SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
S T A T U T E
17 February 1994 No I-399
Vilnius
(As last amended on 20 December 2012 No XII-89)
PART I
STATUS OF A MEMBER OF THE SEIMAS
Chapter I
Powers and the Oath of a Member of the Seimas
Article 1. Mandate of a Member of the Seimas
1. The main rights and duties of a Member of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: ‘a Member of the Seimas’) shall be defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: ‘the Constitution’) and this Statute, and his other rights and duties shall also be defined by other laws of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: ‘laws’).
2. In performing his duties, a Member of the Seimas shall act in compliance with the Constitution, the interests of the State and his own conscience and may not be restricted by any mandate.
Article 2. Beginning of the Powers and Acquisition of the Rights of a Member of the Seimas
1. The powers of Members of the Seimas shall begin on the day that the newly elected Seimas convenes for the first time. The powers of the previously elected Members of the Seimas shall expire upon the commencement of the said sitting.
2. An elected Member of the Seimas shall acquire all of the rights of a representative of the Nation only upon taking the oath of loyalty to the Republic of Lithuania at a Seimas sitting. A Member of the Seimas who has not taken the oath shall not have the rights established in Chapter 2 of this Statute, shall not make use of the resources provided for his activities nor of the guarantees of his activities specified in Chapter 3 of this Statute and shall not receive the salary of a Member of the Seimas.
Article 3. Text of the Oath of a Member of the Seimas
1. The text of the oath of a Member of the Seimas shall read as follows:
to strengthen to the best of my ability the independence of Lithuania, to conscientiously serve my Homeland, democracy, and the well-being of the people of Lithuania.
Article 4. Procedure for Taking the Oath of a Member of the Seimas
1. The oath of a Member of the Seimas shall be administered by the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as the Constitutional Court), or, in his absence or in the event that the he is temporarily unable to discharge the duties of his office, by the judge of the Constitutional Court, acting as the President of the Constitutional Court.
2. A Member of the Seimas shall take the oath while standing in front of the person who administers the oath, and reading the oath, holding his hand on the Constitution.
4. The text of the oath shall not be amended and changed; only the last sentence of the oath may be struck out. A Member of the Seimas who does not comply with this provision, refuses to sign the nominal oath sheet or signs the sheet with a stipulation shall not be considered to have taken the oath.
5. Nominal oath sheets shall be handed over to the President or the judge of the Constitutional Court, who has administered the oath, who shall check them and read the names of the Members of the Seimas who have acquired all of the rights of a representative of the nation.
6. A Member of the Seimas must take the oath anew if, upon termination of his powers, he has again become a Member of the Seimas pursuant to the Constitution and laws.
7. A Member of the Seimas must take the oath at the first sitting of a newly elected Seimas. A Member of the Seimas who is not able to attend the first sitting of a newly elected Seimas due to the especially important justifiable cause shall take the oath at the next Seimas sitting following the disappearance of such especially important justifiable cause. A Member of the Seimas who is elected later shall take the oath at the next Seimas sitting following his election.
Article 5. Consequences in the Event of Failure of a Member of the Seimas to Take the Oath
A Member of the Seimas who fails to take the oath in the manner prescribed by this Statute or who takes a conditional oath shall lose the mandate of a Member of the Seimas under Article 59 of the Constitution. The Seimas shall adopt a resolution thereon.
Article 6. Compatibility of the Duties of a Member of the Seimas
1. The duties of a Member of the Seimas, with the exception of his duties in the Seimas, shall be incompatible with any other duties in state agencies and organisations and with any job in business, commercial and other private agencies or enterprises.
2. For his term of office, a Member of the Seimas shall be exempt from the duty to perform national defence service.
Article 7. Certificate and Badge of a Member of the Seimas
1. A Member of the Seimas shall have a certificate of a Member of the Seimas and a badge of a Member of the Seimas which shall be used by him during his term of office.
