Trade and Commercial Law Assessment - Honduras - Economic ...

TRADE AND COMMERCIAL LAW ASSESSMENT DECEMBER 2004
HONDURAS
♦ Real Property. The laws, procedures, and institutions responsible for establishing,
maintaining, and preserving rights in real property, including land, buildings, easements,
liens, and other interests in real property
♦ International Trade. The laws, procedures, and institutions governing cross-border sale
of goods and services.
With respect to the TradeStream diagnostic, the areas of inquiry are as follows:
♦ Flows of Goods and Services. Analyzes a nation’s ability to move goods and services
smoothly through ports of entry and throughout the country.
♦ Flows of Money and Flows of People. Similar to Goods and Services, these two sections
look at a nation’s ability to facilitate the entry and exit of financing and short and long
term business persons, respectively.
♦ Supporting Infrastructure. Assesses the capacities of a country’s physical infrastructure
relevant to trade, including sea- and airports, roads, railways, communications, and postal
services.
Within each of these substantive areas, four dimensions of CLIR were examined as a conceptual
framework for comparison. These include the following:
♦ Framework Laws. Basic legal documents that define and regulate the substantive rights,
duties, and obligations of affected parties and provide the organizational mandate for
implementing institutions (e.g., Law on Bankruptcy, Law on Collateral, etc.)
♦ Implementing Institutions. Governmental, quasi-governmental, or private institutions in
which primary legal mandate to implement, administer, interpret, or enforce framework
laws is vested (e.g., bankruptcy court, collateral registry)
♦ Supporting Institutions. Governmental, quasi-governmental, or private institutions that
either support or facilitate the implementation, administration, interpretation, or
enforcement of framework laws (e.g., bankruptcy trustees, notaries)
♦ Social Dynamic/Market for reform. The interplay of stakeholder interests within a
given society, jurisdiction, or group that, in aggregate, exert an influence over the
substance, pace, or direction of commercial law reform.
B. THE METHODOLOGY OF ASSESSMENT: A 360° REVIEW
The methodology employed in examining Honduras’s CLIR and trade environment provides a
comprehensive but flexible framework for analyzing a complex, dynamic development
challenge. Taking data from a broad spectrum of stakeholders, the Assessment builds a 360°
picture of the challenge, drawn from the following areas:
♦ Legal Framework. The Assessment first examines the laws and regulations that
Honduras has in place that serve as the structural basis for its achievement of marketbased
development. Often this review discovered opportunities to make relatively small
changes that could produce significant openings for business development and expansion.
♦ Implementing Institutions. Next, the Assessment examines the administrative bodies
with primary responsibility for implementing and enforcing the legal framework and
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