New Guidelines for Impact Assessment to support high-quality law drafting
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The Guidelines for Impact Assessment in Law Drafting help law drafters plan impact assessments, identify and assess different types of impacts and, where necessary, seek further information.
The key purpose of impact assessments is to strengthen the knowledge base in law drafting. The objective is to support decision-making by producing as reliable assessments as possible of the different alternatives for implementing reforms and of their essential impacts.
The significance and scope of impact assessments have increased since the previous Guidelines for Impact Assessment were issued in 2007. The revised Guidelines include more comprehensive instructions on, for example, the stages of an impact assessment as part of the law drafting process, data collection and assessment methods, and special questions related to impact assessments concerning EU legislation. Furthermore, the Guidelines now deal with certain new types of impacts, such as fundamental and human rights impacts, security impacts and impacts on rural areas.
The Guidelines were prepared by a working group appointed by the Ministry of Justice, consisting of representatives of all ministries and the secretariat of the Finnish Council of Regulatory Impact Analysis. During the preparation, the working group consulted stakeholders at consultation events and circulated the draft guidelines for comments. Permanent Secretaries approved the Guidelines at their meeting on 31 October 2022.
The Guidelines will also be published as an online publication, which will be regularly updated to ensure that the additional instructions and information sources linked to the Guidelines are up to date and to develop further material to support law drafters.
Guidelines for Impact Assessment in Law Drafting
Inquiries:
Kaisa Tiusanen, chair of the working group, Senior Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 295 150 169, [email protected]
Tuomas Lihr, secretary of the working group, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 150 137, [email protected]
Satu Pentikäinen, secretary of the working group, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 047 360, [email protected]