12 May 2020

On 12 May 2020, the OECD in co-operation with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Latin American and the Caribbean Network of Regulatory Improvement, organised a webinar on Regulation and regulatory improvement during the pandemic: how to ensure the quality of the decisions? The objective of the webinar was to promote the exchange of experiences on the management of the COVID-19 crisis from a regulatory improvement perspective. Representatives from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain and the Dominican Republic attended the meeting, as well as officials from the IDB and the OECD. Over 100 attendees participated. The meeting addressed the following:

• Which processes have the Latin American and the Caribbean countries followed to develop and publish regulatory instruments to face the health and economic crisis generated by the COVID-19?
• How do the countries ensure that the measures included in these regulatory instruments are applied efficiently and benefit the intended groups?
• Which regulatory improvement practices have been applied or waived during the emission of the regulatory instruments identified above? For example, stakeholder engagement, cost-benefit analysis (regulatory impact), simplification of formalities, what has been the rationale behind this?

 

The main elements of the webinar included:

• A keynote presentation on Regulatory Improvement in Mexico: background and management of the COVID-19 crisis
• Panel: Experiences and lessons on regulation and regulatory improvement during the COVID-19 crisis, with the participation of Peru, Colombia, Spain and Chile.

 

Access the agenda in Spanish of the webinar and the presentations and recording. Download the summary record.

 

The current emergency presents challenges for the governments and public administrations, that must provide solutions to its citizens in a highly dynamic regulatory context and where making evidence-based decisions is particularly important. Additionally, the economic and social conditions of the region make even more salient the need to increase the digital infrastructure, facilitate the registration and formalisation of businesses and reduce administrative burdens and bureaucratic barriers. This is why we encourage our readers to visit the following websites:

• Tackling coronavirus (COVID-19), Contributing to a global effort

• Regulatory policy and governance
• Regulatory policy in Latin America and the Caribbean

 

CONTACT:

OECD Regulatory Policy Division for Mexico and Latin America @OCDE_RLAC

Manuel Gerardo Flores, Senior Economist, OECD @M_GerardoFlores

Gloriana Madrigal, Economist Jr., OECD Regulatory Policy Division