LV: Latvia plans eLegislation system

This project was proposed by the Ministry of Justice and recently discussed in a meeting of top-level ministry civil servants. It is intended to limit unexpected changes in the existing legal framework, due to lack of communication between key players in the law-making process.
The proposal would create a single information system for the legislative process by joining and improving existing systems. This new approach would enable electronic information to be obtained on laws, draft laws, published legal acts and other documents. It would also have a search function. Creating such a system would cost approximately LVL1.25 million (about €1.79 million) while its maintenance would be in the region of €400 000 every year.
Although there is already a system named ePortfolio, which contains information on projects, it does not contain all details of the drafting process, and access is restricted. Another system, the Parliament Draft Law Register, is a database accessible to the general public, but the publication of drafts is often delayed. Therefore, neither this Register, nor any other database, allows consultation, for example, of proposals submitted by Parliamentary committees. Since there are no other information exchange mechanisms, the flow of information between Parliament committees and different ministries is slow and inefficient. Although in theory citizens have the right to participate in the law-making process, in practice the system has many shortcomings and does not encourage active public participation.
If the project is approved by the government, the Ministry of Justice will have to pass all relevant laws by 1 May 2008.
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