CADS10 Castellano. 2006 - Generalitat de Catalunya

2. International RIA practices
2.1. Introduction to the international experience
An increasing number of countries are using RIA. Thus, although only two or three
OECD countries were using RIA in 1980 (OECD 2002), by early 2001, 20 of the
then 28 members were already applying this type of assessment, although the
scope of their use was different (Garg & Kabra, 2004).
According to the study by Formez (2004), in Europe RIA have official status in
Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland,
Sweden and the United Kingdom, with different levels of application. From
among all these cases of application, the same study concludes that the United
Kingdom, Denmark and the Netherlands can be considered to be the European
countries with the broadest experience in the development and application of
regulatory assessment.
RIA is scarcely used at the regional and local levels. Nevertheless, some European
regions have started to introduce RIA. In Great Britain, Scotland has its own RIA
system. In Italy, Formez (2004) points out that Tuscany, Basilicata and Friuli-
Venezia Giulia have developed their own pilot projects, and also stresses the
existence of a pilot project at municipal level (Municipality of Lucca).
2.2. Method for analysing the international experience
2.2.1. Selecting case studies
The aim of this report is not to provide a general overview of all the international
experience relating to the use of RIA, nor to provide a homogeneous vision of
its application on a given political-territorial level (state, regional, local). Our
approach to international practice is based on a review of experiences relating
to regulation assessment (RIA) in Europe and aims to provide an in-depth
analysis of a limited number of cases –United Kingdom and Scotland, Italy and
Tuscany and the Netherlands–, which have been selected for their relevance to
the case of Catalonia, in terms of their fundamental and process-related interest.
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