OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook 2025

Fast technological changes and growing demands on the efficiency and effectiveness of government require adaptive, efficient and proportionate regulatory frameworks. Governments should make it easier for people to access information and services, and for businesses to comply, while maintaining protections and a competitive environment.

Data and risk analysis help identify areas where harms from non-compliance are greatest and can help predict where non-compliance is most likely to occur. The results can enhance policies aimed at better mitigating bad outcomes and help better deploy scarce public resources available for regulatory enforcement. New technologies including AI support and offer new potential for risk-based enforcement.

Current high levels of inequality have only strengthened the case for improving distributional analysis. Distributional analysis has even helped build public support for change in some environmental policy areas. Examining data  across age, race, gender, education levels, and geographic factors – provides a path to better consider cumulative inequalities people face.

Embracing adapt and learn approaches, horizon scanning and strategic foresight can help regulate for the future. Improving institutional arrangements to tackle cross-sectoral phenomena will foster more coherent and cohesive policies. Boosting skills, expertise and resources yields sound evidence for improved decision making – helping to strike the balance between unleashing the full potential of new technologies, while managing their attendant risks.