WRITTEN QUESTION E-4086/00

by Avril Doyle (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(10 January 2001)

Subject: Business Impact Assessments

Bearing in mind that the Commission is responsible for carrying out a Business Impact Assessment on all of its proposals, given that four Council of Ministers

resolutions and a Council decision reaffirm this fact, and bearing in mind that the costs to European business of a failure to undertake a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the impact of EU legislation are huge, could the Commission please give a detailed explanation as to why, in a large number of policy areas, Commission proposals do not undergo Business Impact Assessments and what concrete measures it is taking in the relevant directorates-general to improve this situation?

Could it also forward a list of the legislative proposals submitted during the current parliamentary term, i.e. since July 1999 on which a Business Impact Assessment has been carried out?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(20 February 2001)

As the Honourable Member is aware, the business impact assessment (BIA) system was first developed and used by the small and medium sized enterprises (SME) task force in 1986 and further revised in 1990 into its current form. Following the revision of the methodology in 1990 it was decided that business impact assessment should be an obligatory attachment to legislative proposals with significant impact on business. The measurement of significant impact is the subject of a joint decision between the drafting and affected services within the Commission. These internal Commission working procedures along with comprehensive consultation with outside interests are part of the open and transparent Commission policy as established by the guidelines on legislative policy announced by the Commission in January 1996.

Although the business impact assessment system has, over the years, proven to be a useful tool for assessing the impact of legislation on enterprises, certain shortcomings of the system have become evident over the years.

Against this background the Commission launched the BIA pilot project in September 2000. It will run to February 2002, with preliminary conclusions to be drawn in the autumn of 2001. The specific aim of the BIA pilot project is to strengthen the business impact assessment methodology and techniques, including a systematic consultation of interested parties.

The BIA pilot project will apply to a few legislative proposals from the Commission's Work Programme for 2000 and 2001 and will, in addition, also include further exploration of the current use and the necessity of a more systematic approach towards cost-benefit analysis as a tool when assessing the impact of legislative proposals.

While the pilot project concentrates on improving the system for assessing the impact of proposed legislation on business, it also feeds into the broader debate currently going on within the Commission on better regulation, following the request from the Lisbon European Council on a common strategy for further simplification of the regulatory environment. This discussion includes considerations of a more integrated process for regulatory impact analysis, including co-ordination of impact assessments on several areas and groups (e.g. business, consumers, health, safety and environment). These ideas are also the subject of discussion ahead of the White Paper on European governance.

The above-mentioned BIA pilot project will run in parallel with the existing and regular business impact assessment system. However, both the BIA tool and other impact assessments applied by the Commission, are limited to the Commission legislative proposals.

The European institutions, and the Member States, recognise that a fundamental cultural change in the approach towards regulation, and throughout the decision-making chain, is a common challenge for the future.