Foreword 3

Editorial 4

Abbreviations and acronyms 8

Executive summary 9

1 Introduction: Regulating in a fast-changing and complex world 12

1.1. New challenges have changed the context for rulemaking… 13

1.2. …leading to regulatory burdens and complexity affecting economic performance 14

1.3. Established rulemaking practices and institutions have not been effective enough in

keeping burdens in check… 15

1.4. … putting regulatory simplification and burden reduction front and centre 17

References 20

2 Diagnostic: Drivers of regulatory burden and complexity 22

2.1. Regulatory burdens are a significant – and growing – challenge 24

2.2. Priority sectors and policy areas: where are burdens most acute? 28

2.3. Pain points and drivers of burden: How are businesses most impacted? 35

References 46

3 Diagnostic: Trends and challenges in regulatory simplification and burden

reduction 49

3.1. A new wave of simplification initiatives 51

3.2. Simplification tools and their challenges 52

3.3. Institutional barriers to simplification 59

References 63

4 Way forward – towards efficient and effective regulatory simplification 66

4.1. Clearing the clutter: simplify existing rules for better outcomes 67

4.2. Smoothing pathways: streamlining administrative procedures to ease compliance 75

4.3. Glory in prevention: Future-proof rulemaking to secure lasting impact 81

References 88