2. A certificate shall be presented to a Member of the Seimas after the proclamation of election results, and a badge - after taking the oath.
Article 8. Termination of the Powers of a Member of the Seimas
1. The powers of a Member of the Seimas shall be terminated:
1) upon the expiry of his term of office or when the Seimas elected in pre-term elections convenes for the first time;
6) if the elections are deemed invalid or if the Law on Elections to the Seimas is grossly violated;
7) if, upon election a Member of the European Parliament or a municipal councillor, he does not relinquish his mandate as Member of the European Parliament or municipal councillor or if he takes up or does not give up employment incompatible with the requirements of paragraph 1 of Article 60 of the Constitution or paragraph 1 of Article 6 of this Statute or
2. The resolution of the Seimas to terminate the powers of a Member of the Seimas on the grounds provided for in subparagraph 7 of Article 63 of the Constitution and subparagraph 7 of paragraph 1 of this Article shall be adopted by majority vote, i.e. more than half of all the Members of the Seimas.
Article 9. Rights of a Member of the Seimas
A Member of the Seimas shall, in the manner prescribed by this Statute, have the right to:
1) vote on all issues being considered at sittings of the Seimas, committee or commission of which he is a member;
3) participate in a discussion concerning all issues under consideration and present his motions, observations, amendments, vocally or in writing;
4) submit the text of his speech which has not been made to the chair a sitting for inclusion in the verbatim report of the sitting;
6) prepare and submit to the Seimas for consideration drafts of laws and other legal acts and put forward motions concerning the laws which are to be debated in the Seimas;
8) make statements and remarks, speak on voting motives, put motions relative to the conduct, procedure of a sitting;
9) obtain, directly or through an assistant, copies of the registered drafts of laws and copies of the laws and other acts passed by the Seimas, decisions and draft decisions of the Speaker of the Seimas, the Board of the Seimas and the Conference of Chairs, drafts of the legal acts prepared by the Government, resolutions passed by other State government and administration institutions, and legal acts of public officials;
10) attend sittings of all Seimas committees and commissions, and Government sittings and, when necessary, attend sittings of State government and administration institutions at which issues submitted by him are discussed, and, upon advance notice, other sittings at which the issues in which he is interested are discussed, except the sittings concerning State secrets, the procedure for the consideration whereof shall be established by law;
11) make inquiries to the Government members, the heads of other state institutions, submit questions to them and to the Seimas officials and
Article 10. Participation of a Member of the Seimas in Work of the Seimas
2. Each Member of the Seimas, with the exception of the Speaker of the Seimas and the Prime Minister, must serve as a member of some committee and participate in the work thereof and he may also serve as a substitute for a member of another committee.
3. Each Member of the Seimas may serve as a member of only one committee, except for the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on European Affairs, which may consist of the members of other committees.
4. The Speaker of the Seimas and the Prime Minister may not serve as a member of a committee or his substitute.
5. A Member of the Seimas must participate in meetings of the Board of the Seimas, the Conference of Chairs, the Seimas committees, commissions and subcommittees a member of which he is.
6. A Member of the Seimas must participate in meetings of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures upon a written invitation of the Commission Chair. If a Member of the Seimas is unable to participate in that meeting, he must inform in writing the Commission Chair and specify the reasons for failure to participate. The Commission for Ethics and Procedures may consider violations of ethics by a Member of the Seimas, matters relating to alignment of private and public interests even without the attendance of the invited Member of the Seimas, if such is his request and he submits explanations thereto or repeatedly fails to attend a Commission without an important justifiable reason.
Article 11. Attendance of Members of the Seimas at Sittings and their Business Trips Abroad
1. It shall be deemed that a Member of the Seimas has attended a Seimas sitting if he has registered at more than half of votings on adoption of a legal act, which were scheduled in advance and held at the scheduled time, and has registered in all Seimas sittings of that day. It shall be deemed that a Member of the Seimas has attended a Seimas committee or Seimas commission meeting if he registered against his signature in the annex to the minutes of the meeting.
