Regulatory impact assessment (RIA) involves a systematic appraisal of the
social, economic and environmental impacts of proposed regulations and other
kinds of policy instruments before they are adopted. A vast amount of academic
literature in the last decade has charted the diffusion of RIA in OECD
countries and EU member states. However, relatively little is known about the
extent to which RIA has been adopted and implemented in developing countries.
The last research attempting to shed light on this issue over a decade ago
found that a number of were beginning to apply some form of regulatory
assessment but that its development was at an early stage. Since then RIA has
become almost universally adopted in OECD and EU member states as well as
promoted as a tool for good (regulatory) governance in developing countries by
international donors and organizations such as OECD, the International Finance
Corporation of the World Bank Group (IFC). What, then, is the extent of RIA
adoption and implementation in these countries today? This working paper
addresses this question through a survey of RIA in 14 developing and emerging
economies based on documentary analysis as well as semi-structured interviews
with key stakeholders. The survey explores topics such as the legal and
institutional framework of RIA, organizational capacity, and use of tools and
methods (e.g. Cost Benefit Analysis). The results suggest that while an
increasing number of developing countries have made efforts to introduce RIA
in their decision making processes, these efforts have not yet led to a
sustainable RIA system which significantly contributes to the good regulatory
governance of these countries
