Evaluating Performance Of Regulatory Enforcement Activities By Businesses: Key Trends

Improving performance of public regulatory enforcement activity entailing stronger orientation at minimizing risks of harm to public values is proclaimed a key area for business climate transformation in Russia. The article reviews intermediate outcomes of the regulatory enforcement reform from the viewpoint of private businesses. A sociological survey of 1,000 private businesses in 28 Russian regions which were subject to state inspections in 2018-2019 conducted in March 2020 provided empirical data for the paper. The 2020 survey results were compared to the outcomes of the baseline survey conducted in 2017 at the outset of the regulatory enforcement reform with similar methodology applied. Overall, the survey results suggest that the perceptions of businesses regarding the impact of the state regulatory enforcement activities on reducing risks to public values have declined. Only some 27.4 percent of respondents noted that in general state regulatory enforcement have positive impact on their businesses (in 2017, 34.6 percent of respondents shared this opinion). Business perceptions of impact of specific inspections on the level of risk in their operations and product and process safety have also deteriorated. While the survey demonstrates some reduction in business inspections intensity, there is also a growth trend in other types of regulatory enforcement activities which are not accounted for in statistics, such as administrative investigations, raids, distant monitoring. Changes in administrative costs levels also demonstrate varying trends. While the survey suggests significant reduction in administrative costs related to access to information on legal requirements (by 57.3 percent in constant prices), unit costs related to regulatory enforcement inspections have significantly grown (by 47.4 percent). Survey respondents confirm the need for implementing risk-oriented principles in state regulatory enforcement activities entailing the concentration of resources on actual risks of harm. Optimization of regulatory requirements in the framework of regulatory guillotine is also highly relevant.