GYLA releases statement on the swiftness of activity of the legislative branch during the last week and on insufficient access to information thereon. In view of this, it calls on the Parliament to conduct the legislative process with observance of stipulations envisaged in the Regulation.

 

The main deficiency of 2008-2012 Parliament was rapidity of its activity and insufficient transparency of the process which on the one hand violated legislative requirements and on the other hand decreased civil society involvement in the process, in certain cases even made it absolutely impossible.      

 

Article 49 of the Parliamentary Regulation provides for the transparency guarantees of Parliament’s activities. It is an important mechanism in terms of timely dissemination of information about the legislative process and for involvement of interested parties therein. Since the terms envisaged by the Regulation are short, their observance acquires special importance. According to the Regulation, information on the start of the committee session and its agenda should be placed one day earlier on the web-page of the Parliament. During the week when meetings are planned with electorate, information about committee session and the agenda should be placed two days before on the web-page of the Parliament.

 

Save for some exceptions, during its autumn sessions, the newly elected Parliament ensured transparent legislative process. They released information about the schedule of committee sessions and their agendas, in time. Yet, for the last week, in view of the quickness of Parliament’s activity, transparency requirements were mostly violated. It hiders interested individuals from being informed about committee activities, while the last is the key formula for civil sector to release its opinions and remarks in terms of the pending draft. In addition, the stipulated terms and relevant transparency principles are decisive not only for assurance of openness but for prevention to conduct the legislative process in a swift manner. For the past week, in certain cases, information about committee session was released some hours/minutes earlier before the start, rather than within the terms provided by law. Moreover, there were instances when by the time of the start of the committee session, no information was provided on the agenda.

 

Due observance of procedural guarantees is the key feature in legislative process. Transparency of the process and observance of set stipulations make possible adoption important state decision with involvement of interested individuals, which increases responsibility of the Parliament in terms of ensuring adequate conditions for participation in decision- making.