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process (see, inter alia, p. 12-13, 67-68); amendments (see, inter alia, p. 4, 18, 63, 70-71, 77-78); the issue of repealed provisions (p. 16 and 35), and even the title of a bill (p. 18-19, 47).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 6 September 2023 at 19:15, a bill entitled “Transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/2121 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 as regards cross-border conversions, mergers and divisions of limited liability companies” was submitted by the Ministry for Development for public consultation.
This draft consisted of 16 articles, which related to (cross-border) corporate transformations. The consultation was set to end on 19 September at 07:00, i.e. 13 (almost) days later.
Despite the requirements of Article 61 of Law No. 4622/2019: a) the report on the public consultation has not been posted on the opengov.gr website and b) no documentation (or even a reference) to the reason why the public consultation lasted for less than two weeks, as required by law, was found in the regulatory impact analysis that accompanied the draft law when it was introduced for adoption.
On 19 September 2023, the bill was submitted to the Parliament for adoption.
On 26 September 2023 at 20:45, amendment 20/2/26-9-2023 was tabled by the Ministry of Development. The amendment contained 3 articles, which regulated issues relating to the obligation to announce product price increases, the labelling of products with a price reduction commitment and the announcement of indicative retail prices of fruit and vegetable materials. This amendment was therefore tabled just the night before the law was passed and therefore after the deadline for amendments had already expired, and furthermore regulated issues unrelated to the main topic addressed by the law, which is also confirmed by the inclusion of the provisions in question in Chapter G of the Act (‘Provisions for the proper functioning of the market’) and the corresponding addition to the title, both of which violate the principles of good law-making.
On September 26, 2023, the Standing Committee on Production and Trade prepared a report recommending the acceptance, by majority vote, of the aforementioned draft law.
On 27 September, the bill was debated in the Plenary of the Parliament and Law 5055/2023 was passed, now entitled “Incorporation of Directive (EU) 2019/2121 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 as regards cross-border conversions, mergers and divisions of limited liability companies and urgent provisions for the proper functioning of the market” and consisting of 19 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 5055/2023.
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