Evaluating laws, policies and funding programmes

Why the Commission evaluates

The Commission evaluates if specific laws, policies and spending activities are fit for purpose and have delivered, at minimum cost, the desired changes to European businesses and citizens.

Fitness checks and evaluations inform political priority setting and contribute to strategic planning, as well as to the revision of existing policies and legislation. While evaluations and fitness checks are ex-post assessment of existing policies, their goal is to provide input to future revisions of the policy or legislation, if deemed necessary.

They contribute to the process of structured screening of the EU acquis – stress-testing – aiming to ensure that it remains relevant, proportionate and fit to achieve its objectives in the most cost-efficient way.

Evaluation and fit​ness check

An evaluation is an evidence-based assessment of the extent to which a specific EU law, policy or funding programme is:

• effective - in fulfilling expectations and meeting its objectives
• efficient - in terms of cost-effectiveness and proportionality of actual costs to benefits
• relevant - to current and emerging stakeholders' needs
• coherent - internally and externally with other EU interventions or international agreements
• has EU added value - i.e. produces results beyond what would have been achieved by Member States acting alone

A fitness check is a type of evaluation that assesses several related actions. It focuses on identifying how different laws, policies and programmes interact, and their collective impact. 

Upcoming evaluations

The Commission Work Programme includes an annual plan of evaluations  and fitness checks, kickstarting a process to stress-test the stock of EU legislation. Ultimately, the entire EU acquis will be reviewed to capture its cumulative impacts, potential inconsistencies and to simplify it. The Commission informs the public about planned, ongoing and finalised individual evaluations and fitness checks through the ‘Have Your Say: Public Consultations and feedback’ portal.  Citizens and stakeholders are invited to contribute, replying to the calls for evidence and public consultations published on the portal, enhancing evidence base of evaluations and improving policy relevance.

Ensuring quality

The Better Regulation Guidelines and Toolbox provide common standards when the Commission evaluates the performance of its actions. All evaluations respect the principles outlined therein.

The Regulatory Scrutiny Board examines and issues opinions on the quality of selected evaluations and all fitness checks.

Evaluation results

All evaluations and fitness checks are reported on in an evaluation report, which takes the form of a Commission staff working document. The Commission evaluations are published on ‘Have your say: Public consultations and feedback' portal at the initiative's page, the register of Commission documents and in EUR-Lex

Other links:

Better regulation: why and how
REFIT - Making EU law simpler and less costly