Influence legislative drafting online
Citizens can influence different stages of legislative drafting through the online services developed by the Ministry of Justice.
Kansalaisaloite.fi. is the online service for the initiative stage of legislative drafting. The online services for the preparatory and basic drafting stages are Otakantaa.fi and Lausuntopalvelu.fi. For the statement procedure stage, the online service is Lausuntopalvelu.fi
At least 50,000 Finnish citizens who are eligible to vote can submit an initiative to Parliament for the enactment of legislation.
A citizens’ initiative can propose the enactment or drafting of new legislation. It can also concern the amendment or repeal of existing legislation. An initiative in the form of a bill must contain the proposed legal text. An initiative must confine itself to a particular matter and must present justifications. The initiative must concern a matter within the scope of the legislative powers of Parliament.
Citizens’ initiatives can be submitted, supported or browsed in the Kansalaisaloite.fi service. Supporting a citizens’ initiative is as important as submitting one.
Before submitting a citizens’ initiative, it is worthwhile to review the valid legislation. It is also recommended to at least scan through Lainlaatijan opas (Legal drafter’s guide), although citizens’ initiatives are subject to only minor form and content requirements.
Discuss and comment during the preparatory and basic drafting stages. Information and views of the objective of the matter to be handled are collected in the preparatory stage. It is also assessed whether there is a need to launch the legislative drafting project. The basic drafting stage starts with the legislative drafting project assignment and ends when the draft government proposal is completed (Government proposal draft). Ministries, for example, enter preparatory and basic drafting matters to the Otakantaa.fi service to provide an opportunity for citizens and stakeholders to discuss the matters.
Completed discussions, inquiries and their content are archived on the project’s own pages.
Give a statement on the draft of the government proposal during the statement procedure stage.
After the basic drafting process, the stakeholders and citizens are asked to provide statements on the draft of the government proposal. The objective of the statements and hearings is to clarify different views, impacts and practical implementation possibilities concerning the prepared matter. Lausuntopalvelu.fi is an online service for both requesting and giving statements.
Once the statement procedure stage is over, the statements are compiled and summaries of the statements are published. A summary of the hearing during legislative drafting, received feedback and impacts of the feedback on the legislative proposal will be included in the legislative proposal justifications. The justifications also explain, for example, which parts of the proposals were not feasible and why.