The key indicators are intended to be (1) important in economic terms (2) significant for major transactions in international market, and (3) potentially symbolic of the general approach of the jurisdiction. They must be measurable with reasonable certainty. Generally they must play a major practical role in deals and involve very large amounts.
The students are given a series of statements and are asked to put a cross in the appropriately coloured box as to whether it is true or fake or in-between and then to write a very short commentary of not more than a few lines. In some cases, the student was given a number of criteria to make the evaluation. They are then asked to add up all the colours for an overall ranking and to add a one-page overall commentary and any suggestions for change. They are provided with a standard template to be filled in. There are 23 “questions”.
In most cases the measurement is based on whether the legal regime is unregulated or whether the law intervenes, not whether a particular legal policy is good or bad. The survey is intended to be neutral on the policies. The only measure is whether the law is free or whether it is restrictive. Whether the area of law should be open or is ordered by the law is a matter of opinion. You can often legitimately characterise liberality as either freedom or anachy, and characterise restriction as order or disposal – it depends on the issue and ones moral philosophy.
The colour-coded boxes are blue, green, yellow, red or blank (“can’t say”).