THE CONCEPT OF PROVIDING RULE-MAKING PROCESS WITH INFORMATION

This article analyzes the concept, essence and charactristics of providing rule-making process with information. Along with encyclopedic materials of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the approaches and opinions of scientists have been discussed. As part of the study, the normative legal acts of the Repubic of Uzbekistan have been analyzed in detail. Author‘s definitions for the relevant notions have been developed which means that the writer achieved the purpose of this scientific research. In fact, in addition to legal research, the author developed scientifically proved definitions of several legal terms such as “information”, “information used in the rule-making process” and “providing rule-making process with information”. The issue of developing requirements for information in national legislation will be discussed by studying the scientific views on the information applied in rule-making process and the concept of providing rule-making process with information. It also examines the relevance of all types of information, regardless of the form, type, and stage of rule-making process and the importance of normative legal acts in determining viability, sustainability, and regulatory impact. It is recognized that information supply in the rule-making process and the mechanism of regulation of certain social relations affects the rational and effective perception of the normative legal acts by the general public.

THE CONCEPT OF PROVIDING RULE-MAKING PROCESS WITH INFORMATION

ARTICLE INFO Keywords: information, rule-making, providing rule-making process with information, information used in rule-making process, information supply, information quality.

Akmal Sodikov, Doctor of Philosophy in Law, Senior Lecturer, Department of Theory of State and Law, Tashkent State University of Law E-mail: akmalsodikov81@gmail.com ORCID: 0000-0001-6453-1327

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the concept, essence and charactristics of providing rule-making process with information. Along with encyclopedic materials of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the approaches and opinions of scientists have been discussed. As part of the study, the normative legal acts of the Repubic of Uzbekistan have been analyzed in detail. Author’s definitions for the relevant notions have been developed which means that the writer achieved the purpose of this scientific research. In fact, in addition to legal research, the author developed scientifically proved definitions of several legal terms such as “information”, “information used in the rule-making process” and “providing rule-making process with information”. The issue of developing requirements for information in national legislation will be discussed by studying the scientific views on the information applied in rule-making process and the concept of providing rule-making process with information. It also examines the relevance of all types of information, regardless of the form, type, and stage of rule-making process and the importance of normative legal acts in determining viability, sustainability, and regulatory impact. It is recognized that information supply in the rule-making process and the mechanism of regulation of certain social relations affects the rational and effective perception of the normative legal acts by the general public.

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I. Introduction According to Strategy for Transparency, High Accountability and the Right to Information (2018-2021) by “Access Info in Europe”, the main reason for the existence of “weak laws” is the existence of various barriers to supply rule-making process with information [1, P. 7-8.]. Naturally, rule-making plays an important role in the regulation of social relations and requires the scientific analysis of the effectiveness of information provision, the quality and type of information, the requirements for information used in the rule-making process and the optimal means of information provision.

The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sh.M.Mirziyoyev stressed the need for a scientific approach and the acceleration of introduction of advanced information and communication technologies in this regard [2]. M.K.Najimov also notes that the lack of a clear and solid scientific and methodological basis for the rule-making process hinders the effective implementation of reforms in this area [3, P. 85.].

Indeed, globalization, the integrated dynamics of information exchange, the rapid development of advanced information and communication technologies require scientific research to provide the rule-making process with necessary information.

In this regard, on January 25, 2021, the Institute of Legislative Problems and Parliamentary Research under the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan held an international conference on “Current issues of scientific and information-analytical support of parliamentary activity” [4]. At this conference and other similar scientific seminars, the views of various scientists and experts on improving the efficiency of the rule-making process, attention is being paid to the issue of information support, its comprehensiveness, enrichment with scientific and information-analytical data.

Therefore, one of the first tasks of this article is to study and analyze the concept of “information support of the rule-making process” from a conceptual, scientific and methodological point of view. Studies have shown that this concept is not directly defined in the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as the scientific works of national and foreign scientists.

