Evaluation framework

Evaluation in the Commission is based on the Financial Regulation and the Communication on Evaluation.

The Financial Regulation requires all programmes and activities involving significant spending to be evaluated both ex ante (before the event) and ex post (after the event). The requirements are set out in more detail in the Financial Regulation's implementing rules. The communication on evaluation [172 KB] requires all Commission activities addressed to external parties (e.g. spending programmes and legislation) to be periodically evaluated. The communication also includes a set of evaluation standards with requirements for:

• resources for and organisation of evaluation activities
• planning evaluation activities
• designing evaluations
• conducting evaluations
• disseminating and using evaluation results.

The Commission has a decentralised evaluation system with central coordination. Each Directorate-General (DG) has its own evaluation staff responsible for regularly evaluating its activities. The DGs are also responsible for ensuring that the conclusions and recommendations of evaluations are used to improve ongoing – and future – policy initiatives.

The Secretariat-General centrally coordinates the evaluation framework. It keeps an overview of evaluation findings from across the Commission and guides and supports evaluation activities carried out by the operational DGs.