Advise the Advisor (US)

As has been practiced in many other countries, the US government has just launched a new website to collect feedback from business about priorities for cutting red tape.
"Advise the Advisor" (Cass Sunstein) asks business owners across the country to say which regulations are "standing in (their) way." Which rules should be eliminated, streamlined, or made more effective? How can reporting and paperwork burdens be reduced ? What are the best ways to cut regulatory costs? This consultation is in keeping with the January 2011 Presidential order directing executive agencies to undertake a review of regulations in order to figure out what is working and what is not, and where appropriate, to streamline or eliminate ineffective, overly burdensome, and outdated rules. Over two dozen agencies responded with regulatory reform plans, listing more than 800 initiatives, and the new consultation campaign hopes to usher in another batch of measures.

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.

Update on Irish Better Regulation

An article by Tom Ferris published today in Independent.ie online reviews the situation in Ireland after government decisions related to RIA. It is interesting and useful as it examines the institutional setup against the OECD recommendations (see 2010 review of Ireland), concluding (this is the title) "Better Regulation could start with a lot better organisation". As in many other countries, BR related functions are split between different departments, causing a lack of overview and unity of purpose, and sometimes a patchy implementation of the policy. The article points out three "omissions" in the Irish institutional setup, which can serve as a check-list for other national contexts:

• "no mention as to who is taking overall responsibility for the delivery of the commitments in the Programme for Government on the use of RIAs in the development of policy and legislation"
• "the lack of reference to who will take responsibility to ensure that RIAs are of good quality. They should not just be a box-ticking exercise. A central department should have formal authority to send poor RIAs back to the original departments."
• "no reference to setting-up a new central RIA website to replace the one previously provided by the Department of the Taoiseach."

See also archive of the BR unit in Taoiseach, as www.betterregulation.ie has been disbanded.

South Africa struggles with regulatory reform

An interesting editorial from Zambia casts a critical look on RR in neighbouring South Africa. It reports that regulation and red tape would be more offensive in SA than in the other Brics (Brazil, Russia, India China and SA). "Excessive moves by the government to control rather than facilitate business are increasingly hampering innovation, hiring and margins. The latest business pulse readings indicate stresses are rising due to the numerous constraints companies face. At a time when the world is looking to Africa to stave off global recession, SA stands a real chance of missing out on the boom as it loses its status as a gateway to the continent. The long delays in getting things done, especially in beefing up infrastructure, is proving to be most daunting for business owners and CEOs. But more subtle areas of delivery are also affecting sentiment — such as so many people remaining poor and unskilled despite business profits and employee salaries helping to pay for grants, and billions being ploughed into education. The results are simply not coming through; business is now sending a clear message that the government must get its act together, stamp out rampant corruption and work at improving equality. The consequences of failure are a limp-along economy and more street beggars. " (for more, visit Business Day.)

ASEAN holds first RR symposium

Today ASEAN convened its first Regulatory Reform Symposium (ASEAN ARRS) as part of ongoing efforts towards regional economic integration by 2015. The invitation by the Philippine to host the ARRS was accepted during the 20th High Level Task Force on ASEAN Economic Integration meeting in Jakarta last year. The symposium aims to identify key challenges in policy formulation and address the gaps to achieve a more comprehensive regulatory reform program for specific sectors and industries.
Both supply chain connectivity and logistics are heavily affected by regulations that cut across the integration pillars. The region works to set up a single market and production base, a competitive economic region, equitable economic development, and integration into the global economy by 2015.

New anti-regulation measures (UK)

Julian Farrel from the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) informs us of the useful online publication of a new statement concerning the official regulatory policy of the British government: the 4th Statement of new regulation seeks to show "that the government's One-in, One-out rule continues to result in a reduction in the net cost to business and civil society organisations."
For a summary of the policy and of the miscelaneous new measures, see the press release of 17 July.

Homeless asked for permanent address (Malaysia)

To give it an occasional lighter touch, this blog reports some of the worst cases of red tape found on the web. This one is from Kuala Lumpur where volunteers working for several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and corporate companies to help the homeless in the city, say the current government bureaucracy in the healthcare, registration department and other agencies require a permanent address for the recipient before aid can be granted, even if he/she is homeless. See more on the Star online article.