The Netherlands has a long-standing tradition of regulatory reform, with a strong emphasis on the reduction of burdens for business and citizens. This focus has largely remained in the centre of recent Better Regulation initiatives.
The Integraal Afwegingskader (IAK) combines existing requirements and instructions for ex ante impact assessment. While the core focus remains on measuring the costs of a regulation, the IAK has been gradually updated since 2015 by introducing assessments of the impact on innovation, SME’s, gender equality and developing countries. Periodic ex post evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of regulations, mandatory for all primary laws since 2001, now includes an evaluation of regulatory burden and is complemented by reviews of administrative burden and compliance costs in specific sectors.
In recent years, the Netherlands placed a strong focus on accessibility and transparency of the regulatory process. For this purpose, a digital calendar has been launched, allowing the public to track the legislative process. Public consultation through the central interactive website has been further promoted and is more frequently used to consult on draft proposals as well as on policy documents informing about the nature of the problem and possible solutions. SME’s can provide suggestions in the early stages of the development of a regulation as part of the recently introduced SME-Test.
Informing the public systematically in advance that a consultation is planned to take place could help to receive more input for public consultations. The Dutch RIA framework could be also further strengthened by extending the focus on regulatory burden towards a more systematic assessment of benefits and distributional effects of a regulation.
