Efficient and effective regulation is critical for public wellbeing and a productive economy. To improve regulation, regulators are increasingly adopting a technique called regulatory experimentation – safely testing changes to rules to see if they achieve better outcomes.

This paper serves as a simple, accessible resource for regulators seeking to experiment to drive best-practice regulation. It offers insights into the benefits and challenges of testing policy options, as well as practical steps regulators can take to start experimenting. The paper draws on real-world case studies, the latest research and interviews from organisations with first-hand experience conducting regulatory experiments.

Key findings

• Regulators use a range of experimental methods and techniques, varying in the expertise and resources required to implement them.
• Experiments can drive better regulation by allowing regulators to respond to risks and adapt to a changing regulatory environment, find more cost-effective ways of regulating and gather evidence to overcome opposition to change.
• Regulatory experimentation is not a one-size-fits-all approach and may not always be practical, for instance if the necessary data cannot be collected.
• Well-designed regulation is forward-looking, with data collection and evaluation processes built in as part of implementation.