Reports

Laws and regulations affect the daily lives of businesses and citizens. High-quality laws promote national welfare and growth, while badly designed laws hinder growth, harm the environment and put the health of citizens at risk. This report analyses practices to improve the quality of laws and regulations across all 28 EU Member States and the European Union. It systematically assesses the use of evidence and stakeholder participation in the design and review of domestic laws and regulations based on the OECD Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance. It also provides insights into individual Member States’ use of regulatory management tools as they relate to EU laws. The report presents good regulatory practices and highlights areas that should receive further attention and investment.

As 'market referees', regulators contribute to the delivery of essential public utilities. Their organisational culture, behaviour and governance are important factors in how regulators, and the sectors they oversee, perform. This report uses the OECD Performance Assessment Framework for Economic Regulators (PAFER) to assess both the internal and external governance of Peru's Supervisory Agency for Private Investment in Telecommunications (OSIPTEL). The review acknowledges OSIPTEL's achievements and good practices, analyses the key drivers of its performance, and proposes an integrated reform package to help the regulator prepare for the future.

Over the past two decades, most Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries have experienced robust economic growth and been able to make significant reductions in poverty and income inequality. However, growth in the region was not strong enough to ensure convergence towards levels of per capita income observed in advanced OECD economies. An important part of this underperformance can be explained by weak productivity growth. Should this weakness persist, it will be very difficult for LAC countries to achieve better lives for the majority of families. The present publication portrays the situation of LAC countries and discusses best-practice policies. Participation in global value chains is encouraged to enable knowledge spillovers and a process of learning by doing. More regional trade integration would help this process, as Latin America ranks very low and remains a sizeable outlier. The diffusion of knowledge and technology would be facilitated by making it easier to do business, notably allowing new entrants that are facing high barriers to operate and grow. Improved access to education is important to meet the demand for skills, and to boost innovation and research and development, which is particularly true in a context of fast technological change.

This first OECD Investment Policy Review of Cambodia uses the OECD Policy Framework for Investment to present an assessment of the investment climate in Cambodia and to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by the Royal Government of Cambodia in its reform efforts. It includes chapters on investment trends and industrial structure, competitiveness and diversification, improving business regulation, investor protection, investment promotion, good regulatory practices, infrastructure, the investment framework for green growth, corporate governance, competition policy and how ODA is being used to improve the investment climate.