Foreword
Appropriately designed and implemented regulations are powerful tools for enhancing economic performance and societal well-being. A strong and sound regulatory framework can mitigate threats to health, safety, and the environment and address market imperfections. Its benefits extend throughout the economy, fostering economic growth. A regulatory framework that facilitates competition, for example, can stimulate productivity by encouraging the efficient allocation of resources and promoting innovation. In turn, these measures can reduce prices for consumers, stimulate the creation of jobs and deliver improvements in living standards.
The Review of Regulatory Reform of Brazil identifies areas for reform to bring the country’s regulations and institutional arrangements more in line with international best practices. The analysis is carried out through two “lenses”: the OECD Product Market Regulation (PMR) indicators and the OECD’s instruments on regulatory reform and management, including the 2012 Recommendation of the OECD Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance.
The Review examines a range of product markets, services and network industries, relying on the results of the PMR indicator, and focuses on reform areas that are most critical for Brazil. These include the governance of state-owned enterprises, interaction between policy makers and interest groups, network sectors, and professional services. In the area of regulatory governance, the Review assesses Brazil’s efforts to improve regulatory quality, not least by establishing oversight institutions, as well as by developing and adopting effective regulatory management tools, such as regulatory impact assessment, stakeholder engagement, and ex post assessment of regulations.
The Review provides policy insights and recommendations to help Brazil strengthen its policies and institutions for better regulation and enhance the use of regulatory management tools. The Review also takes account of Brazil’s federal structure and the challenges it creates for the adoption of regulatory policy by the states and municipalities.
By focusing on both the “what” and the “how” of regulations, the analysis and evidence reported in the Review can inform discussions among Brazilian policy makers and society more broadly about how regulatory reform can enhance economic performance and societal well-being.