The adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on November 16, 2021, in the first reading of the draft Law of Ukraine “On Lawmaking” has increased scientific interest in theoretical and practical problems of lawmaking, solving which can improve the quality of legislative work and improve its results.

As well known, an important element of lawmaking and lawmaking process is the evaluation of the draft law during its consideration in parliament, and sometimes at earlier stages. The main issue in the process of such evaluation is the question of what criteria should be followed in its implementation. However, unfortunately, this issue has hardly been considered in the scientific literature.

The purpose of the article is to try to determine the main criteria for evaluating the content of draft laws at the stage of their legal examination in order to recognize it as positive, negative or neutral.

Having considered this issue, the authors believe that the evaluation of the draft law should include at least four main components, which are: 1) evaluation of the content of the draft law; 2) evaluation of the form of the draft law (how well its instructions are set out and composed); 3) assessing the realism of the draft law, the ability to implement its provisions in practice; 4) estimating the cost of implementing the draft law (in other words – “draft law prices”). At the same time, the evaluation of its content should be crucial for the overall evaluation of the draft law. The long practical experience of evaluating draft laws during their scientific and legal examination has led the authors to believe that the determining criteria on the basis of which to evaluate the idea and content of the draft laws can be considered its fairness and usefulness.

Speaking of fairness as a criterion for evaluating the draft law, it should be noted that, despite the complexity of the concept of “justice”, the draft law can be considered fair if its provisions do not contain unfair prescriptions and generally do not contradict the currently accepted and modern society is fair and what is unfair.

In turn, the “usefulness” of the draft law should be understood as a positive effect of its application in the event of adoption. At the same time, the benefits that the implementation of the draft law should be significant and noticeable across the country, and in assessing it, we must take into account not only direct material (monetary) benefits, but also any improvements of intangible nature in various spheres of public life. In conclusion, as a general rule, every draft law should be adopted by the legislator and become law only when it is fair and useful to society, and research and detailing the relevant criteria for evaluating the draft should be the task of modern legal science of Ukraine.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Pigolkin A, Podgotovka proektov normativnyh aktov (Juridicheskaja literatura 1968) (in Russian). 2. Vas’kovskij E, Rukovodstvo k tolkovaniju i primeneniju zakonov (Gorodec 1997) (in Russian).

Edited and translated books

3. ‘XX. Protiv Leptina ob atelii (93)’ v Demosfen, Rechi, t 1 (Pamjatniki istoricheskoj mysli 1994) (in Russian).

4. Nauchnye osnovy sovetskogo pravotvorchestva (Halfina R red, Nauka 1981) (in Russian).

5. Zakonodatel’naja tehnika (Tihomirov Ju red, Gorodec 2000) (in Russian).

Journal articles

6. Korniienko V, ‘Vysnovok pravovoi ekspertyzy: teoretyko-pravovi aspekty’ (2020) 7 Pidpryiemstvo, hospodarstvo i pravo 265–9 (in Ukrainian).

7. Pererva Yu, ‘Deiaki pytannia ekspertyzy zakonoproektiv v Ukraini’ (2008) 42 Visnyk Kharkivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu vnutrishnikh sprav 166–71 (in Ukrainian).

Websites

8. ‘Metodyka otsiniuvannia yakosti zakonoproektiv’ (Hromadianska merezha “OPORA”, 08.07.2014) <https://www.oporaua.org/news/parliament/5793-metodyka-ocinjuvannjajakosti-zakonoproektiv> (accessed: 14.12.2021) (in Ukrainian).