OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February The Greek program for Better Regulation: The Action plan Dr. P.Karkatsoulis Policy Advisor to the Ministry of Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization, Professor at the National School of Public Administration

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February The Greek Action plan for Better Regulation

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Implementing the Greek RIA A model has been produced. It’s main characteristics are: –A combination of ICT and IA in the form of an electronic “checklist”. –Questions are based on the principles –An easily handled, interactive tool for the “everyday bureaucrat”.

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February e- RIA: The electronic Regulatory Impact Assessment checklist e-RIA assists the Law maker to answer the questions –Offers support via links relevant to each question e- RIA is an interactive tool which offers assistance and not one more burden e- RIA is a means to promote the regulatory reform culture

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February The e-RIA

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Qs addressing the necessity principle Is the proposed regulation necessary and adequate to resolve a conflict? Could the problems be solved otherwise? Should there be a parliamentary law? What if we do nothing? Where does the pressure come from? –international environment? –pressure groups? –scientific development? What about the “non-decision” option? Has there been a risk assessment?

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Necessity questions look like this

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Qs addressing the proportionality principle Have all the measures been taken for the law to be efficient in terms of resources, infrastructure, appropriately trained personnel? Does the implementation of this law require further administrative/legislative measures (e.g. ministerial decisions, circulars, etc.)? Are the means referred to the law in balance with the result? Are there any alternatives to regulation (codes of conduct, self-regulation,sunset legislation)? Has a cost-benefit analysis (who pays/profits,what he pays/profits, how he pays/profits) been conducted?

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Proportionality questions look like this

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February The Standard Cost Model is used for the –Identification of information obligations imposed by the regulation –Identification of the cluster of companies affected by the regulation –Identification of the costs needed to fulfill these obligations. Qs addressing the proportionality principle: How to measure administrative burdens imposed?

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Qs addressing the subsidiarity principle Which is the adequate administrative level to implement the regulation? Have the institutions which will implement the regulation been properly consulted? Has the appropriate level of courts, where disputes will be judged, been clearly identified?

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Qs addressing the transparency principle Have the stakeholders directly affected by the regulation been consulted? Did they have the time and the means to express their views properly? Have all the appropriate means for their consultation been used? Has transparency during the implementation of the law been ensured?

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Transparency questions look like this

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Qs addressing the accountability principle Does the law promotes ethical and social integrity? Are the appropriate forms of reporting to the parliament stipulated? Have the responsible organs for the implementation of the regulation been identified in every government level? Has the possibility of a co-regulation been checked?

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Accountability questions look like this

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Qs addressing the simplicity principle (1) Has it been ensured that the new regulation used all relevant, older and newer legislative techniques in order to clearly express the goals of the regulator? Has the consistency among the parts of the regulation been checked? Articles, paragraphs and sentences should not contradict each other and should follow the same key/basic idea of the Law. Has attention been paid to the homogeneity of the form? Specifically, attention should be given to the following: –The Law should be divided in paragraphs or articles. It is recommended to be divided in articles. –The paragraphs or articles should be divided in sentences. –Numbers should be put in paragraphs, in articles and in sentences. –Letters should be used as sub-division of the numbers. –Bigger Laws should be divided in Parts and Chapters. –Parts, Chapters should be marked with titles.

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Qs addressing the simplicity principle (2) Have all contradictions and unintended consequences/subsequent results of the regulation been removed? Was the content of the regulation formulated in a plain language? Have any appropriate ICT systems been developed for the support of the decision-making?

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Qs addressing the accessibility principle Has every necessary step been taken for an easy and transparent access of the stakeholders to the regulatory field? Has the moment/time of the implementation of the regulation been defined? Its validity should not be postponed, because of explicit or hidden required actions. Has every previous useless regulation been removed? Has special attention been paid to the existence of sunset and review clauses, so that the users will not be discouraged or confused?

