Better Regulation Practices Across the European Union: Forum on Tax Administration

Laws and regulations affect the daily lives of businesses and citizens. High-quality laws promote national welfare and growth, while badly designed laws hinder growth, harm the environment and put the health of citizens at risk. This report analyses practices to improve the quality of laws and regulations across all 28 EU Member States and the European Union. It systematically assesses the use of evidence and stakeholder participation in the design and review of domestic laws and regulations based on the OECD Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance. It also provides insights into individual Member States' use of regulatory management tools as they relate to EU laws. The report presents good regulatory practices and highlights areas that should receive further attention and investment Foreword Acknowledgements Acronyms and abbreviations Reader’s guide Notes References Executive summary Chapter 1. Better regulation and institutional oversight across the European Union Introduction Key findings Regulatory policy in the EU and EU Member States Regulatory policy in the European Union Regulatory policy in the EU Member States Regulatory management at the interface between EU Member States and the European Union Regulatory oversight across the EU Regulatory oversight functions carried out in EU countries Quality control of regulatory management tools Evaluation of regulatory management tools Actors of regulatory oversight in EU countries The emergence of arm’s length regulatory oversight in the European Union The role of parliaments in regulatory oversight References Chapter 2. Stakeholder engagement across the European Union Introduction Key findings An overview of stakeholder engagement across the EU General stakeholder engagement requirements across the EU General requirements for stakeholder engagement Advanced notice and minimum consultation periods Dealing with comments received Stakeholder engagement in the different stages of the rule-making process Stakeholder engagement at the various stages of the rule-making process Forms of stakeholder engagement Documents used to conduct stakeholder engagement Communication tools Online forms of communication Use of interactive websites Stakeholder engagement during the development and transposition of EU legislation Informing stakeholders of the European Commission’s consultation processes Stakeholder engagement at the negotiation stage Stakeholder engagement at the transposition stage Effectiveness of stakeholder engagement References Chapter 3. Regulatory impact assessment across the European Union Introduction Key findings General trends in RIA across the EU Scope of RIA Exceptions to conducting RIA Proportionality and RIA threshold tests The application of Member States’ RIA to EU legislation Member States’ requirements to conduct RIA during the negotiation stage RIA at the transposition stage Requirements to assess gold plating Options considered in RIA Types of impacts assessed Assessment of costs Assessment of benefits Consideration of costs and benefits in RIA Effectiveness of RIA References Chapter 4. Ex post review of laws and regulations across the European Union Introduction Key findings General trends across the EU Approaches to ex post evaluation in the EU and EU Member States Programmed reviews and review requirements Ad hoc reviews of the stock of regulations Ongoing stock management Methodology of ex post evaluation Standards and guidance for conducting ex post evaluation Assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of regulations Consideration of costs and benefits Conducting ex post evaluation in practice – the organisational context Who prepares ex post evaluation? Transparency and stakeholder engagement Effectiveness of ex post evaluation References Chapter 5. Country profiles European Union Overview and recent developments Austria Overview and recent developments Belgium Overview and recent developments Bulgaria Overview and recent developments Croatia Overview and recent developments Cyprus Overview and recent developments Czech Republic Overview and recent developments Denmark Overview and recent developments Estonia Overview and recent developments Finland Overview and recent developments France Overview and recent developments Germany Overview and recent developments Greece Overview and recent developments Hungary Overview and recent developments Ireland Overview and recent developments Italy Overview and recent developments Latvia Overview and recent developments Lithuania Overview and recent developments Luxembourg Overview and recent developments Malta Overview and recent developments Netherlands Overview and recent developments Poland Overview and recent developments Portugal Overview and recent developments Romania Overview and recent developments Slovak Republic Overview and recent developments Slovenia Overview and recent developments Spain Overview and recent developments Sweden Overview and recent developments United Kingdom Overview and recent development Annex A. Country information on shares of national laws initiated by parliament Annex B. The 2017 OECD Regulatory Indicators Survey and the composite indicators Glossary