Good RIA Practices in Italy: Prioritization and Challenges

1. CONFERENCE on Regulatory Impact Assessment Ankara - 19, 20 and 21 April, 2006 PART II : 19 April am Good RIA practices in selected EU member states 1. Regulation in ITALY Mario Martelli [m.martelli@agora2000.it]

2. Contents • Why Better Regulation is becoming so important at national level? • What are the issues at stake? • Better Regulation and policy-making; how and at what stage does RIA fit into the Italian policy-making process? • What is the relationship between RIA and other tools such as administrative simplification and consultation? • What to avoid in the development of impact assessment tools? • What are the particular challenges in introducing RIA? Prioritization? • What skills are needed for officials engaged in the regulatory process?

3. Why Better Regulation is becoming so important at national level? • to live in peace (“public order”) • to work and grow in security (legal certainty to contracts and commerce) • to protect social values and “weak parts” (workers, consumers, children, cultural heritage, environment) • to join EU system(the acquis communautaire is made of rules!) … but the traditional command-and-control regulatory systems have to be adapted to some new needs

4. Why Better Regulation is becoming so important at national level? The traditional “relationship of authority” between Government and citizens is sunsetting Citizens require new “public goods” besides legalityof Government’s acts (e.g., efficiency, transparency and accountability): from legitimacy to utility

5. What are the issues at stake? The rules’ strong impact on the Italian economy Rules have a strong impact on our economy • Regulatory inflation: over 35,000 primary laws (of State and Regions) • Regulatory costs: unnecessary burdens on the public, on businesses and even on public administrations • Regulatorypollution: ambiguity, contradictions, overlapping, layers of rules generate uncertainty on the existing law

6. What are the issues at stake? The rules’ strong impact on the Italian economy Regulation has to be aimed at improving the “legal environment” where SMEs live Citizens’ savings: annual savings for certificates and certified signatures due to “self-certification” program (in million Euro): 527 in 1998, 544 in 1999, 1128 in 2000;Business savings: after the one stop shop and other simplifications, the maximum time needed for the whole process dropped from 22 to 10 weeks. Costs were reduced from 7,700 to 3,500 Euro for corporations and from 1,150 to 500 Euro for individual business

7. How and at what stage does RIA fit into the Italian policy-making process? The new regulatory provisions have been evaluated not only vis-à-vis their abstract coherence with values considered worthy to be carried out, but as well, and especially, with regards to the pros and contra for citizens, enterprises, and the public sector, in the light of theprogrammingobjectives

8. Better Regulation and policy-making; how and at what stage does RIA fit into the Italian policy-making process? Regulatory Reform is conceived as apart of a more general Government Reform(including devolution to local authorities, reorganization of Central Government, reform of the civil service and of the public budget) • Regulatory Reform is concretized in a specific delegation of the Prime Minister to the Minister for Public Administration • Italy is moving from a mere “simplification policy” to a more global “regulatory quality” policy

9. What is the relationship between RIA and other tools such as administrative simplification and consultation? • A new, systematic use of two previously existing legal instruments (to “avoid the delays and incentives for poor regulation inherent in traditional legislative process”, as the OECD says): 1) “delegating laws” (leggi delega) 2) the “delegislation” (delegificazione) mechanism • The main pillars for the Italian regulatory quality: 1) simplification 2) codification (both referred to existing regulation) 3) regulatory impact analysis 4) consultation (both referred to new regulation) and (from 2005) 5) Taglia-leggi (Guillottine, for almost anything before 1970) • The crucial role of the “center of the Government”and a specific Unit in the PMO and (from 2005) in the Dipartimento Funzione Pubblica

10. What to avoid in the development of impact assessment tools? Regulatory Impact Analysis • is NOT an ex postjustification … • does NOT replace the need for a political decision – rather, it provides some of the factual information essential to a good policy development process and a well-informed final decision; • should NOT define each problem putting at the centre the view of Ministerial structures – rather, ther should be an effort of evaluating the “whole dimension”, the whole latitude of each problem

11. What are the particular challenges in introducing RIA?My personal experience (coherent with the international experience) • the success of regulatory reform needs asustained political support from the highest level; • regulatory reform is not a ‘one shot policy’ but an ongoing process; • avoid ‘too general and abstract’ programmes and set clear and measurable objectives; • regulatory reform needs not merely legal, but multidisciplinary approach; • evaluate the legal effects of regulation, but mostly the concrete impacton the “real life” (utility, not only legitimacy!); • involve citizens, business and other “regulated” subjects; create a “sense of ownership”; • don’t give anything for granted: monitoring ex post has the same importance of evaluating ex ante • people are crucial beside tools: coordinate the efforts among the Government, create regulatory management capacities; • spread similar tools also for regional andlocal regulators.

12. What skills are needed for officials engaged in the regulatory process? Regulatory reform needs not merely legal, but multidisciplinary approach Consultation has to involve the RIA team (economists, jurists, sociologists, statisticians) with the people who will be touched by regulation.

13. Italy, OCSE and regulation “Starting later than many countries, Italy devoted the 1990s to “catching up” with the leading OECD countries in economic and governance reforms. The scope, speed and consistency of structural reforms by multiple governments were remarkable. Today, Italy continues to move faster than many countries in addressing the substantial reform agenda that is still outstanding. Regulatory reform was only one of many changes in Italy in the 1990s, but it was an essential one …” but “… enhancing the growth potential of the Italian economy – following years of comparatively slow growth by EU standards, relatively high inflation, low foreign direct investment, and a declining market share in world trade – requires faster and deeper regulatory reform.” OECD Review on Regulatory Reform in Italy – Paris 2001