There has been a long-standing increase in attention to improving the quality of legislation and regulation in Finland. The current government programme (since 2015) proposes to create enabling regulation, promote deregulation and reduce administrative burdens. Finland has also introduced a pilot stock review (one in one out) in 2016-2017 for two ministries, whereby new compliance or administrative costs for business have to be off-set by corresponding savings. An evaluation of the pilot in 2018 states it has resulted in reduced stock and costs and increased transparency, and recommend the continuation of the pilot. The areas of regulation subject to ex post evaluations have increased since 2015, albeit without consistent methodologies.
A number of stakeholder engagement platforms exist in Finland to inform the public of current draft legislations and to solicit feedback. These include lausuntopalvelu.fi launched in 2015, as well as the revamped (2017) Governments Registry for Projects and Initiatives (http://valtioneuvosto.fi/hankkeet).
Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) is formally required and conducted for all primary laws and for some subordinate regulations In 2016, Finland established the Finnish Council of Regulatory Impact Analysis (FCRIA) with the mandate of improving the quality of bill drafting and, in particular, of the impact assessments of legislative proposals. The review and use of RIA in Finland could be further strengthened by the introduction of an oversight function that allows for returning proposed rules for which impact assessments are deemed inadequate. Furthermore, the results and adequate resourcing of the FCRIA will merit close assessment in its first years of functioning for maximum impact of its activities.
