Executive summary

AuthorAnglmayer, Irmgard
Pages1-2
Bette r Regulation prac tices in natio nal parliaments
I
Executive summary
Ex-ante impact a ssess ment and ex-post evaluation are regulatory policy tools that help inform the
policy-makin g proces s with eviden ce-based analysis. Geared towards ratio nalising policy -makin g,
these to ols aim at raising the q uality of po licies and legis lation. The use of i mpact a ssessment and
evalu ation is wide-spread ac ross Europe, a s virtually a ll countr ies ha ve developed fr ameworks for
regulato ry governance. This development is so mewhat dueto the Europ ean Unio n (EU)and the
Org anisat ion for Econ omic Co-operation and Development (OECD), two actors thathave st rong ly
inspiredand shapedregulatory policy reform across Europe. However, nationalBetter Regulation
agendasare la rgely government-driven, often le aving parliam ents ma rginalis ed in t he process.
Notwithstanding, both the EU and the OECDacknowledge thatBetter Regulationis a shared
respons ibility between the executive and the legislative branch. The aim o f thisst udy is to s h ed l ight
on the parliament ary dimension of Better Regulation, by capturing the practices of 38 national
parliaments.
The first chapt ercontextualises the rol e of parliaments in Better Regulationand reflects on concrete
areas for parliaments to join inthe process. There is considera ble potential for parliamentary
involvementat both ends of the policy cycle impact assessment and evaluation. While su ch
engagementcan take multipleforms (spanning from passive scrutiny to an active use of t he tools),
it relates to t wo par liame ntarycore functio ns: law-makingand oversight.
The regula tor y policy potentialof parliaments is exemplified by the case of the Eu ropean Parliament
(EP), where the use of impact assessment and evaluation has, a mere ten years after the ir instig ation,
encou ntered a high degree o f inst itution alisation. Thesy stematic use of these reg ulatory policy
toolsstrengthens EP committees' positio n in law-making, and in holding the executive to account.
Overall, itfacilita tes effective scrut iny of E uro pean Com mission act ion and leads to betterinf ormed
policy-making.
Based o n surveydata from 37 national parliaments across Europe plus the Canadian Parliament,
chapters 2 an d 3analys e the level, types, processes, particularities as well a s, to th e extent possible,
the im pact of individu al parliam ents' en gagement in impact ass essment and ev aluation of those
parliaments tha t choose to get involved. Many do not (or not yet)take an active role: t he s urv ey
revealed that roughly half of the surveyed parliaments do not engage beyond classical
parliamentary scr uti ny me chani smswithin the general framework of parliamentary control. Non-
engagement can have multiplereasons; some survey respo ndents pointed explicit ly at the distinct
role s and/or the strict separation of power of the executive and the legislative,while others said they
simp ly do not have t he necessar y capacities.
Among the EU-27, seven national parliaments (Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Poland
and Sweden) engage systematically in th eir o wn ex-ante impact assessment work, albeit in
fundament ally different ways. The broadest spectrum of impact assessment activities appears to be
assumed by the Polish Parliament. An additional seven parliaments carry out smaller-sc al e im pact
assessment work (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania,Portugal and Spain). Moreover, the
Latvian Saeimaavails of impact assessment capacities, but has not yet tested them. Out of the
11surveyed parliaments outside the EU, only Canada engages actively, by informing the law-
mak ing pr ocess with b udge tary impac t as ses sment s.
With regard to ex-post eval uation, s ixEU-27 parliament s have developed structures for substantial
involvement (Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Sweden). Moreover, the research
services of the Bulgarian and Latvian parliaments carry out adhoc evaluations up on request, albeit
in low numbers. Four further EU-27 parliaments engage in ev aluation a ctivitiesat a smaller scale,
mainly by scrutinising government evaluations in-depth or by performing ex-post budgetary
scrutiny (Aus tria, Ireland, Portugal and Spain).

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