Reports

Governments are created and run by humans, who can experience the same behavioural biases and barriers as individuals in society. Therefore, it makes sense to explore how behavioural insights (BI) can be applied to the governance of regulatory policy making, and not just to the design of regulations themselves. Applying BI can help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the decision-making process, which can, in turn, help improve regulatory decisions. This paper maps the ways in which barriers and biases can affect the institutions, processes and tools of regulatory governance, with a focus on regulatory oversight bodies and regulatory management tools. It concludes with practical ways governments can translate these findings into research and reforms that can help future-proof regulatory policy making and ensure it is agile, responsive and fit for tackling important and complex policy challenges.

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.

Regulation is one of the key tools governments can use to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and move towards recovery. While the pandemic underscores the need for well-designed, evidence-based regulatory policies, the extraordinary pressures it imposed often forced governments to shorten procedures and launch new forms of co-ordination to urgently pass regulatory measures. This can make regulatory policy making more challenging, but also provides opportunities to innovate. This policy brief analyses how Southeast Asian (SEA) countries approached these challenges and opportunities, and shares lessons learned and practices among the SEA and OECD communities.

With a share of 36%, youth (aged 12-30) represent more than one-third of the total population in Jordan. Public governance is critical for supporting youth’s transition to full autonomy and providing opportunities for their participation in economic, social and public life. The COVID-19 has hit young people in Jordan hard and has underlined the importance of access to high-quality public services and to opportunities to participate in decision making. This report provides an analysis of the governance arrangements put in place by the Government of Jordan to deliver youth-responsive policy outcomes with a focus on five areas: 1) Jordan’s National Youth Strategy 2019-25, 2) Institutional capacities of the Ministry of Youth, 3) Governance tools to mainstream youth’s considerations in policy making and service delivery, 4) Youth participation and representation in public life and 5) Youth-responsive legal frameworks.

Laws and regulations govern the everyday life of businesses and citizens, and are essential tools of public policy. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the crucial role regulation plays in the economy and society, but has also exposed gaps in domestic and international rule-making that have cost lives and money. The 2021 Regulatory Policy Outlook, the third in the series, maps country efforts to improve regulatory quality in line with the 2012 OECD Recommendation on Regulatory Policy and Governance, and shares good regulatory practices that can help close the gaps. It provides unique insights into how countries approach the design, enforcement and revision of regulations, and suggests where countries can best focus their efforts to ensure that laws and regulations work as intended. Finally, it discusses some agile and innovative approaches to rule making such as regulatory sandboxes, behavioural insights, and outcome-based, data-driven and risk-based regulation.

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.

The promotion of widespread, affordable, and high-quality broadband is a prerequisite for the digital transformation of economies and societies. Foreseeing the role of broadband as an accelerator of economic, social and cultural development, the OECD adopted the Council Recommendation on Broadband Development in 2004. Since then, important developments have taken place in broadband technologies and markets. As part of the review of the 2004 Recommendation undertaken from 2018 to 2020 and resulting in the adoption of the revised 2021 OECD Council Recommendation on Broadband Connectivity, this report examines the evolution of broadband technologies, policies and regulation to foster broadband developments since 2004 as well as the benefits of, and challenges to, accelerating these developments to further enable digital transformation and inclusive growth.

Without connectivity, there can be no digital transformation of economies and societies. With this in mind, the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Broadband Development was adopted in 2004. Since then, broadband markets, underlying technologies, and the policies in place to spur the development of broadband networks have undergone significant changes. This document summarises the outcome of an extensive questionnaire sent to delegates of OECD countries and stakeholder groups. The questionnaire aimed to gather information on the experience of OECD countries concerning broadband development in general, and more particularly their experience in implementing the 2004 Recommendation. The responses to the questionnaire were used to inform the review and revision of the 2004 Recommendation, which resulted in the adoption of the 2021 OECD Council Recommendation on Broadband Connectivity.