This paper summarizes the main findings of a research publication called “Towards High-Quality Law Drafting. Quality Indicators of the Legislative Drafting Process in Finland” which is available in Finnish (Publications of the Government´s analysis, assessment, and research activities 2023:13).

There is little international research on the quality of the legislative drafting process and national research is both spotty and haphazard. There are no comprehensive and reliable monitoring data available on the quality of the legislative drafting process. Data reserves of databases or systems related to legislative projects should be further developed to improve the monitoring of the quality of law drafting.

This project created a quality indicator system for the law drafting process which consists of seven sections: 1) initiative, need, and relevance, 2) organisation and management of legislative drafting projects in ministries, 3) resourcing and capabilities, 4) knowledge base, 5) participation and consultation, 6) quality and flow of the legislative drafting process, 7) impact assessment.

The piloted barometers revealed that the legislative drafting process' resourcing, management, process planning and impact assessment are most in need of further development. Furthermore, stakeholders hoped that more interactive consultation and participation practices would also be developed.

This publication has undergone an external scientific review.