In today’s rapidly evolving policy environment, from digital and green transitions to decreasing trust in public institutions, governments need to upgrade their capacity and tools to deliver better outcomes. This includes improving how countries regulate and undertake regulatory reform. 

This outlook report offers a global perspective of regulatory practices. It shares unique data from the OECD indicators on regulatory policy and governance, and provides a pathway for governments in better regulating for people, the planet and the future. It includes a country profile of Australia that tracks recent progress and highlights areas for further improvement. It makes reference to Australia's Regulatory policy, practice and performance framework.

Key findings

• Stakeholder engagement could be more inclusive and providing feedback remains a challenge.
• Embedding risk-based approaches to regulatory policy can improve outcomes.
• Governments can strengthen their regulatory policy to support innovation in society.

What can governments do?

• Adopt regulatory reviews to revise and strengthen government policies.
• Remove unnecessary costs and burdens while protecting against risks.
• Improve regulatory effectiveness through risk-based approaches.
• Improve understanding of inequality in regulation.
• Better harness agile regulatory governance.