G/TBT/GEN/179  
 
15 June 2015  
(15-3084)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 RECENT AND ONGOING ACTIVITIES OF THE OECD RELATED TO THE 
WORK OF THE TBT COMMITTEE  ON GOOD REGULATORY  PRACTICES  
The following communication, dated 11 June 2015, is being circulated at the request of the OECD 
(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). 
 
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1  THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE COUNCIL ON REGULATORY POLICY AND 
GOVERNANCE 
1.1.  On 22 March 2012, the Council of the OECD adopted a new, state of  the art international 
instrument to address regulatory policy, management and governance as a whole-of-government 
activity that can and should be addressed by sectoral ministries, regulatory and competition agencies: the Recommendation on Regulatory Policy and Governance. (http://www.oecd.org/gov/regulator y-policy/2012-recommendation.htm ).
1 
1.2.  The Recommendation sets out the measures that Governments can and should take to 
support the implementation and advancement of sy stemic regulatory reform to deliver laws and 
regulations that meet public policy objectives and have a positive impact on the economy and 
society. The Recommendation addresses consultation and citizen engagement, regulatory impact 
assessment, ex-post evaluation, multi-level coherence, risk and regulation, institutional responsibility for policy coherence and oversight, and the role of regulatory agencies through 12 
principles. 
2  THE MONITORING OF THE RECOMMENDATION ON REGULATORY POLICY AND 
GOVERNANCE 
2.1.  In October 2015, the OECD will launch th e Regulatory Policy Outlook, the first evidence-
based analysis of the progress made by OECD countries to improve the way they regulate, using 
the Recommendation as the benchmark. The Outloo k is based on a unique survey completed by 
the 34 OECD members and the European Commission and designed to track country practices 
every three years. Over time, the Outlook aims to take stock of the progress made by countries in 
creating high-quality regulation and linking these efforts to policy outcomes. 
2.2.  The Outlook assesses the progress of countries in establishing the conditions for good 
regulation. It reviews the use of regulatory management tools, such as Regulatory Impact 
Assessment, stakeholder engagement and ex post evaluation. It further develops suggestions and 
recommendations to use them in a more strategic manner to inform the development and delivery of regulations. It also provides insights into the organisation and institutional settings in countries 
to design, enforce and revise regulation.  
2.3.  Over the past two decades, OECD countries have made significant progress to improve 
regulatory quality through the systematic adoption of the principles and tools of regulatory policy. 
OECD countries have also generally taken a whol e of government approach to regulatory policy 
and made it an instrumental pillar of public sector reform. In most countries, there is a formal 
                                               
1 It followed on and built on the 1995 Recommendation of the Council on Improving the Quality of 
Government Regulation  and the 2005 APEC-OECD Integrated Checklist on Regulatory Reform : 
www.oecd.org/gov/regulatory-policy /recommendations -guidelines.htm . G/TBT/GEN/179 
 
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  requirement to conduct RIA and stakeholders' enga gement in the development of new regulatory 
proposals. 
2.4.  Looking ahead, the Outlook highlights ways  in which countries can further embed regulatory 
policy in law and practice to promote growth and well-being. It identifies a stronger focus on 
regulatory delivery and enforcement as having significant potential for enhancing the impacts of 
regulatory policy. It proposes ways to use regula tory policy tools more strategically by applying 
them further upstream in the development and delivery of regulations to better inform the 
decision–making process. It shows that parliament s and other actors could be mobilised further to 
improve the quality of regulation.  
2.5.  The OECD is also working with a number of countries in Asia and Latin America to extend the 
Regulatory Indicators and support countries' efforts to improve regulatory quality.  
3  THE DEVELOPMENT OF GUIDANCE ON STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT, RIA AND EX-POST  
EVALUATION 
3.1.  The 2012 Recommendation of the Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance provides a 
springboard to advance the regulatory policy ag enda of countries to the next level. Looking 
forward the OECD Regulatory Policy Committee will work to "unbundle" the components of the Recommendation in order to develop more operational guidance on its implementation. The work 
will build on the Survey of Regulatory Indica tors and the Outlook to develop best practice 
principles covering regulatory impact analysis, ex-post evaluation and stakeholder engagement.  
3.2.  Ex-ante policy evaluation is the core tool  to promote evidence-based policy making. It has 
the potential to facilitate better informed policy choices, increase policy effectiveness and reduce 
compliance costs. The best practice principles will aim to put a greater focus on institutional 
underpinnings and governance framework for successful RIA.  
3.3.  Ex-post evaluation is the least used of the regulatory policy tools. Looking ahead, a 
significant number of OECD countries need to de ploy ex post evaluation systematically and to 
focus on assessing whether the policy goals of regulation have been achieved. The best practice principles will discuss the pros and cons of diffe rent approaches to ex-post evaluation, provide 
guidance on the institutional framework for ex -post evaluation and give examples of good 
practices. 
3.4.  There is scope for improving and broadening stakeholder engagement and making it an 
integral part of rule-making. Engagement needs to  take place during the earlier stages of problem 
identification, while developing regulations and when a regulatory option has been identified. The 
work will lead to a guidance on how to improve stakeholders' involvement throughout the regulatory governance cycle and to the developmen t of indicators to assess the effectiveness of 
public consultation processes. 
3.5.  For more information, visit www.oecd.org/gov/reglatory-policy  or contact: Céline Kauffmann, 
Deputy Head, OECD Regulatory Policy Division: celine.kauffmann@oecd.org . 
 
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