One of the most important elements for the purposes of better governing and decision making in the governance system in Georgia, was the implementation of the reform on regulatory impact assessment (RIA) mechanism. The regulatory impact assessment as the research and scientific method was introduced in Georgia several years ago. Finally, based on the 2020 January 17 Ordinance N35, it became mandatory for the Government of Georgia to conduct regulatory impact assessments regarding particular draft laws according to the stipulated methodology before introducing them to the parliament.  

Apparently, the scope of the abovementioned reform was not fully analyzed by its authors. Particularly, in the governance system, which for the last 30 years, is based on the one-man governed executive branch of the government, the element of inclusiveness was created which demands evidence-based policy in making decisions. Specifically, according to the reform, the decision of the government should be based on its positive and negative aspects (costs and benefits). Moreover, in decision-making, local and international context of policy analysis should be studied, the positions of the stakeholders should be taken into account; furthermore, the policy alternatives should be developed and the selection should be made based on their evaluation.

The aim of the project team is, on the one hand, to examine the process of implementing regulatory impact assessment in Georgia, and, on the other hand, to define the success or failure of regulatory impact assessment reform in terms of the quality of good governance in Georgia. More specifically, despite the binding nature of this reform, it is currently difficult to ascertain to what extent regulatory impact assessments were able to act as an effective governance mechanism. Therefore, on the one hand, it is necessary to determine the quality of such documents, and, on the other hand, to examine whether after the creation of regulatory impact assessment documents, do the relevant government and / or legislative institutions use the document in decision-making process.