Folder Wo Folgenabschaetzung en

Thema
Regulatory Impact
Assessment and the
Impact Dimension
of Gender Equality
What is regulatory impact assessment?
As of 2013, Austria’s Federal Constitution provides for out-
come orientation as a principle of budgetary management,
with particular regard to the objective of achieving de facto
equality between women and men. This means that the ac-
tions of public administration are no longer exclusively based
on the available resources (i.e. input), but rather that the
desired outcomes and the outputs required of public admin-
istration in order to achieve these play a central role.
cost
undesired
effects
benefit
Regulatory impact assessment is the implementation of the

principle of outcome orientation into the policy-making and
evaluation process. All new laws, regulations and bigger
projects, will be discussed on basis of their desired outcomes
and outputs and their success will be measureable by the
use of indicators.
In defined policy areas (impact dimensions) such as
• Financial impacts
• Impacts on the overall economy
• Impacts on small and medium-sized enterprises
• Environmental impacts
• Impacts in the field of consumer protection policy
• Impacts on administrative costs for citizens and enterprises
• Social impacts
• Impacts on children
• Impacts regarding equality of women and men
The substantial impacts are identified, as it is only those impacts
that are subject to in-depth assessment. On the basis of precise
questions, the most relevant impacts in these impact dimensions
are examined. This allows for a 360 degree analysis of the
expected impacts.
The impact assessments accompany the draft legislation from

preparation to the parliamentary procedure to evaluation. The
quality assurance by the Federal Performance Management
Office at the Federal Chancellery ensures a uniform, high quality
of the impact assessments.
After five years at the latest, the projected indicators and

milestones for the defined objectives and expected impacts are
compared to the actual situation; additionally, the existence of
any further impacts is ascertained. Based on these findings any
existing potential for better achieving the defined objectives,
cutting costs or reducing unintended effects is shown.
The systematic approach towards impact assessment

Problem analysis: It is carried out to explain why government
action is required and why the proposed solution was chosen.
Example: Transport Policy:

Amendment of the Road Traffic Code
Problem Analysis:
1.: There is a high occurrence of accidents with personal injuries and
deaths due to speed limit violations on highways
2.: The increased usage of bicycles has lead to a steep incline in

injured cyclists, especially among children. Studies have shown
that in a majority of these cases no helmet was worn. Regular use
of helmets could significantly lower the rate of head injuries of
cyclists.
Outcome statement: The purpose is to set out the outcome
to be achieved by means of the respective regulatory or other
project. For each outcome, 1 to 5 indicators are set. These
facilitate the subsequent evaluation of outcomes in the course
of internal evaluation.
Outcome 1: Increase of objective road safety

Activities: Fully automated velocity measurement at certain high-
risk highway segments; Introduction of a compulsory use of bicycle
helmets for children
Indicators:
Initial status: Mean deviation of measured velocity from the speed
limit +7 km/h; Share of transgression of speed limit by more than
20km/h: 10%, Share of head injuries among all injured cyclists
(children) 48%
Target status: Mean deviation of measured velocity from the
speed limit max. 3,5 km/h; Share of transgression of speed limit by
more than 20 km/h: < 5%, Share of head injuries among all injured
cyclists (children) < 30%
Output statement: In the output statement, the measures,

activities, etc. through which the defined objectives are to be
achieved are stated. For these outputs, just as for the desired
outcomes, indicators are defined to allow for the objectified
evaluation of the implemented project.
Output 2: Introduction of an obligatory use of bike helmets for

children
Contribution to outcome No: 1
Indicators:
Target status: Less than 10% of all inspections show an infringe-
ment of the obligation to wear a bike helmet. The obligatory use
of a bike helmet is implemented into the materials for road safety
training in public schools.
Impact Assessment: The impact assessments are carried

out by the steps described above. Officials conducting regula-
tory impact assessments are guided through a questionnaire
by means of an IT tool, receiving guidance and support
by way of explanatory texts and contact persons in the
responsible ministry. Whenever possible, the users are
asked to quantify the expected impacts.
The impact dimension of gender equality

