Romania's evolving legal framework for private sector development

Cheryl W. Gray, Rebecca J. Hanson and Peter G. Ianachkov

No 872, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: As the economies of Central and Eastern Europe move from central planning and state ownership to market-driven development of private sector activity, they are undertaking comprehensive change in the"rules of the game", the legal framework for economic activity. The authors analyze the evolving legal framework for private sector development in Romania. The government has worked intensively in the last two years to create a legal framework for a market economy. It has adopted not only a new constitution but also extensive new legislation covering real and intellectual property, companies, and foreign investment. It has revived the pre-war civil code as a basis for contract law, and is moving to modernize its bankruptcy code. The only area surveyed in which little legal reform has occurred is antimonopoly law. Challenges remain in both law and practice. The broad principles of private ownership, free market exchange, and equal treatment of public and private firms are well recognized and have been largely achieved. But a tendency towards centralized, bureaucratic control remains in excessive requirements for approval and uneconomic limits on certain activities. Moreover, implementation will take a long time because there is little or no institutional framework for enforcement and dispute resolution. Developing a body of regulation and case practice will take time.

Keywords: Environmental Economics&Policies; National Governance; Legal Products; Banks&Banking Reform; Real&Intellectual Property Law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1992-03-31
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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