Accountability for Regulator Impact: guidance from RPC for trade bodies, business groups and civil society organisations
Accountability for Regulator Impact: guidance from RPC for trade bodies, business groups and civil society organisations
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This guidance explains how the RPC reviews cases referred to us by representative trade bodies under the Government’s Accountability for Regulator Impact policy. If you are a body representing businesses or you are a civil society organisation, these pages explain what you should do if you feel the cost assessment prepared by your regulator is not correct.
The Accountability for Regulator Impact (ARI) policy covers any proposed change in policy, process or practice by a national non-economic regulator that imposes a significant cost or saving on business or civil society organisations. It focuses primarily on the costs of enforcement activities. It does not cover changes in law that affect regulators and the business they regulate. These require the sponsoring government department to prepare a full impact assessment.
You should approach your regulator to discuss concerns if the regulator has not engaged with you about the impact of a significant change. This is particularly important where the regulator has not produced an estimate of costs to business. You can use the regulator’s complaints process if needed and, failing that, contact the Better Regulation Executive.
You can ask the RPC to review the regulator’s assessment, if you consider that it substantially mis-states the likely financial impact of the proposed change. You should do this only after you have discussed the proposals with the regulator and tried to resolve directly with the regulator any differences of opinion on the cost estimates.
If, following discussion with the regulator, you are unable to reach broad agreement and you want the RPC to review the assessment, follow the guidance provides further information on the steps below.