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Legal Harmonization Through Interfederal Cooperation: A Comparison of the Interfederal Harmonization of Law Through Uniform Law Conferences and Executive Intergovernmental Conferences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Abstract

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Modern federations are faced with the challenge of cross-state as well as cross-nation economic activities and with the ever-increasing mobility of society. This has not only promoted international law, but has also created the need for harmonized laws throughout federations within the competence areas of the states. Diverse laws within federal systems may increase transaction costs, cause delays, and lead to jurisdictional conflicts for nationwide or cross-state transactions. In order to preserve federalism, and therefore prevent an ever-advancing process of centralization, interfederal legal harmonization promoted by the states themselves is crucial. There are two distinct methods of legal harmonization of state laws: (1) harmonization by “Uniform Law Conferences,” which are in principle run by lawyers and thus independent, to a certain extent, from the influence of policy makers; and (2) harmonization by executive intergovernmental conferences. These two distinct models of interfederal legal harmonization will be analyzed and evaluated with regard to efficiency, compatibility with democratic principles, transparency, and accountability in a comparative legal study of the harmonization processes. This Article will scrutinize the federal systems of the United States and Canada, on the one hand, as well as those of Germany and Austria, on the other hand. The study will reveal that the efficiency of interfederal legal harmonization increases with the level of intergovernmental integration through the participation of government officials and their staff.

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Articles
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Copyright © 2018 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

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112 For an example of the resolutions of the German ministerial conferences, see Detailed Specifications for the Final School Exams (Abitur) of the Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (Kultusministerkonferenz), Kultusministerkonferenz https://www.kmk.org/dokumentation-statistik/beschluesse-und-veroeffentlichungen/bildung-schule/allgemeine-bildung.html#c1284 (last visited Nov. 20, 2018).Google Scholar

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114 The Rules of Procedure of the Joint Interfederal Bureau (Geschäftsordnung der Verbindungsstelle der Bundesländer, GO-VSt) can be found as an annex in Gernot Meirer, Die Verbindungsstelle der Bundesländer oder die gewerkschaftliche Organisierung der Länder (2003).Google Scholar

115 Rules of Procedure of the Joint Interfederal Bureau § 7, supra note 114.Google Scholar

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117 According to Section A.I.6 of the Rules of Procedure of the German Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (Kultusministerkonferenz) (KMK), a unanimous vote is only necessary for certain issues of significant importance. Other than that, a majority of 13 out of 16 votes is sufficient. See Geschäftsordnung der KMK, https://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/pdf/KMK/GO-GR-Fassung-29-08-2014.pdf (last visited Nov. 20, 2018). In the Conference of the Ministers for Consumer Protection (VSMK), a majority of 13 votes is always sufficient. See Geschäftsordnung der VSMK, https://www.verbraucherschutzministerkonferenz.de/VSMK-Dokumente-Geschaeftsordnung.html (last visited Nov. 20, 2018).Google Scholar

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119 In the Ministerial Conference of Education and Arts (KMK) and the Conference of the Ministers of Sports (SMK), however, only the state ministers are invited.Google Scholar

120 This is true for the Ministerial Conference of Agriculture (Agrarministerkonferenz, AMK) — specifically, Section 1.4 of the Rules of Procedure of the Ministerial Conference of Agriculture—and for the Conference of the Ministers of the Interior (Innenministerkonferenz, IMK). See Geschäftsordnung AMK, https://www.agrarministerkonferenz.de/documents/go-amk-stand-28092018_1539351169.pdf (last visited Nov. 20, 2018). See also the Website of the IMK, https://www.innenministerkonferenz.de/IMK/DE/aufgaben/aufgaben-node.html;jsessionid=441D336BEC08BAA6A096E04B74890820.1_cid349 (last visited Nov. 20, 2018). In other ministerial conferences such as the Conference of the Ministers for Consumer Protection (VSMK), for example, the federal minister has the right to vote but resolutions may also be passed in his absence. See Geschäftsordnung der VSMK, https://www.verbraucherschutzministerkonferenz.de/VSMK-Dokumente-Geschaeftsordnung.html (last visited Nov. 20, 2018).Google Scholar

121 For an example, see Rules of procedure for the German Ministerial Conference of Agriculture arts. 9–10, supra note 120; Rules of Procedure for the German Conference of the Minster of Sports art. 2, Geschäftsordnung SMK, http://www.sportministerkonferenz.de/sites/default/files/dokumente/Beschluss%20der%2039.%20SMK_Gesch%C3%A4ftsordnung%20der%20SMK.pdf (last visited Nov. 20, 2018); Rules of Procedure for the German Conference of the Minister of the Environment §§ 9, 10, Geschäftsordnung UMK https://www.umweltministerkonferenz.de/documents/umk-go-2017_1518084108.pdf. (last visited Nov. 20, 2018). See also Klatt, Interföderale Beziehungen im kooperativen Bundesstaat, supra note 101, at 189.Google Scholar

