Senator calls for fast, precise, professional work to reformat Belarus' legal system

It is necessary to work fast, with precision, and highly professionally in the course of large-scale reformation of the legal system taking into account the adopted amendments and addenda to the Constitution. Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Natalya Kochanova made the statement at a session of the Justice Ministry board, which looked into the quality of lawmaking in the government system and the organization of lawmaking in the course of the constitutional reform, BelTA has learned. 

Natalya Kochanova said: “On the whole, we face a big and responsible task: to get actively involved in the large-scale reformation of Belarus' legal system taking into account the adopted amendments and addenda [to the Constitution]. To accomplish that, it is necessary to use the entire accumulated experience of lawmaking of many years, results of scientific research in the area of law, the best foreign lawmaking practices. We have to work fast, precisely, and highly professionally. We have to think analytically. There is no other way considering the considerable volume, the complexity, and importance of the work and the available time.” 

Addressing those present, Natalya Kochanova stressed that it is necessary to sometimes work very fast taking into account today's reality. “I would like all of you to forget the phrase: if it's a law, it takes a lot of time. It isn't true. All of us should do everything to get things done fast,” she noted. 

Speaking about the updating of Belarus' Constitution, Natalya Kochanova pointed out: “Together we have accomplished a very important and major deed – we've written a new page in the history of our sovereign Belarus.” In her words, the adopted constitutional innovations are primarily designed to enhance national sovereignty, Belarusian statehood, preserve traditional values, and secure Belarus' evolutionary development. 

With this in mind a lot of lawmaking work will have to be done to bring the existing system of laws and regulations into compliance with the updated Constitution, Natalya Kochanova said. Close attention should be paid to preparing new bills, in particular, bills on the Belarusian People's Congress. Work on adjusting the effective laws on the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, on the status of members of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, the Electoral Code, and many other pieces of legislation should be highly prioritized. 

Natalya Kochanova said: “We are talking about 100 various laws that need to be brought into compliance with the amendments and addenda implemented into Belarus' Constitution. Work on the bills has already started: working groups in charge of quality preparation of these bills have been set up both in the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic.” 

The head of the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament underlined that despite certain time constraints it is necessary to work smoothly and seamlessly. “It is very important. For the sake of prompt and proper preparation of the bills it is of exceptional importance to secure full and unconditional observation of lawmaking principles,” she said. “It is necessary to focus on ensuring systemic and comprehensive nature of legal regulation, on predicting consequences of laws and regulations, and on the package principle of bill development.” 

“It is necessary to analyze and see what laws work in our country in order to take into account the existing system of laws as we make amendments and addenda. If necessary, it should be done via the package principle,” Natalya Kochanova told heads of government agencies. 

According to Natalya Kochanova, lawmakers cannot simply formalize things in the new reality. “It is necessary to tightly work with public associations, actively generate new ideas, and accompany the bill till it is realized in practice,” she noted. The senator singled out the role of the Justice Ministry as a body, which ensures coordinated lawmaking and performs mandatory expert evaluation of laws and regulations in development. 

Natalya Kochanova said she was confident that well-orchestrated joint work would contribute to future development and prosperity of Belarus.

Written by belta.by