These provisions are contained in the draft amendments to the Crisis Management Act, which were adopted today at the plenary session during the second reading.
The legislative amendments establish the powers of standing parliamentary committees, in particular the Committee on National Security, Defense, and Public Order, which, during a state of emergency, will be able to review the activities of the National Crisis Management Center (CNMC) and the government agencies and institutions responsible for crisis response and post-crisis recovery.
Based on these analyses, the committees will prepare reports to be submitted to Parliament for approval; subsequently, the legislature may recommend that the government amend or fully or partially repeal decisions made by the executive branch through the bodies responsible for managing the state of emergency.
The mechanism for parliamentary oversight requires that all acts, restrictions, and measures adopted under a state of emergency be submitted to Parliament no later than 72 hours after their adoption. Parliamentary committees will have the right at any time to review the legality, necessity, proportionality, and temporary nature of these measures.
Once the state of emergency ends, the government will be required to submit a detailed report to Parliament on the measures taken, their impact, and an assessment of the situation at the time the state of emergency ended.
At the national level, strategic coordination of the response to crisis situations falls under the jurisdiction of the National Crisis Management Commission, while operational coordination is the responsibility of the lead agency, in cooperation with supporting agencies, under the supervision of the National Crisis Management Center.
Duration of Emergency Situations Reduced
The new law provides for a reduction in the duration of the heightened alert status from 60 to 30 days, and also makes the duration of a state of emergency more flexible, allowing it to be declared for a period of 30 to 90 days, with subsequent extensions for periods not exceeding 60 days, provided that the circumstances that served as the basis for its declaration persist.
The government is required, within 30 days of this law’s entry into force, to bring its regulatory acts into compliance with its provisions. This will help avoid contradictions and ensure uniform application of the law, thereby promoting legal certainty and the effective functioning of crisis management mechanisms.
The legislative amendments will take effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.
