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18УДК: 00000
Sodikov Akmal
Independent Researcher of Tashkent State University of Law ORCID: 0000-0001-6453-1327 E-mail: akmalsodikov81@gmail.com
NORM-MAKING BASED ON EVIDENCE AND SCIENCE IS ONE OF THE MAIN FACTORS OF DEVELOPMENT
Abstract: In the article, the types of information, barriers to improve the effectiveness of information support, providing reliable information, and important aspects of the use ofscientific research in norm-making are discussed. Moreover, norm-making based on evidence and science in foreign countries is analyzed. This aspect ofrulemaking is considered on the example of foreign countries such as the USA, UK, Switzerland, Germany, and others. Normativelegal acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan are examined in terms of scientific support of rulemaking. The general review of the article serves as a brief summary of the relevant law and the facts of a case and demonstrates how a particular law is enacted by governmental bodies. Statistical analysis and data are provided to show discrepancies between the experience of developed countries and the national practice of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The author comes to the conclusion that there is a broad range of obstacles and barriers to support decision-making activity based on the scientific approach of specialists and scholars. In addition, recommendations and suggestions that can improve the conditions of the rulemaking process are put forward to optimize the activity of norm-making with the aid of scientific researches. Exactly, the tasks ofpublic authorities and administration in providing a norm-making process with reliable information, obligations to ensure the protection of all types of confidential information in the formation and use of state information resources are defined in the summary of the research.
Keywords: Evidence-based lawmaking, science-based norm-making, information technology, lawmaking, norm-making, legislator, legislative authority, executive authority.
Introduction.
As one of the legal forms of public administration, the study of information support of norm-making activities requires the discovery of opportunities to create a reliable system to increase its overall effectiveness.
At different stages of the norm making process, the formation of the state's will and its reflection in the normative legal acts also depends on the state of its provision with the necessary information in the form of a normative legal act. The legal regulation of the process of norm-making is a prelude to this research, which explores the peculiarities of working with information, which can not be imagined outside the information process.
It should not be overlooked that one of the core essences of democracy is reflected in lawmaking in the modern world [1]. Therefore, the issue of providing objective information in the process of creating any norm means that the normative legal acts serve to strengthen and protect the rights and legitimate interests of citizens.
In this regard, in the framework of this scientific article, it is expedient to do some research on the
following issues and discuss their essence. Firstly, the types of information provided for norm-making; secondly, barriers to improving the effectiveness of information support for norm-making activities; thirdly, providing reliable information; fourthly, important aspects of the use of scientific research in the creation, modification, and repeal of norms are analyzed in the paper.
The types of information provided for norm-making
This issue has not been researched in depth in foreign countries as well as in Uzbekistan as well. There are many types of information in norm-making, and in general, we can divide the information provided for the norm-making process into two types:
1. socio-legal information (in the sense of a set of data structured as a result of social relations);
2. legal information (i.e., the information in normative legal acts, information about legal norms).
In this regard, socio-legal information can also be divided into two classes: a) objective and b) subjective.
Objective data may include information reflecting the economic, environmental, demographic, and other conditions that exist in society.
Subjective data can usually include relevant inquiries within a particular issue, the psychological and social component of society, ethical attitudes, public opinion, as well as expert opinions on the development of the socio-economic sphere of society, the views of experts.
Naturally, legal information can be divided into separate classes, both objective and subjective information.
Objective legal information contains a systematized set of current legislation (including current texts of normative legal acts), terms and concepts in normative legal acts, forms of adoption of acts in the current legislative process, etc.
Subjective legal information includes: comments on current legislation; definitions of legal concepts arising from the interpretation of the norm; research findings in the field of comparative jurisprudence, including specific regulatory experience; taking into account law enforcement practices; scientific-practical considerations and assessment of trends in the development of legislation (and forms of its development), etc.
In accordance with article 3 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on September 7, 2017 No. 443 "On the dissemination and use of legal information" [2], the concept of "legal information" is defined as follows: legal information - texts of normative legal acts, official comments on them, explanations on the procedure for application of normative legal acts, decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan, decisions of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan; as well as summarizing case law. However, insufficient attention has been paid to non-legal forms of information.
Barriers to improving the effectiveness of information support for norm-making
Firstly, there are problems with the timing of providing the necessary information. The general method of obtaining the necessary information is used in other cases as well. Most importantly, this method depends on the activities of political institutions, and the provision and archiving in lawmaking is no different. It is known that in the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the issues of increasing the relevant responsibility have been neglected.
