ディスクロージャー研究学会



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文書No.
961208e

Regulatory Reform in a Global Economy

    Session 2 Summary

    Bernhard Molitor 

## Goals of regulatory reform
 1.In a global economy it is crucial to use all the means which strengthen competitiveness, gorwth and employment. The ability of firms to compete and create jobs in the future will depend not only on their own dfforts to improve their competitiveness, but also on the strengths and weaknesses of the national socio-economic sysytems within which they operate. Regulatory reform should contributeto stimulate business dynamism and to raise real income for the whole nation.

 2.A modern society needs a good regulatory framework. Regulatory reform or deregulation as it is sometimes called in a more inspiring way does not mean to abolish all rules, but to establish a framework which facilitates business activity and confidence of both consumers and entrepreneurs. Efficient regulation is not only compatible with competitiveness, but is supporting it.

 3.Inappropriate reglementation inhibits firms and citizens' capabilities to innovate, to invest and to explore new markets. This results from the cost and un-certainties created by legislative complexity and rigidity, disproportionate ad-ministrative involvement and burdeus and impediemnts to innovation. Frequently the impact of a regulatory environment, as a whole, is greater than the sum of burdens imposed by cach individual regulation. When the business environment is highly regulated and the government interferes unnecessarily across a wide rangeof individual decision-making, firms and citizens tend to be conservative and risk-adverse. They are particulary cautious in their approach to investment and job creation.

 4.The difficulties arising from excessive or inappropriate regulation are parti-cularly acute in the case of small and medium sized entrprises (SME) which play an important role in job creation. Surveys in Europe indicate that administrative burdens impose relatively higher costs to them than to bigger firms since many of these burdens do vary little with the volume of transactions and can therefore be compared to fixed costs. These burdens distract hard-pressed SME managers from their basic tasks to explore new markets, develop new and better products and to find new methods of production which meet consumer needs.

## Contents of regulatory reform
 5.Regulatory reform in a global economy concerns three fundamental arcas:

 )the liberalisation of highly regulated markets including market access and exit, e.g. telecommunication, road and air transport, energy supply, banking, insurance or liberal professions;

 )the simplification of existing legislation and administrative practices which frequently implies new and simpler approaches to the issues concernd, or changes in the existing legal or administrative provisions in order to reduce unnecessary burdens (reregulation as means of simplification);

 )the review of the legislative process in order to take better into account the interests of citizens and business in simple, flexible and less burdensome regulation.

 7.In the area of deregulation of hitherto highly regulated and protected marketsa strong impetus was created in Europe by the initiative of the European Union to realize the internal market. In many fields, e.g. telecommunication, road transport, airtraffic rights, financial markets or public procurement considerable progress has been achieved in opening markets for competitors from other countries. However the necessary Community legislation to harmonize national rules aiming at protection of consumers or the environment and its transpositioninto national law are sometimes still complex and rigid and should be simplifiedfurther in order to promote stronger competition and to reduce financial burdensfor business and consumers.

 8.Public sector activities which can be assumed as well or even better by private business should be privatized. As far as regulatory and supervisory institutions are necessary, e.g. to assure access to grids in the energy sector or tosecure the stability of financial markets, they should dispose of a large in dependance; a particular role could be atributed to competition authorities to supervise market access and to prevent unfair behaviour.

 9.The simplification of existing legislation and administrative practices requires a thorough review. Whilst maintaining high standards of protection, it should aim at

 )less government involvement, )regulations based on objective needs, )preserving rigorously the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity, )consistency of different rules, )avoiding any kind of discrimination )fewer and less burdensome regulations, )even-handed implementation and enforcement, )in sum, better quality of regulation.

 10.The review of the legislatory process should assure that future legislation corresponds to the above goals. So called checklists, e.g. the OECD Regulatory Chechlist, the Regulatory Test proposed by the Groupe of Independent Experts on Legislative and Administrative Simplification of the EU or the Recommendations of the Independant Commission for the Legislative and Administrative Simplification in Germany, may inspire Parlaments and Governments to create a formal framework for this purpose. In this context it is important that those who are concerned by new regulation (e.g. business, workers, consumers) are consulted in due time in an effective and systematic way before decisions are taken.

 11.Any new legislation should provide for a procedure for assessing its results,in particular the attainement of its objectives, after an appropriate time; the results of this assessment should be made public.

 12.Regulatory reform must be tackled at all levels where legislative and administrative rules are set, e.g. national, regional and local level, transnational trade arrangements, international organisations.

## Ways of regulatory reform
 13.International coordination and monitoring should promote regulatory reforms by showing the costs and benefits of regulatory activities and by promoting exchanges of different experiences. International coordination and peer pressure are particularly important in fields where international relations are concerned,e.g. trade in goods and services, anticompetitive behaviour, antidumping practices, impediments for direct investment.

 16.Different concrete approaches to regulatory reforms are possible which could be pursued separately or in parallel. Onc is the interdisciplinary analysis of legislation in specific areas (apprach of the Brussels Group); it should includethe examination of legislation for highly regulated sectors. Another is to ask citizens and business how far they are disturbed by excessive legislation or ad-ministrative practices. A third approach could be the review of different functions of business activities, e.g. planning and approval of concrete investment projects, norms to be applied, financing or export activities, in order to define needs for reforming the respective legislation...

 17.Regulatory reform needs to be well prepared. There is much resistance form those who believe that they may loose privileges, but also from the administ ration and the logislator who often like to demonstrate what was achieved in thepast was well done. Therefore regulatory reform must be based on thorough analysis which should be as independent as possible from vested interests.

 18.To get tangible results, regulatory reforms needs perseverance. Peacemeal re-views and incremental changes will not suffice. What we have to aim at is creating a new culture of regulatory policy Bernhard Molitor

Remagen/Paris


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