e-Legal Services (LV0029)

COMMON LAW PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND HARMONIZATION
PORTAL AND E-SERVICES "LAW PROJECT PUBLIC
CONSULTATION"
DEADLINE
2017 2nd half - 2020 Q4
WHAT ARE THE STATE AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST ISSUES WHICH HELPS MEETING THIS
COMMITMENT?
Fragmented and heterogeneous legislation drafting, coordination and approval process, a large
amount of non automated operation, an aging system (platform)
Submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers draft legal acts (hereinafter - TAP), development planning documents and other
documents drawn up ministries, state agencies and institutions subordinated to the Prime Minister. TAP and other
papers are currently not using a specific software development. Each institution of their department within the
environment develops TAP and it is driven by the State Secretaries' meeting (hereinafter - CSF), Cabinet and Cabinet
Committee (hereinafter - the CCC) meetings. TAP coordination with other institutions and cognitive training is a manual
job that requires a lot of non automated operation, as well as being stocked, duplicate data, and the same information
will be maintained in each Bure separately. TAP coordination takes place with a number of channels, which do not form
a clearly understandable flow.
Difficulty public participation
Public involvement in the development planning process of establishing 25 August 2009 Cabinet Regulations. 970 "public
participation procedures for the development planning process." The ministry, which plans to develop development draft
planning document, or TAP, which significantly changes the existing framework or provide for the introduction of new
policy initiatives, as one of the forms of public participation ensures document or ideas describing the publication of its
Web site and set a deadline of views provided. Public opinion recognized to development planning document or TAP
initial impact assessment. Members of the public is not an option in one place to get acquainted with all the process of
developing the existing TAP, give your opinion on them and apply for the newsletter.
Public opinion can not be provided in one place of interest TAP throughout its design and development phase, as some views
can provide TAP design, development and planning time; TAP announcement and examination of the CSF at the time; TAP
during the examination of the CCC and, separately, the Cabinet during the examination. This creates a fragmented and opaque
from the public's point of view point of view, the provision of process as well as the lack of feedback from the developer's TAP.
Second
COMMITMENT
LATVIAN OPEN MANAGEMENT THIRD NATIONAL ACTION PLAN 15
SCM development and coordination of control fragmentation
SAO document circulation and task control system DAUKS also organizes tasks control. DAUKS system
has entered tasks, for example, the law authorizes the Cabinet of Ministers to issue regulations, the
minutes of the Cabinet Ministry given one task (task given the number of ministries: in 2011 - 4497; 2012 -
4455; 2013 - 5137;
2014 - 4131; 2015 - 3562; 2016 - 3243).
The current monitoring procedures and tools do not allow operatively to track and influence the development of TAP deadlines in the
development of monitoring is carried out in each ministry separately. TAP portal will enable the one place to track and monitor the status of
SCM development throughout its life cycle (planning, development, promulgation of the CSF, approval and submission to the Cabinet of
Ministers), thereby significantly reducing the development of the TAP delay risks.
WHAT IS COMMITMENT?
• Cabinet decision-making process of modernization, providing a quicker and more effective public administration
TAP development, coordination, approval and control processes.
• Improve public participation in environmental legislation in the innovation process, thereby reinvigorating the
open governance 21 and initiatives and ensuring compliance with the Information Society Development Guidelines
2014 2020th year 22nd
Results (achievable value three years after the end of the project):
• 165 institutions (organizations) that uses a shared solution "single legislative project
development, coordination, approval and control environment"
t. see. 115 government bodies and 50 NGOs (ie. See. Government and social partner
organizations);
• technical (non-automated) in the proportion of TAP preparation and coordination process to reach 33%
of the existing 100%;
• three re-use and sharing of content within the available data sets, which are published in Latvian
Open data portal;
• electronic public service "draft legislative acts public consultation" increased use of up to 85% of
all submitted opinions. Outputs:
• four improved operational processes;
• introduced the TAP portal;
• introduction of public e-services' draft legislative acts public consultation. "
21 See: http://www.opengovpartnership.org/country/latvia/commitment/improving-quality-involvement-societyand-civil-society-22 Organizations View:
http://polsis.mk.gov.lv/documents/5072
LATVIAN OPEN MANAGEMENT THIRD NATIONAL ACTION PLAN 16
HOW TO COMMITMENT will be introduced and the solution to these problems?
The commitment will be implemented through the European Regional Development Fund (hereinafter - ERDF) project. 23
The target groups of the population, public administration bodies, local authorities, NGOs (including
government and social partner organizations), economic operators. 24
• Members of the public now, to get acquainted and to provide views on the development of an existing TAP,
you need to keep track of all the Ministry of Web pages, which are published in the industry TAP, and it is
impossible to keep track of TAP in various stages of its development and to make sure that the previous stage
of the expressed opinion is taken into account in the next phase. TAP unified portal will provide an opportunity
in one place to keep track of the decision-making process and the SCM development, from idea to the
decision of the Cabinet of Ministers. Using e-services, "draft legislative acts of public discussion," significantly
expand public participation in TAP and development planning document projects. Everyone in society will be
able to review all of the public consultation, as well as, if public consultation is active, to give an opinion on the
wording of the TAP. At the same time it will contribute to development of civil society, improving people's civic
participation skills and opportunities to engage the public common issues. It will increase public confidence in
state power, which is based on the rule of law strengthening public participation in public administration
