A well-functioning cadastre provides protection of legal interests and supports economic activities. According to Hernando De Soto "a modern market economy is unthinkable without a formal, integrated property system". Sound functioning is best en­abled when private ownership is valued, the legal system ser­viceable and well embedded in society, and registration is carried out within a single standardised property system. Sound functioning also requires trained personnel, financial means, stable ICT and commitment on the part of all stakeholders. Absence of a well functioning cadastre may be traced to political and cultural ideas about collectivism, individuals, and concepts concerning the desirability of land ownership. Many countries have a formal property system yet lack a well functioning cadastre.

Netherlands
The Netherlands has a well functioning cadastre, "Kadaster", which ensures legal certainty of property transactions as part of a legal protection chain in which notaries also play a very important role. Kadaster is responsible for registering rights in rem to real estate. Recent developments include the countrywide registration of public law restrictions in co-operation with municipalities, the registration of underground infrastructure, and the provision of national access to legally valid government databases containing data on addresses and buildings. In the near future various legally valid registrations will be added as part of the effort to streamline government informational architecture. All the above developments are customary in Western Europe, but many countries in other parts of the world show no signs as yet of embarking upon such a course. To quote Hernando De Soto again: “If the developed countries in the West had not brought together all forms of description in one standardised property system and made it accessible for everyone, it would have been impossible to differentiate and to share out work in order to form a network in an expanding market and to create the capital that has given everyone their present wealth". As an illustration, mortgage value in the Netherlands adds up to 537 billion euros (November 2006).

Central and Eastern Europe
Views held in Central and Eastern Europe on private ownership and legal protection approximate those held in Western Europe, and since 1989 many people there have realised the need for policy change regarding private ownership and property registration. Those countries that under the communist regime had enjoyed a good property system and stable government structure were able swiftly after the demise of iron curtain to instigate reform. These are mainly the countries of Central Europe influenced by Germany or Austria, with the exception of the former Yugoslavia, where conflicts arose making other demands. In countries lacking a good system of property registration, such as Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria, reforms were delayed; reviving a former situation is, of course, easier than starting from scratch. Countries such as the Czech Republic and Hungary began restoring legislation and data to its pre-1989 state. Measures needed to establish a registration system and set up the requisite organisations include:
-renewal and replacement of legislation, including constitution, Civil Code and special laws
-land compensation programmes and large-scale privatisation of urban housing, for example by enabling rent-payers to buy their house cheaply
-land-registration programmes, introduction of ICT and institutional and organisational arrangements.

Role of Government
Reports have appeared in the media of cowboy methods of land acquisition in China; farmers unable to prove their property rights being swept away by land developers wanting to exploit the land for urban expansion. Although uninterested in the concept of private ownership, the Chinese government understands the disadvantages resulting from such and would like to move towards a more European method of land acquisition; circumstances that make the practical introduction of a legally underpinned cadastre an enormous challenge! The Dutch Cadastre, supported by Dutch development co-operation, has since the mid-1990s been involved in a project in Bolivia to give land titles to rightful owners. At least, this was the aim. After more than ten years of hard work and delays, land titles were ready to be assigned and some actually had been. However, all such moves were annulled after the last elections due to new and shifting presidential views on land titling. Much work has thus been in vain.

Organisational Impact
Legal protection of the rights in rem can be guaranteed only if these are adequate and if the infrastructure for managing and updating information is reliable, relevant and efficient. This is not yet accomplished in any of the countries of Central Europe. Modernisation often starts with comparing pre-communist legislation with that of Western Europe today. In Central Europe responsibility for the legal component of information typically lay with the law courts (Ministry of Justice), while the Cadastre came under a government ministry responsible , among other things, for technology. To date, Lithuania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania have brought together legal and technical information under one organisation, while others, such as Croatia, are still in the process of determining how to allocate responsibility. If two organisations post partially overlapping information on the internet, contradictions may occur which may confuse the user and have other impacts. In the Czech Republic, a consultative body (Nemoforum), consisting of stakeholders from both the public and private sectors, ensures an efficient Cadastre. Updating the system often requires re-surveying large parts of the country, which in turn requires legislation and is often so expensive that planning it is difficult and execution may take years or even decades.

Support
Contacts between Eastern and Western European (governmental) organisations involved in cadastral and public registration intensified in the immediate aftermath of 1989. Consultative bodies directly or indirectly related to the European Union (EU) are important in mutual harmonisation and co-operation. Western Europe made available bilateral funds to initiate modernisation and enable change. Supported by considerable EU funding, the Union soon co-ordinated various activities. With the political decision for EU extension came more money. The World Bank also provided considerable funds.

Success Factors
It is difficult to estimate the success rate of cadastral activities being carried out in Africa. Success factors include political consensus on the need for a cadastre, and agreement on the desirability of private ownership even in a watered-down form. China might yet fail to meet these conditions. Agreement on the organisational set-up may pose a problem in Croatia. Cadastral systems often experience teething problems for a while after being put in place; nurturing them on to successful operation requires more time, money and effort. However, start-up problems are less pronounced in countries with a cadastral history than in those without, such as Russia. The cadastre in the Czech Republic, where a good mixture of legal, technical and organisational change has been introduced, is a good example of a success story. It took time to arrive at a workable situation, but political agreement, especially on reintroducing private ownership, was a decisive factor, while all stakeholders were involved in choices concerning organisation, legal system, necessary technology and co-operation.

Concluding Remarks
Maximising the balance between cadastral subsystems is a prerequisite for success. ICT can help to increase accessibility to registers, whilst the commitment of all stakeholders helps optimise functioning.

Further Reading
- Zevenbergen, J., Systems of Land Registrations, Aspects and Effects, PhD thesis, Delft 2002, ISBN 90 6132 2774.