A baseline study is an analysis of the current situation to identify the starting points for a programme or project. It looks at what information must be considered and analyzed to establish a baseline or starting point, the benchmark against which future progress can be assessed or comparisons made.
An example is the REACH baseline study, a tool to monitor the new European Union policy on chemicals “Registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals”. A first “snapshot” has been taken of the situation before REACH came into force (“Pre-REACH-Baseline”); further snapshots later on will make it possible to monitor and assess the success of the Reach legislation.