A strategic study presented during the sessions of the Riyadh Economic Forum 2026 recommended establishing an independent national center tasked with assessing the economic, social, and environmental impact of legislation and public policies. The center would oversee evaluation processes across various government entities, work to unify methodologies, and improve coordination among them, according to what "Arab News" reported from the session hosted by the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center.
The session addressed the findings of a study on measuring the impact of legislation and public policies, presented by Najla Abdulrahman Al-Huqail, a legal advisor. She revealed fundamental gaps in specialized evaluation capabilities, institutional coordination, data quality, and the methodologies adopted for measuring the impact of legislation, in addition to overlapping responsibilities among government entities and difficulties in obtaining the data needed for exchange and for evaluating policies from multiple angles.
The study was based on field research that included 312 questionnaires completed by members of the public, 76 responses from experts and decision-makers, and six in-depth interviews with representatives of relevant entities and ministries. The results showed variation in the development of evaluation practices among government entities, while the factor related to political will was among the least severe gaps, with the study noting the leadership's commitment to initiatives that benefit individuals and society.
Al-Huqail said that evaluating any legislation or public policy today requires looking at it from different dimensions rather than a single one, explaining that effective evaluation requires information from multiple entities and disciplines. This prompted the study to favor a hybrid model combining a central authority responsible for comprehensive oversight with specialized units within ministries, authorities, and other government entities, such that the central body sets standards, coordinates efforts, and reviews the quality of evaluations, while sectoral units handle the evaluation of policies and regulations within their scope of responsibility.
The recommendations were based on international comparisons that included the United Kingdom, the United States, South Korea, New Zealand, and Canada, which showed similarities in adopting unified evaluation models, clear methodological guidelines, and dedicated institutions to oversee regulatory impact assessment, known by the abbreviation RIA. The study emphasized the importance of adopting a unified national framework supported by clear technical evidence, initiating the evaluation process before the law or policy is approved and continuing it after implementation, involving directly or indirectly affected entities and stakeholders, along with shared indicators for measuring regulatory quality and administrative burdens, baseline data, and measurable objectives.
The study stressed that the goal should be to measure whether legislation and public policies achieve their intended outcomes, not merely to inventory activities or collect statistics, while distinguishing between the impact of the law or policy and external factors that may affect the outcomes themselves, and developing specialized human capabilities and leveraging digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, to analyze big data with higher efficiency. In a contribution during the event, Abdullah Shuwaish Al-Duwaihi, an assistant professor at King Abdulaziz University, said that effective evaluation of the impact of legislation begins with precisely defining the problem that the policy aims to address, because poorly defining the problem may lead to inappropriate alternatives.