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Official translation SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA STATUTE 1 17 February 1994 No. I-399 Vilnius PART 1 STATUS OF THE SEIMAS MEMBER Chapter 1. The Powers and Oath of the Seimas Member Article 1. The main rights and duties of a member of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania shall be defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and by this Statute, and other rights and duties of a Seimas member shall also be established by other laws of the Republic of Lithuania. In carrying out his duties, a Seimas member shall act in compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the interests of the State, and his own consciences, and may not be restricted by any mandates. Article 2. The term of office of a Seimas member shall commence from the day that the newly-elected Seimas convenes for the first sitting. The powers of the previously elected Seimas member shall expire upon commencement of said sitting. Elected Seimas member shall only acquire all of the rights of a representative of the nation upon taking an oath in the Seimas to be loyal to the Republic of Lithuania. A Seimas member who has not taken an oath shall not be entitled to the rights provided for in Chapter 2 of this Statute, shall not be provided with maintenance and guarantees of his activities under Chapter 3, and shall not receive the salary of a Seimas member. Article 3. The text of the oath of the Seimas member of the Republic of Lithuania shall read as follows: "I (full name) swear to be faithful to the Republic of Lithuania; swear to respect and observe its Constitution and laws, and to protect the integrity of its territory, swear to the best of my ability to strengthen the independence of Lithuania, and to conscientiously serve my Homeland, democracy, and the well-being of the people of Lithuania. So help me God! The oath may be taken omitting the last sentence. Article 4. The oath of the Seimas member shall be administered by the Chairperson of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, or, in the absence of the Chairperson or in the event that the Chairperson is temporarily unable to discharge his or her duties, by the acting judge of the Constitutional Court. Each Seimas member shall take the oath while standing in front of the person who is administering the oath and reading the oath, holding his or her hand on the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. Upon reading the entire text of the oath, each Seimas member shall sign the nominal oath sheet. Nominal oath sheets shall be handed over to the officer of the Constitutional Court who administered the oath. Upon checking the nominal oath sheets, said officer shall read the list of those Seimas members who have acquired all of the rights of a 2 representative of the nation. Article 5. The Seimas member who does not take the oath in the manner prescribed by law, or who take a conditional oath, shall lose the mandate of the Seimas member. The Seimas shall adopt a resolution thereon. The text of the oath may not be amended or changed with the exception of the omission of the last sentence. The Seimas member who do not comply with this provision, who refuse to sign the nominal oath sheet, or who sign the sheet with a stipulation, shall not be considered to have taken the oath. In such cases, the Seimas member shall lose the mandate pursuant to Article 59 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. The Seimas member whose powers were terminated pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Lithuania and who has again become a Seimas member must take the oath again. A Seimas member must take an oath not later than within a month from the first sitting attended by him. Article 6. The duties of a Seimas member, with the exception of his/her duties in the Seimas, shall be incompatible with any other duties or jobs in State institutions and organisations as well as in business, commercial and other private institutions and enterprises. For the term of office, a Seimas member shall be exempt from the duty to perform national defence service. A Seimas member may be appointed only as Prime Minister or Minister. Article 7. A Seimas member shall have a certificate and a Seimas member badge which shall be presented to him/her after the oath and which shall be used by him/her during the period of his/her term of office. Samples of the Seimas member certificate and badge shall be approved by the Seimas Board. Article 8. The powers of a Seimas member shall be terminated: 1) upon the expiration of the term of his/her powers, or when the Seimas elected in preterm elections convenes for its first sitting; 2) upon his/ her death; 3) upon his or her resignation; 4) if he or she is declared legally incapable by the court; 5) if the Seimas revokes his or her mandate in accordance with impeachment proceedings; 6) if the election is recognised as invalid, or if the law on election is grossly violated; 7) if he or she takes a job, or does not resign from a job which is incompatible with the duties of a Seimas member within 3 months; 8) if he or she is deprived of citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania. Chapter 2. The Activities of the Seimas Member Article 9. A member of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania shall have the right to: 1) vote on all issues considered at the sittings of the Seimas or the committee of which he/she is a member; 2) elect and be elected to any institution of the Seimas according to the procedure established by this Statute; 3 3) participate in discussions concerning all issues under consideration, and express his/her opinion, vocally or in writing; 4) submit the texts of their speeches to the chair of the sitting for inclusion into the shorthand record of the sitting; 5) propose the consideration of an issues to the Seimas; 6) prepare and submit for consideration adequately prepared drafts of laws and other legal acts as well as to propose motions relative to the laws which are to be debated in the Seimas; 7) pose, during sittings of the Seimas, questions to reporters and supplementary reporters; 8) make statements and remarks, speak on voting motives, propose motions relative to the conduct of the sitting, the procedure, prejudicial questions. 9) obtain, directly or through an assistant, copies of laws and bills, as well as copies of laws and other documents passed by the Seimas, the Seimas Speaker, the Board, or the meeting of Spokespersons. 10) participate in the sittings of all committees and commissions of the Seimas and as necessary to participate in the sittings of the state power and government institutions at which issues submitted by him/her are discussed, as well as upon advance notice, in the sittings of the Government without the right to vote, except the sittings associated with state secrets, the procedure for the consideration thereof shall be established by laws; 11) submit inquiries to the members of the Government and the heads of other state institutions, and to submit questions to them and to the Seimas officers; 12) no more frequently than once in a month make use of state radio and television on issues of his activities free of charge. The procedure for the implementation of these and other rights shall be established by other Articles of this Statute. Article 10. The Seimas member must participate in Seimas sittings during votings which were planned in advance. A voting which was announced at least two days prior to the day of the voting shall be considered to have been planned in advance. Each member of the Seimas, with the exception of the members of the Seimas Board and the Government, must be a member of a committee and must participate in the work thereof, and must also be an alternate member of another committee. The Speaker of the Seimas may not be a member or alternate member of a committee. A single Seimas member may be a member of only one committee. Article 11. While participating in sittings of the Seimas and the committees, Seimas members must adhere to this Statute. If a Seimas member cannot attend a sitting of the Seimas during which a voting has been planned for in advance, he/ she must inform the secretariat of the sittings thereof, stating the reason for absence. If a Seimas member cannot attend a sitting of the committee or commission, he/she must inform the chairperson of the committee or commission, and in the chairperson's absence -- the deputy chairperson. During a session Seimas members must notify the chairperson (in the absence of the chairperson -- the deputy chairperson) of the committee of which they are members of all of their trips beyond the boundaries of the Republic of Lithuania, and during the sittings of the Seimas -- of their trips within the territory of the Republic of Lithuania. Upon returning from a business trip, a Seimas member must present a report to the Seimas Board or the committee on which he/she is a member concerning the fulfillment of assignments. 4 Article 12. The Seimas member must regularly hold meetings with his/her constituents. He/she shall have the right to invite officials of state institutions and local government bodies and deputies to participate in the meetings. A Seimas member shall consider proposals, appeals and complaints and, as necessary, shall refer them to appropriate state institutions for consideration. Officials to whom a Seimas member's appeal was addressed including proposals, appeals and complaints of citizens must consider said appeals within 20 days of the receipt thereof. Chapter 3. Maintenance and Guarantees of the Activities of Seimas Members Article 13. Local governments and their executive bodies, as well as heads of state enterprises, institutions and organisations, must provide Seimas members with conditions enabling them to meet with constituents, must notify them of the time and place of such meetings, and must provide them with other necessary assistance and information. Respective local governments must allot and maintain permanent premises for Seimas members elected in a single- candidate areas to receive constituents. As necessary, local governments must allot properly arranged premises for Seimas members elected in multi-candidate electoral areas to receive constituents and hold meetings The Seimas member shall have the right to demand to be received without delay at state enterprises, institutions and organisations concerning issues which pertain to his/her activities, as well as the right to be provided with necessary information. The Seimas member shall have the right to unrestricted access of all enterprises, institutions and organisations. The visitation procedure for enterprises, institutions and organisations whose activities are associated with state secrets shall be established by laws. Article 14. Upon establishing that civil rights and laws have been violated, a Seimas member shall have the right to directly demand that the violation be corrected, or may address the appropriate institutions and officers. Violations shall be indicated in the minutes taken together with the representatives of law enforcement or control body. If the legitimate demands of a Seimas member are not carried out, a disciplinary punishment may, according to the procedure established by law, be imposed on the officer who is responsible; Article 15. Compensation for the work of the Seimas member, as well as expenses related with their parliamentary activities, shall be covered by the State Budget. The salary of Seimas members and the procedure for payment thereof shall be established by the Seimas. Resolutions of the Seimas concerning changes in the salaries of Seimas members shall become effective only from the day that the newly-elected Seimas convenes for the first sitting. Seimas members who at the same time hold office at the Seimas shall be paid supplemental salaries, the amount of which shall be established by the Seimas, for their work. The Seimas member may not receive any other salary, with the exception of payment for creative activities. Payments made to Seimas members for creative activities shall include royalties for works of art and literature, for radio and television programmes as well as hourly salaries for educational, scientific and consultative work performed by Seimas members not during the sittings of the Seimas, its committees and commissions. 5 Article 16. The Seimas member shall be entitled to have personal secretary-assistants or joint secretary-assistants with other members of their respective parliamentary groups, whose salaries shall be paid from the State Budget; they are also entitled to have assistants who work on a voluntary basis. Seimas members shall be allocated additional funds for the reimbursement of office, postal, telephone, telegraph, transportation, and other expenses incurred from parliamentary activities -- the amount and the procedure for payment thereof shall be established by the Seimas Board. Seimas members who do not have a place of residence in Vilnius or who have the right to state support for the acquisition of a place of residence in Vilnius, shall be provided, free of charge and together with their families, with a place of residence in Vilnius for the term of office. At the same time said members shall retain the right to use rented quarters in their permanent place of residence. Seimas members who have the right to state support for the acquisition of a place of residence shall retain this right and may remain on the list to acquire state support. Seimas members shall have the right to use all forms of state transportation within the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, with the exception of taxis, free of charge; they shall also have the right to acquire hotel rooms out of turn. The Seimas member shall use diplomatic passports on trips abroad and Lithuanian diplomatic missions abroad must provide him with necessary assistance. Article 17. Upon expiration of the term of office and in the cases specified in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 8 of this Statute, Seimas members must be provided with the job or office which they held in state institutions, enterprises and organisations prior to the elections, except to be elected to governmental institutions and be a member of the Government, and if such is not possible due to the abolition of former office or the liquidation of the enterprise, institution, or organisation, the Seimas member shall be provided with another equivalent job or office in the same institution, enterprise, or organisation, or, if the Seimas members agrees, in another enterprise, institution, or organisation. The period of parliamentary activity of Seimas members shall be included in the total length of service. The election of Seimas members shall not interrupt membership in creative unions or in unions of free professions. Article 18. Persons and officers who prevent a Seimas member from carrying out his or her powers, or who encroach upon the life health, honor, or dignity of a Seimas member as a representative of the people, shall be liable according to laws. Chapter 4. Discipline and Immunity of Seimas Members Article 19. It shall be prohibited to use the mandate of the Seimas member for purposes other than the interests of the Nation, State and the constituents. This provision violating the activities of the Seimas member must be analysed by the Commission of Ethics and Procedures or a special investigation commission set up for this purpose and for the preparation of findings. Article 20. The Commission of Ethics and Procedures shall analise the reasons for which the Seimas members are not participating during planned voting or voting taking place at a planned time and shall decide whether such reasons are 6 justifiable; The salaries of such Seimas members may be decreased according to the procedure established by the Seimas, and upon the decision of the Commission of Ethics and procedure, their names may be announced in the press. Article 21. If during a sitting a Seimas member begins to argue with Seimas members or other participants in the sitting or creates a disturbance in the hall, he or she may be called to order by the officer presiding over the sitting. If said persons does not heed the warning of the officer presiding over the sitting, the warning may be recorded in the minutes of the sitting. Warnings recorded in the minutes of the sitting may be immediately administered to the Seimas member as a public threat to colleagues, as assault of a Seimas member or a group thereof, or as dishonesty in voting or violation of the principle of personal voting. Such warnings shall be administered by the officer presiding over the Seimas sitting or on the motion of the Commission of Ethics and Procedures without debate and by simple majority vote of the Seimas members participating in the sitting. A Seimas member to whom administration of such warning is proposed, shall have the right to explain his or her actions to the Seimas for a maximum of 3 minutes prior to the voting. Article 22. The Seimas may temporarily dismiss a Seimas member from the chamber if he or she: 1) continues, after being called to order, to interrupt the work of the Seimas; 2) during a sitting, calls for the use coercion or uses it personally; 3) publicly assaults or threatens the President of the Republic, the Seimas, the Speaker of the Seimas, Seimas members, the Government, or the Prime Minister during a sitting. Decisions concerning the expulsion of a Seimas member from the chamber shall be adopted without debate and by simple majority vote of the members of the Seimas participating in the sitting on the proposal of the officer presiding over the sitting or of the Commission of Ethics and Procedures. The term of temporary expulsion from the chamber shall be established by the Seimas in each case, but may not be more than 2 day of a sitting. If the term is not indicated, it shall be assumed that the Seimas member is expelled until the end of the sitting. During the period of expulsion from the chamber, the expelled Seimas member may not participate in voting. If a Seimas member who has been dismissed from the chamber refuses to heed the order, the sitting shall be temporarily interrupted and security officers shall escort said Seimas member to the chamber door. In such a case, the term of expulsion from the chamber may be extended for the period of 5 sittings. Article 23. The person of a Seimas member shall be inviolable. A Seimas member may not be persecuted for his or her voting or speeches in the Seimas, however, legal actions may be instituted against Seimas members according to the general procedure if they are guilty of personal insult or slander. A Seimas member may not be found criminally responsible, may not be arrested, and may not be subjected to any other restrictions of personal freedom without the consent of the Seimas, except in cases when he or she is caught in the act of committing a crime (in flagranti). In such cases the Prosecutor General must immediately notify the Seimas thereof. A Seimas member who refuses to give evidence in a criminal case, shall, on the decision of the Seimas, be brought to court 7 to give evidence. Article 24. For the consideration of motions of the Prosecutor General concerning the deprivation of the inviolability of the person of a Seimas member, an investigatory commission shall be formed according to the procedure provided for in Article 77 of this Statute. When investigating issues concerning the deprivation of the inviolability of the person of a Seimas member, the commission must hear said Seimas member or other Seimas member authorised thereby and a representative from the Prosecutor's Office. After the investigatory commission has prepared and announced its note and the draft resolution, issues concerning the deprivation of the inviolability of the person of a Seimas member shall be included on the agenda of the next Seimas sitting. Consideration of this issue, as well as of the submitted resolution, shall be limited only to the interpretation, assessment or definition of facts provided for in the motion. Discussions concerning draft resolutions shall be attended by the reporter of the commission, the concerned Seimas member or another Seimas member representing him, and no more than two Seimas members who speak out "in favour" and two members who speak out "against" the draft resolution. If the draft resolution provides for the satisfaction of the motion of the Prosecutor General, it may be adopted if more than half of the Seimas members vote in favour of the draft. Upon the receipt of the consent of the Seimas to institute criminal proceedings against a Seimas member, said Seimas member may not be arrested within the house of the Seimas. PART 2 STRUCTURE OF THE SEIMAS Chapter 5. General Issues of Structure Article 25. Sittings of the Seimas shall be presided over by the Speaker of the Seimas or a Deputy Speaker. There shall be three Deputy Speakers. The competence of the Seimas Speaker and Deputy Speakers shall be defined by the Constitution and this Statute. The drafting of the Seimas documents and consideration of drafts shall be monitored by the Chancellor of the Seimas. If a member of the Seimas who is elected Speaker or is serving as acting Speaker he or she must suspend all parliamentary group activities. Article 26. The Seimas shall form committees from among its members for the consideration of draft laws and other issues assigned to its competence by the Constitution. The list of the committees shall be established by this Statute. A Commission of Ethics and Procedure and an Administrative Commission shall be formed in the Seimas. For resolving short- term issues or issues of narrower scope and for carrying out concrete assignments, the Seimas may, from among its members, form investigative, control, auditing, preparatory, drafting and other ad hoc commissions. The work of the committees and commissions shall be directed by the respective chairpersons thereof. Article 27. Members of the Seimas may form parliamentary groups according to the procedure established by this Statute for implementing their political goals. Parliamentary groups shall be headed and represented in the Seimas by Spokespersons or deputy Spokespersons; every member of the Seimas authorised by a parliamentary group may speak out on behalf of the group. The rights of parliamentary group members shall be established by this Statute. 8 Seimas members who have not been registered in parliamentary groups shall be considered as members of one mixed group of Seimas members. The mixed group of Seimas members shall be granted all of the rights of a parliamentary group provided for in this Statute. Article 28. The Seimas shall have a Board, the principle task whereof shall be to settle organisational issues of the work of the Seimas. The Board of the Seimas shall consist of the Speaker, three Deputy Speakers, and the Chancellor of the Seimas. Article 29. An Assembly of Spokespersons, comprising of the members of the Seimas Board and representatives of the parliamentary groups, shall be formed in the Seimas. Each parliamentary group shall appoint one representative for every ten members of the group. Groups consisting of less than ten members shall each appoint one representative to the Assembly of Spokespersons. The principle task of the Assembly of Spokespersons shall be to consider and approve the work programmes of the Seimas session and the agendas of sittings, to coordinate issues concerning the organisation of the work of the Seimas Committees and groups, and to submit drafts of the decisions of said issues to the Seimas and the Board. Chapter 6. The Seimas Speaker, Deputy Speakers, Chancellor, and Board Article 30. The Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania shall: 1) direct the work of the Seimas and represent the Seimas; 2) certify with his or her signature the authenticity of laws passed by the Seimas and referred to the President of the Republic; sign the resolutions of the Seimas, the Statute of the Seimas and amendments thereto, the minutes of sittings of the Seimas, the resolutions of the Seimas Board, other acts of the Seimas, as well as laws of the Republic of Lithuania which are not signed by the President of the Republic and not returned to the Seimas for repeat consideration within 10 days from the date on which they were submitted to the President of the Republic; 3) temporarily carry out the duties of the President of the Republic and temporarily fill in for the President of the Republic in the cases specified in Article 89 of the Constitution; 4) propose candidates to the posts of Deputy Speakers and the Chancellor of the Seimas to the Seimas; 5) propose candidates to Constitutional Court judges to the Seimas in accordance with the procedure established by the Constitution; 6) nominate to the Seimas the candidatures of the Seimas ombudsmen and the head of the Seimas ombudsmen's office for appointment; 7) submit candidates for appointment to the posts of heads of State institutions to the Seimas, unless the Constitution and laws provide otherwise; 8) preside over the sittings of the Seimas and the Seimas Board; 9) submit drafts of the work programmes of a session and draft agendas of week- or day-long sittings to the Assembly of Spokespersons; and 10) submit draft agendas of the sittings of the Seimas Board. Article 31. In carrying out his or her duties, the Speaker 9 of the Seimas shall issue decrees. The Speaker of the Seimas, or, in the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, may voice his or her opinion or the opinion of the Seimas Board on the issue under consideration out of turn, provided that he or she is not presiding over the sitting. The Speaker of the Seimas, the Deputy Speakers and the Chancellor of the Seimas shall, during a session at least once a month, answer questions submitted in writing beforehand by members of the Seimas concerning the performance of their duties. Article 32. At the behest of the Speaker of the Seimas, Deputy Speakers shall perform certain functions of the Speaker. The Seimas Speaker may charge the Deputy Speaker to perform certain functions of the Seimas Chancellor in his or her absence, but for no longer than one week. The Seimas Board may determine the guidelines of the activities of the Deputy Speakers. In the event that the Speaker of the Seimas is temporarily absent or has fallen ill and by reason thereof is unable to fulfill his or her duties of office, the duties of the Speaker of the Seimas, at the behest of the Seimas, shall be performed by one of the Deputy Speakers for a specified period. If, in the cases specified in Article 89 of the Constitution, the Speaker of the Seimas is temporarily carrying out the duties of the President of the Republic, and as a result thereof has lost his or her powers in the Seimas, the duties of the Speaker of the Seimas shall be temporarily carried out by a Deputy Speaker at the behest of the Seimas. Resolutions (preliminary or adopted for a concrete case) concerning the temporary performance of the duties of the Speaker of the Seimas or substituting the Speaker of the Seimas shall be adopted by the Seimas on the motion of the Seimas Speaker. Article 33. The Seimas Chancellor shall: 1) supervise the consideration of draft laws submitted to the Seimas and the drafting of the documents of the Seimas and the Board thereof; 2) supervise the consideration of issues, inquiries and interpellations submitted to the Government and the heads of other State institutions; 3) consider the issues raised by members of the Seimas concerning the functioning of the Seimas apparatus; supervise the implementation of the decisions of the Seimas Board by the divisions of the Seimas apparatus as well as their compliance with the provisions and internal rules which regulate the functioning thereof; 4) assist the Speaker of the Seimas in preparing the draft of the session work programme as well as draft agendas for week- and day-long sittings; 5) assist the Speaker of the Seimas in preparing draft agendas for sittings of the Seimas Board as well as the material on issues subject to consideration; 6) work out draft agendas for the Assembly of Spokespersons; 7) visa official documents prior to their being submitted to the Speaker of the Seimas for signing and, within the limits of his or her competence, sign official documents; 8) be responsible for the use and keeping of the Seimas Seal bearing the State Emblem; 9) propose members to the tellers' group in accordance with the procedure provided for in this Statute; 10) regularly submit information summaries to the Seimas concerning proposals, wishes and letters received from voters; 11) in conjunction with representatives of the parliamentary groups, arrange the seats in the chamber for the members of the parliamentary groups and for those members of the Seimas who do not belong to any parliamentary group and allocate premises for 10 the sittings of the parliamentary groups; and 12) consider issues concerning the employment or dismissal of assistants/secretaries of Seimas members. Article 34. The sittings of the Seimas Board shall be convened and presided over by the Speaker of the Seimas. Other members of the Seimas, as well as permanent representatives of the President of the Republic and the Government, may participate in the sittings of the Board as observers. Other individuals may also be invited to sittings of the Board. Issues for consideration may be submitted to the Seimas Board by the Board members, committees, parliamentary groups, Administrative commission, Commission of Ethics and Procedure and the Head of Seimas Personnel. Draft documents of the Seimas Board which are submitted for consideration shall be signed by their initiators and handed over to the Chancellor of the Seimas who shall prepare the agenda of the sitting based thereon. Article 35. Decisions of the Seimas Board shall be adopted by ordinary vote and simple majority of those in attendance, provided that the sitting of the Seimas Board is attended by at least three Board members. A tie vote shall be decided