This chapter outlines how to best implement the Egyptian Manual for Legislative Drafting in an effective and efficient manner, based on the experiences of OECD countries. The chapter underlines that it is essential for Egypt to build their ongoing legislative reform efforts on a comprehensive and whole of a government regulatory policy strategy in order to complement the significant progress achieved with the preparation of the Legislative Drafting Manual. The chapter concludes with specific recommendations to help maximise the potential of the Egyptian Manual for Legislative Drafting as a tool for obtaining better outcomes from legislation.
Good Governance in Egypt
Legislative Drafting Manual for Better Policy
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Chapter 3. The Way Forward
Abstract
Implementation of the Egyptian Legislative Drafting Manual
The Egyptian Legislative Drafting Manual is among the first of its kind in the MENA region. Despite the progress, evidence across other countries demonstrates that the presence of legislative drafting manuals alone cannot improve the quality of legislation. Achieving the objectives of legislative drafting manuals and obtaining better outcomes from legislation demand a clear and coherent approach that is supported by a sound implementation strategy. A strategy can equip legal drafters with an understanding of how to best use legislative drafting manuals in their daily work, structure key priorities and guide the implementation of legislative drafting manuals.
In addition to effective implementation, high-level political commitment is equally important to ensure that legislative drafting manuals can deliver their intended goals. Experience across the OECD countries shows that the success of the guidelines depends on the extent to which all parties engaged in legislative drafting commit themselves to follow them. In this respect, a formal announcement and commitment by the government, which calls for proper application of the legislative drafting instructions could raise awareness, prevent them from going unnoticed, and thus increase their impact.
Furthermore, the experience of the OECD countries illuminates that implementing a good legislation policy is a gradual process necessitating the presence and systemic application of a set of regulatory policy tools in place rather than the delivery of a single product. Legislative drafting manuals are one of the significant tools that could contribute to improve the quality and effectiveness legislative and regulatory system. However, it is worthwhile to note that a good legislation and regulation policy requires a-whole-of-government approach integrating a set of regulatory policy tools systemically and as a whole across the government, namely: Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) ex post and ex ante, review of stock of legislation, administrative simplification, transparency and communication, alternatives to regulation, and compliance and enforcement (OECD, 2012). Therefore, it is essential for Egypt to build their ongoing legislative reform efforts on a comprehensive and whole of a government regulatory policy strategy in order to complement the significant progress achieved with the preparation of the Legislative Drafting Manual.
In light of the findings of this report, the following recommendations are applicable to implement the Egyptian Legislative Drafting Manual in most effective and efficient manner.
Specific Recommendations
Ensure that the Manual is embedded into a broader “whole-of-government” policy for regulatory governance and supported by application of regulatory policy tools such as public consultation mechanisms and impact assessments. As outlined by the 2012 OECD Recommendations of the Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance, implementing a good legislation policy is a gradual process necessitating the presence and systemic application of a set of regulatory policy tools in place rather than the delivery of a single product. Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) ex post and ex ante, review of stock of legislation, administrative simplification, transparency and communication, alternatives to regulation, and compliance and enforcement require to be applied as a whole across the government.
Ensure high-level political commitment and sustained support for the effective implementation of the Manual. This should also assure that all parties engaged in legislative drafting commit to follow them. Based on OECD experience, a formal announcement and commitment by the government, which calls for proper application of the legislative drafting instructions is critical to ensure legislative drafting manuals can deliver their intended goals.
Design and publish a coherent approach and a “whole of a government” operational strategy on the implementation of the Egyptian Legislative Drafting Manual. The strategy should cover the key steps to be taken on the implementation of the Manual while allocating clear responsibilities across relevant stakeholders and introducing timelines. It is important that the strategy provides legal drafters with an understanding of the significance of the application of the Manual on improving the quality of legislation. It should also include a communication strategy to raise awareness and to ensure sustained support for the successful implementation of the Manual.
Support could be generated at three levels:
At the highest political level to ensure strong commitment to the implementation of the Manual;
Across the legal departments in public administration to incentivise legal drafters to implement the legislative drafting guidelines; avoid resistance to the change; and ensure that they feel the ownership of the Manual; and
Across the society to generate trust in the legislative reform agenda.
The strategy should introduce short and medium term goals to facilitate the monitoring of the progress.
Commit to report regularly on the implementation of the measures outlined in the operational strategy and the Legislative Drafting Manual. Regular monitoring and evaluation of the implementation allows for measuring the effectiveness of implementation through tracking progress over time; reveals potential bottlenecks and encourages the formulation of appropriate responses.
Update and revise the Manual regularly based on the constant feedback provided by its users on their experience of working with this tool on a daily basis. Experience of the OECD countries demonstrate that legislative drafting manuals which best contribute to legislative and regulatory quality are living documents which are able to adapt to the dynamic nature of legal drafting and daily needs of legislative drafters.
Establish solid consultation and feedback mechanisms as well as an institutionalised working party tasked with keeping the Manual updated. Many OECD countries have introduced specific consultation and feedback mechanisms to help obtain constant feedback from the users of their manuals. Establishing a working party involving relevant stakeholders ensures the transparency of the process and enables collaboration across different institutions. The working party and methods used for consultation process needs to be institutionalised for effective feedback as well as monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. In addition, a network could be formed to help create buy-in to the Manual across different institutions and departments, and to keep the Manual up-to-date.
For instance, following the adoption of the legislative drafting guide of the European Union, the “Joint Practical Guide of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission”, an inter-institutional group on the quality of drafting was set up to be responsible for keeping the guide updated (European Union, 2013). The inter-institutional group involves representatives of three European Union institutions so as to ensure that the drafting specialists of the three institutions work together to agree upon a common approach to all drafting matters.
