The Göteborg European Council in June 2001 and the Laeken European Council in December 2001 introduced two important political considerations:

1. First, to consider the effects of policy proposals in their economic, social and environmental dimensions.
2. Second, to simplify and improve the regulatory environment.

Within the framework of the Better Regulation package and the European Sustainable Development Strategy, the Commission has taken several concrete actions to improve the way it designs policy. One of these is impact assessment, for which the Commission introduced a new method in 2002, integrating and replacing previous single-sector type of assessments (Commission's Communication COM(2002)276 of 5 June 2002 on Impact Assessment).

Impact assessment (IA) is a process aimed at structuring and supporting the development of policies. It identifies and assesses the problem at stake and the objectives pursued. It identifies the main options for achieving the objective and analyses their likely impacts in the economic, environmental and social fields. It outlines advantages and disadvantages of each option and examines possible synergies and trade-offs.

Impact assessment is an aid to political decision, not a substitute for it. It informs decision-makers of the likely impacts of proposals, but it leaves it up to them to take the decisions.

The Commission recently updated its internal Guidelines for impact assessment. Please consult the "Key documents" page for this and other recent Commission documents on impact assessment.