Where is RIA in France, one year on?

France offers an example of impact assessment introduced by a political commitment at the highest possible level, a constitutional obligation regarding the preparation of new laws, backed up if necessary by the constitutional court. One year after the adoption of the organic law of 25 April 2009, all the implementation measures have been taken by ministries, as reported by the central unit in charge. A recently published informal dossier provides links to the publicly available documents, demonstrating the sustained lead taken by the legislative authority in the process. The national assembly has set up a mechanism to offer stakeholders and the public the possibility of voicing their opinion on currently open impact assessments, which are themselves uploaded in full text. The methodology is also on line, in the form of a study by a reputed public evaluation body, but the practical methods employed in the ministries are not publicly available. Finally, we have recently been given an idea of how the new scheme operates, with the report on the online consultation concerning one of the new laws (on the supply of electricity). Concerning the administrative burden impact, the best published source of information is a 2007 report by the IGF (general inspection of finances), which led to the creation of an IT tool used by all ministries (OSCAR). All in all, the specificity of the French approach to RIA is apparently confirmed: it is Parliament-driven, rather than an internal tool supporting decision making within government.