Regulatory Flexibility Act - International Regulatory Flexibility Initiatives

International Regulatory Flexibility Initiatives

Other nations have drawn upon, and in some cases more fully developed, various elements of the RFA.

Multilateral efforts. In 2000, both the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) adopted broad policy statements in support of small and mid-sized enterprises (SME’s) that included provisions on the regulatory treatment of SME’s. This subject is also being discussed within the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The World Bank has contributed significantly to the global dialogue on SME regulatory burdens through its annual "Doing Business" surveys.

EU. The EU’s Charter to Support Europe’s Small Firms called for “better legislation and regulation – assessing regulation for its impact on small firms, and where possible simplifying or removing altogether obligations on SMEs"

In 2003, the EU created a “European Business Test Panel” to react to the potential impact of legislative and regulatory initiatives, followed, in 2007, by an Action Programme for Reducing Administrative Burdens in the European Union, which includes a series of specific tests of those burdens on SME’s

These initiatives were strengthened in the EU’s Small Business Act in 2008, which articulates the principle of “Think Small First.” The EU’s “Small Business Envoy,” somewhat akin to the Office of Advocacy in the U.S., is tasked with monitoring the execution of the “Think Small First” principle. A recent report on the “Think Small First” implementation emphasizes the potentially disproportionate burden of EU regulations on Europe’s SME’s.

OECD. On behalf of 46 nations that participated in its drafting, the OECD’s Bologna Charter on SME Policies called for a regulatory environment that "...does not impose undue burdens on SMEs and is conducive to entrepreneurship, innovation and growth,” and agreed on "benchmarking the effectiveness of SME policies, regulatory environment and performance, based on data and statistics collected at national and sub-national level, including on electronic commerce.“

The OECD also has undertaken studies of regulatory reforms affecting SME’s in several nations. For example, the Netherlands study, by Scott Jacobs, draws attention to the Dutch Ondernemershuizen, one-stop shops where SME’s can articulate their regulatory concerns and obtain problem-solving, and to the panel of 30 entrepreneurs who meet regularly with the Dutch State Secretary to identify further areas for reform. (A 2007 analysis by the World Bank concluded that “Dutch regulatory reform is a world leader.”)

Both the EU and the OECD have encouraged their member nations to adopt the International Standard Cost Model to facilitate international comparisons of administrative burdens on business. Some 27 nations now belong to an ISCM information-sharing network

APEC/ASEAN. An APEC / ASEAN policy document identifies Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Japan, and Taiwan as the groups’ leaders in SME regulatory reform, and sets forth a framework for further progress in the region through 2014.

National actions. Individual nations actively pursuing “regulatory flexibility” type SME policies include:

Canada

Denmark

Estonia

Hungary

Ireland

Luxembourg

New Zealand (See and )

Singapore

South Africa

Sweden

and the United Kingdom .

The World Bank's annual assessment and ranking of regulatory burdens in 183 countries has highlighted the linkage between reduced SME regulatory burdens and economic development, particularly in emerging markets. Efforts by nations to improve their ranking on this annual survey have resulted in significant reforms.

Given this growing support for the flexible regulatory treatment of smaller enterprises by both transnational organizations and individual nations, and perhaps international competitiveness considerations, it seems likely that such approaches will spread further in coming years.