Communicating regulatory reform (Egypt)

After a two  year interruption from June 2012, the  Egyptian Regulatory Reform and Development Activity (ERRADA) has been posting news on a regular basis and sharing valuable resources in English. It portrays how a MENA country can put to use the principles of better regulation in support of economic initiative and growth. Of special interest are the news section, reports on the methods used for inventory and review of regulations, with emphasis on those that affect business, and the RIA material, including a workplan for the introduction of RIA and guidelines for practitioners.
There is however still a long way to go for ERRADA, as Egypt only ranks 112th in the Doing Business 2015 ranking.

Institution-building for regulatory reform in MENA

The group having a break (photo: Ayman)

Three years after the beginning of the Arab spring, it was a good idea to take stock of current initiatives to improve economic governance in the MENA region, reflect on their relevance and make suggestions as to channels of further progress.

Such was the ambition of a workshop organised by the university of Granada, at the initiative of Jesus Florido Banqueri, former director of INSTEA, who is also the director for MENA of SICIDOMINUS, a consulting firm leading many governance projects in the MENA and Europe regions.

The workshop was part of the 4th Master's course in Public Governance in the Arab World, designed for middle-rank public officials from MENA countries.

Your blogger was honoured to participate by contributing views on "International Cooperation in Economic Institutions Building in the MENA Region." This was an opportunity to present the contribution of institutions to Regulatory Reform, and to draw up a list of international organisations (OECD, World Bank...) and initiatives (Deauville Partnership, Open Government Partnership, EuroMed...) aiming at building such capacities in MENA. Participants agreed that the multiplicity of donors, their differing objectives and procedures, posed a challenge for national officials seeking to tap the potential of international expertise to support the necessary economic reforms in their countries.

Some of the slides are made available on this blog.

For more on the topic, see a January 2014 "quick note" from the World Bank: "Strengthening Governance and Institutions in MENA: issues and priorities."

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Deregulation on the agenda for Iraki KRG judges

Following up on previous workshops held in Erbil and Granada in 2012, a new session was held in Ankara earlier this month to complete a cycle of professional training in legislative drafting for judges of the Kurdish region of Iraq (KRG). Funded by the World Bank, supported by the Turkish government and moderated by your blogger (C.H. Montin), this workshop brought together the same judges belonging to the Shura Council (Consultative Assembly) of the KRG and a team of international experts. The judges and experts exchanged information and views focused on the "cutting edge" of better regulation: deregulation techniques supporting the improvement of the regulatory environmnent of business. Course members actively discussed the relevance of national practice of neighbouring countries (Lebanon and Turkey) as well as advanced legislative techniques presented by D. Macrae (UK) and E. Maurice (Lithuania), and sought to draw lessons for their own work. The course was given a practical illustration by visits to the Turkish Constitutional Court and Council of State. Among the techniques examined at this session the most promising were held to be: the "guillotine", statute law revision and in-built review and sunset clauses. Some of the moderator's slides on "Techniques" and "Deregulation" are also made available on this blog.

For a very good introduction to the subject matter, see "Tools and Approaches to Review Existing Regulations" published by the World Bank which gives an overview of the numerous techniques and good examples of their implementation.

Egypt's ERRADA resumes its mission

After a 20 month interruption, the Egyptian Regulatory Reform and Development Activity (ERRADA) announced its re-activation as of March 2014 , in order to review regulations related to the business environment. Under new leadership, the agency will aim to complete the inventory and the review of related topics affecting the business climate, and establish a database service and an electronic registry compiling all applicable regulations. 

In doing so, the agency will promote the tools of Better Regulation, specially RIA (regulatory impact assessment) and ex-post evaluation, addressing respectively the flow and stock of regulation. For more, see on ERRADA site the announcements by the minister in charge and the executive director of ERRADA, Tarek Hamza. See also this blog's 2012 post on ERRADA.

