From idea to decision

Here's a bakery, and there, they make bread. And here's a newspaper press, where they print... newspapers. And here's the Riksdag, where they... make laws... ?

How are those made really? Yes, how is that done - the making of a new law? Well, it all starts with an idea. Perhaps someone wants to introduce a ban on... fiddling with their phone while driving a car?

Or: make a change in the school law, so that students get graded from an earlier age. Or no grades at all? It can be either the Government, or a Member of Parliament in the Riksdag, who presents a suggestion for a new law. A suggestion that comes from the government is called a proposition. What?

A preposition - where? Eh. A pro-position. A suggestion from the government. Oh.

But a proposition is not something the government writes up in an afternoon. It takes time, and the involvement lot of people. If it's a comprehensive new law, they begin by assigning a committee of people, who are to inquire into the issue. It's normally lawyers and experts from all the fields that the new law is related to. The inquiry committee gets instructions from the government, in a committee directive.

The committee directive describes what they are to investigate, which aspects of it are to be analysed, and when the inquiry is to be completed. When the committee has finished investigating, they publish their results as an inquiry report. The report includes a thorough analysis of pros and cons, and a concrete suggestion for what the new law is to say. The report is then sent to various government agencies, labour unions, interest groups, and others who are affected by the issue. The report is sent for consultation.

The different organisations that are consulted - the consultative bodies - read, analyse the report, and write up their points of view, in the form of comments. The government reads and compiles the various consultative bodies' comments. If many of the comments are very critical towards the suggestion, it might happen that it all goes in the bin. If not, the government probably makes some adjustments based on the comments of the consultative bodies, and updates their draft proposition. Next step: the Council of Legislation.

Here sit experienced judges and lawyers, who scrutinise the new law, so that it doesn't breach any other laws, especially not the constitution. When the government has listened to the Council of Legislation's comments, and perhaps honed the proposition a bit more, they are ready to submit it to the Riksdag. In the Riksdag chamber, the Members of Parliament vote. If a majority of the Members of Parliament vote yes to the proposition, it is adopted. They have created an entirely new law!

It takes a long time to make a new law. A year or two is not uncommon. But then the law has been thoroughly analysed, and a lot of people have had the chance to give their opinions along the way. Almost all propositions are approved in the chamber. And there are quite many, about 200 per year.

It's not just the government who can suggest new laws. The Members of Parliament can do it too. A suggestion that comes from a Member of Parliament is called a motion. Only about 30 of the 3000 or so motions submitted every year, are approved in the Riksdag. That's only one per cent of the motions!

One example of a motion that was finally approved in the Riksdag in 2016, was about dancing. Before that, restaurants had to apply for a dance permit for the guests to be allowed to dance. After several motions about this slightly odd, old law, the Riksdag eventually voted: Yes, to instruct the government to investigate... the abolishment of the prohibition against dancing without a special permit, in restaurants.