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Nancy Sundberg�Senior Programme Officer, ITU/BDT

ICT regulatory sandboxes

12 July 2023

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What is a regulatory sandbox?

A regulatory tool to provide a secured environment for innovative solutions to be developed and tested live against rules and regulations with consumers without the need of immediately incurring all normal regulatory consequences.

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The case for ICT regulatory sandboxes

  • Digital inclusion
  • Fast-track digitalization
  • Stimulate and support innovation
  • Market development and consumer benefit
  • Enhance competition and protect consumers
  • Economic growth

Nearly 25% countries worldwide

General objectives and principles

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Objectives of regulatory sandboxes in selected countries

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Inform long term policy making through learning and experimentation

Signal commitment to innovation and digital transformation

Promotes communication and engagement with market participants and cross sectoral stakeholders

Update regulations that may prohibit beneficial innovation

Benefits of a Sandbox

  • Reduce time to market by streamlining the authorization process
  • Reduce regulatory uncertainty
  • Gather feedback on regulatory requirements and risks
  • Improve access to capital

  • Promote introduction of new and potentially safer products
  • Increase access to more affordable and competitive products and services
  • Stimulates private investment digital inclusion

Regulator/ Policymaker

Innovators

Consumers

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Establishing a Regulatory Sandbox

Conceptualisation of a regulatory sandbox

Operationalizing of a regulatory sandbox

Post-implementation considerations and risks

Governance and Institutional structure

Collaboration and Engagement

Team capacity and Resources

Founding Document

Submission and Evaluation of applications

Guidance and Supervision

Connections with external and internal advisors

Monitoring and Evaluation

Gather and share data

External engagement and collaboration

Support and feedback

Lessons and subsequent actions

Knowledge sharing and transfer

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Conceptualising a Regulatory Sandbox

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Conceptualising a Regulatory Sandbox

Governance Checklist

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Conceptualising a Regulatory Sandbox

Collaboration

and Engagement

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Regulatory Sandbox Risks

Regulators Capacity

Transparency and Competition Bias

Reputational Risk

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Novel regulatory tools can unlock the power of new and emerging technologies

“ Enhance innovation in emerging areas by creating safe space for regulatory experimentation such as innovation testbeds and regulatory sandboxes to allow fine-tuning new business models and foster resilience of future networks and services.

Allow broadening legal frameworks for experimental regimes for digital innovation using regulatory sandboxing to multiple sectors…”

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The Interactive Platform: https://digitalregulation.org

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