Regulatory Quality Index: Methodology and Implementation Guide for European Countries

Abstract

Regulatory policy is an explicit policy for a dynamic, continuous and consistent “whole of government” approach to pursue regulatory quality. Experience confirms that an effective regulatory policy needs to be made up of three components which are mutually reinforcing: policies, tools and institutions. Regulatory policy is not only about specific regulations for a sector, but about the process by which regulations are drafted, updated, implemented and enforced, set in a broader context of public policy objectives. The evaluation of policy therefore includes not only the social and economic impact of regulations, but the links between regulatory processes or systems on the one hand, and those outcomes on the other. Regulatory Quality Index offers a quantitative approach to measure the quality of primary laws and subordinate legislation in European regulatory frameworks. The Index is composed by the best practices on better regulation as they derive from the guidelines of international and European Institutions, as well as by the academic framework of regulation. It is a toolkit to identify the main weaknesses of a regulatory environment and an indicator for comparative analysis across different countries.