Dear all,
during the discussions concerning a possible statement by the IGC on the "nature of the Internet" someone - I think it was Milton - underlined the need to have a clear "problem definition" and to assess the impact of different policy options. I also noted that others - I think it was Mawaki - pointed out that this is rather high bar for an "advocacy" statement.
I take absolutely no position on the need for analysis / assessment before the IGC makes a statement on this, or other topics. The decision to issue a statement as the IGC is of course fully the responsibility of IGC members, which I'm not.
However, this particular exchange led me to a broader consideration. As you might know, the European Commission (similarly to other governments / public authorities) has a formal obligation to conduct an "impact assessment" before proposing new initiatives. In reality, there are some subtleties - not all "initiatives" require it - but the key concept remains.
You can find further information on the European Commission's approach to impact assessments at
http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/index_en.htm. If you are interesed and have plenty of time at your disposal, you might also be interested in two recent papers analysing how well (or not :) the EC has performed in this particular area (G. Lucchetta, "Impact Assessment and the Policy Cycle in the EU", 2013,
http://www.ceps.eu/book/impact-assessment-and-policy-cycle-eu; O. Fritsch, C. Radaelli, L. Schrefler, A. Renda, "Regulatory Quality in the European Commission and the UK: Old questions and new findings", 2012,
http://www.ceps.eu/book/regulatory-quality-european-commission-and-uk-old-questions-and-new-findings).
When conducting impact assessments, there are certain agreed procedures which are rather generic or "horizontal", i.e. applying to different policy areas; but there are also add-on procedures and methodologies that are used when tackling more specific policy areas / impacts. To continue with the example of the European Commission Impact Assessment procedures, which are the ones I know best, specific guidelines / methodologies to assess the impact on SMEs, administrative simplification and fundamental rights have been introduced throughout the years.
I wonder whether there is a need to introduce specific guidelines / methodologies to assess the impact of Internet-related policies (which I define on the fly as "policies (including regulation, soft law, research activities) which either impact on, or are impacted by, the Internet). Questions that come to my mind:
- is the Internet an important enough phenomenon / infrastructure to justify having specific methodologies to assess the impact of policies on it, and its impact on policies?