MENA Study Visit to the European Academy for Law and Legislation

Knowledge-Transfer and Capacity-Building to Reinforce the Rule of Law in the MENA Region: The Regional Centre for Expertise in Regulatory Quality

Mr Herman Cillekens, Mr Chris Moll, Mr Mohamed Nabil Naccache,

Mr.Kamel Ayari, Ms Miriam Allam, Mr.Adnene Lassoued, Mr Carlos Conde

The Working Group IV of the MENA-OECD Governance programme creates an effective regional network of professionals that actively supports the mandate of the initiative to improve Good Governance in Arab countries. In particular, the Working Group IV Governance Programme has addressed in-depth core principles of the Rule of Law. The policy tools and implementation strategies adopted support quality in regulation, building an enabling environment for the protection of human rights and a fair economy.

The Government of Tunisia, chair of the Working Group IV on Regulatory Reform of the MENA-OECD Governance Programme, has committed itself to creating a Regional Center for Expertise in Regulatory Quality (RCERQ). This commitment responds to the interest expressed by a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in deepening knowledge and capacity-building on regulatory reform with the aim of strengthening the role of oversight bodies and Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA). The RCERQ provides expertise for Arab countries in improving regulatory policy and therefore reinforces the Rule of Law and legal security for citizens and business.

A delegation from the Tunisian Centre d’Études Juridiques et Judiciaires met with Dutch experts at a study visit from 1-5 March 2010 in The Hague. The purpose of this study visit, hosted and co-organised by The European Academy for Law and Legislation (EALL), was to help the RCERQ in developing a coherent programme of work and preparing the first activities.

During the study visit delegates worked on a strategic plan for the RCERQ and discussed in detail crucial issues of network development, stakeholder relations, curriculum design and trends in regulatory policy with the following Dutch experts:

Mr Chris Moll, Director of the European Academy for Law and Legislation
Mr Sam Muller, Director of The Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law (HIIL)
Mr Huub Linthorst, Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs
Mr Harke Heida from the Ministry of Interior
Mr Nico Florijn from the Academy for Legilsation
Mr Jaap Roording, Regulatory Quality Unit, Dutch Ministry of Justice.

The study visit accelerated progress on key issues and had a major impact on the programme design of the RCERQ. As one delegate concluded: “The Study Visit was extremely useful for the creation of the Regional Centre and I carry back home a whole set of concrete ideas to move forward with the first activities”.