Impact Assessment and the role of Parliament

Parliament as the legislative body assumes responsibility for the content of the legislation upon passing a law.
A prospective IA set out anticipated impacts in a transparent and clear way makes it possible for decision-makers to better assess the consequences of their decisions. Their decisions are then based on an improved basis of information.
A range of possibilities for political action is identified by setting out the various regulatory alternatives and their possible impacts. Once identified, the various fact-supported decision options can for instance be used in committee negotiations. In this sense, IA represents an aid to Parliament’s decision-making. It is intended to support, not monitor, policymaking, and is in no way a substitute for responsibility for political decision-making and action.

Up to now, Parliament has reported very little on the results of any IA that has been carried out. This is especially the case with prospective IA. As a rule, Parliament does not find out the results of a prospective IA unless at least parts of them are incorporated into the reasoning for a draft law.
It is different with a retrospective IA. The findings of a retrospective IA are generally included in reports on the implementation of legislation so that Parliament becomes aware of them in this way. These reports, which as a rule include recommendations for action, enable Parliament to comply with its duty to monitor and improve the legislation it has passed.
One current example of this is the report on the Evaluation of the Hartz Laws [German link] occasioned by a resolution motion in the German Bundestag. The evaluation reports are to be submitted in late 2005 or 2006. The research institutes involved were required to take the strategy of Gender Mainstreaming into account in their evaluation.
If IA is intended a modern means to support the political and administrative process of legislation, then the role of Parliament is to strengthen IA in that process.

Grimm, Christoph: Gesetzesfolgenabschätzung - Möglichkeiten und Grenzen aus Sicht des Parlamentes, Zeitschrift für Rechtspolitik (ZRP) 2000, S. 87-91.

Grimm, Christoph/ Brocker, Lars: Die Rolle der Parlamente im Prozeß der Gesetzesfolgenabschätzung, in: Zeitschrift für Gesetzgebung (ZG) 1999, S. 58-67.

Hadamek, Thomas: Gesetzesfolgenabschätzung - auch eine Sache des Parlaments, in: Zeitschrift für Gesetzgebung 2001, S. 382-386.