2 Const.Parl.Inf. 61 (2011), 201
constitutional & Parliamentary
Information
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61th year, No. 201
Panama, April 16-20, 2011
CONTENTS
The role of committees in parliamentary oversight of the Executive — General debate moderated by Alain DELCAMP, Secretary General of the Senate (France) 3
Parliamentary oversight of the Executive power in Uruguay — José Pedro MONTERO, Vice-President of the ASGP, Second Secretary General of the House of Representatives (Uruguay) 15
Exploits of the Senate of the Democratic Republic of Congo: Towards the modernization and computerization of services — David BYAZA-SANDA LUTALA, Secretary General of the Senate (Democratic Republic of Congo) 21
Administrative autonomy of parliaments — General debate moderated by Dr Ulrich SCHÖLER, Deputy Secretary General of the Bundestag (Germany) 28
Address to Parliament by visiting head of Government or State — Claressa SURTEES, Clerk Assistant (Table) of the House of Representatives (Australia) 41
Technology options for capturing and reporting parliamentary proceedings — Gherardo CASINI, Head of Office, Global Centre for ICT in Parliament (United Nations) 46
Parliamentary Training and Outreach Programs for a More Mature Democracy — KWON Oh Eul, Secretary General of the National Assembly (Republic of Korea) 48
Rules on the participation of Members of Parliament in proceedings in which they have a direct or indirect financial interest — General debate moderated by V.K. AGNIHOTRI, Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha (India) 54
Code of ethics for parliamentary officials ‑ Vladimir SVINAREV, Secretary General of the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly (Russian Federation). 67
Relinquishing membership of the two Houses of the United Kingdom Parliament — David NATZLER, Clerk of Legislation of the House of Commons and Rhodri WALTERS, Reading Clerk in the House of Lords (United Kingdom) 73
The role of the parliamentary service in informing the legislative process — Sadettin KALKAN, Secretary General of the Grand National Assembly (Turkey) 78
Disqualification of Members on grounds of defection — T. K. VISWANATHAN, Secretary General of the House of the People of Lok Sabha (India) 83
Events and tasks at the end of a Parliament and of parliamentary sessions – General debate moderated by Claressa SURTEES, Clerk Assistant (Table) of the House of Representatives (Australia) 94
Five Year Strategy of the House of Representatives of Afghanistan ‑ Ghulam Hassan GRAN, Secretary General of the House of Representatives (Afghanistan) 109
Implications of the expulsion of a Member from his or her political party — V.K. AGNIHOTRI, Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha (India) 114
The first Afghan Youth Training Parliament — Mohammad Kazim MALWAN, Secretary General of the Senate (Afghanistan) 123
3
Const.Parl.Inf. 61 (2011), 201
The role of committees in parliamentary oversight of the Executive
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General debate moderated by Alain DELCAMP
Secretary General of the Senate (France)
Mr Robert PROVANSAL sent apologies from Mr Delcamp, the Secretary General of the French Senate, who had been unavoidably detained in Paris. He described oversight as one of the two essential functions of a Parliament, the other being legislation. This function had only recently been described in detail in France. He was interested to find out whether intensified oversight activity of the kind seen in France was also reflected elsewhere. Three different kinds of parliamentary ‘committee’ existed in France: standing committees, ad hoc commissions of inquiry, and delegations (created by law), for example on the rights of women. These committees carried out their activities through taking evidence from ministers, government officials and others, through study groups and information visits, and by calling external experts including audit firms. Their field of oversight included government expenditure, state entities and enterprises, the enforcement of legislation, and the European dimension. An issue of possible interest was the difference between oversight and evaluation, and whether the two were complementary or linked. Another possible subject for debate was the visibility of parliamentary oversight, which the French constitutional revision in 2008 had had it in mind to strengthen. He looked forward to a lively debate.