processes and the quality of public administration the implementation of tasks.
• Drafters state administration will be a significant reduction of administrative burden, which is due
to technical activities, preparing and harmonizing TAP, allowing more time to devote to the
document content quality. The biggest benefit will be that all information on the TAP life cycle,
from the terms of reference for the SCM development, inter-institutional coordination, monitoring,
public involvement in the issue during the public consultation before the decision to the Cabinet
and data transfer for further decision by the Saeima or the publication of the Republic of Latvia in
the Official Gazette "Latvian Journal" will be available in one place - TAP site, rather than
fragmented in different systems or Web site. For more convenient document for the development
of TAP Online will be incorporated into a variety of automatically forming mechanisms and tools,
such as electronic legislative guide,
• With TAP portal will be optimized for the Ministry of resources, which will create a unified ministries and their subordinate
institutions TAP in the work environment to the exclusion of the need for each ministry to maintain its own separate environment
for the development of TAP. Similarly, the Ministry of document management systems will be maintained with the SCM
development, movement and monitoring of related information. It will be optimized for the SC work environment, the circulation of
documents and tasks
23 European Union funds 2014 2020th the Operational Program "Growth and Jobs" 2.2.1.
specific support target "To ensure the re-use of public data growth and the efficient public administration and private sector interaction" 2.2.1.1. measure
"Centralized public administration ICT platform for the creation of public transmission process optimization and development" of the State Chancellery project
"Single acts of drafting and consultation portal."
24 If the State Regional Development Agency will implement appropriate authentication solution.
LATVIAN OPEN MANAGEMENT THIRD NATIONAL ACTION PLAN 17
control systems DAUKS including TAP TAP Online with the development and movement-related functions
(recording, processing, text adopted forming, signing sessions agenda and protocol preparation and
dispatch). Will be completely off the paper circulation of documents, provided that the law will not be
provided otherwise. This will enable and foster inter-institutional process improvement.
• NGOs (ie. See. Government and social partner organizations) now gives its opinions both on paper and
electronically. After the implementation of the TAP website all opinions will be provided through personalized user
accounts. This will ensure that the TAP website since coming into service in the whole area of the TAP-related
information will be stored in a structured way and will be easy and fast to use. However, during the transitional
period the NGO will submit its findings in the form of a document via e-mail or document integration environment.
TAP portal will provide both local government and the local government representative organizations and NGOs in
developing and harmonizing TAP, providing the following options: TAP TAP generally available online follow the
development, coordination and approval process and coordination process at work in the TAP portal t. see. to
provide feedback on the developed TAP.
HOW TO MEET COMMITMENT OGP VALUES?
Commitment to fully comply with the OGP values, as will be considerably enhanced public participation in environment
legislation creativity and decision-making process.
Providing greater access to information and better information, TAP Online will create a public part in which the
public will have access to all the legislation related to the development of generally accessible information to be
grouped as a convenient way to ensure a clear and easy-to-find information.
The commitment will be established within the framework of the three re-usable data sets:
• TAP (generally accessible information - an act and its annotation);
• legislation Classification;
• policies classification.
Providing the public to influence decisions in their environment, will be developed and introduced in public
e-services' draft legislative acts public consultation. " Everyone in society will be able to review all of the
public consultation and submit their views on the SCM version, if public consultation is active, thus providing
opportunities for participation.
LATVIAN OPEN MANAGEMENT THIRD NATIONAL ACTION PLAN 18
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The total project cost
1.45 million euros (including ERDF 1,232,500 euros, the state budget 217 500 EUR).
Compliance with the law, planning and international instruments
• Declaration on Mara Kučinska led Cabinet planned activities of paragraph 35: "[..] Introduction of e-government
public institutions' activities and services";
• MK 3 May 2016 Order No. 275 "On the government's action plan for the Declaration on the Mara
Kučinska led by the Cabinet of Ministers for the implementation" as a priority the strengthening of
National Action Plan measures - "Create a single legislative drafting and harmonization of the portal";
• Information Society Development Guidelines for 2014- 2020th fixing a uniform legislation and
planning documents matching platform;
• ICT mērķarhitektūras road map determined by public involvement in law development and policy planning through
the development and coordination of TAP (koprades) portal;
• OGP principles introduction.
INTERMEDIATE OBJECTIVES
1. Single TAP development and harmonization of the portal development and implementation of
20.12.2017. - 31.12.2020.
2 Single TAP development and coordination of the site use the necessary regulatory framework changes
01.10.2018. - 03.31.2020.
3. The e-service "legislative public consultation project" Development and Implementation
01.04.2019. - 06.30.2020.
4. Operational Process Improvement
15.11.2017. - 31.12.2020.
5. Data quality improvement and data re-use provision in the preparation of re-usable data sets and
the publication of the Latvian Open Data Online
01.07.2018. - 31.12.2020.
LATVIAN OPEN MANAGEMENT THIRD NATIONAL ACTION PLAN 19
RESPONSIBLE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES
State Chancellery
OTHER MEASURES IN IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
INVOLVED
Ministry of Interior Information Center, Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Ministry of Justice
MEASURE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RELEVANT PARTNERS
Association "School Data"
Society "Latvian Civic Alliance" Latvian
Free Trade Union