2. If a Member of the Seimas is unable to attend a Seimas sitting, a Seimas committee or commission meeting, he must, in advance or if not possible in advance – not later than within one week, notify respectively the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings, the committee or commission chair specifying the reasons of non-attendance.
3. Important, justifiable reasons for non-attendance at Seimas sittings and at Seimas committee or commission meetings shall include temporary working incapacity, business trip, child-rearing leave of a Member of the Seimas or other important circumstances, and non-attendance at sittings or meetings with the approval of the Board of the Seimas. If a Member of the Seimas fails to inform that he will not attend a sitting or meeting or to indicate the reasons for non-attendance, it shall be deemed that a sitting or meeting has been missed without an important justifiable reason.
4. The Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall record notifications of the Members of the Seimas concerning non-attendance at Seimas sittings, and the secretariats of the Seimas committees and commissions - about non-attendance of the Members of the Seimas at meetings of the committees and commissions. Such information together with the documents justifying the non-attendance at a sitting or meeting and the conclusions of the chairs of the committees or commissions must be furnished to the Commission for Ethics and Procedures before the 10th of the next month.
5. The Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall decide whether or not the reasons for non-attendance at a Seimas meeting are important and justifiable, the chairs of the Seimas committees and commission decide whether or not the reasons for non-attendance at a committee or commission meeting are important and justifiable. Disputes whether or not the reasons for non-attendance at a committee or commission meeting are important and justifiable shall be solved by the Commission for Ethics and Procedures, taking into account the conclusions of the chairs of the appropriate committees and commissions and the explanations of a Member of the Seimas.
6. The Chair of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall announce the preceding month’s data on the non-attendance of Members of the Seimas at Seimas sittings and meetings of the Seimas committees and commissions, summarised before the 20th of each month, to the Board of the Seimas and put it on the website of the Seimas.
7. If the Board of the Seimas sends not fewer that two Members of the Seimas on a business trip to participate in the same event, these Members of the Seimas shall compose a group and the Board of the Seimas shall appoint a leader of the group.
8. A Member of the Seimas who has been sent on a business trip alone or who alone has gone on a trip abroad to which the Board of the Seimas has given its consent, or a leader of a group of Members of the Seimas must, not later than within ten days of returning from the business trip abroad or the trip abroad to which the Board of the Seimas has given its consent, submit a report on the fulfilment of the assignments in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Board of the Seimas.
9. If the Board of the Seimas sends a Member of the Seimas on a business trip as a member of the delegation accompanying the President of the Republic of Lithuania or the delegation lead by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania, in such cases a Member of the Seimas is not obliged to write a report on the fulfilment of the assignments. A copy of the activity report of the delegation which comprised the Member of the Seimas shall be submitted to the Seimas by an institution which formed the delegation.
Article 12. Work of a Member of the Seimas with Voters
1. A Member of the Seimas must hold regular meetings with voters and inform them about his activities. He shall have the right to invite officials of State and municipal institutions and agencies, municipal officials and municipal councillors to participate in the meetings.
2. A Member of the Seimas shall examine proposals, requests and complaints and, when necessary, shall refer them to state institutions for consideration.
3. Complaints of voters which fall within the remit of a Seimas ombudsman may be referred to a Seimas ombudsman for investigation. They shall be addressed in accordance with the procedure established by the Law on Seimas Ombudsmen.
4. All officials and heads of enterprises, agencies and organisations to whom an appeal of a Member of the Seimas is addressed or to whom proposals, requests and complaints of voters have been referred by a Member of the Seimas must consider them and reply to a Member of the Seimas not later than within 20 days of the receipt thereof.
