Study On The Cost And Benefit Analysis System Of Legislation In Canada

Cost and benefit analysis of legislation is able to realize an comprehensive, objective, systemic and consistent evaluation on different proposals by introducing variable indexes based on cost and benefit, which helps legislation become process of scientific comparison and informed decision-making in large measure. As a result, it spread along with the history of regulatory reform and governance and evolved progressively as the core issue and trends of systematic regulatory impact analysis in western nations since last half of 20th century. Because of the sustainable promotion by OECD, The study on cost and benefit analysis of legislation become a global tide.As one of the typical countries which implemented regulatory reform strategies successfully, Canada has accumulated rich experience during its exploration on institutional construction of cost and benefit analysis of legislation. According to Outline for Promoting Law-based Administration in an All-round Way released by China’s State Council, the consideration of cost and benefit has become a basic requirement in the legislative process. Apparently, Canada’s experience can be uesd for reference for the initial exploration in China in several respects.The establishment and development of the cost and benefit analysis system of legislation in Canada has its profound historical background. Jurisprudence of economic analysis provided solid theoretical basis as well as mathematical analytical tools. Meanwhile, cost and benefit analysis was gradually becoming a significant choices for scientific regulatory management mechanism. Mainly three stages are involved in the development of the cost and benefit analysis system of legislation in Canada:the early stage of exploration, the stage of preliminary establishment and the stage of improving development which now is still in process.The first question about institutional construction of cost and benefit analysis system of legislation concerns subjects, objects and contents. In the setting of subjects, Canada realized balanced distribution of responsibilities between implementation of assessment and oversight. Such a thoughtful arrangement not only help departments and agencies which submit proposals have a strong sense of responsibility and initiative, but also emphasize dual role of supervisor and mentor played by Regulatory Affairs Department. On scope and standard of application, Canada defines delegated legislation as the boundaries of application in general. In the actual operation, an integrated threshold test will be adopted as a standard. In terms of contents of analysis, there are a sophisticated indexes system of cost and benefit which will be more than the goals of legislation.The basic operating procedure of cost and benefit analysis of legislation in Canada shows logic of abduction, which consists of identification of issues, setting of legislative objectives, development of alternative legislative options and assessment of costs and benefits. In fact, the connection logical chain describes the necessity of legislation, the feasibility of legislation, the selectivity of legislation and the effectiveness of legislation. In addition, the consideration of baseline, the open and diversified perspective in the selection of alternatives as well as the integration of wholeness perspective and stakeholder perspective are considerably instructive.The methodological system of the cost and benefit analysis of legislation in Canada consists of basic assessment methods and subservience technical measures. In terms of the basic assessment methods, the comprehensive application of cost-benefit analysis, cost-effective analysis as well as cost-utility analysis shapes the path from monetization to quantification, and then qualitative analysis. In terms of the ues of subservience technical measures, Canadians take advantage of revealed-preference methods, stated-reference methods and benefit-transfer methods to monetize various non-market factors. The uncertain problems that is inevitable in analysis are solved by using sensitivity analysis.The most significant experience and enlightenment of the cost and benefit analysis system of legislaion in Canada mainly embodied in the following aspects: First, the combination of cost and benefit analysis and public consultation facilitates not only the scientificity of legislation but also the democratic of legislation. Second, cost and benefit analysis is integrated into legislative process completely, which makes it an optimal selection of proposals. Third, as a top-down reform of legislation system, cost and benefit analysis of legislaion obtains persistent political support and improves constantly by means of capacity building, international experience learning, theoretical researching and method improving.Since Outline for Promoting Law-based Administration in an All-round Way released by China’s State Council, the explorations at different levels about cost and benefit analysis system of legislaion in China have made little progress. It seems that both officials and academics should make further research on the issue. It definitely needs a gradual improving step by step considering the complexity of cost and benefit analysis of legislaion. It is primary task to form clear and accurate cognition through the study on the experiences of other countries. It is also the reason to study carefully and thorough on the cost and benefit analysis system of legislation in Canada.