Earlier this week, the deputy minister of Economy, Mr M. Janelidze, (second from left on the above photo) opened a workshop for senior officials from several ministries and from Parliament on the development of regulatory impact assement in Georgian ministries. In his introduction, he called on the officials to intensify efforts to give effective application to this tool of better regulation, in the context of preparing the country for EU membership, but also to increase the performance of government by the production of effective and efficient legislation and regulation. The workshop had been organised by the American Chamber of Commerce, the EU-Georgia Business Council and donor organisations.
The main purpose of the workshop (which was moderated by your blogger CH Montin) was to take stock of existing RIA in Georgia and to recommend a plan of action to make better use of this aid to government decision making. Both the evidence base and the consultation process needed to be significantly improved if the full potential of RIA was to be achieved. Some practical steps were agreed between participants at the close of the discussion:
- Issuing a high-level explicit Government statement on the importance of good quality RIA documents to be prepared for the most economically significant new legislations, and emphasizing the importance of effective consultation with stakeholders on draft legislation;
- defining a Georgian RIA methodology after discussion based on international best practice, in particular as reported by OECD publications;
- building capacities in the ministries by freeing officials from other tasks to start practicing RIA on the basis if possible of current or past legislations;
- setting up an oversight body in charge of verifying the quality of RIAs before the corresponding draft legislation is finalised.
Stakeholders and ministry officials expressed their determination to actively pursue the development of RIA in support of more effective, businesss-friendly regulations in Georgia. (photo below: the moderator with some of the course members.)
The main purpose of the workshop (which was moderated by your blogger CH Montin) was to take stock of existing RIA in Georgia and to recommend a plan of action to make better use of this aid to government decision making. Both the evidence base and the consultation process needed to be significantly improved if the full potential of RIA was to be achieved. Some practical steps were agreed between participants at the close of the discussion:
- Issuing a high-level explicit Government statement on the importance of good quality RIA documents to be prepared for the most economically significant new legislations, and emphasizing the importance of effective consultation with stakeholders on draft legislation;
- defining a Georgian RIA methodology after discussion based on international best practice, in particular as reported by OECD publications;
- building capacities in the ministries by freeing officials from other tasks to start practicing RIA on the basis if possible of current or past legislations;
- setting up an oversight body in charge of verifying the quality of RIAs before the corresponding draft legislation is finalised.
Stakeholders and ministry officials expressed their determination to actively pursue the development of RIA in support of more effective, businesss-friendly regulations in Georgia. (photo below: the moderator with some of the course members.)
