Македонски центар за меѓународна соработка - МЦМС

Authors: Marija Sazdevski, Simona Ognenovska
Date: April 2013
ISBN: 978-608-4681-08-3
PDF: public-participation-in-law-making-processes.pdf

The importance of public participation in policy making is growing globally and a number of recommendations are made to involve the public and civil society organizations in these processes. Although these recommendations are not mandatory, they still offer standards, principles, and best practices that should be considered when designing nationwide initiatives.

Public participation in law drafting processes is rooted in many documents in the Republic of Macedonia. These include the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, then the Law on Referendum and Civil Initiative, the Law on Government, the Law on the Organization and Operation of State Administration Bodies and others. In addition, there are various by-laws governing this issue, such as: the Rules of Procedure of the Government, the Strategy for Cooperation between the Government and the Civil Society, the Code of Good Practice for Civil Society Participation in the Policy Making Process, the Regulatory Impact Assessment Methodology and Instructions for involving stakeholders in legislation preparation procedures.

The analysis of the participation of civil society organizations in the policy-making process will increase awareness and knowledge of citizens, civil society organizations and the state administration bodies and can be used in the future as a basic model for establishing rules and standards for participation in decision making process.

The analysis is a result of monitoring of the degree of involvement of civil society in the law drafting process within the "Government Mirror" Project. By using previously established methodology, MCIC monitored the involvement of civil society in the process of preparation of laws for the first time in the period from March 1 to October 31, 2012.