The NZBR, in its research, is attempting to take the broadest possible view of the concept of a regulatory constitution. We have analysed many attempts at regulatory reform within countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), starting with the initiatives of various US presidents in the early 1970s. The main countries attempting reform in this area appear to be the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia. The major initiative around the world has been the regulatory impact statement. In Australia, according to the OECD, the regulatory impact statement appears to be slowly changing the culture in the regulatory agencies, by forcing them to undertake some reasonable cost-benefit assessments. But social and environmental regulation continues to grow rapidly. Thus the initiatives of these countries to date appear to have been fairly modest and peripheral in their impact on the overall regulatory problem.