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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British regulatory watchdog shows teeth

The UK independent regulatory oversight body, the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) has just released its 2013 annual activity report, which makes good reading for experts seeking to ascertain the possible authority of such an institution.
The RPC gives figures on how many new departmental proposals for regulatory change it has examined and how it has dealt with departmental estimates as to the anticipated regulatory costs for business and others, showing a strong determination to improve the evidence base for decisions concerning new regulation.
Excerpts from the Executive Summary:
- (the Committee) "rated 75% of first-time impact assessment submissions as fit for purpose, a reduction from 81% in 2012. The reasons for this are not completely clear. In some cases, the work may have been hurried due to parliamentary timetables. In other cases, the pressure to meet the One-in, Two-out policy may have reduced the accuracy of departmental estimates. The introduction of the fast track system in August 2012 makes comparisons between years harder, because some simpler cases no longer need to go through the full scrutiny route. This means that those subject to full scrutiny are now, on average, more complex.
- (the Committee) published four red-rated opinions as a result of departments consulting on proposed new regulations despite the RPC rating the impact assessment as not fit for purpose. "

New regulatory czar nominated in Washington

We are always keen to hear about examples of supervisory or oversight authorities entrusted with the mission of curbing over-activity of regulators, or chasing bad regulation. The US, with its "regulatory czar", offers a good model, but the seat of this high function is vacant since last August. A successor may be taking over, as President Obama has some weeks ago nominated economist Howard Shelanski to serve as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). If confirmed by the Senate, Mr Shelanski would succeed Cass Sunstein. See also other posts in "US/CND category."
Regwatch comments: "With Congress mired in gridlock on many fronts, the Obama administration has increasingly sought to accomplish its policy goals through regulatory action. The shift has added clout to the OIRA administrator role and outside groups from across the political spectrum have awaited Obama’s selection with significant interest. There are currently more than 100 federal rules, ranging from air quality protections to proposed worker protections, awaiting review at OIRA, which is housed in the White House Office of Management and Budget."
Also on the US blogsphere: under the title "Draft Bill Would Limit EPA Rulemaking Power," Regblog discusses draft legislation examined by a House subcommittee, to require the Environment Protection Agency to submit a report to Congress whenever one of its proposed regulations related to energy would cost more than $1 billion. The report would include the estimated direct and indirect costs of the proposed rule, its potential effect on energy prices, and any likely impact on employment. The regulatory reform zeal of Congress shows no sign of abating.

French gvt reduces the number of advisory committees

The high number of standing advisory committees is one of the specific traits about the French approach to consultation: but once set up, the committees tend to survive their usefulness and continue to cost the taxpayer and the officials in charge of supporting them. This is why we regularly see "clean-up" operations with the government taking the axe to the forest of committees. Following ad hoc inventories and deletions from 2002 to 2005, a more general approach was adopted by a décret dated 8 June 2006, which reviewed the operating rules valid for all committees, making it more difficult to create a new body, time-limiting its existence (5 years), and streamlining its operation. In an apparently drastic move, the décret also programmed the elimination of all existing committees to take effect three years later, unless they had been re-instated in the meantime. This approach was necessary, but does not per se improve the quality of the consultation process. Also, since then, new ad hoc bodies have been created, a new clearing operation had become necessary. It has now been conducted within the simplification policy, and enacted by government in a décret approved by the Council of Ministers on 22 May. For more on the Government's approach, please refer to circular (standing instruction) dated 30 November 2012.
The system suffers from the sheer number, but also from a lack of effectiveness of the consultation process, with insufficient flexibility to adjust to different topics and stakeholders. The "open" consultation method, which employs a variety of channels, including IT supported media, to collect stakeholder views, was legalised by the 5th simplification law (17 May 2010) in its article 16 but no overall assessment of the policy has yet been conducted from a better regulation point of view.
A good example of application of the new open consultation is being given with a series of public hearings on the "energy transition", involving 1500 citizens, or the consultation on the modernisation of environmental law.

Town council creates BR council (Mexico)

The Mayor of Querétaro, a municipality not far from Mexico City, officially inaugurated a Regulatory Improvement Council to make Quéretaro a "city of knowledge" and facilitate a "better use of the talent of its people". In his mind, regulatory reform can usher in good governance and responsiveness to the needs of citizens and business, and improve competitiveness. The president of theFederal business council (Coparmex), who was present at the event, supported the initiative.
A similar step has been reported in Cuatlancingo, where a better regulation unit has been set up.
Meanwhile, the State of Durango has amended its Regulatory Reform Law for a more balanced geographical distribution of the benefits of growth.
See also similar news from Ttaxala and deregulation results in Puebla.