The OECD report on Regulatory Quality in Middle East and North African (MENA) Countries is the first progress report that assesses the implementation of OECD regulatory policy principles in the MENA region. Regulatory policy in the MENA region is an increasing priority as part of the process of building better governance for encouraging and enabling sustainable development, competitiveness and inclusive growth. The report provides recommendations to MENA countries to improve their regulatory capacities to deliver better policy outcomes.

Efforts at regulatory reform have been made in MENA countries for some years. The relevance of regulatory policy to economic development and social welfare places it as an important tool to support foreign and domestic efforts to create jobs, and to embrace open, inclusive government frameworks. The desire for greater civic engagement and inclusiveness can be seen in many of the countries across the region and ways of better engaging the public are being requested by the public.

This chapter provides a synthesis of the recommendations set out in the Seoul Declaration and an overview of developments and progress made in implementing them at national and international levels since the Declaration was adopted in 2008. It sheds light on policy issues that have arisen or have increased in scale or scope since the Declaration and makes recommendations for further work.

This chapter looks at developments in access to and use of the Internet through highspeed infrastructure. It addresses a number of issues as set out in the Seoul Declaration and makes policy recommendations and suggestions for further work in this area. Specifically, the chapter provides an overview of progress in expanding access to networks and attaining greatest practical national coverage; creating a market-friendly environment for investment and competition; benefitting from convergence; encouraging the adoption of IPv6; encouraging a more efficient use of radio spectrum; and improving measurement and statistical instruments.

This chapter focuses on two areas of innovation and sustainability identified as important in the Seoul Declaration: digital content and ‘green’ information and communication technologies (ICTs). Regarding digital content, issues addressed include: the development of digital content markets, local content, public sector information, the role of Internet intermediaries, and intellectual property rights. In the context of green ICTs, issues addressed include: resource efficient ICTs, sensor-based networks, and smart ICT applications such as smart grids.

This chapter provides an overview of developments since the Seoul Declaration in business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce – at both domestic and international levels – and identifies some remaining obstacles to its expansion. It focuses on a selected number of issues that raise important ongoing and emerging consumer concerns that require attention. These include complex legal landscapes; inadequate information disclosure; fraudulent and misleading commerce practices; geographical restrictions; privacy concerns; and inadequate dispute resolution and redress.