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Mr Gheorghe BARBU (Romania) presented the following contribution :
“Parliamentary oversight exercised by committees and special commissions of inquiry, in accordance with the Rules of organization and functioning of the
Chamber of Deputies, Romanian Parliament
1. The Romanian Parliament is a bicameral structure composed of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and according to the specific regulations of the organization and operation, they carry out their work in plenary and in standing or temporary committees, as appropriate.
The Chamber of Deputies consists standing committees and may appoint committees of inquiry or other special committees.
2. The parliamentary control is one of the most important functions of Parliament achieved through standing committees, commissions of inquiry or other special committees.
Parliamentary oversight activities are performed outside Parliament for various reasons: the need to see how certain authorities or public institutions carry on their activities and their compliance with the Constitution and the law; the investigation of abuses, corrupt practices and petitions addressed to the Parliament by the citizens; monitorization of the rights of persons detained in prisons.
3. The activities of parliamentary control by commissions of inquiry or other special committees of the Chamber of Deputies.
The Chamber of Deputies may establish special committees for approval of complex pieces of legislation, to develop legislative proposals (which in this case are no longer subject to the review of other committees) or for other purposes. Commissions of inquiry can be appointed by each Chamber at the request of at least one third of its members and they are a tool to perform the function of parliamentary control. To establish such the following conditions should be met: a fact that requires investigation is not subject to a judicial proceeding and the final judicial verdict.
In this case, establish if it is considered necessary to clarify the causes and circumstances in which the events occurred or the negative effects of the actions took place, and to draw conclusions, responsibilities and enforce measures. The Chamber of Deputies may decide to launch a parliamentary inquiry. Provided under article 71 of the Regulations of the Chamber of Deputies and the investigation may be conducted by a standing committee or by a parliamentary commission of inquiry established for this purpose.
Parliamentary investigations cannot be concerned with the investigation of acts or activities subject to criminal investigations or lying on the ruling of Courts.
A parliamentary inquiry stops at the opening of the judicial proceedings concerning acts or activities which constitute its object, a situation in which the Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies announces the criminal prosecution bodies. They have access to all documents concerning the case in question, found in the archives of the Chamber of Deputies.
At the request of a minimum of fifty members from at least two parliamentary groups, the Chamber of Deputies may decide to create a commission of inquiry, the provisions of Articles 39 to 58 and Article 72 paragraphs (2) - (5) being applicable. In view of the hearing, the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry may summon any person who may have knowledge of any fact or circumstance that can be used to discover the truth in the cause of subject to the activity of the commission. The people summoned are required to appear in the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry.
4. The activities of the parliamentary committees constituted outside Parliament have other goals, such as participation in public debates, seminars, symposiums, lectures on various topics, organized in the country or abroad, meetings with representatives of the authorities of local government, trade unions, employers' associations, professional associations and non-governmental organizations. To strengthen bi-and multilateral relations with the parliaments of other states, the standing committees have established contacts with most parliaments in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas and their members have taken part in investigative meetings. The relationship between standing committees of national parliaments has been acknowledged and institutionalized at EU level, a good example being the Conference of the committees of the National Parliaments dealing with European affairs (COSAC).”
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Mr Vladimir SVINAREV (Russian Federation) presented the following contribution :
“1. In order to expound on the topic at hand in the context of the Russian experience, it is necessary to specify two positions that are of principal importance for evaluation of the Council of the Federation committees’ role in parliamentary oversight of the Executive.
The first one directly has to do with the parliamentary oversight functions regulatory imposed on the Council of the Federation. The problem is that formally, the Constitution does not directly grant the Council of the Federation the mandate to mandatory influence governmental activities and literally control the observation of laws by the government. However, both the Constitution and a number of organic (federal constitutional laws in the Russian judicial system) and ordinary federal laws contain the provisions that permit the oversight of the Executive.
The second point is connected with the existence of the constitutional right of the Council of the Federation to form committees from the chamber members and also commissions. Moreover, both of these structural elements of the upper Chamber can act as subjects of oversight activities. The House Rules of the Council of the Federation provide for the opportunity to form standing and ad hoc commissions. Ad hoc commissions are created by the Council of the Federation to address specific issues with a set deadline.
