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8
December
2025

Better legislation – Human rights impact assessments in lawmaking

This report examines how human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) are built into lawmaking across the EU and its Member States. It highlights that, although progress has been made, the use of HRIAs remains uneven and often superficial. In many EU countries, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is frequently overlooked. The report identifies insufficient consultation with external experts, limited stakeholder participation and a lack of evaluation once laws are in force. To address these gaps, it offers practical recommendations for more systematic, inclusive and evidence-based HRIAs that strengthen human rights protection and ensure better, more accountable legislation throughout the EU.

When lawmakers overlook human rights, there are consequences: laws or their implementation may interfere with people’s rights, eroding trust in public institutions, or be struck down by courts for violating rights that should never have been ignored in the first place.

Human rights impact assessments are not merely advisable; they are indispensable. They help us look ahead and understand how new laws might affect people before those laws are passed. They make governments more accountable and ensure decisions are fair and trustworthy. Alongside this, civil society and national human rights institutions play a key role in flagging potential human rights violations early in the legislative process.

Our report finds that, while some EU countries have good guidelines, in many countries, human rights remain an afterthought in impact assessment. Rarely do countries assess how laws have been implemented through a fundamental rights lens. Overlooking or ignoring the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights at the national level is counterintuitive as EU rules shape so much national law and practice. When EU law applies, so does the Charter. Therefore, ensuring laws comply with the Charter is not just good practice – it is efficient lawmaking.

Currently there are many calls for simplifying legislation and cutting ‘red tape’, but this should never come at the expense of rights. Taking a rights-based approach from the outset ensures people’s real experiences shape the rules. It also strengthens the rule of law, tying legislation to international treaties and the Charter.

Impact assessments are far more than a purely technical exercise. For FRA, they are a critical point in better lawmaking. It is about reinforcing trusted legal systems in the EU with people’s rights at the centre. At a time when trust in democratic institutions is under pressure, it is crucial that lawmakers and policymakers prove their laws are fair and inclusive.

Better lawmaking is not just about better process – it is about better lives. This is a principle that national legislators and the EU legislator alike must always remember.

Sirpa Rautio
Director