Legal support for the planning of lawmaking in Ukraine: current stance and perspective for improvement

It is indicated that social relations by their nature are capable of being subject to legal influence, which means the possibility of their ordering and regulation through legal norms. However, legal regulation should not be carried out unsystematically - its effectiveness and success depend primarily on the systematicity and predictability of the processes of creating legal norms. The scientific article examines the issues of legal regulation of law-making planning in Ukraine, focusing on the analysis of the provisions of Section III of the Law of Ukraine “On Law-Making Activity” of 2023. We justify the need for a comprehensive and systematic approach to law-making planning, taking into account a unified law-making policy, unification of the regulatory framework, and coordination of actions of all law-making entities. We pay particular attention to the technical and legal shortcomings of the Law of Ukraine “On Law-Making” of 2023, in particular the final provisions that postpone the entry into force of key planning provisions until 2028 at best. We consider this approach to be inappropriate and likely to create legal uncertainty due to the selective nature of these provisions. The criticism is also due to the framework nature of the provisions of Section III of the Law of Ukraine “On Law-Making Activities,” which does not contain a specific mechanism for interaction between public authorities in the formation and implementation of individual public policy documents. Based on the analysis, we have formulated proposals for improving the relevant legal regulation, in particular: the need to establish a clear mechanism for the participation of law-making entities in the development of public policy documents; the definition of the rights and obligations of such entities; and the inclusion of forecast documents as mandatory elements of law-making planning. We emphasize that without a systematic and strategic approach to law-making planning, consistency and comprehensiveness in the rule-making process are lost, which can complicate European integration processes and slow down the development of a truly legal state.