Why is “Evaluate first” a key principle?

Before any changes to existing policies are considered, they should be evaluated objectively, so that the lessons learned from previous actions are taken into account.

When creating legislation at Union level, the EC has adopted the “Evaluate first!” principle as a guiding one. It means that before any changes to existing policies and legislation are considered, they should be evaluated objectively – through ex-post impact assessments or fitness checks. The purpose of the “Evaluate first!” principle is to ensure that new policy decisions take sufficient account of the lessons learned from previous similar decisions and actions.

“Evaluate first” means that:

• ex-post evaluation actions should be carried out before the ex-ante IA begins;
• the results of the ex-post evaluation should be available so that they can be fed into the decision-making cycle, supporting the initiatives for change.

Ex-post evaluation is also a means of organisational learning. The results of the evaluation can be used to improve the quality of the existing framework. It should not only identify areas for improvement but also encourage the sharing of good or bad practices and achievements.