Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) is a tool used in public administration to analyze draft regulatory legal acts (laws, resolutions, orders) before their adoption.
The main goal of RIA: to determine whether a new law or bylaw will lead to negative consequences for businesses, investors, citizens and the economy as a whole, and whether the proposed regulation actually solves the existing problem.
Key questions that RIA answers:
- Why? Is there a real problem requiring government intervention?
- How? Are there alternative solutions (e.g., self-regulation, information campaigns) not involving bans and fines?
- How much does it cost? What are the costs for businesses and the budget from introducing new requirements?
- Who wins/loses? Which groups of business entities will incur losses?
How RIA is conducted (stages):
- Development of the draft act by the agency.
- Public discussion of the draft and notification of its development on a dedicated portal (in Russia — regulation.gov.ru).
- Preparation of a consolidated report where the developer analyzes benefits and costs.
- Independent review by the authorized body (in the Russian Federation — the Ministry of Economic Development).
- Issuance of an opinion (positive — the draft has "passed" RIA, negative — it is sent for revision or rejected).
What is checked:
- Redundancy: Whether the draft contains requirements that duplicate existing ones or are unnecessary.
- Administrative burden: How much time and money businesses will spend on reporting, obtaining licenses, and undergoing inspections.
- Corruption risk: Whether the draft creates opportunities for extortion and bribery.
Where RIA is applied (examples):
- Introduction of new sanitary standards for cafés (will they lead to the closure of small establishments?).
- Tightening requirements for waste removal (will this bankrupt management companies?).
- Establishing new fish catch quotas (will this create an artificial shortage?).
Key result: The RIA procedure allows weeding out up to 30-40% of "raw" draft acts that would harm the economy without solving the stated problems.
Important: RIA applies to draft acts that affect entrepreneurial and investment activities. Social laws (on pensions, benefits, healthcare for citizens) undergo a different procedure — actual impact assessment (AIA).