Chapter III
PROVISION OF conditions and Guarantees necessary
for the activities of A Member of the Seimas
Article 13. Duties of Local Authorities to Provide Conditions for the Activities of Members of the Seimas
1. Local authorities and their executive bodies and heads of state enterprises, agencies and organisations, must provide a Member of the Seimas with conditions enabling him to meet with voters, announce of the time and place of such meetings and provide him with other necessary assistance and information.
2. Local authorities must allot and maintain permanent premises for Members of the Seimas elected in a single-candidate electoral areas to receive voters.
Article 14. Visits of Members of the Seimas to Enterprises, Agencies and Organisations
1. A Member of the Seimas shall have the right to demand to be received without delay at enterprises, agencies and organisations concerning issues which pertain to his activities and the right to be provided with necessary information.
2. A Member of the Seimas shall have the right to unrestricted access to all enterprises, agencies and organisations. The procedure for visiting enterprises, agencies and organisations whose activities are associated with the protection of State secrets and the procedure for the protection of the information considered a State secret which has been acquired by a Member of the Seimas shall be established by law.
Article 15. Salary of a Member of the Seimas
1. Compensation for the work of a Member of the Seimas and for the expenses related to his parliamentary activities, shall be covered from the State Budget.
2. The salary of a Member of the Seimas and the procedure for payment thereof shall be established by the Seimas. The law concerning changes in the amount of salaries of Members of the Seimas shall become effective only from the day that the next newly-elected Seimas convenes for the first time.
3. For their work Members of the Seimas-officials and the leader of the Seimas Opposition shall be paid salaries the amount of which shall be established by law.
4. A Member of the Seimas may not receive any other payment, with the exception of payment for creative activities. Payments made to a Member of the Seimas for creative activities shall comprise royalties for the works of art and the performance thereof, for articles and books, for the material for radio and television programmes, provided that a Member of the Seimas is not related to the agency, enterprise or organisation paying him for creative activities by labour, official or similar relations which may be the cause of conflict of private and public interests.
Article 151. Reduction in the Salary of a Member of the Seimas
1. For a Member of the Seimas who failed to attend without an important justifying reason more than half of the Seimas sittings in which voting on the adoption of legal acts was scheduled in advance and took place at the scheduled time, his salary of that month shall be reduced by one third. On the basis of the conclusions of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures, the salary shall be reduced on the decision of the Board of the Seimas. The sum by which the salary of that Member of the Seimas is reduced shall be deducted from his salary for the next month.
2. A decision of the Board of the Seimas concerning the reduction in the salary may be appealed against to the Seimas within 15 days of the taking of such decision. An appeal shall be filed with the Speaker of the Seimas. The Seimas shall pass a protocol resolution on the said appeal.
3. If a Member of the Seimas is placed under arrest in accordance with the procedure established by law, the salary and the funds for reimbursement of the expenses related to his parliamentary activities shall not be paid for the whole period of arrest. When a pre-trial investigation concerning the Member of the Seimas or criminal proceedings, in which the Member of the Seimas is the accused, are terminated because of the absence of a criminal offence or a criminal act, or failure to gather information sufficient to substantiate his guilt for committing of a criminal act, or an exculpatory court judgment is adopted in respect of the Member of the Seimas, he shall, not later than within 5 working days, be paid the whole amount of salary which he has not received because of the arrest during the term of office.
4. If by a court judgment a Member of the Seimas is sentenced to arrest, fixed term deprivation of liberty or life imprisonment, the salary of the Member of the Seimas and the funds for reimbursement of the expenses related to his parliamentary activities shall not be paid to him for the whole period of serving such sentence. Upon the revocation of the judgment, the Member of the Seimas shall, not later than within five working days, be paid the whole sum of salary which he has not received during the term of office when he was punished by arrest or deprivation of liberty.
Article 152. Use of Official Vehicles
1. The Speaker of Seimas, his deputies and the Leader of the Opposition shall be entitled, by virtue of their position, to use official vehicles with drivers.
