Justice chancellor: Laws should be understandable for everyone
In light of the recent error in the Gambling Tax Act, Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise believes too many confusing draft bills are submitted to the Riigikogu. In her view, the solution is to establish clearer guidelines so laws are understandable to everyone.
"What matters is the text of the law itself. The norms have to be clear and enforceable – when reading them, it must be clear what has to be done and what is not allowed," Madise wrote on social media.
"The explanatory memorandum is not a source of law, and often what is stated in the explanatory memorandum does not correspond to the draft or the facts of life. In the event of a dispute, the explanatory memorandum can be used as an aid, together with protocols, transcripts, and so on. Therefore, when evaluating draft legislation, it is important to focus on the norms. The meaning of this mistaken norm was also easy to understand," she continued.
Madise also admitted that mistakes happen, but they have to be corrected.
"Perhaps the solution is for the 101 Riigikogu MPs and Riigikogu officials to work through drafts line by line. They cannot and will not be able to do everything, but there are leading committees, responsible rapporteurs and advisors. If the text is not understandable, it must not be adopted," Madise wrote.
Madise added that if a Riigikogu MP does not understand a law, then other members of society will not understand it either. It also makes it difficult to understand how officials are expected to implement such laws.
"In my opinion, the systemic issue with a lot of draft laws is that, unnecessarily or sometimes even maliciously, confusing draft laws are submitted to the Riigikogu, and it is said that the norms themselves do not have to be followed, which is what starts happening. They must be followed. The law cannot be like an empty picture frame into which the authority implementing the law can insert any picture it wants. It seems that this mistake arose precisely due to this long-standing practice. Therefore, looking for a specific culprit is not fair at this point in time, and will not help," said Madise.
According to Madise, the solution lies in establishing clear and systemic norms for the drafting of legislation.
"In short (what is needed is): clear draft legislation, a focus in the Riigikogu on the wording of norms and a demand for clarity; technological aids make all this much easier and eliminate hours of tedious work. Officials are really overworked, partly as a result of being forced to perform additional tasks and losing focus," the justice chancellor wrote.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Michael Cole
