Regulatory impact assessment, and the consultations worth joining

Regulation in Ukraine follows a defined procedure before it takes effect, and that procedure includes a stage at which a company can still influence the outcome. Very few use it.

How a rule becomes binding

A draft regulatory act is prepared, accompanied by an impact analysis stating the problem, the options considered, the expected effect on business and the cost of compliance.

The draft is published for comment for a defined period. Comments received have to be considered and the response documented.

The regulatory oversight body reviews whether the analysis was done properly, and can return the draft.

Then adoption, registration and entry into force.

Where the influence actually is

In the impact analysis stage, before the draft is public. A regulator preparing an analysis is looking for cost data and practical examples, and generally does not have them.

A company that supplies a specific, evidenced figure — this requirement will cost a plant of this size this much, here is why — is far more likely to change a draft than one that objects in principle after publication.

The channels that work

Business associations and chambers, which are consulted routinely and can aggregate a position across members. An individual foreign company writing alone is easier to set aside than an association representing forty employers.

The practical habit

Somebody in the company should be watching draft acts in the relevant sector. It takes an hour a month and it is the difference between shaping a rule and living with one.

That most companies miss the comment window even though it exists is a matter of habit rather than information. I check drafts weekly, and twice we have had a clause affecting my sector corrected before it took effect. Objecting after a rule is in force is not an objection but a complaint.