RETAIL RESTRICTIVENESS ANALYSIS IN EASTERN EUROPE RETAIL RESTRICTIVENESS ANALYSIS IN EASTERN EUROPE | Page 9

3. SUMMARY OF OVERALL RANKING
Although most of the Emerging Europe countries have received lower scores compared to highly regulated
Member States, Belarus and Russian Federation display very high level of regulation. Overall, the strictest
requirements to establish and operate new locations can be observed in Belarus, while Russian regulatory
framework is third most extensive. Italy has received the highest score among the Established Economies
and ranks second; Spain and Germany received an equal score and share 4 and 5 th positions, respectively.
When examining the key drivers, they are somewhat different. In Italy, the high score is linked to conditions
of establishment, primarily the store size thresholds, the requirements for economic data and the
legislation specific to location. In case of Belarus, establishment scores indicate a somewhat average level
of regulation, but strict operation and anti-competitive (anti-trust) regulation creates higher than average
restrictiveness for operating retail businesses. Procedural establishment aspects (number of permits, the
length and transparency of procedures) receive above average scores as well. The relatively weak position
of Russia is attributable to both difficult establishment conditions (regulations on location, number of
permits required) and restrictions on operating activities (mainly, antitrust regulation).
At the other end of the spectrum, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland have similarly low level of regulation
for retail. Latvia has ranked the best, which is largely attributed to the one of the simplest and time-efficient
procedure of a retail outlet establishment.
FIGURE 4: OVERVIEW OF RETAIL RESTRICTIVENESS INDEX BY COUNTRIES
Source: Civitta analysis, 2019
The table with detailed results is depicted below.
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