Evaluating legislation: An alternative approach for evaluating EU Internal Market and Services law

Abstract

Although the European Commission has introduced a rigorous Impact Assessment process as part of policy proposal development since 2000, to date very little in the way of ex post evaluation of policy and legislation practice exists. In 2007, the European Commission firmly committed itself to developing ex post evaluation of these non-spending activities to match the importance of its Impact Assessment process. However, early experience when evaluating legislation, and EU Directives in particular, has highlighted problems in applying existing evaluation practices. Finding little by way of specific guidance that could be used for evaluating EU legislation, DG Internal Market and Services has developed its own methodology. This contribution aims to provide some insight for evaluation practitioners into this EU DG’s proposed approach to evaluating EU legislation, which readers may consider with a view to transferring to similar political and organizational environments.