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The seventh annual report of Doing Business for 2010 has applauded the judicial computerization of case management by the Botswana high court during the 2008/09.

The report says the development will make it easy to do business.

Currently the country is ranked at number 45 in this regard on a list of 183 economies in various continents.

“New rules for its high court, in force since mid-2008, have reduced the average time to resolve a commercial dispute by 30%, from 987 days to 687,” reads part of the report.

“The rules introduced pre-trial conferences, leading to faster resolution. Judges no longer merely hear cases but actively manage them, setting a timetable and ensuring compliance.

A sophisticated new computerized case management system makes it easy to keep close tabs on whether court personnel and litigants are complying with deadlines. The system also allows court officers to dismiss ‘aged matters’—cases in which litigants have remained inactive for long periods,” explains the report.

Botswana is among other countries such as Algeria, Ethiopia, Jordan, West Bank and Gaza that introduced or expanded computerized case management system.

Apart from judicial system Doing Business presents other quantitative indicators on business regulations for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business—as they apply to domestic small and medium-size enterprises.

The report also advocates that economic activities have good rules which include those that establish and clarify property rights and reduce the costs of resolving disputes, rules that increase the predictability of, economic interaction and rules that provide contractual partners with core protection against abuse.