Functional characteristics of law-making activity

One of the key aspects of the formation of high-quality and effective legislation as a result of law-making is the clear identification of the main functions of law-making and their implementation in the actual law-making process. The functions of law-making are purposeful directions for changing the legislation regarding its content and/or form. Legislation as an object of law-making activity undergoes changes of various kinds (in terms of its content and/or form) as a result of this activity. It is the specificity of these legislative changes (the purposefulness of law-making activity) that determines the list of law-making functions. Functional characteristics of law-making activity should be based on its real content, which reflects the current state of development of the legal system of Ukraine. Accordingly, the modern functions of law-making are novelization, substantive improvement, formal organization, systematization and detailing of legislation, as well as adaptation of legislation to EU law. The specifics of the implementation of a particular law-making activity by public authorities, the law-making technique, and the stages of the law-making process depend, in particular, on which function of law-making is implemented in a particular law-making process. However, this specificity is not taken into account when adopting normative legal acts that regulate the law-making activity of various law-making subjects. In particular, this was not taken into account when adopting the Law of Ukraine «On Law-Making Activities» of August 24, 2023. At the same time, the practical implementation of a certain law-making function in the real law-making process requires the presence of appropriate, legally defined, powers of law-making subjects related to the implementation of this function. Therefore, the issue of both further theoretical research of the functions of law-making and normative consolidation of the specified specifics in legislative acts regulating the law-making activity of public authorities is relevant.