In particular, in the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the Regulation of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan" on August 29, 2003 [3], the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On the Regulation of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the
Republic of Uzbekistan" No. 523-ii on August 29, 2003 [4], Code ofthe Republic ofUzbekistan on Administrative Responsibility [5], the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Parliamentary Control" [6] the issues of relevant liability for late submission of appropriate information to the legislator are not clearly defined.
From the analysis of the above-mentioned normative-legal documents, it can be concluded that in such cases, the issues of disciplinary liability can be considered in due course. However, it should be borne in mind that the imposition of a disciplinary sanction is not directly considered by the Parliament or its chambers, and in this situation, it is enough to send a letter to the state administration or public authorities. In this case, the relevant state authority or administration has the right to impose or not to impose disciplinary sanctions that are not mandatory. Therefore, it is important that the issue of specific disciplinary or administrative liability should be determined by law.
It is known that the lack of a special responsibility to provide the necessary information in a timely manner also has a significant impact on the efficiency of norm-making activities. Therefore, slow decision making is seen as an expression of inefficiency [7].
In this regard, we should not forget that the provision of the necessary information in the process of norm-making is mainly carried out by the initiating entity, especially the executive branch of countries.
In Germany, as in the UK, the legislature relies primarily on the government [8]. If we focus on the advanced foreign experience in this area, it has become commonplace for the German government to introduce two-thirds of the bills[9]. This is not surprising that, in particular, it cannot be taken as a sign that the Members themselves are showing very little initiative in legislation or simply accepting what the government has ordered. On the contrary, it is inherent in the parliamentary system of government enshrined in the country's Constitution. Under the Basic Law, the Federal Chancellor is elected by the Bundestag; that is, after the elections to the Bundestag, the majority in the Bundestag forms a government corresponding to the election results. Since the majority in the government and the Parliament are politically similar, this means that the bills that the Parliament wants to pass by the majority are drafted by the government and its civil servants. The question of which of these legislative proposals will eventually be passed and which will not be accepted, and which will be changed by the Bundestag largely depend on the votes of the legislators. The majority in the Bundestag automatically disagrees with everything the government offers for which it has voted.
Secondly, one of the stumbling blocks in the way of information support of norm-making process is underdeveloped information exchange in providing norm making with the necessary information.
This issue is also reflected in the basic laws of some countries, in particular, according to Article 91c of the German Constitution, the Federation and Lander (local government) may agree to establish standards and security requirements for data exchange through their information technology systems [10].
This issue, of course, has been proven in practice to be useful in coordinating areas other than norm-making as well.
Providing norm making process with reliable information
In our country, the issue of accuracy of the information on the creation of norms is included in the language requirements of draft regulations, and it can be seen that the verification of their reliability remains open. Also, the issue of application to the information-analytical documents attached to the draft normative legal acts requires additional research.
It should be noted that, according to research, the degree of compliance of norms plays an important role in shaping the attitude to this norm.
The British Parliament considers the concept of "green law" to be "necessary, effective, clear, consistent and freely accessible" [11].
Therefore, attention is paid to the compliance of the draft laws submitted by the government with the above criteria (necessary, effective, clear, consistent and accessible), a special check on the compliance of the information provided.
Today, the concept of "evidence-based lawmaking" is widely developed in Western countries, which includes the concepts of "evidence-based medicine", "evidence-based policy" and "evidence-based management" [12].
According to Antokolskaya, evidence-based legislation "requires a rational and focused approach to the legislature in making its decisions and does not allow itself to hold political and ideological views, but ... is based on the results of scientific research" [13].
The importance of "scientific" and "evidence-based" bases in lawmaking to ensure that politics is free of interests has been analyzed by D.Byrne [14].
In the United States, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 was developed by Congress in accordance with Section 101 [15], the bill is expected to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review.
The materials attached to the draft law must include the following:
the adequacy of the evidence to support the policy;
information that the agency intends to collect, use, or obtain to facilitate the use of evidence in policy development;
methods and analytical approaches that can be used to develop evidence to support the policy;
difficulties in developing evidence to support policy development, including any legal or other restrictions on access to relevant information.
Examination of the information and evidence presented by the government can be seen as the earliest stage of lawmaking.
