Compulsory Legal Expertise

Fundamental rules concerning the compulsory legal expertise of draft normative legal acts are fixed in Articles 47 and 48 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus On  Normative Legal Acts (hereinafter – the Law).

In accordance with par. 1 Article 47 of the Law any draft normative legal act shall be subject to a compulsory legal expertise.

Depending on the kind of normative legal act the compulsory legal expertise shall be carried out:

  • by the authorized department of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus – on the drafts normative legal acts to be submitted to the President of the Republic of Belarus;
  • by the National Centre of Legislation and Legal Research – on the draft laws to be submitted to the House of Representatives of National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, prepared for consideration by the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus in the first and second reading (in the case of adding amendments to draft laws in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus);
  • by the authorized department of the Secretariat of the House of Representatives of National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus – on the draft laws submitted to the House of Representatives of National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, prepared for consideration by the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus in the first and second reading, draft resolutions of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus;
  • by the authorized department of the Secretariat of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus – on the draft laws adopted by the House of Representatives of National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and submitted to the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, draft resolutions of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus;
  • by the Ministry of Justice, the authorized department of the Government Office of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus – on the draft resolutions of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus;
  • by the legal departments of ministries and other national bodies of public administration – on the draft normative legal acts of National Bank, State Control Committee, Presidential Property Management Directorate, Investigative Committee, State forensic examination committee, National Academy of Sciences, ministries, other national bodies of public administration, local executive and administrative bodies, other rule-making bodies (officials);
  • by the legal departments of the relevant local executive and administrative bodies – on the draft normative legal acts of local Councils of deputies;
  • by the legal departments of rule-making bodies (officials) – on the draft technical normative legal acts not related to the field of technical regulation and standardization, non-normative legal acts and local acts, prepared by such bodies (officials).

In order to ensure the quality of the compulsory legal expertise, comprehensive and complete research of the materials, there has been determined a list of documents necessarily to be attached to the draft normative legal act submitted for compulsory legal expertise (par. 3 Article 47 of the Law). These documents include:

  • covering letter;
  • necessity (substantiation) of adoption (issue) of the normative legal act;
  • financial and economic substantiation for the draft normative legal act;
  • list of approval of the latest version of draft normative legal act;
  • expertise conclusions on the draft normative legal act, if they were given;
  • a table of declined comments and (or) proposals on the draft normative legal act with a legal reasoning for each of them (if presented);
  • documents relating to international treaty in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Belarus from 23 July 2008 No. 421-Z On international treaties of the Republic of Belarus (for draft normative legal act formalizing decision on an international treaty).

A state body (organization, department) authorized to carry out compulsory legal expertise is entitled to request additional information relating to the draft normative legal act necessary to conduct this expertise.

Compulsory legal expertise results in making a conclusion which should contain outcomes based on the evaluation criteria of draft normative legal act.

The main criteria for evaluating draft normative legal act are:

  • compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, normative legal acts of the President of the Republic of Belarus, laws and other normative legal acts of greater legal force, compatibility with normative legal acts of equal legal force in relation to the draft normative legal act;
  • compliance with the requirements of the rule-making technique;
  • compliance with international treaties and other international legal acts, including the requirements of unification and harmonization of legislation in the framework of integration associations of which the Republic of Belarus is a party.

While conducting compulsory legal expertise are also evaluated:

  • substantiation of the chosen type of normative legal act;
  • necessity and priority of legal regulation of relevant social relations;
  • substantiation of a decision regarding an international treaty in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Belarus On international treaties of the Republic of Belarus (when carrying out compulsory legal expertise of draft normative legal act formalizing decision on an international treaty).

While conducting compulsory legal expertise the specified financial indicators, indices, coefficients, standards, limits and other indicators, as well as the formulas for calculating them (except evaluation of their compliance with the indicators established by normative legal acts of greater legal force) cannot be evaluated.

Normative legal acts of National Bank, State Control Committee, Presidential Property Management Directorate, Investigative Committee, State forensic examination committee, National Academy of Sciences, ministries, other national bodies of public administration, regional and Minsk City Councils of Deputies, regional and Minsk City Executive Committees are subject to compulsory legal expertise by the Ministry of Justice. Normative legal acts of local Councils of deputies, executive and administrative bodies of basic territorial level are subject to compulsory legal expertise by main department of justice of the corresponding regional executive committee.

Compulsory legal expertise is carried out by the Ministry of Justice, main departments of justice of the regional executive committees in accordance with the Law, Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus from 20 July 1998 No 369 On the National Register of Normative Legal Acts of the Republic of Belarus, Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus from 30 December 2010 No 711 On some issues of the implementation of compulsory legal expertise of normative legal acts, Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus from 23 September 2006 No. 1244 On compulsory legal expertise of normative legal acts, Resolution of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus from 12 October 2006 No 62 On implementation of Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus from 23 September 2006 No. 1244.