EU BETTER REGULATION

Maria Carim, 10 February 2009

Main strands of EU better regulation

1. Commission Impact Assessments

2. Impact Assessments in the Council and European Parliament

3. EU Admin Burden Reduction Target (25% by 2012)

4. Better Regulation in the negotiation and transposition of EU law in the UK

Better Regulation – priority of the Barroso Commission

Culture change has begun

IA system, simplification and admin burden reduction programmes launched

Commission impact assessments• Commission proposals subject to impact

assessment since 2002.

• Over 400 completed to date, 135 of which were carried out in 2008.

• Impact Assessment Board set up end 2006: internal quality control.

• Only 5% of IAs in 2008 fully monetised costs and benefits and 51% had no quantification at all.

• But new guidelines came out in January…

New Impact Assessment Guidelines

– Increases scope to cover significant comitology proposals

– More focus on quantification and monetisation (or justification for not doing so)

– Urges Commission services to extend consultation from 8 weeks for complex issues/during holidays

– Executive summaries to include key costs and benefits

IA in Council and EP: The problem• Council and EP don’t make

good use of Commission impact assessments in negotiations.

• 2003 agreement that Council and EP will do impact assessment on substantive amendments to Commission’s proposals

• They tend not to

• But they do agree substantive changes

Stock: EU admin burden reduction target

EU target to reduce admin burdens by 25% by 2012 agreed at Spring European Council in March 2007 (should save EU businesses €150 bn)

Member States also agreed to set national targets “of comparable ambition” – 21 have already done so

Heads of State at Spring European Council March 2007

Stock: EU admin burden reduction target - how will it be delivered?

• 42 EU directives/regulations in 13 areas

• Consultants have identified the IOs in the EU and national legislation

• Measurement almost complete

• Recommendations for reduction + more specific targets expected spring 2009

• But new Commission and Parliament later this year, not much time to meet the target…

• When a Commission proposal is published, the responsible minister in the UK has to write to his Cabinet colleagues to seek their approval of the negotiating position. This letter must be accompanied by an impact assessment

• This impact assessment should be kept up-to-date during the negotiations and is revised once the directive or law is published to consider the best options for implementation

Impact assessment in negotiation and transposition of EU law in UK

Better regulation principles for handling negotiation and implementation of EU law

• 1/3 of ABs come from EU• Allocate sufficient resources: policy-makers,

lawyers and economists should work together• Try to influence proposal early• Think about implementation early• “Think Small First”• Use impact assessment throughout• Aim for legal certainty• Don’t transfer all risks to business!• Don’t gold-plate!

What about other Member States?• Most EU Member States have impact

assessment systems

• However, compliance with central guidance is an issue

• Some countries have large central better regulation units to drive the agenda; many don’t

• Economic expertise can be lacking

• IAs published in Finland, Ireland and UK

Useful linksEuropean Commission better regulation homepage:

http://ec.europa.eu/governance/better_regulation/index_en.htm

New Commission IA guidelines:

http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/docs_en.htm

UK Government guidance on negotiating and transposing EU law using better regulation principles:

http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file44371.pdf