Minister of Legal Affairs Yousef Khalaf said that the government has an integrated methodology regarding the legislation it adopts according to scientific foundations, studied methodologies, and approved mechanisms included in the government’s legislative orientations document.
He pointed out that this methodology is planned on an annual basis according to an annual legislative plan approved by the Council of Ministers at the beginning of each year, and the process of studying and preparing legislation takes place according to a precise mechanism from the time it is presented as an idea until it is finalized in its final legal form.
In his response to Shura Council member Ijlal Bubshait, he stated that, based on the leadership’s keenness to improve the Kingdom’s legislative structure, the Council of Ministers, headed by the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, established integrated mechanisms and clear methodologies for studying government legislation to ensure that those concerned The government, each according to its competence, studies legislation in accordance with the best practices applied internationally and in a manner consistent with the constitutional and legal requirements and procedures in the Kingdom. The Council of Ministers adopted a document containing the government’s legislative directions aiming to build on the pioneering legislative renaissance achieved during the prosperous era of the country’s great king, His Majesty King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, and outlines the principles and frameworks that regulate the preparation of legislation that the government is working on.
He pointed out that the legislative orientations document included a number of principles and foundations, including that legislation should be the result of integrated technical and legal studies that take into account benefiting from the best comparative experiences, identifying the financial effects resulting from the legislation and the resources necessary for its implementation, and the material and non-material effects that will result from its adoption, whether on the ground. The government or those to whom its provisions are addressed, avoiding legislative inflation and taking into account consistency between legislation, taking care to study finding alternatives and solutions to address issues and challenges through other than the legislative path, strengthening the approach of conducting consultations with all concerned parties, especially the private sector and civil society institutions, and ensuring readiness to issue decisions and executive regulations. Without delay, in addition to determining the goals expected to be achieved from the legislation and determining key performance indicators on the basis of which the impact of the legislation will be evaluated and the extent to which it achieves those goals or not will be determined.”
He pointed out that with the aim of setting a vision for the legislation that government agencies intend to implement during each year, clarifying its nature, importance and impact, and verifying its consistency with the government’s legislative directions and linking it to the government program and the budget law, and in order to ensure the integration and harmony of legislative work among all government agencies, the Council of Ministers has approved the preparation of an annual legislative plan. To the government.
He stated that the annual legislative plan includes the legislative requirements submitted by government agencies and is working to complete work on them during that year, in order to enhance the adoption of the initiative method rather than the reactionary method in adopting legislation, and to enable the government to set priorities and divide legislative work according to the importance of legislation. proposed, and integrating legislative work by knowing the legislative needs of all government agencies for a full year in advance, ensuring coordination and consultation between them, preventing overlap and repetition in legislation, and managing time in an optimal way through advance knowledge of the legislative requirements for the coming year, which enables the allocation of appropriate time and resources for each piece of legislation and its study. Careful, sober study, in order to raise the quality of legislation, be able to develop steps for preparing and studying legislation in a more systematic manner, give appropriate time to improve legislative drafting, and ensure that each government agency makes all the necessary decisions to implement the laws it is entrusted with implementing within the annual legislative plan, which contributes to Integration of legislation on the one hand and speed of issuing regulations and executive decisions without delay on the other hand.”
He stated that all government agencies periodically evaluate the legislation that falls within its jurisdiction to determine the extent to which it achieves its desired goals and propose the necessary amendments to it if necessary in order to address any gaps that prevent the legislation from arranging its desired effects.
He said that among the requirements that the government entity proposing legislation must specify during the period of studying and preparing the legislation is a statement regarding “indicators for measuring the implementation of the proposed draft legislation and evaluating its effects after its issuance” according to key performance indicators (Key Performance Indicators), in order for the entity to be Those who submitted the draft legislation are able, after completing the constitutional and legal procedures for issuing it, to evaluate its effects and determine the extent of its success in achieving the goals sought by issuing it or not.
He pointed out that the party submitting the draft legislation is committed, during its preparation and study stage, to developing indicators to measure its impact, and then evaluates its effects after implementing it, as it is naturally more capable from a technical and administrative standpoint to conduct that evaluation.
He continued, “The evaluation process is carried out according to scientific foundations, taking into account that the legislation is studied after a sufficient period of time has passed from its entry into force, and that those concerned with its implementation and those affected by its provisions are given the appropriate opportunity to observe, review, study, and then evaluate.”
He stated that the government is keeping pace with international best practices in measuring the Regulatory Impact Assessment of legislation, as it follows the approach of many countries and international organizations, including, for example, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, China, New Zealand, and the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD). The government drew from its experiences and the evidence developed by it in adopting the principles of measuring the impact of legislation that are adhered to when conducting the evaluation process.
He noted the government’s keenness to include provisions in many legislation regarding the obligation to conduct consultations regarding any amendments that may be made to them or to the decisions issued in implementation of their provisions, in order to give those concerned, those addressed by its provisions, and the relevant authorities and sectors the opportunity to express their point of view and opinions regarding it.
He pointed out that the government holds consultations and gives relevant parties the opportunity to express their opinion on legislation whenever possible, including legislation that does not legally require consultations on it, which contributes to determining the impact of the legislation and evaluating the extent of its success in achieving the desired goals.
He pointed out that the principles and mechanisms outlined with regard to the indicators for measuring the evaluation of the effects of legislation when studying and preparing them are limited to the legislation proposed by the government, without the proposals for laws proposed by the Shura Council and the House of Representatives, the study of which is subject to the constitutional and legal procedures of each of the two chambers in a manner consistent with the independence of the legislative authority in accordance with the provisions of Article (32). ) of the Constitution.
He added, “The government, through the government agency concerned with implementing the provisions of legislation, is studying and evaluating the impact of all legislation, whether issued based on a proposal from the Shura Council, the House of Representatives, or the government, in accordance with the aforementioned foundations and principles.”
He pointed out that the government has a clear and specific methodology to measure the impact of the legislation issued in the Kingdom to determine the extent to which it achieves the objectives sought by its issuance. This methodology begins from the time the legislation is proposed in relation to government legislation, by having the government agency that proposed the legislation upon its submission develop measurement indicators to evaluate its effects. .
He said that the government adopts international standards and best practices to measure the impact of legislation, as it was guided by the evidence adopted by many countries and international organizations to evaluate the regulatory impact of legislation (Regulatory Impact Assessment), and each government agency studies the impact of legislation within its jurisdiction in coordination with the relevant authorities from the two sectors. Public and private according to the principles adopted by the government. If that study results in the need to make amendments to the legislation, it will be studied in accordance with the established procedures.
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