High level regional seminar on

1
High level regional seminar on Strategies, Tools
and Capacities for administrative simplification
Cairo 20 and 21 June 2007

• Tools to simplify the Legislation
• The Swedish Experience
• Sunset and guillotine rules
• Clear language
• Transparent procedures
• Access to legislation

2
Rules and regulations - four levels

• Constitutional laws adopted by the Parliament
• Laws adopted by the Parliament
• and with authorization by the Parliament
• Ordinances adopted by the Government
• and with authorization by the Parliament and the
  Government
• Regulations adopted by the authorities

3
Figures

• 3 679 laws and ordinances in effect on 1 March
  2007
• 1 592 new or amended laws and ordinances adopted
  during 2006 (59 new laws and 119 new ordinances)
• approx. 8 100 regulations in effect on
• 31 December 2006

4
The Process that precedes a new Act
The committee presents its proposals in a
report
The Government circulates the report for
comment
The Government appoints a committee/ commission
of inquiry
The Government drafts a proposal for change a
Government bill
Initiative for change
The Government bill is submitted to the Riksdag
(Swedish parliament) for consideration
The Government promulgates a law, which is then
published in the Swedish Code of Statutes (SFS)
After the parliamentary committees have
discussed the matter, a vote is taken in the
Riksdag
5
Guillotine and Sunset rules

• Immediate way to create a clear and accountable
  legal structure
• Guillotine rule if regulations are not listed
  by a certain day the regulation is declared
  invalid
• Sunset rules regulations is declared invalid by
  a certain future date

6
Clear Language

• A Swedish legal act
• is divided into chapters
• has informative sub-headings giving a clear
  picture of the structure and contents of the act
• uses no more than three paragraphs for each
  article

• Plain language principles
• avoid complicated sentence structure
• avoid legalese and archaic words
• be generous with informative sub-headings
• explain difficult technical terms if needed

7
Transparency

• Basic rules
• The Freedom of the Press Act guarantees the
  citizens access to public documents
• The Secrecy Act protects specific information

• The Legislative process
• The Government's bills are circulated among
  interested authorities and NGO s for information
  and opinions before decision
• Preparatory documents are immediately published
  and available to the public

8
Access to rules and regulations

• The Official Swedish Gazette contains laws and
  ordinances
• The Authorities Official gazettes contain
  regulations
• The Legal Information System www.lagrummet.se
  gives access to laws, ordinances, regulations,
  preparatory work, legal precedent etc.