Evaluation of five years of ex post-evaluation of regulation

Abstract

In 2015 our legal system adopted the ex post evaluation. Through this, the improvement of the normative technique was formally culminated, so that the norms would no longer only be evaluated prior to their approval (ex ante), but once approved. However, more than five years later, ex post evaluation continues to be, even today, a pending subject in our legal system. The analysis that is made a posteriori of the norms approved by the Government and the Parliament is merely a recount of which regulations were expected to be approved and which have been actually approved. There is not an  evaluation of effectiveness, efficiency, possible effects not directly foreseen by the corresponding regulation that may compromise its future viability or the results of the application of the rule. Only a mere verification of merely formal compliance with the regulatory commitments assumed. In addition, our ex post evaluation model does not pay special attention to the reassessment requirement that derives from the adoption of regulations due to concurrent circumstances, as occurred during the first two years of the pandemic. It is an evaluation system more attentive to economic issues than to those that have a direct impact on the rights and freedoms of citizens.