Mexico
Overview and recent developments
In Mexico, since 2000 RIA and public consultation on draft regulation has been mandatory for all regulatory proposals coming from the executive. Mexico strengthened its RIA process by adding in 2016 assessments of impacts on foreign trade and consumer rights, which complement existing assessments on competition and risk. Since 2012, mandatory guidelines require the use of ex post evaluation of technical regulations, and since 2018 regulations with compliance costs have to be evaluated every five years.
The new General Law of Better Regulation to reform the Mexican Constitution with regards to regulatory policy was issued in May 2018. Besides modernizing the policy, it also establishes the National System of Better Regulation, specifying the duties and responsibilities of autonomous bodies and state and municipal governments. The Law requires subnational governments to adopt key tools such as RIA. Mexico should ensure full implementation of these tools, as some of the largest regulatory barriers remain at regional level.
Indicators presented on RIA and stakeholder engagement for primary laws only cover processes carried out by the executive, which initiates approx. 34% of primary laws in Mexico. There is no formal requirement in Mexico for consultation and for conducting RIAs to inform the development of primary laws initiated by parliament.
Following the adoption of the General Law of Better Regulation, Mexico’s COFEMER has been transformed into CONAMER to reflect its broadened mandate. It remains a deconcentrated body of the Ministry of Economy with technical and operational autonomy, but remains hierarchically subordinated to the ministry. The General Law of Better Regulation defines CONAMER’s attributions and mandate, which is to promote transparency in the development and enforcement of regulations and the simplification of procedures, ensuring that they generate benefits that outweigh their costs. Some of CONAMER’s core functions in order to pursue a high quality regulatory framework are assessing draft regulations through RIA, overseeing the public consultation process of draft regulation, coordinating and monitoring the regulatory planning agenda, promoting simplification programmes and reviewing the existing stock of regulations. The General Bureau of Standards of the Ministry of Economy has the responsibility of supervising the development of draft technical regulations and standards by line ministries and agencies, including ensuring the adoption or consideration of international standards and practices. The draft technical regulations and standards then must follow the general regulatory policy discipline of RIA overseen by CONAMER.
Notes: The more regulatory practices as advocated in the OECD Recommendation on Regulatory Policy and Governance a country has implemented, the higher its iREG score. The indicators on stakeholder engagement and RIA for primary laws only cover those initiated by the executive (34% of all primary laws in Mexico).
Source: Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance Surveys 2014 and 2017, http://oe.cd/ireg.