One of the weaknesses of EU Smart Regulation regularly identified by Council used to be the absence of RIAs on European Parliament (EP) draft legislation or amendments. This may be a thing of the past, since the EP's decision earlier this year to set up a "legislative assessment directorate" within the internal policies department.
According to information in a European Cement Association note, the new directorate will have a staff of 19 headed by a director (see vacancy notice) who has been recruited. It will also look at the potential impact of proposed legislation on individual MS policies. This in-house review of EU legislative proposals was long overdue since the advent of the Lisbon treaty, which gave the EP greater co-decision powers. MEPs would no longer have to rely on the European Commission's impact assessments, but would have their own researched justifications for their initiatives, thereby supporting the parliamentary positions in negotiations with the member states. The new directorate will be responsible for scrutiny of amendments by MEPs, and support the Parliament's role in economic surveillance of national budgetary policies. It will also conduct budgetary impact reviews.
The Parliament has also created an impact supervisory board, composed of 13 MEPs. The board's task is to set out the priorities for impact assessments, and decide how the Parliament will evaluate the impact that proposed EU legislation would have on individual policies in the 27 member states.
For background see file on EP Resolution dated 8 June 2011 on guaranteeing independent impact assessments and 3May 2012 meeting of the Stoiber Group, which noted that the new unit also examines "the cost of non-Europe" in all RIAs, under the term "European added value."
The new unit has already published an example of critical assessment of a Commission RIA, on the issue of the audit market (18 September 2012).
According to information in a European Cement Association note, the new directorate will have a staff of 19 headed by a director (see vacancy notice) who has been recruited. It will also look at the potential impact of proposed legislation on individual MS policies. This in-house review of EU legislative proposals was long overdue since the advent of the Lisbon treaty, which gave the EP greater co-decision powers. MEPs would no longer have to rely on the European Commission's impact assessments, but would have their own researched justifications for their initiatives, thereby supporting the parliamentary positions in negotiations with the member states. The new directorate will be responsible for scrutiny of amendments by MEPs, and support the Parliament's role in economic surveillance of national budgetary policies. It will also conduct budgetary impact reviews.
The Parliament has also created an impact supervisory board, composed of 13 MEPs. The board's task is to set out the priorities for impact assessments, and decide how the Parliament will evaluate the impact that proposed EU legislation would have on individual policies in the 27 member states.
For background see file on EP Resolution dated 8 June 2011 on guaranteeing independent impact assessments and 3May 2012 meeting of the Stoiber Group, which noted that the new unit also examines "the cost of non-Europe" in all RIAs, under the term "European added value."
The new unit has already published an example of critical assessment of a Commission RIA, on the issue of the audit market (18 September 2012).
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