Laws and regulations have an impact on all aspects of everyday life. While good regulation contributes to well-functioning markets and societies, poor regulation may undermine them by imposing undue costs on businesses and citizens.

The 2012 OECD Recommendation of the Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance demonstrates that good regulatory management helps stimulate economic activity at both domestic and international levels. A well-functioning regulatory framework enables efficient markets and helps protect citizens against financial, economic and societal uncertainties. Law drafting techniques and procedures have a direct impact on the effectiveness of legislation and regulatory quality. Transparent and coherent legislative drafting procedures help promote public participation in the rule-making process, foster trust in the justice system, reinforce the rule of law and create an enabling business environment where citizens and businesses can identify their rights and obligations.

This report is written for decision makers, policy makers, public officials and the international community working on better regulation and legislation. The report sheds light on the role of legislative drafting manuals in enhancing legislative and regulatory quality and promoting good governance; and provides evidence and good practices from the OECD countries in the preparation and implementation of the legislative drafting manuals. In particular, the report focuses on the first Egyptian legislative drafting manual The Egyptian Legislative Drafting Manual is accessible online on the website of the Ministry of Justice: http://www.jp.gov.eg/ar/Ministry_of_Justice_Design_of_Legislative_Guide.pdf (accessed 22 July 2019)., which is prepared by the Ministry of Justice of Egypt with the support of the OECD. This report aims to assess the legislative drafting manual of Egypt, which was launched in July 2018 by the Ministry of Justice of Egypt, in light of good practice as outlined in the 2016 Charter and 2012 Recommendation; and provide recommendations for making these legislative drafting instructions more operational and effective. The report is prepared as part of the MENA Transition Fund Project “The Rule of Law in Egypt” of the G7 Deauville Partnership, implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and the African Development Bank. The report is based on the findings of peer-to-peer exchanges, capacity-building activities, technical workshops and a series of study visits to OECD countries, including Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain which have been conducted since 2014. The OECD would like to thank the officials from the Government of Egypt and the OECD peers for their support and commitment as well as the MENA Transition Fund of the G7 Deauville Partnership for the financial support.

This chapter serves as the basis to understand the significance of legislative drafting manuals on implementing a sound legislation and regulatory policy. It introduces the concept of legislative quality and its relevance in pursuit of good regulation and governance. Based on the evidence across the OECD and MENA countries, the chapter then examines how legislative drafting manuals can help promote legislative quality. The chapter lays out the characteristics of good legislative drafting manuals; and concludes that legislative drafting instructions have proven effective in fostering the quality of legislation; however, effective implementation is essential to fully reap their benefits.

This chapter focuses on legislative drafting in Egypt. It first maps out the process of legislative drafting in Egypt while demonstrating how legislative drafting processes and procedures work. It then identifies the existing challenges in the current legislative and regulatory framework; and demonstrates how the Egyptian Legislative Drafting Manual could help overcome these challenges; and thus contribute to better legislation and regulation.

This chapter outlines how to best implement the Egyptian Manual for Legislative Drafting in an effective and efficient manner, based on the experiences of OECD countries. The chapter underlines that it is essential for Egypt to build their ongoing legislative reform efforts on a comprehensive and whole of a government regulatory policy strategy in order to complement the significant progress achieved with the preparation of the Legislative Drafting Manual. The chapter concludes with specific recommendations to help maximise the potential of the Egyptian Manual for Legislative Drafting as a tool for obtaining better outcomes from legislation.