by the vote of the Speaker or, in the absence of the Speaker, of the Deputy Speaker who is presiding over the sitting. The members of the Seimas shall be informed of the decisions of the Seimas Board through the committees and parliamentary groups within three working days from the day on which the decision was adopted during a session or within a week of the beginning of the next session. Committees and parliamentary groups may submit proposals to the Seimas concerning the consideration of resolutions adopted by the Seimas Board which they disapprove of. Article 36. The Seimas Board shall: 1) distribute funds; discuss and approve estimated expenses of the Seimas; 2) on the motion of the committees, consider and send the Seimas members on business trips with tasks of the Seimas, the Board, and committees; 3) on the motion of parliamentary committees and groups, consider and either approve or disapprove of trips of Seimas members during session which are not financed from the funds of the Seimas; 4) when necessary, consider draft work programmes of the Seimas session and draft agendas for forthcoming week- or day- long sessions, and submit recommendations to the Assembly of Spokespersons or the Seimas; 5) when necessary, form working groups for drafting laws and carrying out the instructions of the Seimas or the Seimas Board; 6) submit draft laws and other draft acts of the Seimas to committees for consideration and presentation of findings and proposals thereon; 7) assist in organising the joint work of committees on issues which fall within the competence of several committees; 8) appoint and dismiss the Head of Seimas Personnel, who shall be responsible and accountable to the Board; 9) approve the structure of the Seimas apparatus, draw up a list of the staff of the Seimas apparatus, and fix the salaries thereof; 10) on the motion of the Head of Seimas Personnel, appoint and dismiss the heads and deputy heads of all the structural units of the Seimas; 11) approve the bylaws of the structural units of the 11 Seimas, the regulations of internal activities and the instructions for office-work; and 12) settle other issues related to the organisation of the activities of the Seimas which are not ascribed to other institutions or officials of the Seimas by virtue of this Statute. Chapter 4. Assembly of Seimas Spokespersons Article 37. During session, the sittings of the Assembly of Spokespersons shall be organised regularly, usually twice a week at a time specially allocated for this purpose. Extraordinary sittings of the Assembly of Spokespersons shall be organised at the request of the Speaker of the Seimas, the Board, the Chairperson of the Assembly of Spokespersons, or at least 1/3 of the members of the Assembly of Spokespersons. The members of the Assembly of Spokespersons shall be given notice of the time and agenda of extraordinary sittings at least 6 hours prior to the beginning thereof. Sittings of the Assembly of Spokespersons shall be chaired by the chairperson; the duties of the chairperson, according to the schedule approved by the Assembly of Spokespersons, shall be discharged in turn by the spokespersons of each parliamentary group for one week. The opening sitting of the Assembly of Spokespersons held during the first session shall be presided by the eldest parliamentary group spokesperson. Article 38. During its sittings, the Assembly of Spokespersons shall: 1) consider and coordinate rising contradictions related to the work programme of a session; 2) consider and approve the agendas of the forthcoming week- or day-long sittings; 3) consider and coordinate contradictions concerning other organizational issues of the work of the Seimas; 4) hear the proposals of the chairpersons of committees and Spokespersons of the parliamentary groups on mutual relations between committees and parliamentary groups and submit proposals thereon to the Seimas or the Board; 5) submit recommendations to the Seimas Board concerning the resolution of issues which are ascribed to its competence; and 6) perform the function of a coordinative (conciliatory) committee in the event of principal disagreements concerning top priorities considered in the Seimas. Article 39. With the exception of resolutions concerning the agendas of the forthcoming week- or day-long sittings, the resolutions of the Assembly of Spokespersons shall be consultative with regard to the Seimas and the Seimas Board. Consultative resolutions of the Assembly of Spokespersons as well as resolutions concerning the organisation of the work of the Assembly itself shall be adopted by simple majority vote of the members of the Seimas taking part in the sitting. Resolutions concerning the draft work programme of the Seimas session, as well as draft agendas of the forthcoming week- or day- long sittings shall be adopted provided that they are opposed by no more than 1/3 of the member of the Assembly of Spokespersons participating in the sitting of the Assembly of Spokespersons. If any item of the agenda is adopted by majority vote, but is opposed by more than 1/3 of the members of the Assembly of Spokespersons, they shall be submitted to the Seimas as recommendations. Resolutions of the sittings of the Assembly of Spokespersons shall be recorded in the minutes of the sitting, which shall be signed by the chairperson of the sitting of the Assembly of Spokespersons. 12 Questions for consideration ascribed to the competence of the Assembly of Spokespersons may be proposed and submitted to the Seimas Chancellor by the members of the Assembly of Spokespersons, the Government, as well as other members of the Seimas who submit draft laws. The draft agenda of sittings of the Assembly of Spokespersons shall be drawn up by the Chancellor of the Seimas according to such proposals. Other members of the Seimas as well as permanent representatives of the President and Government may attend sittings of the Assembly of Spokespersons with the right of observers. Other individuals may also be invited to sittings of the Assembly of Spokespersons. Chapter 8. Parliamentary Groups of the Seimas Article 40. Seimas members shall form parliamentary groups voluntarily, not restricted by any mandates. Parliamentary groups may not be established on the basis of professional or internal interests. A parliamentary group shall consist of at least three Seimas members. A member of the Seimas may be a member of only one parliamentary group. The spokesperson of the parliamentary group, deputy spokesperson or the member of the parliamentary group authorized by it shall have the right to represent in the Seimas such a part of the Seimas members, established by this Statute, which their parliamentary group forms in the Seimas. Parliamentary groups shall establish their own working procedure, provided that it does not contradict this Statute. Parliamentary groups may join into coalitions which may act as one parliamentary group. Article 41. Seimas members who wish to form a parliamentary group shall present an application signed by them to the Seimas Speaker during the session. The name of the parliamentary group, as well as the names of the spokesperson and deputy spokespersons must be stated in this application. If a parliamentary group formed by Seimas members complies with the requirements of this Statute, the Seimas Speaker must within one week announce the establishment of this parliamentary group at the Seimas sitting. The Seimas Speaker shall be notified in writing of any changes in the composition, leadership, or name of a parliamentary group, of the termination of the activities of a parliamentary group or of its breakts -up, as well as of formation of the coalition of the parliamentary groups no later than on the following working day; the Seimas Speaker shall announce such information at the next Seimas sitting. Article 42. Parliamentary groups or their coalitions which disagree with the Governmental programme may declare themselves opposition parliamentary groups. To this effect, opposition parliamentary groups or their coalitions shall proclaim in the Seimas political declarations where the provisions distinguishing them from the parliamentary majority shall be set forth. Opposition parliamentary groups or their coalitions shall announce alternative Governmental programmes. Opposition parliamentary groups or their coalitions shall be guaranteed all the rights of parliamentary groups or coalitions which are provided for in this Statute. No reason may provide for the restriction of such rights. The spokesperson of one parliamentary group constituting a part of an opposition coalition may be elected the leader of the 13 opposition coalition; the Seimas shall be given a public notice of such election. PART 3 COMMITTEES and COMMISSIONS of the SEIMAS Chapter 9. Seimas Committees and the Procedure for the Establishment thereof Article 43. Committees of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania shall be formed during the first session. At the beginning of each regular session, reports on the work of the committee shall be heard, and, as necessary, changes in the membership of the committee shall be made by adhering to the principle of proportional representation of the majority and the minority ( opposition and other parliamentary groups other than the Seimas majority and mixed parliamentary groups) or committees shall be formed anew. Article 44. Committees shall be made up of no less than 7 and no more than 17 members of the Seimas according to the proportional principle of representation. The exact number of members of each committee shall be determined by a decision of the Seimas. Seats in the committees shall be distributed among parliamentary groups during the Assembly of the Spokespersons. The minority ( the opposition and parliamentary groups other than the Seimas majority and mixed parliamentary groups) shall distribute among themselves seats in the committees, according to the number of seats approved by Assembly of the Spokespersons. Parliamentary groups, taking into consideration the requests and competence of their members, shall recommend to the committees as many members as they are accorded seats as well as the same number of alternate committee members. Applications of parliamentary groups bearing the signatures of recommended Seimas members shall be submitted to the Seimas Chancellor. Each parliamentary group shall submit its candidates to the alternate members of the committees having registered them in numerical order. The members and alternate members of committees shall be approved by the Seimas by voting for the entire list of the members and alternate members of the committee. If the list is not approved, the entire procedure shall begin anew. Article 45. When a member of a committee does not participate in a sitting of the committee, all of the said member's rights shall be given to the alternate member of the committee of the same parliamentary group who is the first in the list of alternate members. The Seimas member who is substituting for a member of his parliamentary group in a given committee may not serve as the chairperson or vice-chairperson of that committee while doing so. Article 46. Committees shall elect their chairpersons and deputy chairpersons. Committee chairpersons and deputy chairpersons shall be approved by the Seimas. In the event that the Seimas does not approve the proposed candidate, the committee must select another candidate. Usually the committee chairperson and deputy chairperson are elected from the representatives of different parliamentary groups, and the total number of chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of the committees accorded to the majority and the minority must be in proportion to the number of Seimas members belonging to them. Members of the Seimas Board, members of the Seimas and the Government, and commission chairpersons and deputy chairpersons may not serve as a committee chairpersons or deputy chairpersons. When a committee is being reorganised, the chairperson and 14 deputy chairperson of the committee shall be reelected. A committee may reelect the chairperson or deputy chairperson at any other time by applying to the Seimas for approval of the new chairperson or deputy chairperson. In the event that the Seimas does not approve the new chairperson or deputy chairperson, the former chairperson shall remain, and the committee may only apply to the Seimas concerning the same issue during the next regular session. Article 47. For the execution of their main duties, committees may form subcommittees from their members. Subcommittee must comprise at least 5 members. Subcommittee chairpersons shall be elected by the committee. The regulations of the subcommittees shall be approved by the committees. Article 48. The following committees shall be appointed in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania: 1) Agriculture; 2) Budget and Finance; 3) Economics; 4) Environmental Protection; 5) National Security; 6) Municipal Government 7) Health, Social Affairs and Labour 8) Education, Science and Culture 9)Foreign Affairs 10) State and Law 11) Human and Civil Rights and Nationality Affairs. Chapter 10. Powers and Procedure of the Seimas Committees Article 49. The trends of activities of committees of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as their powers and procedure shall be established by this Statute and other laws of the Republic of Lithuania. Seimas committees shall report and be accountable to the Seimas. During the time established to discuss and present findings on matters given to them for consideration, committees must perform other tasks assigned to them by the Seimas. The activities of the committees shall be coordinated by the Chairperson and Chancellor of the Seimas in accordance with the session work programmes and committee work plans. Article 50. The main powers of the committees with respect to issues within their competence are: 1) to debate bills, prepare conclusions, and consider issues referred to the committee; 2) on its own initiative or at the behest of the Seimas, to prepare drafts of the Laws of the Republic of Lithuania and of other legal acts, and to establish in due time the necessity of new laws or the amendments to laws in effect; 3) seeking to improve the laws, to prepare and consider issues related to state, economic, social and cultural matters, and to present proposals subject to debate in the Seimas; 4) to consider the Government Programme; 5) to discuss candidates for heads of state institutions which are appointed by the Seimas or for the appointment of which the approval of the Seimas is necessary, as well as to consider their dismissal from office; 7) to preliminarily discuss the chapters of the State draft budget of the Republic of Lithuania and accounts on budget performance; 8) while performing parliamentary supervision, to hear 15 information and reports furnished by ministries and other state institutions on the manner by which the laws are being implemented; 9) to consider proposals of individual persons and public organisations and, as necessary, to refer them alongside with recommendations to state institutions; 10) to prepare work plans of the committee coordinated with the session work programme; 11) prepare the estimate of the committee expenditures within the amount appropriated for the committee; 12) to take part in the inter-parliamentary relations of the Seimas. Article 51. In discussing issues that are within their competence, the committees shall have equal rights and responsibilities, and shall be responsible for the timely discussion of certain laws, for the initiation of the preparation of these laws, and the commission of detailed conclusions relative to draft laws. Issues which are within the competence of several committees may be prepared and discussed by these committees jointly on their own initiative or at the behest of the Seimas or its Board. For this purpose they may set up joint working groups, hold joint committee sittings which shall be presided over by the chairpersons of these committees in succession. Committees shall have the right to submit proposals to the Seimas or its Board concerning the passing over of the issues under discussion to another committee for consideration. Committees shall have the right to present their comments on issues discussed by another committee, as well as to ask another committee to present its conclusions, which must be submitted within 15 days. Article 52. The committees of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania shall work according to committee-approved plans which must be coordinated with the work program of the session of the Seimas. Responsible executers and the terms of implementation shall be indicated in these work plans. Committee work plans and the agenda of the sittings shall be publicly announced and distributed to the Chairperson of the Seimas, the Chancellor, and the subdivisions of the Seimas apparatus. Committees may confirm the rules of their procedure provided that they do not contradict this statute. Article 53. Committee members shall have the right of a decisive vote on all issues within the committee's jurisdiction. Committee members shall also have the right to propose issues for consideration, and to participate in the preparation and consideration thereof; to propose to invite necessary persons to committee sittings; to submit proposals concerning the inspection of state institutions and the hearing of their information. Committee members shall have the right to get acquainted with all documents and material belonging to the committee and, as necessary, to make use of them in their work. Article 54. The chairperson of the committee shall: 1) convene sittings of the committee and see that necessary documents and other material be prepared for them; 2) assign, according to the approved work plans and decisions of the committee, tasks to the committee members, and provide them with material and documents relating to the activities of the committee; 3) for the execution of the work plan of the committee, organise members of the committee to work in preparatory commissions and working groups, and to discharge other tasks of the committee; 16 4) invite necessary persons to participate in the sittings of the committee; 5) preside over sittings of the committee; 6) sign the resolutions of the committee, the findings and minutes of the sittings, as well as the draft laws prepared by the committee which are submitted to the Seimas or the public for consideration, and shall visa adopted laws and other legal acts of the Seimas prepared by the committee; 7) represent the committee in its work with other state institutions and public organisations; 8) organise the implementation of the committee's resolutions; 9) regularly notify members of the committee of received law drafts, new assignments for the committee, the execution of the resolutions of the committee, consideration of their recommendations, and work in representing the committee. 10) notify the Commission of Ethics and Procedure of members who do not attend sittings of the committee and who are not fulfilling the assignments set forth in paragraph 2 of this Article; 11) coordinate the activities of the subcommittees of the committee. At the behest of the chairperson of the committee, a vice- chairperson shall discharge certain functions of the chairperson. The vice-chairperson shall fill in for the chairperson when the chairperson cannot discharge his or her functions because of temporary absence or illness. Article 55. Committee sittings shall be organized as necessary during sessions, but at least once a week and normally on Wednesdays. Committee sittings shall not be organized during sittings of the Seimas. Between ordinary sessions of the Seimas, there shall normally be one-month adjournments in the work of the committees, although committees may have sitting between sessions as necessary. Committee sittings shall be called on the initiative of the committee chairperson or of more than one third of the committee members, or upon the instruction of the Seimas or the Board. Committees may have closed sittings. Article 56. Committee sittings shall be presided over by the chairperson of the committee or by a deputy chairperson upon the instruction of the chairperson. Prior to the Seimas's approval of a committee chairperson, sittings shall be presided over by the eldest member of the committee. In committee sittings, including closed sittings, members of the Seimas who are not members of the committee may participate with the right of deliberative vote. The committees may invite to their sittings other members of the Seimas, as well as members of municipal councils, representatives of ministries, other state institutions, public organisations and other necessary persons having coordinated it with heads of these institutions. Article 57. The sittings of the Committee shall be deemed 17 lawful when more than half of the committee members are present at the sitting. Committee decisions shall be adopted by open, simple majority vote of the committee members participating in the sitting. In the event of a tie vote, the vote of the chairperson of the committee shall be decisive. If the committee minority, which consists of at least three Seimas members, expresses a separate opinion concerning an issue discussed by the committee, this opinion must be announced together with the decision of the committee. Decisions shall be adopted in joint sittings of several committees if each committee expresses their support for the decision. Committee decisions and conclusions shall be presented to the Seimas in writing. Article 58. For state institutions, decisions adopted by Committees shall be recommendatory. When sending their recommendations and proposals to state institutions, Committees shall inform the Seimas Board about this and, if necessary - the Government. Upon receipt of recommendations and proposals of Seimas Committees, state institutions, except courts, shall have to consider them. The Committees must be informed about the results of such consideration and measures which have been taken within 15 days from the receipt of the proposals or within other period of time established by the Committees. Article 59. The Committees shall have the right to control due to their competence how laws of the Republic of Lithuania are observed and recommendations and proposals of the Committees are taken into consideration. They shall also have the right to invite heads or representatives of state institutions, except courts, to their sittings at a time coordinated with them and to hear their information. If a Committee decides that it is necessary to hear the information of a Government representative, it shall address the Seimas Speaker who informs the Prime Minister about it. In this event, a Government representative shall have to participate in the Committee sitting. The Committees shall have the right due to their competence to demand and obtain from state institutions, except courts, and officers documents, conclusions in writing, as well as reports and other necessary material. Article 60. The Committee shall make reports during sittings of the Seimas on issues which it prepared or was the principal Committee while examining them and shall make supplemental reports on issues which were referred to the Committee for examination. For this purpose, the Committee shall appoint, from among their members, speakers or supplementary speakers. Committee members shall participate in discussions on all other issues according to general procedure. Concerning issues which were jointly prepared and examined by several committees, committees may either make joint reports and supplementary reports or may present observations and proposals separately. Article 61. For the preparation of issues under consideration committees may, from their members, form preparatory working groups. Included in these working groups may be other Seimas members, representatives of state institutions and public organizations, experts and scholars, upon the consent thereof. Funds for the activities of such groups shall be allotted from an approved estimate of expenditure of the 18 committee. If funds are not sufficient, the committee shall apply to the Seimas Board. The Committees shall have the right to propose to make contracts with employees who assist in Committee activities, but not exceeding the estimate of expenditure allotted to them. Chapter 11. Trends of Activities of the Seimas Committees Article 62. The trends of activities of the Committee on Agriculture shall be: 1) to prepare draft laws and other legal acts regulating the activities of the agricultural and food industry and to present findings on drafts referred to the committee for preliminary or additional consideration; 2) to prepare and consider proposals relative to the formation of the agrarian policy, the determination of the trends of agricultural science and training, and the drawing up of legal acts necessary for that purpose; 3) to discuss and present findings relative to the drafts of laws and programmes presented by the Government, as well as chapters of the State draft budget pertaining to the agriculture and food industry, their material- technical supply, and the development of social basis in the countryside; 4) to carry out the examination of draft laws regulating the Lithuanian economy from the standpoint of the agrarian policy and to submit recommendations and findings; 5) to carry out parliamentary control of agrarian institutions and the food industry; 6) to coordinate the work of state institutions and organisations concerned in preparing draft laws regulating the activities of agricultural and food industry. Article 63. The trends of activities of the Committee on Budget and Finance shall be: 1) to consider the draft budget of the Republic submitted by the Government to the Seimas for its approval and to present summarised findings of all the committees relative thereto; 2) to carry out general and continuous review of the budget performance; 3) together with other committees, to prepare findings relative to the State budget performance accounts; 4) to prepare drafts of laws and other legal acts relative to budget and finance; 5) to prepare and submit findings concerning the draft laws which have an effect on the State budget revenue and expenditure; and 6) to discuss and prepare findings as well as to present proposals concerning the draft laws on taxes and special funds, the review of the State budget performance, the financing procedure of institutions and organisations maintained from the budget, the norms of their expenditure, the norms of the formation of the local government budgets, the budget allocations for the implementation of various programmes, as well as for the financing of the Seimas and its staff; 7) to carry out parliamentary control of the use of state property and the activities of the Bank of Lithuania, and to present proposals and recommendations relative thereto. Article 64. The trends of activities of the Committee on Economics shall be: 1) to consider and submit findings related to draft laws of economic reform, other legal acts, and Government's programmes; 2) to prepare and consider proposals concerning the formation of a policy for the development of the Lithuanian economy and technical progress; 3) to prepare drafts of laws, other legal acts, and 19 proposals concerning the planning of economic and social development; 4) to consider draft programs for anti-monopoly actions, improvement of the economic mechanism, and the development of foreign relations, and submit findings to the Seimas; and 5) to perform parliamentary control of administrative institutions of energy, communications and transport; to submit proposals and recommendations concerning improvement of the activities of said institutions,; and to participate in the preparation of draft laws relative thereto. Article 65. The trends of activities of the Committee on Environmental Protection shall be: 1) to prepare drafts of laws and other legal acts and submit proposals on issues concerning environmental protection, the use of resources, forestry, fisheries, and wildlife; 2) to coordinate the work of interested state institutions and other organizations in preparing draft laws on issues that are in the capacity of the committee; 3) to consider, from an environmental protection standpoint, draft laws and other legal acts which are referred to the committee; 4) to prepare and consider proposals concerning the formation of an environmental protection policy in Lithuania; and 5) to carry out parliamentary control of the state institutions of environmental protection, and to present proposals and recommendations for the improvement of the activities of theses institutions and organisations which are related to environmental protection and the use of resources. Article 66. The trends of activities of the Committee on National Security shall be: 1) to consider and prepare drafts of laws and other legal acts on issues of national defense, State security and internal affairs; 2) to coordinate the work of interested state institutions in preparing draft laws on issues that are in the capacity of the committee; 3) to consider and present proposals concerning the formation of a national defense policy and the creation and improvement of appropriate structures; 4) to prepare proposals concerning the implementation of the reform of the system of internal affairs; 5) to carry out parliamentary control of the institutions of national defense, State security, and internal affairs, and to present proposals and recommendations concerning the improvement of their activities. Article 67. The trends of activities of the Committee on Local Governments shall be: 1) to prepare and consider draft laws and other legal acts on issues concerning the organization of work of local governments, and to present findings thereon; 2) to prepare recommendations concerning the administrative and territorial division of the Republic of Lithuania; 3) to submit proposals concerning the dissolution of local government councils and the organisation of elections thereto; 4) in conjunction with other committees, to resolve issues of economic, social and organisational activities of local governments; and 5) to provide methodological assistance to local government councils. Article 68. The trends of activities of the Committee on Health, Social Affairs and Labor shall be: 1) to prepare drafts of laws and other legal acts which 20 regulate individual health protection, sanitary environmental condition, employment, labor relations, social care and provision of living space, and to present findings relative to these draft laws and other legal acts which are referred to the committee; 2) to coordinate the work of interested institutions and organizations in preparing draft laws on issues that are in the capacity of the committee; 3) to consider and present proposals concerning the formation of the health protection policy; and 4) to carry out parliamentary control of institutions of health care and social security, and to submit proposals and recommendations for the improvement of the activities thereof. Article 69. The trends of activities of the Committee on Education, Science and Culture shall be: 1) to prepare and consider drafts of laws, directives and other legislation which regulates education, science, culture and public information, and to present proposals relative thereto; 2) to consider and present findings on draft legislation related to education, science, culture and public information which are referred to the committee, as well as other projects, while keeping the compliance thereof with the government policy related to these issues in mind; 3) to prepare proposals and recommendations for the Government and local governments concerning education, science, culture and public information; and 4) to provide support to persons, organisations and institutions engaged in cultural activities. Article 70. The trends of activities of the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall be: 1) to prepare conclusions concerning the ratification and denouncement of international agreements of the Republic of Lithuania as well as other issues of foreign policy which are considered in the Seimas; 2) to prepare and consider drafts of laws and other legislative acts related to foreign affairs, to consider them from the standpoint of the foreign policy of the Republic of Lithuania and international law, and to submit the conclusions thereon; 3) to review the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as of state and public organizations which maintain relations with foreign countries, to submit proposals and recommendations, and to notify the Seimas thereof; 4) to coordinate and discuss the activities of the delegations of the Seimas in international organizations and forums and the activities of inter-parliamentary relations groups, and to submit recommendations and proposals thereto; 5) to analyse and submit proposals relative to information and propaganda activities of mass media and other state organizations meant for foreign countries; 6) in conjunction with government and public organizations, to maintain and develop relations with Lithuanian emigrants and their organisations, as well as with the Lithuanians autochtons residing beyond the boundaries of the Republic of Lithuania; 7) together with other committees, to consider the regulation of migration problems and to submit proposals and conclusions thereon; 8) to consider and submit recommendations and proposals to the Government concerning the establishment of diplomatic relations of the Republic of Lithuania and the opening of Lithuanian embassies abroad; 9) to consider proposals and submit conclusions related to the appointment of diplomatic representatives in foreign states. 