Most of the data presented in this Outlook, including the composite indicators, are the results of the 2014 and 2017 Regulatory Indicators Surveys. This Reader’s guide aims to help readers understand the scope of the data collected through these surveys and some of the limitations related to the use of indicators. Please note that this edition of the Outlook also features results of new survey questions on the institutional setup of regulatory policy and oversight. These questions serve a ‘mapping exercise’ to help illustrate the breadth and diversity of regulatory oversight across all jurisdictions covered. These questions have not been used to develop composite indicators and have a different scope than the other questions in the Regulatory Indicators Survey. Details on these survey questions are described in Chapter 3.
The Regulatory Indicators Surveys gathered information at two points in time: as of 31 December 2014 and 31 December 2017. Data for 2014 are from 34 OECD member countries and the European Union. Data from the 2017 survey are from the 38 OECD member and accession countries (at the time of data collection) and the European Union.1 The surveys focus on countries’ regulatory policy practices as described in the 2012 OECD Recommendation of the Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance (OECD, 2012[1]).
The surveys investigate in detail three principles of the 2012 Recommendation: stakeholder engagement, regulatory impact assessment (RIA) and ex post evaluation. For each of these areas, the surveys have collected information on formal requirements and have gathered evidence on their implementation. The methodology of the survey and the composite indicators are described in detail in Annex A.
While RIA, ex post evaluation and stakeholder engagement are all very important elements of regulatory policy, they do not constitute the whole better regulation framework. Beyond new survey questions on the institutional setup of regulatory policy and oversight, the 2017 Regulatory Indicators Survey also includes a range of questions relating to international regulatory co-operation in line with Principle 12 of the 2012 Recommendation, which are presented in Chapter 4. Information might be collected in the future on the implementation of other principles in the Recommendation.