Parliament is at the heart of every democracy. It is where elected representatives debate, shape and pass the laws that define our society. Although parliament has several core constitutional functions, from lawmaking to oversight of the executive, voting on and monitoring the national budget and representing citizens, it is parliament’s legislative role that is best known; indeed, an alternative word for parliament is legislature. Because democratic parliaments are composed of representatives of the people, they are called on to define, debate and adopt laws that consider diverse interests, perspectives and challenges.
At the same time, lawmakers have neither the time, nor the technical expertise to define exactly how all laws should be specifically administered. For example, parliament may pass a law establishing the core framework of how speed limits on roads are set and enforced, but parliamentarians could not possibly study and debate every kilometre of roadway in a country to decide what the speed limit should be, nor define the exact (and changing) requirements for speed cameras used to measure motorists’ speed. These details are addressed through regulations issued by government. As governance becomes increasingly complex and rules are based on technical and scientific criteria, an increasingly large body of regulations is required to implement the legislative framework across numerous domains.
Responsibility for establishing these detailed rules—decrees, orders, ordinances and regulations—is typically delegated to the government. This is an important, although not the only, example of Delegated Legislation. While these legal instruments are essential for effective governance, rules are usually—and to some extent inevitably—produced without the same level of public debate, scrutiny or formal approval that accompanies the original legislation.
The core challenge addressed in this document therefore lies in balancing the need for delegation with safeguards to limit the significant risks of executive overreach. When the executive branch issues too many rules behind closed doors, the lines between who makes the law (parliament) and who executes it (the government) can become blurred. Lack of transparency and democratic oversight can weaken the trust that citizens place in their government. Parliaments worldwide must therefore find ways to balance the need to focus on key legal principles through pieces of primary legislation, while ensuring that the powers delegated to government to draft and enact rules for implementation of these laws are not misused. Rules established through delegated legislation need to be limited in scope, as expressed in primary legislation, to be subject to scrutiny by parliament and firmly aligned with the public interest. This document examines how different countries confronted with the same challenge seek to draw these crucial lines.
