What is Act No. 56 / 1969 Coll.?

Act No. 56 / 1969 Coll., on the Rules of Procedure of the Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic — Law on the Rules of Procedure of the Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

When it became Act No. 56 / 1969 Coll. effectiveness?

Act No. 56 / 1969 Coll. became effective 16.06.1969.

Is Act No. 56 / 1969 Coll. still valid?

Yes, Act No. 56 / 1969 Coll. is still valid and effective.

Act No. 56 / 1969 Coll. - Law on the Rules of Procedure of the Fed...

56

THE LAW

of 5 June 1969

on the Rules of Procedure of the Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

The Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic decided on this law:

Část I

Preliminary provisions

(1) The Rules of Procedure of the Federal Assembly shall govern the principles of the conduct and organisation of the Federal Assembly, the contacts of both the House and the relations with the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and externally.

(2) Each House shall adapt its own resolutions to its internal circumstances (Article 46 of the Constitutional Act on the Czechoslovak Federation - hereinafter referred to as the "Constitutional Act") and to the more detailed rules of its action.

Část II

Establishment of meetings

§ 2

(1) The Members of the Federal Assembly shall meet after their election at the constituent meeting of the House to which they were elected.

(2) The opening meeting of each House shall be convened by the current Bureau of the Federal Assembly no later than four weeks after the date of the elections and shall propose the subject matter of its deliberations. At the same time, they shall entrust one of their members with the management of the constituent meetings of the House of the People and the House of Nations.

§ 3

(1) Before the President of the House is elected, the constituent meeting shall be chaired by an authorised member of the current Bureau of the Federal Assembly.

(2) The President will accept the pledge of Members (Rule 48 of the Constitutional Act) and make the election of the Election Commission to determine the results of the vote and the election of the Mandate and Immunity Committee.

§ 4

(1) After verifying the validity of the election of Members on the basis of a draft House Mandate and Immunity Committee, the number of members of its Bureau (Rule 54 of the Constitutional Law) shall be determined and elected by the President of the House.

(2) The newly elected President of the House will then take over the proceedings. It will allow the election of other members of the Bureau of the House, the Presidents and other members of the Committees, as well as the verifiers of the House.

§ 5

The House shall elect members of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly (Rule 56 of the Constitutional Law).

§ 6

The President or an authorised member of the current Bureau of the Federal Assembly shall report to the House on the activities of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly during the period from the end of the last meeting of the Federal Assembly (Rule 58 of the Constitutional Law).

§ 7

(1) Following the election of the members of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly, the President or an authorised member of the current Bureau of the Federal Assembly shall convene a joint meeting of the two chambers to elect the President and Vice-Presidents of the Federal Assembly (Rule 34 of the Constitutional Law).

(2) A joint meeting of the two Chambers is chaired by the President or a member of the so-called Bureau of the Federal Assembly.

(3) Each House shall elect a committee to elect the President and Vice-Presidents of the Federal Assembly.

(4) The President, the first Vice-President and the other Vice-Presidents of the Federal Assembly are elected by both of the members of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly (Rule 56 (5) of the Constitutional Law).

(5) Members of each House vote separately.

Část III

Meetings of the Federal Assembly House

§ 8

Meetings of the House shall be convened by the President of the House on the basis of a resolution of the Bureau of the House or, where appropriate, by a resolution of the House. If at least a third of the Members of the House so request, the President shall convene a meeting of the House within 30 days at the latest.

§ 9

The President of the Federal Assembly shall convene a joint meeting of the two Parliaments on the basis of a resolution of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly or on the basis of a resolution of the two Parliaments (Rule 34 of the Constitutional Law).

§ 10

(1) The session of the House of People may be initiated if an absolute majority of its Members are present at the meeting.

(2) Negotiations of the House of Nations may be initiated if the majority of Members elected in the Czech Socialist Republic and the majority of Members elected in the Slovak Socialist Republic are present at the meeting.

(3) The House shall establish, on a proposal from its Bureau, the agenda and the way in which each item of the agenda is to be discussed. If a joint meeting of the House is held, the House shall set out the agenda and the way in which each item of the agenda will be discussed on a proposal from the Bureau of the Federal Assembly.

(4) Any Member may propose to amend or supplement the programme.

§ 11

(1) The House meeting is generally public.

