1. © OECD A joint initiative of the OECD and the European Union, principally financed by the EU Ex-ante Impact Assessment Anca Ghinea Councilor Public Policy Department Conference on Good Governance and Public Administrative Reform Bucharest, 6 December 2007

2. Ex-ante impact assessment (2005 – 2007) 2 years of G.D. No. 775/2005 implementation (public policy regulation); 1 year of G.D. no. 1361/2006 implementation (impact assessment regulation); 2 years since the establishment of public policy units within ministries; 3 manuals/guidelines on ex-ante impact assessment; aprox. 30 presentations and trainings for ministries on ex-ante impact assessment.

3. G.D. no. 775/2005 implementation There is a real progress in understanding the public policy concept, its stages as well as a progress in using the template provided by G.D. no. 775/2005; The public policy units have experts capable of elaborating impact assessment analyses, other conditions being met (political will, resources, time); There is a good communication between ministries and PPD/GSG regarding the elaboration and improvement of public policy proposals.

4. G.D. no. 775/2005 implementation There are still situations in which important decisions are made without public policy documents to substantiate them; There are problems related to the intra and inter-institutional communication when planning and formulating policies; Specific impact assessment analyses (cost-benefit analyse, risk analyse, etc.) are not yet used while formulating policies; Most of the policy proposals relate to narrow issues and just a few to inter- ministerial, complex ones.

5. Public policy proposals (June 2006) Domain Type of edorsement FavourableFavourable with comments Non-favourableTotal Public administration and justice 94114 Environment112 Social and health policies 5229 Agriculture and rural development 44 Education, culture and multiculturalism 415 Economy, finance and business environment 82111 Defence and external affairs Communications and IT Total3110445

6. G.D. no. 1361/2006 implementation The implementation period is too short for an accurate assessment of the results; The template provided by the G.D. no. 1361/2006 was used in 95% of the drafts of normative acts; Currently, aprox. 30% of the drafts of normative acts are substantiated in a satisfactory way, according to the requirements included in G.D. no. 1361/2006.

7. G.D. no. 1361/2006 implementation The new template generally contains the same information on the impact of the regulations as the old one. There is insufficient assessment of socio- economic impact, of the budgetary impact as well as a weak description of the consultation process; There is not enough time allocated by the ministries to a proper impact assessment evaluation; The ministries rarely use statistical data and other types of centralised information for the substantiation of the normative acts; As a rule, the drafts of normative acts do not have as base public policy documents.

8. Next steps Continuing and strengthening the implementation of G.D. no. 775 and G.D. no. 1361 G.D. no. 1226/2007 – Rules of procedures for the elaboration, the endorsement and the adoption of public policy documents and normative acts Better Regulation Strategy PHARE 2006

9. The New Rules of Procedures The public policy documents will have a new statute as they will go through the same announcement, consultation and adoption procedures as the normative acts; The capacity of the General Secretariat of the Government to monitor the implementation of impact assessment procedures will be strengthened; It contributes to the improvement of the policy documents and normative acts’ flow before their adoption in the Government Meeting; The announcement procedure for public policy documents and normative acts is being introduced; It contributes to the improvement of the interministerial consultation process.

10. Better Regulation Strategy It will introduce full RIA; Sectoral impact assessment methodologies will be elaborated (environment, economy, education, health, etc); Centralised IT system for publishing policy documents and normative acts on the Government webpage will be available.

11. PHARE 2006 Sectoral impact assessment methodologies for public policy documents and normative acts – health and education Impact assessment methods recommended for the two domains; Specific techniques for assessing future costs and benefits in education and health policies (focus on nonmonetary costs and benefits); Recommendations related to accessing public-private partnership in the elaboration of the impact assessment analyses (potential partners and possible financial resources).

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