21 Article 71. The trends of the activities of the Committee on State and Law shall be: 1) to consider and make proposals concerning the formation of state legal policy; 2) to prepare and help carry out reform of the legal system; 3) to consider and present conclusions concerning project proposals for the supplementation and amendment of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania as well as the compliance of drafts of laws which are under discussion with the Constitution; 4) to prepare proposals and drafts of laws which are related to issues concerning the realization of justice and the strengthening of legality and law and order; 5) to consider and present conclusions and suggestions concerning institutional reforms; 6) to present legal findings concerning drafts of laws prepared by other committees and other legal acts; 7) to coordinate the preparation of draft laws which are related to the realization of justice and the strengthening of legality and law and order; 8) to consider candidacies to judges and chairpersons of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and other courts which are appointed by the Seimas or whose nomination requires the approval of the Seimas, as well as issues concerning the dismissal of said judges; 9) to carry out parliamentary control of the activities of law enforcement institutions, with the exception of the courts, and to prepare conclusions and proposals related thereto; 10) to prepare and present conclusions and recommendations to the Seimas concerning the activities of the Ministry of Justice, General Office of the Prosecutor and other law enforcement bodies; 11) to prepare draft laws and suggestions concerning the improvement of the system of state control; and 12) to supervise, without interfering in operational activities, the work of the State Control Department. Article 72. The trends of activities of the Committee on Human and Citizens' Rights and Nationalities Affairs shall be: 1) to prepare and consider drafts of laws and other legal acts as well as proposals which are related to the guarantees of civil rights and the regulation of ethnic relations among the nationalities living in Lithuania; 2) to present recommendations and proposals to ministries, government institutions, other organizations, and Seimas committees on issues concerning the protection of civil rights and the improvement of ethnic relations; 3) to submit proposals in the established manner concerning the structure, staff and funding of the Seimas ombudsmen institution; 4) to consider complaints and proposals referred to the Seimas concerning the work of the Seimas ombudsmen; 5) as necessary, to prepare draft resolution on the vote of non-confidence in the Seimas ombudsmen and to submit it to the Seimas for consideration as well as to submit findings concerning such resolutions to the Seimas when such resolutions are prepared by other committees; and 6) to consider the material submitted by the Seimas ombudsmen concerning the breach of law by ministers and other officers answerable to the Seimas and submit its findings to the Seimas for consideration. Chapter 12. Seimas Commissions 22 Article 73. A standing Commission on Ethics and Procedure shall be formed in the Seimas to which at least 1/10 of the Seimas members may recommend one representative. Proposals relative to the candidates to that commission shall be submitted in writing to the Chancellor of the Seimas. Upon rejecting the first and second candidate proposed by the same Seimas members, the third shall become a commission member without approval from the Seimas. The Seimas shall approve the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the Commission on Ethics and Procedure from among its members. Article 74. The trend of activities of the Commission on Ethics and Procedure shall be: 1) to prepare drafts of legal acts and proposals which are related to the activities and ethics of Seimas members; 2) in observance of ethic norms, to help the Seimas, Seimas divisions, and Seimas members foster democracy, to coordinate various points of view and convictions, to strive for moral harmony, and to humanize relations between Seimas members; 3) to supervise the observance of the Statute of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and other legal acts which regulate the activities of Seimas members. Upon the proposal of the Speaker of the Seimas, deputy Speakers of the Seimas, chairpersons of committees or commissions, or other Seimas members, or on its own initiative, to examine violations of these legal acts or ethics, to consider conflicts which arise between Seimas members, and, if necessary, to present conclusions to the Seimas, the Seimas Speaker, or the Seimas Board; 4) to examine and present conclusions concerning procedural disagreements upon the instruction of the Seimas, the Seimas Speaker, or the Seimas Board; 5) to examine information presented by the law enforcement bodies of the Republic of Lithuania concerning personal activities of Seimas members which contradict the laws of the Republic of Lithuania, and to present conclusions to the Seimas thereon; 6) to analyse the reasons for which Seimas members are not participating in sittings of the Seimas and the Seimas committees and commissions and to provide information to the press concerning Seimas members who have missed sittings without justified reason, who did not participate in voting which was announced beforehand, or who did not carry out instructions; and 7) to examine the letters and proposals of citizens, government institutions, and social organizations on issues concerning the activities of Seimas members. Article 75. In the Seimas a standing administrative commission shall be formed dealing with working and living conditions of the Seimas members and other matters relative thereto. Administrative commission shall be formed according to the provisions set forth in Article 77 of this Statute. The Seimas Chancellor shall be on this commission and shall head it ex officio. Article 76. The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, having acknowledged the necessity to do so, may form research, control, auditing, preparatory, editing, and other temporary commissions to investigate or prepare any given issue or to carry out other assignments of the Seimas. If a commission's authorization period is not clearly defined during the time of formation, the activities of the commission shall be discontinued by a resolution of the Seimas once the given tasks have been carried out. 23 The Seimas shall also form inter-parliamentary relations groups and parliamentary delegations in international organizations and forums which shall have the same rights thereof. Article 77. In forming an ad hoc commission, first the number of members of the commission shall be established. Thereafter, the norms for proportional representation of parliamentary groups shall be established, as well as the term for candidacy proposals of commissions members. The minority shall distribute among themselves the number of seats assigned to them. If the compiled list of committee members is not sufficient, committees may each orally propose one additional candidate during the sitting, and after them each Seimas member may do so until the number of candidates is sufficient. Each of the proposed candidates must give oral consent to participate in the work of the commission. The Seimas shall vote for the entire list of commission members formed in such a way. If the list is not approved, the procedure shall be repeated. When candidates are nominated to a commission during a Seimas sitting not according to the norms allocated to parliamentary group, those for whom at least two Seimas members express doubt shall be voted for individually. If the number of candidates nominated to a commission during a sitting is greater than the established number of commission members and all of the nominated candidates agree to work in the commission, there shall be an open-ballot vote with the list of candidates. In certain cases, the Seimas may establish another procedure for the formation of commissions, although commissions may never be formed by representatives of one parliamentary group or one region. Article 78. If the term of office of a commission is more than six months, a commission chairperson and deputy chairperson shall be elected and approved according to the procedure established for the committees. The chairperson and deputy chairperson of a commission may not be members of the Seimas Board, members of the Government, or chairpersons or deputy chairpersons of any other commission or committee. This restriction is not applicable to inter-parliamentary relations groups or parliamentary delegations. As a rule, the Seimas Board shall o approve the estimate of expenditure of a commission and to resolve other issues which are related to its activities. If the Seimas does not resolve otherwise, commissions, during their period of authorization, shall observe the rules of committee procedure. If the authorization period of a commission is longer than six months, it shall have all of the rights and duties of a committee, with the exception of the right to consider candidatures of Seimas officials or propose that they be cancelled. PART 4 SESSIONS OF THE SEIMAS Chapter 13. The First Session of the Seimas Article 79. The Seimas shall be deemed elected after the Central Electoral Commission announces that at least 3/5 of Seimas members have been elected. The opening sitting of the newly-elected Seimas must be held no later than 15 days after the election of the Seimas and shall be convened by the President of the Republic. If the opening sitting of the Seimas is not convened by the President of the Republic, the Seimas members shall themselves convene on the next day after the expiration of the 15-day period. 24 As a rule, the opening sitting of the newly-elected Seimas shall open at 12 o'clock noon in the building of the Seimas. Article 80. The opening sitting of the Seimas shall be commenced by the eldest member of the Seimas. In the event that he or she is unable or refuses to open the sitting, it shall be opened by the next eldest member of the Seimas. He or she shall preside over the meeting until the Speaker is elected. Three Deputy Speakers and the Chancellor of the Seimas shall thereafter be elected. Article 81. Upon the commencement of the first session of the Seimas, time shall be assigned for the formation of parliamentary groups and the Assembly of Spokespersons. Thereafter, as a rule, the Seimas, in the following order, shall: 1) approve or reject the candidature for Prime Minister nominated by the President of the Republic; 2) form the Committees of the Seimas and approve their respective Chairpersons; 3) consider the Programme of the Government submitted by the Prime Minister and decide whether or not to approve it; and 4) draw up a work programme for the session in accordance with the procedure established by the Statute of the Seimas. Chapter 14. General Issues of Session Organisation Article 82. The Seimas shall meet biannually in two regular sessions (spring and autumn). The spring session shall open on March 10 and shall close on June 30. The autumn session shall open on September 10 and close on December 23. The Seimas may resolve to prolong a session. If the day of the opening of a session is a non-working day, the session shall open on the first working day following the scheduled commencement. The members of the Seimas shall convene into ordinary sessions without a separate invitation. Article 83. Extraordinary sessions shall be convened by the Speaker of the Seimas on the written proposal of at least 1/3 of all members of the Seimas, or, in cases provided for in Articles 142 and 144 of the Constitution, by the President of the Republic. The Seimas Board must notify all of the Seimas members of extraordinary sessions at least 2 days before the opening of the session. Only issues submitted by the Seimas members on whose initiative the extraordinary session was convened shall be considered at the session. The work programme of extraordinary sessions shall be approved by the Seimas. The duration of extraordinary sessions may not exceed 15 days. Between extraordinary sessions the Seimas shall adjourn for at least 10 days. Article 84. Sessions of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania shall be held in the Seimas building in Vilnius. In the event that the Seimas cannot convene in the building of the Seimas, the Seimas Board may temporarily assign another place for sittings to be held. All members of the Seimas must be notified of such a decision. Having convened in a place designated by the Seimas Board for a sitting, the Seimas shall hear the information of the Seimas Board concerning the reasons which compelled them to change the place of the sitting. In sittings, sessions shall open and close with the State anthem. Article 85. The Secretariat of Seimas sittings shall provide technical services during sittings and shall fulfil the related assignments of the Seimas Speaker, his or her deputies and the Chancellor. The Secretariat shall be formed of Seimas staff 25 members. The Secretariat of Seimas sittings shall: 1) attend to adequate technical preparation of the sittings and provide assistance to Seimas members during sittings; 2) be responsible that material required for a sitting be presented to Seimas members and the officer presiding over the sitting in adequate time; 3) register all of the Seimas members participating in a sitting, receive applications of Seimas members concerning their inability to take part in a sitting during voting planned in advance and held according to schedule, and inform the presiding officer and the Seimas Speaker thereof; 4) accept written requests of Seimas members asking to be given the floor and deliver said requests to the officer presiding over the sitting; 5) accept and register questions and interpellations of Seimas members addressed to heads of State institutions, hand them over, as required, either to the Seimas Speaker or the Chancellor; 6) during a session, accept from Seimas members other written statements, proposals, protests or requests and deliver them to the addressees; 7) see that translations of the work of the sitting be provided; 8) provide divisions of the Seimas apparatus with information concerning the sitting; 9) register drafts of laws which are submitted; and 10) carry out other assignments of the Seimas Speaker or the presiding officer. Chapter 15. Session Work Programmes and Sitting Agendas Article 86. The preparation of sessions, with the exception of the first session, shall be organised by the Seimas Speaker. Together with the Seimas Chancellor, the Speaker shall prepare drafts of the work programme of the session and of the agenda of sittings held during the first week. Seimas members may obtain said drafts at the Secretariat of Seimas sittings 2 working days before the opening of the session. The Seimas Committees responsible for the issues included in the programme and the date on which an issue is planned to be presented at a Seimas sitting must be specified in the draft work programme of the session. The draft work programme shall be delivered to the President of the Republic and the Government. The draft of the session work programme shall be considered by the Assembly of Spokespersons upon receiving the written proposals of the Government and the President of the Republic. The Assembly may amend and supplement the draft in the manner established in Part 2 of Article 39 of this Statute. The draft, along with the amendments and supplements and the recommendations made by the Assembly of Spokespersons, shall be submitted to the Seimas for debate. At the first session after the election, the Seimas shall, as a rule, consider and approve the work programme at the time specified in Article 81 of this Statute. Other sessions shall open with the discussion and approval of the work programme. The Seimas may later revise the work programme in accordance with the procedure established in this Statute. Individual items of the work programme shall be discussed and put to vote at the Seimas according to the same procedure as the articles of laws during their passing. Article 87. In accordance with the approved work programme of the session, the Seimas Speaker, together with the Chancellor, shall prepare a detailed draft agenda of the week's sittings and 26 submit it to the Assembly of Spokespersons for debate. Proposals shall be submitted by members of the Board, members of the Assembly of Spokespersons, committees, other members of the Seimas, and the Government. The time of the sittings, the issues under discussion, the draft registration number, the stage of debate, and the speakers and extra speakers must be specified in the agenda. The Seimas must also be informed of proposals which were not accepted. If the time limit proves insufficient for analysing any of the issues during a week's sittings, said issues shall be included without voting in the agenda of the next week. With the exception of cases specified in this Statute, only issues which are on the session work programme and with regard to which, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Chapter 19 of this Statute, drafts of laws, resolutions or other acts have been adequately drawn up shall be included in the week's agenda. The Assembly of Spokespersons shall decide at its sitting whether or not to approve each item of the presented agenda in accordance with the procedure established in Part 2 of Article 39 of this Statute. In the event that any of the items are adopted only by majority vote, they shall be presented to the Seimas as recommendations. If a decision is passed to work one day a week, the Assembly of Spokespersons may simultaneously present the agenda of the next day of sittings. In such a case, requirements applicable to the agenda's preparation, adoption and amendment shall be the same as those which apply to the preparation, adoption and amendment of an agenda of a week's sitting. Article 88. Draft agenda of a week's sittings approved at the Assembly of Spokespersons shall be put to the vote at the Seimas sitting without preliminary discussion thereon. The items of the agenda presented as recommendations by the Assembly of Spokespersons as well as the entire draft agenda, provided that it was not approved by vote at the Seimas, may be discussed at sittings of the Seimas. In such a case, proposals may be submitted by the Seimas Board members, committees, parliamentary groups, and the Government. If, for some reason, the Assembly of Spokespersons could not approve the draft agenda of a week's sittings, the Seimas Speaker may submit it to a sitting of the Seimas. In such an event, the procedure established in Part 2 hereof shall be applied. Article 89. At the written request of a group of at least 1/3 of the Seimas members, inclusion of an issue in the session work programme or in the agenda of the week or the next day shall be mandatory, provided that the issue has been prepared and adequate provisions for its discussion have been made in accordance with the procedure established in this Statute. No more than 1.5 hours shall be assigned for debating such issues unless the Seimas decides to prolong the discussion period. Article 90. In conjunction with the Seimas Chancellor, the Seimas Speaker shall prepare, on the basis of the approved agenda of the week's sittings, a detailed draft agenda of every day of the sitting in which the speaker and the time of debate or voting on every issue must be provided separately. The above draft agenda shall be considered and adopted at the Seimas on the day preceding the sitting. In the event that the draft agenda of a day's sitting is approved at the Assembly of Spokespersons, the agenda shall be considered in accordance with the procedure established in Article 88. In the contrary case, members of the Seimas Board, committees, parliamentary groups and the Government may present additional proposals but on condition they adhere to the approved agenda of a week's sittings. 27 Article 91. The Seimas Board, the Assembly of Spokespersons and the Government shall have the right to propose to include additional issues in the adopted agenda of a week's or a day's sittings. Such a proposal may be adopted provided that it is voted for by the majority of the Seimas members present at the sitting. In the event that such a proposal is not approved, it may be repeatedly presented only the next day. Article 92. At the request of the President of the Republic, the issues and reports presented by him shall be included in the agenda of a sitting in the mandatory manner (without voting). The Government of the Republic of Lithuania shall have the right to request that the Government's report on an urgent issue be included in the agenda of the week's sittings. On the decision of the Seimas, a discussion may follow such a report. Chapter 16. Sittings of the Seimas Article 93. The sittings of the Seimas and its committees shall be held in the Lithuanian language. Guests, experts or witnesses who do not know the language shall have the right to speak in another language, provided they notify the Secretariat of Seimas sittings thereof no later than before 6 hours; the Secretariat must see to it that translation is provided. Article 94. As a rule, 4 sittings a week -- 2 on Tuesday and 2 on Thursday -- shall be held during the Seimas session, whereas every 3 weeks plenary sittings of the Seimas shall be adjourned for a week. On Thursday, the evening sitting shall be assigned to the Government, interpellations, as well as to replies to the questions of Seimas members given by Seimas officers, heads of State institutions, with the exception of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court. On other days of the week and in the week when no plenary sittings are held, sittings of the Seimas Board, the Assembly of Spokespersons, parliamentary groups, committees and commissions as well as meetings of members of the Seimas with electors or representatives of local governments shall be held; members of the Seimas may also go on business trips. Article 95. The last half hour of every day's evening sitting shall be assigned for the statements of the Seimas members on urgent issues of electoral areas or state or international problems. Persons desiring to speak shall submit to the Seimas Chancellor a written request during the sitting of the previous days giving a brief characterisation of the issue they would like to speak about. The Secretariat of Seimas sittings shall generalise the requests and present them to the Chancellor. The Chancellor shall prepare a supplement to the agenda of the sitting specifying those wishing to speak and the problems put forward by them. No discussion shall be held on the statements. The Seimas may without discussion approve the speaker's proposal to charge an appropriate Seimas committee or commission to investigate the problem. The agendas of every third Thursday evening sitting shall be drawn up by the parliamentary groups of the opposition. A week before the opening of such sitting the Seimas Board, taking into consideration the principle of proportional representation of the parliamentary groups of the opposition, shall appoint a parliamentary group or a coalition of parliamentary groups who shall be responsible for the agenda of such sitting. In such an event, the agenda shall not be approved at the Seimas sitting. Article 96. The morning sitting of the Seimas shall as a 28 rule be held from 10.00 a.m. and the afternoon sitting -- from 3.00 p.m.. The Seimas members shall be registered at the beginning of every sitting and before the voting planned in advance. Article 97. A sitting which is not provided for in the week's work programme must be held provided that its is requested by the President of the Republic or 1/3 of the Seimas members or the Seimas Board. The issues submitted by the persons on whose initiative the meeting is held shall be considered at such a sitting. Said persons shall no later than 6 hours before the opening of the sitting inform the Seimas members in the manner established by the Seimas Board of the sitting and the issues proposed for discussion. Article 98. Sittings of the Seimas shall be presided over by the Seimas Speaker or a Deputy Speaker. The person presiding over the Seimas sitting: 1) shall, by word and by the banging of the gavel, announce the opening and closing of a sitting, as necessary, he or she may also announce a recess not provided for in the agenda; 2) shall attend to the order of work of the Seimas sittings, supervise that this Statute be adhered to at the sittings, control the performance of their respective duties by the group of tellers and the Secretariat of sittings; 3) shall not take part in discussions and may not in any other way influence the Seimas members as regards the decisions which are being adopted; 4) shall grant the floor to the Seimas members, direct the discussions, when specifying the essence of proposals may pose questions to the Seimas members; 5) shall watch over the duration of speeches, and, if the time limit is exceeded, shall warn the speaker, and may cut him or her off after the second warning; 6) may prolong the time of a speech delivered on an urgent issue provided that the Seimas does not object; 7) may warn the speaker or cut him or her off after the second warning in the event that the speaker is speaking not to the point; 8) may also grant the floor to other persons provided that the Seimas doe not object; 9) on the basis of discussion results, shall formulate questions to be put to the vote; pursuant to this Statute shall establish the voting procedure; by word and by the banging of the gavel shall announce the beginning of voting, and, in accordance with the information presented by the group of tellers or electronic voting machines, shall announce the results of the voting; 10) shall call to order the Seimas members if they do not adhere to the Statute, make noise in the chamber, insult the President of the Republic, the Seimas, the Speaker, the Seimas members, the Government, the Prime Minister or ministers, and may submit proposals concerning the recording of the warnings in the minutes or examination thereof in the Commission on Ethics and Procedures or elimination of the Seimas member from the hall; 11) shall take a decision to expel from the chamber the invited persons or the correspondents if they interfere with the sitting; 12) when adopting decisions, at the request of the Seimas members, shall announce the article of the Statute he or she is acting in pursuance of; and 13) shall sign the minutes of the Seimas sitting and the official report on the sitting, and shall also visa the laws and other acts passed at the sitting. 