USTR (US Office of the Trade Representative) wished to emphasize good regulatory practice when the United States chaired the 2011 APEC meeting. Through Nathan and Associates, Jacobs, Cordova & Associates was asked to update the comparative analysis on GRP adoption in the APEC region. Based on the 2005 APEC-OECD Integrated Checklist on Regulatory Reform, which lays out a voluntary GRP framework for self-assessment on regulatory quality, competition policy, and market openness, Jacobs, Cordova & Associates reviewed the application of selected GRPs across the 21 APEC member economies, producing a review for each country and a summary report. The Checklist and our report focused on several procedures that promoted regulatory quality standards particularly important to trade and investment such as accountability, consultation, efficiency, and transparency. The Baseline Study was given to APEC Ministers, who produced an unprecedented statement on GRP and regulatory cooperation. President Obama hosted a luncheon discussion among Leaders on “Regulatory Reform and Economic Growth” based in part on our study. Download the 2011 report here: http://aimp.apec.org/Documents/2011/SOM/CSOM/11_csom_032.pdf.
In the second document published in 2012 (see http://publications.apec.org/publication-detail.php?pub_id=1266), we explored systematically the linkages between the TBT Agreement and GRPs and laid out these linkages in a more operational approach than the previous APEC documents. Our document linked substantively the TBT obligations with actual good regulatory practices that might be considered by APEC members. Our work fully integrated the GRPs used by the regulatory reform community and those recommended by the trade community.
The final report, the 2016 Final Report on Good Regulatory Practices in APEC Economies (published at https://www.apec.org/Publications/2017/08/2016-Final-Report-on-Good-Regulatory-Practices-in-APEC-Economies) found that progress has continued and even accelerated in the five years since 2011. In each of the three GRPs reviewed, more economies were implementing the GRPs in 2016 than in 2011, and economies that had already adopted the GRPs were investing substantial political and financial resources in strengthening and widening the application of those GRPs. That is, GRPs are being increasingly mainstreamed in policy processes of APEC economies.
APEC Region, USAID under contract to Nathan Associates, 2011-2017.
