Bills

When a Minister or a State Secretary wants to lay down rules in legislation on a specific subject, they will have their department officials draft a bill. Subsequently, the Ministers discuss the draft bill in the Council of Ministers. If the ministers agree on the draft bill, it is submitted for advice to the Council of State.

MPs may request the Government to draft a bill, but sometimes the Government is not willing to do so. In such cases, one or more MPs can take the initiative to draft a bill. This is called an initiative bill. Assistance in drafting the bill is provided by the Legislation Office of the House of Representatives or by officials from the Government department in question.