NCC calls for regulatory impact assessment

THE National Competitiveness Commission (NCC) has called on the business sector to adopt a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) policy so as to increase the quality of existing regulations.

The commission said the RIA would be a management tool to analyse positive and negative effects of proposed and existing regulations and non-regulatory initiatives.

Addressing delegates at a workshop in Harare last week, NCC executive director Philip Phiri said the adoption of an RIA would also strengthen regulation and competitiveness.

“RIA is a very key tool in most developed countries which allows the improved quality of regulation within an economy and previous work that has been done by the countries that have implemented RIA has proved that this tool is important in creating competitiveness for the business sector,” he said.

Phiri revealed that they had been facing resistance from some of the businesses they approached because they had established their own set of regulations.

Economist Gift Mugano said adoption of an RIA would help the country boost economic growth.

He said Zimbabwe had a number of challenges which included a punitive tax system and expensive fuel, which weighed down on the country’s growth prospects.

Chamber of Mines mining affairs manager David Matyanga also supported the call for an RIA, saying various surveys had proved that Zimbabwe was performing badly compared to her peers in Africa.

Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries representative Cornelius Dube said for an RIA to be fully effective, there was need for NCC to work on ensuring that the policies were tailor-made for Zimbabwe, taking into consideration the current economic conditions.

The NCC is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament [Chapter 14:36], which came into force on June 23, 2017.

The commission is mandated to facilitate the creation of a competitive environment for Zimbabwean businesses through the development, co-ordination and implementation of key policy improvements required for domestic, regional and global competitiveness.

Among its functions, the commission is responsible for reviewing all existing and new business regulations to ascertain their impact on the cost of doing business and recommend amendments or repeals where appropriate to enhance competitiveness.-newsday.co.zw