Product market regulation

The OECD Product Market Regulation (PMR) indicators provide a comprehensive measure of how laws and regulations across countries affect competition, productivity and economic performance. They capture the extent to which regulatory frameworks support or hinder the entry, growth and operation of firms, by identifying barriers to competition embedded in economy-wide rules and sector-specific regulations.

Developed by the OECD in 1998 and updated at regular intervals, the PMR indicators translate detailed qualitative information on national laws and regulatory practices into quantitative, internationally comparable indicators. They cover a wide range of sectors—including network industries, services and digital markets—as well as horizontal regulatory domains such as administrative burdens on firms, public procurement, state-owned enterprise governance, stakeholder consultation and barriers to trade and investment.

The indicators are built using a transparent and rigorous methodology based on questionnaires completed by national authorities, legal verification, expert review and consistent scoring on a scale from more to less competition-friendly regulation. Two main sets of indicators are produced: an economy-wide PMR indicator and a suite of sector-specific indicators.

Product Market Regulation (PMR) refers to the set of laws and regulations that shape how firms enter, operate and compete in markets. The OECD Product Market Regulation indicators measure the extent to which these regulatory frameworks promote or hinder competition by identifying barriers to entry, expansion and competition across the economy. The indicators translate detailed qualitative information on national regulatory practices into quantitative, internationally comparable measures, covering both economy-wide regulations and sector-specific rules.

A competition-friendly regulatory environment is a key driver of productivity, innovation and long-term economic growth. By lowering unnecessary barriers to entry and ensuring a level playing field among firms, well-designed product market regulation encourages business dynamism, investment and innovation. Empirical evidence shows that countries with less restrictive product market regulation tend to experience higher productivity growth, stronger investment, more dynamic labour markets and better employment outcomes. PMR indicators help identify regulatory bottlenecks that may be holding back competition and highlight areas where pro-competitive reforms can deliver broad economic benefits.

The PMR indicators are widely used by policymakers, international organisations and researchers. Within the OECD, they inform Economic Surveys, policy reports and competition assessments. National governments use them to benchmark their regulatory frameworks, identify reform priorities and monitor progress over time. International organisations such as the European Union and the World Bank rely on PMR indicators to assess regulatory environments and support policy dialogue. Academics and research institutions use the indicators to analyse the impact of regulation on productivity, investment, employment and economic growth.

The information used to construct the two sets of PMR Indicators is collected through the 2018/2023 PMR questionnaire. The questionnaire includes over 1000 questions on economy-wide or industry-specific regulatory provisions. The information collected through the questionnaire is scored and aggregated into the PMR indicators according to the PMR economy-wide schemata and the Sector PMR schemata.