Executive Summary
(i) Background
Regulatory Reform/ Better Regulation was one of the original six strands of the Strategic Management Initiative. The early focus was mainly on administrative simplification and accessibility of legislation. Progress accelerated when Ireland participated in the OECD national peer review programme and the final OECD report Regulatory Reform in Ireland was launched in April 2001. The Government agreed an Action Programme in response to the OECDs Report, one element of which was the establishment of a High Level Group on Regulation that comprised of senior officials from key Government Departments, Offices and external regulatory authorities. The Group was asked to develop and co-ordinate the Better Regulation agenda with particular regard to the institutional and policy proposals required on foot of the OECDs Report and to report to the Government within a year of its establishment.
(ii) National Policy Statement
A sub-group was established to oversee preparation of a public consultation document Towards Better Regulation (Feb 02). This document highlighted the key issues that are likely to feature in a National Policy Statement/ White Paper. The document was intended to prompt debate and encourage submissions from the general public. It was divided into three sections i.e. (a) the performance of the economy (b) the quality of governance and (c) the efficiency and effectiveness of the public service.
Eighty-nine submissions were received from a variety of interests including Social Partners, regulatory bodies, Government Departments, State bodies, voluntary bodies, representative associations, private enterprises and individuals. These submissions have been analysed and two reports have been prepared and will be published by the Department of the Taoiseach shortly, one of which is an external assessment of the principle issues raised. The Department of the Taoiseach will establish a drafting group of senior officials from key government Departments to prepare the text of a National Policy Statement / White Paper which it is anticipated will be submitted to the Government in 2003.
(iii) Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA)
A key finding of the OECD review of Irelands regulatory regime was that current systems and capacity for assessing and reporting on the likely implications of proposed regulations need to be strengthened. To strengthen the process and to improve the quality of policy making and regulatory decision-making, the OECD recommended introduction of RIA in line with best practice in many other countries.
A Working Group was formed and has developed a draft model specifically for the Irish context. It is intended that the model will be submitted to the Government in coming weeks and agreement will be sought to pilot the model in a small number of volunteer Departments. This will help ongoing refinement of the model as well as preparation of detailed guidance material, awareness raising measures and training interventions to support the mainstreaming of RIA across the civil service in due course.
(iii) Other progress
The High Level Group also monitored progress made in respective Departments and agencies with regard to reviews of various sectoral issues including Liquor Licensing, the Pharmacy Regulations review and Professional Services. The Group noted the introduction of various pieces of legislation which contributed to the progression of the regulatory reform agenda such as the Competition Act 2002, Communications Regulation Act 2002 and the Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002. The Group also closely monitored and supported the passage of the Statute Law Restatement Bill that will facilitate a programme of statute law restatement being conducted by the Statute Law Revision Unit in the Office of the Attorney General. In addition, the Group monitored developments at EU level including the package on Better Regulation that the Commission presented to the European Council in Seville in June 2002. Further detail on developments in response to specific recommendations from the OECD is listed in Appendix 1 of the Report.
(iv) Conclusions
The High Level Group is pleased to report good progress since the publication of the OECD Report. In this context, progress must be viewed within the context that Better Regulation /Regulatory Reform has not had any meaningful profile until now within the policy-making system or within society in general. Therefore, at least some of the benefits of the OECD report, and the work subsequently done, have been about defining Better Regulation more comprehensively, raising awareness of the broader agenda and introducing the concepts and even the vocabulary of Better Regulation and regulatory management. The proposed National Policy Statement offers the opportunity to link many of these disparate initiatives and to present a coherent strategy for our regulatory system and processes in the 21st century.
The Group recognises that much still remains to be done but considers that many of the recommendations of the OECD are at least on the way to being implemented.
While the future of the High Level Group, or any evolved version that might be put in place, is strictly a matter for the Government, the Group itself concluded that there are considerable advantages in having it centrally coordinated from within the Department of the Taoiseach so as to properly coordinate and champion the reform process.