Adherence to good lawmaking principles is linked to the rule of law. To ensure the production of good legislation, provisions of the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament regulate individual issues related to the legislative process and set certain rules that must be followed when drafting and submitting a bill or an amendment for voting (see, inter alia, Articles 74, 75 of the Constitution, Articles 85, 87, 88 and 101 and in general Articles 84-123 and 160 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament).
Furthermore, law 4622/2019 regulates, through Articles 57 to 64, issues of legislative procedure and good legislation.
Based on these general rules and Article 59 paragraph 5 of law 4622/2019, the Manual of Legislative Drafting Methodology, issued in 2020, analyses and specifies the rules that must be observed in the framework of the legislative drafting process. This handbook provides, inter alia, instructions and directions regarding: the public consultation process (see, inter alia, p. 12-13, 67-68); amendments (see, inter alia, p. 4, 18, 63, 70-71, 77-78); the issue of repealed provisions (p. 16 and 35), and even the title of a bill (p. 18-19, 47).
On 24 December 2022 at 19:15, a bill entitled “Establishment of the National Agency for the Investigation of Air and Rail Accidents and Transport Safety” was put to public consultation by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
This draft consisted of 52 articles (Parts A-F), providing for the establishment of the National Agency for the Investigation of Air and Railway Accidents and Transport Safety and regulating, inter alia, issues relating to the establishment, operation and competences of this Agency. The consultation period was set to close on 6 January 2023 at 19:00, 13 days later.
Article 61 of Law No. 4622/2019 establishes a time period of two weeks for bills to be available for public consultation. This time period may be shortened in exceptional circumstances, with one week as the minimum permissible time period for the public consultation process, though any shortening of the two week consultation period requires justification.
In this case however, the report on the public consultation has not been posted on the opengov.gr website (as also required by law), and furthermore no reference was made to any justification for the curtailed consultation period in the regulatory impact analysis accompanying the bill during the consultation nor in the regulatory impact analysis accompanying the draft law during its introduction into Parliament.
On 10 January 2023, the bill, still consisting of 52 articles but now entitled “Institutional framework for the investigation of air and rail accidents and transport safety”, was submitted to the Parliament for adoption.
On 18 January 2023, three amendments were submitted to the bill at 20:55, (1553/48/18-1-2023), 21.10 (1554/49/18-1-2023 ) and 21.54 (1555/50/18-1-2023). These amendments regulated a wide range of issues including issues related to the Public and Private Works Registers, licenses for radio and TV services and staffing and evaluations in the public education system.
As such, all three of these amendments: a) were tabled the night before the law was passed and therefore after the deadline for submitting amendments had already expired and b) contained provisions that were in no way related to the main subject of the law that was introduced for adoption, both of which violate the rules of good legislation.
On January 18, 2023, the Standing Committee on Production and Trade prepared a report to the Hellenic Parliament proposing the acceptance, by majority vote, of the draft law, in principle, article by article and in its entirety. On 19 January 2023, the draft law was debated and Law 5014/2023 was passed, now entitled “Institutional framework for the investigation of air and rail accidents for transport safety and other provisions” and consisting of 61 articles.
In a state governed by the rule of law, the Government and the Parliament must, in the process of preparing and passing legislation, follow the principles of good lawmaking and apply the rules established to promote and ensure it. This is because good lawmaking is linked to the constitutional principles of transparency and legal certainty, and the application of its rules and principles seek to avoid the phenomena of maladministration and omnibus legislation, which are inconsistent with the principles of the rule of law.
In Greece, however, the violation of these rules of good lawmaking appears to be a long-standing and systematic problem, as highlighted by the legislative journey of Law 5014/2023.
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