Assessing the Impacts of Proposed Laws and Regulations

Assessing the Impacts of Proposed Laws and Regulations deals with policy assessment and Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA), or the ex ante assessment of how proposed legislation and regulations will affect a country’s economy, society, budget and existing laws, international agreements, etc. Through RIA governments can improve the quality of their interventions by ensuring that the impacts, both intended and unintended, of proposed legislation and regulations are assessed in advance, and form an input into decision-making. This is especially relevant for countries of Central and Eastern Europe in light of European Integration and the need for economic management. This publication is a follow-up to a seminar that was held in Riga on 2 and 3 October 1996 for public officials of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It comprises a brief description of the highlights of the seminar discussions and the three papers that were prepared for the seminar by experts from Canada, France and the United States. Canada and the United States are leaders in RIA technology, and France is adopting new methodologies.