Commercial Law

In September 2002, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the “Seldon Project” for Global Trade Law Assessment and Assistance to develop and apply an assessment tool that identifies inefficiencies in the commercial laws and institutions of developing countries. By identifying key gaps between the law and implementation, the assessment tool assists governments, donor organizations, and private sector and civil society stakeholders in designing and targeting legislative, organization improvement, and capacity-building projects to maximize the effectiveness of commercial reform efforts. In September 2006, as a continuation of the Seldon Project, USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade, Office of Economic Growth commissioned support to promote improved business climates, sustained economic growth, and transformational development through reform of commercial laws, regulations, and institutional capacity-building in target countries. The vehicle for this work is the BizCLIR Project. Booz Allen supported the Seldon Project and with USAID created the methodology that BizCLIR used. The program continues to expand, offering a broad array of technical assistance services and knowledge products in addition to the diagnostic tools. Due to requests from USAID Missions and countries to address the concerns raised in the Doing Business Reports, the BizCLIR Project decided to reorganize the assessment using the topics of the Doing Business Report in order to reinforce the link between the two efforts and to enhance clarity.