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process (see, inter alia, p. 12-13, 67-68); amendments (see, inter alia, p. 4, 18, 63, 70-71, 77-78); the issue of repealed provisions (p. 16 and 35), and even the title of a bill (p. 18-19, 47).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 4 August 2023, the Ministry of Economy and Finance submitted a bill for public consultation entitled “Transposition of Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 of 22 March 2021 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation and other provisions on tax procedure”. This draft consisted of 30 articles, with Chapter B (Articles 3-25) relating to the transposition of Directive (EU) 2021/514 and Chapter C (Articles 26-29) containing provisions to strengthen tax controls.
Despite the requirements of Article 61 of Law No. 4622/2019, the report on the public consultation has not been posted on the opengov.gr website.
On 25 August 2023, the bill was submitted to the Parliament for adoption, having the title “Transposition of Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 of 22 March 2021 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation and other provisions on tax procedure, preparation of the state budget and the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund S.A.” and consisting of 36 articles.
Articles 30-35 of the draft law, however, do not appear in the bill that was put to public consultation and do not therefore appear to have been subject to the public consultation process. Furthermore, the inclusion of these articles in a separate chapter (Chapter D ‘Other provisions…) indicates that these provisions are not directly related to any of the topics that the bill deals with.
On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 20:10 the amendment 9/2/1-9-2023 was tabled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, containing 3 articles and regulating issues related to the extension of cleaning contracts for the Ministry buildings, the service status of faculty members who take up duties at the OECD and the extension of special management procedures.
Later that same day, at 20:40, amendment 9/2/1-9-2023 was tabled by the Ministry of Health. This amendment contained 6 articles regulating issues relating to the extension of the duration of the validity of EODY contracts, employee secondment and service contracts, the exceptional possibility of enrolling in a vocational high school, the entry into force of the internet of things technology applications of Law No. 4961/2022 as well as recruiting and transfers before the holding of regional and municipal elections.
Both of these amendments were tabled on Friday evening (20:10 and 20:40 respectively), despite the fact that Article 87 of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament states that the tabling of amendments on Friday should occur “no later than 13.00”. They also contained provisions which regulated many different matters which were not directly related to any of the issues regulated by the draft law introduced for adoption, in violation of the principles of good legislation.
On September 1, 2023, the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs prepared a report recommending the acceptance, by majority vote, of the bill.
On Monday, September 4, 2023, the bill was debated in the Plenary of the Parliament and Law 5047/2023 was passed, now entitled “Transposition of Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 of 22 March 2021 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation, provisions on tax procedure, preparation of the State Budget, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund S.A. and other urgent regulations” and consisting of 45 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 5047/2023.
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