Commitment: Development of legislative acts based on citizen participation and data analysis
Commitment Description:

Within the framework of OGP Georgia Action Plan 2018-2019, the Administration of Government of Georgia, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, started developing the unified system for the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA). The aim of the legislative amendments envisaged by the commitment is to contemplate, evaluate and effectively manage the legislative initiatives based on the situational analysis, which entails implementing the evidence-based policy. With RIA, the initiatives can be assessed according to their costs, benefits, and risks, that greatly impact societies economically, environmentally, and socially. RIA aims at identifying whether regulation is necessary and, if so, what is the best solution to address the problem.

Outcome: legislative acts are developed based on citizen participation and data analysis
Timeline: Start date - September 2018, End date - December 2019
OGP Thematic Areas: Transparency, Accountability, Innovation and Technology, Engagement
Reporting Period: 2019, Annual
Lead Agency: Administration of the Government

In order to fulfill the commitment, amendments were introduced to the Organic Law of Georgia on Normative Acts. As a result:  

• Relevant legislative initiatives will be evaluated according to costs, benefits, and risks;
• A better understanding of the regulatory outcomes will be ensured (who will benefit, who will incur the costs), as well as direct and indirect impacts will be identified;
• Through the regular consultations with the stakeholders, the transparency of the legislative processes will be increased.

Along with the legislative amendments, elaboration of the Methodological Manual for the Regulatory Impact Assessment of legislative acts was completed during the reporting period and submitted to the Government for approval at the end of 2019. It was approved through the Governmental Decree N35 of 17 January 2020. The Decree defines the terms and conditions for implementing RIA. It also defines the list of legislative acts, for which upon introducing the amendments, conducting the RIA will be obligatory.

The technical Manual for Regulatory Impact Assessment submitted to the Government along with the decree, will assist the representatives of the central and local administrations, who develop legislative initiatives, in the process of conducting RIA and developing relevant reports.

To introduce RIA into practice, up to 60 civil servants responsible for lawmaking will undergo training from Spring 2020,  at LEPL Training Centre of Justice of Georgia. Capacity building of civil servants will be conducted regularly, and relevant training will be held in several stages. Also, to harmonize the Legislative and Executive Governments' approaches on RIA Standards, working meetings are planned with the members and staff of the Parliament.

According to the Secretariat's assessment, the commitment was fully implemented, as all milestones defined by the action plan were fulfilled.