Gulf standardisation agencies study BR tools

(Photo: members of two of the three breakout groups at work under the supervision of Miriam Allam, OECD, in charge of the course. Click to enlarge) 

RIA experts know the importance of checking, at the early stages of analysis of new legislation, the potential of "alternatives to regulation" as another way to reach the substantive policy objectives that their agency or ministry is pursuing without increasing the rule book while improving stakeholder input. Among these alternatives, standards occupy a central position as they can greatly contribute to an efficient business regulatory environment. In this context, the initiative of the Gulf Standardisation Organisation (GSO) to hold a seminar for officials from all Gulf states opens great promise of better regulation in the Gulf region, through the use of better evidence-based and consulted technical standards. Under the title "Building a practical framework for RIA", the course covered all the stages of the RIA process, after which delegates addressed ways and means of making the most of the potential of RIA to improve standards in the region, using international best practice.

The success of the course owes a lot to the hospitality of the Bahrain Ministry of Trade and Commerce (Eng. Al-Moamen) and the supervision of Mr A. Benyaich, senior conformity assessment specialist at GSO. The course was supported by Miriam Allam from OECD (pictured) and your blogger CH Montin (France).

Why regulatory reform matters to the MENA region

In the margin of the November session of the regulatory policy committee (RPC), OECD published Regulatory Reform in the Middle East and North Africa: Implementing Regulatory Policy Principles to Foster Inclusive Growth which is the Organisation's first progress report on the implementation of OECD regulatory policy principles in the MENA region. Covering Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, and Tunisia, the report provides recommendations based on the 2009 Regional Charter for Regulatory Quality and the 2012 OECD Policy Recommendation of the Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance.

The review reveals that an explicit regulatory policy in the MENA region is still in its infancy. The countries involved do not have an explicit regulatory policy. Systematic regulatory systems, processes and tools, such as Regulatory Impact Assessments, are also new to most governments in the region. The review concludes that further efforts are necessary to institutionalise regulatory policy and governance, for instance by implementing regular performance assessments of regulations.Improving the clarity and efficiency of regulations will benefit both citizens and enterprises and mark a crucial element in the transition process of MENA countries.

See also OECD Insights blog for a post analysing the new publication, by Moritz Ader and Miriam Allam.

New RIA handbook from Israel

Our colleagues from Israel have just published online a particularly complete RIA handbook which will enrich the literature on this key tool in the search for "optimal regulation" (the term used in the handbook). The IL approach is quite distinctive and merits consideration, as it breakdowns the RIA process into five "stages" covering the whole regulatory cycle, integrating up-to-date international best practice:

- describing the status quo and defining policy goals;

- risk management, to determine the most efficient regulatory instrument for each "risk component" in the policy under consideration;

- assessing impacts including feedback from consultation procedures and comparing advantages and disadvantages of various projected regulations (options);

- anticipating implementation of the chosen solution to achieve success of the policy (including enforcement and inspection issues);

- public reporting to achieve transparency and accountability in regulatory design.

Other RIA methodologies and resources (from other countries) can be found on the OECD RIA pages.

Abu Dhabi slashes red tape

According to a leading newspaper in the Emirate, "red tape and delays in starting a business are to be slashed and the cost cut almost in half in a raft of reforms to boost the private sector. Awarding at least 10 per cent of government contracts to private companies, cutting the time required to obtain a construction permit and overhauling laws on the private sector were among 29 initiatives announced yesterday by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.
The moves come as the Government seeks to accelerate the role of private enterprise in driving diversification and raise the contribution of the non-oil sector from the 2005 level of 40 per cent of the Abu Dhabi economy to 64 per cent by 2030. The initiatives are part of the department's 2013-2016 strategy but it aims to meet the targets this year. They include a database of private-sector companies, a consumer protection and market surveillance centre, an export promotion agency and a federal level credit rating agency for small and medium-sized businesses.
The cost of starting a business will be cut from from 10 per cent of gross national income per capita to 6 per cent. UAE gross national income per capita was valued at Dh150,000 in 2011, indicating a cut of more than Dh5,500.
The department will also launch a commercial business centre to cut the paperwork and time taken to register a business. A specialised unit to support partnership between the public and private sectors and a draft public-private partnership law were also announced. " For more, read the official press release dated 20 Feb.

