41. Department for Business and Trade International Conference, Mansion House, 2-5 October 2023

I was invited to join this conference by the Office of Product Safety and Standards in the prestigious setting of the Mansion House.  Regulators and policy makers from around the world attended.  In addition to 18 very different national presentations and perspectives, we had a series of discussions around the theme of effective regulation for growth, trade and innovation.  There were representatives from the World Bank and OECD, as well as UK organisations ranging from the Health and Safety Executive to the Consumers’ Association and Trading Standards Officers.

It was very interesting to hear how regulation is evolving in many countries, with the legislation developing in response to need.  The EU and the UK are working especially with third world countries to develop health and safety, environment and consumer regulations.  There was a strong commitment to communication and engagement with the regulated and the public.

It was observed that there is an increasing divergence between UK regulation and European regulation with the EU developing regulations to tackle issues such as AI and the environment. The UK is aligning itself more with the USA in taking a wait-and-see approach.

Speakers described different approaches to the development of regulation including a linear concept with which I had difficulty.  I saw regulation as a necessary reaction to situations such as air pollution causing deaths, children working in mines, or market failure.  Regulation provides a level playing field and prevents less scrupulous operators from undercutting the market through lower standards.  Providing certainty and generating confidence regulation facilitates growth.  Regulation is an iterative process, better described as a circle into which more information, new means of enforcement feed.  Unfortunately we tend to add layer upon layer, increasing complexity and bureaucracy.

We did agree that regulation had to be about achieving an outcome rather than be an end in its own right.  We must set the desired outcome first and then identify the best tools to achieve it.

In one session we had a discussion on regulatory approaches to new technology such as the use of new energy sources including hydrogen. Given a choice of tools, a show of hands amongst delegates provided the following in order of preference:

1.      Create the infrastructure to do the right thing - eg electric car charging points to encourage electric car use

2.      Publish data on what everyone is doing to encourage the laggards to adopt better practices

3.      Educate - persuade people to do the best thing, set the tone on how to react

4.      Regulate - prescribe what is permitted and therefore what is not permitted

5.      Spend money - eg battery technology, hope new products come to market (unfortunately governments are not as good as markets at picking winners)

6.      Enforce - fine, turn off the power/water supply

We had a fascinating couple of days.