Global Indicators of Regulatory Governance

The Commission Work Program and the roadmaps are published for each legislative initiative; the strategic plans and the management plans of the Commission departments. The European Commission's Work Program (http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/key-documents/index_en.htm) is adopted and published each October for the following year. It includes key policy initiatives and major Regulatory Fitness and Performance (REFIT) initiatives. It also lists planned withdrawals and repeals. Furthermore, the European Commission publishes on a regular basis a list of planned initiatives which includes other upcoming major legislative initiatives as well as some particularly relevant non-legislative initiatives. Strategic Plans are published every 5 years (https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/strategy-documents_en).

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities_en#documents; https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/strategy-documents_en

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/legislative-procedures.html

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/

The authentic electronic Official Journal of the EU (publication of the texts with legal validity) is also published in EUR-Lex and it is searchable.

Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 20, Para. 4 of the Rules of Procedure. (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=OJ:L:2010:055:TOC)

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/contribute-law-making_en

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=333&langId=en.

Targeted consultations, expert meeting etc.

The government conducts a detailed stakeholder mapping.

The input received is to be published on the consultation web page, i.e. on the page that already contained the questionnaire. Summaries of the input received also accompany the draft regulation through the adoption process.

Article 11 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) requires the European Commission to "carry out broad consultations with parties concerned in order to ensure that the Union's actions are coherent and transparent." Specific requirements are included in the Better Regulation Guidelines. The obligation to consult is also reflected in Protocol 2 to the Treaties. Input received is to be published on the consultation web page, i.e. on the page that already contained the questionnaire. Summaries of the input received also accompany the draft regulation through the adoption process.

The results of all consultation activities and roadmap comments linked to a specific initiative have to be published in a so-called "Synopsis report". This report accompanies the draft regulation throughout the adoption process. Feedback received on the Commission proposals is also summarized and attached to the proposal. In addition, the better Regulation guidelines encourage service to also publish brief summaries of each consultation activity.

http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/contribute-law-making_en

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=333&langId=en

Consultation in general is covered in Art. 11 of the EU treaties (TFEU). Based on this, implementing guidelines have been established, the 'Better Regulation Guidelines'.

Impact assessments are necessary for the most important Commission initiatives and those which will have significant economic, social or environmental impacts: all major legislative and non-legislative initiatives and secondary legislation (implementing and delegated acts).

http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/impact/commission_guidelines/commission_guidelines_en.htm , https://ec.europa.eu/info/better-regulation-guidelines-and-toolbox_en

The requirement to conduct impact assessments stems from the Better Regulation Guidelines.

http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/impact/ia_carried_out/cia_2016_en.htm, http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/?fuseaction=ia

In line with the proportionality principle, the content and form of the Union action must not go beyond what is necessary to meet the objectives of the EU Treaty. This requires the European Commission to consider alternative policy instruments and to justify the final choice.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law.html

The authentic electronic Official Journal of the EU (publication of the texts with legal validity) is also published in EUR-Lex and it is searchable.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-access.html

The Commission uses evaluations as the key tool to assess the performance of EU legislation as part of an integrated policy cycle.

The Commission applies a general "evaluate first" policy, meaning that a regulation needs to be evaluated before it can be revised.

The Inter-Institutional Agreement on Better Law-Making (April 2016) includes a common definition of evaluation and a commitment to consider including standard monitoring and evaluation provisions in a review clause in each new basic act (Paras. 23 and 24 IIABL).

Affected parties have the possibility to request judicial review by the Court of Justice of the European Union of an administrative decision of an institution of the Union addressed to them, or which is of direct and individual concern to them, and also, in specific cases, against certain regulatory acts of the Union of general application which are of direct concern to them.

Administrative decisions can in some cases be reviewed by the regulatory body and subsequently be appealed in front of the Court of Justice. Union legislation and other regulatory acts of general application can only be reviewed by the Court of Justice. In addition, the European Ombudsman is an independent body in charge of reviewing instances of maladministration in the activities of the Union institutions.

Deciding when and how to evaluate requires careful consideration. There is no "one size fits all" rule, reflecting the European Commission's decision to decentralize evaluation and the different intervention life-cycles that exist. All interventions follow their own cycle and timeline for the desired results to manifest themselves. Often trade-offs need to be made between when and how to conduct the evaluation (in order to feed further decision making process) and the amount of reliable data which is available.