assessing impacts – methodology, roseanne sovka
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Roseanne Sovka, Regulatory Reform Branch, Province of British Columbia, Canada, at the Workshop on the Elaboration and Evaluation of RIA at sub-national Level, Cuernavaca Morelos, Mexico, 11-12 November 2014, Session 5. Further information is available at http://www.oecd.org/gov/regulatory-policy/TRANSCRIPT
Regulatory Reform in British
Columbia, Canada
OECD Workshops, Cuernavaca, Mexico
November 2014
Session 5: Assessing Impacts -
Methodology
Overview
Regulatory Reform Policy and Checklist
Process
Regulatory count
Database
Governance
Challenges
3
Scope
Broad definition of regulation
Statute
Regulation
Policy
Forms
Policy
Regulatory Reform Policy:
Guides the development of all new and updated
legislation, regulations, policies and forms.
Ensures all requirements are necessary, results-
based and not too onerous for citizens and
businesses
5
Checklist
Checklist:
Provides evidence that the principles have been
applied as part of good policy development.
Signed by the Minister responsible
6
Policy and Checklist – BC Context
Regulatory Reform Policy and Checklist is BC’s regulatory impact assessment (RIA) model
Together provide guidance and best practice principles to support the analysis of any potential impacts of new or revised regulations.
Principles based approach achieves outcomes and tends to be less time and resource intensive
7
Regulatory Reform Principles
New or amended regulation is:
Needed and efficient
Outcome based and will be regularly reviewed
Transparently developed and will be clearly
communicated
Cost effective and evidence-based
Supportive of BC’s economy and small business
Policy and Checklist (RIA)
Principles are part of a good policy process
Better decision-making processes should lead to better policy decisions
Aim is to ensure that regulation achieves its objectives effectively and efficiently without creating unnecessary burden on government, businesses or citizens
9
Checklist
Completed checklist
demonstrates
accountability that:
Principles were applied
Change to the count
Minister is aware of the
change and signs that
the principles were
applied
Process
To ensure policy objectives are met, the
principles are applied to three different
processes:
Request for Legislation (RFL)
Order in Council (OIC)
Policy or form
Request for Legislation
Application across BC government
Each ministry is responsible for their regulatory reform efforts
Dedicated Regulatory Reform Director and File Manager in each ministry
Work together to ensure the policy is applied,
and to measure regulatory burden. How?
Quarterly conference calls
Training sessions
13
Regulatory Count
Purpose of count
Indication of the
regulatory burden
Track and report progress
Accountability
Transparency
Regulatory Count
Created to measure the regulatory burden.
In 2001, all ministries were asked to count all
requirements in the statutes, regulations and
policy under their areas of responsibility.
Regulatory Reform policy put in place to
control new regulation and review existing
regulation.
15
Regulatory Count
Change to Regulatory Count
Regulatory Count Results
Reported annually
One-for-one approach
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
Ju
n 2
004
Ju
n 2
006
Ju
n 2
007
Ju
n 2
008
Ju
n 2
009
Ju
n 2
010
Ju
n 2
011
Ju
n 2
012
Ju
n 2
013
Regulatory Count by Quarter
June 2004 - March 2014
Source: JTST Regulatory Reform Database
Database
Regulatory Reform Branch has database
oversight
Each Ministry updates their count
Two required positions:
Regulatory Reform Director
File Manager
Governance
Govern by influence
Collaborative approach
Cooperative approach
Culture shift
It is best practice
Enable and encourage
Don’t want a burdensome process
Flexible
Data challenges
Consistency
Assumes 1 = 1
Assumes decrease in count = decrease in
burden
Better regulation leads to a decrease in
regulatory burden but there may be no
change in count
Regulatory Reform in British
Columbia, Canada
OECD Workshops, Cuernavaca, Mexico
November 2014