Participating State Legislation Armenia • Opinion on the Draft Law Amending the Section on Pre-trial Proceedings in Criminal Cases of the Criminal Procedure Code • Opinion on the Introduction of Changes and Amendments to the Judicial Code • Opinion on Draft Amendments to the Law on Public Organizations Azerbaijan • Opinion on the Draft Law on Domestic Violence Bosnia and Herzegovina • Gap Analysis of Legislation Pertaining to Trafficking in Human Beings • Opinion on Draft Amendments to the Criminal Code Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia • Comments on Provisions Relating to Hate Crimes in the Draft Criminal Code • Comments on the Draft Law on Prevention and Protection against Discrimination (prepared jointly with the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje) Kazakhstan • Comments on the Law on Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Issues of Religious Freedom and Religious Organizations • Preliminary Opinion on the Package of Laws and Draft Laws Related to Domestic Violence • Opinion on the Draft Law on Population Migration • Opinion on the Draft Law on Crime Prevention • Opinion on the Draft Law on Domestic Violence Kyrgyzstan • Opinion on the Draft Law on Assemblies • Opinion on the Draft Law on Amendments and Additions to Some Legal Acts of the Kyrgyz Republic Pertaining to Non-commercial Organizations • Opinion on the Draft Law on Political Parties • Opinion on the Draft Law on Religious Education and Religious Educational Institutions Montenegro • Opinion on Article 443 of the Criminal Code • Comments on the Draft Anti-discrimination Law Serbia • Opinion on the Draft Law on Prohibition of Discrimination • Opinion on the Draft Law on Secrecy of Information Ukraine • Opinion on the Draft Law on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings of the Republic of Ukraine 24 Improving Legislative Efficiency and Transparency Effective and efficient laws are the result of a structured legislative process that includes a number of key stages: policy analysis, regulatory-impact assessments, an evaluation of draft legislation and, when appropriate, public consultations. While reviewing individual laws, ODIHR has found that some or all of these stages are often missing or not properly regulated. This results in inefficient legislative processes that lack transparency. The same weaknesses tend to repeat themselves, suggesting a need to address underlying causes. Before offering technical assistance aimed at improving lawmaking, ODIHR conducts an assessment of the legislative process in order to gain a detailed understanding of the specifics of the legislative system, including the structure of and interaction between the institutions involved. This allows ODIHR to identify areas in which improvements are needed and to make recommendations on how such improvements can be made. In 2009, ODIHR brought to a close the second phase of this process in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Over the year, four roundtables were organized Democratization by the national board for the reform of the legislative process to develop recommendations for the cabinet of ministers. ODIHR’s role was to support the establishment and functioning of the national board, comprising government representatives and parliamentary stakeholders in the legislative process. ODIHR also supported the board’s work on the recommendations by providing international expertise on various issues connected with making the legislative process more efficient and transparent, such as the inclusion of civil society in lawmaking, the use of expertise, law-drafting skills and efficient approximation of national legislation with EU law. Also in 2009, preliminary trips were undertaken to Kazakhstan, Armenia, Serbia and Albania to discuss assessments of the lawmaking systems with the relevant stakeholders. Guidelines for Legislators As mentioned above, ODIHR sometimes develops guidelines on specific legislative issues when lawmakers from a number of OSCE states find themselves dealing with the same problems. These guidelines draw heavily ODIHR Annual Report 2009