Proceedings of ECPRD Seminar Legal and Regulatory Impact Assessment of Legislation http://www.riigikogu.ee/rva/ecprd_ria01.html http://www.ecprd.org/public/en/public.html Edited by Aare Kasemets Head of the Department of Economic and Social Information The Chancellery of the Riigikogu Tallinn 2001
Peeter Säre
This publication is compiled under direction of the Estonian correspondent of the ECPRD Aare Kasemets in Autumn 2001 The opinions expressed and the information contained in this publication are the sole responsibility of the editor and contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the ECPRD. All comments and opinions are welcome via e-mail: aare.kasemets@riigikogu.ee Editors: A&A Lingua, Tallinn, Estonia Photos: Peeter Säre, Teet Malsroos, Aare Kasemets Design of web version: Rudolf Linnaste, Estonian Volunteer Center E-mail: rutz@vinci.ee Cover design: Ülo Emmus, AS Loom, Tallinn, Estonia Lay-out and typeset: Kadri Possul, The National Library of Estonia Printed and bound: OÜ GREIF, Tartu, Estonia Riigikogu Kantselei, 2001 ISBN 9985-9246-3-0
Contents Foreword.................................................................. 7 Addresses and Formulation of the Objectives of the Seminar Heiki Sibul Secretary General of the Riigikogu (parallel text in Estonian and English).... 8 Dick Toornstra Co-Director of ECPRD........................................ 14 Part I: Practice and Trends in the Assessment of Legal and Regulatory Impact of Draft Legislation in Parliaments Auke Haagsma (European Commission) Acceptable Law-making Standards in the European Union and Their Regulatory Assessment.............................. 17 Giovanni Rizzoni (Italy) Legal and Administrative Organisation of the Assessment of Impact of Legislation in the Italian Parliament........................ 24 Raul Narits (Estonia) Assessment of the Impact of Draft Legislation: Problems in and Opportunities for Ensuring the Quality of Law-making and Acts. Estonian Experience.... 28 Sue Holmes (OECD) Best Practices on Regulatory Impact Analysis in OECD Countries: Some Options for RIA...................................... 34 Part II: Impact Assessment of Legislation for Parliaments and Civil Society: Comparative Study (22 countries) 2nd report by Aare Kasemets (Estonia)........ 47 Part III: Summary of Discussions Conclusions of Working Groups A and B....................................... 105 Plenary Debate: Discussions and Conclusions.................................... 110 Part IV: Papers Received from Participants Based on the Call for Papers Ingrid Moser Evaluation of Draft Legislation: the Case of Austria.................. 119 Toivo Mängel Regulatory Impact Management in a Small Country.................. 121 Aleksey Kostyagin Russian Legislation: Some Tendencies and Problems............. 125 Helgi Kundla, Lauri Madise Technical Rules for Draft Legislation : Submitted for Legislative Proceedings of the Riigikogu........................... 129 Lubka Tzenova Assessment of the Impact of European Legislation on Bulgarian Legislation.......................................... 133 Hilma Naaber, Kai Priks Impact of the Exemption of Enterprises from Income Tax: A Case Study............................................... 137 Angel Sharov The Level of Satisfaction Among the Bulgarian Members of Parliament with the Information Provision Process.............................. 139 Kait Oole, Aare Kasemets Sociological Surveys and Public Opinion Polls as a Reflection of Performance for the Parliament................................ 142 APPENDIXES A. Recommendations, Acts and Checklists on Better Regulation and RIA 1. OECD: a. Policy Recommendations on Regulatory Reform (1997);............. 153 b. Recommendation on Improving the Quality of Government Regulation, (1995)............................................ 154 2. Declaration No 39 of the Amsterdam Treaty................................ 156 3. The European Commission: Democratising Expertise and Establishing Scientific Reference Systems. Executive Summary and Recommended Action Plan (2001)... 156
4. The European Commission: Principles for Better Regulation and Tools Availabe at the EU level. Report of the Working Group Better Regulation (2001).......... 159 5. The European Commission: Selected Structural Indicators of the European Union (2000)............................................. 161 Appendixies A 6-18 available via the web: http://www.riigikogu.ee/rva/ecprd_ria01.html or http://www.ecprd.org/public/en/public.html 6. The European Commission: The Future of Parliamentary Democracy: Transition and Challenge in European Governance. Green paper prepared for the Conference of the European Union Speakers of Parliament (2000) 7. The European Commission: Principles of Good Governanace and Factors for Better and Faster Regulation (2001) 8. Belgium: a. Lois sur le Conseil d Etat, coordonnees le 12 janvier 1973; b. Arreté royal du 16 novembre 1994 relatif au controle administratif et budgétaire 9. Bulgaria: Decree No. 883 to Implement the Law on Normative Acts (1974) 10. Denmark: Guidelines on the Quality of Legislation (2000) 11. Deutshland: a. Gemeinsame Geschäftsordnung der Bundesministerien (2000); b. Moderner Staat - Moderne Verwaltung; Leitfaden zur Gesetzesfolgenabschätzung (2000) 12. Estonia: Rules for Draft Legislation in the Legislative Proceedings of the Riigikogu (2001) 13. Finland: The Program of the Government to Improve Law Drafting II (2000) 14. Lithuania: Law on the Procedure of Drafting of Republic of Lithuania Laws and other Regulatory Enactments (1999) 15. Netherlands: Questions for the Testing of Draft Regulations on Business Effects (1997) 16. Sweden: Control by Regulation. Checklist for Legal Drafters (1995) 17. United Kingdom: a. Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Regulatory Reform Bill (1998); b. Good Policy Making: A Guide to Regulatory Impact Assessment (1998) 18. List of RIA Related Documents, Programmes, Publications and Web Sites B. Questionnaire......................................................... 162 C. Minutes of Working Group A Current Debated Issues of Impact Assessment in Parliaments.................................... 164 D. List of Participants.................................................... 167