(2) In order to protect state secrets or the important interest of the State, the House may, on a proposal from the Bureau of the Federal Assembly, its Bureau, the Committee, on a proposal from a Member, the President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Government or its individual member, decide that the meeting or part thereof is not public. Such a proposal will be decided by the House without debate.

(3) The President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Members of the Second Chamber and members of the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic may be present at a meeting of the House or at a part of the meeting which has been declared non-public. The Head of the Office of the Federal Assembly may attend such meetings or parts thereof. Other staff of the Office of the Federal Assembly and other persons may attend such a meeting or part thereof only with the agreement of the Bureau of the House and, if it is a joint meeting of the House, with the approval of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly.

§ 12

(1) Members may submit to the debate before and during the meeting.

(2) At the beginning of the debate, the President shall notify the speakers who have been applied for. The President shall give the Members the floor in the order in which they applied. However, first, they will give the floor to those Members who wish to make amendments on the subject.

(3) Whoever is not present in the conference room at the moment of his word, loses his order.

(4) The House may set a maximum speaking time, but not less than 15 minutes, on a proposal from its Bureau or any Member.

§ 13

Every speaker has the right to speak in his mother tongue. If the speaker does not speak Czech or Slovak, the Office of the Federal Assembly will ensure the interpretation of the speech into one of these languages.

§ 14

(1) Any Member may, during the course of the debate, take the floor on or answer to the operative remark. He will be given the floor.

(2) The transmission of a point of order and any reply to another Member's point of order shall not exceed 5 minutes.

§ 15

Members of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly shall be given the floor whenever they so request, including on statements which are unrelated to the agenda of the meeting. The same applies to members of the Czechoslovak Socialist Government.

§ 16

(1) A Member who has been given the floor is to speak on the subject. If it deviates from the present case or exceeds the speaking time, the President may draw the attention of the Member.

(2) A Member derogating from the present case may withdraw the floor after renotification. The House shall decide on the objections of a Member who has been removed from the floor by voting without debate.

(3) If the Member exceeds the time limit for submitting a point of order or, where appropriate, to reply to a point of order, the President shall withdraw the floor.

§ 17

(1) Members may, in the debate, speak on the subject of amendments. They are to relate to a particular matter of the proposal under discussion, and it is to be made clear what is to be decided by the House. The President may ask Members to clarify their proposal.

(2) If an amendment is tabled in the debate, the Bureau of the House or any Member may propose a suspension of such a agenda item until the opinion of the committee responsible has been delivered on the amendment. An application for suspension of such a point on the daily agenda may also be made by the applicant for the item under consideration.

(3) The House will decide on a proposal to suspend the discussion of a specific item on the daily agenda by voting without debate. At the same time, the House may set a time limit for the committee responsible to submit its opinion to the House on the proposed amendment.

(4) The same procedure applies if the Member makes an amendment to a proposal in writing before the debate at the House meeting.

(5) Similarly, a proposal may be made by the Member in the debate on the questions under discussion which does not directly affect these issues.

§ 18

At the end of the debate, the President shall give the final floor to the draftsman of the proposal under discussion and then to the rapporteur of the committee responsible.

Voting in meetings of the Federal Assembly House

§ 19

(1) Every proposal is decided by the House by a vote.

(2) Before each vote, the President of the House shall draw the attention of Members to the vote and shall determine the number of Members present in the Chamber (Rule 40 of the Constitutional Law).

§ 20

(1) The order in which the proposals submitted are to be put to the vote must be chosen in such a way as to give the best possible opinion to the majority.

(2) Each Member may propose that the individual parts of the proposal be put to a separate vote. If the vote fails to approve all parts of the proposal, the parts adopted shall be put to the vote as a whole.

(3) If an amendment is tabled to the proposal, the amendment shall be put to the vote first. Where two or more amendments are tabled to the proposal, they shall be put to the vote in the order in which they are tabled. If the adoption of one amendment means the exclusion of another amendment, there will be no vote on it.

(4) Where a proposal is tabled on a procedural question, a vote shall be taken on such a proposal before the vote on the question.

§ 21

(1) The vote is public or secret.

(2) As a general rule, a vote shall be taken in public by raising hands if the House does not agree to a different manner of public vote without debate.

(3) On a proposal from the Bureau of the Federal Assembly, the Bureau of the House, Members or groups of Members, the House may decide that Members shall vote in secret.

(4) The motion to denounce distrust the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic or its individual member shall be put to the vote in both chambers by name.

