Ex ante review of legislation: the role of national human rights institutions

Legislation should be appraised before and after adoption to test it against its intended objectives. Various actors should take part in these processes to ensure an inclusive and transparent assessment. This article focuses on national human rights institutions (NHRIs). Contrary to the role of NHRIs in conducting ex post or post-legislative scrutiny, which has received some attention from scholars, the so-called legislative advice of NHRIs and their actorness in ex ante review remain notably under-researched. This article demonstrates that applicable international standards provide solid grounds for NHRIs’ active involvement in conducting ex ante review. It further shows that NHRIs invest efforts to contribute to it, even though these activities are not usually labelled as an ex ante review. By discussing the role of NHRIs in pre-legislative and legislative scrutiny, this article contributes to bringing closer together the literature on legislative studies, public policy, human rights and constitutional law.