Decree of the President of Russia
Ukase of the President of the Russian Federation (Russian: Указ Президента Российской Федерации) or Executive Order (Decree) of the President of Russia[1][2] is a legal act (ukase) with status of by-law of Russian president.
According to the Constitution of Russia the President of Russia may issue decrees (Ukases, Russian: Указ or Rasparyazhenya, Russian: Pаспоряжения) which are acts of legal binding and have the force of law. The decrees have supreme legal force after the Russian Constitution and laws.[3] As normative legal act, such ukazes have a status of by-law in hierarchy of legal acts (along with Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, instructions and directions of other officials). Presidential decree may not alter the regulations of existing legal sources - Russia's international agreements, Constitution of Russia, Federal Constitutional Laws, Federal Laws and laws of Russian regions - and may be superseded by any of these laws. For example, thanks to Constitution of Russia, European Convention on Human Rights as Russia's international document has higher status, than any Russian law or presidential executive order.
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History [edit]
The annual number of decrees exceeded 1,000 throughout the post-communist period. Even before the institutional frameworks enacted by the 1993 Constitution of Russia, which awarded the president very considerable decree powers came into place, President Boris Yeltsin actively started to use this policy instrument to consolidate the powers of their newly created office and to implement policies for which they lacked both legislative and broad societal support.[4]
Types of decrees [edit]
Acts of the President of normative character enter into force simultaneously on the entire territory of the Russian Federation upon the expiry of seven days after the date of first publication. Other acts of the President, including acts containing information constituting a state secret, or confidential information shall take effect from the date of signing.
The policy-related decrees include decrees with broad normative or regulatory scope and decrees with a much narrower scope.[5] Another type of decrees regrad appointments. Appointments are an indirect but often very effective way for the President influence policies. The President issue decrees to appoint cabinet ministers, heads of the various central government agencies, top civil servants, military and security apparatus, top management of some state-owned industries, judges, diplomats and the country's representatives to international organizations, and make a number of appointments at the regional level. The Russian constitutional clauses does not specify rules regarding deputy ministerial appointments. The fact that the president may choose to interpret them differently is primarily a function of his political strength.[6]
References [edit]
- ^ The English term "Executive Order" is also used by official website as equivalent of Russian ukaz. See in Russian, in English
- ^ For example: http://eng.kremlin.ru/acts/5331
- ^ Конституции России // Глава 4. Президент Российской Федерации.
- ^ Parrish, ‘Presidential Decree Authority …’; Huskey, Presidential Power in Russia; Paul Kubicek, ‘Delegative Democracy in Russia and Ukraine’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 27, 4, 1994, pp. 423–439.
- ^ Scott Parrish, ‘Presidential Decree Authority in Russia, 1991–1995’,
- ^ William Mishler, John P. Willerton & Gordon B. Smith, "Hegemony or Rivalry? Laws, Decrees and the Dynamics of Legislative–Executive Relations in the Russian Federation"