Réunion à Paris sur la réforme réglementaire dans la région MENA

Les 22 et 23 janvier 2013, la France a accueilli la huitième réunion du groupe de travail IV du programme MENA-OCDE pour la Gouvernance au Ministère de l'Economie et des Finances. Plus de 80 délégués de haut niveau, dont 24 responsables ministériels, des représentants d'organisations internationales et d'organisations non-gouvernementales ont échangé sur les questions liées à la croissance dans la zone MENA. La réunion fut ouverte par l'ambassadeur de la France à l'OCDE, Pascale Andréani, Présidente du Comité des relations extérieures.Les délégués ont accueilli le rapport de l'OCDE sur la réforme de la réglementation de la région MENA et ont encouragé le secrétariat de l'OCDE à poursuivre sa collecte de données dans la région MENA pour inciter à la mise en place des recommandations de l'OCDE en matière de gouvernance. Les délégués ont mis l'accent sur le dialogue qui doit exister entre les pays de l'OCDE et ceux de la zone MENA pour que chacun puisse bénéficier des meilleurs pratiques (Photo Min des finances, P. Bagein).

OECD countries support improved governance in MENA region

Next week, OECD and the French government will host in Paris a conference for high ranking officials from the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) on "regulatory quality for inclusive growth and competitiveness." This event is part of the programme defined in late November 2012 at the meeting of the Steering Group of the MENA-OECD Initiative, where policy makers from MENA and OECD reiterated their support for measures to strengthen the business climate and governance in the region (see official communiqué). In November, the Steering Group committed to organise activities aiming inter alia at improving the clarity and efficiency of regulations and creating a public administration that is conducive to quality public services and economic growth. With this OECD-MENA Initiative on Governance and Investment for Development, the Organisation is also contributing to give substance to commitments under the Deauville Partnership.
Next week's Paris meeting will aim to define the operational plan of future activities to support regulatory reform in the region.
For regular updates, subscribe to OECD-MENA flux.

Better Regulation in support of constitutional and civil right changes (Morocco)

Your blogger was priviledged to be invited to a conference in Rabat (Morocco) dedicated to strengthening the "legal capacity" of the Ministry of Interior and its deconcentrated services. The event was organised by OECD SIGMA within the Morocco-European Union Programme supporting the democratic transition, and was linked to the extensive legal reforms required by the adoption in July 2011 of the new Moroccan constitution.
More specifically, the new constitution introduces the right to good administration and governance, which covers inter alia quality of legislation. The two day conference 'The Challenges for Drafting Quality Legal Texts' brought together 14 experts and some 150 participants stemming from different government services with legislative responsibility and discussed topical elements of better legislation in three different panels. The first panel was dedicated to the meaning and the requirements of the rule of law for good administration and the quality of the law. The second panel looked into Politics, the law and budgetary choices, and the final third panel considered the demands of better lawmaking for legislative drafting. Experts like Prof. Jacques Ziller (University of Pavia Italy), Mme Pascale Léglise (French Court of Administrative Appeal), Prof. Wim Voermans (IAL, University of Leiden, the Netherlands), Ramiro Riera (former Inspector General of public administration France) and Joana Mendes (Amsterdam University Netherlands), presented and discussed in the first panel. Justice Benabedellah of the Moroccan Supreme Court, Charles-Henri Montin (French Ministry of Finance), prof. Miquel Martin-Casals (University of Girona, Spain) and Christos Ntouchanis (Member of the Council of State Greece) lead the way in the second panel. In the third panel (held on the second day) prof. Herwig Hofmann (University of Luxembourg) Abdelilah Fountir (Secretariat General of the Moroccan government), Mohamed Hanine (President of the Moroccan Human Rights Commission), Edward Donelan (of Sigma and formerly the Irish judiciary) en C.H. Montin, W.Voermans and M. Martin-Casals.
The conference was a very lively one with abundant questions and comments from the floor. The issues of rule of law and good quality of drafting and legislation are afoot in Morocco one can feel. The conference concluded with eight recommendations to the Moroccan government, all of them amounting to setting up a drafting manual, exchange of knowledge, training and capacity building in the institutions with legislative responsibility in the Kingdom of Morocco. The Moroccan government and Sigma are pursuing their cooperation in this field in the upcoming years (with Wim Voermans). Blogger's presentions (in French) are available from the Publications page.

