SESSION V-C BEE Reform: The Role of Parliaments

Regional Conference in South East Europe

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SESSION V-C BEE Reform: The Role of Parliaments

   While legislative bodies clearly have an indispensable role to play in enacting successful reforms of the regulatory environment, this session and the conference has concluded that they currently play an inadequate part in the reform process in the Western Balkans. Dr. Penev outlined some of the current challenges, including lack of necessary legislation in some areas, excessive legislation in other areas, insufficient expert input in the legislative drafting process and lack of analysis of the impact of laws and regulations on the business sector and other stakeholders.
   Regulatory quality needs to be improved through the involvement of experts and stakeholders affected by legislation, by establishing a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) process which includes consultations with external stakeholders, such as the business sector in the particular case of economic reforms. Sanja Filipović emphasized the pending task of increasing the independence of regulatory bodies in most sectors in the region.

Panelists:

Slavica Penev
Senior Research Fellow, Economics Institute, Belgrade

Sanja Filipović
Economics Institute, Belgrade

Aleksandar Damjanović
Chairman of the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget, Parliament of Montenegro

Admir Drago
Advisor, The Cabinet of the Prime Minister, Council of Ministers, Albania

Moderator:

Thomas Meyer
Head, Open Regional Fund for South East Europe - Legal Reform, GTZ