Review of arrangements under the Rules of Procedure concerning sub-committees
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 6137, report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Rapporteur : Mr Lopez Henares. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 16 November 1989.
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Considering that in 1985 (
Resolution 852) the provisions relating to sub-committees were combined to form a new Rule 46 of its Rules of Procedure ;
2. Recalling that the reasons for this step were the increased number and activity of sub-committees ;
3. Noting that, on the whole, these provisions have proved satisfactory, but that, in some important areas, for example the chairmanship of sub-committees, practices vary from one committee to another ;
4. Emphasising the need for rational management of sub-committees, particularly in view of the limited financial and human resources at the disposal of the Assembly and the Office of the Clerk, while taking into account the different terms of reference and tasks of the committees, and safeguarding the Assembly's efficiency ;
5. Considering that sub-committees enable, notably, the Parliamentary Assembly to participate in various European conferences of specialised ministers or other major events, thus contributing to a closer relationship between the Assembly and the intergovernmental activities of the Council of Europe,
6. Decides :
a to add at the end of Rule 46, paragraph 1, the following sentence : ‘‘Care should be taken to ensure fair representation of national delegations and of political tendencies in the composition of sub-committees'' ;
b to insert, after paragraph 1 of Rule 46, a new paragraph worded as follows : ‘‘The number of standing sub-committees appointed by a committee should not exceed three, unless authorised by the Bureau of the Assembly with a two-thirds majority. Failing such a majority, the question shall be submitted to the Standing Committee'' ;
c to replace the second sentence of Rule 46, paragraph 4, by the following text : ‘‘An alternate member from the same national delegation may be appointed for each full member'' ;
d to insert the following text at the end of paragraph 5 of Rule 46 : ‘‘Elections shall be held in accordance with the procedures laid down in paragraphs 4 to 7 of Rule 45, with the exception of those provisions relating to the fact that committees have two vice-chairmen. A sub-committee chairman elected in the course of a session for an incomplete term may be re-elected for three further terms'' ;
e to delete paragraph 8 of Rule 46 ;
f that these new provisions shall come into force at the opening of the 42nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly (May 1990) ;
7. Instructs the Committee on Rules of Procedure to reconsider in two years' time the functioning of the new provisions.
