Third Programme of Law Reform 2008-2014

third programme of law reform 2008-2014The Context of Law Reform in 2007As we approached the preparation of the Third Programme, the Commission wasconscious that its role of law reform took place against the background of a numberof related initiatives:• Better Regulation: the Government’s White Paper Regulating Better (2004) isbased on the same principles that underlie the Law Reform Commission Act1975: modernisation and simplification of the law.• Pre-1922 Statute Law Revision Project: this is a major component of theBetter Regulation Policy, and has culminated in the passing of the StatuteLaw Revision Act 2007, which contains the first definitive list (the “WhiteList”) of all pre-1922 Acts that apply in the State.• Significant increase in the level of general legislative law reform in theOireachtas in recent years.• The establishment of specific working groups or committees to deal withreform in specific areas – some placed on a statutory footing, such as theCompany Law Review Group and the Criminal Law CodificationAdvisory Committee.• The increasing importance of the international dimension to law reform,including the EU, OECD, the UN, the 1998 Belfast Agreements and otherinternational treaties.• The enactment of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003 andthe increased relevance of the European Court of Human Rights and its caselaw.23