REPORTS
Unjustified shortening of the legislative public consultation period by the Ministry of Environment and Energy – February 2023.
According to Article 61, paragraphs 2, 3 & 4 of law 4622/2019, (Government Gazette A ‘133 / 07.08.2019), public consultation on legislative bills is to be conducted through the website opengov.gr and should last for two weeks, which only exceptionally can be shortened to one week for sufficiently substantiated reasons, which should be mentioned in the public consultation report. This report is prepared at the end of the consultation period and presents the comments and suggestions of those who participated in the consultation and documents whether or not they were incorporated into the final provisions.
The report forms part of the final Regulatory Impact Analysis, which is also posted on the public consultation website.
As the Handbook on Legislative Methodology states, public consultation “is not just a necessary formal procedure, but an essential stage of the legislative process,” which serves the principles of good lawmaking, including democratic legitimacy and transparency (see pp. 13-14). Any shortening of the consultation period takes place “only in absolutely exceptional cases and for sufficiently documented reasons” (see p. 68).
At 21:10 on 15-02-2023 the Ministry of Environment and Energy posted a bill on the opengov.gr website for public consultation entitled, “Modernisation of legislation on the use and production of electricity from renewable sources – Incorporation of EU Directives 2018/2001 and 2019/944”. The consultation was set to close at 16:00 on 27-02-2023, i.e. 12 days later.
We note that: a) the regulatory impact analysis accompanying the draft law during the consultation did not mention a reason for shortening the consultation, b) the consultation report has not been posted on the opengov.gr website, c) the provisions of the bill under review were introduced for adoption and passed as Section B of Law No. 5037/2023, d)on page 58 of the regulatory impact analysis accompanying the draft law, when it was introduced for enactment, it was stated that most of the comments received related to the extension of the consultation period. This, however, it was explained, was not possible given the demand for the timely transposition of the EU Directives. We contend though, that this cannot automatically be considered a ‘sufficiently substantiated reason’ or an ‘absolutely exceptional case’.
We also note that the European Commission has launched a formal infringement procedure against Greece over the transposition of Directives (EU)2019/944 and (EU)2018/2001 [see INFR(2021)0037 and INFR(2021)0209].
Good legislation is a constitutional objective and is linked to the principle of the rule of law.
Law 4622/2019 (articles 57 et seq.) includes rules related to the law-making process and good law-making, which are also set out in the Legislative Methodology Manual. The public consultation period lasts 2 weeks and any shortening of the said consultation period should only take place in absolutely exceptional cases and for sufficiently substantiated reasons.
In this particular case, however, the Ministry of Environment and Energy determined that the consultation period for this bill would only be 12 days, without giving any justification or reason why.
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