Gender equality is one of the impact dimensions men-
tioned above. Its focus is on any effects on the equality of
women and men that projects initiated by line ministries
might have and that might otherwise easily be overlooked.
The dimension of equality comprises several areas:
Payments to natural or legal persons: Men and women

can profit to different degrees from payments to natural or
legal persons. The uptake and those who benefit indirectly
are thus estimated by gender.
Employment, income, and education: This part analy-

ses the distribution of new jobs between men and women,
the development of the Gender Pay Gap and the partici-
pation of men and women in educational offerings
Unpaid work: The distribution of unpaid work between

men and women concerning childcare, housework, care
for the sick and elderly and formal and informal voluntary
work is still very uneven. Especially when public services
are cut or extended, the impact on unpaid work for men
and women has to be considered.
Public revenue: Even seemingly gender-neutral chang-

es on public revenues can have very different impacts
on men and women. As a consequence, the distribution
of tax burdens and reliefs as well as exemption causes
between men and women have to be assessed.
Decision-making processes and decision-making bod-

ies: Women and men are still not evenly represented in
decision-making processes and decision-making bodies.
Whenever a new decision-making body is appointed or an
existing one is changed by law, the expected participation
of men and women has to be assessed.
Health: In such areas as prevention, medical products,
physical and psychological stress factors, and life-habits,
the needs and situations of women and men can greatly
differ. In this part of the impact dimension, it has to be
stated, if and how these differences have been accommo-
dated.
Regulatory impact assessment

• increases efficiency and effectiveness in employing
resources in the context of regulatory projects and
budget management;
• enhances the transparency of policy objectives:
regulatory impact assessment is included in the ma-
terials accompanying draft laws and regulations and
is thus also available to the interested public, making
more transparent which objectives are to be achieved,
as well as to what extent and by what time;
• raises public administration’s awareness of exter-
nal effects: as external effects, e.g. regarding economic
or environmental policy, consumer protection, adminis-
trative costs for citizens and enterprises, social issues
or equality of women and men, are taken into account,
awareness of these external effects on the part of pub-
lic administration is heightened;
• facilitates taking into account the impact on the
equality of women and men: the objective of achiev-
ing equality between women and men, an issue of
a cross-cutting nature, is evaluated in the course of
impact assessment under various aspects and in the
context of different areas of life;
• provides the basis for a holistic approach: the new
budgeting law combines management via input, output
and outcome in a pragmatic manner. Regulatory impact
assessment, along with the associated assessment of
the different impact dimensions, forms an important
part of this holistic management approach and of
medium-term budget planning;
• promotes coherence between public administra-
tion activities and the legislative process: taking
into account effects in areas other than those directly
targeted provides a better basis for decision-making in
Parliament and better framework conditions for public
administration, as well as highlighting the complex causal
relationships behind specific outcomes.
The Federal Performance Management Office

The Federal Performance Management Office, together with
the Federal Chancellery’s Legal and Constitutional Service,
the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Ministries responsible
for issuing special regulations on different impact dimensions,
provides different kinds of support in introducing and carrying
out regulatory impact assessments.
• training: carrying out regulatory impact assessment and in-
ternal evaluations;
• consultation: advice regarding project content and questions
of methodology in connection with the implementation pro-
cess;
• checklists and working tools: recommendations and stand-
ards supporting the development and the implementation of
regulatory impact assessment;
• quality assurance: feedback to government entities regard-
ing the formulation of regulatory impact assessments and
complying with quality criteria.
• report on internal evaluation for National Council, based on
the standardised reports to be submitted by the various gov-
ernment entities
Contact
Federal Chancellery
Unit III/9 – Federal Performance Management Office
Hohenstaufengasse 3
1010 Wien (Vienna)
Ursula Rosenbichler
Head of Unit III/9
e-mail: [email protected]
phone: +43 1 531 15-207141
Monika Geppl
Deputy Head of Unit III/9
phone: +43 1 531 15-207461
Elisabeth Schindler
Unit III/9
phone: +43 1 531 15-207462
Cover: photos.com
Legal notice
Owner, publisher and editor: Federal Minister for Women and Civil Service at the Federal
Chancellery; Minoritenplatz 3, 1014 Vienna; Authors: Johann Seiwald, Monika Geppl,
Elisabeth Schindler; Layout: BKA | ARGE Grafik; Printing: BM.I Digitalprintcentre; Vienna 2012

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Thema

Regulatory impact assessment is the implementation of the

In defined policy areas (impact dimensions) such as

The impact assessments accompany the draft legislation from

After five years at the latest, the projected indicators and

The systematic approach towards impact assessment

Example: Transport Policy:

2.: The increased usage of bicycles has lead to a steep incline in

Outcome 1: Increase of objective road safety

Output statement: In the output statement, the measures,

Output 2: Introduction of an obligatory use of bike helmets for

Impact Assessment: The impact assessments are carried

The impact dimension of gender equality

The dimension of equality comprises several areas:

Payments to natural or legal persons: Men and women

Employment, income, and education: This part analy-

Unpaid work: The distribution of unpaid work between

Public revenue: Even seemingly gender-neutral chang-

Decision-making processes and decision-making bod-

Regulatory impact assessment

The Federal Performance Management Office

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