07 May, 2024
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Timeline for publication of registered draft laws on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
Event
On April 12, 2024, member of Parliament Anatoliy Burmich submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU) the draft Law “On amendments to Article 92 of the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine regarding the term for publication of registered draft laws on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine” № 11167 (draft law).
According to part four of Article 92 of the Rules of Procedure of the VRU, all registered draft laws, drafts of other acts, and supporting documents are to be uploaded to the unified automated system and posted on the VRU website. However, as appropriately mentioned in the explanatory note to the draft law, the timeframe for posting registered draft laws on the VRU website is not defined. As such, “it is advisable to define such a deadline directly in the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in order to avoid delays in publishing registered draft laws on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine“. Moreover, “the legislative regulation of this issue will have a positive impact on the transparency, openness, and publicity of the work of the Parliament of Ukraine“.
The draft law contains only a single clause of Section I, which provides for amendments to part four of Article 92 of the Rules of Procedure of the VRU introducing a deadline for the publication of draft laws, drafts of other acts of the VRU, and supporting documents – which is within the next business day following the registration day.
The only clause contained in Section II of the Draft Law defines the time of entry into force by a future law – which is ten days following its official publication.
CPLR’s expert assessment
Presumably, the legislative definition of a reasonable term for publication of draft laws, drafts of other acts of the VRU, and supporting documents on the website of the VRU strengthens the principle of legal certainty, which is an integral element of the rule of law as set forth in part one of Article 8 of the Constitution of Ukraine. This, in turn, strengthens the guarantees of adherence of a person’s right to freely collect, store, use and disseminate information orally, in writing, or in any other way of his or her choice, as provided for in part two of Article 34 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
While generally supportive of the need to establish a deadline for publishing draft laws, drafts of other acts of the VRU, and supporting documents on parliament’s website, CPLR believes there are certain aspects of the draft law that need to be pointed out.
1. Since part five of Article 94 of the Constitution of Ukraine provides for only one pre-requisite for a law to become effective – its publication – it is proposed that Section II of the draft law provide for a different term for a future law to enter into force, which is the next day following its publication. This would ensure that a future law is brought to the public’s attention in the only manner acceptable according to the Constitution of Ukraine, which determines the temporal start of a law’s effect. At the same time, there is nothing prohibiting publication of a future law in parallel by any other means – e.g., via television, radio, parliament’s website, etc.
2. Considering the fact that both sections of the draft law contain only one paragraph, instead of two or more, it is advisable to remove the numbering of the single paragraph in each section.
Given the above, it is proposed to adopt the draft law in the first reading, with further consideration for the mentioned comments during finalization of the draft law and preparation for the second reading by the Parliament’s Committee on Rules of Procedure, Deputy Ethics, and Organization of the Activities of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
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