Latvia
Overview and recent developments
There is no single document comprehensively articulating regulatory policy in Latvia. However, many particular elements of regulatory policy are firmly embedded in strategic documents of the government. The obligation to conduct regulatory impact assessment (RIA) was introduced in 2009. RIA is required for all draft legal acts including subordinate regulations submitted to the Cabinet. RIA should be prepared early in the policy-making process and undergoes public consultation with the draft law. The impacts assessed cover mostly financial, budgetary, and administrative costs. Quantification of impacts tends to be rare. There is a structured and systematic process for consulting with social and civil partners. Reviews of regulatory stock are mostly business-oriented. While there is no explicit programme on ex post reviews of regulation, the regulatory framework is being improved continuously through intensive co-operation with stakeholders.
Latvia should consider the introduction of a threshold test for the preparation of more in-depth impact analyses for draft legislation and policy documents and explore ways for improving the quantification of the impacts of draft legislation and policy documents, including through guidance and capacity development for cost-benefit analysis.
The responsibility for co-ordinating regulatory policy and promoting regulatory quality is divided among the Ministry of Justice and the State Chancellery, and the Cross-Sectoral Co-ordination Centre (as concerns the development planning system) and Ministry of Environment Protection and Regional Development (for binding regulations of local governments). The Ministry of Economy plays a significant role in administrative simplification activities. The Ministry of Justice mostly oversees legal quality of regulation which includes mainly compliance with other legal instruments. The Chancellery through its Legal Department focuses on compliance of each regulatory draft with the rules for drafting legislation, including the obligation to conduct impact assessment or requirements for stakeholder engagement. The Chancellery is also co-ordinating the development and application of uniform rules of regulatory drafting including the impact assessment guidelines. The assessment of the Ministry of Justice and the State Chancellery is binding for other ministries. The ministry responsible for drafting the document revises the proposal if the document does not comply with the relevant requirements or if the RIA is based on insufficient or low-quality data.
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 RIA for primary laws only cover those initiated by the executive (70% of all primary laws in Latvia).
Source: Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance Survey 2017, http://oe.cd/ireg.