Regulatory governance, legality, and economic efficiency in Brazil: a content analysis of regulatory impact assessment
Keywords:
public policy, regulatory impact assessment, Law and Economics, regulatory governance, content analysisAbstract
The institutionalization of Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) changed federal rulemaking in Brazil by requiring relevant regulatory decisions to be preceded by a systematic examination of their likely effects. This article investigates how the Brazilian RIA framework, consolidated between 2019 and 2025, connects administrative legality, economic rationality, stakeholder engagement, and regulatory quality control. A qualitative, documentary, exploratory-descriptive design was adopted, using Bardin’s Content Analysis on eight normative, technical, and evaluative documents: Laws No. 13,848/2019 and No. 13,874/2019; Decree No. 10,411/2020; the 2021 Brazilian RIA Guide; the OECD’s 2022 review of regulatory reform in Brazil; a 2022 empirical study on the quality of RIAs produced by federal regulatory agencies; the 2024 Ipea assessment of 146 federal regulatory bodies; and the OECD Regulatory Policy Outlook 2025. Thematic units were coded into seven categories: economic rationality; legal-procedural institutionalization; evidence and methodology; stakeholder engagement; transparency; waivers and proportionality; and monitoring and ex post evaluation. Results show strong discursive convergence around mandatory procedures, transparency, and economic justification, but also a gap between normative density and administrative capacity. Weaknesses remain in comparing alternatives, measuring impacts, explaining waivers, coordinating across government, and using analytical findings in final decisions. The article concludes that Brazil already has a sufficiently developed legal foundation for RIA, while its effectiveness now depends on independent oversight, professional analytical capacity, timely participation, and integration between ex ante assessment and ex post evaluation.
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