Spain is gradually broadening its Better Regulation agenda from an initial focus on administrative simplification to stakeholder engagement and evaluation. A new user-friendly website has been recently set up by the Spanish Government (http://transparencia.gob.es) which includes the annual regulatory planning agenda for primary and subordinate regulations, as well as a centralised platform to provide access to public consultations. Still, stakeholder engagement is not yet undertaken on a systematic basis in Spain.
RIAs are required for all regulations in Spain. New evaluation procedures were issued in October 2017, introducing additional requirements to systematically consider impacts of regulatory drafts on competition and on small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as new thresholds for the conduct of ex post evaluations. A new oversight body, the Office on Regulatory Coordination and Quality was established in 2017 and has begun its activities in 2018.
An update from the 2009 RIA guidelines would provide useful support to regulators, all the more in the conduct of the new RIA procedures. The guidance could be further developed by providing advice on methods of data collection as well as providing clear assessment methodologies. In this regard, Spain would also benefit from developing standard evaluation techniques for ex post evaluation since the ex post review system is still in its early stages and not yet implemented systematically.