§ 22

(1) The elections of the President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the President and Vice-Presidents of the Federal Assembly, the members of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly, the President and Vice-Presidents of the Chamber and other members of the Bureau of the Chamber and the Presidents of the Committees shall be held by secret ballot.

(2) By secret ballot, elections shall be held in other cases, if the law so provides.

(3) In other cases, elections shall be held by public vote, unless the House otherwise agrees.

§ 23

(1) Voting by name is carried out by means of ballots bearing the names of Members. Further details shall be laid down by each House by its resolution.

(2) Voting tickets are secretly voted. The vote count and election results shall be carried out by the committee of Members elected by the House.

(3) Where there is a prohibition of majorisation under Articles 41 and 42 of the Constitutional Act, secret votes shall be held separately in the House of Nations. In that case, the House of Nations shall elect two committees of Members.

§ 24

Members of the House of People vote separately from the Members of the House of Nations in joint meetings of both parliaments.

Parliament's cooperation and conciliation

§ 25

(1) The Bureau of the Federal Assembly, the Bureau of both chambers and their committees shall cooperate in the preparation of the resolutions of the Federal Assembly and shall endeavour to unify the resolutions of the two chambers. To this end, the relevant committees of the two House shall be informed of their meetings, of the conclusions adopted, and shall send their representatives to the meetings of the committee responsible to explain the opinions adopted. As a general rule, joint meetings shall be held to unify the different opinions.

(2) The Bureau of the House shall inform the Bureau of the second Chamber and the Bureau of the Federal Assembly of any resolution adopted by the House.

§ 26

(1) If there is no consensus on the resolution of the two House, the House (s) may, even on a proposal from the Bureau of the Federal Assembly, decide to renegotiate the matter, or may order committees to renegotiate and submit proposals, or may agree to a conciliation procedure under Rule 44 of the Constitutional Law.

(2) However, the provisions of paragraph 1 shall not apply if the same resolution of the two House on the Federation State Budget is not reached (Article 44 (4) of the Constitutional Law).

§ 27

(1) The Joint Conciliation Committee consists of 10 representatives of each House, unless the House agrees on a different number; also in this case, the Joint Committee is always composed of the same number of Members of the House of the People and the House of Nations.

(2) The House of Nations will elect to the Joint Committee the same number of Members elected in the Czech Socialist Republic and the same number of Members elected in the Slovak Socialist Republic.

§ 28

(1) The first meeting of the Joint Conciliation Committee shall be convened by the Chairman of the Federal Assembly. At this meeting, the Committee shall elect a chairman who shall direct the Committee's further deliberations.

(2) The members of the Joint Committee shall report on the results of the Joint Committee's deliberations to the two parliaments.

§ 29

If, on the recommendation of the Joint Committee, both of them do not accept the same resolution, both of them may decide to hold a joint meeting of both of them and seek to adopt the same resolution. The Bureau of the Federal Assembly may also propose a joint meeting between the two Members.

§ 30

(1) If the conciliation procedure or the joint meeting of the two Parliaments does not lead to an identical resolution, the Bureau of the House shall inform the Bureau of the Federal Assembly thereof.

(2) If the conciliation procedure did not lead to the same resolution by both parliaments, the Bureau of the Federal Assembly informed the President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

Interpelling and questions

§ 31

(1) The House of the People and the House of Nations, as well as individual Members and groups of Members, have the right to interfere with the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and its members and to ask questions about their respective responsibilities.

(2) The Government and its members are obliged to answer questions and questions.

(3) The House of the People and the House of Nations, as well as individual Members and groups of Members, also have the right to ask questions from the head of the Central Authorities of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in matters of their competence.

(4) The heads of central offices shall be obliged to answer questions.

§ 32

(1) Interpelling shall be submitted in writing to the Bureau of the House.

(2) Interpulation should be formulated briefly and it should be made clear what explanation the Member requires.

§ 33

(1) The Bureau of the House shall inform the Bureau of the Federal Assembly of the intervenations submitted. The interview shall be printed and circulated in advance, or distributed to all Members, as well as to the interpelated.

(2) Interpellated shall be obliged to reply to the interpellation within 30 days at the latest to the Bureau of the House and to the interpellant, unless there is an urgent interpellation. Even if this deadline has not passed, the interpolated may reply orally to the interview sent in the next session of the House.

