Taking Stock of Regulatory Reform

The OECD has collectively underlined the importance of a high quality regulatory environment since the mid 1990s when the Council adopted the 1995 Recommendation on Improving the Quality of Government Regulation and its checklist as the first international standard on regulatory quality, and the 1997 Report on Regulatory Reform and its Principles of good regulation. Since 1997, the OECD has carried out a series of country reviews based on the Principles, which have documented progress in the reviewed countries. Twenty OECD countries have been reviewed. The reviews have been multidisciplinary, covering the broader economic context, competition policy, market openness, sectoral reforms and not least, the development of regulatory policies, institutions and tools to build up capacities for a high quality rule-making environment supportive of economic growth and specific policy goals. This work has been complemented by the specific research of the OECD secretariat and others on issues such as the link between product market reforms and economic performance. Ample material is now available to take stock of the progress made in OECD countries and to reflect on the continued relevance of the 1997 Principles.This report integrates more detailed papers prepared for the committees and working parties responsible for regulatory management, competition policy and trade, as well as relevant papers prepared for the Economic Policy Committee.