The Motor Fuel Price (Open Data) Regulations 2025: impact assessment - RPC opinion (green-rated)
Regulatory Policy Committee opinion of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s impact assessment (IA) in respect of the regulations.
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The regulations propose implementation of a statutory open data scheme that will mandate participation of all UK petrol filling stations to provide ‘real-time’ fuel price data, with the aim of improving competition and reducing fuel prices for consumers.
The IA states that statutory open data scheme is a non-qualifying provision, where the administrative exclusion applies as the equivalent annual net direct cost to business (EANDCB) of the provision is below the better regulation framework’s de minimis threshold. The Department, nevertheless, voluntarily submitted the IA to be scrutinised by the RPC because, having considered the size of possible indirect impacts to business and consumers, it felt that independent scrutiny of the quality of the scheme’s assessment, and the robustness of the EANDCB estimate, would be worthwhile. The uprated EANDCB figure of £5.1 million uses a combination of the annual direct costs to business of the scheme, and administrative and familiarisation costs.
The RPC considers that the IA establishes a reasonable, evidence-based, rationale for intervention, and the Department has identified and monetised the direct impacts on business correctly for the EANDCB figure and detailed the indirect transfer from business to consumers. The IA provides a sufficient small and micro-business assessment for proposals falling below the de minimis threshold. The RPC finds the IA to be fit for purpose (green-rated) but that it would, however, benefit from further justification to support some of the key assumptions.