This webinar originally aired on 29 June 2023.
This webinar presented findings from a recent study by the Business Environment Working Group of the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) on simplified legal statuses. Following the DCED paper on Dealing with Firm Informality (2021), the study takes a closer look at reforms that have introduced a legal form for business registration that is tailored to the characteristics of micro and small enterprises. These legal forms may entail simplified business registration, tailored tax requirements and non-fiscal incentives to formalize. These statuses are considered more attainable for smaller enterprises that would otherwise not consider formalization. In recent years, several countries have implemented such statuses for specific categories of enterprises, using criteria such as business size and sectors of operations.
Along with findings from the study, this webinar shared two case studies that highlighted lessons we can learn from simplified legal statuses as pathways to formality:
Ecuador: Implementation of the Organic Law of Entrepreneurs and Innovation, which introduced the Simplified Stock Company, S.A.S.
Cape Verde: REMPE regime for micro and small enterprises.
Speakers: Gabriel Rizza Ferraz (Consultant), Paúl Noboa Velasco (Lawyer &
Lecturer in Law, San Francisco de Quito University) & Nélida Fortes (Tax Inspector, Cape Verde). Moderator: Tania Ghossein (World Bank).
