See up to date information on the Prime Minister’s Master Plan for Administrative Procedure Simplification here:

http://www.thutuchanhchinh.vn/index.php/?language=en

Vietnam, U.S. Agency for International Development, 2007-2013.

USTR (US Office of the Trade Representative) wished to emphasize good regulatory practice when the U.S. chaired the 2011 APEC meetings. It contracted with Jacobs, Cordova & Associates to prepare the documents for APEC discussions. Based on the 2005 APEC-OECD Integrated Checklist on Regulatory Reform, which lays out a voluntary GRP framework for self-assessment on regulatory quality, competition policy, and market openness, Jacobs, Cordova & Associates reviewed the application of selected GRPs across the 21 APEC member economies, producing a review for each country and a summary report. The Checklist and our report focused on several procedures that promote regulatory quality standards particularly important to trade and investment such as accountability, consultation, efficiency, and transparency. Our study will be updated in three years to provide a baseline of progress over time. The bound Baseline Study was given to APEC Ministers, who then produced an unprecedented statement on GRP and regulatory cooperation. President Obama hosted a luncheon discussion among Leaders on "Regulatory Reform and Economic Growth" based in part on our study.

In a second document, to be published in 2012, we explored more systematically the linkages between the TBT Agreement and GRPs, and laid out these linkages in a more operational approach than the previous APEC documents. Our document linked more substantively the TBT obligations with actual good regulatory practices that might be considered by APEC members. Our work fully integrated the GRPs used by the regulatory reform community and those recommended by the trade community.

APEC, USAID, 2011-2012

With ADB support and financing, the three-year project supported the Bhutan Government and, in particular, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in building a sustainable framework and implementation capacities for Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) in domestic policy processes. The project helped regulators draft higher quality laws with clear operational details and proportionate to their objective. The new RIA system also provides an appropriate framework allowing stakeholders to participate in discussions and for expressing their views in the making of laws and in regulatory. The project is also assisted the government to pilot RIAs on selected draft business laws such as the Enterprise Registration Act and the Industries and Investment Act. The Project kicked off with the use of the Quick Scan Questionnaire.

Bhutan, ADB/Government of Bhutan, 2008-2011.

Business registration reform in Vietnam has been planned for almost a decade. This work accelerated in 2008 with adoption of new legal authorities and with external financing and technical assistance under the Norad funded MPI/UNIDO project. Our evaluation report assessed the project design, progress made to date, and the desirability of continued investment in further phases of the project. This project assessment covered the period through end December 2009.

Vietnam, Switzerland State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), And NORAD, 2010.

Jacobs, Cordova & Associates was in charge of conducting the ‘conditionality related’ Second Annual Review of the Regulatory & Investment Systems for Enterprise Growth in Bangladesh (RISE) project UK Department for International Development. RISE is a 20 million pound five-year project to (1) streamline regulation; (2) enhance Government of Bangladesh’s capacity to support growth, and (3) raise growth benefits through developing zones and parks, and improving labor and environmental standards within zones. The review identified key lessons and risks emerging during the implementation and assesses the likelihood of the project achieving its outputs and purpose in particular in the light of improving the country ranking in terms of Doing Business indicators.

Bangladesh, DFID Bangladesh, 2009.

Jacobs, Cordova & Associates worked with the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) in the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) to create an evaluation tool that can be used to identify regulatory text that is of low quality and that creates unnecessary costs and risks for economic actors. This tool, in the form of a Checklist, consists of simple quality tests that can be used to score a legal normative document article by article. Using an Excel tool, articles that are unacceptably low in quality can be identified, the nature of the problem can be diagnosed, and corrective action can be taken. It can be used by drafters, reviewers, and stakeholders.

Vietnam, UNDP, 2008.

Jacobs, Cordova & Associates assisted the ILO to assess through a large-scale business survey the regulatory burdens on entrepreneurship of labor laws and regulations in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

APEC, South Asia, ILO, 2007.

Jacobs, Cordova & Associates, technical advisor to the Government of Mongolia, proposed modifications to Mongolia’s legal and institutional framework for business inspections. Our report, Capacity Building of the State’s Specialized Inspection Agency, diagnosed the burdens on businesses resulting from the current inspection systems and proposed a package of reforms to “streamline and modernize the general regulatory system of Mongolia and the inspection framework in order to reduce administrative burdens.” These efforts are expected to build the capacity of the new, unified State Specialized Inspection Agency. We helped design the modern inspection law that will help eradicate the misuse of terms and abusive interpretations; implement risk-based inspections; and protect the rights of regulators and those inspected. We proposed to implement modern tools for public consultations and communication, including an Information Management System to serve as data base and a One Stop Shop.

Mongolia, IBRD, 2007.

As part of an ADB project to improve the business environment, Jacobs, Cordova & Associates developed a reform strategy for the licensing system in Vietnam, recommending a broader and more ambitious reform effort including launching a Regulatory Guillotine™.

Vietnam, ADB, 2006.

See Third South Asia High-Level Investment Roundtable Implementing Regulatory Reform Conference page here: http://www.fias.net/ifcext/fias.nsf/Content/FIAS_Resources_Conferences_SARoundTable

South Asia, The World Bank/FIAS, 2005

Jacob, Cordova & Associates worked with the Ministry of Justice to prepare a detailed regulatory impact assessment (RIA) on the draft Law on Laws, a law that created a new framework for Vietnam's legal system. The RIA was influential in reversing the position of the National Assembly on several key issues such as stakeholder participation. The final Law on Laws, which went into effect in 2009, sets a new standard for transparency and assessment in making new laws in Vietnam. We worked through the national Drafting Committee to structure the RIA, collect the data, prepare the analysis, and prepare the final report for the National Assembly to assist its debates on the content of the new law. In addition, we prepared training materials and conducted training.

Vietnam, UNDP, 2004.

Jacobs, Cordova & Associates held a RIA training course for the Ministry of Commerce.

China, Ministry of Commerce, 2004.

Jacobs, Cordova & Associates assessed the capacities and training needs of Asia’s utility regulators for APEC. Our report, Regulatory Governance in Asia: Training Needs Assessment of Potential Members of the East Asian Utility Regulators Network, concluded that “While a few Asian countries have succeeded in creating credible independent regulators that are able to challenge powerful vested interests, the performance to date of independent utility regulators in Asia is not very promising. The main reason for this is that the external environment of structural, policy, and governance reforms remains extremely difficult.” We published a shorter version in the April 2004 ADB Governance Brief as Governance of Asian utilities: New regulators struggle in difficult environments. Download report here: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Periodicals/GB/GovernanceBrief10.pdf

APEC, Asia, 2004

Jacobs, Cordova & Associates held a one-week RIA training course for the Prime Minister's Office and Regulatory Reform Council.

Korea, Government of Korea, 2003.

Jacobs, Cordova & Associates provided a report on the desirable direction of development of independent regulators, and their proper role in Korea. Organizational requirements for high-quality regulation and independence were proposed.

Korea, Korean Economic Research Institute, 2003.

Jacobs, Cordova & Associates assisted FIAS with (a) a review of the Russian draft legislation on reform of technical regulations, and (b) a presentation in Moscow to the working group meeting on “best practice and lessons learned” in reform of technical regulations in OECD countries.

Russia, The World Bank/FIAS, 2002.