business registration process reengineering and adoption of related legislation
- Capacity building and training events to support the reform’s implementation
- Design and implementation of communication policy to disseminate the reforms
- Functional Requirement Specification/Design Document
Lao PDR, World Bank, 2019-2020
