Legislative Drafting Guidelines for Africa

These "Legislative Drafting Guidelines for Africa" aim at providing a set of principles and best practices for drafting primary (original) legislation. In doing so, they provide several general principles that also apply". These "Legislative Drafting Guidelines for Africa" are intended to promote a commitment to improving the quality of lawmaking and a commitment to simplicity, clarity and consistency in the drafting of laws in Africa. The Guidelines are neither binding nor exhaustive, and are not intended to override the legislative conventions and official drafting manuals of the respective countries. They can, however, promote a convergence of practices beneficial for the harmonisation of law in Africa. They are intended to serve as a reference for all bodies involved in the process of drafting legislation in Africa. It is hoped that the Guidelines will assist all those involved, in any way, in drafting legislative acts within the African Union institutions. The Guidelines aim to make African legislation as clear, simple, concise and understandable as possible by providing criteria against which the drafting of legislation may be checked to ensure that its objectives and the means by which they are attained are not only more understandable by citizens but also more easily processed by ICTs. These Guidelines are divided into three main Parts: Part I - Introduction that explains the rationale and scope; Part II - Legislative Drafting Guidelines for Africa that list the drafting guidelines; Part III - Annex - A glossary of terms used in the Guidelines. Note: The glossary has included in the Annexes so as not to interrupt the flow of the Guidelines. Nevertheless, the reader is strongly encouraged to read the glossary before or while reading the Guidelines since the terminology used - covering different traditions - may in some respects be different from that which the reader expects.