Regulatory Competition and the World Bank’s Doing Business Reports: Taiwan’s Liberalization of the Minimum Capital Requirement for Incorporation as an Example

論規範競爭與世界銀行經商環境報告：以臺灣公司最低資本額限制之鬆綁為例

由於世界銀行經商環境報告（下稱「世銀報告」）之出版，臺灣於2009年廢除公司設立之最低資本額限制（下稱「最低資本制」）。本文透過規範競爭／法域競爭之理論架構，分析臺灣個案所例示之鬆綁最低資本制的國際上趨同走向。前開管制變遷可視為一種以世銀為例之政府間國際組織（intergovernmental organizations, IGOs）所推動的法律移植；為研析導致上開管制變遷背後之諸力量間的互動，本文對美國、歐盟及臺灣進行比較法研究，探討規範競爭所產生之「法律市場」係如何導致最低資本制朝向降低或廢除的趨同方向發展。在臺灣之例中，本文說明世銀如何透過其經商報告之出版，推動國際規範競爭，進而導致反對管制之利益團體與受外移影響之利益團體在國內遊說政策制定者鬆綁最低資本制；同時，法律市場力量可能如何促使臺灣政府從事法律移植，因而趨同於最低資本制之鬆綁方向。前開研究發現有其重要意涵。詳言之，在如美國之聯邦國家、如歐盟之超國家類似聯邦體制、以及國際場域中，法域間所進行之規範競爭背後運行的法律市場力量，均相似地發揮作用。再者，臺灣個案印證，如世銀此等政府間國際組織或超國家組織會主動扮演國際上的公部門角色，以促使其所偏好之法制模式發生跨國擴散，諸如鬆綁最低資本制此類之繁文縟節規範的趨同現象。其推動前開法律移植所採取的方式乃引發法域競爭，而法域競爭之發動則係藉由發布經商環境指標與排名來達成。

In 2009 Taiwan repealed the minimum capital requirement for incorporation (MCR), owing to the World Bank (WB)’s Doing Business (DB) reports. This article presents regulatory/jurisdictional competition as an analytical framework for convergence towards the liberalization of the MCR, especially in the case of Taiwan. To analyze the dynamics producing the regulatory change as a type of legal transplants promoted by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) like the WB, this article compares the United States, the European Union (EU) and Taiwan and explores how regulatory competition creating a “law market” led to convergence towards the reduction or abolishment of the MCR. In the case of Taiwan, this article illustrates how the WB, via its DB reports, has promoted international regulatory competition leading to the domestic lobbying by anti-regulatory and exit-affected interest groups and how the law market forces may have driven the Taiwanese government to enact the legal transplants, thus converging towards the liberalization of the MCR. The findings have significant implications. Specifically, similar law market dynamics behind inter-jurisdictional regulatory competition has been at work in a federal nation like the United States, a supranational federal system like the EU, and internationally. Moreover, the Taiwanese case study demonstrates that such an IGO as the WB would take initiatives in acting as a public actor to diffuse its preferred legal model such as liberalization of red tape like the MCR across national borders, by promoting jurisdictional competition sparked by its DB indicators and rankings.