Global Financial Strategy - EC's impact assessments improving

Global Financial Strategy

Search the site >>Advanced search

First for financial regulatory news and views

EC’s impact assessments improving

Monday 30 January 2012 – by Karina Whalley

The Centre for European Policy Studies has found that the quality of regulatory impact assessments in the European Commission and the UK, has improved steadily over time.

The think tank released a working document last week examining the assessments done between 2005 and 2010, with positive results.

“The findings suggest that impact assessment is not merely a perfunctory activity in the EU and the UK. Quality has improved steadily over the years, arguably as a result of learning and regulatory oversight,” the report said.

The paper, written by Oliver Fritsch, Claudio Radaelli and Lorna Schrefler, says the UK and the EC are “strikingly similar” on a number of impact assessment dimensions such as economic analysis and identifying costs and benefits.

However, the EC assessments seem to pay more attention to social and environmental aspects and are broader, focusing less exclusively on economics, Ceps said.

“The emphasis on setting specific and operational objectives is on the rise,” the paper says of European assessments, which suggests “a sort of paradigm shift from a US-style IA [impact assessment] to an IA model geared towards policy consistency and coherence”.

Related articles:

CFTC to test new proposals under House bills

FTT could hit new member states harder

ICFR casts doubt on Basel III studies

UK parliament wants more info on FTT

In terms of cost benefit analyses, the report found that “quantification and monetisation” are still problematic areas as they are not included in many IAs. This could be due to a lack of data, CEPS said.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Name:

Email:

Comment:

Post as	Anonymous
	Display name

Please, enter security code

No comments yet.

Login	Register	Most read	Most commented
Username Password >> Remember me >> Forgotten your password? >> Sign Up GFS is pleased to offer you a two-week free trial. You will receive a daily email bulletin of the latest regulatory news and analysis and a weekly email round-up. Please complete the free trial form. You will also receive full access to our online site.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

INTERVIEWS & FEATURES

STRAW POLL

Will markets in 2012 have a tougher time than 2011?

FIND A REGION world regions