(3) The Bureau of the House shall inform the Bureau of the replies to the interviews, if necessary with its opinion, of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly; written replies shall be placed on the agenda of the next House meeting, which shall deliver an opinion on them. If a Member so suggests, there will be a debate on the answers to the interviews.

(4) At the request of an interpel or another Member, the House may declare the interview urgent. The Member shall give reasons for such a request. If the House declares that there is an emergency, it is obliged to reply to such an interview at the same House meeting. In the event that the interpolated cannot respond, this meeting must express its observations on the interpolation and request a more detailed reply from the House.

§ 34

(1) Questions may be written or oral (§ 31).

(2) The written questions shall be answered in writing or orally within 30 days.

(3) The oral questions will usually be answered orally by the respondent after the question has been asked. It may reserve a reply in writing, unless the institution in whose meeting the question has been asked is satisfied with oral answers. Then he'll answer the question in the next meeting. The written reply must be sent within 30 days.

§ 35

Any Member may ask questions to the President and other members of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly, as well as to the President and members of the Bureau of the House on matters relating to the activities of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly or the Bureau of the House.

Negotiations on bills

§ 36

Negotiations on bills usually consist of discussions on the principles of the law and discussions on the outline of the law.

§ 37

Proposals of the Federal Assembly may be submitted by Members of the Federal Assembly, by groups of Members, by committees of both parliaments, by the President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the Czech National Council and the Slovak National Council.

§ 38

(1) The draftsmen submit the principles of the law, together with political and economic analysis to the President of the Federal Assembly, and they will be forwarded to the House.

(2) The principles of the law shall be drawn up in such a way as to constitute a reliable and complete basis on which the federal assembly committees may assess whether a particular matter must be regulated or whether the existing legislation must be amended and, where appropriate, supplemented in which directions and to what extent. The principles are to allow choice between alternative solutions as far as possible.

(3) The political and economic analysis must be carried out in such a way that the new legislation can be assessed comprehensively, in terms of both political and economic consequences, in terms of the status of citizens and organisations, as well as the impact of the legislation on the activities of state bodies and organisations. The analysis is intended to justify the need for new legislation and its essential features.

(4) Exceptionally, the presentation of principles and political and economic analysis may be waived if the President of the Federal Assembly so agrees after consulting the Presidents of the House.

§ 39

The Bureau of the House, or on the basis of its authority, shall order the principles to be discussed by the relevant committees, while at the same time ensuring that the principles are distributed to all Members of the House and shall inform them which committees have been ordered to do so.

§ 40

(1) In committees, the appellant will justify the principles of the law.

(2) After consulting the principles, the Committee shall communicate its opinion to the appellant and to the Bureau of the House, which shall inform the Bureau of the Federal Assembly thereof, if necessary with its own observations.

§ 41

(1) The Galois of Laws shall be submitted to the President of the Federal Assembly and forwarded to the House.

(2) The syllabus of laws shall be submitted with a reasoned report including the financial and economic scope of the proposed adjustment and the way in which the necessary costs are to be paid. When discussing the outline of the law, committees may ask the appellant to provide them with information on the content of the implementing provisions to be issued by the federal authorities and on the time when the implementing provisions are to be issued.

(3) At the same time, the appellant will report on how it complied with the recommendations of the committees of the House in their opinions or why it did not comply with those recommendations.

(4) The Code of Conduct is justified by the appellant in the Chamber. If the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic is the draftsman, it is justified in the Chamber by a member of the government to whom the Government will entrust it.

§ 42

The President of the House or, under his authority, the President of the House shall order the proposed outline of the law to the relevant committees, while at the same time ensuring the distribution of the outline to all Members of the House, and shall inform them of which committees the outline of the law has been ordered.

§ 43

Members who are not members of the committees to which the Code of Conduct has been given may give these committees an opinion on the Code of Conduct, including in writing.

§ 44

The President of the Federal Assembly shall send the principles and outline of the law to the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic if he is not the draftsman of the law. The President of the Federal Assembly will also send the principles and outline of the Act to the Czech National Council and the Slovak National Council, unless they are the promoters of the Act to give their opinion at their discretion.

§ 45

The opinions of the bodies referred to in Section 44 shall be communicated by the President of the Federal Assembly to the individual House.

§ 46

(1) In the committees of the House, the draftsman will justify the outline of the law. The Committee may designate rapporteurs from among its members to discuss the outline of the law in committee.

(2) The committees of the House may, on the basis of their resolutions, also discuss the required outline of the law in a joint meeting.

