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The fourth Component of the Terms of Reference foresees the elaboration and implementation of a comprehensive database system aimed at managing all related information concerning the European legislative approximation process. This database should become an operational tool for the line institutions involved. At the end of the Project, its management would pass from the UEPLAC to the State Department for Legal Approximation (SDLA).
This activity includes the creation of a simple but effective Management Information System (MIS), which will support and strengthen the administrative capacity of the Ukrainian administration to meet the commitments undertaken in the ENP. A user-friendly Internet based interface program is also planned to compliment the main application. Initially, the system will be managed by the Project, who will also provide training for users.
The technology is based on experience gained during the development of similar software in Poland and other countries. The Terms of Reference of this particular project were partly modified during the inception period following consultations, especially consultations with members of the SDLA.
The initial idea was to build the MIS on the basis of the annual Action Plans on the Implementation of the National Programme of Approximation of Ukrainian Legislation (NPLA-AP). Its structure (derived directly from Article 51 PCA, and duplicated in the National Programme) defines the key areas for legal approximation.
However, this sort of structure seems to be too general to be compatible with a detailed database, in other words for the purposes of establishing a MIS. A similar structure, used in the TAIEX Progress Editor Database, includes almost 30 major sections, with several hundred-subsections. Usually, such divisions are used at the negotiation stage. At first, it was thought that the key areas of the NPLA-AP could be used as divisions, with separate measures being divided into subchapters in time. The advantage of this approach is that a unique numbering system could be implemented (referencing would be continuance regardless of yearly changes). However, the volume of data needed for this purpose contained in the NPLA-AP is limited. This data includes: the area of the acquis communautaire, its sources, legal instruments and entities responsible for implementation. There is also a lack of data about implementation measures (institutional and non-institutional), financial estimates etc. Furthermore, the legal measures contain neither deadlines for compatibility analysis or a timeframe for submission, adoption and/or entry into force. A database that uses this structure would be scanty at best. Future users would have to re-define the structure of such a database in a more detailed way, so that it contains the required information. However, in the early stages, all options can be taken into account as technical complexity does not necessarily depend on structure.
Contrary to the unclear situation concerning the future structure of the database records, the formal procedures for issuing legal opinions as well as other institutional undertakings seem to be well developed. Also some significant efforts have been taken locally to create a national information network concerning legal approximation. Further on, a way should be found to interconnect these networks with the MIS. The Project was informed that access to classified information (if any) with non-authorised tools might be problematic.
The hardware currently being used by institutions is adequate for the MIS.
During discussion with representatives of the SDLA it was emphasized that any software used by the Ukrainian authorities must be certified, which is a complicated process. There is however, a plan to build an advanced system for civil servants, based on several public procurements. Our partners proposed using our system as a model for the elaboration of their own system, the Terms of Reference of future tenders, quality assessment and so on. Such a situation requires changes to earlier plans, in accordance with the Terms of Reference. It is also worth pointing out that the ToR itself is rather general as to this question and is limited to the aim of creating of developing a database. In this instance, the proposition of the representatives of the SDLA can be supported.
The Terms of Reference state that the aims of the MIS are:
- Updating the NPAL and the NPLA-AP
- Monitoring its implementation with tools like reminders of the forthcoming deadlines. The system might provide a reporting tool but in the case of small amount of the database records the usefulness of such a tool might be questionable
- Managing the workflow of legal opinions delivered by the Ministry of Justice. The software would include a module dealing with the opinions on draft pieces of legislation and implementing legal measures to organise the appropriate workflow (e.g. date of communication, persons in charge, deadlines, opinion created, revised, validation of final version, storage and dissemination)
- Collecting all sources of information on legislative approximation in a form of digital library.
The system will be bi-lingual and it will be possible to modify its structure. The user will be able to access it via the Internet (or intranet) according to the rights granted. The Beneficiary might use a public key to encode the data in the case of future extension of the application to remote users.
From a technical point of view, the MIS will be a single internet/intranet application written in PHP (a HTML embedded scripting language; HTML stands for Hypertext Mark-Up Language, and is used to define the layout and attributes of an internet document, as well as to create links between web documents) and use a SQL (Structured Query Language, which allows the individual to use the database i.e. retrieve data, add data, delete records, update records etc.) built-in database. This format might have compatibility problems with the Oracle based system that is expected to be introduced for use at the SDLA in the next few years.
The MIS will be designed after detailed analysis of available data and existing procedures. The first stage will involve the development of the Terms of Reference for this part of the project, which will then be submitted to the Beneficiary for approval. The actual programming phase will take place after local IT experts are recruited. The final decision as to the structure of the database could be included in the preparation of the 2008 NPLA-AP. The possibility also exists that another structure might be used, for example, one based on chapters similar to those used at the negotiation stage in several other countries.
Depending on the availability of a server hosted by the Beneficiary, the database part of the MIS could be linked to the website of the Beneficiary.
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