Efficiency of law drafting at the Ministry of Transport and Communications will be improved

The Ministry of Transport and Communications will increase the number of personnel working in law drafting, clarify the instructions and practices related to that work, develop the monitoring process and improve the orientation of the drafters. These measures, which will be launched immediately, are based on a study by the Ministry and the University of Eastern Finland on the development of law drafting.

The need for improving the law drafting was highlighted in 2017, when the Ministry was preparing extensive reform projects, including the Act on Transport Services, Road Traffic Act and reform of the agencies in the Ministry's administrative branch. These projects revealed that there is reason to assess the current state of the preparations and to examine how the process could be improved.

The University of Eastern Finland analysed the government proposals drafted by the Ministry in 2017-2018 and the related Parliament reports and statements.  In addition, interviews were carried out with 13 drafters and three Director-Generals.

The study states that the main problems in law drafting are schedule and resource pressures, adequacy of the assessment of impacts and different alternatives, and consideration of consultation feedback in the government proposals.

Instructions will be made clearer

The Ministry's instructions on law drafting will be updated. The premise is that each legislative project will be prepared by two public officials or a separate working group. In impact assessment, the expertise of an economist team founded in the beginning of 2019 will be utilised. More detailed instructions will also be issued on how to monitor the acts, their impacts and implementation.

The experiences of targeted training for law drafters have been positive. A training programme for three ministries that was put together with the University of Eastern Finland was completed in March 2019. Currently, a programme for five ministries is being carried out. 

The trainings will be made a permanent practice. An internal cooperation group will be set up at the Ministry to support the law drafting, and the network of law drafters will even more thoroughly address the issues of statute drafting and its technical requirements.  

Inquiries:

Silja Ruokola, Director of Legal Affairs, tel. +358 40 5800 894