Article 153. Funds for Reimbursement of Expenses Related to Parliamentary Activities
The version of paragraph 1 valid as of 1 January 2014:
1. The sum in the amount of three average monthly earnings shall be each month allocated subject to accounting to the Speaker of the Seimas to cover representation expenses.
The version of paragraph 2 valid as of 1 January 2014:
2. The sum in the amount of one average monthly earnings shall be each month allocated subject to accounting to the Deputy Speakers of the Seimas to cover representation expenses.
The version of paragraph 3 valid from 1 January 2014:
3. The sum in the amount of 1.7 average monthly earnings shall be each month allocated subject to accounting to Members of the Seimas to cover expenses related to their parliamentary activities.
4. Local authorities shall, free of charge (a local authority shall pay for cold and hot water, electricity, gas, thermal energy and other public utilities), provide furnished premises with the telephone for a Member of the Seimas and his secretary assistant for continual use in the municipality (municipalities) located within the constituency chosen by a Member of the Seimas, for the duration of the powers of a Member of the Seimas – the space of the premises must be not less than 12 m2 and meet the sanitary and hygiene requirements. A Member of the Seimas shall himself pay his telephone bills.
5. The use of official telephones by the Seimas leaders, the leader of the Opposition, the chairs and deputy chairs of the committees, commissions, the chairs of the subcommittees, the chairs and deputy chairs of the political groups shall be compensated in the amount of 0.2 of the average monthly earnings.
The version of paragraph 5 valid from 1 January 2013:
5. The use of official telephones by the Seimas leaders, the chairs of the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs and their deputies, the leader of the Opposition, the chairs of the political groups and their deputies shall be compensated in the amount of 0.4 of the average monthly salary, the use of official telephones by the chairs of other committees and commissions and their deputies, the chairs of the subcommittees – in the amount of 0.2 of the average monthly salary.
6. A Member of the Seimas, with the exception of the Speaker of the Seimas, shall himself pay for telephone calls which exceed the fixed amount. The Finance Department of the Office of the Seimas shall have the right to deduct without suit from the next salary of the Member of the Seimas a sum by which the fixed amount is exceeded if the Member of the Seimas does not reimburse the expenses of his telephone calls within the set time limit.
7. A sum in the amount of 1 average monthly salary and an additional sum shall be allocated for a period of one year for activities of a political group, taking into consideration the size of the political group, so that each member of the political group shall be allocated the sum in the amount of 0.4 of the average monthly salary. If there are changes in the size of a political group, an additional sum allocated to it shall be revised every month. These funds shall be used to cover expenses related to legislation and expert examination, representation, postal, telephone and other work-related activities of the political group.
Article 154. Provision of Living Quarters for Members of the Seimas
1. For the term of office of a Member of the Seimas, he shall, at the decision of the Secretary General of the Seimas, be provided living quarters in the Seimas hotel for residing with his family members, if so requested by the Member of the Seimas. The first to be provided with living quarters shall be Members of the Seimas who do not have and within the last five years from the date of filing of an application did not have by the right of ownership the living quarters within the territory of the municipality of Vilnius city and not farther than within 25 kilometres from the administrative limits of the municipality of Vilnius city.
2. Expenses related to residing in the Seimas hotel (for cold and hot water, electricity, gas, thermal energy and other public utilities) shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Board of the Seimas, be reimbursed to the Members of the Seimas, with the exception of the Members of the Seimas who have and, within the last five years of filing of an application, have had by the right of ownership the living quarters within the territory of the municipality of Vilnius city and not farther than within 25 kilometres from the administrative limits of the municipality of Vilnius city. The distance to a place of residence shall be determined by shortest public roads of national and local significance, according to the administrative limits of the municipality of Vilnius city, established on the day of filing of an application to provide living quarters.
3. Other Members of the Seimas living in the Seimas hotel shall pay for cold and hot water, electricity, gas, thermal energy and public utilities according to the fixed rates.
4. The Finance Department of the Office of the Seimas shall deduct without suit from the next salary of the Member of the Seimas the fees for these services, calculated but failed to be paid within the given time.
Article 155. Guarantees after the Ceasing of the Powers of a Member of the Seimas
1. When the powers of Member of the Seimas cease in the cases provided for in subparagraphs 1 and 6 of Article 63 of the Constitution, a Member of the Seimas shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Civil Service, be entitled to return to the post previously occupied by him.
2. When the powers of Member of the Seimas cease in the cases provided for in subparagraphs 1 and 4 of Article 63 of the Constitution, he shall be paid a severance pay. He shall be paid a severance pay equal to the amount of as many average monthly salaries of Member of the Seimas as many years continuously lasted his term of office in the Seimas, but not less than two nor more that six average monthly salaries of Member of the Seimas. If the term of office of Member of the Seimas is less than one year, then a period of more than six months shall be regarded in this Article as a full year of the term of office. A severance pay shall not be paid, if a Member of the Seimas, whose powers expired in the case provided for in subparagraph 1 of Article 63 of the Constitution, is re-elected.
Article 156. Working Time and Rest Time of a Member of the Seimas
Functioning of the Seimas shall be continuous. The Board of the Seimas shall fix working time of Member of the Seimas during Seimas sessions. A Member of the Seimas shall independently plan time between Seimas sessions, if he does not participate in meetings of the Seimas committees and commissions.
Article 16. Secretaries Assistants of Members of the Seimas
A Member of the Seimas shall be entitled to have secretaries assistants who shall be paid for their work from the State budget and assistants working on a voluntary basis. Secretaries assistants of the Members of the Seimas shall be employed and dismissed in accordance with the procedure laid down by law. Three positions of secretaries assistants of a Member of the Seimas shall be allotted to each Member of the Seimas. Salaries of secretaries assistants of the Members of the Seimas shall be regulated in accordance with the procedure laid down by legal acts.
Article 161. Employees of Political Groups
1. Employees of the political groups shall be employed and dismissed in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws.
Article 17. Liability for Preventing a Member of the Seimas from Exercising his Powers
1. Persons and officials who prevent a Member of the Seimas from exercising his powers, who encroach upon the life, health, honour, or dignity of a Member of the Seimas as a representative of the Nation, shall be held liable under law.
Chapter IV
Discipline and Immunity of A Member of the Seimas. OBLIGATION OF
A MEMBER OF THE SEIMAS TO AVOID THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Article 18. Obligation of a Member of the Seimas to Avoid the Conflict of Interest
1. It shall be prohibited to use the mandate of a Member of the Seimas for purposes other than the interests of the Nation, State and voters. A Member of the Seimas must respect and act in compliance with the Constitution and laws.
2. While executing the duties of a Member of the Seimas, each Member of the Seimas must avoid the conflict between the private interests of a Member of the Seimas and his duties to represent the interests of the public, he must not also act in such a way, that the public would entertain doubts about the existence of such conflict. In the event of the conflict of interest, a Member of the Seimas must act in compliance with this Statute and recommendations of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures or the Chief Official Ethics Commission. A Member of the Seimas must do his utmost that his integrity should not raise doubts among the public and that the public be given a possibility to ascertain the integrity of the Member of the Seimas.
3. The Commission for Ethics and Procedures or an investigation commission set up for this purpose must analyse the activities of a Member of the Seimas which violate the said provisions, and prepare findings for the Seimas.
4. Every year each Member of the Seimas shall, according to the Law on the Alignment of Public and Private Interests in Civil Service, submit to the Commission for Ethics and Procedures an annual private interests declaration and declarations if new circumstances turn out. The said Commission shall keep private interests declarations of the candidates who have become Members of the Seimas. The declarations shall be kept in the Commission for the whole term of office of a Member of the Seimas, and later they shall be transferred to the Seimas Archives for keeping.
