There is potential for reducing the cost of regulation without sacrificing important policy objectives, through a regulatory reform strategy that focuses on improving the quality of regulations, finding cost-effective alternatives to regulation, and deregulating in certain sectors. Improving regulatory disciplines can also improve government effectiveness. It may be counter-productive to cut the costs of government without also limiting regulation, in light of risks that regulations could be used to shift government costs to the private sector. As a step towards managing these risks, regulatory costs should be made visible. In the longer term, techniques for assessing regulatory costs and impacts on economic and social performance are needed.
Country reports Reports are provided by the national authority of each country.
They cover recent and ongoing initiatives and, if possible, emerging issues. The reports generally follow a common framework including priorities and strategies as well as specific initiatives encompassing human resources management, budgeting, performance management, changing public sector structures and regulatory reform. A wide range of approaches and specific initiatives has been adopted by governments, although the general directions for reform emerging from the reports share certain similarities. Part IV, Reference , provides background information in the form of a statistical window on OECD Member countries' government sectors as well as information on the Public Management Service and a short glossary of terms .