Tool: Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIA)

Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIA) are a rather sophisticated tool in order to improve the quality of regulations and to mainstream Regulatory Best Practice (RBP). Several attempts have been made recently to popularize the concept in developing countries, including South Africa. Given the complexity of the tool, it is mainly used for national and provincial level regulatory issues only. However, the principles behind it and some of the methodology might also be transferable to local level interventions. The assessments help policy and law makers to know whether particular groups are likely to be disproportionately or unfairly affected by a proposed new policy or law