Sub-amendments and the admissibility of oral amendments and sub-amendments (Rule 30 of the Assembly's Rules of Procedure)

Resolution 819 (1984)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 22 March 1984. See Doc. 5114, report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure.

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Considering the difficulties which have arisen during its debates from the proposal of oral amendments and sub-amendments ;

2. Considering that it is desirable to lay down rules governing this subject, bearing in mind the need to ensure that the Assembly's business is conducted as smoothly as possible and to facilitate the taking of decisions ;

3. Observing that the Rules of Procedure contain no provisions on sub-amendments although this practice has existed for many years ;

4. Noting the report of its Committee on Rules of Procedure (Doc. 5114),

5. Decides to amend Rule 30 of the Rules of Procedure to read as follows :

"Rule 30 - Amendments and sub-amendments

6. Any Representative or Substitute may propose and debate amendments and sub-amendments.

7. Amendments shall relate directly to the text which it is sought to alter and shall apply only to the substantive text [(1) In accordance with the provisions of Rule 46 below, the substantive text is the draft recommendation, opinion, resolution or order (including the preamble) submitted to the Assembly for approval.].

8. Sub-amendments shall relate to an amendment previously tabled and are only admissible insofar as they do not contradict the sense of the amendment. They shall not be subject to any further amendment.

9. The President shall decide whether the amendments and sub-amendments are in order ; they shall be signed by their author and, unless the President decides otherwise after consultation with the Chairman of the committee concerned, shall be tabled so as to leave sufficient time for them to be printed and distributed before they are discussed.

10. Amendments and sub-amendments shall have priority over the texts to which they refer and shall be put to the vote before the text itself.

11. If two or more contradictory amendments relate to the same paragraph, the amendment which differs most from the text of the committee's report shall have priority over the others and shall be put first to the vote. If it is agreed to, the other amendments shall be considered as having been thereby negatived ; if it is negatived, the amendment which, according to the same principle, is next in priority shall be put to the vote, and similarly for each of the remaining amendments. In case of doubt as to the degree of priority, the President shall give a ruling after consulting the Chairman of the committee concerned.

12. The same procedure shall be followed if two or more contradictory sub-amendments relate to the same amendment.

13. Reference back to committee may always be requested.

14. The reference of an amendment or a sub-amendment to committee shall not necessarily interrupt the debate. The Assembly may fix a time-limit within which the committee shall report its conclusions on the amendments and/or sub-amendments which have been referred to it."

15. Further resolves, with reference to oral amendments and sub-amendments, to maintain the principle that they shall be tabled in sufficient time for them to be translated and printed, but nevertheless to allow the President a certain latitude to permit, after consulting the Chairman of the committee concerned, the consideration of oral amendments and particularly sub-amendments in the spirit of, and the manner described in, paragraphs 19 to 26 of the explanatory memorandum of the report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure (Doc. 5114).