Governing Regulation: Regulatory Impact Analysis in the European Union, the United Kindgom and the Netherlands

The rise of the ‘regulatory state’ has constrained many European and OECD countries to set up policy tools to govern regulation. Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) is a decision tool economic that systematically assesses the negative and positive impacts of proposed and existing regulation. In order to communicate information to decision-makers, it takes the form of a short and structured document

This policy making tool has the high potential to cope with the issue of the lack of legitimacy and credibility of regulators, enhancing accountability and transparency of the regulatory process. However, it is only one element of regulatory reform; implementation of RIA needs specific preconditions, i.e. the public management reform, deregulation, and an efficient competition law.

Through three case studies (the European Union, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom), this dissertation faces an essential feature of the ‘new’ regulatory system: its multilevel structure. Each case study particularly focuses on two elements of the RIA system: methodology and institutional design.

It is argued that implementation of RIA is not an easy task, particularly at the EU level. There are many factors that determine the setting up and successive evolution of this policy tool. However, a conclusion of this dissertation is that RIA is a dynamic tool with the potential to transform regulatory governance.