29 Article 99. As a rule, the sittings of the Seimas shall be public. The President of the Republic, members of the Government, the Chairperson of the Constitutional Court, the Chairperson of the Supreme Court and heads of State institutions formed by the Seimas may attend the sittings without a special invitation and state their opinion during discussions where issues connected with their work are considered. Signatories of the Act "On the Re-establishment of the State of Lithuania" of 11 March 1990, permanent representatives of the President of the Republic and the Government may attend the sittings as observers. Participation of other persons in the sittings is established in Articles 100 and 101 of this Statute. On the decision of the Seimas as well as at the request of Seimas Speaker, the President of the Republic or the Prime Minister, a closed sitting may be held by way of exception which, in addition to Seimas members, may be attended only by persons specially invited to the sitting and, as necessary, by the personnel of the Secretariat of sittings. The Seimas Board, the Government, parliamentary groups and committees shall have the right to propose to hold a closed sitting; a substantiation of the proposal shall be requisite. Article 100. The Seimas Speaker or the Seimas Board may invite the most prominent guests of the Republic of Lithuania - heads of foreign states, members of governments, heads of parliamentary delegations, chairpersons of Lithuanian emigrant organisations - to speak at the sittings. Other distinguished guests may invited as observers of the sittings of a session. Article 101. Open sittings of the Seimas shall be public. They may be attended by the assistants secretaries of Seimas members, employees of the Seimas apparatus, representatives of public organisations who have received invitations, as well as radio, television and press journalists accredited to the Seimas. The procedure for issuing invitations and accrediting shall be established by the Seimas Board. Only members of the Seimas, employees of the Secretariat of sittings and persons who have been granted the floor may be present in the front of the chamber. Article 102. The Seimas may convene a meeting of all the Seimas members for preliminary discussion of issues; the rules of this Statute shall not be valid at such meetings. No decisions shall be adopted by the Seimas at such meetings. The Seimas members shall elect the chairperson of the meeting and may establish provisional rules of procedure of the meeting. Article 103. All reports shall be read at Seimas sittings from the dais. In the cases set forth in Par. 2 of Article 93 of this Statute, Seimas members may speak from their seats or into the microphones installed in the chamber. Speaking during sittings shall be allowed only on the permission of the presiding officer. Article 104. As a rule, one principal report and one additional report shall be made on every issue on the agenda. The duration of a report shall be fixed by the presiding officer in coordination with the person delivering the report. Ordinarily, reports should not exceed 30 minutes. Additional reports shall be allotted a duration of up to 15 minutes; final words and commentary on behalf of the Government or a committee shall be granted up to 10 minutes; speaking on behalf on a parliamentary group - up to 7 minutes, and speeches said on behalf of the speaker himself shall be given up to 5 minutes. After reports, during the presentation of the draft, time for answering questions shall be allocated in the manner 30 established in this Statute. An answer to a single question may not exceed 3 minutes, whereas the question itself may not take longer than 1 minute. Only one question shall be permitted at a time. A person shall be allowed to ask a second question only once it is again his or her turn to ask. On the decision of the Seimas, question and answer sessions may be terminated before the fixed time, provided that at least one other member of the Seimas supports such a proposal. Article 105. Registration of persons wishing to speak shall begin an hour before the first sitting of the day the issue is planned to be discussed and shall close by the commencement of discussion of the issue. Upon completion of registration, the officer presiding over the sitting must announce the list of persons participating in the discussion. Registration for speaking shall be carried out by submitting applications to the Secretariat of sittings. Article 106. Time allotted for discussion on each issue on the agenda shall be, as a rule, divided in half to the members of the majority and minority. In the event that representatives either of the majority or the minority do not use up the time allotted to them, the discussion shall be shortened. Speakers shall be granted the floor during discussions according to the order in which they registered to speak. The presiding officer may change the order for reason of ensuring proportional representation of parliamentary groups and Committees, and for presenting arguments "for" and "against". The Seimas members may change the order of speaking. A speaker may waive his or her right to take the floor. If the speaker leaves the chamber without giving prior notice to the presiding officer and is not present when called upon to speak, he or she shall be deemed to have waived his or her right to take the floor. Article 107. The President of the Republic, the Seimas Speaker, and the Prime Minister shall have the right to take the floor out of turn one time in a discussion. If members of the Government or no less than 1/5 of the Seimas members or a representative named by a Committee notify the Secretariat of the sittings of their wish to be granted the floor prior to the termination of a discussion, they shall retain the right to take the floor even if it is resolved to terminate the debate. Article 108. During debates, the Seimas members shall have the right to take the floor not more than once for every item on the agenda. Questions, remarks, and speeches concerning the motives or procedure of voting, prejudicial issues or issues related to the termination of debate, and proposals to reject or postpone the issue under consideration shall constitute an exception. In said cases no advance registration shall be required. However, every member of the Seimas shall have the right to make an inquiry, speech, or remark only once on each given issue on the agenda, and concerning the motives of voting - once before every voting. Speaking on issues concerning procedure, termination of debate, or postponement or rejection of an issue shall have precedence over the issue under consideration. In said cases, members shall be granted the floor for no longer than 2 minutes after the speaker has finished his or her speech. In the cases specified in the Statute, a vote must be taken after such speeches. If the speaker speaks on an issue other than the one for which he or she was granted the floor, the presiding officer may revoke his or her right to speak. 31 Article 109. Debates shall be terminated on the decision of the Seimas, with the exception of cases where the Statute provides for a different procedure for the termination of a debate. Proposals to terminate a debate may be submitted after at least two speakers have been given the floor and may be put to the vote without holding a discussion thereon provided that at least one other member of the Seimas supports the proposal. Prior to that, the presiding officer must announce how many persons are registered to speak and how many have already spoken. Upon resolving to terminate a debate, the presiding officer must grant the floor, according to the order, to one more member of the Seimas as well as to everyone who still has the right to be granted the floor pursuant to Article 107 of this Statute. In addition, the speaker may be granted the floor for concluding remarks. The Seimas may in advance limit both the general duration of debates on each issue and the number of speakers. In such cases, proposals to terminate a debate shall not be accepted. Article 110. In discussing each issue, the Seimas shall take an unscheduled recess of no less than half an hour and no more than an hour prior to the commencement of voting or the discussion of the issue may be postponed to the next sitting if the presiding officer, the principal committee, or a parliamentary group so requests and the request is supported by no less than 1/3 Seimas members present at the sitting. In discussing an issue, such recesses and debate postponements may only be done twice. Only one unscheduled recess may be taken in the same sitting. If the Statute has been expressly violated during discussion of an issue, the committee which prepared the draft of the law or other legal act, a parliamentary group, or the Commission on Ethics and Procedure shall have the right to request that the discussion of the issue be postponed, but for no longer than one week. Article 111. If the conduct or words of a Seimas member are presented in a distorted manner by other speakers, he or she shall have the right to request that the presiding officer grant him or her the floor to speak on a personal issue for up to 2 minutes. If the presiding officer does not oblige the request, the Seimas member shall have the right to request that the issue of whether or not he or she should be granted the floor to speak on a personal question be put to the vote. Seimas members shall be granted the floor to speak on personal issues at the end of the sitting. Chapter 17. Voting and Vote Calculation Article 112. Voting on issues under debate shall be open, by raising voting cards, with the exception of cases provided for in this Statute. On the decision of the Seimas or the presiding officer, a vote may be taken either by standing up or by using an electronic vote tallying system rather than by raising a card. As a rule, the electronic vote tallying system shall be used when taking a vote on separate provisions of the issue under debate, on separate articles or statements of a law, and on resolutions of the sitting and issues concerning the work procedure of a session. A separate instruction approved by the Seimas Board shall establish the procedure for using the electronic vote tallying system. Seimas members shall vote personally. The right to vote may not be delegated to other persons. 32 Article 113. After the discussion, the presiding officer shall announce the commencement of the voting procedure by word and while adopting a law or other act of the Seimas - by banging the gavel as well. The presiding officer must also inform the Seimas members of the number of votes required for the decision to be adopted. Walking in the chamber during voting shall be prohibited. No issues shall be discussed until the voting procedure is completed, the floor shall be granted only on the motives and methods of voting, except for the time that the results of the voting by roll call or by ballot are being counted. Article 114. Laws of the Republic of Lithuania, resolutions of the Seimas, and other decisions of the Seimas shall be adopted at sittings of the Seimas by simple majority vote (i.e. more than half) of the Seimas members participating in the sitting, with the exception of special cases provided for in the Constitution and this Statute. In voting on the resolutions of the Seimas (which are recorded in the minutes), separate provisions of the issue under debate, separate articles or statements of a law, or questions concerning the work procedure of the session, decisions shall be adopted by majority vote of all the voting Seimas members, or may also be passed without voting (by unanimous consent), i.e., if no member responds to the presiding officer's question "Is there any objection to...?", the presiding officer shall announce "Adopted." Prior to the first voting of every sitting, the presiding officer must check the number of Seimas members present. If, prior to a voting, the presiding officer or any parliamentary group has not requested to check the number of the Seimas members present at the sitting, no doubts may later be raised concerning this. The last number of Seimas members determined at a sitting shall be considered the number of Seimas members present at the sitting. Article 115. In adopting laws of the Republic of Lithuania, resolutions of the Seimas, or other acts, with the exception of personnel issues, roll call voting is permitted if it is so requested by a parliamentary group and this requirement is supported by no less than 1/3 of all Seimas members present at the sitting. Such a request may be submitted by the representative of a parliamentary group only upon the closing up of a debate on the issue and prior to voting on the entire draft. In such a case, ballot papers shall be distributed to the Seimas members prior to the commencement of voting for roll call voting; upon receipt of said ballot papers, the Seimas members shall sign the record of issued ballot papers. Upon announcement of the commencement of voting, every Seimas member shall fill in the ballot paper, sign it, and hand it over to the tellers' group. Upon tallying the votes, the presiding officer shall announce the vote of every Seimas member. Article 116. Issues concerning the election of the Seimas Speaker, deputy Speakers, Seimas Chancellor, non-confidence in the Government, the Prime Minister or an individual minister, non-confidence in any officer of the Seimas or dismissal of the head of a state institution appointed by the Seimas shall be voted on only by secret ballot. On the decision of the Seimas, other personnel issues may also be voted on by secret ballot. In this manner, voting shall be done during recess. Ballot papers shall be stamped and distributed by the tellers' group. Upon receiving their ballot papers, Seimas members shall sign the record of issued ballot papers. 33 There must be a secret voting booth and ballot box in the voting place. The ballot box must be put in such a way that, upon approaching it, the members casting their votes can cross the secret voting booth. Article 117. Voting shall be done by open ballots when it is necessary to elect several candidates to some posts from a larger number of candidates and when it has not been resolved to vote by secret ballot. In open voting, the procedure for voting and establishing the results shall be the same as in voting by secret ballot except that secret ballot voting booths shall not be used and ballot papers shall be filled out in the chamber. It is not necessary to sign the ballot papers. Article 118. A standard ballot paper for secret and open voting shall be approved by the Seimas prior to voting. Issues concerning the dismissal of an officer or declaration of non-confidence in an officer shall be voted on with ballot papers on which the propositions "Dismiss" and "Not dismiss" or "Confidence" and "Non-confidence" shall be inscribed. With one ballot paper it is only possible to vote on either the dismissal of an officer or the declaration of non-confidence in a collective institution or one of its members, or the removal from his post of an officer. On one ballot paper it is only possible to write the surnames, in alphabetical order, of candidates to the same post. In all cases, ballot papers must have a heading which clearly indicates the issue being voted on. On the ballot paper, the member casting his or her vote shall cross out the surname of the candidates against which he or she is voting or the proposition which he or she does not accept. Ballot papers which are not of the approved sample, as well as ballot papers on which more surnames than the number of officers being elected or more than one proposition given for election is left, shall be deemed invalid. Additional surnames and propositions which are written in shall not be counted. The record of calculation of votes by ballot papers shall be signed by the chairperson of the tellers' group and the presiding officer. Voting ballot papers shall be preserved in the Seimas archives until the end of the term of office of the Seimas. Article 119. One or two alternative propositions may be presented to be voted upon. If one proposition is presented, it shall be voted "for", "against" or "abstain". If two propositions are presented, voting shall be "for the first proposition" or "for the second proposition". Alternative propositions shall be voted for in the order that they were presented for discussion. If there are more than two propositions, the presiding officer must group them according to purport so that they are all decided upon after several votes for one or two propositions. The proposition which collects the most votes shall be adopted if the necessary majority is collected; otherwise, it shall be presented for additional voting to confirm the decision. If this fails to be done, the Seimas members may either propose a compromise or postpone the issue. At his or her own initiative or at the request of at least two Seimas members, the presiding officer shall divide the issue being put to the vote into two. Article 120. The decision of whether to postpone or reject an issue shall be voted on before voting on the main point of the issue. Numbers shall be voted on in increasing order. If necessary, the presiding officer may change the order of voting 34 if those who made the proposals do not object. Article 121. Votes may be explained after the presiding officer announces what is being voted on and asks if anyone would like to explain his or her vote. In voting for an entire issue or the passing of a draft law, no more than four Seimas members may explain their votes "for" and no more than four -- "against". In other cases, no more than one Seimas members may explain their votes "for" and no more than one -- "against". Article 122. When the electronic tallying system is not being used, the tellers' group shall organise the voting and count the votes. The tellers' group shall also assist the presiding officer in checking how many Seimas members are present in the chamber and in revising their registration. Members of the tellers' group shall vote according to the general procedure. Article 123. The Seimas shall alphabetically appoint the tellers' group for the period of one month upon the proposal of the Seimas Chancellor. The group may not be made up solely of members of one parliamentary group. Members of the Seimas Board, chairpersons of Committees and commissions, Spokespersons of parliamentary groups, and members of the Government shall not be assigned to the tellers' group. The tellers' group shall elect a chairperson from its members. The Seimas may he declare non-confidence in the tellers' group or one of its members by majority vote of the Seimas members present at the sitting. In such an event, a new group or group member shall be appointed. Upon the decision of the presiding officer or the request of a parliamentary group which is supported by no less than 1/3 of Seimas members present at the sitting, the voting which took place before the declaration of non-confidence may be repeated. Article 124. The results of voting shall be announced by the presiding officer based on the information provided by the tellers' group or by the indicators of the electronic tallying system. Article 125. Before another item on the agenda has begun to be discussed, voting carried out by raising cards or by using the electronic system may be repeated once if so requested by the presiding officer or a parliamentary group and the request thereof is supported by no less than 1/3 of Seimas members present at the sitting. This may be requested if the issue put up to vote was not properly and clearly formulated. Chapter 18. Official Registration and Announcement of Seimas Documents Article 126. Minutes of Seimas sittings shall be compiled and announced by the Documentation Department of the Seimas and shall be signed by the presiding officer. Issues which are discussed, speakers, adopted resolutions, and voting results shall be recorded in the minutes. The full texts of resolutions adopted during sittings shall be recorded in the minutes. Supplementary materials (data concerning the registration of Seimas members, results of voting by roll call, statements of Seimas members, etc.) shall be appended to the minutes. Minutes shall be distributed to Committees and parliamentary groups no later than the next workday after the sitting. Seimas members may state their claims concerning the minutes at the end of the first Seimas sitting of the next day. If there 35 are disputable questions, the Seimas shall adopt a decision thereon by simple majority vote of the voting members after a short explanation has been given by the officer who presided over the previous sitting. Article 127. The Seimas Documentation Department shall compile and publish verbatim records of the Seimas sittings. Their originals shall not be edited and shall be preserved in the Documentation Department. Tape-recordings of the Seimas sittings shall be preserved in the Documentation Department for a period of at least one month. Members of the Seimas and other persons who were granted the floor during a sitting shall have the right to check, within a fortnight after the Seimas sitting, the verbatim records of their speeches edited for publication. Upon checking the text against the tape-recording, they may revise the edited version of the verbatim record of their speech provided that they do not change the essence of the speech. If the speaker does not present any claims concerning the text of the verbatim record, it shall be assumed that he or she agrees with the text. In the event of disputes or misunderstandings concerning the edited text of a verbatim record, a decision thereon shall be adopted by the presiding officer of the respective sitting. Article 128. Verbatim records of closed sittings shall not be published; only members of the Seimas shall have access thereto. The Seimas Chancellor shall preserve the verbatim records of closed sittings and shall create conditions for Seimas members to familiarize themselves with said records. A speech of a Seimas member may be publicly quoted or comment on from the verbatim record of a closed sitting only with his or her consent. Article 129. Minutes shall be taken at sittings of the Seimas Board and Assembly of Spokespersons; no verbatim records shall be taken of the above sittings. Participants in the sitting, issues which are discussed, speakers, adopted resolutions, and voting results shall be listed in the minutes. The minutes shall be signed by the chairperson of that sitting. Seimas members shall familiarize themselves with said minutes through Committees and parliamentary groups. Article 130. Seimas Committees and commissions shall takes minutes at their own sittings. Committee and commission resolutions, conclusions, and minutes of sittings shall be signed by the respective chairperson. The minutes of sittings of committees and commissions are official internal documents which may only be used by members of the Seimas. Other persons may use these minutes only with the consent of the chairperson of the Committee or commission. Upon the completion of the calendar year, the minutes of sittings and other documents of Committees and commissions shall be preserved in the Committees or commission for the period of a year; thereafter they shall be transferred to the Seimas archives. All documents of ad hoc commissions must be transferred to the Seimas archives within 10 days of the expiration of the authorized period of said commission. Article 131. Draft laws of the Republic of Lithuania submitted for public consideration shall be published in the press using State funds. In publishing such drafts, the names of the persons who prepared and initiated them must be indicated. Draft laws given over to be published must be signed by the chairperson of the Committee to which the draft was given for preparation as well as by the Seimas Chancellor. 36 Article 132. Before being given to the President of the Republic to be signed, adopted laws of the Republic of Lithuania and other acts of the Seimas shall, together with the visas of the chairperson of the Committee which prepared the draft and of the Seimas Chancellor, as well as of the officer who presided over the sitting whereat the act was adopted if the sitting was not presided over by the Seimas Speaker, be presented to the Seimas Speaker to be given a visa or to be signed. Adopted laws which have a visa from the Seimas Speaker shall immediately be given to the President of the Republic to be signed. The Seimas Speaker shall sign acts adopted by the Seimas Board after they have been given a visa by the Seimas Chancellor. Upon signing an act, the Seimas Speaker shall transfer said act to the Seimas Chancellor to be promulgated. Article 133. Laws of the Republic of Lithuania and other documents of the Seimas shall be promulgated and shall become effective pursuant to the Law "On the Procedure for Promulgating and Enforcing the Laws of the Republic of Lithuania and other Legal Acts." Laws of the Republic of Lithuania signed by the President of the Republic as well as resolutions of the Seimas shall be sent to the Government, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the State Controller, and, as necessary, to heads of other State institutions as well as to local governments within 3 working days after their signing. Article 134. The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania shall have two seals with the Lithuanian State emblem - the great seal which is 38 mm in diameter, and the small seal which is 27 mm in diameter. The Seimas Chancellor shall be responsible for the use and preservation of the Seimas seals. The great seal of the Seimas with the Lithuanian State emblem shall be imprinted on the laws, resolutions and other official documents of the Seimas, as well as on documents, international treaties and other documents signed by the Seimas Speaker which are sent to institutions of State power and government of foreign states. The small seal of the Seimas with the Lithuanian State emblem shall be imprinted on the identification certificates and other documents signed by the Seimas Speaker, his or her deputies, or the Seimas Chancellor. Article 135. The Seimas Speaker, his or her deputies, and the Seimas Chancellor shall have the right to speak on behalf of the Seimas. The Seimas may also authorize heads of delegations to the international organizations who are appointed by the Seimas and a Speaker's Spokesperson for the press appointed by the Seimas Board to speak on behalf of the Seimas. Chairpersons of Seimas Committee, their deputies, and authorised Committee members may speak on behalf of their respective Committees. Article 136. The Lithuanian Radio and Television shall regularly prepare coverage of open sittings of the Seimas. On the resolution of the Seimas, separate sittings shall be broadcast in full on the radio and television at a time acceptable by the Lithuanian Radio and Television. In disputable cases, issues shall be resolved by the Seimas at the request of parliamentary groups. Accredited journalists shall be supplied with documents which are necessary for their job by the Seimas information and analysis service. 