- Funding Programme
- Year
- 2023
Strengthening the application of ex-post evaluation in Croatia
Croatia is taking important steps to strengthen the capacity of its public authorities, including the Government Legislation Office (GLO) and line ministries, to make ex-post evaluation a standard part of the law-making process. This approach ensures that laws are regularly assessed not only for their legal soundness but also for their real impact on people, businesses, and the economy.
Current reform efforts, supported through the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), focus on five key policy areas where milestone changes in the legal framework are essential:
- Tax incentives for research and development (R&D);
- Adequacy of pensions;
- Decarbonisation of the energy sector and the deployment of renewable energy;
- Land consolidation;
- Decarbonisation of buildings by accelerating investments in energy efficiency.
By introducing systematic legislative evaluation and promoting evidence-based policy-making, this initiative is helping to create a more effective and transparent regulatory environment. In the long run, these improvements will directly benefit Croatian citizens and businesses, making regulation clearer, fairer, and more supportive of sustainable growth.
Context
This initiative supports Croatian public authorities in making ex-post evaluation a standard practice in the design and implementation of laws. By doing so, Croatia is moving towards a more transparent, predictable, and effective regulatory system that works better for both citizens and businesses.
The project expands the Government Legislation Office’s experience with evaluation and extends it across sixteen ministries. Together, they are implementing a comprehensive programme to assess the existing legal framework in policy areas identified by the Croatian Government and the European Commission as critical for Croatia’s economic growth and convergence with the European Union.
Through this effort, Croatia is developing the skills, tools, and practices needed to ensure that laws deliver the intended benefits, reduce unnecessary burdens, and support sustainable development.
Support delivered
The first five ex-post evaluations of legislation in Croatia have now been carried out under the country’s new Law on Better Regulation and the methodology for better regulation. These evaluations focused on the key policy areas identified as priorities for reform and followed a structured, transparent process to ensure quality results.
Each evaluation included several components:
- Inception report – outlining the main challenges in the policy area, the goals and objectives of the evaluation, and the benchmarks and indicators applied.
- Evaluation plan report – assessing the scope of the legal framework to be evaluated, analysing key types of impacts, and identifying potential consequences.
- Consultation report – bringing in the views and recommendations of stakeholders, experts, and interest groups on how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of legislation.
- Final ex-post evaluation report – presenting practical recommendations for legislative amendments, an action plan with responsibilities, deadlines, expected outcomes, and monitoring mechanisms.
- Capacity building – training staff in the Government Legislation Office (GLO) and the participating ministries on how to apply ex-post evaluation methodologies and tools.
These evaluations mark an important step forward in building a culture of evidence-based law-making in Croatia, helping ensure that legislation delivers measurable benefits for citizens, businesses, and society as a whole.
Results achieved
The project has significantly strengthened the capacity of the Government Legislation Office (GLO) and participating line ministries to carry out ex-post evaluations of legislation and to apply evidence-based policy-making in the process of legislative reform.
For the first time, Croatia activated its new legal provisions on better regulation, including the instruments, methodology, and tools for systematic evaluation. This has laid the groundwork for a modern and transparent approach to reviewing laws and their real-world impacts.
Thanks to these improvements, the GLO and ministries were able to implement milestone reforms in five priority areas: Tax incentives for research and development (R&D), adequacy of pension, decarbonisation of the energy sector and deployment of renewable energy, land consolidation, and decarbonisation of buildings through accelerated investments in energy efficiency.
These results mark a turning point in Croatia’s regulatory practice, ensuring that laws are more effective, sustainable, and better aligned with the needs of citizens, businesses, and society
More about the project
You can read the documents related to the project here: