Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

In 2013, UNCITRAL agreed that work on reducing the legal obstacles faced by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) throughout their life cycle, in particular in developing economies, should be added to the work programme and that it should start with a focus on the legal questions surrounding the simplification of incorporation and registration of MSMEs. In 2014, Working Group I commenced work in this area. By 2023 - the year in which the Working Group concluded its mandate on MSMEs - it had finalized the following texts, each of which was adopted by the Commission upon its completion:

• the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Key Principles of a Business Registry (2018) which sets out key principles and good practices with respect to business registration, and how to implement the necessary reforms for its simplification.
• the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Limited Liability Enterprises (2021), designed to facilitate the formation and operation of a simplified legal form for MSMEs,
• the UNCITRAL Guide on access to credit for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) (2023), devised to provide a legal framework furthering and ensuring access to credit for MSMEs.

In 2014, Working Group V also begun focusing on the needs of micro and small enterprises in insolvency, and in 2021 the Commission adopted legislative recommendations on a simplified insolvency regime for micro- and small enterprises, both as part five of the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Insolvency Law and as a stand-alone text in the context of the MSMEs text series.