Deauvillle Partnership commits €80 m to transition

New York, 28 September, meeting of ministers of Foreign Affairs of countries engaged in the "Deauville Partnership with Arab Countries in Transition", one of the key channels through which international support is mobilized and coordinated for societies in the Middle East and North Africa going through transitions: the ministers "pledged USD 80 billion over the next two years in assistance to five Middle Eastern and North African countries that witnessed uprisings during the "so-called Arab Spring," and agreed to meet again in Kuwait November 21-22 to assess the situation and enhance dialogue among the partners."
See Chair's Summary of the Meeting on Japan MOFA site, and a summary on Sudan news agency SUNA.

USAID supports Iraq RR

A Bahrein news agency reported three days ago that Iraq has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), outlining American support for Iraqi efforts to reduce regulatory obstacles in Iraq's private sector.
The MOU is in line with the Strategic Framework Agreement signed between the two countries and contributed to the Iraq Solution for Regulatory and Administrative Reform (ISRAR) project. ISRAR will review and eliminate unnecessary regulations that hinder business and private investment. ISRAR working groups, drawn from both the Government of Iraq and the private sector, will produce reform recommendations to make it easier to start a new business, obtain construction permits, and facilitate trade with regional neighbors and the world, according to the statement. The statement added that these recommendations will help significantly improve the Iraqi private sector, and Iraq's ranking in the World Bank's Doing Business Report, which will assist efforts to expand investment in the economy. It went on saying that implementation of these reforms will send a clear message to the international business community that Iraq is rapidly creating a new economic foundation.
See also last week's post on RR in the Kurdish Region of Iraq.

KRG judges practice smart regulation

Funded by the World Bank and supported technically by INSTEA and the OECD-MENA Governance Programme, a workshop was organised earlier this week for a group of judges and assistants belonging to the Shura Council (Consultative Assembly) of the Kurdish Region of Iraq. The purpose of the session was to review legislative drafting techniques to accommodate the new requirements placed on the judiciary by regulatory reform objectives. Course members actively discussed the relevance of international examples of best practice and sought to draw lessons for their own work. Your blogger, who participated in the event, was impressed by the expert legal tradition and the determination of the judges to support the rule of law and democratic principles in their work. This workshop also gave a practical example of the issue addressed in the previous post (the relation between sound legislative drafting and better regulation).
For more, see similar projects of the WB in KRG, and examples of legislation in the KRG. Also check the regulatory quality resources produced by the OECD-MENA programme (drafting manual, guide to consultation, etc.)

Guide to consultation (OECD)

The OECD has just published online a "Practitioners Guide on public consultation in the rule-making process" is part of the first phase of the MENA-OECD Initiative to Support the Palestinian Authority (PA). Drafted by Miriam Allam and Hania Bouacid from OECD, the Guide assesses the regulatory consultation process in the Palestinian Authority, and presents good practices examples from OECD countries and practical guidelines. A very useful guide for all experts engaged in delivering effective consultation in support of smart regulation.
Several other technical resources have also been uploaded, and can be found on the OECD MENA website.

"Doing Business in the Arab world 2012"

On May 29, the World Bank published Doing Business in the Arab World 2012, the fourth in a series of annual reports benchmarking the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it in 20 economies in the Arab world. Governments in 13 of 20 Arab economies implemented some 20 regulatory reforms in the year ending May 2011, aimed at improving the business environment for local entrepreneurs. Morocco was the most active in encouraging entrepreneurship through regulatory reform.
Also interesting on the same site: "Business Reforms in Middle East & North Africa," a compendium of findings of recent DB reports.