37 Article 137. Official information concerning sittings of the Seimas, the Seimas Board, and the Assembly of Spokespersons shall be prepared and announced by the Seimas information and analysis service and shall be signed by the presiding officer. The state mass media, when publishing or broadcasting coverage of Seimas sittings, shall also announce an official report on these sittings. (Amended 12 October 1993) Article 138. After important sittings, Committees shall, as a rule, prepare reports for the mass media on the decisions adopted by the respective committee and shall present said reports to the Seimas information and analysis service. Broad casting or coverage of sittings of the Seimas Board, the Assembly of Spokespersons, Committees, commissions and parliamentary groups shall be made only with the consent of the chief officer of the respective group. Article 139. Documents intended for all members of the Seimas, Committees or parliamentary groups shall be distributed by the Secretariat of the sittings. The documents must be registered at the Secretariat of the sittings and must be signed by at least one member of the Seimas. The procedure for submitting, registering and distributing drafts of laws and other standard acts shall be established in Chapter 19 of this Statute. Information concerning the activities of the Seimas shall be prepared and, as necessary, presented to the Seimas members by the Seimas information and analysis service. PART 5 LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE Chapter 19. Registration of Drafts of Laws and other Standard Acts Article 140. Drafts of laws of the Republic of Lithuania and of other acts of the Seimas, as well as the proposals concerning the enactment thereof, shall be submitted to the Seimas for consideration by the institutions and persons who, pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, have the right of legislative initiative. Submitted drafts and proposals must be signed by representatives of the initiators thereof. A supporting explanation shall be submitted together with the draft law wherein, as a rule, the following shall be set forth: 1) the objectives and goals of the draft law; 2) the current legal procedure in accordance with which the issues considered in the draft law are being regulated; 3) what new provisions of legal regulation are planned, the positive qualities of the newly regulated issues, and the positive results which are foreseen; 4) possible negative consequences of the enacted law and the measures which should be applied in order to avoid said consequences; 5) the incorporation of the draft law into the legal system, which legal acts in said sphere shall remain valid (a list of said acts shall be presented), and which of the valid legal acts must be amended or repealed upon adoption of the draft; 6) in the event that executive acts are required for the implementation of the draft law - who should prepare them and when, as well as the guidelines of said executive acts; 7) the evaluation and findings of specialists obtained 38 during the period that the law was drafted; 8) the author or group of authors of the draft law; 9) the notional words of the draft law required for the inclusion of the draft into the computerised search system; and 10) other substantiations and explanations which the authors believe to be necessary. If the initiators of the draft law cannot present a supporting explanation, they may apply to the Seimas Chancellor with a request that the Legal Department assist in the drawing up of the explanation or that they be permitted to submit the draft without a supporting explanation. Findings of criminological examinations concerning the possible influence of the adoption of the law on the criminogenic situation shall be submitted together with the draft law. The preparation of the findings of criminological examination shall be organised by the Ministry of Justice at the request of the initiators of the draft. As a rule, draft laws concerning the amendment, supplement, or repeal of other laws which are requisite upon the enactment of the proposed draft law as well as, if necessary, the draft resolution regarding the procedure of implementing the law, shall be submitted together with the draft law. The requirements set forth in this Chapter, with the exception of the requirement concerning the supporting explanation, shall apply to the drafts of all laws and standard acts of the Seimas (in this Chapter all of the above drafts shall hereinafter be referred to as draft laws), with the exception of special cases provided for in this Statute. Article 141. All submitted draft laws and proposals shall be registered in the register of draft laws and proposals received by the Secretariat of the Seimas sittings. When registering, a standard title page of the draft and a form shall be filled in, all of the persons who prepared or initiated the draft shall be specified, and the documentation presented thereby shall be itemised. The draft shall be indexed in accordance with the classifier of the areas of legislation. During the consideration and further preparation of a draft, all new versions thereof as well as the conclusions, amendments and supplements which have been put forward and the names of the persons who submitted them, shall be presented to and registered by the Secretariat of the sittings. All of the above shall be executed as a cover letter of the draft and shall be distributed together with the draft and the supporting explanation. The Legal Department shall furnish conclusions on the registered draft law, stating whether or not the draft is in conformity with the laws which are already in effect, and whether or not it corresponds to the technical rules of law-making. If the scope of the draft is broad, the Seimas Chancellor shall have the right to extend this term. Together with the above conclusions, the registered draft law shall be handed over to the Seimas Chancellor. The Seimas Chancellor shall, within 3 days, refer the draft law together with the supporting explanation and conclusions of the Legal Department to the committees, parliamentary groups, the Government and the Office of the President of the Republic and, as necessary, to appropriate local governments. All members of the Seimas shall also be notified of the draft by a special bulletin. Article 142. In the event that a draft law is submitted together with amendments to the Constitution, both drafts may be considered concurrently; however, a vote shall first be taken on the Constitutional amendments in accordance with the procedure for amending the Constitution. Drafts of laws on the amendment, supplement or repeal of other laws requisite upon the adoption of 39 the proposed draft law shall also be discussed together with said draft law. If several alternative drafts of one law have been received, they shall be concurrently considered prior to and during the discussion at the sitting of the Seimas, and one of said drafts shall be selected. Article 143. As necessary, the Seimas Board may charge other Committees to make a preliminary analysis of the draft law or to propose that the Government prepare its conclusions. The Seimas Board may also form a special working group of Seimas members, representatives of State institutions, experts, and scientists to prepare a draft law for consideration in the Seimas. Article 144. The committee to which a draft law has been referred for preliminary consideration and for presenting conclusions, must establish: 1) whether or not the draft is in conformity with the Constitution and other laws of the Republic of Lithuania, and, if it is not in conformity therewith, whether or not the committee approves of the amendment of said laws; 2) the approximate amount of the State budget resources required for the implementation of the law; 3) the expediency of the draft from political, economic, and social points of view; 4) whether or not the concept of the draft corresponds to the approved programme of the Government; 5) whether or not the draft is in conformity with the international obligations of the Republic of Lithuania; 6) whether or not the draft is analogous to other drafts which have been rejected within the last 6 months; and 7) whether or not the draft corresponds to the criteria of efficiency, specific character, and completion, and whether or not it is acceptable from the points of view of legal culture and the technical rules of law-making. Article 145. The committee to which a draft law has been referred for consideration and which must present conclusions shall present a written evaluation thereof in accordance with the criteria set forth in Article 144 of this Chapter. Refusal to approve a draft must be substantiated. Approval may be expressed in the three ways: without any comments, with specific comments, or on the condition that certain amendments shall be made to the draft. In the last case, concretely formulated amendments may be proposed. During a session of the Seimas, the committees must prepare their conclusions within 10 days. The initiators of the draft shall be notified of the conclusions. The Committee which is performing additional examination of a draft law may also express its opinion at the sitting of the principal committee which is conducting the examination of the draft law upon delegating its representative to the sitting. Article 146. The Seimas Chancellor shall not present draft laws for consideration in the Seimas if the Seimas Committee on State and Law comes to the conclusion that the laws are not in conformity with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and no draft amendments to the Constitution have been presented in the established manner. In the event that the same draft law or another draft law of analogous content has been rejected by the Seimas within the last 6 months, the draft shall not be accepted for repeat consideration. Draft laws submitted by entities who are not vested with the right of legislative initiative shall be registered, but shall not be forwarded for consideration; however, competent committees shall be familiarized therewith. 40 In all of the above cases, drafts with a corresponding visa of the Seimas Chancellor shall be returned to the Secretariat of the sittings; at the Secretariat, the draft shall be recorded in the register of rejected draft laws and proposals and shall thereafter be sent to the archives. An announcement to this effect must be made at the Seimas sitting, and the person who presented the draft must be notified thereof. Article 147. The initiators of a draft law shall have the right to recall said draft before it is considered at a sitting of the Seimas. Said persons must immediately notify the Seimas Chancellor of the decision, and the Chancellor must notify the Seimas. In such an case, a copy of the draft law shall be left with the principal Committee and the Legal Department. However, in the event that the recalled draft law is officially supported and submitted no later than the next day by another entity vested with the right of legislative initiative, the consideration procedure of such draft shall be continued. The above provision shall not be applied to drafts of laws submitted by the President or Government of the Republic. Chapter 20. Presentation of Drafts of Laws and other Standard Acts at Sittings of the Seimas Article 148. The initiator of a draft law or representative thereof shall be invited to attend the sitting of the Seimas where the draft is presented. Said representative shall give a brief (maximum of 10 minutes) characterisation of the draft and shall answer questions of the Seimas members. Thereafter, the presiding officer shall familiarize the members with the conclusions of the Legal Department and also of the Government, provided that such conclusions have been received, and shall propose that a vote be taken on the proposals. The Seimas must decide whether or not to include in the work programme of the session the draft laws which have not yet been included therein and to commence the procedure of consideration and commence the procedure of consideration, whether or not to reject the draft, and whether or not to postpone consideration. If the Seimas decides to commence the procedure of consideration, a decision may be taken on whether to apply the urgency procedure or the special urgency procedure. Article 149. All decisions on the presentation and consideration of a draft law at the sitting of the Seimas shall be adopted by a simple majority vote of those present and voting, with the exception of decisions to reject a draft, or to announce a draft for public consideration, which shall be adopted provided that at least 1/3 of all the Seimas members vote in favour thereof. Application for the urgency or special urgency procedures shall be established in Chapter 24 of this Statute. Article 150. The procedure for consideration may be commenced only concerning drafts which are included in the work programme of the session. The consideration procedure shall consist of the following stages: consideration at the principal Committee, consideration at the sitting of the Seimas, and passage. Upon deciding to commence the procedure of consideration of a draft law, the Seimas must at the same sitting appoint an approximate date of consideration at the sitting of the Seimas (no earlier than after a week, and no later than by the end of the session), and the principal Committee for further consideration or revision of the draft. A decision to propose that a draft law be made available to 41 the public may also be adopted at the sitting. Article 151. In the event that State funding is required for the implementation of a law, the proposals of the initiators of the draft and the conclusions of the Committee on Budget and Finance and the Government concerning the possible sources of funding must be presented during further consideration of the draft. If amending the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania is required to enact the draft law, the conclusions of the Committee on State and Law must be presented during further consideration of the draft. Article 152. If an initiative group for the announcement of a referendum on the draft law has been formed, the issue shall be considered at the next Seimas sitting during the Seimas session after it has been confirmed that the required number of signatures has been collected. Representatives of the initiators of the referendum shall be invited to attend the sitting. Should the Seimas establish that the draft of the provisions of the law presented for the referendum is not in conformity with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the issue of amending the Constitution must be considered first. If the Seimas decides to discuss and enact a submitted provisions of the law, the announcement of the referendum may be postponed; however, the referendum must be announced at the sitting at which the Seimas rejects the submitted provisions of the law. Chapter 21. Consideration of Draft Laws in the Principal Committee Article 153. The committee which has been appointed by the Seimas as the principal committee for the examination of the draft of a law, in respect whereof the consideration procedure has been commenced, must, within one week, discuss at a sitting the preparedness to examine the draft in the committee. For the above purpose, responsible committee members and experts must be assigned, additional conclusions may be requested of other committees and State institutions, and other preliminary decisions may be adopted. If the committee is charged to revise the draft, a working group may be formed for said purpose. As necessary, the Committee may also discuss issues concerning the preparedness to consider the draft at other sittings. Article 154. The principal committee must send the draft law to all interested State institutions and, as necessary, to public organisations, so that said institutions and organisations can send their evaluations. All material which has been received concerning a draft law shall be evaluated and summarized by the principal committee. If it has been resolved in the Seimas to consider the text of the draft presented by the initiators, the principal committee shall be entitled to present alongside its own version for consideration at the Seimas sitting. If a draft law has been announced to the public for consideration, the received proposals shall be referred to the principal committee. Article 155. Each draft law must be considered by the principal committee no later than 5 workdays prior to the consideration thereof at a sitting of the Seimas. The time and place of such deliberations must be announced at a sitting of the Seimas. Representatives of the initiators of the draft, representatives of the committees which are preparing additional 42 conclusions, and experts shall be invited to the deliberations by the principal committee. Said persons must be granted the floor at the sitting of the committee. Representatives of other interested State institutions and public organisations may also be invited to the sitting. Upon the consent of the presiding officer, they, as well as members of other committees present at the sitting, may also be granted the floor. In the event that the principal committee fails to examine the draft law within the established time period, it must address the Seimas Speaker with a request to prolong the period. Article 156. One of the following decisions must be adopted during deliberations in the principal committee: 1) to approve of a draft law submitted by the initiators, or of a draft law revised by the committee; 2) to approve of an alternative draft law; 3) to approve of a draft with stipulations; 4) to announce the draft to the public for consideration; 5) to return the draft to its initiators for revision; or 6) to reject the draft. The adopted decision shall be presented for consideration of the draft at the Seimas sitting. After deliberations by the principal committee, the draft which has been submitted by the initiators or revised by the committee shall be forwarded to the Documentation Department for editing. The edited draft shall be coordinated with a representative of the initiators thereof. The edited text of the draft must be distributed among the Seimas members and delivered to the Government no later than 2 days prior to deliberations at the Seimas sitting. Additional data together with a cover letter shall be distributed among the Seimas members no later than 1 workday prior to above deliberations. The Seimas Speaker must be notified of the principal committee reporter no later than 2 workdays prior to the consideration of the draft law at the sitting of the Seimas. When possible, a recording shall be made during the deliberations in the principal committee, and minutes shall be kept of the speeches which are made. Chapter 22. Consideration of Draft Laws at Seimas Sittings Article 157. During consideration at a sitting of the Seimas, the expediency, conception and the basic provisions and principles of the draft law shall be discussed and all the received amendments and supplements shall be presented. At the Seimas sitting, the draft law shall be considered according to the following procedure: 1) report of the principal Committee which is examining the draft law; 2) a vote, should the principal Committee propose to return the draft to its initiators or to reject it; 3) reports by representatives of initiators of alternative drafts, should such be presented; 4) additional reports by other Committees; 5) a general discussion of the basic provisions of the draft law -- statements of the Government, other Committees, parliamentary group members, and individual Seimas members; 6) a special discussion of the structure, individual sections, paragraphs, and articles of the draft. Should there be no proposals to hold a special discussion, the Seimas may abandon said discussion or hold it together with the general discussion; and 7) a concluding word by the principal speaker and representatives of the initiators of alternative drafts. 43 The time allotted to the special and general discussions in the Seimas sitting agenda shall be divided into two parts for representatives of the majority and minority. If the representatives of the Seimas majority or minority have not fully used the time allotted for discussion, the discussion shall be completed prior to expiration of the allotted time. Article 158. After consideration, the Seimas shall decide: 1) whether or not to approve the draft prepared by the initiators or revised by the Committee, or one of the alternative drafts, and whether or not to appoint the date of passage of the law after at least 4 workdays. If necessary, the principal Committee shall be charged to make the necessary amendments and supplements in accordance with the comments voiced during the discussion. In this case, the passage of the law shall be prepared no sooner than after 8 days; 2) whether or not to announce the draft for public consideration provided that the proposals specified in Par. 1 hereof have been adopted. The results obtained from the above consideration shall be summarised by the principal Committee and the entire procedure shall be repeated beginning from the consideration in this Committee. As a rule, the draft of one and the same law shall not be announced for public consideration twice; 3) whether or not to return the draft for revision to the principal Committee examining it. In such a case, the procedure shall be repeated beginning from the consideration in the principal Committee. The above decision may be adopted only once during the consideration of the draft; 4) whether or not to adjourn the consideration of the draft in the event that the consideration has not been completed at one sitting, if it transpires that the Seimas members require additional information for the passage of the law, or in the cases provided for in Article 110 of this Statute; 5) whether or not to return the draft to its initiators for fundamental revision. In such a case, the full procedure of considering the revised draft law shall be repeated; and 6) whether or not to reject the draft or charge the preparation of a new draft. Upon adopting a decision specified in Pars. 2 or 3, the Seimas may charge the principal Committee or other Committees to examine the draft additionally. Chapter 23. The Passage of a Draft Law at a Seimas Sitting Article 159. If the Committee presents a newly revised version of a draft for adoption, said draft must be distributed among the Seimas members and delivered to the Government at least 2 workdays before the sitting. If there are essential amendments and supplements in the draft, the criminological examination provided for in part 4 of Article 140 must be carried out. The Seimas members, parliamentary groups, Committees and the Government must present all proposed deletions, amendments and supplements to the draft law with their respective signatures to the Secretariat of the sittings at least 24 hours before the commencement of the sitting whereat the passage of the draft law is planned. The Secretariat of the sittings shall hand the above amendments, supplements and deletions over to the principal Committee which is examining the law, shall make copies thereof, and shall distribute them to all of the Seimas members. An amendment or supplement must be adequately formulated and conform to the substance of the draft, and may not exceed one article in volume. During the passage of the law, new amendments, supplements 44 and deletions shall not be accepted, with the exception of editorial corrections which shall be neither discussed nor put to vote, but which shall be submitted in writing to the principal Committee which examined the draft law. Article 160. During the passage of a draft law the reporter shall give a brief notification of the amendments made by the Committee and shall discuss the additional proposals and amendments which have been received, naming the persons who submitted them. Thereafter, separate parts of the draft law shall be considered and voted on. The sections, chapters and articles of the draft shall be discussed and voted on according to their sequence, unless the Seimas decides otherwise. The officer presiding over the sitting may put the articles which condition the principles and structure of the draft to vote before voting on other articles. Articles to which no proposals have been submitted may be passed without vote, provided that not a single member of the Seimas objects thereto. In other cases, a vote shall be taken on each article, chapter, and section. During passage, the floor may only be granted to the authors of the submitted amendments and supplements (for up to 3 minutes on each proposal), the reporter, and the members speaking on the motives of voting; the reporter shall not be asked any questions. Upon being granted the floor concerning an amendment or supplement, the author thereof may not speak on the motives of voting. Article 161. A separate article of the law shall be considered and passed in accordance with the following procedure: 1) the reporter shall announce the proposals received in writing -- either to amend the entire article, to alter some statements of the article, to supplement the article, to delete some statements of the article, as well as may briefly comment on each proposal (for a maximum of 2 minutes each); 2) during voting, alternative proposals shall be chosen. When several proposals concerning one article have been received, voting shall be conducted according to the sequence specified in Par.1 hereof, and in the case of the specified sequence -- according to the sequence in which the proposals have been submitted. Amendments or supplements to the amendment shall be voted on prior to voting on the amendment itself. Proposals contradicting those previously adopted shall be rejected without voting by the officer presiding over the sitting. When the reporter announces that the principal Committee is adopting the proposal, a vote is not necessary, provided that no members of the Seimas object thereto. Before voting, the person who submitted the proposal may retract it; and 3) the entire article shall be put to vote. Additional articles of the draft law which are submitted shall be considered and adopted according to the same procedure as for all the other articles of the draft law. Article 162. If the reporter believes that it is necessary to hold one more sitting of the Committee for the coordination of the adopted proposals and so demands, passage may be adjourned after voting on all articles, but for no longer than until the next day of the Seimas sitting. After adjournment, amendments and supplements made by the Committee which must not contradict the content of the adopted articles shall be discussed and put to the vote. During the discussion, other proposals concerning amendments and supplements shall not be accepted. In the event that the articles which condition the principles and structure of the law, as well as separate sections or chapters, are not adopted during voting, the reporter may propose to amend the draft prior to voting on the entire draft 45 law. If the Seimas adopts said proposal, the procedure shall be continued from the consideration of the draft law at the principal Committee. During consideration of a draft law, the above alternative may only be used once. When voting for articles of the draft law on taxes or other laws which regulate taxes or due to which the State revenue can change immensely, the passage shall be adjourned till the next day of the sitting if the member of the Government, a representative of the Government at the Seimas or a person authorized by the head or member of the Government demands so during the passage of a law. When continuing passage of the law, the procedure of adopting the last article before the adjourn shall be repeated. Article 163. During the passage of a law, proposals to reject the draft shall not be accepted. The draft may be rejected only if it does not receive the required number of votes. After all the articles of the law have been considered, the entire draft law shall be put to the vote. If the law is not passed, the Seimas may charge the initiators of the draft or the principal Committee to work out a new draft. As necessary, a resolution concerning the enforcement of the law shall be considered and passed, and laws on amendment, supplement and repeal of other laws or their articles related to the enacted law shall be considered and adopted during the passage of the law. Article 164. The Seimas Speaker, a Committee or no less than 1/5 of Seimas members may address the Seimas with a justified petition concerning the violations of the Statute of the Seimas, committed, in their opinion during the passage of a law, as long as the law has not yet been signed by the President of the Republic. Should such a petition be received, the Commission on Ethics and Procedures must present its conclusions and proposals to the Seimas within 5 workdays. Until the Commission on Ethics and Procedures presents such conclusions, the Seimas Speaker shall not hand the law over to the President of the Republic for signing. In the event that the Commission on Ethics and Procedures states that the legislative procedure or any other significant provisions of this Statute have been grossly violated, and that this conditioned the decision of the Seimas, the Seimas shall decide by vote whether to revoke the disputed law or to leave it in effect. Should the Seimas revoke its former decision concerning the draft, the consideration thereof may be continued from the stage when the violation was committed. Article 165. If the draft law or the proposal concerning the passing thereof is rejected at any stage of consideration, it may be submitted again, but no sooner than 6 months thereafter. Chapter 24. Consideration of Draft Law according to Procedures of Urgency or Special Urgency Article 166. Projects of Seimas resolutions and, should the Seimas so decide, draft laws, shall be considered according to the procedure of urgency. The above procedure shall be used upon the justified proposal of the President of the Republic, the Seimas Speaker, the Seimas Board, the principal Committee, parliamentary groups, or the Government. The decision to consider a draft law according to the procedure of urgency may as a rule be adopted during the presentation of a draft law by a majority of voting members, provided that said majority is more than 1/4 of all the Seimas members. 46 Article 167. If the urgent procedure of consideration is applied, the time period between the stages of consideration-- consideration in the principal Committee, consideration in the Seimas sitting, and passage -- shall be shortened. Said time periods must not be shorter than 1 workday or longer than 3 workdays. The Seimas shall establish the concrete terms in each case separately, however, in each case, the draft law under consideration must be distributed to the Seimas members at least 1 day prior to the sitting at which it will be considered or passed. Article 168. On the proposal of the President of the Republic, the Seimas Speaker or the Government, drafts of laws and resolutions of the Seimas may be considered according to the procedure of special urgency. The decision to apply the above procedure shall be adopted by a majority vote of all the Seimas members participating in the sitting, provided that said majority is more than 1/3 of all the Seimas members. According to the above procedure, if the draft has been distributed to the Seimas members and the requirements prescribed in Chapter 19 of this Statute have been implemented, the procedure of passage may be commenced immediately and the requirements of parts 1, 2 and 3 of Article 159 of the Statute shall not be applied, however, all amendments must be presented in writing not later than 2 hours prior to the commencement of the passage procedure. Chapter 25. Consideration at Seimas Sittings of the Law which has been Returned by the President of the Republic Article 169. If, pursuant to Par. 1 of Article 71 of the Constitution, the President of the Republic returns a draft law which has been passed by the Seimas to the Seimas for repeat consideration, the Seimas Speaker shall notify the Seimas thereof at the next sitting. The Seimas must decide by voting whether to consider the returned law anew, or whether to deem the law as not having been passed. In the latter case, the Seimas may charge one of the Committees to prepare a new draft of the law or form a working group for the above purpose. A discussion may precede voting. Should the decision be made to consider the draft law anew, the Seimas must decide at the same sitting which Committees the returned draft law as well as the amendments and supplements submitted by the President of the Republic shall be referred to for examination. Article 170. Consideration of the returned law in the Committees and at the Seimas sitting shall be prepared in accordance with the requirements set forth in Part 5 of this Statute. However, said law may not be considered according to the procedure of special urgency, and constitutional laws may also not be considered according to the procedure of urgency. During the above consideration a decision shall be passed on whether to accept all of the amendments and supplements submitted by the President of the Republic or whether to vote on the entire draft law without amendments. Article 171. During passage of the returned law, a vote shall first of all be taken on whether to pass the entire law without amendments or whether to adopt all of the amendments and supplements submitted by the President of the Republic. A law which has been repeatedly considered by the Seimas shall be deemed passed provided that more than half (in the case of a constitutional law -- at least 3/5) of all of the Seimas members voted in favour thereof. 