The basis of the bill, which was introduced in the British Parliament, was considered by a special committee, and today it is customary to consider it by a joint group with the participation of representatives of various committees. The formation of such groups is based on the principle of voluntary membership of committee members [16].
As the researchers have repeatedly pointed out, the documents attached to the bill have significant information-analytical potential, allowing the lawmaker to work more effectively on the review and adoption of the bill.
If we turn our attention to the information-analytical materials that are attached to draft laws in the UK, the right of legislative initiative in the UK is exercised only by members of Parliament. The legislative initiative implemented by the Cabinet of Ministers is ensured not through representatives of the executive but through the activities of ministers who formally submit the bill as members of Parliament.
In British practice, explanatory notes are attached to the bill, and the information provided in it is radically different from Uzbek practice. It requires the following information:
In the introductory part (Introduction) - which state body prepared it, the grounds and necessity of the adoption of the law;
In the section of basic information (Summary and background) - the issue of making changes and additions, other normative legal acts used in the regulation of this issue, the procedure and conditions of implementation of the law, special conditions;
In addition, this section provides detailed information about the project structure (Overview of the structure) - its structural units and structure; comments on the draft (Commentary on clauses) each article is cited separately.
The last part (Territorial extent) includes provisions of the implementation of the bill in terms of territorial units.
In this regard, it is possible to focus on the explanatory note of the bill submitted to the UK Parliament on 1 November 2018 by the Ministry of Revenue, Customs and Treasury [17]. In the UK, there is a separate approach to the issue of compiling explanatory notes, and the fact that the document is structured and divided into structural units often coincides with the provisions of the bill.
Examples of science-based lawmaking
In Switzerland, it has become a common practice to involve professionals in the lawmaking process who are not involved in the work of government and public bodies. The participation of representatives of higher education institutions, universities, specialists, and experts in the preparation of normative and legal acts is highly valued and respected.
The participation of professional scholars and other groups of experts, lawyers, university professors and experts from research centers demonstrates the dignity and prestige of the drafting process and serves to harmonize norm making with the professional environment [18].
This issue has become popular in advanced western countries as "science based lawmaking". A clear example of this can be found in the United States. In 2009, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act [19], under the law, the Food and Drug Administration was given broad powers to regulate the production, design and sale of tobacco products.
The center has partnered with the National Institutes of Health to fund new research to identify ways to protect young people and families from the tobacco trade. The largest investment was made in the Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science, which provided $ 273 million to 14 research centers [20].
According to the results of such scientific research [21], point-of-sale advertising reveals that young people are more motivated to smoke than the exterior design of a tobacco product. In particular, retail is the most important marketing channel in the tobacco industry, with tobacco manufacturers spending about 95 percent of their annual advertising budget ($8 billion) on retail promotions, advertising, and incentives for retailers [22].
As a result, the Food and Drug Administration prepared proposals for changes and additions to the relevant legislation.
Conclusion
In general, the issue of providing norm-making with the necessary information requires additional
theoretical and legal research. It was noted that on the example of the Federal Republic of Germany, the issues of providing the normative creation with the necessary information are still being studied. Through scientific research, in such cases, it is important to increase the quality, stability, consistency of information, the effectiveness of the methods, techniques, and means of providing information. Several key issues in effective information provision, time, responsibility, reliability criteria have become the subject of important research even in developed countries. Data collection, reception, and processing are activities that generalize processes that are always automated, and their quality can determine the future success of norm making.
One of the main goals of scientific research is to reflect the concepts of evidence-based lawmaking and science-based lawmaking in the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It is also advisable to pay attention to the following:
First of all, the tasks of public authorities and administration in providing a norm-making process with reliable information shall include:
obligation to form information resources in accordance with its powers;
the obligation to provide information resources to other government agencies, legal entities, and individuals within a certain period of time;
obligation to ensure the security of state information resources;
it is necessary to specify the obligation to ensure the protection of all types of confidential information in the formation and use of state information resources.
Second, the issue of administrative responsibility in the sphere of information provision of public administration is not formed, including the responsibility for failure to provide information; develop liability measures for providing timely, unreliable or low-quality information; it is expedient to dwell on such issues as the elimination of the dissemination of untrue information disseminated in the media from a special normative point of view.
Thirdly, the most important tool is the creation of a unified system of information support of government agencies, the organization of information processes on a single methodological basis in terms of usage of the results of scientific research.
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