Public Consultation plays a key role to facilitate trade as it allows regulators to obtain information from domestic and international stakeholders about the implications of a proposed regulation prior to its entry into force.
In this sense, aligned with APEC’s goal of reducing barriers to trade to increase regional economic integration, this project aims to: Exchange information and lessons learned on Public Consultation initiatives by APEC economies through a Workshop; Collect the best practices of APEC economies through a summary report to serve as a source for learning.
This project builds up on the project by United States “Advancing Good Regulatory Practices to Reduce Barriers to Trade”, in which Peru participated as co-sponsor.
Following this initiative, Peru will share its experience with APEC economies and invite them to a workshop to exchange lessons learned, followed by a summary report that collect these best practices on public consultation.
Good Regulatory Practices (GRPs) support economic growth, trade and investments as GRPs provide transparency and predictability and, therefore, increase trust in government, as well as provide an opportunity for stakeholders to participate in regulatory processes. One of the best GRPs is Public Consultation, through which regulators collect and consider input from stakeholders on a proposed regulatory action at an early stage, and incorporate that input if it helps to meet the public policy objective.
Public Consultation contributes to a more inclusive and transparent decision-making process. It promotes open participation by allowing diverse stakeholders, including businesses, civil society, and the general public, to express their opinions and concerns regarding policies, including trade policies or regulations that can affect trade.
In this sense, APEC provides a meaningful framework for economies to work on improving their regulatory environment through Public Consultation by sharing their progress, challenges and initiatives for their implementation. As outlined in Thailand’s host report from the 15th Conference on Good Regulatory Practices (GRP15) in November 2022, “it is necessary to address persistent communication and coordination issues, promote the use of digital technologies in regulatory affairs, and shift towards a more agile and adaptable framework and practices while bolstering tenets like transparency, public consultation, and international regulatory cooperation.”
Exchange information and lessons learned on Public Consultation initiatives by APEC economies through a Workshop “APEC experiences on Good Regulatory Practices: Improving Public Consultation”. This Workshop will be focused on APEC economies’ regulatory process on Public Consultation and will include the participation of public and private sector.
Collect the best practices of APEC economies through a summary report to serve as a source for learning. This document will reflect progress achieved by APEC economies on their Public Consultation processes and will help to identify possible efforts to be made for future capacity building opportunities.
This project is aligned to the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 by addressing the importance of “a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent and predictable trade and investment environment.” In addition, the Aotearoa Plan of Action encourages economies to “promote good regulatory practices and regulatory cooperation” to “pursue structural reforms and sound economic policies to promote innovation, as well as improve productivity and dynamism.”
This project is also aligned to the recommendations set in the “Blueprint for Advancing Good Regulatory Practices in the APEC Region”. The Blueprint recognize the organization or workshops supported by APEC on this matter as an example of actions that support Public Consultation.
SCSC’s objectives support efforts to “promote good regulatory practices in the preparation, adoption and application of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures” and “ensure greater transparency.”
Preparation and delivery of the Workshop “APEC experiences on Good Regulatory Practices: Improving Public Consultation” to be held face-to- face in Lima, Peru. Preparation: 3 months; Workshop: 1 day.
The event aims to:
- Facilitate information exchange between economies regarding their public consultation initiatives and common challenges encountered in the regulatory process.
- Enhance collaboration between public and private sector stakeholders from APEC economies to discuss approaches and perspectives on public consultation.
- Identify best practices from participating APEC economies, showing successful public consultation processes, innovative approaches to regulatory practices and addressing common challenges.
The Workshop will be organized as follows:
Session 1: Consultation as GRP Policy tool for policy development Through Public Consultation, regulators collect and consider input from stakeholders on a proposed regulatory action at an early stage, and incorporate that input if it helps to meet the public policy objective. In this session, experts will present the benefits of Public Consultation on transparency and predictability for trade, economic growth and investment.
Session 2: Innovations in Public Consultation Mechanisms
How to promote the use of technologies during the public consultation process? What challenges must policy makers consider? Speakers will discuss ideas to implement new technology tools during the process of public consultation and what are the benefits of it for stakeholders.
Session 3: APEC Experiences on Improving Public Consultation This session will provide an opportunity for economies to share experiences on new approaches in enhancing public consultation for regulatory procedures. Speakers will inform about the mechanisms they are implementing to conduct efficient, accessible and inclusive consultations.
Session 4: Cooperation in the APEC region to support Public Consultation This session will allow economies to explore further initiatives to promote Public Consultation in the APEC region. In addition, economies will have the opportunity to inform about current activities in other for a that support economies in building GRPs for Public Consultation.
The Project Summary Report will include the findings, key learnings and conclusions of the Workshop as well as a set of best practices of APEC economies to serve as a source of learning and recommendations to explore future capacity building opportunities.
The length of the report will be 20 to 30 pages (including annexes and references).
The indirect beneficiaries will be firms, enterprises (including SMEs), and civil society as they will benefit from the expected improvement of Public Consultation in APEC economies’ regulatory decision-making processes. Finally, APEC and Non-APEC economies will benefit from the identification of best practices that will allow them to implement public consultation procedures for more inclusive and effective regulations, and enable them to enhance the quality of their regulatory frameworks to promote transparency.
The number, form and content of any publications: The results of the workshop, survey questionnaire, best practices and recommendations will be captured into a written document named Summary Project Report that can be published electronically on the APEC website. This information will be accessible to the public following the workshop to ensure that only updated information is reflected therein.
Channels of dissemination: Only the APEC website will be used to share the publication so as to track how many times it has been downloaded.
The target audience: The target audience would include government representatives responsible for regulations or regulatory processes and private sector representatives in APEC economies.
Dissemination of publication will be encouraged through participants, and access to the Summary Report through APEC's website monitored.
The results of the workshop and the best practices and recommendations collected in the Summary Report will be informed during SCSC meetings.