Business owners and operators should take every opportunity they can to demand lawmakers enforce the practices that are already in place, not just keep restating the principles.

Paraphrasing the old adage ‘to a person with just a hammer, all problems look like nails' - to legislators and their public servants most problems need laws!

This cultural view, so deeply internalised the protagonists are often oblivious to its existence, must form the crux of any consideration of the regulatory environment. Attempts at red tape reduction tend to be either the ‘cost cutting' model or the ‘process' model when what is needed, to is not a ‘roots & branch review', to quote a well-known proclaimer of reform, but a ‘dig it out and replant anew' model - a model that establishes a more balanced line between business (especially small businesses) whose mantra prefers no government involvement ‘just get out of my way and let me create wealth', and the lawmakers and enforcers for whom rules and process to meet clearly defined (by them) ‘outputs' and ‘outcomes' are the touchstones of good governance.

This week Global Access Partners (GAP) is hosting another of its valuable gatherings of top minds - a Congress on Regulatory Affairs - "Opportunities for Business".