Regulation and Public Integrity: the governance chalenges of the Brazilian regulatory agencies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36428/revistadacgu.v16i30.731Keywords:
regulation, public, governanceAbstract
The relationship between public integrity and regulation can be seen through two complementary prisms: regulation as a requirement for public integrity, considering the supervisory role that regulatory agencies play in the public integrity cycle, especially regarding state-owned companies; and public integrity as a foundation of regulation, since, beyond general governance aspects applicable to all public bodies, regulators face specific integrity risks, such as those related to regulatory capture and political interference over technical decisions.
This article is dedicated to understanding how this relationship unfolds in the national institutional context, exploring the particularities of governance in regulatory agencies in Brazil. After a theoretical reflection on the relationship between the concepts of regulation and integrity, based on academic debate and the history of Brazilian public administration, a reference framework for understanding the specificity of institutional integrity applied to regulatory agencies is proposed. From this framework, a discussion on the main institutional challenges faced by Brazilian regulatory agencies regarding public integrity is proposed. This discussion is empirically based on the experience of the QualiReg Program, a partnership between UNDP and CGU, aimed at improving regulatory quality and the institutional capacity of Brazilian regulatory agencies. The Program assessed the regulatory governance and institutional capacity of 45 agencies, across all levels of federation. Through the analysis of these assessments, it is possible to identify governance bottlenecks faced by regulatory agencies. Thus, after theoretical and empirical discussion, a public integrity agenda for regulatory agencies is proposed as a conclusion, going beyond integrity programs and codes of conduct, focusing on the intersection between regulatory quality and public integrity.
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