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February The structure of the Greek Action Plan Horizontal approach –Development of Policy Implementation Tools –Structural interventions Broadening the appositeness of the Central Simplification Committee Ensuring cooperation among Ministries –Design training curricula –Communicate the regulatory reform program Internal communication External communication –Time programming Inception phase Implementation phase

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Strategic plan: An outline Component 1: Policy tools – R.I.A. The component’s objective is to make RIA an easy to handle tool to achieve regulations of better quality. General approach: A practical and easy to use RIA model will be designed through public consultation. Six different activities will take place in order to achieve the component’s objective

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Activity 1: Initial study and drafting of the Greek RIA model Activity’s objective: To assess the needs and evaluate the ability of the Greek regulatory system to implement a RIA Method  Identify the problems that usually occur during the law making procedure.  Comparative study of the international best practices  Identification of the pools from where information needed for RIA will be gathered (i.e. Statistics office) TimingOctober 2006 InputThe RIA model elaborated by the Ministry of the Interior OutputDraft RIA model Responsibility of Prime Minister’s office

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Activity 2: Draft the electronic form of the RIA model Activity’s objective: Make RIA an easy task to maximize the benefits from its use Method  Create a RIA database  Create an interactive questionnaire to facilitate the user to answer it  Design the software to follow up the law making procedure at every phase TimingOctober – November 2006 Input  Output of activity 1  IT consultancy Output  e – RIA  Create the interconnection platform between the e-RIA, data bases and end users Responsibility of Information Society – Ministry of the Economy

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Activity 3: Implementation of RIA on selected regulations Activity’s objective: To indicate difficulties met during the implementation of RIA and suggest ways to overpass them Method  Specify the criteria according to which the regulations to be put under RIA will be chosen. TimingSeptember 2006 – January 2007 Input  Responses from the public consultation Output  A list of the regulations for which RIA will be carried out Responsibility of Central Simplification Committee

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Activity 4: Evaluation of the model RIA and fine tuning of it Activity’s objective: To ensure that the RIA model can be put to practice Method  Public consultation. RIA users will be invited as well as academia and business representatives to discuss RIA’s contribution to cutting red tape. TimingJune 2007 Input  Model RIA  Expert’s opinions Output  An evaluation of the model RIA  A new, updated version of RIA  A report with certain proposals on how to formulate consultation structures, based on the experience gained during activity 4 Responsibility of General Secretariat of the government

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Activity 5: Development of a RIA guide Activity’s objective: Offer support to the Ministries and the Regions Method  Record all problems that occurred during the pilot phase of RIA implementation  Design the RIA guide to be short and easy to understand and use TimingJuly 2007 Input  2 experts’ working months Output  The RIA guide  Electronic on line help available for the e-RIA software Responsibility of Prime Minister’s Office

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Activity 6: Ex – post assessment of RIA implementation Activity’s objective: Make RIA efficient Method  Conduct an end users satisfaction research  Form a template to be used by the Ministries and the Regions TimingJuly – September 2007 Input  30 man-days Output  Report evaluating the implementation of RIA  Template to be used by the Ministries and the Regions when reportin to the General Secretariat of the Government Responsibility of Central Simplification Committee

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Component 2: Structural interventions The component’s objective is to build the capacity of the General Secretariat of the Government to carry out the better regulation project, in order to add values to all involved agencies. General approach: The structure will follow the functions to achieve flexibility and short communication lines. Five different activities will take place in order to achieve the component’s objective.

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Activity 1: Assign to General Secretariat of the Government the responsibility of the better regulation program Activity’s objective: To make clear who does what in order to achieve unity of command and avoid overlapping of activities Method  Experts’ report on the restructuring of the General Secretariat of the Government TimingNovember 2006 Input  Experts’ report Output  Amended organization chart and responsibilities chart of the General Secretariat of the Government Responsibility of Prime Minister’s office

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Component 3: Training Component’s objective: –To establish a sustainable mechanism of training for the officers who are assigned to run the RIA project. Method –Participatory Activities –Train the trainers –Create an on the job coaching mechanism –Create a knowledge management system –Interconnect all RIA users to an e-learning platform

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Component 4: Communication of the program Component’s objective: –Make ideas and information accessible to all persons that play a role in the proper implementation of RIA. Method –Develop communication lines among all stakeholders Activities –Give publicity to the action plan for better regulation –Create and advertise the better regulation site

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February

OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February 2007 OECD’s GfD in Arab countries Initiative Tunis February Thank you for your attention Dr. Panagiotis Karkatsoulis