OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook 2025

Spain’s recent better regulation efforts focused on adding specialised analyses to regulatory impact assessment (RIA) and strengthening the policy setup for ex post evaluation. RIA is mandatory for all regulations. Specialised impact estimations include the effects on competition and SMEs. Spain now requires estimated impacts on digital public administration services on citizens and the government. Law 27/2022 strengthened the evaluation framework for policies and regulations. Some primary laws and subordinate regulations are subject to ex post evaluations. Additionally, Spain has put in place the bases to institutionalise the use of regulatory sandboxes in specific sectors such as finance and energy. An independent assessment could identify areas to enhance the use of ex ante and ex post assessment tools.

Stakeholder engagement focuses mainly on significant anticipated impacts and early-stage consultation is a common practice. In both cases, a centralised online platform provides citizens with opportunities to participate and offers access to the annual regulatory planning agenda. It also publishes yearly statistics on citizen engagement and hosts content related to transparency and good governance. Spain could introduce proportionality criteria to subject stakeholder engagement to a broader range of regulatory proposals.

Spain’s institutional arrangements include the Regulatory Coordination and Quality Office, in the Ministry for the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations. The Office promotes the quality, co-ordination and coherence of the executive’s rule making. It oversees the implementation of regulatory management tools and supervises the initial definition of the objectives and methodology for ex post evaluations covered by RIAs but does not scrutinise them. The Ministry for the Digital Transformation and Civil Service ensures the quality of various RIA components and oversees efforts to reduce administrative burdens and enhance public consultation. The Council of State reviews the legality of rules, monitors public administration, and ensures legal quality in regulations initiated by the executive.