The need for regulatory cross-border territorial impact assessment: Challenges at the Ireland-Northern Ireland border
Posted On: 08 Jan 2020
North-South
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the urgent need for policy-makers, decision-makers and legislators to assess the impact of a proposed policy, regulation, strategy or law, for example, on their jurisdiction’s borders, and to assess how their implementation has affected the socio-economic conditions of citizens in a border region.
To undertake such an exercise is not necessarily a means of restricting or impeding the development of a particular policy, strategy or piece of legislation by focusing solely on its potentially negative impacts on a border region, but can instead become an instrument to maximise its benefits by identifying opportunities to make positive cross-border connections with policies, strategies or legislation in the neighbouring jurisdiction.
At a more basic level, assessing impact from this perspective will provide evidence as to whether a proposed policy or piece of legislation facilitates or inhibits the ability of those within a border region or within the wider jurisdiction to engage in cross-border or inter-jurisdictional cooperation. It is an essential element of evidence based policy-making.
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