Practical tools of Dutch legislative drafters

Jan A.B. JanusJakarta 4-7 July 2011

Developments 1954 - 2011

• It started in 1954 with the first edition of a rather modes set of Directives on Legislative Technique issued by the Minister-President.

……and in 2011, almost sixty years later

There is – digital – toolkit for the legislative lawyer filled with all kinds of – digital and interactive – tools.

The core tools

• The Integrated Assessment Framework• The Directives on Legislation• The Scenario for Legislation• The Manual Legislation and Europe

At present, all these tool are digital and to be consulted and used via internet

The Directives on Legislation

• Issued by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands in 1992

• Amended 9 times, the last time in 2011• A working group under the leadership of the

Ministry of Security and Justice continuously works to update them

• Now: 8 chapters with in total 345 instructions

The contents of the directives on Legislation

Three categories of Instructions:1. Instructions about the character and contents of

legislation2. Instructions regarding legislative technique3. Instructions regarding legislative procedures

The Scenario for Legislation

The Scenario gives a systematic explanation of the procedures as regards the realisation of the various categories of legislation, i.c. the Acts of Parliament, orders in council, ministerial regulations and treaties

It contains also the various standard letters and forms to be usedatthe different stages of the process

The Manual Legislation and Europe

This manual is a tool for the legislative lawyers as regards

• The preparation and realisation of EU legislation, and

• The national implementation of EU legislation

The Integrated Assessment Framework (1)

The Integrated Assessment Framework for policy and legislation is a analytical working method as well as a source of information for the preparation and justification of policy and legislative proposals. It is to be used by policy officials and legislative lawyers of the ministries when preparing policy and legislative proposals.

The Integrated Assessment Framework (2)

• It is a digital system, accessed via the Internet, which on the basis of seven key questions includes all relevant quality aspects possibly important for the preparation of a policy or legislative proposal.

• Recently the Government has decided that this assessment framework must be applied structurally in the preparation of policy and legislative proposals.

The Integrated Assessment Framework (3)

• Analysis of the problem1. What is the reason?2. Who are involved3. What is the problem?4. What is the purpose?5. What justifies government intervention?

• Choice of the instrument6. Which is the best instrument

• Assessment of the consequences7. Which are the consequences for citizens, enterprises, government and the environment?

Other tools and services

Besides the four core tools, other tools and – interactive - services exist, which are provided on the website of the Expertise Centre for Legislation

The Expertise Centre for Legislation

• The Centre was established in 2000 and is part of the LegislationDirectorate of the Ministry of Security and Justice.

• The Centre serves as a expertise centrefor all legislativelawyerswhoworkfor the Central Governement and the Council of State.

• Its website is of vitalimportancebecausethis website provides access to the toolkit and all other services for the legislativelawyers.

Further developments

• The Clearing House for Legislative Evaluation- a research project that collects knowledge about the operation of individual laws

Legis- a programme that aims at improving the quality of legislation and the legislative process through cooperation, standarisation and the proper use of digital resources.