This time I would like to deliver on the Council of the Federation committees and standing commissions’ role in parliamentary oversight of the Executive.
2. According to the Constitution of Russia, the Council of the Federation shall appoint and dismiss Deputy Chairman and half of the auditors of all Accounting Chamber. May I remind you that the Accounting Chamber is a Parliamentary oversight agency jointly created with the lower Chamber for oversight of the observation of the Federal Law On the Federal Budget of the Russian Federation. Either by requests from both chambers of Parliament or on its own the Accounting Chamber submits information on a regular basis (also to the Council of the Federation) on the federal budget performance procedures and the results of oversight measures applied. The Council of the Federation committees and standing commissions can submit their nominations for these positions to the President of the Russian Federation to be later introduced by the head of state for consideration of the Council of the Federation.
In addition, the Commission for Interaction with the Accounting Chamber of the Russian Federation was created by our chamber and it is within its jurisdiction in part, to address issues of legal provision of state financial control and the execution of financial oversight of federal budget performance, as well as tentative consideration of the Accounting Chamber reports.
3. There is one more institution in the government agencies system, whose jurisdiction enables the Council of the Federation to implement parliamentary oversight of the Executive. This is the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. In accordance with the Constitution, the Council of the Federation possesses the right to appeal to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. An appeal proposal can be filed for consideration by the Council of the Federation by its committee or standing commission. And the Council of the Federation is entitled to turn to it with a request to recognize as unconstitutional not laws only but governmental regulatory legal acts, too. This option enables not only an appeal against Law on Federal Budget but also to check on the constitutional character of governmental decrees.
4. The committees and standing commissions oversight of the Executive powers when carrying out immediate legislative activities should be mentioned, too. In as much as the majority of the laws coming from the State Duma are government initiatives, the Council of the Federation fulfills the function of “secondary filtration” of government bills. In this context, the Council of the Federation committees and standing commissions carry out a preliminary examination of the bills submitted to the State Duma, prepare reports on the draft laws of the Russian Federation on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws already approved by the State Duma and submitted for consideration to the Council of the Federation, and on the federal laws approved by the State Duma and submitted for consideration to the Council of the Federation.
In 2009, committees and standing commissions of the Council of the Federation started expert evaluation of bills and laws within their jurisdiction aimed at discovering clauses contained therein that create conditions conducive to corruption.
5. Another form of the Council of the Federation oversight of the Executive is legislation and law enforcement practice monitoring, in which chamber committees and commissions participate actively. Annual reports of the Council of the Federation On the State of Legislation in the Russian Federation, which have been prepared by the chamber since 2004, represent an important result of monitoring activities. The reports summarize the results of legislation and law enforcement practice monitoring activities conducted by committees and commissions of the Council of the Federation, which prepare materials for the report in accordance with their jurisdiction. A summary of the issues presented by the Council of the Federation committees and commissions for the report is made by the Council of the Federation Committee on Constitutional Legislation. The Council of the Federation also analyzes the application practice for certain politically significant legislative acts or legal regulatory trends connected with them. For instance, we have created an Ad hoc Commission for Monitoring the Regulatory Legal Database Creation, which ensures that the so-called Budget institutions Law is put into effect and of its enforcement practice. [1]
6. Committees and standing commissions of the Council of the Federation organize the conduct of Parliamentary hearings, which are, as a rule, held with the participation of representatives of the government and other executive bodies. Parliamentary hearings are also a kind of a form of oversight of the Executive, because it is there that issues and problems of legal space and law enforcement practice are publicly raised, allowing to demonstrate to the civic society the strategic directions of government agencies activities aimed at realization and protection of citizens’ constitutional civil rights. Committees and standing commissions also take part in preparing and holding the “government hour” at the sittings of the Council of the Federation. They are entitled to direct written inquires within their jurisdiction to the Government of the Russian Federation and federal executive bodies.