RegWatchEurope is a network of independent regulatory
scrutiny bodies that works together to exchange best
practice, innovative ideas and emerging methodological
approaches. A mixture of European Union and non-European
members, it is a core component of the RPC’s international
engagement work and meets regularly at both board and
technical/secretariat levels.
This June board meeting was originally to be a larger
engagement in Berlin, including a technical workshop to
exchange best practice in several areas of regulatory
scrutiny. It was scaled down given the complications and
disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, Board
members including our interim chair Stephen Gibson came
together on WebEx and a very fruitful planning discussion
was had.
RWE members, with Germany in the chair, heard a
presentation from colleagues of the Danish Business
Regulation Forum as part of their arrangements for joining
the network. This included their work on “neighbour check”,
which assesses how Denmark’s neighbours implement EU
legislation. Digital solutions to questions of regulatory
burden were also discussed, such as businesses inputting
their issues directly to government.
RWE members further discussed the conclusions of various
workshops on areas including ex-post evaluations held in
recent months, and agreed to hold a further workshop in
September on the issues of proportionality in evidence and
analysis and stakeholder engagement. The different ways in
which Covid-19 has affected scrutiny across Europe were
also compared and contrasted.
The meeting also included a session with representatives
from the European Commission’s Regulatory Scrutiny Board,
who updated participants on their work expanding scrutiny
of impact assessments in the UK style, and the lessons
learned from this process.
