Impact assessment consists of gathering and analysing data in order to acquaint the decision-makers with the scope and the causes of the problem a certain public policy is trying to solve, as well as with different options for the drafting of regulations or non-normative solutions, and an analysis of the impact the chosen solution will have.
This text deals with the regulations impact assessment system in BiH, which has still not been established, in spite of the effective statutory instruments mandating its establishment, which has an adverse effect on the quality of regulations and the efficiency of their enforcement. The available reports on regulations impact assessment point to a plethora of problems in conducting assessment, including insufficient capacities and limited skills and expertise of civil servants charged with impact assessment, hostility of public institutions towards substantial inclusion of extra-institutional actors in the process, disregard for regulations impact assessment procedures, excessive and unjustified use of the urgent procedure for adopting bills without public discussion, and the lack of precise methodological guidelines for impact assessment at some levels of administration. All this often results in the adoption of inadequate regulations and constant amendments to the adopted acts and policies.