The Office of the Legislative Drafter
The Office of the Legislative Drafter is primarily tasked with
the following:
- drafting legislation;
- drafting standard policies and procedures;
- publishing and revising laws; and
- implementing government policies.
Approximately 24 bills were drafted and passed by the Parliament
during the reporting period of July 2020 to June 2021. Two were
substantive and new legislation as follows:
- Environmental Management and Climate Change Act 2020; and
- Registration of Associations Act 2020.
Twenty nine regulations were drafted which included 22
substantive regulations and 7 amendment regulations were approved
by Cabinet.
One of the main functions of the Section is to manage the stock
of legislation for the Parliament, Government, business companies
and citizens. RONLAW is Nauru's online legal database which is
administered by the legislative drafting team. The
publication of Acts and Regulations, Bills and explanatory
memoranda on the website has remained consistently up to date for
public and official use. So far, there are over 700 laws that are
in place and can be found on the Database.
Our Team
| Position |
Name |
| Director Legislative Drafting |
Vacant |
| Senior Legislative Drafter |
Kerryn Kwan |
| Legislative Drafter |
Mele Tagivakatini |
| Pleader (Legislative Drafting) |
Marilyn Deireragea |
| Paralegal (Legislative Drafting) |
Starison Engar |
Objectives
- Ensure institutional strengthening by drafting the
laws
Motivation
Without laws, there would be chaos
Strategic Plan Priority Area 4: Cost Cutting
Sectors
Cross-Goal 1
Strengthen Parliament, audit, justice, law, order and border
control.
Achievements
- The Environmental Management and Climate Change Act 2020 was
passed by Parliament on 23rd October 2020. This Act makes provision
for the management and protection of the
environment, climate change, the promotion of sustainable
development, to facilitate compliance with the Republic's
international and regional environment related obligations and for
related purposes.
- The Registration of Associations Act 2020 was passed by the
Parliament on 23rd October 2020. The Act creates an enabling
environment for the registration of associations, makes provision
for corporate governance, financial accountability, regulates and
promotes cooperation with other local or international
organisations, communities and the Government and monitors their
activities and for other related purposes.
Way Forward
In the coming year, the Legislative Drafting Section aims
to:
- Complete the Law Revision and Consolidation Project.
- Work on reviewing a number of 'older' legislation to ensure
consistency with more recent legislation [For example, Criminal
Procedure Act 1972 and Quarantine Act 1908] and drafting new
legislation to replace the same.
- Work on repealing spent and redundant legislation.
- Work on ensuring that Nauru's laws are clear, readable and
readily accessible.
- Strengthen coordination between the Section and other
agencies.
- Carry out training on legislation at the request of
departments
- Improving legal research on the basis of legislative drafting
to improve effectiveness.
- Review the drafting mechanisms to keep laws in harmony and
consistent.
- Updating the Legislative Drafting Manual to keep it current and
in conformity with legislative drafting principles.
- Work on improving the Section's publication function
[RONLAW].