Regulatory Enforcement and Inspections (OECD Best Practice Principles for Regulatory Policy)

Regulatory enforcement and inspections is a relatively new and understudied element of regulatory policy that has been gaining importance recently. The major challenge for governments is to develop and apply enforcement strategies that deliver the best possible outcomes by achieving the highest possible levels of compliance, while keeping regulatory costs and administrative burdens as low as possible. Only a few OECD member countries have introduced significant cross-cutting reforms in this area. Many other OECD countries are currently considering some reform initiatives and are seeking for guidance and good practice examples. 

To fill this gap, the OECD believes that it is timely and useful to develop a number of key principles and guidance for organising and reforming inspections in OECD countries. These principles are based on a survey conducted among OECD countries in 2012, expert papers presented to the OECD Regulatory Policy Committee as well as on additional country
information provided to the Secretariat on the voluntary basis.