Greece
Overview and recent developments
Law 4048 of 2012 sets an obligation for all ministries to apply the principles of Better Regulation to all legislative developments. Major challenges, however, still persist with its implementation. Regulatory impact assessment (RIA) is obligatory for all primary laws; however the quality is poor due to the short time period in which new drafts are developed. Public consultations are required for all primary laws. In practice, consultation usually takes place through exchanges with selected groups. Some draft primary laws and subordinate regulations are published on a consultation portal (www.opengov.gr). While Law 4048 requires that a public consultation report sums up comments received and which comments were taken into account, it is still not fully implemented, so that it is unclear how consultation comments are taken into account to finalise draft regulations.
Greece has been carrying out several reforms of its regulatory framework, including the establishment of a long-term codification plan of the main regulations in 2016 and creation of an electronic portal for the access to regulations as well as simplification of law in selected areas (labour law, VAT) in 2015. Reducing administrative burdens is not as widespread as in other OECD countries though some initiatives are underway. Ex post evaluations are not yet part of Greek regulatory management tools. Under the coordination of the Better Regulation Office of the General Secretariat of the Government (BRO) several ministries have initiated plans to carry out ex post evaluations. Better implementation of the requirements set by the law, especially in the area of impact assessment and stakeholder engagement, are advisable as well as further simplification of the regulatory framework.
The BRO is responsible for the co-ordination of regulatory policy and oversight of the quality of RIAs as well as guidance and training on regulatory management tools, although the BRO’s mandate is not fully implemented in practice. The BRO has no power to prevent draft proposals accompanied with poorly developed RIA from proceeding. In co-ordination with the Ministry of Administrative Reconstruction, it has held seminars on better regulation since 2017, focusing on ex ante and ex post evaluation of regulations, public consultation and legislative drafting. The Legal Office of the General Secretariat of the Government checks legal quality of government regulations and the Central Law-making Committee is responsible for issuing guidelines on the legal quality of proposed draft laws. The National Council for Codification and Reform of the Greek Legislation oversees the codification process, and identifies areas where regulation can be made more effective.
Notes: The more regulatory practices as advocated in the OECD Recommendation on Regulatory Policy and Governance a country has implemented, the higher its iREG score. The indicators on stakeholder engagement and RIA for primary laws only cover those initiated by the executive (100% of all primary laws in Greece).
Source: Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance Surveys 2014 and 2017, http://oe.cd/ireg.