INSTITUTIONAL CONNECTIVITY TO SUPPORT REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

10-11 March 2015, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 

Jointly organised by the Malaysian government - Chair of ASEAN 2015 - and the OECD, this conference provided a multi-disciplinary forum to discuss issues of regulatory reform involving both government and non-government actors. Over 250 participants from ASEAN Member States and OECD member and non-member countries, business and civil society, academia, regional and international organisations such as the Asia Development Bank, European Commission and World Bank, came together and discussed the issues of:

 

• building a common understanding among ASEAN Member States of the critical role of good regulatory practice in encouraging closer global and regional economic integration on a non-discriminatory basis, and support sustainable and inclusive development;

• increasing knowledge sharing and cross fertilisation of knowledge bases between the various intergovernmental bodies working on good regulatory practice in Southeast Asia – e.g. the OECD Regulatory Policy Committee, ASEAN Committees, APEC Committees; and

• creating a multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary dialogue on good regulatory practice in order to ensure sustainability; a number of regulatory reform workshops have been held during the last several years but have typically become dormant after their first meeting.

 

During the conference, Rolf Alter, Director of Public Governance and Territorial Development, OECD handed over the new OECD report Implementing Good Regulatory Practice in Malaysia to Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister, Ministry of International Trade and Industry and Sri Tan Ali Hamsa, Chief Secretary of the Government of Malaysia at the launching of the new publication.

 

In 2013, the Government of Malaysia asked the OECD to review its regulatory management system and provide support for piloting and implementing its regulatory policy – the National Policy on the Development and Implementation of Regulations (NPDIR). The review was conducted by delegates of the Regulatory Policy Committee and the OECD Secretariat in 2014, using expertise developed over two decades of peer learning. The OECD report documents this review.

 

The report shows that Malaysia has successfully gone through the start-up phase of implementing a regulatory policy. It has a policy, institutional structure, guidance and capacities built in a short space of time. These are sound foundations that should be built upon with the same, if not more, support and industry that initiated these reforms.

 

ASEAN Member States have made remarkable progress in achieving impressive economic growth, raising income levels and reducing poverty since they adopted the articulation of ASEAN Vision 2020 in 1997 and the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint in 2007. However, moving beyond 2015, greater attention needs to centre on regulatory coherence in order to deepen market integration and address next generation trade and investment issues and sectoral initiatives. To enhance regulatory coherence, Good Regulatory Practice is regarded as one of the most crucial tools.

 

ASEAN and the OECD have collaborated on good regulatory practice for a number of years since 2010 to make the region more dynamic and competitive. Good regulatory practice is a cross-cutting theme for ASEAN connectivity, competitiveness and regulatory coherence and is closely linked to the ASEAN Agenda Post-2015. Good regulatory practice also supports ASEAN Member State’s strategies to make progress in the United Nation’s post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.

 

This conference follows closer engagement between ASEAN, ASEAN Member States and the OECD on good regulatory practice and builds on activities that have been ongoing for over a decade.

 

ABOUT GOOD REGULATORY PRACTICES

 

Governments usually use regulations as one of three key levers alongside tax and spending, to achieve important outcomes such as social welfare, environmental protection and sustainable inclusive economic growth. The tools and methods (or practices) used to develop these regulations can often determine the quality of regulations i.e. how well, and if regulations will achieve their objectives.

 

Good Regulatory Practices (GRP) are internationally recognised processes, systems, tools and methods for improving the quality of regulations. GRP systematically implements public consultation and stakeholder engagement as well as impact analysis of government proposals, before they are implemented to make sure they are fit for purpose and will deliver what they are set out to achieve.

 

CONTACT

Mr. Faisal Naru, Senior Economic Adviser
Mr. Minsup Song, Policy Analyst
Regulatory Policy Division, Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development

 

RELATED

» Regulatory reform in Southeast Asia

» Regulatory policy and governance