GEO

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Mechanisms of Citizen Participation in

 

Parliamentary Activities

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Why is it important?

 

   Lack of awareness of citizens is one of the main obstacles for their active participation in legislative processes.

 

   Government should be making information related to legislative processes available. The legislative process should be derived from the interests of the population.

 

    This module was created by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and reviews lawmaking activities and citizen participation mechanisms that       are currently available through the website of the Parliament of Georgia.

 

Why is it important?

 

   Lack of awareness of citizens is one of the main obstacles for their active participation in legislative processes.

   Government should be making information related to legislative processes available. The legislative process should be derived from the interests of the population.

   This module was created by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and reviews lawmaking activities and citizen participation mechanisms that are      currently available through the website of the Parliament of Georgia.

 

 

Legislative Initiative and Legislative Proposal

 

 

The main difference between a legislative initiative and a legislative proposal lies in their submitters. In addition, a legislative initiative has the form of a draft law, while a legislative proposal is a general idea or concept of a law. 

 

 The following entities/individuals are entitled to submit a draft law by means of a legislative initiative: Government of Georgia; Member of Parliament (MP); Parliamentary Faction; supreme representative body of Abkhazia and Adjara; and an initiative group (after collecting no less than 30,000 voter signatures).

 

 A legislative proposal can be submitted by an individual that does not have the right to propose a legislative initiative and, therefore, is not entitled to submit a draft law. A legislative proposal is submitted to the Parliament and contains a proposal on adoption, amendment or invalidation of a law.

 

An individual is also entitled to directly address an MP and introduce his or her idea of the draft law. In case of approval of the idea, the MP is entitled to use their right of a legislative initiative and submit the draft law to the Parliament. 
Submission of a Legislative Initiative by 30,000 Voters
An Initiative Group that consists of no less than 5 members is formed.
The Initiative Group addresses the Bureau of Parliament with the requrst to register the draft law. The draft law and personal data of the members of the Group accompany the Request.
The Bureau of Parliament forwards the Request to the Committee of Procedural Issues and Rules.
In case of a positive decision on registration, the Committee of Procedural Issues and Rules gives a registration certificate to the Initiative Group.
Upon receipt of the registration certificate, the Initiative Group begins collecting signatures of supporters of the draft law.
The Initiative Group submits the signed paper to the Bureau of Parliament. The Bureau forwards the paper to the Committee of Procedural Issues and Rules.
The Committee of Procedural Issues and Rules examines the authenticity and the number of signatures (that mustl not be less than 30,000).
In case of confirmation of authenticity and required amount of signatures, the conclusion of the Committee of Procedural Issues and Rules and the draft law are submitted to the Bureau, and the list of signatures is submitted to the Organizational Department.
The draft law submitted by means of initiative of 30,000 voters is introduced to the Parliament by the member of the Initiative Group and by the representative of the Leading Committee.
Submission of a Legislative Proposal
A legislative proposal can be made by a citizen of Georgia, state bodies, local government bodies, political and public unions.
The legislative proposal shall include its reasoning, signature and address of the author.
The Parliament Bureau or the Speaker defines the leading committee (the committee that shall be responsible for drafting the draft in case the legislative proposal is accepted) and submits the legislative proposal to it.
The leading committee submits to the Bureau the draft law drafted on the basis of the legislative proposal. The Bureau, for its part, includes the subbmited draft law in the agenda of the nearest parliamentary session.

Another Mechanism for Participation – Submitting a Petition

 

Petition is a written request of a group of individuals that concerns issues related to national or general problems.
Submitting a Petition
A Petition is addressed to the Speaker of Parliament and is registered in a special registration book.
It is submitted to the respective committee or the interim commission for examination and review.
Committee or interim commission makes one of the following decisions in regards to the petition: 1. Reviews the petition at the plenary session of Parliament; 2. Forwards the petition to the respective ministry, agency; 3. Considers it inappropriate to review the petition.
In order to review the petition at the plenary session of Parliament, the respective committee or the interim commission submits its conclusion on the petition to the Bureau of Parliament.
In the event that the petition is sent to a ministry or agency, the latter is obliged to respond to the author of the petition and to the respective committee or the interim commission within 1 month from the date of receipt.
After reviewing the petition, Parliament adopts a resolution, decree or makes other decision.

Where Can I Find Draft Laws?

How Can I Leave a Comment on a Draft Law?

How Can I Attend Plenary and Committee Sessions of the Parliament?

 

Another mechanism for civil participation in the lawmaking process is to attend plenary and committee sessions of the Parliament. When attending committee session, citizens are given the right to be heard.

 

Detailed regulations for entering the Parliament building are determined by the Order of the Chairperson of Parliament of Georgia and by the Appendixes attached thereto. All of the abovementioned is available on the Parliament website.

 

Citizens that are willing to attend plenary or committee sessions of Parliament may appeal to MPs or to the Parliamentary Stuff, more specifically: head and deputy heads of the Parliamentary Stuff; head of the Office of the Chairperson of Parliament; heads of the Departments of Parliament; head of the Office of the Registrar of Parliament. Full list of individuals that are authorized to pass the permit on entrance of Parliament is given at the webpage of Parliament.

 

In order to attend a parliamentary session it is necessary to know dates and its agenda.

 

In the agenda of the Parliamentary Bureau the draft laws that are going to be discussed at the planned Plenary Session of Parliament are given in detail.

 

In order to attend the Committee Session of Parliament it is required to know its date and agenda. This information is available in the Announcement Section on the Parliament website. 

Where Can I View Voting Results?

 

The results of voting conducted by the Parliament of 7th, 8th and 9th convocation may be viewed on the Parliament website (www.parliament.ge).It is possible to view the full list of laws, as well as to search a specific law by indicating several parameters, such as the title, MP, date of adoption.For each law, one can find general information, voting results, personal information of MPs that took part in voting and their voting record.The Parliament website also offers full MP voting records.

 

    

 

This Guide was created within the framework of the Joint Parliamentary Project of European Union and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in collaboration with “Institute for Development of Freedom of Information” (IDFI).