Acts

Rules of Procedure

VI. SITTINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

1. Preparing and Convening a Sitting

Article 82

The proposed agenda for a National Assembly sitting shall be prepared by the Chairperson of the National Assembly.

Article 83

Only draft documents prepared in accordance with the Constitution and the present Rules of Procedure may be included in the proposed agenda of a National Assembly sitting.

Article 84

The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall establish, in writing, the date and time of a National Assembly sitting, and shall submit a proposed agenda at least seven (7) days prior to the date for which the sitting has been convened.
Exceptionally, information about the time of a sitting and its agenda may be communicated within a shorter period; however, in such a case the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall have to explain this action at the outset of the sitting.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly may postpone the time and/or date of a National Assembly sitting if a large number of amendments have been submitted to documents listed on the proposed agenda, and if the Government and the appropriate Committees should be unable to consider them prior to the start of the sitting. The Chairperson shall, in such case, inform the Deputies thereof in a timely manner.
In the event defined in the previous Paragraph, the deadline for submitting amendments foreseen by the present Rules of Procedure shall not be extended.

Article 85

Sittings of the National Assembly at which are to be debated Bills, development plans, zoning plans, the budget, the end-of-year balance, the Rules of Procedure, declarations, resolutions, recommendations, decisions, conclusions and authentic interpretations of documents adopted by the National Assembly, shall be held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a recess of one hour.
The National Assembly shall vote on Bills, development plans, zoning plans, the budget, the end-of-year balance, the Rules of Procedure, declarations, resolutions, recommendations, decisions, conclusions and authentic interpretations of documents passed by the National Assembly, in their entirety and in particular, at Voting Day sittings.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall convene Voting Day sittings after the conclusion of the debate on all items on the agenda.
Exceptionally, the Chairman of the National Assembly may decide to hold a National Assembly sitting on another day, or to extend the working hours of the National Assembly past 6 p.m., if reasonable grounds exist for doing so, and if the Chairperson notifies the deputies thereof.
The Chairperson may extend the working hours of the National Assembly past 6 p.m., but only until the conclusion of discussion in principle or particular on an item from the agenda that has already commenced.
The Chairperson shall be obliged to notify the National Assembly of the extension of working hours past 6 p.m. at the latest by 4 p.m. on the day of the sitting for which working hours are proposed to be extended

2. Opening and Participation in a Sitting

Article 86

The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall open the sitting of the National Assembly and, on the basis of official records on the presence of Deputies, shall note the number of deputies present at the sitting.
If the Chairman should note that less than one-third of Deputies are present in the Assembly chamber at the start of working hours, the sitting shall be postponed by one hour.
If conditions for the start of the sitting of the National Assembly are not established even after the one-hour postponement elapses, the sitting shall be postponed for the next workday.
Items from an adopted agenda for the sitting shall be discussed regardless of the number of Deputies present.
The quorum for the work of the National Assembly on Voting Days, for the adoption of the minutes of the previous sitting, and for the adoption of the agenda, as well as at the constituting sitting of the National Assembly, shall exist if at least 126 Deputies are present at the National Assembly sitting.
The quorum shall be established using the electronic voting system, whereby every Deputy shall be obliged to identify himself/herself upon entering the Assembly chamber, by inserting his/her identification card in the Deputy's electronic voting unit.
If the electronic voting system is not in operation, of which the President of the National Assembly shall inform the Deputies, the quorum shall be established by counting the Deputies.
If a Chairperson of a Deputies' Group, or his/her authorised representative, should express suspicion about the existence of a quorum established using the electronic voting system, the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall make available to him/her the computer printout of the names of Deputies present.
If a Chairperson of a Deputies' Group, or his/her authorised representative, should express suspicion about the existence of a quorum established by counting Deputies, he/she may request that the quorum be established by a roll call of Deputies, on which the National Assembly shall decide without debate.

Article 87

National Assembly sittings shall, in addition to Deputies, be attended by the Government Ministers, authorised representatives of other proposers of legislation, the Secretary of the Republic Legislation Secretariat, as well as other persons invited by the Chairperson of the National Assembly.

Article 88

At the outset of work of the National Assembly, each day the National Assembly is in session, the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall inform the National Assembly of which Deputies have been prevented from attending, as well as of persons invited to the sitting.
At the same time, the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall provide the necessary explanations concerning the work at the sitting and other issues.

