The Czech Republic has a well-developed regulatory impact assessment process including mechanisms for quality control through the RIA Board operating at arm’s length from the government. All draft primary and secondary legislation prepared by the executive has to be accompanied by a basic impact assessment; a full RIA has to be carried out for those drafts with new and significant impacts. The quality of RIA could be improved especially in terms of quantifications of impacts. RIA is not obligatory for legislative initiatives of the MPs, which represent about 40 % of laws.
All legislative drafts submitted to the government are published on a government portal accessible by the general public. It is obligatory to conduct consultations within the RIA process and summarise their outcomes in RIA Reports. There are, however, no compulsory rules specifying the length or form of such consultations. The Czech Republic should standardise the public consultation process and stimulate stakeholders including the general public to contribute to consultations.
The Czech Republic was among the first to launch a programme on reducing administrative burdens. Cutting red tape is still a priority for the government, however, contrary to many other countries, the focus has not yet been widened to other regulatory costs. Evaluation of the performance of existing regulations takes place usually on an ad hoc basis and is used rather rarely. The Czech Republic plans to introduce more systematic ex post reviews of existing regulations.