122 See Rosner, Andreas, Koordinationsinstrumente der österreichischen Länder 128 et seq. (2000); Rosner & Gmeiner, supra note 108, at 56 f.Google Scholar

123 For Austria, see id. at 49, 56. The same is true for the German ministerial conferences. See Hans Schneider, Verträge zwischen Gliedstaaten im Bundesstaat, 19 VVDStRL 1, 12 (1961).Google Scholar

124 Bundesverfassungsgericht [BVerfGE] [Federal Constitutional Court], June 22, 1977, 45 BVerfGE 400, 421 [hereinafter Judgment of June 22, 1977]. See also Hirschmüller, Martin, Die Konferenzen der Ministerpräsidenten und Ressortminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 112 et seq. (1967); Knoke, supra note 107, at 49–90; Hermann Eicher, Der Machtverlust der Landesparlamente 96 (1988).Google Scholar

125 For the ministerial conferences in Germany, see Schneider, supra note 123, at 12. For the efficiency of the ministerial conferences in Austria, see Rosner, supra note 122, at 32.Google Scholar

126 Even though the Prime Minister and his cabinet are not mentioned in the Canadian Constitutional Acts, he governs the country on the basis of a long-established legal tradition. As in all semi-parliamentary systems, he is de facto dependent upon the confidence of Parliament. Moreover, the Canadian Prime Minister is usually also a member of Parliament. For details, see Hogg, supra note 19, at 196 f.Google Scholar

127 Cf. Ziegel, supra note 1, at 149.Google Scholar

128 Kisker, Gunter, Kooperation im Bundesstaat 118 f., 143 (1971) (arguing that that the principle of unanimous vote should be binding for the ministerial conferences). See also Hirschmüller, Martin, Die Konferenzen der Ministerpräsidenten und Ressortminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 79 (1976).Google Scholar

129 Kisker, supra note 128, at 143.Google Scholar

130 Id. (providing the German perspective). From the US-American perspective, see Greve, supra note 29, at 562.Google Scholar

131 Maxeiner, supra note 15, at 509.Google Scholar

132 Hesse, supra note 100, at 20; Lambrecht, supra note 92, at 246; Schneider, supra note 111, at 125, 138; Schnabel, supra note 966, at 62; Eicher, supra note 124, at 96. Less concerned about the effects of intergovernmental cooperation on parliaments, see Benz, Arthur, Föderalismus als dynamisches System 37 (1985).Google Scholar

133 Cf. Leisner, Walter, Schwächung der Landesparlamente durch grundgesetzlichen Föderalismus, 1968 DÖV 389, 392 (1968); Schneider, supra note 111, at 118 et seq.; Martin Morlock, Informalisierung und Entparlamentarisierung politischer Entscheidungen als Gefährdungen der Verfassung?, 62 VVDStRL 39, 44 f. (2003); Kisker, supra note 128, at 123 et seq., 143.Google Scholar

134 For the North American perspective, see Graves, supra note 1, at 29, 289, 304; Heimanson, supra note 26, at 165 et seq.; David W. Leebron, Claims for Harmonization: A Theoretical Framework, 27 Can. Bus. L.J. 63, 104 (1996); Erwin Chemerinski et al., Cooperative Federalism and Marijuana Regulation, 62 UCLA L. Rev. 74, 116 (2015). For the German and Austrian perspective, see Wolfgang Abendroth, Das Grundgesetz 915 (5th ed. 1975); Öhlinger, supra note 88, at 22; Oldopp, supra note 102, at 17 et seq. Google Scholar

135 Hesse, supra note 100, at 29 et seq.; Abendroth, supra note 134, at 91 f.; Arthur Benz, Neue Formen der Zusammenarbeit zwischen den Ländern, 1993 DÖV 85, 87 (1993); Hohler, supra note 100, at 57.Google Scholar

136 For the North American perspective, see Philip J. Weiser, Federal Common Law, Cooperative Federalism, and the Enforecement of the Telecom Act, 76 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1692, 1698 et seq. (2001). For the German perspective, see Eicher, supra note 124, at 97. For a different opinion, see Hirschmüller, supra note 124, at 93 (arguing that federalism becomes meaningless through increasing interfederal harmonization).Google Scholar

137 For a broader participation of the parliaments in Germany, see von Lewinski, Kai, Gesetzesverfasser und Gesetzgeber 67 (2015). For the opposing opinion, see Hohler, supra note 100, at 64.Google Scholar

138 For the system in the United States, cf. Janger, supra note 59, at 591 et seq. (expressing criticism that the unification process institutionalizes a race to the bottom because of the need to implement the proposed legislation in the states). For the German system, see Judgment of June 22, 1977, supra note 124.Google Scholar

139 Kisker, supra note 128, at 145.Google Scholar

140 For a good overview of the differences between presidential and parliamentary systems, see Ronald J. Krotoszynski, The Separation of Legislative and Executive Powers, in Comparative Constitutional Law 234 et seq. (Tom Ginsburg & Rosalind Dixon eds., 2011); Jenny S. Martinez, Horizontal Structuring, in The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Law 547, 553 et seq. (Michel Rosenfeld & András Sajó eds., 2013).Google Scholar