2. Portal for Law drafting and Public Hearings

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

Editorial Note: The Latvian government did not submit an official English translation of its 2017−2019 to OGP. Therefore, the original Latvian version as it appears in the action plan can be viewed below. For the full text of this commitment, please see the Latvia 2017−2019 action plan here: https://www.mk.gov.lv/sites/default/files/editor/atvertas-parvaldibas-plans2017.pdf.

• MK lēmumu pieņemšanas procesa modernizēšana, nodrošinot efektīvāku un ātrāku valsts pārvaldes TAP izstrādes, saskaņošanas, apstiprināšanas un kontroles procesu.
• Uzlabot sabiedrības līdzdalības vidi tiesību aktu jaunrades procesā, tādējādi iedzīvinot atvērtās pārvaldības principu21 un iniciatīvas un nodrošinot atbilstību Informācijas sabiedrības attīstības pamatnostādnēm 2014.–2020. gadam22.

Rezultāta rādītāji (sasniedzamā vērtība trīs gadus pēc projekta beigām):

• 165 institūcijas (organizācijas), kas izmanto koplietošanas risinājumu “Vienotā tiesību aktu projektu izstrādes, saskaņošanas, apstiprināšanas un kontroles vide”, t. sk. 115 valsts pārvaldes institūcijas un 50 NVO (t. sk. valdības sociālo un sadarbības partneru organizācijas);
• tehnisko (neautomatizēto) darbību īpatsvars TAP sagatavošanas un saskaņošanas procesā sasniegs 33 % no esošajiem 100 %;
• trīs atkalizmantošanai un koplietošanai pieejamās saturiskās datu kopas, kas tiek publicētas Latvijas Atvērto datu portālā;
• publiskā elektroniskā pakalpojuma “Tiesību aktu projektu sabiedriskā apspriešana” izmantošanas pieaugums līdz 85 % no visiem iesniegtajiem viedokļiem.

Iznākuma rādītāji:

• četri pilnveidoti darbības procesi;
• ieviests TAP portāls;
• ieviests publiskais e-pakalpojums “Tiesību aktu projektu sabiedriskā apspriešana”.

Milestones:

2.1. Vienotā TAP izstrādes un saskaņošanas portāla izstrāde un ieviešana

2.2. Vienotā TAP izstrādes un saskaņošanas portāla lietošanai nepieciešamo normatīvo regulējumu izmaiņas

2.3. E-pakalpojuma “Tiesību aktu projektu sabiedriskā apspriešana” izstrāde un ieviešana

2.4. Darbības procesu uzlabošana

2.5. Datu kvalitātes pilnveide un datu atkalizmantošanas nodrošināšana, sagatavojot atkalizmantojamo datu kopas un publicējot tās Latvijas Atvērto datu portālā

Start Date: 1 Jul. 2017

End Date: 31 Dec. 2020

Context and Objectives

Current legal procedures require consultations on documents of public interest either online or via other formats depending on the issue, affected group, and institutional resources. The government must also publish drafts (TAP - projects of legal documents – draft Laws and Regulations) for comment on the Cabinet of Ministers’ website and report civic involvement in annotations to drafts. However, the public faces challenges in tracking new policies and laws. Planned amendments and timelines are not published on the same website, so tracking developments requires regular checking of several institutional websites.

