The 2019 amendments to the Constitution of Mongolia related to local governance, which had been discussed for more than a decade, created the foundation for major changes to this law.
In the 1992 Constitution, it was stated that Mongolia had become a parliamentary democratic country by adopting the concepts and principles of local self-governance. The LATUG was ratified in 1992 under the new concept of local self-governance specified in the Constitution. The law was first amended in 2006 and has been amended more than 20 times since then, seeing only minor changes and additions.
This time, more than 70 percent of the LATUG has been amended, bringing new concepts and principles to the law. The approval of amendments to this law has been an important step toward increasing local power, ensuring citizen participation, and decentralization. For example, the main principles of decentralization, including subsidiarity, financing following function, and disentanglement, have been reflected in the law and significant changes have been made towards the rational reallocation of functions across various levels of government.
The revised LATUG is defining specifically state and local functions, transferring financial power to local governments and is setting important groundwork for local development.
Some legal terminology in the law, such as “function”, “competence”, and “power”, have been clearly defined through the amendments. In the previous version of the LATUG, “function” and “competence” were combined to define “common powers”, leading to uncertainty as to who should be responsible for what. As a result, some functions have merely been empty declarations.
Effective, multi-stakeholder collaboration with legislators and policy advocacy at all levels of government, significantly contributed to Parliament’s approval of these amendments. SDC’s work supported the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of Mongolia and the “Strengthening Representative Bodies” project being implemented by the Office of the Parliament Secretariat.
The approval of revisions to the LATUG will make a significant contribution to increase the efficiency, quality, and accessibility of public services; ensuring the smooth participation of citizens in decision making processes; improving open, accountable, and good governance; and creating conditions for supporting economic and social development.
We would like to thank all the stakeholders who have cooperated with us and have contributed to the successful launch and continuation of this major decentralization reform process in Mongolia.
