Egyptian Better Regulation

It is a pleasure to see that our BR efforts are now spreading to distant countries. This blog has received notification of the publication of a new site in English promoting the Egyptian Regulatory Reform & Development Activity – (ERRADA) This initiative is specifically targeted at making life easier for business. Experts are invited to visit and browse the website  to learn about the work of the Initiative and its latest developments, and give feedback and comments to help develop the website.

What is "Local BR" ?

This blog, and the "smart regulation" group on LinkedIn, have been informed of the publication of a most interesting document which invites regulators to consider one of their weak spots: enforcement. It is the "outcomes and impacts toolkit" developped by the Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO) in the UK.

The site states "the concise version of the toolkit provided on the site covers all the essentials and includes a worked example from East Cambridgeshire District Council. The 13 key tools it lists are closely linked, and should be applied in sequence to gain their full value, as the elements of a comprehensive evaluation framework". A series of 6 "case studies" shows that the approach is not theoretical and can be implemented in practice. The LBRO site includes quite a few other interesting developments. A sentence such as "LBRO is developing a new scheme to help ensure that businesses that trade across council boundaries benefit from consistent regulation", seems self-evident, but how many other countries can claim that they are officially tackling the issue of regional differences in implementation of national regulation? 

"Human Rules" explained

Our friend Kris Blancke, organiser of a memorable BR event in June, informs us that the videos of the speakers on the "humanrules conference" are available on the website http://www.humanrules.be/

For those who wonder what this new concept is here is some language from the site:
"The European discussion on (good, better, smart) Regulation and its regulatory instruments is at a turning point. It is clear that some of the actual regulatory mechanisms have shown deficiencies and need to be revised and even re-designed. Recent reports and the launching of the open stakeholder consultation on smart regulation aim at activating this debate. The Human Rules Conference contributed to this debate by looking at this theme from new angles but with one common factor : people were in the centre of our attention."
The video is sleek and challenging. There are some snappy sound bites.  I invite you to discover them. They are really worth a visit.

Regulation and innovation: an American viewpoint

A friend of the network draws our attention to an interesting article in the Washington Post entitled "Can Regulation beget innovation", which explores the relation between red tape and the capacity of business to recruit and invest. The article also depicts the current perception of the Obama administration by the business world. Good reading for those who keep a watch on US-style regulatory reform.

Summer break for the blog

Work will no doubt continue, but I am taking some annual leave and will not keep up my regulatory quality watch during the summer.

So the news will have to wait a few weeks ! Season's greetings to the network !

 

UK Govt launches consultation on reducing legislation

The Coalition Government  has just launched a new website to gather input from citizens on ways to "restore and defend (their) freedom" inter alia by "repealing unnecessary laws" and "cutting business and third party regulations."  The site has apparently already attracted a great  number of suggesions. It is interesting in that it expresses the new government"s approach to legislation, clearly inspired by the old (UK) slogan "less is more".

French industry gets red tape overhaul

A member of the network, Laure Baillargeon, has pointed out for us an interesting development in France.

Following the major consultation exercise called "Etats généraux de l'industrie", which aimed to collect as many as possible stakeholder views on the future industrial policy and closed at the end of February, the minister in charge Christian Estrosi announced a series of measures to support private companies in the industrial sector. An overview of the new policy is provided on the ministry's dedicated website.

Most interestingly for regulatory quality, the minister has entrusted a Member of Parliament (Laure de la Raudière) with a mission to conduct a comprehensive review of all regulation and procedure bearing on industrial companies, to seek ways to lighten burdens and increase competitiveness. This is explained in a "letter of mission" to Mme de la Raudière who will have the full support of all the ministry services in her investigations, and be seconded by a delegate from the ministry of economy.