47 If during consideration the Seimas adopts all of the amendments and supplements submitted by the President of the Republic, the repeatedly considered law shall be deemed to have been passed provided that the majority of the Seimas members participating in the sitting (in the case of a constitutional law -- more than half of all the Seimas members) voted in favour thereof. Chapter 25. Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and Consideration of Draft Constitutional Laws Article 172. The following shall be deemed to be constitutional laws: 1) laws provided for in Article 150 of the Constitution as well as Constitutional amendments. The procedure of their consideration and passage shall be established in Chapter 14 of the Constitution and this Chapter of the Statute of the Seimas; and 2) laws which are directly specified in the Constitution as well as other laws which give concrete expression to constitutional norms and are set forth in the Law on the list of constitutional laws. The procedure of their consideration and passage shall be defined in Article 69 of the Constitution and in this Chapter of the Statute. The list of constitutional laws shall be established by the Seimas by a 3/5 majority vote of the Seimas members. Laws which have already been passed may also be included in the list if the Seimas arrives at the conclusion that said laws are, according to their content and significance, constitutional. Article 173. Consideration of the draft Law on Amendment of the Constitution shall commence consideration in the Seimas only in cases when the draft is submitted by a group of at least 1/4 of the Seimas members or at least 300,000 electors who have expressed their will by putting their signatures under the text of the proposed amendment, with the exception of cases provided for in the Constitution which provide for Constitutional amendment only by referendum. The Constitution may not be amended during a state of emergency or martial law. Article 174. Drafts of constitutional amendments and other constitutional laws shall be registered, submitted, considered, and passed according to the procedure established in Chapters 19- 25 of this Statute, with the exception of provisions set forth in this Chapter. Said drafts may not be considered according to the procedures of urgency or special urgency. Before commencing consideration of such a draft at a Seimas sitting, the draft must be considered by the principal Committee which is examining said draft within the 10-day period prior thereto, and distributed to the Seimas members and delivered to the Government within the 7-day period prior thereto. After consideration at the Seimas sitting, the procedure of passing the law shall commence no sooner than 10 days thereafter. The Committee on State and Law shall be the principal Committee examining drafts of laws on amendment of the Constitution. It shall be prohibited to restrict discussions on the constitutional law which is under consideration, with the exception of cases when such a decision is adopted by a majority vote of at least 1/3 of all of the Seimas members. Article 175. Laws on constitutional amendments shall be considered and voting in the Seimas thereon shall be held twice, with an adjournment of at least 3 months between voting. A law on amendment of the Constitution shall be deemed to 48 have been passed by the Seimas provided that at least 2/3 of all the Seimas members voted in favour thereof during each voting, and that the same text of the amendment was put to the vote each time. A constitutional amendment which has not been passed may be submitted to the Seimas for repeat consideration no sooner than 1 year thereafter. Other constitutional laws shall be deemed to have been passed if more than a half of the Seimas members vote in favour thereof. Amendments to said constitutional laws or laws which repeal or amend the laws which have been in effect prior thereto must be passed by a 3/5 majority vote of all the Seimas members by taking a single vote thereon. Chapter 27. Adoption of Resolutions Article 176. A resolution shall be a non-standard act of the Seimas which shall be adopted when it is required to confirm in writing the opinion of the Seimas on any issue which is of national importance. Other non-standard acts of the Seimas (appeals, declarations, etc.) shall be adopted in the same manner as resolutions. The right of initiative to submit a resolution shall be vested in the President of the Republic, members of the Seimas, Committees, parliamentary groups. Proposals to consider a resolution may be submitted during the discussion of the agenda of a week's or a day's sittings. Article 177. The text of the draft of a resolution must be presented to the Seimas members at least one day prior to the consideration thereof. During consideration, a representative of the initiators of the draft of the resolution shall be granted the floor and shall answer questions; thereafter, a discussion shall be held according to the general procedure. Article 178. After consideration the Seimas shall resolve whether: 1) to adopt the resolution without amendments. Said proposal may not be adopted if more than 1/3 of all of the Seimas members object thereto; 2) to edit the draft of the resolution; or 3) to reject the draft of the resolution or to charge the preparation of a new draft. Article 179. Should it be decided to edit the draft of the resolution, the Seimas shall assign the date and time of its consideration and shall form a drafting commission. No more than 9 members of the Seimas may be on the commission. The drafting commission must include at least one initiator of the draft of the resolution. Other members of the Seimas shall submit their written proposals to the drafting commission. Article 180. After the drafting commission announces the revised text, new proposals may be considered only on the decision of the Seimas. Should the drafting commission reject the proposals which have been submitted in advance, the Seimas shall take a vote on said proposals at the request of the submitters thereof. Upon completion of the voting on alternative proposals, the entire text of the resolution shall be voted on. Chapter 28. Approval of State Budget Article 181. Upon drawing up the draft State Budget for the following year, the Government shall submit said draft to the 49 Seimas Chancellor by the 17th of October. Upon receipt of the draft, the Chancellor shall forward copies thereof to the Committees and parliamentary groups within 2 workdays. The report of the Government on the draft Budget shall be heard at the next sitting of the Seimas. Thereafter, at least 10 days shall be assigned for consideration of the draft Budget in Committees and parliamentary groups. Sittings of the Seimas shall not be held during the above-specified period. Article 182. The Committees shall examine the chapters of the draft State Budget in accordance with their competence, and shall formulate their conclusions and amendments and submit them by the 10th of November to the Committee on Budget and Finance. Representatives of the Government and the Committee on Budget and Finance shall be invited to the sittings of Committees during which the draft State Budget is to be examined. The Government must furnish the Committees with all the data whereon the draft Budget is based. Article 183. At all stages of consideration of the draft State Budget, Committees, parliamentary groups, and individual members of the Seimas may propose an increase in the expenditures provided for in the draft only on condition that they specify the sources of financing said expenditure. It shall not be permitted to propose a decrease in the expenditures included in the draft Budget pursuant to laws, other standard acts adopted by the Seimas, and international obligations of the Republic of Lithuania. Should the Seimas desire to reduce said expenditure, it must first of all amend the appropriate standard acts. Article 184. Upon receipt of the conclusions of other Committees and of the opinions and proposed amendments of parliamentary groups, the Committee on Budget and Finance shall, together with the representatives of the Government, parliamentary groups, and other Committees, consider the draft State Budget and formulate conclusions thereon. The Committee on Budget and Finance must either adopt the amendments to the Budget Law proposed by another Committee if said amendments are within the competence of the respective Committee, or reject said amendments, presenting a justified response. All Committees of the Seimas shall also be entitled to submit proposals to amend those chapters of the Budget which are not within their competence. In such an event, the Committee on Budget and Finance shall not be obligated to notify the Committee of the adopted decision. Article 185. The draft State Budget must be considered at the Seimas sitting no later than by the 20th of November. At the sitting, a report of the Committee on Budget and Finance shall be heard, and conclusions of other Committees as well as opinions and commentaries of parliamentary groups and individual Seimas members, which have been rejected by the Committee on Budget and Finance shall be submitted. Article 186. The second deliberation of the draft State Budget shall be conducted within 10 days after the primary deliberation of the draft; at the second deliberation the Government shall present the draft revised in accordance with the received proposals and commentaries. During the sitting, a representative of the Government shall announce which proposals and amendments submitted by Committees, parliamentary groups, and individual members of the Seimas have been included in the draft Budget and which have been rejected, shall give reasons for said rejections, and shall answer questions of the Seimas members. 50 After the discussion, a vote shall be taken on assigning at one of the next Seimas sittings the passage of a law which approves the State Budget. Prior to the commencement of the sitting, new proposals and amendments shall be submitted to the representative of the Government according to the procedure established in Article 159 of this Statute. Should there be a great number of significant comments concerning the draft Budget, said draft may be returned to the Government for revision. No more than 10 days shall be allotted therefor; thereafter, the procedure of second deliberation shall be resumed. Article 187. Alternative proposals and amendments which are objected to by the Government but which meet the conditions set forth in Article 183 of this Chapter may be adopted only after more than half of all the Seimas members vote in favour thereof. Upon considering and adopting decisions concerning the proposals and amendments, the Seimas must vote on the entire draft State Budget. The Budget shall be approved pursuant to the indices established in the Law on Budgeting of the Republic of Lithuania. The appropriations according to the chapters of budget expenditure shall also be concurrently approved. The appropriations shall be mandatory to all executors of the Budget. Article 188. In the event that the Seimas rejects the draft State Budget, one more deliberation shall be assigned to be held no sooner than 5 days, and no later than 10 days after, during which a draft revised by the Government in accordance with the comments of the Committees, parliamentary groups, and members of the Seimas shall be presented. The deliberation shall be conducted according to the procedure provided for in Article 186 of this Chapter. Should the Government resign by reason of non-approval of the State Budget, the draft Budget submitted by the new Government shall be considered and approved according to the procedure provided for in Articles 181-187 of this Statute. The time of consideration shall be fixed by a resolution of the Seimas which shall be adopted no later than on the next day of sittings after the new Government has been granted authorization to act. In the event of failure to approve the State Budget within the established time limits, the monthly budgetary expenditure in the beginning of the budget year may not exceed 1/12 of the State Budget expenditure of the preceding year. Article 189. The Seimas may revise the Budget during the budget year. The Budget shall be revised in the same procedure it is drawn up, adopted and approved. As necessary, the Seimas may approve an additional budget. In the event that funds which cannot be allocated from the Government Reserve Fund or additional funds which are obtained during the performance of the Budget are required, the Government shall submit to the Seimas a draft law on supplementary appropriations. The purpose and amount of the required funds as well as the source of the financing thereof shall be specified in the draft. Adhering to the conditions stipulated in Article 183 of this Chapter, Committees, parliamentary groups or individual members of the Seimas may propose a draft law on the revision of certain budget expenditure clauses. In the above case, a law shall be passed by a majority vote of the Seimas members participating in the sitting provided that the Government has no objections thereto. Otherwise, the affirmative vote of more than a half of all the Seimas members shall be required for passing the law. Chapter 29. Ratification and Denunciation of International 51 Treaties Article 190. Resolutions of the Seimas concerning the ratification of a international treaty shall be adopted if no less than 2/5 of all of the Seimas members vote in favour thereof, and denunciation of international treaties shall be adopted if no less than 3/5 of all of the Seimas members vote in favour thereof. International treaties concerning the realignment of the state borders of the Republic of Lithuania shall be ratified by 4/5 of all of the Seimas members. PART 6 ELECTION, APPOINTMENT, AND APPROVAL OF OFFICERS Chapter 30. The Procedure for Electing Members to the Seimas Board Article 191. The Seimas Speaker, Deputy Speakers and the Seimas Chancellor shall be elected from among the Seimas members at the first session of the Seimas for the entire term during which the Seimas is in office. Upon the resignation, demise, or dismissal by the Seimas of any of the above officers from office, or upon the election or appointment thereof to another office, elections for an officer to fill the post shall be held during the next sitting of the Seimas in accordance with the procedure provided for in this Statute. Article 192. The Seimas Speaker shall be elected by secret ballot at the first sitting of the Seimas following the elections. Candidates to the office of Seimas Speaker may be nominated by written application by at least 1/10 of the Seimas. Candidates to the offices of deputy of the Seimas Speaker and the Seimas Chancellor shall be nominated by the Seimas Speaker. Said officers shall be elected by secret ballot. Article 193. After being nominated to a post, candidates must, prior to the elections, state whether or not they agree to run for election. Each candidate, in alphabetical order, shall be granted the floor for 15 minutes; candidates to the office of Seimas Speaker shall be entitled to 30 minutes; corresponding amounts of time shall be allotted for said persons to answer questions. Thereafter, a debate shall commence if the Seimas members so desire. Article 194. Voting for each candidate shall be done separately. If more candidates than necessary are nominated for election to one office, voting shall be done by ballot with a list of candidates. A candidate shall be deemed elected if more than half of the voting Seimas members vote for him or her, with the exception of repeat voting as provided for in this Chapter, in which case the candidate who has received a relative majority of votes shall be deemed elected. In the event that no candidate receives the required majority of votes, or if it is impossible to determine which of the candidates have been elected due to a tie, a repeat vote shall be held. Article 195. In voting for an empty post when there are more than two candidates, all of the candidates, with the exception of those who received the lowest number of votes, shall remain on the ballot for repeat balloting. If several candidates have tied for the least number of votes and two or more candidates received more votes, the candidates with the least number of votes shall 52 be removed from the next ballot. Otherwise, all of the candidates shall remain on the next ballot. If the situation remains unchanged after the repeat vote, the election shall be postponed to another day. If two candidates receive the required number of votes, the provisions of Par. 2 hereof shall apply. If there are two candidates for an empty office during a repeat vote, the Seimas member who received more votes shall be deemed to have been elected. In the event of a tie, a repeat vote shall be held the next day; if no candidate is elected during the repeat vote, a new election shall be held. When elections to several unfilled offices are held simultaneously and the number of candidates exceeds the number of offices, the names of all of the candidates who were nominated but not elected shall be entered on the ballots for repeat voting. After the repeat vote, the candidates who received the most votes shall be deemed to have been elected. When necessary, balloting shall be repeated on another day. Chapter 31. Consideration of the Prime Minister's Candidature and the Government Programme Article 196. In the cases provided for in the Constitution, the Seimas shall, upon receiving a nomination for the candidature of the Prime Minister from the President of the Republic, give the President of the Republic an opportunity to present the candidate during the next sitting. Upon presenting the candidature of the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic shall not be asked any questions. After the President of the Republic has presented the candidature of the Prime Minister, the candidate shall be granted the floor (for up to 30 minutes); thereafter the candidate shall answer questions posed by the members of the Seimas (for up to 40 minutes). Thereafter, the candidature of the Prime Minister shall be referred to parliamentary groups of the Seimas for consideration. Parliamentary groups shall have the right to invite the candidate to their sittings for a question and answer session at a time coordinated with the candidate. Parliamentary groups must consider the candidature of the Prime Minister within 2 work days. Article 197. Another sitting of the Seimas must be organised within 5 work days from the presentation of the candidature of the Prime Minister in order to adopt a decision concerning the proposed candidacy. During this sitting, the conclusions of parliamentary groups shall be heard first. Thereafter, a discussion shall be held, at the end of which the candidate shall be granted the floor (for up to 20 minutes), and shall also be given the opportunity to answer questions posed by members of the Seimas (for up to 30 minutes). Once the candidate finishes answering questions, a vote shall be taken on whether or not the candidature of the Prime Minister should be approved. The President of the Republic has the right to revoke the nominated candidature at any time up until the beginning of the vote for approval. Article 198. The Prime Minister shall, within 15 days of being appointed, present a Government which has been approved by the President of the Republic to the Seimas and submit the Government programme for consideration. Members of the newly- formed Government must attend the presentation. The Government programme must be distributed among the Seimas members at least 24 hours prior to the sitting. When explaining the programme, the Prime Minister may speak for up to 40 minutes. A total of one hour shall be allotted for answering questions. Questions may be posed to the Prime Minister and any of the ministers. 53 Article 199. After being presented, the Government programme shall be considered by the Seimas parliamentary groups, while appropriate Seimas Committees shall consider the individual sections thereof. Committees and parliamentary groups shall have the right to invite the Prime Minister or other minister, at a time coordinated therewith, to answer questions concerning the Government programme. Seimas Committees and parliamentary groups must prepare their conclusions concerning the Government programme within 10 days after it is presented. Article 200. The Seimas must consider the Government programme during a sitting within 15 days after it is presented. Conclusions of the Committees and parliamentary groups shall first be heard at the sitting. Thereafter, a debate shall be held, at the termination of which the Prime Minister shall be granted the floor (for up to 20 minutes); the Prime Minister and ministers shall also be given the opportunity to answer questions posed by the Seimas members one more time (for a total period of up to one hour). The debate concerning the Government programme may be terminated by majority vote of more than half of the voting members of the Seimas. Such a proposal shall be put to vote without discussion provided that at least one other member of the Seimas expresses support therefor. When the question and answer session has been completed, the Seimas must adopt a decision concerning the Government programme. The wording of the decision shall be presented in the conclusions of the Committees and parliamentary groups. In the event that the Government programme is not approved or is returned to the Government for improvement thereof, a revised version of the Government programme must be presented to the Seimas within 10 days, and the procedure for discussion thereof shall be repeated in the manner established in Articles 198, 199, and 200. Article 201. The new Government shall be granted authorisation to act after the Seimas approves its programme by majority vote of the Seimas members present at the sitting. In the event that the Seimas refuses to approve the programme of the newly-formed Government two times in succession, the Government must resign. Article 202. When more than a half of the ministers are changed, the Government must be regranted authorisation by the Seimas. Otherwise the Government must resign. If more than half of the ministers have been replaced, the Prime Minister must, within 7 days of the appointment of the last new minister, present the newly appointed ministers, as well as the amendments to the Government programme if amendments have been made, during a sitting of the Seimas in order to be granted new authorisation; in the event that said changes were made between sessions, the Prime Minister must make said presentations during the first 7 days of the next Seimas session. During the presentation, the Seimas members may pose questions to the Prime Minister and the newly appointed ministers (for a total of 30 minutes). In the event that amendments to the Government programme are presented, discussion shall be continued according to the procedure established in Articles 198 and 199 of this Statute. Otherwise, a discussion shall be held immediately after the presentation, whereafter the Seimas may take a vote concerning the granting of authorisation or may decide to refer the issue to the Committees and parliamentary groups for consideration, but for no longer than 7 days. In the latter case, a discussion shall 54 be held after the conclusions of the Committees and parliamentary groups have been presented, and a vote concerning the granting of authorisation shall be taken upon hearing an additional speech by the Prime Minister (not exceeding 15 minutes). Chapter 32. Consideration of Candidatures of other State Officers, Constitutional Court Judges, and Supreme Court Judges and their Appointment Article 203. The Seimas shall appoint the judges of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court as well as the chairpersons of these Courts and shall also appoint officers of the State and appoint or form collegiate institutions (in corpore) which are provided for in the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Lithuania. The persons who shall nominate candidates to the above offices shall be established by the Constitution and other appropriate laws. The Seimas shall also decide whether or not to approve of the candidatures of the judges and officers appointed by the President of the Republic if this is provided for in the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Lithuania. Article 204. Candidates to offices whereto officers are appointed by the Seimas or offices for the appointment whereto approval of the Seimas is required shall be presented at Seimas sittings by the person who nominated said candidate or proposed the composition of a collegiate institution (in corpore). A maximum of 10 minutes shall be allotted for the presentation of individual candidates, whereas a maximum of 20 minutes shall be allotted for the presentation of members of a collegiate institution. The biographical data of the candidates must be distributed to the Seimas members prior to the presentation. Information concerning candidatures of Constitutional Court and Supreme Court judges must be published in the press at least two weeks before their presentation in the Seimas. Said candidates, including cases when collegiate institutions (in corpore) are being formed, must attend the Seimas sitting at which they are presented. After being presented, candidates to Constitutional Court and Supreme Court judges as well as candidates to heads of State institutions shall be granted the floor (for a maximum of 10 minutes). All candidates must, without exception, answer questions put to them by members of the Seimas: up to 15 minutes shall be allotted to each candidate to the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court judge as well as to every other individual candidate, and up to 30 minutes shall be allotted to all of the candidates to a collegiate institution. Article 205. After being presented, candidatures shall be considered by the Seimas parliamentary groups and appropriate Committees. Parliamentary groups and Committees shall have the right to invite candidates, at a time coordinated therewith, to attend their respective sittings in order to pose questions to them. Parliamentary groups and Committees must present their conclusions concerning candidatures to the Seimas within 7 days from the presentation of the candidature. Article 206. Proposed candidatures must be considered in a sitting of the Seimas within 10 days from their presentation. This sitting must be attended by the person who presented the candidatures as well as the candidates, including candidates to collegiate institutions (in corpore). The conclusions of parliamentary groups and Committees shall be heard first. Thereafter a discussion shall be held, during the 55 end whereof members of the Seimas shall be given the opportunity to pose questions to the candidates and the person who presented the candidatures (up to 20 minutes shall be allotted to individual candidates and up to 30 minutes shall be allotted to collegiate institutions). Furthermore, candidates to the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court judges, and heads of State institutions shall be granted the floor (for a maximum of 10 minutes) prior to being questioned. Thereafter the Seimas shall take a vote concerning the appointment of judges to the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court and of other officers, the appointment or formation of a collegiate institution (in corpore), or the approval of a candidature appointed by the President of the Republic. Article 207. Prior to the commencement of work, judges of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts shall take an oath in the Seimas to be loyal to the Republic of Lithuania and its Constitution, and to administer justice only in accordance with the laws. The State Controller, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, as well as other newly-appointed officers of the State shall publicly take an oath during a sitting of the Seimas if it is so provided in the laws regulating the activities of their respective State institution. Article 208. If an officer of the State or a court judge is dismissed, resigns, or for some other reason cannot continue to carry out his or her duties, another person must, during a session of the Seimas, be appointed or approved to said post within one month of the beginning of the vacancy or the beginning of the session. PART 7 SUPERVISORY ACTIVITIES OF THE SEIMAS Chapter 33. Accountability of the Government and other State Officers to the Seimas Article 209. Within 2 workdays after every sitting of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, copies of the decrees