II. Research results and discussion As we mentioned, this concept has not been mentioned in national legislation or in monographs on the rule-making process. In particular, despite the fact that P.A.Rustamov conducted research on the provision the legislative activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan with scientific information [5], does not address the notion of “informational supply of the rule-making process”.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop an author’s definition of the notions of “informational supply of the rule-making process” by focusing on inclusive processes of the rule-making, “information” and “information used in the rule-making process”.

In recent years, in dissertations for PhD degree on rule-making, in particular, A.A. Khojanazarov (2021) [6, P. 24] and S.A. Sultanova (2021) [7, P. 21.], they gave authorial definitions of the notion of “rule-making”. In this article, we once again consider it is not expedient to directly analyze this concept, but to focus on the inclusive processes that rule-making involves, the dynamics of information exchange.

We will first focus on the scientific work of foreign scholars, and then on the conceptual approaches of national lawyers.

U.S. scientist M.P. Carey states that the process of rulemaking is the process by which federal agencies develop, amend, and repeal legal rules [8, P. 1.], B.Dooling – development and implementation of legal rules [9, P. 895.], T.Garvey [10, P. 5.], J.S.Lubbers note that this process is based on the system of “notice and comment” including the process of publication of the draft normative legal act, collection of public proposals and recommendations, finishing with the adoption of the normative legal act [11].

Analyzing U.S. scholars, we may conclude that the content of the rule-making process

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is in narrow sense, it has been observed that many stages, levels, and procedures of rule-making have not been taken into account.

Y.N. Yarmonova, a scientist from the Russian Federation, noted that the rule-making process is the development and approval of new legal norms [12, P. 2.], S.I.Girko states that it is legal processes carried out by authorized subjects [13, P. 43.], G.S.Skachkova – the process of developing normative legal acts [14, P. 60.], Yu.G.Arzamasov – development of a draft normative legal act, approval of the draft, conducting various expertise, adoption and publication of a draft normative legal act [15, P. 27.], Y.Y. Tonkov and K.Y. Pavlova mentioned that it contains implementation a legislative initiative, and covers processes such as issuance, acceptance, signing, official publication and entry into force [16, P. 155.].

In our opinion, the analysis of the stages of the rule-making process, expressed by the scientists of the Russian Federation, shows that some cases were not taken into account. In particular, it is observed that the collection of information necessary for the development of a draft normative legal act, the development of proposals for the draft, the assessment of regulatory impact, as well as public and expert discussion are not mentioned.

M.K. Najimov, one of the national legal scholars, argues that the rule-making activity includes the following structural processes: initiative to develop a draft normative legal act, project development, public discussion on the Single interactive state services portal, legal expertise of the draft by the legal service of the interested bodies and the organizations, legal expertise of the project in judicial authorities (bodies of Ministry of Justice), acceptance, distribution of the normative legal act, the organization of control over execution of the normative legal act [17, P. 18.].

Sh.Ruzinazarov and S.Inoyatova noted that the rule-making process includes monitoring, adoption, amendment and repeal of normative legal acts [18, P. 6.].

It is difficult to find a unified and comprehensive approach to this issue in the research of scientists of the Republic. This is because amendments and additions to the normative legal act, of course, require the development of a draft of the relevant normative legal act. Also, the organization of control over the implementation of the normative legal act, in our opinion, can not be considered as an integral part of the rule-making process. Because this issue is not directly related to the creation of the norm, but to the relationship between legal practice and law enforcement in its implementation.

The approaches of the above-mentioned scientists can lead to a narrow understanding of the rule-making process, to provide these processes with relevant information, and to obtain the necessary information as a result of each process, to ignore the issues of information processing.

Thus, from the point of view of information provision, it can be concluded that the rule-making process consists of:

The rule-making involves the following processes:

1. consideration of a proposal for the preparation of a draft normative legal act and adoption of a decision on its preparation; 2. collection of necessary information for the development of the draft normative legal act; 3. formation of organizational and technical support; 4. development of proposals; 5. preparation of information and analytical materials attached to the draft; 6. preparation of draft normative legal act; 7. organization of public, expert discussion; 8. assessment of regulatory impact of the draft normative legal act; 9. legal and other expertise of the draft; 10. coordination and agreement with the relevant authorities; 11. adoption or submission to the relevant body to adopt or approve the draft normative legal act;

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12. official announcement of normative legal act.