OECD ministers bolster support to MENA transition

The ministerial meeting of OECD ended yesterday with a declaration summarizing orientations for the Organisation's work in support of Better Policies for Better Lives. One of the chapters of their declaration related to MENA.
Ministers welcomed the OECD’s support to MENA governments in their reform efforts, as well as to donors to refocus their assistance programmes to meet the region’s key policy priorities... Ministers also underlined the importance of adopting a long-term perspective as well as a demand-driven, differentiated and country-specific approach, together with a reinforced regional approach. They welcomed the strong role played by the OECD in the Deauville partnership platform. (...) Ministers further encouraged the OECD to offer structural assessments, monitoring tools and thematic support to offer guidance and ways for improving governance and integrity, investment, social justice, economic performance and job creation, entrepreneurship, gender equality, education and territorial development. They also welcomed efforts by MENA countries to adopt OECD instruments (...). They also recognised Member countries’ contributions to support the OECD MENA programmes.
In parallel, Tunisia and Morocco signed up to a series of international instruments in areas ranging from business integrity to international investment and green growth. Adherence to these instruments is an expression of a long-standing co-operation between countries in North Africa and the OECD.

Smart Regulation in 1200 words

ERRADA, the Egyptian regulatory reform activity, has already been quoted here as RR communication best practice. In particular they publish a monthly newsletter which gives updates about all current RR projects, adding some background on Better Regulation in general, often from abroad. The April newsletter issued last week carries, under the title "Smart Regulation: a Global Challenge for Policy-makers", a brief summary of what is Smart Regulation, starting with definitions and a short account of Canadian and EU varieties. It then lists the most useful best practices and expert tools developped in regulatory policies around the world, with some 40 links to the most interesting online resources and examples. For the text of the article, drafted by your blogger, click on the links below:

Smart Regulation in 1200 words
التشريعات الذكية في 1200 كلمة
La Réglementation Intelligente en 1200 mots 

In the March number, there is a short article by D. Trnka on "Why Is Administrative Simplification So Complicated?"

Update on MENA and the Deauville Partnership (G8)

Ahead of the Toronto G8 Summit on 19-20 May, what are the prospect for governance and investment in the MENA region? The G8 research group keeps track of publicly available information on the preparations of the policy summit. Concerning the Deauville Partnership, which aims to lend practical support for the Arab states engaged in democratic transition, the research group memo summarizes recent declarations during the year of the French presidency of the initiative (page 3-4) noting the wish experessed by France that Morocco will join the Partnership.
The US is chairing during the year 2012 and has issued a policy overview following the Paris meeting in April (see State media note) listing achievements and projects related to finance and trade, investment and integration. For more, see OECD pages for the announcement of the Paris meeting, the agenda and some of the presentations.

How to make best use of PPPs (OECD)

The OECD Council has approved the OECD Recommendation on Principles for Public Governance of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). The Principles should be helpful to policymakers as they explore the use of PPPs to make savings and deliver effective public services.
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are long term agreements between the government and a private partner whereby the private partner delivers and funds public services using a capital asset, sharing the associated risks. PPPs may deliver public services both with regards to infrastructure assets (such as bridges, roads) and social assets (such as hospitals, utilities, prisons). By combining private sector innovation and financing, and sharing the risks in innovative ways, PPPs can provide much needed savings for the public sector and a fair deal for the private sector. This presents policy makers with particular challenges that should be met with prudent institutional answers, considering the economic impact of decisions: PPPs in OECD countries currently represent about 0.8 trillion USD, and there are projects in the pipeline of about equal value. Experiences from our Member countries show that it can be difficult to get value for money out of PPPs if government agencies are not equipped to manage them effectively. Moreover, PPPs can obscure real spending and make government actions un-transparent, using off-budget financing. This means PPPs are potentially risky for fiscal sustainability, possibly leading to credit rating down-grades as has happened in some OECD countries.
The Principles will help ensure that new PPP projects add value, and prevent ill-designed projects from going forward. For instance, they offer concrete guidance on when to use a PPP – not for projects using rapidly changing technology such as IT, but possibly for those using well-known, generic technology such as building roads. They focus on how to align the different parts of the public sector to ensure success: institutional design, regulation, competition, budgetary transparency, fiscal policy and integrity at all levels of government. The Principles also stress that just as much attention should be devoted to the PPP after the deal is done – i.e. during the operational stage, which can often be 20-30 years.