Pursuant to the authority delegated under Section 30(3) of Act CXXX of 2010 on Legislation, I hereby enact the following within my scope of tasks and competency defined under Point a) of Section 2(1) of Government Decree 212/2010 (VII.1.) on the Duties and Authority of Certain Ministers and the State Secretary Leading the Prime Minister’s Office:
1. General Provisions
Section 1
(1) With the exception of legislation that may be instituted during the states of emergency, emergency situations, disaster prevention and in the event of situations specified under Section 19/E of the Constitution, the present Decree defines the requirements pertaining to the ex-ante and ex-post impact assessment of the bills to be put forward by the Government, as well as the draft government decrees and ministerial decrees.
(2) Provisions set out in the present Decree shall also be applicable in respect of normative decisions made by the Government.
Section 2
The following definitions shall be applied in the application of the present Decree:
1. Ex-ante impact assessment summary: the summary main sheet containing the findings of the ex-ante impact assessment, the summary data of the individual impact assessment sheets and the concise and clear overview of expected impacts;
2. Impact assessment: an information collection and analysing procedure, the fundamental objective of which is to increase the efficiency of regulations, which includes the analysis of the expected consequences of the regulation aligned to the details of and carried out in a period relevant to the assumed impacts of the regulation, followed by the summary of findings to support sound decision-making;
3. Impact assessment sheet: the ex-ante impact assessment summary sheet and the individual impact assessment sheets;
4. Stand-alone measure: distinct procedures and activities independent from one another defined within the scope of a regulation to attain specific policy goals;
5. Regulation: measures set out under legislation listed above under Section 1 and in public law regulatory frameworks;
6. Drafter of the regulation: the minister competent and responsible for drafting the regulation;
7. Individual impact assessment sheet: the thematic datasheet containing the detailed data of impacts assessed within the framework of the ex-ante impact assessment.
(2) Rules pertaining to the presentation of the impact assessment sheet set out in Annex 1 must also be applied in respect of the draft ministerial decree.
2. Ex-ante Impact Assessment
Section 3
Within the framework of ex-ante assessment
a) impact assessments of the greatest utility and the analysis of direct and indirect impacts playing the most relevant role in establishing the grounds of the decision in the case of the given regulation must be carried out;
b) the positive and negative impacts of the regulation also need to be mapped;
c) advantages and drawbacks must be quantified and analysed in this particular manner;
d) unified methodological principles must be applied within the scope of an ex-ante impact assessment;
e) the expected impacts of the regulation must be assessed in the relevant time period in the case of the given regulation;
f) in the case of several decision versions, expected advantages and drawbacks must be assessed in the case of every version.
Section 4
(1) In order to plan the details of the ex-ante impact assessment – after the necessity to adopt a regulation arises and in the event of the intention of the Government to adopt a regulation – the drafter of the regulation examines the objective of the regulation and assesses the expected content of the regulation.
(2) The drafter of the regulation selects the specific regulation contents that have serious consequences, the analysis of which consequences in covered by the ex-ante impact assessment and selects the impacts to be assessed.
(3) The drafter of the regulation evaluates the expected consequences of the lack of adoption of the regulation and the budgetary impacts that arise in the event of lack of adoption of the regulation.
(4) By taking account of all relevant time periods, direct and indirect impacts on the following must be recorded on the impact assessment sheet during the course of the ex-ante impact assessment procedure:
a) social, economic, competitiveness and employment impact on the groups affected by the regulation;
b) impact on the budget;
c) administrative impact and impact on administrative workloads in the case of market, public administration, residential and other non-market players;
d) environmental impact and impact on nature;
e) impact on health;
f) other impacts explicitly relevant in terms of the given regulation.
Section 5
(1) The data of the ex-ante impact assessment and findings identified during the course of the ex-ante impact assessment procedure must be recorded on the impact assessment sheet presented in Annex 1.
(2) If the given regulation includes several stand-alone measures that have a significant impact which may be interpreted through separate impact assessment procedures and it is not reasonable to record these impacts on one impact assessment sheet, it is necessary to fill out more than one impact assessment sheet.