This article discusses the scientific and theoretical issues related to the exchange of information in the above-mentioned processes.

In concluding on the components of the rule-making process from the point of view of information provision, we will focus here on the analysis of the notions of “information” and “information used in the rule-making process”.

Observations show that in national encyclopedic dictionaries, the concept of information is expressed by the word “data”, and it is not necessary to cite any other basis for scientific debate. In the encyclopedic literature, the concept of information is “detailed information about an event, information [19, P. 812.]”, and in the explanatory dictionary of the Uzbek language “information is data on work, about events” [20, P. 119.].

Although the Uzbek legal encyclopedia does not define the concept of information, it mentions only the concept of “information resources” [21, P. 35.]. It is limited with the quote from the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Informatization”.

In this regard, we would like to draw your attention to the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan on this issue. The issue of providing information on normative legal acts directly regulating the process of rule-making involves information-analytical materials attached to the draft normative legal act. Legislation that directly regulates the rule-making process does not address the concepts of “information”, “information used in the rule-making process” and “information support of the rule-making process”. In our opinion, in this case, the omission of information contained in the draft normative legal act will lead to the neglect of factors that directly affect the quality of the draft.

Although the issue of collecting the necessary material and information in the development of the draft normative legal act by the subjects of rule-making is mentioned in the laws, such as Article 21 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Normative Legal Acts” [22], Article 9 of the Law “On the Procedure for Preparation of Draft Laws and their Submission to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan” [23], the provision of information has not been recognized as a separate stage. In addition, the analysis of other normative legal acts regulating rule-making shows that they also do not specify the relevant theoretical and conceptual approaches, focusing on the process of providing information to the subjects of rule-making.

Observations show that certain definitions can be found in normative legal acts that are not directly aimed at regulating the process of rule-making. In particular, Article 3 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Principles and Guarantees of Freedom of Information” [24], Article 3 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Informatization” stipulate the notions such as “informational resource”, “owner of information resources or information systems”, “owner of information resources or information systems”, “information technology” and “information system” [25], the concept of information is not clarified. In addition, Article 4 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health” [26] defines another concept close to the concept of information as “information product” [27].

In our opinion, it is necessary to develop special conceptual concepts in our national legislation, first of all, on issues such as “information”, “information provision”, “information provider”, “information requirements.

Therefore, the analysis of these concepts from a scientific and theoretical point of view requires consideration of scientific approaches. In particular, national legal scholars have highlighted some aspects of the concept of “information” on the basis of different approaches.

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M.A. Akhmedshaeva and I.V. Kudryavtsev [28] highlighted the importance of prognostic information and information-analytical materials, H.S.Khayitov [29] researched the issue from the point of view of expertanalytical information. Research in recent years, in particular, although S.A. Sadikov gave authorial definitions of concepts such as “information environment” and “informational function of the state” [30, P. 20-21.], the researcher did not focus on the concept of “information”. However, the concept of information has been directly studied by some scientists, including A.A. Amanov, who believes that information is an objective, accurate, holistic data which can perform such functions as distribution, transmission, delivery, processing, as well as information about any condition or situation and activity that serve as the main means in connecting man with society [31, P. 22.]. In our opinion, although the definition of a researcher is broad, it contains a general understanding of the concept of information and the requirements and criteria for it. It should be noted that the concept of information and its requirements should be analyzed separately. A.K. Khudoiberdiyev, in turn, noted that the final result of the analysis of the concept of information is the product of the formation of new information on the basis of collected data [32, P. 123.], Kh.T. Mamatov mentioned that information is an object which is stored, processed in the scientific and legal framework” [33, P. 11.]. Lawyers also analyze the main features of information, which is an important component of social life, namely intangible benefits, an object that can affect from a spiritual point of view, the widespread distribution, reproduction and processing also examines its legal nature as a capable object [34, P. 20-21.]. P.A. Rustamov also developed an author’s definition of “information is data about events and objects in the environment” [35, P. 96.].

