DOING BUSINESS REFORMS A BOTSWANA PERSPECTIVE ALRAESA CONFERENCE

DOING BUSINESS REFORMS: A BOTSWANA PERSPECTIVE ALRAESA CONFERENCE AND EXECUTIVE MEETING, 2017 (MAURITIUS) Presented by: Khursheed Rossenkhan Attorney-General’s Chambers Botswana 1

BOTSWANA 2

BRIEF FACTS Democratic country in Southern Africa v Landlocked – Neighbours: South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia v Population: Approximately 2 million v Total area: 6, 300 000 km 2 (approx. size of France) v 3

BOTSWANA’S JOURNEY v Due to the discovery of vast mineral resources, heavily reliant on mineral revenue since independence (1966) v 2011 – Government started efforts towards improving the Doing Business environment v Objectives – Promotion of investor-friendly climate Standardisation of Government processes and procedures for ease of doing business Promote efficiency and effectiveness of Government processes and procedures § § § 4

v 2013 - With the assistance of key international partners, developed the Reforms Roadmap v 2015 – Roadmap approved by Cabinet and launched v Doing Business Reform Action Plan and Roadmap provides for both legal and administrative reforms 5

v Need to track reforms v Resulted in – § Formation of the National Doing Business Committee § HLCC § NSO 6

Reforms identified v v Administrative and legal Legal (ongoing) – TITLE OF LEGISLATION Data Protection Bill Cybercrime and Computer Related Crimes Bill Trade Bill Companies Re-Registration Bill Registration of Business Names Bill Companies (Amendment) Bill Transfer Duty (Amendment) Bill Customs Bill Deeds Registry (Amendment) Bill Industrial Development Bill 7

Reforms identified cont’d v Legal reforms completed/no instructions received Title of Legislation Status Electronic Communications and Transactions Act Income Tax (Amendment) Bill Published Electronic Records (Evidence) Act Published Trade Disputes (Amendment) Act Published Securities (Persons Operating a Securities Infrastructure Business) Regulations Published Securities (Institutions Licensing) Regulations Amendment of Environmental Assessment Act Amendment of Public Finance Management Act Amendment of Environmental Assessment Regulations Published Building Control Regulations No instructions received yet 8

CHALLENGES v Small and developing country v Slow pace of reforms v Ministries slow to generate instructions v Lack of expertise v Lack of resources v Ministries operating with Silo mentality v Legislative Drafting Division inundated with numerous instructions 9

v No RIA (A tool used to prepare, consult and assess the impacts of proposed regulation) v No GLP v No dedicated Law Reform Agency/Institution 10

LAW REFORM BILL v 2006 : Cabinet approved drafting of a Law Reform Bill v Skepticism – § “Bigger fish to fry” § relevance and importance § Limited access to water, power, basic IT services – rural areas § plethora of statutory bodies being created 11

IMPORTANCE v Result § § in an essential structure that will facilitate all Ministries in ensuring that legislation proposals are thoroughly researched in order to ensure their – legality implementability effectiveness comprehensiveness. 12

v Changes § § § in policy with respect to Bill Int’l best practice – setting up an autonomous Law Reform Agency Parastatal established to carry out law reform mandate AGC to be authorised to perform law reform mandate Law reform mandate to be given to Government Department Law reform mandate to be a unit within a Ministry 13

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WAY FORWARD v Long journey ahead v Possible urgent interventions – § continuing to urge prioritization of Bill § Soliciting of comments from regional/international experts in the field § Benchmarking with other laws, including model laws, regionally and internationally 15

USEFUL WEBSITES v SADC Doing Business Report and Rankings http: //www. doingbusiness. org/reports/~/media/WBG/Doing Business/Documents/Profiles/Regional/DB 2017/SADC. p df v Regulatory Impact Assessment http: //rulemaking. worldbank. org/ria-documents 16

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION 17