141 See Grundgesetz [GG] [Basic Law], art. 63(1), 67 (Ger.).Google Scholar

142 See Cheibub, José Antonio & Limongi, Fernando, Legislative-Executive Relations, in Comparative Constitutional Law 211, 215 (Tom Ginsburg & Rosalind Dixon eds., 2011).Google Scholar

143 Even in the presidential system of the United States, the executive has effective means to introduce bills, even though formally only the parliament has this right. A good example of the presidential influence on legislation is the “New Deal” legislation by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. For an in depth analysis, see Heringa & Küver, supra note 12, at 95; Ralph Alexander Lorz, Interorganrespekt im Verfassungsrecht 143 (2001). For criticism of the executive prejudice of legislation in Germany, see Matthias Herdegen, Informalisierung und Entparlamentisierung politischer Entscheidungen, 62 VVDStRL 7, 15 et seq. (2003); Martin Morlok, Informalisierung und Entparlamentisierung politischer Entscheidungen, 62 VVDStRL 39, 44 et seq. (2003). For a critique with regard to the lack of transparency in the drafting process, see Herrmann Pünder, Wahlrecht und Parlamentsrecht als Gelingensbedingungen repräsentativer Demokratie, 72 VVDStRL 191, 241 et seq. (2013).Google Scholar

144 See also Benz, supra note 135, at 94 (pleading for an extended involvement of the states’ parliaments). In Germany, the states increasingly implement rules obliging the state government to inform on the results of the ministerial conferences. See – for example – Constitution of North Rhine Westphalia, art. 40 and Constitution of Rheinland-Pfalz, art. 89b.Google Scholar

145 Graves, supra note 1, at 50 et seq.; Maxeiner, supra note 15, at 509. See also Nicole Bolleyer, Paradoxes of Self-Coordination in Federal Systems, in Federal Dynamics 321, 328 (Arthur Benz & Jörg Broschek eds., 2013).Google Scholar

146 From a U.S. American perspective, see Advisory Comm'n on Intergovernmental Rel., The Federal Role in the Federal System: The Dynamics of Growth 25 f. (1980); Greve, supra note 29, at 559, 567, 575. From a German perspective, see Klatt, Parlamentarisches System und bundesstaatliche Ordnung, supra note 101, at 9; Abromeit, supra note 102, at 52; Edzard Schmidt-Jortzig, Herausforderungen an den Föderalismus, 1998 DÖV 746, 748 (1998); Reinhold Zippelius & Thomas Würtenberger, Deutsches Staatsrecht § 14, para. 69 (32d ed. 2008).Google Scholar

147 Schnabel, supra note 96, at 49 et seq.; Klatt, Parlamentarisches System und bundesstaatliche Ordnung, supra note 101, at 8; Zippelius & Würtenberger, supra note 146, § 14 Rn. 71; Greve, supra note 29, at 576.Google Scholar

148 Gerhard Lehmbruch, Parteienwettbewerb im Bundesstaat 162 et seq. (3d ed., 2000).Google Scholar

149 Id. at 162; Scharpf, supra note 94, at 247 et seq.; Larry E. Ribstein & Bruce H. Kobayashi, An Economic Study of Uniform State Laws, 25 J. of Legal Stud. 131, 141 (1996); Greve, supra note 29, at 562.Google Scholar

150 See Lehmbruch, supra note 148, at 29 et seq.; Hartmut Klatt, Interföderale Beziehungen im kooperativen Bundesstaat: Kooperation und Koordination auf der politischen Leitungsebene, 78 Verwaltungsarchiv 186, 194 (1987).Google Scholar

151 Klatt, supra note 150, at 199.Google Scholar

152 Id. at 194; Smith, Stephan, Konfliktlösung im demokratischen Bundesstaat 270 (2011).Google Scholar

153 For majority votes in the German ministerial conferences, see Meinhard Ade, Der Länderrat: Zur Zweckmäßigkeit und Zulässigkeit einer verfassten Ländergemeinschaft 136 et seq. (1976). For the opposing view, see Hirschmüller, supra note 124, at 87 f.Google Scholar

154 See also Ade, supra note 153, at 36 et seq. Google Scholar

155 Abromeit, supra note 102, at 49; Klatt, Parlamentarisches System und bundesstaatliche Ordnung, supra note 101, at 7.Google Scholar

156 See Klafki, Anika, Risiko und Recht 125 et seq. (2016).Google Scholar

157 An example of just how dysfunctional nations can become if there is no interfederal cooperation can be seen in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For more details on this topic, see Venice Commission, Preliminary Opinion on the Draft Amendments to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, CDL(2006)027; Anika Klafki, Friedenssicherung durch Verfassungsrecht, 2015 DÖV 637, 640 et seq. Google Scholar