Regulatory policy touches every sector of the economy and affects the day-to-day activities of businesses and citizens. For this reason, ensuring that regulatory practice is transparent, accountable, efficient, and effective is a top priority for any government. However, regulatory affairs are a dynamic field, and practices have evolved over the past few decades. These have faced criticism for inhibiting growth and investment. To address that criticism and adapt to other changing circumstances, such as the rising demand for regulations to address environmental, health, and safety risks, numerous novel approaches to regulation have emerged. Rather than dismantling the entire regulatory apparatus, governments and other stakeholders now seek to create better, smarter regulations.

To help participants understand the emerging regulatory landscape, the APO Secretariat organized a virtual workshop on the Future of Regulation, 29 June–1 July, in partnership with the Development Academy of the Philippines. This event covered challenges to regulatory systems, global trends in regulation, international regulatory cooperation, systems thinking and regulatory governance, regulatory approaches to emerging technology, smart regulation and intelligent regulation, and behavioral approaches to regulation. The participants were engaged through Q&A sessions, polls, a plenary discussion, and breakout groups.

There were 30 participants from 10 APO members who attended this workshop, along with six resource persons from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Singapore.