Call for Evidence on the UK's International Regulatory Cooperation Strategy

Overview

The Better Regulation Executive in December 2018 invited the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to conduct a review into the UK’s international regulatory cooperation practices. The OECD report published in May 2020 recommended that the government take action to ensure more systematic consideration of international regulatory cooperation across government and regulatory bodies.

International regulatory cooperation, which involves systematically considering the implications of regulation beyond national borders, will play a critical role in adapting our regulations to the rapidly evolving needs of a globalised world. It will play a critical role in delivering on the government’s vision of a Global Britain that is a responsible international actor playing a constructive role in tackling issues of collective global responsibility, and a champion of free trade that seeks to counter the growing proliferation of non-tariff barriers.    

Our Government Response sets our response to the OECD’s recommendations and the planned programme of work to drive a greater focus on international regulatory cooperation across government and regulators by:  

• developing a whole-of-government international regulatory cooperation strategy, which sets out the policies, tools and respective roles of different departments and regulators in facilitating this;  

• embedding international regulatory cooperation considerations within the better regulation framework and other government guidance;   

• developing specific tools and guidance to policy makers and regulators on how to conduct international regulatory cooperation; and  

• establishing networks to convene international policy professionals from across government and regulators share experience and best practice on international regulatory cooperation.  

Why your views matter

To ensure the government’s future strategy aligns with the needs of the wider regulatory and business community, we are seeking input from regulators, industry, standards-setting bodies and other interested parties through a public call for evidence.  

We want to understand: 

• how these groups already engage in international regulatory cooperation;  

• their priorities to help inform where we focus our future efforts; and 

•  how the government can aid them in identifying and pursuing opportunities.  

This will help identify priorities for regulatory cooperation and how the government can best support the international engagement activities of UK bodies.

What happens next

The results of the consultation will be used to inform the development of the government’s international regulatory cooperation strategy to be published at a future date.