Pilot the Manual across different institutions and ministries; and report the feedback of users to the working party to update and revise the Manual. The Egyptian Legislative Drafting Manual is a new tool and first of its kind in Egypt. Expecting immediate systemic application of the Manual across the government could be unrealistic given the uneven capacities and skills across public institutions. Piloting the Manual in different ministries and bodies could be a useful initial approach to introduce the Manual, test its applicability; and reveal potential challenges to address them accordingly.
Ensure that the Manual is publicly accessible and widely disseminated. It is of vital importance that all parties engaged in legislation have access to the Manual and could benefit from it. This should ensure that the Manual is publicly available online as well as on the internal webpages of public institutions. Easy access to the Manual is crucial to raise awareness about the presence and significance of the Manual and ensure its effective utilisation.
Create an institutionalised one-stop-shop government website for sharing and disseminating legal and regulatory information as well as the Manual. A one-stop-shop official website with free online public access, providing a database on all legislations and regulations, judicial verdicts and decisions could help disseminate legal information across the government institutions as well as the society (see Box 3.1). This website could also provide a platform for disseminating the Manual.
For instance, in France, “La Documentation Française” serves a legal and administrative database providing a comprehensive information on all regulations and case laws. Furthermore, an official electronic journal is accessible through “legifrance.gouv.fr” which allows for a rapid and effective dissemination of legislative and regulatory texts, as well as court rulings, collective labour agreements, international treaties and agreements to which France is a party. The website also provides access to the French legislative guide.
Box 3.1. Publishing and Disseminating Legal Information
In 2017, the Legal and Social Research Unit of the American University in Cairo has launched its digital platform Manshūrāt Qānūneya (MQ) with the objective of providing a free online access to a host of otherwise unavailable primary legal materials. The MQ has five core functions, namely archive, timeline, legal news, legal organigram, and legal commentaries. The platform aims to raise awareness and to assist in legal research and litigation, which could contribute to greater legal reform efforts in the long term. MQ provides access to a vast collection of primary legal materials (around 30,000 documents) and covers a wide spectrum of subjects (47 research themes). The legal materials covered by the MQ includes constitutional, legal and regulatory documents, as well as administrative decisions, decrees, court verdicts, advisory opinions and draft laws.
MQ serves as a free, user-friendly, online legal platform, which could be easily used by both legal and non-legal practitioners. Therefore, it aims to equip citizens with a better understanding of legal and regulatory framework and contribute to strengthening citizen engagement.
As an official initiative, the Court of Cassation also offers a legal portal, containing a vast database of Egyptian legislations based on the information from the official gazette, parliamentary meeting minutes, jurisprudence of the Supreme Constitutional Court, and jurisprudence of all chambers of the Court of Cassation. However, the portal does not provide exhaustive information on the jurisprudence of other courts.
The portal of the Court of Cassation also offers a newsletter, a trilingual legal dictionary, and translations of the French and American jurisprudence. The portal is freely and publicly accessible, and helps disseminate legal and regulatory information across the government and citizens.
Source: Manshūrāt Qānūneya, https://manshurat.org/; Court of Cassation, http://www.cc.gov.eg/Legislations/Egypt_Legislations.aspx
Introduce special software packages incorporating drafting guidance into the computer systems. Drafting assistance tools have been introduced across a number of OECD countries to apply legislative drafting manuals more effectively and easily. These software packages also provide legal drafters with practical help and correspond to their daily needs.
For example, the European Union institutions use specialised software packages offering access to the relevant parts of the legislative drafting guide of the European Union and to other drafting guidance, such as standard formulas or templates called the Drafting Assistance Package (DAP). It also offers drafters the possibility to consult the drafting specialists by email or telephone with a guarantee of a rapid response. Drafting support tool of a similar kind could greatly benefit the application of the Egyptian Legislative Drafting Manual as well.
Provide trainings, seminars and workshops on legislative drafting principles, the use of the Manual and legislative drafting software tools to all stakeholders engaged in legislative drafting. It is essential to ensure that legislative drafters have adequate capacities and skills to be able to accurately apply the Manual and to produce quality legislation. Institutionalised legislative drafting training programmes at the government, civil service training bodies or universities introducing legal drafters to the use of Manuals and legislative drafting software tools can contribute to awareness raising and the advancement of necessary skills among the legal drafters.
This could also help ensure that all those concerned with the preparation of legislation are made aware of the importance of good legislation.
Awareness could be generated at three levels:
Across the public officials who will have to apply the rules;
Across businesses which will have to comply with the rules; and
Across the society who may be affected by the rules.
In applying these recommendations, Egypt might consider establishing a set of priorities and codifying them into a strategic and actionable implementation plan identifying a timeline with short and medium-term action-oriented goals. However, many actions suggested by the above-mentioned recommendations are complementary to each other and would have to be pursued simultaneously.
References
European Union (2013) “Joint Practical Guide of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission” https://eur-lex.europa.eu/content/techleg/EN-legislative-drafting-guide.pdf (accessed 22 July 2019).
Court of Cassation (2019), http://www.cc.gov.eg/Legislations/Egypt_Legislations.aspx (accessed 22 July 2019).
OECD (2012) Recommendations of the Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance, https://www.oecd.org/governance/regulatory-policy/49990817.pdf (accessed 22 July 2019).
Manshūrāt Qānūneya (2019), https://manshurat.org/ (accessed 22 July 2019).