(3) If the regulation needs to be urgently adopted for reasons of prominent public interest, the minister responsible for the coordination of the government’s actions is entitled to exempt the drafter of the regulation from filling out the individual impact assessment sheets and the impact assessment sheet in particularly justified cases based on the drafter’s written request sent within the framework of preliminary reconciliation should this take place in the case of the given regulation.
(4) It is sufficient to refer to the impact assessment sheet of the given act on the impact assessment sheet of the decree if the decree serves to execute an act and the decree is reconciled simultaneously with the act and has no independent impact that may be interpreted by an impact assessment.
(5) It is not necessary to fill out the individual impact assessment sheets if the regulation only contains technical amendments and has no independent impact that may be interpreted by an impact assessment.
(6) The following are to be attached, as required, as an annex to the impact assessment sheet:
a) detailed calculations supporting the findings of the impact assessment;
b) brief description of the methodology applied;
c) other additional information.
3. Ex-post Impact Assessment
Section 6
(1) Provisions set out under Section 3, Points a) to e) and Section 4(2) concerning the ex-ante impact assessment must also be appropriately applied in respect of the ex-post impact assessment.
(2) With the exception of provisions set out under subsection (3), the ex-post impact assessment must be carried out in the timeslot and in accordance with the methodology specified on the impact assessment sheet, about the findings of which the drafter of the regulation shall inform the minister responsible for the coordination of the government’s actions.
(3) The ex-post impact assessment may be carried out in deviation from the way specified on the impact assessment sheet if:
a) the impact assessment is carried out by an alternative individual to the one specified on the impact assessment sheet;
b) the impact assessment is carried out at an earlier or later date than the date specified on the impact assessment sheet; or
c) it is not possible to carry out the impact assessment based on the methodology specified on the impact assessment sheet.
(4) Should the drafter of the regulation carry out the ex-post impact assessment based on subsection (3), in deviation from the way specified in the instructions provided on the impact assessment sheet, he shall notify the minister responsible for the coordination of the government’s actions by providing detailed professional reasoning for the deviation.
4. Arranging the Impact Assessment
Section 7
(1) The drafter of the regulation is responsible for filling out the impact assessment sheet.
(2) The filled out impact assessment sheet shall constitute an annex to the government bill and the draft ministerial decree as of the start of the negotiation procedure.
(3) If the content of the regulation is amended during the course of the negotiation procedure, it is once again necessary to record the assessment of expected impacts and the new findings of the impact assessment on the impact assessment sheet.
Section 8
(1) The drafter of the regulation shall
a) ensure the designation of the organisational unit or person responsible for impact assessment contact within the organisational unit managed by the drafter and make arrangements for conducting the impact assessment;
b) notify the minister responsible for the coordination of the government’s actions in writing about the appointment of the impact assessment contact person;
c) compile and send the written report on the impact assessment activities conducted by their respective organisational units to the minister responsible for the coordination of the government’s actions up to 15 February each year (hereinafter: impact assessment report).
(2) The impact assessment contact persons designated by the drafter of the regulation shall hold ad hoc meetings to discuss
a) technical issues in connection with the impact assessment activity of the organisational unit managed by the drafter of the regulation;
b) practical issues associated with filling out the impact assessment sheet;
c) proposals put forward to develop the impact assessment activity
which meetings shall be initiated by the impact assessment contact person in the ministry designated by the minister responsible for the coordination of the government’s actions.
(3) The impact assessment report shall be compiled with the following content:
a) number of ex-ante and ex-post impact assessments conducted;
b) average time required to prepare the impact assessments;
c) reasons for deviation as set out under Section 6(3), as well as reasons for not conducting ex-post impact assessments;
d) practical experiences in connection with the compiling, the use and the utilization of the impact assessments and
e) proposals for developing the impact assessment activity.
(4) The minister responsible for the coordination of the government’s actions shall, by taking account of the impact assessment reports, notify the Government about the practical experiences of the impact assessment activity up to 31 March each year.
(5) The minister responsible for the coordination of the government’s actions shall compile a case report on the findings identified during the course of impact assessments for the Government.
Miscellaneous Provisions
Section 9
The present decree shall enter into force on the day following its promulgation.
Section 10
Provisions defined in connection with filling out the impact assessment sheet set out in Annex 1 must be applied in respect of bills and draft ministerial decrees drafted after 30 September 2011.
