The Institute for Impact Assessment and Scientific Evaluation of Policy and Legislation
Malcolm Harbour CBE welcomes
the launch of the IAI
April 28th 2016
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Yesterday Malcolm Harbour CBE spoke at the launch event of the Impact Assessment Institute at the Press Cub Brussels in the presence of 60 policy stakeholders from institutions, industry, NGOs, think tanks and the press. As a former MEP and Chair of the IMCO Committee in the European Parliament he presented his views on the importance of Impact Assessment and his expectations for the contribution of the IAI.
Opening the event, Simon Godwin, Co-Founder and Managing Director, introduced the IAI and presented its role in providing impartial scrutiny for EU policy making. He gave an overview of the working methods, procedures and structure of the Institute, highlighting how they underpin its impartiality.
He previewed the IAI’s potential future work programme, covering areas such as climate & energy, digital economy and trade and asked stakeholders to contribute their own priorities. Finally, he invited stakeholders to consider sponsoring or donating to the IAI to ensure its sustainable future contribution.
As keynote speaker, Malcolm Harbour highlighted the key role of Impact Assessments in providing information to policy makers, in particular focusing on how they contributed to the work of the European Parliament. He also referred to the European Parliament’s own Impact Assessment Directorate and provided examples of where their work was instrumental in supporting evidence-based policy making for EU legislative files.
He stressed the need for pre-legislative Impact Assessment in order to feed data early into the lawmaking process, providing additional support and enhancing transparency. Finally, he stated his expectation that the IAI will make a valuable contribution to evidence-based EU policy making.
