Better Regulation for Better Health

这个项目是关于政策制定者如何在保护健康和通过减轻企业负担来鼓励经济增长之间取得平衡。各国政府通过一套称为更好监管(BR)的机制来解决这一平衡问题。该项目询问BR是否正在破坏欧盟和英国的卫生法规，以及对此可以做些什么。大多数欧洲政府都有BR计划，试图减少其立法的数量和负担，许多政府面临公民社会组织(CSO)的反对，担心这可能威胁到健康保护。该项目的第一部分将重点放在欧盟，有证据表明，大型烟草公司等企业利益集团在更好的监管议程(BRA)的设计中发挥了作用，并预计这将有助于它们削弱反吸烟规则。BRA适用于所有欧盟政策，因此不平衡进程的潜在损害是巨大的。然而，有一些事情是不确定的：-问题的严重程度--胸罩对健康到底有什么影响(积极的还是消极的)？-为什么会发生--胸罩的哪个部位导致了问题？所使用的科学证据有问题吗？或者涉及的参与者有问题吗？--这与要求放松监管并迫使大企业参与的更广泛的压力有什么关系？该项目的第一阶段试图回答这些问题，并在这样做的过程中改变胸罩的工作方式。它将重点放在一个特定的要素上--一个被称为改装(Regulatory Fitness)的过程，在这个过程中，对现有的法律进行审查，以确保它们不会给企业带来不必要的负担。它将使用四个案例研究；欧盟选择使用REFIT来改进的法律条款。民间社会组织将帮助选择其中的三个，但第四个将是对空气质量指令的重新审查。以此为例，本项目将：1.制定分析框架。我们如何知道空气质量规则是否已被削弱？我们如何衡量这一点？2.构建数据集。我们将收集空气质量法审查过程中的所有文件，采访相关关键人员，并绘制过程地图。3.对数据进行分析。利用我们的分析框架，我们将评估审查是加强还是削弱了卫生目标，这是如何发生的，以及这与更广泛的政策模式有何关系。建设能力和分享知识。在整个项目中，我们将培训对空气质量和健康感兴趣的公民社会组织，分享我们所学到的知识，并推动胸罩的变革。在该项目的第二阶段，这些步骤将在英国复制，看看英国的BR计划。这将涉及在英国与欧盟的联系继续发展之际，就英国迅速变化的监管框架展开辩论。到项目结束时，我们将(A)了解BR如何影响健康，(B)建立CSO参与未来审查的能力，以及(C)建立一个致力于改善欧盟、英国和其他地区健康监管的行动者网络。为了确保该项目接触到合适的受众，在欧盟(欧洲公共卫生联盟)和英国(新经济基金会)拥有BR经验的两个组织将密切参与。他们广泛的民间社会组织和政策制定者网络将有助于该项目接触到广泛的演员受众，这些演员可以塑造BR的工作方式和实现的目标。这一改变是迫切需要的；改善法律和政策并不是一个新想法，但在经济危机之后，各国政府重新努力简化监管并减少繁文缛节。此外，随着英国适应与欧盟不断变化的关系，它采用的BR形式将影响英国公共政策的健康。该项目提供了工具，以确保此类改革旨在加强卫生政策，而不是破坏卫生政策。

This project is about how policy-makers balance the protection of health with the need to encourage economic growth by reducing burden on businesses. Governments address this balance through a set of mechanisms known as Better Regulation (BR). The project asks whether BR is undermining health regulation in the EU and the UK and what can be done about this. Most European governments have BR programmes which try to reduce the volume and burden of their legislation, and many face opposition for civil society organisations (CSOs), concerned that this might threaten health protection. The first part of the project focuses on the EU, where there is evidence that corporate interests, such as big tobacco companies, had a role in the design of the Better Regulation Agenda (BRA) and anticipated that it would help them to weaken anti-smoking rules. The BRA applies to all EU policies so the potential damage of an unbalanced process is significant. However, a number of things are not known for certain:- The extent of the problem - exactly what impact (positive or negative) on health is being seen as a result of the BRA?- Why it is happening - what part of the BRA is causing the problem? Is there an issue with the kind of scientific evidence used, or the actors involved, perhaps?- How is this related to broader pressures to deregulate and oblige big business?The first stage of the project seeks to answer these questions and, in doing so, to change the way in which the BRA works. It focuses on a particular element - a process known as REFIT (Regulatory Fitness), in which existing laws are reviewed to make sure that they do not present an undue burden for business. It will use four case studies; pieces of law which the EU has chosen to improve using REFIT. CSOs will help to choose three of these but the fourth will be the REFIT review of the Air Quality Directives. Taking these as an example, the project will:1. Develop the analytical framework. How will we know if the air quality rules have been weakened? How can we measure this? 2. Build the dataset. We will gather all documents from the review of air quality law, interview key people involved and construct a map of how the process worked. 3. Analyse the data. Using our analytical framework, we will assess whether the review has strengthened or undermined health objectives, how this has happened, and how this relates to broader policy patterns.4. Build capacity and share knowledge. Throughout the project, we will train CSOs interested in air quality and health, share what we have learned, and promote change in the BRA. In the second phase of the project, these steps are replicated at the UK level, looking at the UK's BR programme. This will involve engaging in debates about the UK's rapidly changing regulatory framework as its links with the EU continue to evolve. By the end of the project we will (a) know how BR has affected health, (b) have built CSO capacity for involvement in future reviews, and (c) have established a network of actors working for the improvement of health regulation in the EU, UK and beyond. To be sure that the project reaches the right audiences, two organisations with experience in BR in the EU (the European Public Health Alliance) and the UK (New Economics Foundation) will be closely involved. Their extensive network of CSOs and policy-makers will help the project to reach a wide audience of actors who can shape the way in which BR works and what it achieves. This change is urgently needed; improving laws and policies is not a new idea but, in the aftermath of the economic crisis, governments have renewed their efforts to simplify regulation and cut red tape. Moreover, as the UK adapts its changing relationship with the EU, the form of BR that it adopts will impact upon the 'health' of UK public policies. This project provides the tools to ensure that such reforms are designed to strengthen health policy, not undermine it.