Japan has made significant efforts to improve its regulatory environment. In 2017, the government has stressed its commitment to regulatory reform by introducing a Basic Program on Reducing Administrative Burden. The program is linked to Japan’s Revitalization Strategy (2016) and aims to introduce new frameworks, principles, and mechanisms for regulatory and institutional reform, with the view of achieving the program’s intended targets and objectives by 2019. Japan has also revised its Implementation Guidelines for Policy Evaluation of Regulations in 2017, which provides an update of the 2007 guidelines, and further elaborates on the information and criteria in relation to quantifying and qualifying impacts and costs, including the various techniques and processes that ministries can adopt under specific circumstances. The 2017 guidelines also clearly define the necessity of conducting ex post evaluations of regulations within the period of five years since its implementation.
An interactive website is available for the public to access relevant documents, such as impact assessments, and provide comments on draft subordinate regulations. Japan would benefit from extending existing efforts to engage with stakeholders to the process of developing primary laws, for example through public online consultations on the interactive government website.
