The Ministry of Economy established guideline criteria and methodology for the assessment of business costs related to regulatory complexity, or regulatory burdens, in order to improve regulatory quality and the business environment.
Normative Instruction n. 111/2020 from the Secretariat of Competition and Competitiveness Advocacy (SEAE, in the Portuguese acronym) at the Ministry of Economy established guideline criteria and methodology for assessing regulatory-related business costs, in order to improve regulatory quality and the business environment.
The guideline criteria are organized in five categories: regulatory obligations, technical specifications, regulatory restrictions and prohibitions, licensing, and regulatory complexity. Examples of each category are presented in the Normative Instruction (Annex I).
It also establishes a Regulatory Burden Estimation Methodology (“Metodologia do Cálculo da Onerosidade Regulatória” – MCOR, in the Portuguese acronym) based on the Standard Cost Model (SCM): number of workers, hours and interactions companies must employ in order to conform to regulatory requirements. It also established directives for Public Administration cost estimations and medium-term present value estimations (Annex II).
The new guidelines result from SEAE Public Consultation n. 02/2020 (reported in the 14th Edition of the Regulatory Report) and will assist SEAE’s functions of analyzing and pursuing regulatory improvement and market competitiveness. The normative instruction also states that SEAE will develop a primary inquiry on the structures of companies in different sectors and sizes, in order to apply MCOR. Further updates will be made available at the Ministry of Economy’s website.
