The reform of the European Commission’s in-house Impact Assessment Board (IAB), announced in December 2014, is taking shape.
Europolitics
unveils the content of a leaked communication on the mission, tasks and staff of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB), the IAB’s successor.
The main change lies in the board’s increased powers. “Any initiative with an impact assessment must be accompanied by a positive board opinion on its draft impact assessment for the proposal to be launched into interservice consultation,” the draft…
New REFIT Platform
In a leaked decision establishing the REFIT Platform, also seen by Europolitics, the Commission announces the creation of a new body, tasked with providing it with suggestions on regulatory burden reduction, “particularly in view of the needs and interests” of micro, small and medium-sized companies, “without endangering the achievement of the relevant legislative objectives”. The platform will be composed of two parts: a “government cluster” (28 high-level experts appointed by each member state) and a “stakeholder cluster” (up to 20 experts from businesses, social partners and civil organisations, appointed by Frans Timmermans following a call for application). Both clusters will meet “on a regular basis” and hold a joint meeting once a year. Their members, who will be appointed until the end of the Commission’s term of office, will not be remunerated.
