Legislation & Academic- Legal Researches

General Information:

The Ministry of Justice of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has the following duties and authorities in the field of legislation and academic-legal researches:

1- Drafting legislative documents in accordance with the provisions of law

2- Scrutinization of draft laws, legislative decrees, regulations, statutes and amendments, additions, deletions, repeals or annexes thereto, provided by the ministries and government agencies, for propose of processing

3- Preparing the annual legislative work plan in accordance with the statute of the Institute for Legislative Affairs and Academic-Legal Researches and its implementation

4- Propose the processing of legislative documents in order to improve the legal system of the country

5- Conducting academic– legal researches in legislation affairs

6- Commenting on the compliance of international legal agreements, protocols, treaties, and conventions, with the laws of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan before signing or acceding to them

7- Providing legal advices and explaining the provisions of legislative documents to ministries and government departments upon request

8- Guiding the relevant officials of ministries and government departments in preparing the draft of legislative documents upon request

9- Introducing the draft laws to the National Assembly after the ratification by the government

10- Descriptions on legislative decrees, draft laws or amendments, additions and annexes to them that are submitted to the National Assembly

11- Other duties assigned by the Government or the President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

The mentioned duties are administered by the General Directorate of the Institute of legislation affairs and Academic-Legal Researches of the Ministry of Justice.

The General Directorate of the Institute of Legislation Affairs and Academic-Legal Researches of the Ministry of Justice is one of the professional departments of this ministry and encompasses the departments for translating legislative documents and notarizing the translation of legal documents, international laws and human rights, commercial and private sector laws, labor and administration laws, educational, cultural and health laws, economic and financial laws, punitive laws, civil laws, study, explanation and training of laws, and the law drafting committee. The mentioned departments draft, scrutinize and process the relevant legislative documents, based on the legislative plan and according to the need in the area of legislation. The department also conducts academic and legal researches in the field of legislation, and translates the laws of other countries into the official languages of the country, if need arises, for the purpose of making use of them in the domestic legislative documents.

The processing of legislative documents, includes the stages of drafting, securitizing, ratifying, approving, signing and publishing through the official gazette, according to the law on processing of legislative documents, each of which is described below:

Drafting: Writing a draft legislative document. Writing the first draft of the legislative document is the responsibility of the relevant departments; However in some cases, the Ministry of Justice also prepares the first draft of legislative documents.

Scrutinization: Evaluating the terms, wordings, phrases, sentences and provisions of the first draft of the legislative document procedurally and contextually, and ensuring that it is not in contradiction with the provisions of Islamic Law and their compliance with the constitution of the country, other applicable laws, International treaties and covenants, and the sound custom and practices of the society.

Ratification: A decision on the necessity of processing the next steps of the legislative document, by the legislation committee or the Government, as per the circumstances.

Approval:  A decision to approve or reject a draft of legislative document by a competent authority.

Endorsement: Signing by the president through a decree, issued for the purpose of enforcement of the law, legislative decree and amendment, addition, deletion, cancellation, suspension and attachment thereto.

Publication: Printing a legislative document and other publishable documents in the official gazette, referred to in the law on processing of legislative documents.

The implementation of the legislative documents is the duty of the relevant authorities and the Ministry of Justice shall only implement, the legislative documents fall within its scope of work.

Read the reports on the activities of the General Directorate of Legislation of the Ministry of Justice below:

Monthly Report 

Quarterly Report

Annual Report