Improving the Integrated European Impact Assessment? -- Impact Assessment – Experience from the European Commission -- Views of the European Environmental Bureau on the Commission’s Impact Assessment Procedure – With a Focus on Environment -- The Proportionate Impact Assessment of the European Commission – Towards More Formalism to Backup “The Environment” -- Proportionate Impact Assessment: Discretion, Formalism, and the Undefined Responsibilities of European Decision-Makers -- Multi-Criteria Analysis for Policy Evaluation -- Conclusions.

The European Commission requires an impact assessment report for any regulation proposed. This book analyzes the quality of impact assessments and discusses deficits and possible improvements. Based on 30 case studies of impact assessments, an institutional analysis of the relevant actors is conducted, which shows that there are many shortcomings, among them an incentive problem concerning desk officers in the European Commission. The book includes various articles which address controversial problems and possible solutions. It offers a comprehensive overview of the practice of impact assessment in the EC, as well as an institutional analysis of the processes involved and of the checks and balances between politicians and their administration.