Conference: Stakeholder engagement in rule-making enhances democracy and improves regulation
Participatory, responsive, and transparent regulatory practices strengthen trust in democratic decision-making. They also help ensure that regulation achieves its societal objectives. Advanced ways to improve stakeholder engagement in rule-making is the topic of the 14th OECD Measuring Regulatory Performance Conference, which is held in Helsinki on 19–20 September.
Quality rule-making can overcome contemporary challenges
The opening remarks emphasized regulation as key for promoting societal objectives. High-quality law-making processes are necessary to ensure that regulation leads to its desired impacts, and does not have unintended, negative impacts. Additionally, discussions concentrated on trust in law-making processes as a prerequisite for functioning democratic decision-making and a legal system based on the rule of law.
− Recent global crises have proved that legislation needs to be up-to-date, efficient in achieving its objectives, and legitimate in the eyes of citizens. The best results are a product of a law-making process that is to the point, evidence-informed, and participatory, said Pekka Timonen, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice.
Stakeholder engagement improves decision-making and buy-in
The Conference in Helsinki focuses on advanced ways to make rule-making more participatory, responsive, and transparent. The conference explores opportunities in improving stakeholder engagement in a variety of ways. These include the role of parliaments in better regulation, engaging stakeholders earlier to help shape impact assessments, and improving outreach with typically underrepresented stakeholders in law-making.
− Our democracies need to adapt, increase their resilience, and better deliver on citizens’ expectations – and this includes rule-making. Strengthening participation is key for rules to truly be an expression of collective will and reinforce trust in government action, stressed Gillian Dorner, the OECD’s Deputy Director for Public Governance.
The OECD’s annual conference brings together country officials, academics and other experts to discuss better regulation topics, such as impact assessment, ex-post evaluation, and stakeholder engagement.
This year’s conference is held in Helsinki. The hosts in Finland are the Ministry of Justice, Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, and The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra.
OECD events on measuring regulatory performance
Further information
Christiane Arndt-Bascle, Head of Programme, OECD, email: [email protected]
Kaisa Tiusanen, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Justice, Finland, tel. +358 295 150 169
Heidi Silvennoinen, Committee Counsel, Parliament of Finland, tel. +358 94 323 310
Paula Laine-Nordström, Senior Specialist, Prime Minister’s Office, Finland, tel. +358 295 160 685
Erno Mähönen, Senior Specialist, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Finland, tel. +358 295 047 262
Anna Välimaa, Specialist, Sitra, +358 294 618 324