Consumer Groups’ Capacity to Assess Potential Consumer Impacts of Policy Proposals

Organization

Consumers Council of Canada (CCC)

Published

2010

Summary

The "Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulations" (2007) has given rise to a new Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS) intended to incorporate, among other things, an assessment of the impact of proposed policies and regulations on consumers.

The resources, processes and standards necessary to ensure effective participation in such assessments by Canadian consumer organizations deserves attention to further develop the capacity, effectiveness and efficacy, and representativeness of consumer representation in Canadian regulatory assessment of consumer impacts.

Consumer organizations must be seen to be and actually be capable of participating in the specific impact analysis relevant to the impact assessment of the policy or regulatory change being addressed, including application of pertinent methodology; being capable of accessing the necessary expertise when not in-house; and being capable of consulting consumers on an impact issue in a professional manner.

The research upon which this report is based has been intended to address the following questions:
• How feasible is it for government agencies to use consumer organizations to assess potential consumer impacts of policy proposals?
• In particular, what is the capacity of consumer organizations to provide value-added assessments that will have credibility?

To prepare this report the following work was completed:
• Review of Canadian consumer groups
• Global and Canadian regulators contacted
• Available literature reviewed
• Consumer group questionnaire
• RIAS Defined
• Consumer Impacts Defined
• The Importance of Consumer Group Participation
• The Components of Consultation and Participation
• The Capacity of Global Consumer Groups
• Consumer Group Capacity in Canada
• Answering the Key Questions

Recommendations for Government:
• Consult Before Consulting
• Keep Requests Clear and Straightforward
• Never Conclude Non-participation Equals Absence of Concern
• Contribute to Consumer Groups' Capacity to Participate
• Improve Results by Starting with the Possible

Recommendations for Consumer Groups:
• Help Analysts Understand Specific Capacity to Participate
• Help Analysts Understand the Ingredients for Success
• Be Organized To Be Responsive
• Devote Some Capacity to Evaluation of Consultation Outcomes

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OCA Funded Research
This research received funding support through the Office of Consumer Affairs' Contributions Program.

Contact information

Source: Consumer Policy Research Database