Impact Assessment Guidelines

Impact assessment is designed to help in structuring and developing policies. It identifies and assesses the problem at stake and the objectives pursued. It helps to identify the main options for achieving the objectives and analyses their likely impacts in the economic, environmental and social fields. It outlines advantages and disadvantages of each option and examines possible synergies and trade-offs. It consists of a set of logical steps to help structure the preparation of Commission proposals. By testing the need for intervention at the EU level and by examining the potential impacts of a range of policy options, it should lead to improvements and simplification of the regulatory environment. Impact assessment is an aid to political decision-making, not a substitute for it. The impact assessment informs the political decision-makers of the likely impacts of proposed measures to tackle an identified problem, but leaves it to them to decide if and how to proceed. Not all impact assessments look the same. The length of time and the depth of analysis required depend on the significance of the likely impacts, and some elements of the analysis need to be developed more than others. The Guidelines give general guidance to the Commission services and set out the procedures and steps for assessment of potential impacts of different policy options. In accordance with the 2005 initiative for Growth and jobs, the Commission has, since March 2006, integrated a standard measurement of administrative costs in its impact assessments. The Commission revised its Guidelines in 2009, based on an external evaluation of the Commission's impact assessment system in 2006/2007, the experience of the independent Impact Assessment Board since it was created in late 2006 and the experiences of the Commission services in preparing impact assessments. While the Guidelines are intended for the Commission's internal use, stakeholder involvement is essential in ensuring the quality of the final product. The Commission therefore held a public consultation on the Guidelines in June/July 2008. The final Guidelines were published in January 2009.