(3) The relevant committees of both chambers may, on the basis of their resolutions, discuss the required outline of the law in a joint meeting.

§ 47

(1) Members may, in the debate, lecture amendments to the legislation. They are to relate to a particular case under discussion and it is to be made clear what the committee is to decide.

(2) The Committee will also discuss the amendments sent to the Committee under Paragraph 43.

§ 48

Paragraph 20 shall apply to the order when voting on proposals submitted.

§ 49

(1) If the committee decides to amend the curriculum, it shall draw up a written report for the House containing the Committee's recommendations and the precise wording of the amendments.

(2) The Committee's written report shall be approved by the Committee before the House is presented, unless it has been approved by the President and by certain other members of the Committee by his drawing up it.

§ 50

After consulting the Code of Conduct, the President of the Committee shall immediately inform the Committee of the Bureau of the Chamber and the other Presidents of the Committees of the Chamber, to whom the Code of Conduct has been ordered. The Bureau of the House shall inform the Bureau of the Federal Assembly of the resolution of the Committee.

§ 51

If the law has been discussed in several committees of the House and all these committees agree on the same amendments, they may submit a joint written report to the House.

§ 52

(1) After consulting the Code of Conduct, the Committee shall designate a rapporteur who shall report orally to the House on the Committee's deliberations.

(2) If the Bill has been discussed in several committees of the House, these committees may designate a joint rapporteur.

§ 53

(1) The provisions of paragraphs 36 to 52 apply mutatis mutandis to the consideration of draft legal measures by the Bureau of the Federal Assembly.

(2) Paragraphs 41 to 52 apply mutatis mutandis to the negotiation of international agreements. The Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic shall inform the Federal Assembly of the intentions pursued by the upcoming international treaties.

§ 54

(1) The Federal Assembly shall declare the Bureau of the Federal Assembly within 14 days of its approval (Article 45 (3) of the Constitutional Law).

(2) The Bureau of the Federal Assembly shall refer to the date of approval of the law as the date on which the second House has decided on the proposal adopted by the first House.

(3) If the second House does not fall asleep on a proposal adopted by the first House within three months, the Bureau of the Federal Assembly will enact a law after this deadline. At the same time, it shall indicate the date on which the period of three months has elapsed as the date of approval of the law.

Minutes of meetings of the bodies of the Federal Assembly

§ 55

(1) Every meeting of the House of the People, of the House of Nations, of the Joint Meeting of the two Parliaments and of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly shall be recorded verbatim. The minutes shall indicate who has managed the meeting, how many members of the competent authorities have been present, who have attended the debate and what was the result of the vote.

(2) The speakers who have spoken in the debate shall verify the text of the contribution they have presented as soon as possible after the meeting. In doing so, they may correct any errors made at the time of registration; However, they shall not alter the content and the meaning of their speech.

(3) The minutes of the House meeting are verified by its President and at least two verifiers. The minutes of the joint meeting of the two parliaments shall be verified by the President of the Federal Assembly and by one of the verifiers of each House. The minutes of the meeting of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly shall be verified by the President and the verifier of the Bureau of the Federal Assembly. These officials verify the resolutions adopted.

(4) The certified minutes shall be an authentic record of the meeting and shall be forwarded together with the relevant supporting documents, annexes and resolutions for storage in the archives of the Office of the Federal Assembly.

(5) The authentic text of the minutes on the meeting of the House of the People and the House of Nations, or on their joint meeting, is the basis for the publication of a shorthand report, unless, in the cases referred to in paragraph 11 (2), the Bureau of the relevant House or, where appropriate, the Bureau of both chambers decides otherwise.

(6) The minutes shall include the full texts of the proposals submitted, the resolutions adopted, the declarations and other documents which have been the subject of the negotiations.

§ 56

(1) Paragraph 55 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the minutes of the meetings of the Presidents and Committees of the House of the People and of the House of Nations, unless the House provides otherwise by its resolution.

(2) The minutes of joint meetings of several committees shall be verified by the President and by one verifier of each of the committees involved.

Citation	Act No. 56 / 1969 Coll., on the Rules of Procedure of the Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Regulation Type	-
Author	-
Collection	Code of Laws

Date of Promulgation	16.06.1969
Effective from	16.06.1969
Effective until	-
Status	Valid

Act No. 56 / 1969 Coll.

Law on the Rules of Procedure of the Federal Assembly of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

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