How to Register a Normative Legal Act: The Ministry of Justice Explained the Procedure and Deadlines

The procedure for state registration of normative legal acts adopted by ministries and other executive authorities vested with law-making powers is determined by a number of regulatory documents.

In particular, the relevant procedure is regulated by the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated October 3, 1992, No. 493/92 "On State Registration of Normative Legal Acts of Ministries and Other Executive Authorities," as well as the Regulation on State Registration of Normative Legal Acts of Ministries and Other Executive Authorities, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on December 28, 1992, No. 731 (as amended). This was highlighted by the Department of State Registration of Normative Legal Acts of the Odessa Interregional Office of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

State registration of a normative legal act involves conducting a legal examination for compliance with the Constitution and legislation of Ukraine, the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols, international treaties of Ukraine whose consent to be bound has been granted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and Ukraine's obligations in the field of European integration and European Union law (EU acquis), anti-corruption examination, as well as taking into account the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, making a decision on the state registration of this act, assigning it a registration number, and entering it into the Unified State Register of Normative Legal Acts.

State registration is required for normative legal acts that contain one or more norms affecting the rights, freedoms, lawful interests and duties of citizens and legal entities, establish new or change, supplement, or repeal the organizational and legal mechanism for their implementation, or have an interdepartmental nature, i.e., are mandatory for other executive authorities and local self-government bodies, as well as legal entities not belonging to the management sphere of the law-making entity.

A normative legal act must be submitted for state registration within three working days after its adoption in one copy (the original normative legal act). For normative legal acts containing information with restricted access, the protection of which is established by law, a certified copy of such an act must also be submitted in accordance with the procedure established by law.

Together with the normative legal act and its cover letter, the following must be submitted to the Odessa Interregional Office of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine:

a) an explanatory note in the form defined in Appendix 4 to the Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution dated July 18, 2007, No. 950;

b) a comparative table in the form defined in Appendix 7 to the Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution dated July 18, 2007, No. 950 (in case of submission for state registration of an act amending a registered normative legal act);

c) documents on external approval and/or tacit approval of the normative legal act by law-making entities and/or other interested bodies in accordance with the legislation in the manner and form established by the legislation on documentation of management activities;

If ministries and other central executive authorities submit a normative legal act on issues related to the social and labor sphere for state registration, they also inform about the position of the authorized representative of all-Ukrainian trade unions, their associations, and the authorized representative of all-Ukrainian associations of employers regarding this act and about the work carried out to take into account their comments and proposals. The necessity to consider these comments and proposals is determined by the ministries and other central executive authorities adopting this act;

If ministries and other central executive authorities submit a normative legal act on issues concerning persons with disabilities for state registration, they also inform about the position of the Government Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, all-Ukrainian public organizations of persons with disabilities and their unions;

d) the decision of the State Registration Department on approval of the draft regulatory act;

e) a certificate of compliance with Ukraine's obligations in the field of European integration and European Union law (EU acquis) in the form defined in Appendix 1 to the Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution dated July 18, 2007, No. 950;

f) the conclusion of the Ministry of Digital Transformation on the conduct of digital expertise, if the draft normative legal act concerns informatization, e-governance, formation and use of national electronic information resources, development of the information society, electronic democracy, provision of administrative services, or digital development;

g) the conclusion on the conduct of gender-legal expertise of the draft normative legal act in the form defined in Appendix 2 to the Procedure for Conducting Gender-Legal Expertise, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution dated November 28, 2018, No. 997 "Issues of Conducting Gender-Legal Expertise" (Official Bulletin of Ukraine, 2018, No. 96, p. 3173).

State registration of a normative legal act is carried out within 15 working days from the day following its receipt by the state registration authority.

If necessary (the need to analyze the normative legal act involving experts, study a significant number of acts of current legislation, etc.), this period may be extended by the state registration authority, but not more than 10 working days, about which the authority that sent the normative legal act for state registration is notified.

A normative legal act may be returned by the state registration authority without state registration for revision at the request of the law-making entity, as well as if the law-making entity violates the requirements of paragraph 9 of this Regulation or the procedure for submitting the act for state registration established by the state registration authority.

If the normative legal act meets the requirements specified in this Regulation, the state registration authority makes a decision on its state registration and enters it into the state register.

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