ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to explain the systematic elements of an evaluation, and to make transparent those elements where judgments are crucial. Evaluation is the systematic assessment of all a regulatory policy and regime with the view to making recommendations for future action. Evaluation is an essential element of good policy and regulatory practice. Evaluations can vary from the technical and quantitative to the descriptive and qualitative; and from preliminary 'evaluability' assessments through to intensive 'scientific' evaluations. The primary purpose of an evaluation is to determine whether to continue, modify or terminate the regulatory policy being evaluated. Evaluations enable us to assess and understand the broader value of the regulatory policy and regime being evaluated, and to develop learnings to improve its performance and the performance of other like policies and regimes. The chapter concludes with some observations about the manner with which evaluations impact decisions with respect to the continuation or termination of the regulatory endeavour.
