Fatos Ibrahimi: General introduction on Regulatory Impact Assessment
and first practical application
Opening speech by Mr Fatos Ibrahimi, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the
workshop "General introduction on Regulatory Impact Assessment and first practical
application", organized in cooperation with the Convergence Program of the World Bank,
Tirana, 31 January 2008.
* * *
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is indeed a great pleasure to open the workshop on the "General introduction on
Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) and first practical application" as part of the RIA
Knowledge Transfer Program to be delivered by the Convergence Program of the World
Bank. This workshop marks the beginning of the activities of the Special Projects Initiative
(SPI) Albania that was launched on January 19th in Bari in the presence of Governor Fullani,
the President of the Puglia Region Nichi Vendola, the high-ranking representatives from the
Central Bank of Montenegro and the banking associations of the respective countries as well
as the representatives from the Convergence Program of the World Bank, which promotes
and manages the SPI Albania project.
The SPI Albania will build upon the positive outcomes of the similar projects carried out in
Bulgaria and Romania. Its nature of a public-private partnership constitutes the most
important characteristic of this project which will aim at the acceleration of the financial sector
modernization in Albania by fostering a close dialogue and cooperation between the
regulatory authorities and market participants in our country. In this context, the Bank of
Albania remains fully committed to contribute to the successful implementation of this project
by continuing to engage in a fruitful and continuous cooperation with the representatives of
the banking system in accordance with the nature of this project.
The development of the evidence-based policy analysis skills in compliance with the EU's
"Better Regulation" approach will constitute the cornerstone of the SPI Albania activities.
These capacity-building activities will aim at acquainting the staff of the Albanian regulatory
and supervisory institutions with the necessary expertise that will enable them to draft the
impact assessments of the regulatory acts proposed by the respective authorities by
employing the main tools and methodologies necessary for the evaluation of costs and
benefits as well as for the preparation of the market failure analysis. It should be emphasized
that the Albanian institutions are not quite familiar with the techniques of Regulatory Impact
Assessment and therefore trainings such as this one are more than welcome.
Following the adoption of the new Banking Law in December 2006 and its entry into force in
June 2007, which represented a further alignment of the Albanian banking legislation with the
EU acquis, the Bank of Albania is currently in the process of reviewing the regulatory
framework which will ensure the appropriate implementation of the said Law. In this
framework, the preparation of the respective impact assessments for each proposed
regulatory amendment in close consultations with the market participants remains one of the
objectives of the Bank of Albania in the near future. These new analytical tools will certainly
improve policy-making by placing a greater emphasis on the clarification of costs related to
the enforcement and implementation of the adopted regulatory acts through the conduct of
the respective cost-benefit analyses. At the same time, the use of these assessment
techniques will enhance the transparency of policy-making by ensuring a better
communication of the regulatory and supervisory authorities with market participants.
Let me conclude by thanking Mr. Bossone and Mr. Brogi from the Convergence Program as
well as Ms. Wesseling from the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational
Pensions Supervisors for being among us today. It is my deep conviction that their
presentations will prove to be highly beneficial and insightful to all participants.
I wish you a fruitful and interesting workshop.
Thank you.