THE
DEVELOPMENT OF BETTER REGULATION IN
The quality
of regulation (including all types of norms, from primary legislation to
standing instructions and procedural rules), has always been a concern of
public authorities, they be the Government and central administrations, or
bodies with delegated regulatory powers (hereafter designated as “regulators”).
Emphasis was however laid on the intrinsic quality of the norm, its place in
the hierarchy of texts, rather than on its effects on the economy or other
parts of the social body. This legal quality was a foundation of a sound
administrative tradition, which had contributed to modernize the country and
paved the way to economic success.
Because of
the strength and the apparent relevance of this approach, the French
administration was not among the first to embrace and put into practice the
principles of Better
Regulation as they are understood elsewhere. This is one of the main
conclusions of the OECD peer-review of
Les politiques réglementaires
Les institutions réglementaires
However,
since the end of the 1990’s two great trends have brought
about an awareness of the potential of
-
the
movement of ideas on the international scene: OECD principles of regulatory
quality in 1995 and 1997 and the development of the Better Regulation agenda
after 2002;
-
the
“Reform of the State” initiative, which has been aiming, with little party-politics
input, to modernize the administrative system along three lines:
o
for
tax-payers: a greater accountability to be achieved through output budgeting
and performance management of funds
o
for
the public at large, a improved consideration for their expectations as to quality
of service
o
for
the civil servants, increased efficiency of management, with a reappraisal of
careers
thenne