Capacity Building Seminar on the 'Review of the Existing Legislation', 11 & 12 March 2009, Cairo, Egypt

Seminar Participants | Objectives | Policy Dialogue  

 Outcomes | Documentation | Presentations | Photos

The one and half day Capacity Building Seminar on 'Review of the Existing Legislation' took place in Cairo, Egypt, 11 - 12 March 2009. This meeting was organised in co-operation between the OECD, the Ministry for Administrative Development of Egypt (MSAD), and the Egyptian Regulatory Reform and Development Activity (ERRADA). The seminar was held within the framework of the Good Governance for Development (GfD) in Arab Countries Initiative (www.oecd.org/mena/governance).

Dr.Ziad Bahaa El Din, H.E. Dr.Ahmed Mahmood Darwish, Mr.Kheireddine Ben Soltane

Seminar Participants 

100 participants attended the seminar  representing seven MENA delegations : Egypt (host country), Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian National Authority, Syria and Tunisia; as well as 5 OECD member countries: Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom; Croatia and the European Commission. On the Egyptian side numerous institutions participated actively in the seminar, including: the Ministry of State for Administrative Development (MSAD), the Egyptian Regulatory Reform and Development Activity (ERRADA), the Ministries of Trade and Industry, Transport, Housing, Agriculture, Electricity and Energy, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Health, Education, Investment, Local Development, Military Production, Social Solidarity and the Tourism. The Arab Administrative Development Organisation (ARADO) also participated.

Objectives

The main objective of this event was to discuss how to create and expand capacities, facilitate policy dialogue and exchange good practices among OECD and MENA countries. Government officials from both national and sub national level, together with other stakeholders, met with international officials and experts to evaluate the benefits of systematically applying a whole-of-government approach to the review of the existing secondary legislation. This seminar was especially relevant in the context of the work being undertaken by ERRADA, which involves a review of the existing legislation in Egypt, an experience with lessons for other countries.

Policy Dialogue

The seminar provided an opportunity to exchange ideas and showcase the country reform efforts being made in the area of capacity building and regulatory reform.

The first section of the seminar was designed to explore Arab and OECD experiences on the topic of regulatory reform mechanisms and its challenges in ensuring a better regulatory environment. Participants presented the most important regulatory reform challenges in their countries and the instruments being used to help reviews of the existing secondary legislation, taking into account different techniques applied and adapted to different countries specificities.

During the second part of the seminar, the four workshop sessions conducted were designed to promote the understanding of the reform in Egypt and to provide an update on its ongoing programme of work. Interaction between participants facilitated the identification of the key elements which promote successful reform implementation.

The first two discussion groups were set up to assess the collection of the existing secondary legislation and the building up of an inventory. Participants presented experiences regarding the main challenges faced during the inventory phase of a review process. Participants agreed on the importance of the inventory phase and that regulatory reform should start with a solidly built inventory of existing legislation. 

The second two discussion groups focused on the classification, review and streamlining of secondary legislation. Different approaches to the management of the stock of legislation were presented and discussed. Based on international experience and the ERRADA methodology, participants discussed how to overcome obstacles when reviewing and streamling rules. Participants stressed the necessity of keeping all legislation up to date, and the need to adapt to society’s changing needs. Reviewing legislation is a perpetual process which is necessary when maintaining the quality of regulations.

Outcomes

The main goal of this seminar was to promote the ongoing support of regulatory reform endeavours and policy dialogue in order to effectively exchange experiences between OECD and MENA countries and improve the regulatory management systems. This seminar stressed the complexity and uniqueness of each reform which arise due to local specifities. The key topics discussed for future work are:

• continue the review process of the existing legislation
• promote sustainability of reform
• coordinate efforts in the public sector to ensure the reform is understood and to engage additional participants
• communicate with and involve experts and the private sector
• ensure political commitment
• provide sufficient resources (trainings and guidelines) along with better accessibility to regulations

The seminar was a unique opportunity to build support and strengthen the network of experts on regulatory reform in MENA and OECD countries. In particular, participants insisted on the necessity of continued collective work within the framework of the GfD Initiative in order to contribute to the improvement of the investment climate and entrepreneurship by making it easier for economic actors to understand what is regulated, why and how. The OECD has offered its support to continue promoting policy exchanges and organising capacity building activities to spread knowledge and expertise among participating countries.

Documentation

Agendas (English, Arabic)
List of Participants

Presentations

Session 1. Regulatory reform challenges

Netherlands: Regulatory Reform Challenges (English, Arabic)
Egypt: The Revision of the Existing Legislative and Regulation Tools (Arabic)

Session 2. Institutions and tools to review existing legislation

Switzerland: Updating Swiss federal legislation (English, Arabic)

Turkey: Towards a better management of the stock of legislation in Turkey (English, Arabic)

Egypt: Towards a Better Regulatory System (English, Arabic) 

Workshop Part I. What to Change? Putting together the inventory

Discussion Group A

• ERRADA Trade Unit (English, Arabic)

Discussion Group B

• ERRADA Local Development Unit (English, Arabic)

Workshop Part II. How to Change it? Reviewing and improving the existing legislation

Discussion Group C

• ERRADA Transport Unit (English, Arabic)

Discussion Group D

• ERRADA Housing Unit (English, Arabic)

• Denmark (English, Arabic)

Background Documents

ERRADA

• Inventory Phase Evaluation Report. February 2009 (English, Arabic)

• Inventory Phase Annexes of the Evaluation Report. February 2009 (English, Arabic)

• Quick Guide for Inventory. 28 September 2008 (English, Arabic)

• Review Guidelines. 9 February 2009 (English, Arabic)

Other

• The Review of the Existing Legislation, Background Note. Edward Donelan. SIGMA, OECD. 2009 (English, Arabic)
• Overcoming Barriers to Administrative Simplification Strategies. Guidance for Policy Makers. OECD. 2009.
• Cutting Red Tape: National Strategies for Administrative Simplification. OECD. 2006.
• Building an Institutional Framework for Regulatory Impact Analysis. Guidance for Policy Makers. OECD. 2008.
• Indicators of Regulatory Management Systems. OECD Working Papers on Public Governance, No. 4. 2007
• Cutting Red Tape: Administrative Simplification in the Netherlands. 2006.

• European Academy of Law Flyer. (English, Arabic)

Photos
Photo 1; Photo 2; Photo 3