adopted by the Government must be delivered to the Seimas for distribution among all of the Committees and parliamentary groups. Article 210. At the request of the Seimas, the Government or individual ministers must account to the Seimas for their respective activities. The above shall also apply to heads of other State institutions who are either appointed by the Seimas or for whose appointment the approval of the Seimas is required, with the exception of courts. Persons who are invited shall answer questions posed by the Seimas members, and shall furnish other information concerning their own activities and the activities of the institutions subordinate to them. When drawing up the week's work programme of the Seimas, it shall be established which State institution head shall answer the questions and interpellations of the Seimas members that week. Article 211. During a session of the Seimas, members of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania shall, as a rule, answer questions of the Seimas members submitted through the Secretariat of the sittings for a period of one hour and no later than 2 workdays prior to the sitting. The list of questions which are planned to be answered and the sequence of their presentation shall be established by the Seimas Speaker and shall be 56 distributed among the Seimas members before the sitting. Time permitting, members of the Seimas may pose questions to the members of the Government participating in the sitting either orally or in writing. Article 212. At least once a month, the State Controller and other heads of State institutions who are either appointed by the Seimas or whose appointment requires the approval of the Seimas, with the exception of judges, must answer the questions of the Seimas members during a sitting of the Seimas; said questions must be submitted in advance in written form. The procedure for submitting and registering the questions shall be as specified in Article 211. Time permitting, the Seimas members may ask the above officers other questions either orally or in writing. Article 213. Criminal action may not be taken against the Prime Minister, ministers, or judges; said officials may not be arrested, or their liberty may not be in any other way restricted without the prior consent of the Seimas or, in the period between the sessions of the Seimas, without the prior consent of the President of the Republic. Should a motion be submitted by the Procurator General of the Republic of Lithuania to institute criminal proceedings against the Prime Minister, an individual minister or a judge, a commission of inquiry shall be formed and other acts shall be performed pursuant to Article 24 of this Statute. Chapter 34. Interpellations Article 214. A member or group of members of the Seimas shall address a written interpellation to members of the Government or any other heads of State institutions who are appointed by the Seimas or whose appointment requires the approval of the Seimas, with the exception of courts, requesting that said officers present information concerning their activities and adopted decisions. Only a question of national or public significance, in respect whereof a member or group of members of the Seimas have applied to State institutions and have not, in their opinion, been given due consideration or have been given a negative reply, shall be considered as an interpellation. Questions, the national or public significance whereof is recognised by the Seimas or the Seimas Board or a Committee or a parliamentary group, may also be considered as interpellations. Article 215. The Secretariat of the sittings shall register interpellations and hand them over to the Chancellor, who shall notify the Seimas thereof and shall deliver the interpellation to the appropriate officer. Persons who submit interpellations must name the officer whom they are addressing and specify whether they expects an oral or written reply. In the event that the form of reply is not specified, it shall be given in writing, shall be distributed to the Committees and parliamentary groups, and shall not be considered in a sitting of the Seimas. Persons who submit interpellations shall have the right to withdraw them at any time. Article 216. The period within which a reply to a written interpellation must be given may not be longer than 2 weeks and, during its consideration in the Seimas sitting during a session, no longer than 3 weeks from the day of its lodging. In the event that the officer to whom the interpellation is addressed cannot reply within the established period, he or she 57 must give a written substantiation thereof and propose a new date, but no later than within one month from the day of the lodging of the interpellation; however, should the interpellators object to the substantiation, the consideration of the interpellation must be held at the fixed date. Article 217. During sessions, interpellations shall be considered at least twice a month at the sittings of the Seimas. Should at least 1/5 of the Seimas members request consideration of an interpellation, the interpellation shall be considered in the mandatory procedure. The list of interpellations shall be presented to the Seimas members no later than one day before the consideration thereof. The interpellators (at least one representative thereof) must participate in the consideration of the interpellation. If the interpellator is absent from the sitting, consideration of the interpellation shall be postponed. If the interpellator is absent from the sitting without prior notice, the interpellation shall be annulled. Interpellator may not preside over sittings in which their interpellations are considered. Article 218. An interpellation shall be considered at the sitting of the Seimas according to the following procedure: 1) a speech delivered by the interpellator (for up to 5 minutes); 2) a reply given by the officer to whom the interpellation is addressed (for up to 15 minutes); and 3) a discussion, should it be requested by any Committee or parliamentary group. During the discussion, the floor shall, as a rule, be granted in turn to those members of the Seimas who approve of the reply to the interpellation and to those who object thereto. No more than 4 members of the Seimas shall be granted the floor, unless the Seimas decides to prolong the discussion. In the event that the interpellators are dissatisfied with the reply to the interpellation, they may submit a draft resolution for consideration in the Seimas; the Seimas shall evaluate the reply and the draft therein. Chapter 35. Removal from Office of Seimas Officers and Heads of other State Institutions Article 219. Proposals to dismiss a Seimas officer or a head of a State institution who is appointed by the Seimas, with the exception of cases of impeachment proceedings as provided for in the Constitution, must be considered when they are presented by a justified letter from the Seimas Board, a committee, or at least 1/5 of the Seimas members. A committee may not propose to remove the chairman of another committee from office. Article 220. Petitions concerning the removal of an officer from office shall be filed with the Seimas Speaker; petitions to remove the Seimas Speaker from office shall be lodged with the Seimas Chancellor. Such petitions must be announced in the next sitting of the Seimas. The same members of the Seimas may not request to remove the same officer from office more than once during a single session. Article 221. The officer of the Seimas whose removal from office is under discussion may not preside over that sitting. During discussions concerning the dismissal of an officer of the Seimas or head of a State institution, the first person to be granted the floor shall be the representative of the initiators of the issue concerning removal from office (for up to 10 58 minutes); thereafter, the floor shall be granted to the officer whose removal from office is under consideration (for up to 30 minutes). The latter shall then be given up to 30 minutes to answer questions. The subsequent discussion shall be continued according to the general procedure. Article 222. Decisions concerning the dismissal of Seimas officers or heads of State institutions shall be adopted by majority vote of more than a half of all Seimas members. Said voting shall be done by secret ballot. Chapter 36. Interpellations and Non-Confidence in the Government Article 223. During a session, a group of at least 1/5 of the Seimas members may submit an interpellation to the Prime Minister or an individual minister requesting that said officers elaborate on the motives of the decisions they have adopted. No signature may be cancelled after the interpellation has been filed with the Seimas Chancellor, who shall immediately register the interpellation and refer it to the appropriate member of the Government. The same group of the Seimas members may not repeatedly interpellate the same member of the Government during one session. Article 224. Upon receipt of an interpellation, a member of the Government must deliver a written reply to the Seimas Speaker within two weeks; the Seimas members shall be familiarised with said reply. Upon receiving a reply to an interpellation, the Seimas must consider said reply during a sitting within 5 workdays. Article 225. Interpellations shall be considered at sittings of the Seimas according to the following procedure: 1) a speech by the representative of the persons who submitted the interpellation (for up to 10 minutes); 2) a reply by the officer who received the interpellation (for up to 30 minutes); 3) answers to questions posed by the Seimas members to the officer who received the interpellation (for up to 30 minutes); 4) a discussion during which, as a rule, the floor shall be granted in turn to the members of the Seimas who approve of and to those who object to the reply to the interpellation; 5) the final speech of the officer who has received the interpellation; and 6) the formation of a drafting commission according to the requirements set forth in Article 77 of this Statute for drawing up the draft resolution of the Seimas concerning the interpellation. The members who submitted the interpellation must constitute at least 1/3 of the commission members. Article 226. Draft resolutions of the Seimas concerning interpellations must be presented to the Seimas for consideration no later than on the next day of sittings. The Seimas' approval or disapproval of the reply of the Prime Minister or individual minister may be stated in the draft of the resolution of the Seimas concerning the interpellation. In the event that non-confidence in the Prime Minister or an individual minister is declared in a draft resolution of the Seimas, said draft may be adopted by majority vote of more than a half of all the Seimas members; said voting shall be done by secret ballot. Should such resolution be adopted, the Government in corpore or the individual minister in whom non-confidence has been declared must resign. 59 Article 227. During a session of the Seimas, a group of at least 1/5 of the Seimas members may submit a draft of a justified resolution wherein non-confidence in the Government is declared. Such draft resolution shall be considered in the same manner as an interpellation to the Prime Minister. Chapter 37. Ad Hoc Commissions of Control or Inquiry Article 228. Ad hoc commissions of control or inquiry shall be formed for exercising control over the implementation of the decisions of the Seimas, for collecting and presenting to the Seimas information and conclusions required for dealing with a pending problem and adopting a decision thereon, as well as in other cases provided for in this Statute. Ad hoc commissions of control or inquiry shall be formed according to the procedure set forth in Article 77 of this Statute and shall consist of at least four members and a chairperson. The chairperson of the commission shall be appointed by the Seimas. For its work the commission may enlist the specialists of appropriate spheres. The period of work of the ad hoc commissions of control or inquiry shall be up to 6 months. Article 229. The right of initiative to form ad hoc commissions of control or inquiry shall be vested in the Seimas Board, Committees, and parliamentary groups, unless in special cases this Statute provides otherwise. The initiators must present to the Seimas a draft resolution concerning the forming of an ad hoc commission of control or inquiry, in which resolution the objective of forming the commission as well as its tasks and powers shall be specified. As necessary, the Seimas Speaker must notify the Prosecutor- General and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of the initiative to form an ad hoc commission of control or inquiry. If the Prosecutor-General notifies in writing that criminal proceedings have been instituted in connection with the facts which determined the initiative of forming the commission, such commission shall not be formed; in the event that it has already been formed, its activities must be terminated by a decision of the Seimas. Article 230. The sittings of ad hoc commissions of control or inquiry shall be closed to all persons, with the exception of those persons who are invited; a list of said persons shall be drawn up according to the requests of the commission members. The information collected by the commission during its work period shall not be made public. Ad hoc commissions of control or inquiry shall have the right to request that enterprises, institutions and organisations present the required information concerning their respective activities, that the officers of the law enforcement bodies and the prosecutor's office present documents and give evidence, and that any citizen of the Republic of Lithuania give evidence. Article 231. Upon completing the work it was charged with and collecting and summarizing the data, the ad hoc commission of control or inquiry shall present their conclusions and the prepared draft resolution to the Seimas. A resolution shall be adopted at the sitting of the Seimas concerning the issue which has been considered by the ad hoc commission of control or inquiry. Non-confidence in the Government, a minister or any other head of State institution appointed by the Seimas may be declared or motions concerning the proposed impeachment proceedings may be presented in the resolution. In the case of non-confidence, the requirements set 60 forth in Articles 222 or 226 of this Statute shall apply in adopting the resolution. Chapter 38. Control of the State Budget Statement Article 266. The general permanent control of State Budget performance shall be exercised by the Committee on Budget and Finance. Other Committees of the Seimas may control the performance of the Budget chapters which are within their competence. The State Budget performance shall be considered at the sitting of the Seimas at least once every 6 months. In such an event, the Government shall present the State Budget performance statement for consideration. Article 233. The Government shall prepare and, by March 31, present to the Seimas Speaker the State Budget performance statement for the previous year. The State Controller must present to the Seimas Chancellor a report on the State Budget performance statement within a month from the date on which the Government presented the statement to the Seimas Speaker. The Seimas Chancellor shall, within 2 workdays, present copies of the above statement and of the State Controller's report to the Committee on Budget and Finance, as well as to other committees and parliamentary groups. Upon receipt of the State Controller's report, the report of the Government on the State Budget performance statement as well as an additional report of the State Controller shall be heard at the next sitting. Within 3 weeks from the sitting, the Committees shall consider the State Budget performance statement and prepare conclusions. Article 234. The State Budget performance statement and the State Controller's report must be considered at the sitting of the Seimas by June 1. A report of the Committee on Budget and Finance as well as the conclusions of other committees shall be heard at the sitting. Upon the completion of discussions, a resolution of the Seimas concerning the performance of the State Budget shall be adopted. In the event that the statement is not approved, the Seimas shall resolve the issue concerning the restoration of legality of revenues or expenditures. An appropriate resolution shall be drafted for that purpose, and a vote on non-confidence in the Government or an individual member thereof may be taken according to the procedure established in Article 226 of this Statute. PART 8 IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS Chapter 39. The proposal to Initiate Impeachment Proceedings and the Preliminary Investigation Article 235. Impeachment proceedings shall be the parliamentary procedure which shall be applied by the Seimas to members of the Seimas as well as to State officials of the highest rank who are specified in Article 74 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania for their actions which discredit the authority of powers, in order to solve the question of the responsibility of such individuals. In the event that a concrete individual is found guilty during this procedure, the person shall be dismissed from his or her post or his or her mandate as a Seimas member shall be abolished. 61 Article 236. Legal action, in accordance with the impeachment proceedings, may be instituted against the President of the Republic, the Chairperson and judges of the Constitutional Court, the Chairperson and judges of the Supreme Court, the Chairperson and judges of the Court of Appeals, and the members of the Seimas. Article 237. There shall be grounds for initiating impeachment proceedings in the event that an individual specified in Article 236 of this Statute has: 1) grossly violated the Constitution; 2) breached an oath; or 3) committed a felony. Only one of the grounds specified in this Article shall suffice to initiate impeachment proceedings. Article 238. The right to request the initiation of impeachment proceedings against a concrete for reasons specified in Article 237 individual shall be granted to, any group of Seimas members consisting of at least 1/4 of all of the Seimas members, the President of the Republic and the Judges' Court of Honour if the case concerns the Chairperson or judges of the Constitutional Court or the Court of Appeals. The proposal to the Seimas to initiate impeachment proceedings against a concrete person shall not be related to the norms of the Article 239 of this Statute. Article 239. Upon establishing that persons referred to in Article 236 of this Statute are suspected of having committed a felony, the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Lithuania shall immediately inform the Seimas thereon and submit appropriate material thereto. In the event that the President of the Republic is suspected of having committed a felony, the Seimas shall carry out preliminary impeachment proceedings provided for in Article 244 of this Statute. Upon hearing the Prosecutor General's report on a felony committed by other persons, the Seimas shall decide whether to give its approval to institute legal action against the concrete person (according to the procedure provided for in this Statute) or to initiate preliminary impeachment proceedings. Article 240. While bringing a charge concerning a committed felony, the statutes of limitation provided for in criminal laws shall be applicable. In other cases, no statutes of limitation shall be applicable notwithstanding when the misdemeanor has been committed with which an individual is charged with, however, the committed misdemeanor must have been committed while he or she was in office referred to in Article 236 of this Statute. Article 241. Proposal to initiate impeachment proceedings must be submitted to the Seimas in writing - in the form of a motion, while proposals made by the President of the Republic shall be presented in the form of appeal by indicating the concrete person, the charge formulated against said person, arguments, major facts, and evidence or sources thereof. Article 242. Normally the proposal to initiate impeachment proceedings is submitted during sessions of the Seimas. The Seimas Speaker or Deputy Speaker shall immediately present such proposals to the Seimas members and shall, no later than within one week during the session or within one week from the beginning of the session, submit a proposal to the Seimas to consider the issue. Article 243. Upon hearing a proposal made by the initiators specified in Article 238 or their representative concerning the initiation of impeachment proceedings against a concrete 62 individual, the Seimas shall form a commission to investigate the validity and seriousness of the submitted charges and to prepare the finding concerning the proposal to initiate impeachment proceedings. In its work the commission shall be governed by the provisions provided for in Chapter 37 of this Statute. Article 244. A special investigation commission shall be formed from the Seimas members, representatives of the initiators of the impeachment proceedings, and lawyers who are employed at courts, investigative structures, or prosecutor's office. Such lawyers must comprise no more than one half of the commission members. While working on the commission, the lawyers shall enjoy equal rights with other members of the commission, but they must strictly comply with the principle of political impartiality. There may be no more than 12 members on the commission. Members of the commission shall be proposed by the Seimas majority or the minority and initiators of the impeachment proceedings according to the principles set forth in Article 77 of this Statute which shall be entitled to propose 1/3 of all the commission members. Along with the formation of the commission, the Seimas shall appoint the commission chairperson and deputy chairperson, and shall fix the dates for the execution of investigation. At least one of the heads of the commission must be a professional lawyer. Article 245. Sittings of the special Seimas investigation commission concerned with impeachment proceedings shall normally be closed. Only the chairperson of the commission or a member authorised by the chairperson shall inform the press and other mass media about the course of investigation. Article 246. The commission's sittings shall be recorded in the minutes. Minutes shall be kept by a secretary appointed by the commission, according to the regulations of keeping minutes of court sittings. The minutes of the sitting shall be signed by the chairperson and secretary of the commission. During sittings, explanations as well as arguments of the initiators of impeachment proceedings and defendants (or their representatives) shall be heard, witnesses shall be questioned, the list of whom shall be made up according to the proposals submitted by all the members of the special investigation commission and the defendant, and other evidence shall be accumulated, examined and evaluated; when necessary, experts and specialists shall be invited and discussions shall be held. The defendant's lawyer may also take part in the sittings. Article 247. Witnesses and experts shall be summoned and questioned in accordance with the rules of the criminal code: they shall be warned of their responsibility for avoiding or refusing to give evidence as well as for giving knowingly false evidence; the giving of such warnings shall be confirmed by witnesses' signatures. Minutes concerning the questioning of witnesses shall be recorded and, after a witness has read them, may be supplemented or amended, and then must be signed by the witness. Experts shall present their findings in writing after having signed them. Article 248. If the special investigation commission by majority vote so proposes, the Seimas may pass a decision to appeal to the Constitutional Court concerning the conclusion whether concrete actions of the Seimas members or state officials against whom impeachment proceedings are initiated are in conformity with the Constitution. Article 249. Upon the conclusion of the investigation, the special investigation commission shall present its findings which shall contain: 63 1) the essence of the charge, the place, time, means, motives and other essential circumstances of the committed felony; 2) the established facts and evidence;, and 3) the explanations of the defendant. In the event that the presented charges have not been proved, it shall be indicated in the findings and the actions of investigation which have been carried out shall be described in brief. Taking into account the results of the investigation, it shall be summarised at the end of the findings whether there are grounds to institute impeachment proceedings in the Seimas or whether such grounds do not exist. More than half of majority votes of all the commission members are necessary for the approval of the findings. The results of the voting shall be recorded in the minutes of the sitting. The findings shall be signed by the chairperson or deputy chairperson of the commission. The commission shall prepare a draft resolution on the basis of approved findings. Article 250. Upon coming to the conclusion that there are grounds for initiating impeachment proceedings in the Seimas, the special investigation commission must also formulate concrete charges. This may be done at the end of the commission's findings or in a separate document. The investigation commission shall also decide who on behalf of the committee shall substantiate the charge and carry out other functions of the prosecutor in the Seimas during the impeachment proceedings. The commission may appoint up to 7 prosecutors -- members of the Seimas. The commission shall inform the Seimas of their names and powers in writing. Article 251. The commission shall submit the prepared findings along with a draft Seimas resolution and other documents to the Speaker, who shall submit these documents for the Seimas consideration at its next sitting. Chapter 40. Impeachment Procedure in the Seimas Article 252. In the event that the special investigation commission reaches the conclusion that there are no grounds for the initiation of impeachment proceedings, the Seimas shall consider the validity of motives and arguments which have been formulated in the findings and shall decide whether said findings shall be assented. If the Seimas approves the findings by a majority vote of the Seimas members who attend the sitting, it shall be held that there was no assent to initiate impeachment proceedings. Impeachment proceedings based on the same charges may only be instituted against the same person only after one- year period , and only under the condition that new circumstances have become evident. In the event that the Seimas does not approve the commission's conclusion that there are no grounds for the initiation of impeachment proceedings, the Seimas must decide who shall be charged with the execution of a repeat investigation - the same investigation commission or a new one. Article 253. Upon hearing the findings of the special investigation commission according to which there are grounds to initiate impeachment proceedings, the Seimas shall carry out necessary arrangements and shall adopt the following decisions necessary for the execution of this procedure: 1) shall adopt a resolution to initiate impeachment proceedings in the Seimas against a concrete person; 64 2) shall establish of the commencement of the impeachment proceedings no later than after 15 days and schedule of sittings; 3) shall adopt a resolution to invite the Chairperson of the Supreme Court or another judge thereof to preside over this procedure, and in the event the impeachment proceedings are instituted against the Chairperson of the Supreme Court or a judge thereof - to invite the Chairperson of the Constitutional Court or another judge thereof to preside over this procedure; 4) as necessary, shall request the Constitutional Court to provide findings whether concrete actions of a Seimas member or other state official comply with the Constitution; and 5) shall perform other necessary preparatory actions. Article 254. Impeachment proceedings shall start in the Seimas on the fixed date. They shall be presided over by the Chairperson of the Supreme Court or another judge thereof, or the Chairperson of the Constitutional Court or another judge thereof. One more judge of the Supreme Court or Constitutional Court must take part in all sittings, from the first to the last, of the impeachment proceedings, and, as necessary, shall act for the Chairperson of the hearing. Upon announcing the commencement of the impeachment proceedings, the Seimas shall become an impeachment institution in which investigation shall be carried out in compliance with the principles and rules of criminal procedure if this Statute does not provide otherwise. The minutes of the hearing shall be kept by the secretary appointed by the Chairperson according to the rules of recording court hearings. Impeachment proceedings in the Seimas shall be public. They may be broadcast by television and radio. Article 255. Impeachment proceedings in the Seimas shall be comprised of the following major parts: the preparatory part, the court investigation, court disputes, and the defendant's final word concerning the articles of impeachment and voting on the presented charges. Article 256. During the preparatory part of the hearing the essence of the impeachment case under investigation, the defendant, and the prosecutors and their representatives shall be introduced, their rights and duties shall be explained, their requests shall be heard and decisions thereon shall be passed, and the possibilities to continue investigation of the case shall be clarified. Article 257. The court investigation shall be commenced by reading the material of the charge aloud and hearing the defendant's explanations. Then the defendant and witnesses shall be questioned, the findings of the experts shall be heard, and the evidence shall be examined. Prior to the end of the court investigation, the prosecutors shall have the right to define the formulation of the charge and remove technical errors which have been found therein. While defining the formulations of the charge, the formulations must be delivered in writing to the defendant and the chairperson of the hearing, who shall immediately announce them to the Seimas members. Upon receiving the defined formulations of the charge, the defendant or the defendant's defender shall have the right to demand the continuation or renewal of the court investigation. Article 258. Court disputes shall be the speeches and remarks of the prosecutor, the defendant and their representatives. The right to the final remark shall always belong to the defender, and in the event of his or her absence - 65 to the defendant. In the end of court disputes the defendant shall be granted the final word. It shall not be permitted to ask questions or make remarks at that moment. Article 259. Issues concerning procedure shall be settled by the chairperson of the hearing. As necessary, the chairperson may ask the Seimas to voice its opinion or request approval of his or her decisions. Only upon the permission of the chairperson may the members of the Seimas pose questions to the participants of the proceedings. The members of the Seimas shall not be permitted to speak about the essence of the case or to attempt to influence the course of the proceedings in any other manner. However, they may protest the chairperson's refusal to permit questioning or a hasty decision to terminate interrogation, and may reject them by voting. Article 260. The defendant shall have the right to resign from his office or to renounce the mandate of the Seimas member by submitting an application in writing, in any stage of impeachment proceedings but only prior to the beginning of voting. Such applications must be immediately satisfied. In such case, the impeachment proceedings shall be terminated and it shall be made official by a resolution of the Seimas. Article 261. The final part of the legal procedure - voting for the articles of impeachment - shall start after the defendant's final word. Each article of impeachment shall be put on a separate voting card. After the text of the charge, the alternative variants of the response: "I charge" or "I do not charge" shall be made thereon. Prior to distribution, voting cards shall be marked by a special seal of the chairperson of the hearing. Article 262. A commission for the calculation of votes shall be made in compliance with the requirements set forth in Article 123 of this Statute. Each article of impeachment shall be put to vote separately. Only the Seimas members shall take part in the voting. Upon calculating the votes, the chairperson of the hearing shall announce the voting results on each article of impeachment separately. Article 263. If 3/5 of all the Seimas members vote for at least one article of impeachment, it shall be considered that the person has been impeached, i.e. the Seimas has found that the person is guilty of the felony with which he or she has been incriminated. Following the report of the commission for the calculation of votes, the chairperson of the hearing shall dictate the following entry of the minutes: "Upon the execution of impeachment proceedings in the Seimas on ... (date), it has been found by a majority vote of all the Seimas members that citizen ............