Policy makers can leverage regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) to anticipate potential impacts on young people of new laws, policies and regulations. These tools encourage the collection of age-disaggregated data and evidence and they can foster inter-ministerial co-ordination and transparency. In 2020, 31 OECD countries reported using RIAs to anticipate the impacts of draft legislation on specific social groups. Austria, France, Flanders in Belgium, and Germany apply “youth checks” to promote more youth-responsive policy making. In 2024, the European Commission committed to applying a youth check when designing policies, notably by leveraging the existing Better Regulation tools, including consultations and impact assessments. Local authorities are also starting to adopt similar tools, as is the cases of the Italian cities of Parma and Bologna.
Assessing the regulatory impact on young people – Austria, Belgium (Flanders), France and Germany
Abstract
Existing youth checks vary widely in terms of their legal underpinning and methodology as well as on distribution of competences, triggers for their utilisation and their integration in the policy-making process. Since 2013, the Child and Youth Impact Assessment in Austria is applied to all new legislative and regulatory proposals to evaluate their potential consequences on people aged 0-30. This assessment is integrated in the broader system for regulatory impact assessment. Since 2008, the Child and Youth report (JoKER) in Flanders, Belgium, is fully integrated into the regulatory impact analysis assessing the effects of new regulations on people aged 0-25. In France, since 2009, the Youth Impact Clause requires the ministry in charge of drafting new legislation/regulation to assess its impact on young people, intergenerational justice and non-discrimination in access to rights and public services as part of the general RIA process. In Germany, since 2017 the Competence Centre Youth-Check (ComYC) has been responsible for conducting the youth check. The ComYC is funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the tool is applied to legislation during the draft bill stage and after it has been dealt with by the Cabinet. The methodology of the assessment tool was developed in a participatory process with civil society, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the German Research Institute for Public Administration. In January 2024, the Italian city of Parma adopted a generational impact evaluation aimed at systematically analysing and evaluating the impact of the municipality’s policies, programmes and projects aimed at young people either directly or indirectly. The introduction of the generational impact evaluation has been accompanied by the adoption of guidelines for its implementation, including areas of impact, outputs and outcomes indicators, steps to ensure a youth participatory approach and the overall process flow.
Youth checks allow policy makers to develop inclusive and responsive policies tailored to the evolving needs of young people, also promoting transparency, raising awareness on youth concerns among policy makers and experts, and facilitating the engagement of young people in the legislative processes. In France, each year the Orientation Council for Youth Policies presents an activity report to the government retracing its observations on the assessment of the impacts of draft legislative texts or regulations on youth. The evaluation elements are accessible on the website designated for youth by the government (jeunes.gouv.fr) to provide young people with easy access to these impact sheets. In Germany, a short version of the youth check is created in youth-friendly language. Between 2017 and 2021, ComYC examined 543 draft bills for youth-relevant issues and published 126 youth-checks. Youth-checks have been issued on legislative proposals from 11 of the 14 Federal Ministries which generated ownership across ministerial administrations. In Austria, monitoring is conducted via the Federal Performance Management Office and the lead ministry conducts an ex-post evaluation of estimations on the impact on children and youth. A support and quality control system are being developed to support line ministries in conducting the assessments and monitor outcomes.
Further reading
Bundes Jugend Vertretung (n.d.), Youth Check in Austria; Bunderskanzeramt (2022), Impact Assessment for the Young Generations in Austria; Comune Di Parma (2024), Deliberazione della Giunta Comunale NGC-16-2024 del 17January 2024; European Commission (2023), Young people’s participation in policy making - Austria; European Union (2022), The EU Youth Test; Flanders State of Art (n.d.), The Flemish youth and childrens’s right policy 2015-2019; Kompetenzzetrum Jugend-Check (n.d.), Youth Check; Kompetenzzetrum Jugend-Check (2022), International Conference on Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Young Generation; Kompetenzzetrum Jugend-Check (2022), The Youth-Check in Germany; Ministère de la ville, de la jeunesse et des sports (2016), Création d’une « clause d’impact jeunesse »; Öffentlicher Dienst (n.d.), Berichte zur Wirkungsorientierung; Öffentlicher Dienst (n.d.), Wirkungsorientierte Folgenabschätzung; Secréteriat Général du gouvernement (2016), L’évaluation de l’impact sur la jeunesse des projets de loi et des textes règlementaires.
This practice also supports the implementation of provisions VI.1 and VI.2 of the OECD Recommendation on Creating Better Opportunities for Young People.
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