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Mining plays a crucial role in Brazil’s economy. Nonetheless, the efforts and resources devoted to regulatory quality in the sector, including the enforcement of rules, have not always been commensurate. This report identifies the gaps, barriers, implementation flaws and inefficiencies in the regulatory framework of the mining sector in Brazil. It takes stock of the recent reforms in the mining sector in Brazil, identifies areas that pose the greatest challenges for effective regulation in mining. It also describes the reforms that created the National Mining Agency of Brazil, its governance arrangements and its current regulatory practices. These are assessed against OECD principles in regulatory policy and mining regulation, as well as against country experiences from Australia, Chile, and Mexico. Finally, recommendations are provided to support further reform efforts.

The pace and scope of innovation are challenging the way governments regulate. Existing regulatory frameworks might not be agile enough to accommodate the fast pace of technological development and, as a consequence, rules might become outdated. Beyond this pacing problem, technological innovation also blurs the traditional definition of markets, challenges enforcement and transcends administrative boundaries domestically and internationally. This report, which results from a joint project between the OECD and the Korea Development Institute, presents a set of case studies illustrating the different regulatory challenges raised by emerging technologies and the diversity of regulatory responses used to address them. The case studies cover data-driven business models, digital innovation in finance, smart contracts relying on distributed ledger technologies, digital technologies for smart logistics, and the sharing economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for high-quality data and evidence to address complex policy challenges. This report takes stock of the capacity for evidence-informed decision making (EIDM) and policy evaluation at the centre of government in Lithuania. Like many other OECD countries, Lithuania faces challenges in supplying quality evidence and ensuring that it is used for decision making. In light of recent reforms, the report analyses gaps in the EIDM system and offers a set of comprehensive recommendations to address them in the short, medium and long terms. It also discusses how the newly created Strategic Analysis Centre could champion evidence-informed decision making in Lithuania.

As 'market referees', regulators contribute to the delivery of essential public utilities. Their organisational culture, behaviour, actions and governance are important factors in how they, and the sectors they oversee, perform. The OECD Performance Assessment Framework for Economic Regulators (PAFER) looks at the institutions, processes and practices that can create an organisational culture of performance and results. This report uses PAFER to assess both the internal and external governance of Brazil’s Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL). The review offers recommendations for the regulator to build upon its strong technical reputation and good practices. It proposes an integrated set of recommendations to help the regulator best fulfil its role as a key actor supporting sector modernisation.

This report describes how regulators around the world adapted to the confusion brought by the COVID-19 crisis to ensure the supply of food while maintaining food safety and security. It brings together examples of regulatory responses at regional, national and international levels. The report also discusses how, despite all the challenges, the pandemic has helped uncover new regulatory tools and foster a culture of flexibility and agility in regulatory systems.

Industries and businesses are becoming increasingly digital, and the COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated this trend. Regulators around the world are also experimenting with data-driven tools to apply and enforce rules in a more agile and targeted way. This report maps out several efforts undertaken jointly by the OECD and Italian regulators to develop and use artificial intelligence and machine learning tools in regulatory inspections and enforcement. It provides unique insights into the background processes and structures required for digital tools to perform predictive modelling, risk analysis and classification. It also highlights the challenges such tools bring, both in specific regulatory areas and to the broader goals of regulatory systems.

A clear, efficient, and modern regulatory framework for pesticides is essential for addressing their impacts on human health and the environment, supporting a life-cycle approach to their management, and ensuring crop protection and a sustainable agricultural industry. This report identifies the gaps, barriers, implementation flaws and inefficiencies that affect the regulatory framework of pesticides in Mexico. It takes stock of the regulatory framework and recent reforms, and identifies both the areas that pose the greatest challenge for the effective regulation of pesticides and those where regulation – or lack of it – in pesticides most affects policy objectives and economic activity. These challenges and practices are assessed in view of OECD principles and country experiences, and recommendations are provided to support better regulation efforts. The report finds that Mexico would benefit from adopting a comprehensive, mutually-agreed policy strategy for pesticides, recognising that pesticide management is a shared responsibility across national and local governments, the pesticide industry, pesticide users, as well as the general public.

This report provides an assessment of public governance and territorial development in Polish local self-government units (LSGUs). It offers key recommendations to governments at the national, regional and local levels in Poland on how to enhance development, improve service delivery and strengthen management processes within LSGUs. It addresses eight key thematic areas, including strategic planning, co-ordination across administrative units and policy sectors, multi-level governance and investment capacity, the use of monitoring and evaluation evidence for decision-making, budgeting, strategic workforce management, open government, and regulatory policy to reduce administrative burden and simplify public procurement. The report proposes a classification of LSGUs in Poland based on OECD typology, in order to reflect the economic functionality of specific regions/territories as a means to help LSGUs design more effective local development policies. A self-assessment tool for LSGUs in Poland complements the report and provides key indicators that allow counties and municipalities to assess their main strengths and weaknesses on public governance and local development practices, plan how to better serve citizens, enhance local sustainable development and engage with stakeholders to build a collective vision and plan of action.

Regulators act as 'market referees', balancing often competing interests of stakeholders in the sector, including governments, current and future actors in the markets, and consumers. At the same time, markets are changing at an unprecedented pace due to new technologies, the international drive toward carbon-neutral economies, shifts in consumer needs and preferences, and, most recently, the profound changes brought by the coronavirus pandemic. Assessing the performance of economic regulators must therefore be a continuous process. This progress review evaluates the changes put in place by Latvia’s Public Utilities Commission since the previous OECD performance assessment review in 2016, in the interest of increasing the effectiveness of its regulatory activities and improving final outcomes for consumers and the economy.

The Impact of Regulation on International Investment in Finland examines what drives FDI into Finland and which domestic regulatory aspects may discourage foreign investment. The report analyses trends in FDI flows towards Finland and other Nordic-Baltic countries and discusses the benefits of foreign investment for the Finnish economy. It provides a comparative overview of the regulatory frameworks in force in Finland and its Nordic-Baltic peers, outlining both economy-wide and sector-specific findings, and explores how changes in these regulatory frameworks are linked to changes in FDI inflows in the region. Foreign investors’ views on Finland’s business environment complement these findings. The report underlines potential areas for reform and suggests policy actions that could further improve Finland’s investment climate and contribute to attracting and retaining more FDI, while also strengthening its positive impact.