. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/19 
3 August 2005 
 (05-3492) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
REPORT PROVIDED BY THE OECD ON RECENT WORK RELEVANT TO  
GOOD REGULATORY PRACTICE AT THE TBT COMMITTEE MEETING  
OF 16-17 JUNE 2005 
 
Agenda Item 3(b):  Preparation of the Fourth Triennial Review
 
 
 
 The following report, dated 17 June 2005, is being circulated at the request of the OECD . 
 
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1. Regulatory reform represents a broad work age nda in OECD, a particular focus of which has 
been the interlinkages between good regulatory practice and market openness.1  The following are 
some major strands of this work that have progressed since the last report made to the WTO 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade in November 2004. 
2. Drawing on a multidisciplinary stock-taking in OECD of the systematic reviews of regulatory 
reform that have so far been undertaken in twenty  OECD countries, a revised set of principles (the 
Guiding Principles for Regulatory Quality and Performance) was endorsed by the OECD Council 
with effect from 28 April 2005.2  A major lesson of this text is the importance of a coherent, 
whole-of-government approach to ensure a regulator y environment favourable to the growth of firms, 
gains in productivity, competition, investment and in ternational trade.  To enhance synergies between 
regulatory quality and market openness, the Guiding Principles stress the need to:   
(a) Integrate the design and implementation of  regulations and regulatory processes to 
enhance the market openness principles of  transparency, non-discrimination and 
avoidance of unnecessary trade restrictiveness; 
(b) reduce regulatory barriers to trade and investment arising from divergent and 
duplicative or outdated requirements; 
(c) support the development and use of intern ationally harmonized standards as a basis 
for domestic regulations and their review  and improvement in collaboration with 
other countries; 
(d) elaborate clearly defined criteria for accepting foreign standards, measures and 
qualifications as equivalent to domestic on es when they pursue the same regulatory 
objective; 
(e) enhance recognition of other countries' conformity assessment procedures and results 
through techniques such as mutual rec ognition agreements (MRAs), unilateral 
recognition of equivalence, supplier's declar ation of conformity and other appropriate 
mechanisms. 
                                                      
 1 Market openness  refers to those policies that aim to ensure  that a country can reap the benefits of 
globalization and international competition by eliminating or minimizing the distorting effects of border as well 
as behind-the-border regulations and practices, particularly those affecting trade and investment.  
2 OECD Guiding Principles for Regulatory Quality and Performance  
   (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/24/6/34976533.pdf)  G/TBT/GEN/19 
Page 2  
 
 3. The experience and analysis reflected in the Guiding Principles also underpins work on the 
APEC-OECD Integrated Checklist on Regulatory Reform , developed jointly by the two organizations 
through a series of workshops held over the past two years.  The Integrated Checklist is currently in 
the process of being approved by senior po litical bodies of the two organizations.  
4. Drawing on a broad range of national expe rience in APEC and OECD economies, the 
Checklist poses questions that provide a coherent b asis both for self-assessment by governments and 
for peer reviews.  It integrates the principles fo r regulatory reform initially developed separately in 
APEC and OECD, focusing on three policy areas – competition, rule-making and market openness – 
that contribute importantly to a whole-of-government  perspective.  It also integrates the governance 
perspectives of transparency, accountability and perfo rmance.  Furthermore, the Checklist provides a 
point of reference for identifying the needs and obj ectives of capacity-building measures, and stands 
as an example for future co-operation.   
5. Increased international competition and technologi cal change are key drivers of structural 
adjustment of economies via the reallocation of labour and capital to more efficient uses.  A major research project recently completed in the OECD on Trade and Structural Adjustment
3, among other 
things pays attention to the role that good regul atory practice can play in successful structural 
adjustment.  This study brings together a wide  range of country- and sector-specific case studies, 
drawing on expertise in different parts of OECD, as well as in governments and other international 
bodies, including the WTO Secretariat.    
6. The study stresses the importance of sound public  institutions and governance structures that 
can provide an efficient regulatory framework fo r achieving regulatory objectives while keeping the 
burdens on enterprises to the necessary minimum, fo stering competition and ensuring genuine market 
openness.  The means for fostering such a framework  vary according to circumstances, but experience 
suggests that they can be strongly underpinned by th e six principles of efficient regulation identified 
in OECD work and which respect national diversiti es while fostering market openness:  transparency, 
non-discrimination, avoidance of unnecessary trade rest rictiveness, use of internationally harmonized 
measures, streamlining conformity assessment pr ocedures and vigorous application of competition 
principles.  In considering application of these princi ples, it is especially important to pay attention to 
procedural approaches such as tran sparency in drawing up and implementing regulations;  public 
consultations;  policy evaluation ( ex-ante  as well as ex-post );  and independent review processes.   
7. A particular challenge identified in the work on Trade and Structural Adjustment is the 
sequencing of policy reforms.  While the goal is to  reduce transition costs in economies and to help 
achieve benefits quickly, the means for doing so  can only be determined on a case-by-case basis.  
Sequencing remains an area of interest for future work. 
8. In the near future,  the OECD expects to pursue work on good regulatory practice and market 
openness by (i) pursuing reviews and monitoring of regulatory reform in different countries;  (ii) refining work on indicators and benchmarks  to help understand pr ogress in the context of 
structural reform and remaining challenges;  and (iii) developing a further programme of co-operative 
work with APEC.   
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3 OECD, Trade and Structural Adjustment:  Enhancing Globalisation (2005, forthcoming).