5. Having considered the private interests declarations of Members of the Seimas, the Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall submit to Members of the Seimas written recommendations how to avoid the conflict of interest, which Members of the Seimas may make public at their own discretion. The said recommendations may be general (annual) or specific. The latter shall usually be submitted at the request of a Member of the Seimas.
6. Before or during the consideration of an issue, a Member of the Seimas who has a private interest in the issue must inform the presiding member of a sitting about the danger of a conflict of interest and must stay away from further consideration and voting.
7. If a Member of the Seimas has not carried out the requirements of paragraph 6 of this Article and such behaviour of a Member of the Seimas is contrary to the recommendation of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures, which has been submitted to a Member of the Seimas in accordance with paragraph 5 of this Article, the Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall immediately inform the Seimas about it. In this event, the consideration of an issue may, upon the decision of the Seimas, be started anew.
Article 20. Warning to a Member of the Seimas
1. If during a sitting a Member of the Seimas begins to argue with Members of the Seimas or other participants of the sitting, does not carry out the recommendation of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures regarding the avoidance of the conflict of interest, the Member of the Seimas may be called to order by the presiding member of the sitting.
2. If the said Member of the Seimas does not heed the warning of the presiding member of the sitting, the warning may be recorded in the minutes of the sitting. Warnings to a Member of the Seimas for a public threat to colleagues, for an insult of a Member of the Seimas or a group thereof, for dishonest voting or for the refusal to carry out the recommendation of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures regarding the avoidance of the conflict of interest shall be immediately recorded in the minutes.
3. The warning which is recorded in the minutes of the sitting shall be administered on the recommendation of the presiding Member of the Seimas sitting or the Commission for Ethics and Procedures, without debate and by a simple majority of the Members of the Seimas participating in the voting.
Article 21. Removal of a Member of the Seimas from a Sitting
1. The Seimas may temporarily exclude a Member of the Seimas from the Plenary Chamber until the end of the sitting of that day, if he:
1) continues, after being called to order, to interrupt the work of the Seimas or does not carry out the recommendations of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures regarding the avoidance of the conflict of interest;
3) publicly insults or threatens the President of the Republic, the Seimas, the Speaker of the Seimas, the Members of the Seimas, the Government, or the Prime Minister, or threatens them during a sitting;
2. Decisions concerning the exclusion of a Member of the Seimas from the Plenary Chamber shall be adopted without debate by a simple majority of the Members of the Seimas participating in the voting, on the recommendation of the presiding member of the sitting or the Commission for Ethics and Procedures.
3. If a Member of the Seimas who has been temporarily removed from a sitting refuses to heed the demand of the presiding member of the sitting to leave the Plenary Chamber, the sitting shall be temporarily interrupted and security officers shall escort the Member of the Seimas concerned from the Plenary Chamber.
Article 22. Immunity of a Member of the Seimas
2. A Member of the Seimas may not be persecuted for his voting or speeches in the Seimas, i.e. at the sittings of the Seimas, Seimas committees, commissions and political groups, however, he may, for personal insult or slander, be held liable in accordance with the general procedure.
3. Criminal proceedings may not be instituted against a Member of the Seimas, he 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 is caught in the act of committing a crime (in flagrante delicto). In such cases the Prosecutor General must immediately notify the Seimas thereof.