3. Course of a Sitting

Article 89

Before the agenda is established, the minutes from the previous sitting of the National Assembly shall be adopted. If the minutes from the previous sitting have been distributed to the Deputies immediately prior to the beginning of the sitting, the minutes shall be adopted on the following day of the sitting, before the National Assembly proceeds to discuss the agenda.
Objections to the minutes shall be forwarded in writing to the Administrative Committee.
The National Assembly shall decide on the minutes without debate.

Article 90

The agenda of a sitting shall be established by the National Assembly.
Deputies, Committees and other bodies of the National Assembly and the Government may propose amendments and modifications to the proposed agenda. The proposals shall be submitted to the Chairperson of the National Assembly in writing.
The proposals for expansion of the agenda with the draft documents that, under provisions of the present Rules, fulfil conditions to be included in the agenda, shall be submitted not later than three (3) days prior to a scheduled National Assembly sitting. Proposals concerning the election, appointment, dismissal and termination of office, withdrawal of particular items from the proposed agenda, merging of debates and changing the sequence of items, shall be submitted not later than twenty-four (24) hours before the time set for the start of a National Assembly sitting.
If the proposer is a group of Deputies, the proposal shall have to specify one representative of the proposer. If this has not been done, it shall be considered that the representative of the proposer is the first Deputy to have signed the proposal.
When the agenda is established, the National Assembly shall decide on the proposals in the following sequence:
- For an urgent procedure;
- To withdraw particular items from the proposed agenda;
- To expand the agenda;
- To merge two debates;
- To change the sequence of particular items.

Article 91

A debate shall be held on proposed amendments and modifications to the agenda, and only the following may take part in it:
- The proposer of the change in the agenda, or authorised representative of a group of proposers;
- The proposer of the document to which the change refers, or authorised representative of a group of proposers of documents, if withdrawal of a draft document from the agenda should be required.
Participation in the debate may last not longer than three (3) minutes.

Article 92

The National Assembly shall decide separately on every motion to amend and/or modify the proposed agenda.
New items included in the agenda based on proposals to amend it, proposals to merge two debates, or proposals for an urgent procedure shall be included in the agenda by order of being submitted, except if the proposer has proposed a different sequence of their discussion, on which the National Assembly shall vote without a debate.
The National Assembly shall decide on the agenda as one unit without debate.

Article 93

When discussion is opened on every item of the agenda of the National Assembly sitting, the floor shall be given in the following sequence and for the following duration to:
- The proposer of the document, i.e. the authorised representative of the group of proposers of a document who shall be given the floor when he/she so requests, and shall not be subject to limitations as to duration of presentation;
- The Rapporteur of the appropriate Committee, who shall be granted the floor once, for up to ten (10) minutes, and shall be entitled to the floor for an additional period of up to five (5) minutes out of turn, if so required by exigencies of the debate, which shall be decided by the Chairman of the National Assembly;
- Any Deputy who requested that his opinion should be presented separately at a Committee sitting shall be granted the floor once, for up to five (5) minutes;
- Chairpersons or representatives of Deputies' Groups, who shall be granted the floor for up to twenty (20) minutes, and shall be allowed to divide this time into two 10-minute periods - for their opening and closing arguments;
- Deputies, alternately, according to whether they support or dispute the proposal, as stated in their request to be granted the floor.
The Prime Minister and Government Ministers shall be granted the floor upon request, and shall not be subject to limitations as to the duration of presentation. The Secretary of the Republic Legislation Secretariat shall have the same entitlements as Government Ministers, but only if the National Assembly is discussing a Bill drafted by the Republic Legislation Secretariat on behalf of the Government, of which the Government shall appropriately notify the National Assembly.
Deputies who are not members of Deputies' Groups shall, by mutual agreement, decide on at most three participants in the debate, of which each shall be granted the floor once for up to five (5) minutes. If no agreement should be reached, the floor shall be granted once for up to five (5) minutes to the first three Deputies requesting to be granted the floor.
Requests to be granted the floor, along with the sequence of Deputies, shall be submitted by Deputies' Groups and Deputies who are not members of Deputies' Groups in written form prior to opening of the debate, while other participants in the debate may do so verbally upon opening of the debate.

Article 94

The total duration of participating in a debate in principle for Deputies' Groups shall be five (5) hours.
The duration defined in Paragraph 1 of the present Article shall be allocated to a Deputies' Group proportionally to the number of Deputies who are members of the Deputies' Group.
Prior to opening of a debate, the chairperson or representative of a Deputies' Group shall be entitled to propose an extension to the duration of debate for Deputies' Groups defined in Paragraph 1 of this Article. The National Assembly shall vote on the proposal without debate.

