OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook 2025

The European Commission (EC) conducts ex ante impact assessments (IA) for major EU laws (regulations and directives) and secondary legislation (implementing and delegated acts). They cover the rationale for intervention – including why EU action is required – different policy options and their expected impacts. The final IA report is shared with the College of Commissioners to inform deliberation and published alongside the legislative proposal. The EU's ex post evaluation system consists of systematic evaluation of individual regulations and comprehensive “fitness checks” that consider the aggregate impact of different interventions in a policy area. The EC’s regulatory fitness and performance (REFIT) programme aims at making EU laws simpler, more targeted and easier to comply with. This is supported by the Fit for Future Platform, which brings together expertise from different stakeholders to make suggestions to simplify and reduce unnecessary costs of EU rules.

The EC has streamlined its process to engage stakeholders by bundling previously separate consultation steps on the same initiative (or evaluation) into a single “Call for Evidence” (CfE) on the ‘Have your Say’ portal. Stakeholders are typically asked to comment on the CfE document and to participate in a questionnaire-based consultation. A summary of the feedback and how it has been addressed is published and complements the final IA (or evaluation) report. Transparency could be further strengthened by making IAs also available when consulting on draft secondary legislation, with the opportunity to comment based on the IA.

The EC’s Secretariat-General ensures is responsible for its better regulation policy, providing capacity support and guidance. It also serves as secretariat to the independent Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB), which checks the quality of all IAs, fitness checks and selected evaluations.