Legislation Assessment Council appointed

Today on 14 April, the Government appointed a Legislation Assessment Council for the period between 15 April 2016 and 14 April 2019. The establishment of the Council is based on Prime Minister Sipilä's Government Programme.

- With deregulation, the Government aims to reduce and reform regulation. I consider it important that a new kind of development approach be introduced to legislation. What we need is high quality and effective provisions and the work to be carried out by the assessment body will be important in this respect, says Ministry of Transport and Communications Anne Berner who is responsible for the key project on deregulation.

The independent and impartial assessment council, functioning as part of the Prime Minister’s Office, will be chaired by Doctor of Law, adjunct professor Kalle Määttä. Members of the Council will include Senior Adviser Bo Harald, Professor Ari Hyytinen, Master of Laws Leila Kostiainen, Professor Eva Liljeblom, Professor Tuula Linna, Vice Managing Director Leena Linnainmaa, Professor Jyrki Tala and Master of Laws Rauno Vanhanen

The Council will be responsible for issuing opinions on impact assessments concerning draft government proposals. It may also issue opinions on other impact assessments relating to legislative drafting. In addition, the Council may put forward initiatives with the aim of improving the quality of legislative drafting, especially as regards the quality and evaluation procedures relating to impact assessments. After provisions have entered into force, the Council may also assess whether the impact of legislation has been as intended. The aim of the Evaluation Council is, in particular, to improve the quality of government proposals' impact assessment and the culture of legislative drafting in general.

The Council will first focus on assessing the economic impact of draft government proposals (public finances, including local government finances, businesses and households). The Council will not carry out impact assessments itself, but state its opinion on completed assessments.

The Council will monitor the development of the quality of impact assessments and evaluate the effectiveness of its work. The Council will submit a review of its operations to the Prime Minister's Office every year.

Inquiries: Arno Liukko, Senior Government Adviser, tel. +358 295 160 175, Prime Minister’s Office