Decree-Law – What is it, definition and concept

The Decree-Law is a provision of legislation issued by the Government in case of special and urgent need without being able to deal with issues expressly excluded in the Constitution. Its character is provisional.

 

This Decree-Law is a legislative mechanism available to the Government to generate normative without having to follow the ordinary legislative procedure that would give way to law approval. That is, the Cortes Generales do not approve of this rule. It has a lower rank than the laws.

 

Each country contains different regulations and different types of rules, but the decree for actions of necessity and extreme urgency seems to be widespread. In some countries, it is known as an emergency decree.

 

For this reason, so that the Government does not abuse this power to dictate regulations, it is restricted to extraordinary and urgent situations without certain issues being dealt with. In addition, these decrees are born with a marked time limit.

 

What is its purpose? They allow legislating a situation that needs urgent regulation in a much faster way since decrees of this type do not have the same approval procedure as a law.

 

Characteristics of the Decree-Law

 

The main characteristics that define this figure are:

 

• The Court Constitutional can only control this type of rule.
• He is an exceptional figure within the types of laws. It can only be issued in appraised cases.
• For it to remain in force, Parliament has to approve it.
• It cannot be used to dictate ordinary regulations or replace Parliament in its legislative function.
• The situation that the Government must find itself in to enact this Decree-Law must be unusual or anomalous. It must be a necessity that arises with no way of having foreseen it.
• The situation must also be urgent. This means that immediate legislative measures are necessary. How is this urgency measured? If this measure had not been taken, serious damage to public interests would have been caused. For example, this was an element widely used in the COVID-19 pandemic as it was a situation of special and urgent need.
• There must be proportionality between the provisions and the situation for which they are dictated.
• The terms for its approval are shorter than for passing laws.
• You must be motivated.

Boundaries

In addition to the limits on the situation being of urgent need and extraordinary, it is not possible to legislate on certain matters:

 

• Rules cannot be dictated on the ordering of the basic institutions of the State.
• On the rights, duties, and freedoms of citizens.
• On the regime of the autonomous communities.
• The general electoral law can dictate no rules.
• They cannot be violated Fundamental rights.

Process

We can see how, in Spain, the procedure for approval of this Decree-Law follows, which is different from the normal process of approval of law:

 

1.  It must be done and approved by the Government itself.

2.  Then it must go through Parliament’s review, and it has to approve it so that it remains in force.

3.  Eventually, it can be processed as a bill, fully involving the general courts. In other words, they will not only have to stick to approving or not the rule drawn up by the Government, but they will be able to make modifications and contributions to the legal text.