Article 95

The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall grant the floor to Deputies according to the sequence determined by their Deputies' Group, and until the expiry of discussion time allocated to the Deputies' Group.
If deputies from several Deputies' Groups have registered for debate, the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall grant them the floor alternately, so that the first speaker shall be from the numerically smallest Deputies' Group, and so on towards the numerically largest group, so long as there are registered speakers.
A Deputies' Group shall not be obliged to use the time allocated to it, or shall not be obliged to use it to its full extent.

Article 96

If the Chairperson of the National Assembly, when chairing a National Assembly sitting, wishes to take part in a debate, he/she shall cede the chair to one of the Vice-Chairpersons of the National Assembly.

Article 97

When the Chairperson of the National Assembly establishes that no more Deputies wish to take the floor in a debate, he/she shall declare the debate closed.

Article 98

The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall adjourn the National Assembly when he/she ascertain that there is no quorum at a National Assembly sitting until the quorum is established.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly may order a recess to be taken in the course of a National Assembly sitting if so required to perform necessary consultations, or in order to obtain a particular opinion.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall adjourn the National Assembly in other cases if the National Assembly should so decide.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall inform the Deputies of the resumption of the sitting.

Article 99

When the debate on all items from the agenda is over, and voting has finished, the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall conclude the sitting of the National Assembly.

Article 100

The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall grant the floor to any Deputy wishing to address an alleged infringement of the present Rules of Procedure.
The Deputy shall be obliged to state which provision(s) of the Rules of Procedure have been infringed upon, to quote the relevant provision(s), and explain what he/she considers the infringement to be; the maximum time to be granted to the Deputy shall be three (3) minutes, not including time necessary to quote the provision(s).
The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall thereafter be obliged to provide an explanation.
If the Deputy continues to claim that the Rules of Procedure have been infringed upon even after being provided with an explanation by the Chairperson of the National Assembly, the National Assembly shall vote on the issue without discussion at the Voting Day sitting.

Article 101

If a Deputy, in his/her statement at a National Assembly sitting, should address a Deputy from another Deputies' Group in an insulting manner, specifying his/her first and last name or title, or should misinterpret his/her statement, the Deputy to whom the statement refers shall be entitled of reply.
If the insulting words concern a Deputies' Group and/or political party to which the Deputies belong, the right of reply shall be granted to the chairperson of the Deputies' Group, who shall be granted the right of reply on behalf of the entire Deputies' Group.
The Chairperson of the National Assembly shall rule on cases defined in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article.
The reply may not last more than three (3) minutes.

Article 102

No one shall approach the speaker's platform unless so allowed by the Chairperson of the National Assembly.
No one may speak at a National Assembly sitting before requesting the floor and being granted the floor by the Chairperson of the National Assembly.

Article 103

A speaker may speak only about the issue that is on the agenda.
No one may interrupt the speaker nor warn him/her except the Chairperson of the National Assembly in cases envisaged by the present Rules of Procedure.
During the speech of a Deputy or another participant in the debate, it shall not be allowed to heckle or distract the speaker in any other manner, or to take any other action that imperils the freedom of speech.

Article 104

Deputies shall be obliged to respect the dignity of the National Assembly.
Deputies shall be obliged to address each other with respect.
The use of insulting expressions, as well as presentation of facts or opinions concerning the private lives of others, shall not be allowed.

4. Keeping Order at a Sitting

Article 105

Keeping order at a National Assembly sitting shall be the responsibility of its Chairperson.
In case of a violation of order at a sitting, the Chairperson of the National Assembly may pronounce the following measures: reprimand, denial of the floor, and expulsion from the sitting.
On the basis of measures defined in Paragraph 2 of the present Article, the Administrative Committee shall also impose a fine under provisions of Article 109 of the present Rules of Procedure.
Records on imposed measures defined in Paragraph 2 of the present Article shall be kept by the Secretary of the National Assembly.

Article 106

A Deputy shall be reprimanded if he/she:
- Should approach the speaker's platform without the permission of the Chairperson;
- Should speak before requesting or being granted the floor;
- Should speak about an issue that is not on the agenda even after having been cautioned by the Chairperson;
- Should interrupt the speaker in his/her presentation or make loud remarks, i.e. distract the speaker, or otherwise imperil freedom of speech;
- Should present facts and assessments concerning the private lives of others;
- Should use expletives and insulting expressions;
- Should violate order at the sitting by any other actions, or should act in contravention of provisions of the present Rules of Procedure.

