RIA i C tiRIA in Croatia: Lessons LearnedLessons LearnedBoris Zelenika, adviser

Directors and Experts of Better Regulation MeetingDirectors and Experts of Better Regulation Meeting

Workshop 1 – The use of impact assessment in the p plegislative process

Rome, 18 September 2014

The goals of the presentation:The goals of the presentation:

• To give information on RIA legal framework• To give information on RIA legal framework• To present three ongoing challenges• RIA lessons learned and practical solutionsp

About us and what we do• Organization:

• Foundation in the Law on Government of the Republic of Croatia• Expert Government servicep• Head of Office is a civil servant with a mandate of a four years period appointed 

by the Government• 15 civil servants with academic background:

• Law (10), Political Science (2), Economics (1)• 3 full time employed on RIA policy

• The most important tasks:• Alignment of draft regulations to the Croatian Constitution and the Croatian legal 

system and EU lawQ li f f d f l i (l d G l i )• Quality assurance of texts of draft regulations (laws and Government regulations)

• RIA policy development and coordination of RIA system• Quality assurance of RIA documents• Training and guidance in terms of RIA and legislative drafting• Training and guidance in terms of RIA and legislative drafting• Chief Editor of Official Gazette

RIA legal framework in Croatia

• RIA Strategy 2013 ‐ 2015 (OG 146/12)• RIA Strategy 2013  2015 (OG 146/12)• RIA Law (Official Gazette, OG 90/11)• Regulation on implementation of RIA Process (OG 66/12)• Government’s Rules of Procedure (OG 154/11) • 3 set of RIA Guidelines (web of GLO):

Ci il• Civil servants• Stakeholders• GLO staffGLO staff

RIA Strategy 2013 - 2015• Vision:

• better legislation with a minimum of implementation costs and administrative barriers

• Mission:• To ensure better law making by using RIA process so as to have clear andTo ensure better law making by using RIA process so as to have clear and 

simple legislation

• Priority goals:• Priority goals:• To ensure RIA process implementation according to RIA legal framework• To ensure information flow to stakeholders so as to be part of RIA process

T it b ildi b idi d ti i RIA th d l• To ensure capacity building by providing education in RIA methodology and process and to share best practice of RIA implementation

• To monitor and evaluate RIA process  so as to ensure improvement of the process over time 

RIA Law• Drafted during IPA 2007 twinning project – partners UK and Estonia• In force as of January 1, 2012

• Purpose of the law: to integrate RIA into government legislative making process 

• The scope of the law: primary legislation drafted by line ministries and other state administration bodies – only draft laws

• The RIA law defines:• RIA process steps:

L i l ti l i l b i• Legislation planning process on an annual basis• RIA process

• RIA documents:• Preliminary assessment (an initial RIA)• Preliminary assessment (an initial RIA)• Annual Legislative Plan• RIA Statement (a full RIA)

• Education and training in RIA• Education and training in RIA• RIA coordinators

RIA ongoing challenges in Croatia:

• How to target the most important primary legislation and draft it according to RIA process

• How to fit RIA process into legislative making process and• How to fit RIA process into legislative making process and make it useful for the line ministries in preparing primary legislationg

• How to ensure the quality of primary legislation and RIAstatements

The challenge 1: Targeting the most important primary legislationimportant primary legislationPolicy outputs:

• 133 planned laws in the 2013 

Policy solutions and challenges:

• Linking policy goals with regulatory 33 p a ed a s e 0 3Annual Legislative Plan 

• 24 laws adopted from the Annual Plan in regular procedure (18%)

g p y g g yactivities – strategy approach lead by the Prime Minister’s Office?

• Priority changes at the level of line Plan in regular procedure (18%)

• 21 laws drafted under RIA process from the Annual Plan (15,7%)

y gministries

• Plan vs. Decision of a minister

• Making line ministries better at• 299 unplanned (ad hoc) laws 

adopted (87%) – mostly urgent procedures

• Making line ministries better at planning – training capacities?

• Stakeholders’ presssure on public consultation public awareness?procedures

• 344 laws adopted in 2013 in total

• To many urgent procedures puts 

consultation – public awareness?

• Impossible to plan all primary legislation in advance

the pressure on legislation quality  • Hard to buy‐in senior ministerial staff to use RIA on important legislation

The challenge 2: Fitting RIA into governmentlegislative making processlegislative making processPolicy challenges:

• A matter of political will – finding 

Policy solutions :

• Political will ‐ RIA as Return on Votesa e o po ca d gRIA champions across the government takes time and effort

• RIA process how to make it

(RoV) principle to political elite –RIAas a tool to make life easier to citizens and businesses

• RIA process – how to make it alive?

• RIA process – how to improve 

• RIA process – no plans no RIAs andkeep slowing down ad hoc regulatory initiatives

process and analysis?

• RIA quality assurance – what is good enough?

• RIA process – improving RIAcoordinators’ network

• RIA quality assurance – to define agood enough? RIA quality assurance  to define a minimum standards of quality for RIAdocuments

• Training and training!• Training and training!

The challenge 3: Ensuring the quality of RIA documentsdocumentsPolicy challenges:

• 3 types of RIA documents under 

Policy solutions :

• Use your own common sense 3 ypes o docu e s u dethe scope of the Office:

1) Proposals of Annual Legislative Plans of all line ministries

yapproach

• Does a regulatory initiative make sense?Plans of all line ministries

2) Preliminary Assessments –accompanying each draft law as 

• Keeping the process under the scope od deadlines

• Public consultation outcomesan initial RIA

3) RIA statements – a full RIA with emphasis on cost‐benefit

• Public consultation outcomes

• Problem definition

• Alternatives to legislationemphasis on cost benefit analysis and public consultation

• Thinking out of box – finding various policy options

• Cost – benefit analysis

• Implementation resources

• Google it!

As a conclusion A lot done more to do”As a conclusion – „A lot done, more to do”So far so good:

l l d d f

But, there is a lot to keep an eye on it:

• Political support is needed for further development

• Legislative planning suffers from th li / t t h

• RIA is embedded into legislative making process

• RIA is legal biding process to all line the policy/strategy approach

• Ad hoc legislation is preferred way of doing business on a ministerial l l

ministries

• RIA process – an exercise in progress

• RIA develops project management  level• RIA statement is more a 

communication tool rather than a decision making tool

p p j gskills

• RIA develops  (so much needed) analytical skills decision making tool

• Goals oriented to legislation outputs not on policy outcomesP b fi l i

analytical skills

• RIA brings interdisciplinary approach and improves communication and consultation • Poor cost – benefit analysis

• No emphasis on monitoring and evaluation of regulatory initiatives

consultation

• RIA puts more emphasis on a policy level  and improves the understanding of legislation • Capacity building in legal drafting 

and RIA is needed

understanding of legislation outcomes

• Learning by doing!

Contact:

Government Legislation OfficeT M k 2Trg sv. Marka 2

10 000 Zagreb, Croatia

Boris Zelenikae-mail: boris zelenika@vlada hre-mail: boris.zelenika@vlada.hr

phone. +385 1 4569 256