§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements exist for regulatory impact assessments to be made for prospective items of European Union legislation. [116317]
§ Mr. StringerI have been asked to reply.
The Government take the same approach to prospective European legislation as to our own national proposals. We assess and scrutinise proposals in line with the requirements set out in our "Better Regulation Guide and Guide to Better European Regulation", copies of which are in the Libraries of the House. Government Departments carry out regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) for prospective European legislation where this imposes additional costs or savings, or has an impact on 269W business, charities, or voluntary bodies. Subject to the expectations set out in the "Guide to Better European Regulation", an RIA must accompany any Explanatory Memorandum (EM) on prospective European legislation submitted to Parliament for its consideration.
The European Commission has its own internal rules for evaluating prospective European legislation to take account of costs and benefits, called the fiche d'impact or business impact assessment. It is applied only to a limited range of legislative proposals.