Analyzing this commitment in previous IRM reports, [8] civil society sought assistance in comparing draft legislation developed by the executive branch with views by Parliament and the public. This means that an organization following a policy issue could see how the project changes in Parliament committees, the public response, and could participate in the debate itself. Now, CSOs can follow development of draft laws in Parliament through the public database of Parliament. Here, CSOs can find links to drafts debated in the Cabinet of Ministers and those debated in Parliament. If developments are not linked, Parliamentarians cannot easily access all civil society contributions such as those submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers. Access to the development of national positions on EU laws is ensured for those CSOs which cooperate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where they can access positions of their interest. Linking these two databases to the portal could be achieved through future OGP commitments once this investment project is implemented.

This commitment aims to expand opportunities to use e-participation tools. [9] The portal for legal and policy drafts is meant to help citizens become proactive participants in the policy-planning process. As described in the action plan, the portal would include several features to make legislative drafts (along with public reactions) accessible on a single online source, simplifying public participation. These features include:

• a user-friendly interface for civil society to access the history of proposed policies and laws, including their revisions;
• a platform for citizens to comment on draft documents and laws; and
• three open datasets—policy documents, legal documents (including drafts), and annotations—classified by organizational structure and in machine-readable format.

The commitment is relevant to OGP values of access to information, civic participation, and technology and innovation for transparency and accountability. It is a continuation from Latvia’s first (2013−2014) [10] and second (2015−2017) action plans, [11] and is part of a long-term investment in new IT systems for public administration. During the previous two action plans, a legal basis for the portal was created, and the Cabinet of Ministers approved the project as one of the funding priorities of its investment program. [12] The State Chancellery stressed that the company that wins the bid will be required to respond to the needs of civil society. [13]

Most of the milestones are verifiable, but it is unclear from the description what the related regulations will be (Milestone 2.2). The commitment also does not spell out if and how testing and improving of the portal (Milestone 2.4) will involve civil society.

If fully implemented, the commitment could moderately impact the public’s ability to monitor drafts laws, follow new policies and laws, and give feedback at various stages of drafting.

Next steps

The timeframe for the implementation exceeds the two-year OGP action plan cycle. Therefore, CSOs will only be able to evaluate the trial versions and comment on the trials during the next action plan period.

During the development of the current action plan, civil society insisted to be included in trials of all technology solutions. [14] The IRM researcher recommends continuing to highlight this commitment in the next action plan by focusing on the involvement of stakeholders in developing technology solutions. Next steps after completing this commitment could involve linking law-drafting databases of the executive with the legislative.

[8] Zinta Miezaine, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM): Latvia Progress Report 2015–2016 (OGP, 2016), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Latvia_Progress-Report_2015-2017_for-public-comment_0.pdf.

[9] State Chancellery, “Draft legislation of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia: Draft Legislation…” (7 Mar. 2019), http://tap.mk.gov.lv/lv/mk/tap/?dateFrom=2015-09-23&dateTo=2016-09-22&mk&text=653&org=0&area=0&type=0.

[10] Government of Latvia, Open Government Partnership Action Plan of Latvia (OGP, 2012), https://www.mk.gov.lv/sites/default/files/editor/latvijas_pirmais_nacionalais_ricibas_plans_ogp_2012.g._eng.pdf.

[11] Government of Latvia: Cabinet of Ministers, Second National Action Plan of Latvia (OGP, 23 Dec. 2014), https://www.mk.gov.lv/sites/default/files/editor/ogp_2_plans_aktualizets_05.12.2016_eng_clean.pdf.

[12] Ministry of Environment Protection and Regional Development, “Supplementary: Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. Measure 2.2.1...” (9 Dec. 2015), http://www.varam.gov.lv/lat/likumdosana/normativo_aktu_projekti/2014__2020_gada_eiropas_savienibas_fondi/?doc=20890.

