Germany has made several improvements to its regulatory policy system, especially with respect to ex ante impact assessments. RIA has been mandatory for all laws and regulations since 2000 and has most recently been extended in 2016 with the introduction of SME-test guidelines to promote SME-friendly policy development. Germany has put a strong emphasis on the reduction of costs of regulation, revising the EU ex ante procedure in 2016 to avoid compliance costs stemming from EU legislative acts and introducing the One-In, One-Out rule in 2015. The same year, Germany incorporated a behavioural insights team in the Policy Planning Unit in the Chancellery to act as a service unit for all Federal Ministries to inform legislative and administrative processes.
Since 2017, all draft regulations are available on ministries’ websites, together with comments from relevant stakeholders and other accompanying documents. The Ministry for the Environment has launched a website on public participation and Germany also recently made use of green papers, inviting interested parties to participate in the newly introduced network of practitioners in agriculture. These initiatives could be a step towards establishing a more systematic approach to involving stakeholders earlier in the development of regulations. While the system to consult with social partners and experts is well-established, Germany could open consultations more systematically to the general public, release impact assessments for public consultation and systematically publish responses to consultation comments online.
