Smart Regulation: Key to Competitiveness

"Smart Regulation" is a basic concept to many regulatory programs. Canada, for example, set up an External Advisory Committee on Smart Regulation (EASCR) in May 2003 to modernize the regulatory system and support an innovative and dynamic economy. United Kingdom established Better Regulation Executive (BRE) in May 2005 to challenge new legislation and simplify, improve and even scrap existing regulation. Singapore formed Smart Regulation Committee (SRC) in December 2005 to improve the knowledge, awareness and practice of regulation across the public service, too.

Smart regulation is not about regulating less. It is about governments working better to serve the interests of people: better protection, lower costs, faster and more predictable regulatory processes, less overlap and duplication, more rapid alignment with global best practices and greater transparency and accountability. It means "competitiveness" and "efficiency".

It is therefore not surprising that economies rank best in the Doing Business are among the most competitive around the globe. In fact, 19 out of the 25 best performing economies from Doing Business 2008 and 17 from Doing Business 2009 are ranked among the 25 most competitive economies in the Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009.