(name, surname and post) ...(entry according to the text of the approved article of impeachment)..., therefore, from this day the .... (date), (said person) shall be removed from his (or her) post (or shall be deprived of the mandate of Seimas member) by the decision of the Seimas. Then the chairperson shall sign this entry and publicly announce it during the Seimas sitting. Article 264. In the event that not a single article of impeachment receives at least 3/5 of the votes of all the Seimas members, it shall be considered that the Seimas has not approved the impeachment. The chairperson of the hearing shall announce 66 this publicly and an appropriate entry thereon shall be made in the minutes of the sitting. In cases where less than 3/5 but more than 1/2 of all the Seimas members voted for the article of impeachment which corresponds to the indications of a criminal offence, it shall be considered that the Seimas has assented to bringing a legal action against a concrete person with the exception of the President of the Republic. Article 265. The minutes of the Seimas sittings shall be signed by the chairperson of the hearing and the secretary of the hearing appointed by him or her. Entries of the minutes concerning the voting results shall be equaled to the resolutions of the Seimas. They shall enter into effect from the moment of their announcement and must be executed . Along with the voting results, they may not be appealed against or subjected to review. Article 266. When, according to the procedure of impeachment, the Seimas finds that a concrete person is guilty, he/she shall be considered to have been removed from his or her post or to have been deprived of the mandate of Seimas member. Legal liability may also be incurred on them for committed felonies according to general procedure. Individuals who have resigned from their posts of their own accord or who have renounced mandates of a Seimas member shall lose the right of inviolability established by the Constitution, and shall therefore be subjected to legal liability according to the general procedure. FINAL PROVISIONS Article 267. All issues concerning the procedure of the Seimas activities, which are not provided for in this Statute and the laws of the Republic of Lithuania, shall be proposed to decide upon by the chairperson of the Seimas sitting. Such decision shall be adopted without debate by majority vote of the Seimas members who participated in the voting. Article 268. Until 31 December 1994 amendments and supplements of this Statute shall be adopted according to the general procedure and in compliance with the requirements set forth in Part 5 of this Statute. Beginning from 1 January 1995, the Statute of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and its separate articles may be repealed, supplemented or amended by majority vote of more than half of all the Seimas members. ČESLOVAS JURŠĖNAS SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
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Na temelju članka 13. Zakona o udrugama („Narodne novine“ broj 74/14 i 70/17) i članka 21. Statuta Kluba za obuku službenih i sportskih pasa „Zagreb“, Skupština održana 7. rujna 2017. godine, donijela je STATUT KLUBA ZA OBUKU SLUŽBENIH I SPORTSKIH PASA "ZAGREB" OSNOVNE ODREDBE Članak 1. Statut Kluba za obuku službenih i sportskih pasa sadrži odredbe o: - nazivu i sjedištu - zastupanju - izgledu pečata udruge - područjima djelovanja sukladno ciljevima - ciljevima - djelatnostima kojima se ostvaruju ciljevi - načinu osiguranja javnosti djelovanja udruge - uvjetima i načinu učlanjivanja i prestanku članstva, pravima, obvezama i odgovornosti te stegovnoj odgovornosti članova i načinu vođenja popisa članova - tijelima udruge, njihovu sastavu i načinu sazivanja sjednica, izboru, opozivu, ovlastima, načinu odlučivanja i trajanju mandata te načinu sazivanja skupštine u slučaju isteka mandata - izboru i opozivu likvidatora udruge - prestanku postojanja udruge - imovini, načinu stjecanja i raspolaganja imovinom - postupku s imovinom u slučaju prestanka udruge - načinu rješavanja sporova i sukoba interesa unutar udruge. - drugim pitanjima od značaja za udrugu Članak 2. Naziv Kluba je KLUB ZA OBUKU SLUŽBENIH I SPORTSKIH PASA "ZAGREB", skraćeno KOSSP "ZAGREB", sa sjedištem u Zagrebu. Odluku o adresi i promjeni adrese sjedišta donosi Skupština. Klub djeluje na području Grada Zagreba. Članak 3. Klub za obuku službenih i sportskih pasa "Zagreb" (u daljnjem tekstu Klub) je dobrovoljna, stručna, kinološka udruga koja se bavi odgojem i školovanjem pasa i unapređivanjem kinologije uopće, a registrirana je pri Gradskom uredu za opću upravu. Klub je neprofitna pravna osoba. Članak 4. Klub ima svoj znak, zastavu i pečat. Znak Kluba je okrugao. Na podlozi je uneseno 12 zvjezdica raspoređenih po 6 sa lijeve i desne strane oboda znaka. Na gornjem djelu oboda znaka nalazi se skraćenica KOSSP, a sa donje strane ime "Zagreb". Podloga znaka je "zagrebačka" plava, a ostalo znakovlje žuto. Zastava Kluba je "zagrebački" plave boje, a u sredini se nalazi znak Kluba, veličine 1/6 zastave. Pečat Kluba je okrugao, promjera 3 cm. U sredini je kratica naziva Kluba - KOSSP, a uz vanjski rub je puni naziv Kluba. Članak 5. Klub zastupaju predsjednik, dopredsjednik i tajnik Kluba. Predsjedništvo može ovlastiti i druge osobe za zastupanje Kluba. Članak 6. Klub je član Hrvatskog kinološkog saveza preko kojeg je posredno član Međunarodne kinološke federacije FCI. Radi unapređivanja kinologije Klub se može učlaniti i surađivati sa srodnim organizacijama u Republici Hrvatskoj i izvan nje o čemu odluku donosi Skupština, uz uvjet da se o udruživanju izvan teritorija države dobije potrebna suglasnost HKS-a. CILJEVI I DJELATNOSTI KLUBA Članak 7. Ciljevi Kluba su odgoj i školovanje pasa te unapređenje svih vidova sportske kinologije. Područje djelovanja Kluba sukladno cilju je zaštita okoliša i prirode. Članak 8. Djelatnosti Kluba jesu: - organiziranje odgoja i školovanja pasa, te radnih ispita po programu FCI-a i HKS-a, - organiziranje natjecanja, utakmica, izložbi, smotri, uzgojnih pregleda, demonstracija rada i rekreacijskih susreta, - organiziranje i provođenje redovitih sustavnih treninga članova radi pripreme za natjecanja, - poduka i trening djece i mladeži, - pripremanje svojih članova za sudjelovanje u sastavu klupske, odnosno državne reprezentacije, - organiziranje stručnih predavanja i seminara, - sudjelovanje u radu HKS-a putem delegata, - edukacija stručnih kadrova, - održavanje i upravljanje vježbalištima, objektima, napravama, rekvizitima i svim ostalim potrebnim za rad Kluba, - suradnja i pomoć srodnim organizacijama na teritoriju države i izvan nje. Članak 9.Rad Kluba je javan. Klub obavještava javnost o svom radu preko javnih glasila i oglasne ploče Kluba. ČLANOVI KLUBA, NJIHOVA PRAVA I OBVEZE Članak 10. Članom Kluba može postati svaka fizička osoba koja prihvaća sve obveze koje proizlaze iz Statuta, odluka Skupštine i Predsjedništva Kluba. Članak 11. Članom Kluba se postaje upisom u Registar članova koji vodi tajnik Kluba. Registar članova vodi se elektronički i sadrži podatke o osobnom imenu člana, OIB-u, datumu rođenja, datumu pristupanja udruzi, kategoriji članstva, e-mailu, adresi i datumu prestanka članstva u udruzi. Registar članova uvijek je dostupan na uvid svim članovima i nadležnim tijelima na njihov zahtjev. Članak 12. Članovi Kluba mogu biti redovni, privremeni, ili počasni. Redovni član Kluba je svaki član koji redovno plaća godišnju članarinu za koju dobiva člansku iskaznicu, te je član Kluba najmanje posljednje dvije uzastopne godine. Redovni članovi su dužni podmiriti članarinu do 31.3. tekuće godine. Privremeni član Kluba je svaki član koji je član Kluba manje od posljednje dvije uzastopne godine. Počasnim članom može postati svaka osoba zaslužna za razvoj Kluba, upisom u Registar članova, prema odluci Skupštine, a na prijedlog Predsjedništva. Počasno članstvo može biti doživotno oslobođeno plaćanja članarine i posebnih obveza u Klubu. Članak 13. Visinu i vrste članarina i drugih obveza prema Klubu, za svaku narednu godinu utvrđuje Predsjedništvo najkasnije do 31.12. tekuće godine. Novi član plaća upisninu. Članak 14. Prava članova su : - aktivno sudjelovanje u radu Kluba, - sudjelovanje u radu Skupštine i neposredno odlučivanje, (redovni i počasni) - birati i biti birani u sva tijela Kluba (redovni i počasni) - obaviještenost o radu Kluba i planovima Kluba, - pokretanje sazivanja izvanredne Skupštine, - korištenje terena i opreme Kluba u skladu s rasporedom aktivnosti Kluba, - podnošenje molbi i žalbi. Članak 15. Obveze i odgovornosti članova Kluba su : - aktivno sudjelovanje u radu Kluba, čuvanje materijalnih dobara i izvršavanje preuzetih obveza, predstavljanje Kluba na natjecanjima i utakmicama, osim ako Predsjedništvo odluči drugačije, - pridržavanje odredbi Statuta i općih akata Kluba, pravilnika HKS-a, te odluka i zaključaka organa upravljanja Kluba, - štititi ugled i interese Kluba, - redovito plaćati članarinu. (redovni) Članak 16. Članstvo u Klubu prestaje : - dragovoljnim istupom, - brisanjem, - isključenjem, - smrću, - prestankom rada Kluba. Iz članstva se briše član koji nije platio do isteka godine klupsku članarinu za tekuću godinu. Prije istupanja, brisanja ili isključivanja iz članstva Kluba član mora ispuniti sve obveze prema Klubu, koje do tada nije ispunio. Članak 17. Spor/sukob interesa u udruzi postoji ukoliko se radi o pravima i interesima članova udruge kojima članovi mogu slobodno raspolagati, a koji utječe na rad udruge u cjelini odnosno ako se ona odnose na pitanja od zajedničkog interesa na sve članove. Za rješavanje sporova/sukoba interesa, Skupština imenuje arbitražno vijeće između članova udruge. Sastav, mandat, način odlučivanja vijeća uređuju se pravilnikom koji donosi Skupština. Arbitražno vijeće u svom radu na odgovarajući način primjenjuje odredbe Zakona o mirenju. Odluka arbitražnog vijeća je konačna. TIJELA KLUBA Članak 18. Tijela Kluba su : - Skupština, - Predsjedništvo, - Nadzorni odbor, Disciplinska komisija, Komisije i referenti. SKUPŠTINA KLUBA Članak 19. Skupština Kluba je najviše tijelo upravljanja Klubom, a može biti : - izborna, - redovna, izvanredna. Članak 20. Skupštinu sačinjavaju svi poslovno sposobni redovni članovi koji su podmirili članarinu za tekuću godinu i počasni članovi Kluba. Skupština redovito zasjeda jednom godišnje i to najkasnije do kraja mjeseca veljače. Izborna sjednica Skupštine saziva se svake dvije godine. Sjednice Skupštine su javne. Članak 21. Skupština Kluba: - utvrđuje politiku rada Kluba, - usvaja Statut Kluba i njegove izmjene i dopune, - usvaja plan rada i financijski plan za sljedeću kalendarsku godinu i izvješće o radu za prethodnu kalendarsku godinu, - usvaja godišnje financijsko izvješće, - donosi druge akte i odluke važne za rad Kluba, - odlučuje o promjeni ciljeva i djelatnosti - odlučuje o udruživanju u saveze, zajednice, mreže i druge oblike povezivanja udruga, bira i razrješava predsjednika udruge - na prijedlog predsjednika bira dopredsjednika, tajnika i blagajnika i članove Predsjedništva i razrješava ih - bira i razrješava članove Nadzornog odbora i Disciplinske komisije - bira i razrješava arbitražno vijeće i donosi pravilnik o njegovom radu - imenuje i opoziva likvidatora Kluba, - daje smjernice za rad Kluba, - odlučuje o žalbama članova na odluke o isključenju iz Kluba, - odlučuje o prestanku rada Kluba i raspodjeli preostale imovine Kluba, - donosi odluku o statusnim promjenama (pripajanju, spajanju i podjeli Kluba), imenuje počasne članove Kluba, - dodjeljuje priznanja zaslužnim članovima Kluba i utvrđuje prijedlog za odlikovanja članova Kluba, koje dodjeljuje HKS. - odlučuje i o drugim pitanjima za koja statutom nije utvrđena nadležnost drugih tijela Kluba. Članak 22. Sjednicu Skupštine saziva Predsjedništvo Kluba na vlastitu inicijativu. U slučaju potrebe Predsjedništvo Kluba može sazvati izvanrednu skupštinu. Izvanrednu skupštinu Predsjedništvo je dužno sazvati, ako to zatraži najmanje 1/3 članova Kluba ili Nadzorni odbor, a mora se održati u roku 30 dana od dana postavljenog zahtjeva. Ako Predsjedništvo pravodobno ne sazove izvanrednu Skupštinu, sazvat će je predlagači. U gore navedenim slučajevima ovog članka, prijedlog dnevnog reda i materijala uz dnevni red podnosi predlagač sazivanja izvanredne Skupštine. Članak 23 Pismeni poziv za sjednicu skupštine dostavlja se svim članovima Kluba najkasnije 8 dana prije održavanja sjednice. Poziv mora sadržavati vrijeme i mjesto održavanja sjednice skupštine i prijedlog dnevnog reda. Predsjedništvo je dužno omogućiti svakom članu Kluba da se prije održavanja Skupštine upozna sa svim materijalima koji se odnose na pitanja koja će biti na dnevnom redu. Članak 24. U slučaju isteka mandata tijelima Kluba Skupštinu kluba saziva zadnja osoba za zastupanje upisana u Registar udruga ili najmanje 1/3 članova udruge, koji su upisani u popis članova prije isteka mandata tijelima udruge. Članak 25. Skupština Kluba može pravovaljano odlučivati ako je na sjednici prisutna natpolovična većina svih članova Skupštine. Ako je prisutan manji broj članova Skupštine, Skupština se odgađa na 15 minuta. Nakon tog roka Skupština se ponovo otvara na istom mjestu i može pravovaljano odlučivati ako je prisutno najmanje 10 članova Skupštine. Članak 26. Dnevni red po kojem radi Skupština Kluba, utvrđuje sama Skupština na prijedlog Predsjedništva Kluba. Skupština može odlučiti da se predloženi dnevni red izmijeni. Članak 27. Radom Skupštine Kluba rukovodi radno predsjedništvo, u sastavu 3 člana koje bira Skupština iz redova prisutnih članova Skupštine. Skupštinu otvara i njome rukovodi, do izbora radnog predsjedništva, predsjednik Kluba ili predsjednik Nadzornog odbora. Skupština za vrijeme svog zasjedanja bira komisije koje joj pomažu u radu. Članak 28. Skupština donosi punovažne odluke većinom glasova prisutnih članova Skupštine, ako Statutom nije određena posebna većina. Članovi Predsjedništva, Nadzornog odbora i Disciplinske komisije ne mogu glasovati kad se na Skupštini odlučuje o njihovoj razrješnici ili o drugim pitanjima koja se odnose na rad tih organa. Članak 29. O radu Skupštine i donesenim odlukama vodi se zapisnik, koji se trajno čuva u arhivi Kluba. Zapisnik mora biti ovjeren. Zapisničara i dva ovjerovitelja zapisnika bira Skupština Kluba iz redova prisutnih članova. PREDSJEDNIŠTVO KLUBA Članak 30.Predsjedništvo je izvršno i operativno kolegijalno tijelo Kluba. Predsjedništvo obavlja poslove i zadatke Kluba u razdoblju između dva zasjedanja Skupštine i osigurava izvršavanje odluka Skupštine. Predsjedništvo donosi odluke u skladu s ovim Statutom i drugim općim aktima Kluba. Odluke Predsjedništva obvezne su za sve članove Kluba. Predsjedništvo je za svoj rad odgovorno Skupštini Kluba. Članak 31. Članovi Predsjedništva biraju se iz redova redovnih članova Kluba. Predsjedništvo ima pet članova i to predsjednika, dopredsjednika, tajnika, blagajnika i člana, koje bira Skupština. U postupku biranja, predlaganja i utvrđivanja liste kandidata najprije se kandidira predsjednika Kluba, koji predlaže članove Predsjedništva te plan rada Kluba. Nakon istupanja svih kandidata Skupština natpolovičnom većinom glasova prisutnih članova Kluba bira predsjednika i Predsjedništvo te usvaja plan rada. Predsjednik Kluba i članovi Predsjedništva biraju se na dvije godine. Članak 32. Odgovornost članova Predsjedništva za rukovođenje poslovima i imovinom Kluba prestaje dobivenom razrješnicom od strane Skupštine Kluba. Članak 33. Predsjedništvo obavlja sljedeće poslove i zadaće: - izvršava i provodi u život odluke i zaključke Skupštine Kluba, - priprema Skupštinu Kluba, kao i materijale za Skupštinu Kluba, - utvrđuje prijedloge Statuta i ostalih općih akata što ih donosi Skupština Kluba, odnosno prijedloge za njihovu izmjenu i dopunu, - podnosi Skupštini izvještaj o svom radu i o radu Kluba u cjelini, o materijalno financijskom poslovanju i o stanju i korištenju sredstava Kluba između dvije Skupštine, - utvrđuje za Skupštinu prijedlog plana rada i prijedlog financijskog plana Kluba, predlaže Skupštini članove Kluba za dodjelu priznanja i prijedloge za dodjelu odlikovanja koja dodjeljuje HKS - predlaže Skupštini na usvajanje završni račun za proteklu godinu, - imenuje komisije i slična operativna tijela prema potrebi te im određuje zadatke, - imenuje potpisnike žiro-računa Kluba, - organizira sve kinološke akcije i priredbe u Klubu direktno ili putem komisija koje u tu svrhu imenuje, - upravlja imovinom Kluba i brine se o pravilnom korištenju sredstava, - surađuje s organima vlasti i veterinarskom stanicom, - predlaže počasne članove Skupštini, - imenuje i opoziva delegate u Skupštinu HKS-a, - obavlja i druge poslove i zadatke koji su mu stavljeni u djelokrug rada ovim Statutom i drugim općim aktima Kluba ili koje mu povjeri Skupština Kluba. Članak 34. Predsjedništvo radi i odlučuje na sjednicama. Sjednice Predsjedništva saziva predsjednik Kluba, a u slučaju njegove spriječenosti ili odsutnosti dopredsjednik ili osoba koju imenuje Predsjedništvo. Predsjednik je dužan obavijestiti pismenim ili usmenim putem sve članove Predsjedništva o održavanju sjednice i o prijedlogu dnevnog reda. Poziv na sjednicu mora se dostaviti najmanje 5 dana prije održavanja sjednice. Članak 35.Sjednice Predsjedništva održavaju se prema potrebi, a najmanje jednom u dva mjeseca. Sjednica Predsjedništva mora se sazvati ako to zahtjeva najmanje 1/3 članova Predsjedništva, Nadzorni odbor ili Disciplinska komisija sa naznakom predmeta koji se predlaže za dnevni red. Zahtjev za sazivanje sjednice dostavlja se predsjedniku Kluba, koji je dužan sazvati sjednicu u roku 8 dana od dana primitka zahtjeva. Ako predsjednik ne sazove sjednicu u određenom roku, odnosno Dopredsjednik ili osoba koju imenuje Predsjedništvo, sjednicu će sazvati Nadzorni odbor. Članak 36. Rad Predsjedništva je javan. Dnevni red sjednice utvrđuje Predsjedništvo na prijedlog predsjednika Kluba. Pravo predlaganja da se određeno pitanje stavi na dnevni red ima svaki član Predsjedništva. Članak 37. Predsjedništvo može punovažno odlučivati ako sjednici prisustvuje više od 1/2 članova Predsjedništva. Predsjedništvo donosi odluke većinom glasova prisutnih članova. Glasanje na sjednicama Predsjedništva u pravilu je javno osim kada Predsjedništvo odluči drugačije. Članak 38. Na sjednicama Predsjedništva vodi se zapisnik koji potpisuju predsjednik Kluba i zapisničar, a čuvaju se u arhivi Kluba kao dokumenti trajne vrijednosti. Članak 39. Predsjednik, dopredsjednik i tajnik usklađuju poslove, brinu se da rad Kluba bude u skladu sa zakonom i drugim propisima, pravilnicima HKS-a o stručnom radu, ovim Statutom i drugim općim aktima Kluba. Članak 40. Predsjednika Kluba bira Skupština na mandat od dvije godine. Predsjednik: - zastupa Klub, - sklapa ugovore i poduzima pravne radnje u ime i za račun udruge - dostavlja zapisnik s redovne sjednice skupštine nadležnom uredu koji vodi registar udruga - odgovoran je za podnošenje Skupštini prijedloga godišnjeg financijskog izvješća obavlja i druge poslove u skladu sa zakonom, statutom i aktima Kluba. Članak 41. U slučaju odsutnosti ili spriječenosti, Predsjednika u svim poslovima zamjenjuje Dopredsjednik. Dopredsjednika Kluba bira Skupština na prijedlog Predsjednika. Mandat dopredsjednika traje dvije godine. Članak 42. Tajnika Kluba bira i imenuje Skupština na prijedlog Predsjednika na mandat od dvije godine za obavljanje stručno-administrativnih poslova u Udruzi. Tajnik Kluba vodi registar članova. Članak 43. Blagajnika Kluba bira i imenuje Skupština na prijedlog Predsjednika na mandat od dvije godine za obavljanje materijalno-financijskog poslovanja Kluba. Blagajnik brine o: - prikupljanju članarine, donacija i slično - vođenje blagajne Kluba NADZORNI ODBOR Članak 44. Nadzorni odbor Kluba (u daljnjem tekstu Odbor) vodi posebnu brigu o primjeni Statuta i drugih općih akata Kluba i zaključaka organa upravljanja Kluba. Provodi kontrolu nad pravilnim i namjenskim korištenjem sredstava Kluba u skladu s programom, planovima rada i zadaćama Kluba, kao i nad zakonitošću materijalno financijskog poslovanja. Članak 45. Nadzorni odbor dužan je u skladu sa zakonom vršiti pregled materijalno financijskog poslovanja Kluba i o tome podnijeti izvješće Skupštini Kluba. Članovi Odbora imaju pravo prisustvovati sjednicama Predsjedništva i njegovim komisijama, sudjelovati u raspravama, ali bez prava odlučivanja. Članak 46.Odbor ima 3 člana i 1 zamjenika. Članove Odbora bira Skupština Kluba iz redova članova Skupštine, na mandat od dvije godine. Izabrani članovi Predsjedništva ne mogu biti birani za članove Odbora. Članak 47. Odbor radi i donosi zaključke na sjednicama. Na prvoj sjednici Odbor bira predsjednika iz redova njegovih članova. Prvu sjednicu Odbora saziva predsjednik Kluba najkasnije tri tjedna nakon zasjedanja Skupštine. Članak 48. Sjednice Odbora održavaju se prema potrebi, a najmanje dvaput godišnje. Sjednice Odbora saziva predsjednik Odbora po vlastitoj inicijativi ili na zahtjev pojedinog člana Odbora. Odbor može punovažno odlučivati ako sjednici prisustvuje više od 1/2 članova Odbora. Odbor donosi odluke većinom glasova prisutnih članova Odbora. Članak 49. O sjednicama Odbora vodi se zapisnik. Svaki član Odbora ima pravo zahtijevati da se u zapisnik sjednice unese njegovo izdvojeno mišljenje. Zapisnik sjednice potpisuju predsjednik i svi prisutni članovi Odbora. DISCIPLINSKA KOMISIJA Članak 50. Članovi Kluba stegovno odgovaraju za povredu svojih članskih dužnosti utvrđenih Statutom ili drugim aktima. Stegovni postupak provodi Disciplinska komisija koja ima 3 člana i 1 zamjenika. Članove Disciplinske komisije bira Skupština na dvije godine. Predsjednika Disciplinske komisije biraju sami članovi Komisije, kada se konstituiraju. Zahtjev za pokretanje stegovnog postupka može podnijeti Predsjedništvo, Nadzorni odbor ili 1/10 članova Kluba. U stegovnom postupku mogu se izreći sljedeće stegovne mjere: - opomena - isključenje iz Kluba, privremeno ili trajno Odluke se donose većinom glasova članova Disciplinske komisije. Članak 51. U slučaju isključenja iz Kluba, isključeni član može u roku od 15 dana računajući od dana dostave odluke, podnijeti žalbu Skupštini. Skupština je dužna riješiti žalbu u roku od 30 dana računajući od dana dostave žalbe. Odluka Skupštine o isključenju je konačna. KOMISIJE I REFERENTI Članak 52. Za izvršavanje različitih posebnih zadaća Predsjedništvo može imenovati stalne i povremene komisije, kao i stalne i povremene referente. IMOVINA KLUBA I NAČINI STJECANJA IMOVINE Članak 53. Imovinu Kluba čine novčana sredstva koja je udruga stekla uplatom članarina, dobrovoljnim prilozima i darovima, sredstva koja Klub stekne obavljanjem djelatnosti kojima se ostvaruju ciljevi, financiranjem programa i projekata udruge iz državnog proračuna i proračuna jedinica lokalne i područne (regionalne) samouprave te fondova i/ili inozemnih izvora, nekretnina i pokretnih stvari Kluba i druga imovinska prava. Članak 54. Imovinom Kluba samostalno raspolaže Skupština, odnosno Predsjedništvo u skladu s odredbama zakona i ovog Statuta. Imovinom Kluba upravlja Predsjedništvo na način koji omogućava njezino najbolje i ekonomski svrsishodno korištenje. Klub može raspolagati svojom imovinom samo za ostvarivanje ciljeva i obavljanjem djelatnosti određenih Statutom Kluba, u skladu sa zakonom. Članak 55. Radi osiguranja sredstava za rad Kluba, osiguravanja zadataka i određenih prava, članovi Kluba plaćaju godišnju članarinu i druge doprinose. Članak 56. Skupština Kluba na prijedlog Predsjedništva donosi materijalno financijski plan za svaku kalendarsku godinu, kojim se osiguravaju sredstva za izvršavanje zadataka Kluba u skladu s odredbama ovog Statuta i prihvaćenog plana rada. Po isteku kalendarske godine Skupština Kluba donosi završni račun u skladu sa zakonom. Članak 57. Predsjedništvo je dužno osigurati stručno, uredno i ažurno vođenje materijalno-financijskog poslovanja. Članak 58. Izvješće o materijalno-financijskom poslovanju Nadzorni odbor podnosi Skupštini na razmatranje i prihvaćanje. ODGOVORNOST ZA OBAVLJANJE FUNKCIJA Članak 59. Funkcije članova Kluba izražavaju se u njihovim pravima i obvezama utvrđenih zakonom, ovim Statutom i drugim općim aktima Kluba. Svaki član Kluba dužan je savjesno obavljati svoje funkcije i obveze te ostvarivati svoja prava, i to kako pojedinačno, tako i u zajednici s ostalim članovima Kluba. Članak 60. Nosioci funkcija (članovi Predsjedništva, Nadzornog odbora, Disciplinske i drugih komisija te klupski referenti) mogu odstupiti s funkcije dragovoljno, ako tako odluči tijelo koje ga je izabralo te ako osoba nije više član Kluba. Nosioci funkcija odgovorni su onim tijelima koja su ih izabrala na određenu funkciju. Nosioci funkcija odgovaraju disciplinski i materijalno ako je na njihov prijedlog donijeta određena odluka koja je nanijela štetu Klubu, a nosioci funkcija predlažući njeno donošenje ili izvršenje, prikrili su činjenice ili svjesno dali neistinita objašnjenja organu koji je donio odluku. Članak 61. Ako se utvrdi postojanje povrede iz prethodnog članka, Skupština će kao disciplinsku mjeru izreći : - smjenjivanje s funkcije ili - smjenjivanje s funkcije i isključenje iz Kluba. Izricanje gore navedenih mjera oslobađa odgovornosti od naknade štete. STATUT, OPĆI AKTI I NJIHOVA IZMJENA I DOPUNA Članak 62. Statut Kluba donosi Skupština Kluba na prijedlog Predsjedništva nakon provedene rasprave. Statut Kluba smatra se usvojenim kada ga prihvati natpolovična većina svih članova Skupštine. Članak 63. Opće akte, u skladu s odredbama ovoga Statuta, donosi Skupština Kluba na prijedlog Predsjedništva, ako Statutom nije dozvoljeno da ih Predsjedništvo donosi samostalno. Članak 64. Izmjene i dopune Statuta i općih akata vrše se na prijedlog Predsjedništva ili najmanje 1/3 članova Kluba. Prijedlog za izmjene i dopune Statuta i općih akata prije iznošenja na Skupštinu daje se na razmatranje svim članovima Kluba najmanje 8 dana prije održavanja Skupštine. PRESTANAK RADA KLUBA Članak 65. Klub prestaje sa radom odlukom Skupštine ili u drugim slučajevima predviđenim zakonom. U slučaju prestanka rada Kluba preostala imovina će pripasti udruzi, ustanovi ili zakladi koja ima iste ili slične statutarne ciljeve na osnovu odluke Skupštine. LIKVIDATOR Članak 66. Likvidatora udruge imenuje i opoziva Skupština. Likvidator zastupa udrugu u postupku likvidacije te se otvaranjem likvidacijskog postupka upisuje u registar udruga kao osoba ovlaštena za zastupanje udruge do okončanja postupka likvidacije i brisanja udruge iz registra udruga. PRIJELAZNE I ZAVRŠNE ODREDBE Članak 67. Ovaj Statut stupa na snagu danom donošenja. Članak 68. Opći akti, pravilnici i poslovanje Kluba moraju se uskladiti s odredbama ovog Statuta najkasnije u roku od 6 mjeseci po njegovu prihvaćanju i odobrenju. Zagreb, 7. rujna 2017.