The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) officially kicked off its series of webinars regarding the Philippine Good Regulatory Principles (PGRP) on Sept. 30, 2021.
The first batch was attended by members of the private sector.
The PGRP webinar was conducted in partnership with the United Kingdom Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (UK-BEIS).
Undersecretary Ernesto V. Perez, ARTA Deputy Director-General for Operations, expressed his gratitude to the UK government, which he called the “best model” when it comes to Regulatory Management System (RMS), for supporting ARTA in propagating the PGRP to government agencies and the public and private sectors.
UK-BEIS Assistant Director Tamsin Mcsorley underscored the importance of the 10 principles in ensuring that regulations in the business sector remain proportionate, consistent, accountable, and targeted.
“I’m delighted to see so many participants, which is a testament to the importance of Regulatory Management System in the Philippines and how to improve on that,” she said.
“The way that regulation is designed and delivered has a significant impact on business environment,” she added. “It strengthens markets, encourages local and international trade and investment, which is important for economic recovery.”
Usec. Perez presented about why ARTA was moved to craft the PGRP.
After this, UK Regulatory Reform Experts Rachel Holloway and Stephen Poole, both from BEIS-Regulatory Delivery International (RDI), presented the development of the PGRP as well as the UK’s Regulators’ Code Principles.
The PGRP can be summarized into the following guidelines: clarity, legal and empirical basis, benefit-cost, assessment, engagement, coherence, whole-of-government, continuous evaluation, competition, and risk management.
This set of guidelines serve as a guiding document for regulatory agencies covered by Section 3 of Republic Act No. 11032 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), which include all government offices, inclusive of local government units, government-owned or controlled corporations, and other government instrumentalities.
The PGRP, the first of its kind in the country, is similar to and in alignment with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Good Regulatory Practices (GRP), and the United Kingdom Regulators’ Code.
The formulation of the PGRP was a collaborative effort among the ARTA; UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); and the UK-BEIS.
This is part of a technical assistance program initiated by virtue of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on regulatory reform projects signed last 04 February 2020 between ARTA Secretary Jeremiah Belgica and British Ambassador Daniel Pruce under the Joint Action Plan between the Governments of the Philippines and the United Kingdom.
Toward the end of the webinar, Ezekiel Mauhay of the Better Regulations Office (BRO)-Division C presented about the Authority’s Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) training for government agencies that aim to help them make better regulations and introduce them to the PGRP. The RIA trainings are also a way for the country to improve its standing in the RMS stages.
With the development of the PGRP, ARTA remains hopeful that the Philippines will graduate from the starter stage to the enabled stage, as stated in Derek Gill and Ponciano Intal, Jr.’s 2016 study on the RMS stages, by the end of the year.
Mauhay also discussed the benefits of adopting the PGRP in the regulation formulation.
More PGRP webinars are set to be held this October. Members of the academe, local government units and local associations, and national government agencies will be invited. (ARTA) – bny
