CUTS organizes two day training for TRAI officials

In a first of its kind in India, CUTS International along with CUTS Institute for Regulation and Competition and Jacobs, Cordova and Associates (JC and A) are conducting a two day training workshop (18-19th January, 2016, New Delhi) on Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) designed for officials of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

An area devoted to devising ways to cut down red tape for ease of doing business and improve regulatory efficacy. RIA is a broad tool used to assess impacts (costs and benefits) of a regulation before it is adopted or existing laws need to be rectified. It is evolving quickly as it is mainstreamed into policy processes around the world.

Speaking during the opening session, R S Sharma, Chairman, TRAI said that the workshop is very useful as it is important to build capacity of officials of TRAI, given the dynamism of the sector that they are regulating. Sharma stressed on the importance of formulations of regulations which comprise elements of legislative, judiciary and executive and it is important for TRAI and its team to be aware of cost and benefits of regulations on society, at large.

Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International in his opening remarks said 'the absence of RIA in policy framework in India results in formulation of bunch of avoidable regulations', Mehta added that CUTS has contributed to the erstwhile Planning Commission's Working Group on Business Regulatory Reforms with a recommendation on impact assessment of existing and proposed regulations.

Anil Kaushal, Member, TRAI also emphasized that it is necessary to think about implementation before any new policy, law or regulation is to be drafted and adopted, and not after; for such policies, laws and regulations to be successful.