If you sit on the Board of a regulator, congratulations! You are probably overworked, under-compensated, little appreciated and not understood. After all, regulatory Boards are strange creatures. Whilst they often look like Boards of corporate entities, their remit isn’t to increase profits but to reduce harm. In a company, profit is easily measured and seen. In a regulator, however, harm […]
The last two years, since the emergence of Covid-19, was a period where things changed very rapidly in the regulatory environment. So the question is how do you stand up regulatory responses quickly? How do you learn from others and beg, borrow, steal, admire and adapt to fit a highly evolving and dynamic challenge? Adapting to relative risks Initially Covid-19 […]
One of the main challenges for regulators is how to stretch our resources to adequately cover our responsibilities. Compliance planning is an essential tool for meeting these challenges. Where are you going to put your regulatory efforts? How much capacity do you have? Where do you put your energy to minimise harm? How do you communicate your plan so duty […]
In a recent Penn Program on Regulation webinar, Benjamin van Rooij talks about his new book The Behavioral Code: The Hidden Ways the Law Makes us Better . . . or Worse. The Behavioral Code has been described as “Freakonomics for the law” – a great book and podcast if you haven’t heard of it – drawing on research Benjamin and […]
How can regulators better harness intelligence that comes from complaints to get better at managing and minimising harms? This is an issue I’ve wrestled with over my long career in regulatory practice, as well as in my current role working with regulatory boards and executives around the country. I recently had the pleasure to speak on this subject with two […]
Leading a regulator is different from leading a business or even a department of government. As a regulator we’re always in the public eye, and constantly take criticism from all sides. We can’t be inertial. We can’t sit back and do nothing. And yet when we do act to prevent harm, it’s often those who are harmed nonetheless that make […]
A voluntary framework What is the role of good regulatory practice provisions in trade agreements? Can they actually help reduce harm and protect communities? As the full implications of Brexit begin to roll out in the UK, I was intrigued to see a press release promoting the EU agreement that included a section titled. ‘Good Regulatory Practice and Regulatory Cooperation’. […]
The Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman famously said that the business of business is business, and that business’s only social responsibility is to increase profits within the rules of the game. Those rules contribute to the science and art of economic regulation, addressing market failures or, alternatively, making markets work better. Economic regulation is effectively government-sponsored intervention in market […]
How do we define red tape when talking about regulation? Have you ever heard of beige or grey tape? I spoke about these terms, as well as whether regulation is a burden or a benefit with Chris Webb, Executive Director Regulatory Practice and Strategy at the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Victoria. Eliminating red tape How do regulators—that arm of […]