Evaluation in the European Commission : rolling check-list and state of play : fifth edition

Ex-post evaluation provides an evidence-based assessment of the performance of policies and legislation. Its findings support political decision-making and inform the design of new initiatives in the policy cycle, notably legislative revisions. On this account, evaluation has become a key policymaking tool under the EU's better regulation agenda. The European Parliament has a keen interest in obtaining a complete picture of the Commission's evaluation planning and in receiving evaluation results in a timely manner, as they support the Parliament in its legislative work and in its oversight function. This fifth edition of the EPRS rolling check-list 'Evaluation in the European Commission' offers a comprehensive overview of planned, ongoing and recently completed Commission evaluations. Compiled from a range of sources in the public domain, it seeks to fill a gap by providing a single point of access to the Commission's evaluation planning and output, as of 10 October 2023. The dataset is preceded by an analysis of ex-post evaluation under the better regulation agenda. Particular emphasis is placed on the transparency of the European Commission's evaluation process and output, measured against the commitments set out in the 2016 Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making and the Commission's own Better Regulation Guidelines and toolbox. New to this edition is a section on how the European Parliament uses the Commission's evaluations.