An analysis of scientific research on the concept of “information” shows that the above-mentioned national lawyers’ approach to the concept of information in a general, social sense does not correspond to its perception as information used in the rule-making. Drawing our attention to the views of foreign jurists in this regard, E. Borghetto and M. Giuliani noted that the image of the rule-making process is inextricably linked with the exchange of information [36, P. 4-6.], H. Kluver, I. Sagarzazu emphasize the exchange of information in terms of task performance [37]. In our view, limiting the exchange of information in the rule-making process with only the tasks assigned to it does not fully reveal the essence of this activity. The following author’s definition of the concept of “information” can be proposed by analyzing the definition of the concept of information and scientific approaches given by national and foreign scientists: “Information is data about individuals, objects, facts, events, and processes that can be used to receive, store, process and transmit”. Thus, based on indirectly analyzed scientific research, theoretical approaches, opinions of scientists, the definition of the concept of “information used in the rule-making process” in the narrow sense is developed as follows: “Information used in the rule-making process is a systematized set of data about individuals, objects, facts, events, conditions and processes, reflected in the draft normative legal act or information-analytical materials, regardless of their sources and form of presentation ”. In the broad sense, “information used in the rule-making process is a systematized set of data which is possible to form, receive, transmit, record, process, store, collect, systematize, update, distribute with the material, software, cryptographic and other information communication technologies or other means”.

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Next, it is worthwhile to continue the analysis of the concepts in this article with the concept of “informational support of the rule-making process”. After all, this concept is at the heart of scientific research. It should be noted that the process of providing information is an organizational, socio-economic and scientific-technical process of creating optimal conditions for meeting information needs based on the formation and use of information resources.

B.K. Karipov connects with the concept of “informatization of rule-making” to the rule-making process stating and informatization, collection, processing and analysis of legal information in the preparation of the draft normative legal act [38, P. 212].

A.A. Arnautova stressed the need to use automated systems in the processing of information required in the rule-making process [39, P. 39], Y.V. Skurko notes the need to introduce a set of measures aimed at meeting the information needs of entities directly and indirectly involved in the legislative process [40, P. 9].

In our view, it is important to keep in mind that information provision is not limited to data collection, processing and analysis, but also includes information reliability verification, database creation and other similar measures.

Defenitely, it is observed that information and communication technologies penetrate into all spheres of social life, but it is doubtful that the information support of the rule-making process not always estimated in high levels.

Because in most cases (in the rule-making process), the means of providing information are material or physical.

We also believe that the provision of the rule-making process with information linked to the actions and processes of organizational nature. Based on the above considerations, we believe it is appropriate to develop an author’s definition of the concept of “providing rule-making process with information” as follows:

“providing rule-making process with information is organizational, legal and scientific-technical process which makes the availability of formation, reception, transmission, recording, processing, storage, collection, systematization, updating, distribution, use or security of information required for rule-making by various and special means”.

III. Conclusion The development of requirements for information in the legislative system for the provision of information in the rule-making process, the creation of an effective information exchange environment, the formation of an organizational and legal mechanism in line with modern requirements and increase efficiency in this regard are the current issues that need to be studied scientifically.

Therefore, it is important to strengthen the national legislation, to develop requirements for information, taking into account the scientific views on the concepts of information, information used in the rule-making process. The provision of information, the subjects of rule-makinng, the subject of information and other concepts require separate scientific and legal research, the results of which should be reflected in the normative legal acts of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

To summarize, all types of information, regardless of the form, type and stages of the rule-making process, are relevant and can determine the viability, stability, effectiveness of normative legal acts. The importance of information is assessed by the fact that it has a significant impact on the expression of the will of the people in the normative legal acts. The provision of information also contributes to the rational, effective and regulatory mechanism of certain social relations and how it is perceived by the general public.

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