[13] Zinta Miezaine, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM): Latvia Progress Report 2015–2016 (OGP, 2016), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Latvia_Progress-Report_2015-2017_for-public-comment_0.pdf

[14] Providus, “Open Management Partnership Plan 2017-2019: Wish List for Latvian Tasks” (31 Mar. 2017), http://providus.lv/article/atvertas-parvaldibas-partneribas-plans-2017-2019-velmju-saraksts-latvijas-uzdevumiem.

2. Portal for Law drafting and Public Hearings

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

Editorial Note: The Latvian government did not submit an official English translation of its 2017−2019 to OGP. Therefore, the original Latvian version as it appears in the action plan can be viewed below. For the full text of this commitment, please see the Latvia 2017−2019 action plan here: https://www.mk.gov.lv/sites/default/files/editor/atvertas-parvaldibas-plans2017.pdf.

• MK lēmumu pieņemšanas procesa modernizēšana, nodrošinot efektīvāku un ātrāku valsts pārvaldes TAP izstrādes, saskaņošanas, apstiprināšanas un kontroles procesu.
• Uzlabot sabiedrības līdzdalības vidi tiesību aktu jaunrades procesā, tādējādi iedzīvinot atvērtās pārvaldības principu un iniciatīvas un nodrošinot atbilstību Informācijas sabiedrības attīstības pamatnostādnēm 2014.–2020. gadam.

Rezultāta rādītāji (sasniedzamā vērtība trīs gadus pēc projekta beigām):

• 165 institūcijas (organizācijas), kas izmanto koplietošanas risinājumu “Vienotā tiesību aktu projektu izstrādes, saskaņošanas, apstiprināšanas un kontroles vide”, t. sk. 115 valsts pārvaldes institūcijas un 50 NVO (t. sk. valdības sociālo un sadarbības partneru organizācijas);
• tehnisko (neautomatizēto) darbību īpatsvars TAP sagatavošanas un saskaņošanas procesā sasniegs 33 % no esošajiem 100 %;
• trīs atkalizmantošanai un koplietošanai pieejamās saturiskās datu kopas, kas tiek publicētas Latvijas Atvērto datu portālā;
• publiskā elektroniskā pakalpojuma “Tiesību aktu projektu sabiedriskā apspriešana” izmantošanas pieaugums līdz 85 % no visiem iesniegtajiem viedokļ

Iznākuma rādītāji:

• četri pilnveidoti darbības procesi;
• ieviests TAP portāls;
• ieviests publiskais e-pakalpojums “Tiesību aktu projektu sabiedriskā apspriešana”.

Milestones:

2.1. Vienotā TAP izstrādes un saskaņošanas portāla izstrāde un ieviešana

2.2. Vienotā TAP izstrādes un saskaņošanas portāla lietošanai nepieciešamo normatīvo regulējumu izmaiņas

2.3. E-pakalpojuma “Tiesību aktu projektu sabiedriskā apspriešana” izstrāde un ieviešana

2.4. Darbības procesu uzlabošana

2.5. Datu kvalitātes pilnveide un datu atkalizmantošanas nodrošināšana, sagatavojot atkalizmantojamo datu kopas un publicējot tās Latvijas Atvērto datu portālā

Start Date: 1 July 2017

End Date: 31 December 2020

Although Latvia requires consultations on documents of public interest, the public often faces challenges in tracking planned amendments, new policies, and laws. This commitment aimed to develop a new portal for legal and policy drafting, including e-participation, to help citizens proactively participate in planning policy. The portal would make legislative drafts and public comments accessible on a single online source, thus simplifying public participation.

By the end of the action plan period (July 2019), the State Chancellery had elaborated technical specifications for the portal and ensured a budget for the project. It also contracted a company to develop the portal. However, since there is no publicly available trial version of the portal, the implementation of this commitment was incomplete. There were no consultations with NGOs during implementation of this commitment, though they are scheduled following the software development.

Eventually, the project was presented to the Council of Memorandum after the third action plan period, on 25 September 2019. The government plans to finish the portal by April 2021 and involve NGOs like the Civic Alliance of Latvia and Providus in its testing. [6] Since the portal was not finished by the end of the action plan period, this commitment has not improved public consultations.

[6] Viktors Sidorenkovs, “TAP portāls (Vienotais Tiesību Aktu Projektu izstrādes un saskaņošanas portāls)” [TAP portal (Single Portal for Drafting and Coordinating Legislation)] (Cabinet of Ministers, 25 Sept. 2019), https://www.mk.gov.lv/sites/default/files/editor/Lidzdaliba/20190925_tap_memoranda_padome.pdf.