EU richt nieuw agentschap op voor minder en simpeler EU-wetgeving (en)

The Communication 'A Strategic Review of Better Regulation in the European Union'[1] highlights three important elements in relation to assessing the impacts of EU actions - the creation of an Impact Assessment Board (IAB), the ongoing external evaluation of the Commission's impact assessment system, and a forthcoming action plan to enhance assessments of existing actions and to better use these evaluations in developing new or follow-up measures.

• 1. 

  Commission progress on impact assessment

Impact Assessment (IA) in the European Commission refers to the integrated analysis of the potential economic, social and environmental impacts that could result from a decision to take or not take action to tackle an identified policy problem.

All major legislative and policy-defining proposals in the Commission's annual legislative and work programme (CLWP) are now subject to impact assessment procedures.

The progress made by the European Commission in recent years in applying integrated impact assessments to its major initiatives is widely acknowledged by the other EU-Institutions, by academics, and by stakeholders at large. The Commission Services have produced more than 160 impact assessments since the integrated approach was introduced in 2003, and the approach taken serves as a model reference in many EU Member States.

• 2. 

  The Impact Assessment Board (IAB)

Existing mechanisms for quality support and control of the impact assessments prepared by Commission departments are to be substantially reinforced through the creation of an independent Impact Assessment Board.

The IAB, which will consist of a group of high-level officials selected on the basis of their expert knowledge and experience, will work under the direct authority of the President of the European Commission and independently of departmental influence. It will examine draft impact assessments and provide an opinion on the quality and advice on any further work that may be necessary. The work of the IAB will begin immediately.

In the initial phases of its work, the IAB will focus its attention on the quality control of draft final impact assessments. However, it will gradually extend its work to offer advice on approach and methodology at an earlier stage in the impact assessment process. It will also, on the request of the Secretariat General, provide opinions on additional initiatives that could be subject to impact assessment.

• 3. 

  External evalution of impact assessment

In addition to the setting-up of this important new quality control and support function, the Commission will continue to examine how its impact assessment approach can be further developed and improved. A comprehensive, external evaluation of the overall approach was launched in August. Work on the evaluation, which includes wide-ranging consultations of stakeholders, EU-Institutions and Member States, is now well underway. The final results are expected in February 2007 and will be made public by the Commission.

• 4. 

  Evaluating existing actions

The Commission has a highly-developed and extensive practice of ex-post evaluation of existing actions. It is about to adopt an action plan to ensure that the impacts of existing actions and legislation can be better evaluated from an ex-post perspective, and that the results of such evaluations are better taken into account in developing new or follow-up measures.

For more information:

See the Commission's impact assessment pages on the Europa website http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/index_en.htm.