Article 107

The floor shall be denied to a Deputy who has been reprimanded twice but nevertheless continues to violate provisions of Article 106 of the present Rules of Procedure.
The Deputy who has been denied the floor shall be obliged to leave the speaker's platform without delay. Otherwise, the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall deactivate the public address system, and order a recess, if necessary.
The denial of the floor shall not affect the right of reply of the Deputy in the further course of the sitting.

Article 108

A Deputy shall be ordered to leave a sitting if, even after the floor is denied to him/her, he/she should obstruct or hinder Deputies in their work at the sitting, fail to obey the decision of the Chairperson of the National Assembly on denial of the floor to him/her, or continue committing other violations under Article 106 of the present Rules of Procedure, as well as in other cases specified by the present Rules of Procedure.
The order for a Deputy to leave the sitting may also be given without any other measures having first been imposed, in case of physical assault or other similar action jeopardising the physical or moral integrity of participants in the sitting, in the National Assembly building.
A Deputy who has been ordered to leave the sitting shall be obliged to immediately leave the Assembly chamber where the sitting is taking place.
If a Deputy should refuse to leave a National Assembly sitting, the Chairperson of the National Assembly shall order the service charged with keeping order in the National Assembly building to remove the Deputy from the Assembly chamber, and shall order a recess pending execution of the order.
A Deputy who has been ordered to leave the sitting shall be considered unjustifiably absent.

Article 109

A reprimanded Deputy shall be fined 3,000 dinars.
A Deputy who has been reprimanded twice at the same sitting shall be fined 8,000 dinars.
A Deputy denied the floor shall be fined 16,000 dinars.
A Deputy ordered to leave the sitting shall be fined 32,000 dinars.
If several measures have been pronounced to the Deputy for violation of order at a National Assembly sitting, the fines shall not be compounded; rather, only the highest fine shall be imposed.

Article 110

The Administrative Committee shall rule on imposing a fine on a Deputy.
A fine imposed on a Deputy permanently employed by the National Assembly shall be deducted from his/her salary for the current month, or for the current and following month if he/she has been ordered to leave a National Assembly sitting.
A fine imposed on a Deputy who is not permanently employed by the National Assembly shall be deducted from his/her National Assembly income (the difference between the salary of a Deputy permanently employed by the National Assembly and income from employment or pension, or Deputies' bonus) for the current month, or for the following months if the income of the Deputy at the National Assembly should amount to less than the amount of the fine, until such time as the full amount of the fine has been paid.
A Deputy fined for having been reprimanded or denied the floor shall be entitled to compensation for use of personal automobile, meals, and hotel accommodation, while a Deputy fined for having been ordered to leave a sitting shall be entitled to compensation for use of personal automobile, on which the Administrative Committee shall adopt an official decision.

Article 111

If the Chairperson of the National Assembly should prove unable to keep order at a sitting by resorting to regular measures, he/she shall order a recess to last until order is restored.

Article 112

Measures of reprimand and denial of the floor shall apply only to the sitting at which they were pronounced.
The order to leave the sitting shall apply over a period of twenty (20) days of the sitting (work) of the National Assembly following the day of pronouncement, or for the entire sitting at which it was pronounced, if the sitting should last more than twenty (20) sitting (work) days of the National Assembly.

Article 113

Provisions of the present Rules of Procedure on order at a National Assembly sitting shall also apply to all other participants at the sitting, in addition to the Deputies, and shall apply to the sittings of National Assembly Committees and other working bodies accordingly.

5. Minutes

Article 114

Minutes shall be kept on proceedings at National Assembly sittings.
Minutes shall include key data about actions taken at a sitting, and especially about proposals debated, names of participants in the debate, conclusions adopted at the sitting, the outcome of voting on particular issues, as well as measures pronounced.
Key parts of any statement made by a Deputy who asked that his opinion should be presented separately shall be entered in the minutes at his/her request.
Shorthand notes shall be kept at National Assembly sittings; slanting brackets shall be entered in the text to mark off ten-minute-periods, and the course of the sitting shall be audio-taped. Shorthand notes shall include the text as uttered, without omitting any words or phrases. Every Deputy shall be entitled to inspect the shorthand notes and/or the audiotape at his/her request. Shorthand notes shall be delivered to Deputies' Groups not later than the following day. If a Deputy should wish to authorise the text of his/her statement, he/she shall be obliged to do so within three (3) days of the date the sitting concerned was held.
The adopted minutes shall be signed by the Chairperson and the Secretary of the National Assembly.
A copy of the material considered at the sitting shall be attached to the adopted minutes.
The Secretary of the National Assembly shall be charged with keeping the minutes.