Absence of IA | ia-institute

Absence of Impact Assessment often not justified or contrary to Better Regulation

7th November 2018

From June to October 2018, 33 legislative proposals for a directive or regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council were published. Of these, 14 were not accompanied by an Impact Assessment. Our review of these is as follows:

· Four were found to have a full and valid explanation for having no Impact Assessment.

· Five proposals included explanations that were not sufficient to justify absence of an Impact Assessment.

· Four had fully inadequate explanations or the absence was contrary to guidelines and procedures.

Further analysis is necessary to evaluate these instances in greater detail. Input from stakeholders is welcome.

Note

The 2015 Better Regulation Guidelines state "An IA is required for Commission initiatives that are likely to have significant economic, environmental or social impacts". We regularly identify Commission legislative proposals not accompanied by an Impact Assessment and look in greater depth where appropriate.

Determining whether such explanations are valid in all cases requires in-depth knowledge or investigation. We therefore welcome feedback on any initiatives where an Impact Assessment would have been necessary or signals on upcoming initiatives where Impact Assessments are appropriate but not planned.

Table of proposals without Impact Assessment

Absence of Impact Assessment often not justified or contrary to Better Regulation

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