Article 23. Waiver of the Immunity of a Member of the Seimas
1. Upon hearing the report of the Prosecutor General concerning prosecution, arrest or any other restriction of freedom of a Member of the Seimas, the Seimas sitting shall be adjourned for the period of not less than one hour and not more than two hours. After the adjournment the Seimas shall adopt one of the following decisions:
1) to form an investigation commission for the consent to prosecute, arrest or otherwise restrict the freedom of a Member of the Seimas or
2. If the Seimas decides to form an investigation commission for the consent to prosecute, arrest or otherwise restrict the freedom of a Member of the Seimas, then the commission shall be formed according to the procedure provided for in Article 71 of this Statute. When investigating the issue concerning the waiver of immunity of a Member of the Seimas, the commission must invite to a meeting of the commission the said Member of the Seimas whose issue is under consideration and hear him or other Member of the Seimas authorised by him, and a representative of the Prosecutor’s Office. If the invited Member of the Seimas or other Member of the Seimas authorised by him fails to come to the commission meeting without a valid reason or he refuses to provide explanations to the commission, the commission shall have the right to adopt a decision in the absence of the Member of the Seimas or other Member of the Seimas authorised by him. Valid reasons why the Member of the Seimas or other Member of the Seimas authorised by him does not come to the commission meeting shall be the reasons laid down in the Code of Criminal Procedure, prescribing compulsory appearance of the participants at the proceedings.
3. If the Seimas resolves to initiate preliminary actions of the impeachment proceedings, the said actions shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure established in Part VIII of this Statute.
4. If the Seimas has adopted a resolution regarding the consent to prosecute, arrest or otherwise restrict freedom of a Member of the Seimas, preliminary actions of the impeachment proceedings and the impeachment procedure may be initiated against the Member of the Seimas only upon resolving the issue of criminal liability, i.e. provided that a sentence has been pronounced or an acquittal has become effective, or the criminal proceedings have been terminated.
5. After the investigation commission has prepared and announced its note and the draft resolution, the issue concerning the waiver of immunity of the person of a Member of the Seimas shall be included on the agenda of the next Seimas sitting.
6. Consideration of this issue shall be limited to the interpretation, assessment or definition of the facts provided for in the motion and shall be set out in the resolution submitted. The discussion concerning draft resolutions shall be attended by the rapporteur of the commission, the Member of the Seimas concerned or another Member of the Seimas authorised by him, and no more than two Members of the Seimas who speak in favour and two Members of the Seimas who speak against the draft resolution. If the draft resolution approves the motion of the Prosecutor General, it may be adopted if more than half of the Members of the Seimas vote in favour of the draft.
Upon the receipt of the consent of the Seimas to take criminal action against a Member of the Seimas, the said Member of the Seimas may not be arrested within the premises of the Seimas.
Article 24. Seimas Leaders
3. The remit of the Speaker of the Seimas and his deputies shall be defined by the Constitution and this Statute.
4. On the recommendation of the Speaker of the Seimas, one of his deputies shall be appointed the first Deputy Speaker of the Seimas.
Article 25. Committees and Commissions of the Seimas
1. The Seimas shall form committees from among its members for the consideration of draft laws and other issues assigned to its remit by the Constitution. The list of the committees shall be established by this Statute.
2. The Commission for Ethics and Procedures, the Petitions Commission, the Commission for Parliamentary Scrutiny of Operational Activities, and other standing commissions shall be formed in the Seimas.
3. In order to resolve short-term issues or issues of narrower scope, and for carrying out specific assignments, the Seimas may, from among its members, form investigation, control, auditing, preparatory, drafting and other ad hoc commissions.
4. The Board of the Seimas may also set up preparatory and drafting ad hoc commissions; the Conference of Chairs may also set up co-ordination commissions.
Article 26. Political Groups, a Group of Non-attached Members of the Seimas and Provisional Groups of Members of the Seimas
1. Members of the Seimas may form political groups according to the procedure established by this Statute for implementing their political goals. This Statute shall establish the rights of the political groups of the Members of the Seimas.
2. A political group of the Members of the Seimas shall be headed and represented in the Seimas by its Chair or Deputy Chair; each Member of the Seimas authorised by a political group may speak out on behalf of the political group.
3. The Members of the Seimas who have not been registered in political groups shall be considered as members of a group of the non-attached Members of the Seimas. The group of the non-attached Members of the Seimas shall be granted all of the rights of a political group provided for in this Statute.
Article 27. Board of the Seimas
1. The Board of the Seimas shall function in the Seimas, the principal task whereof shall be to settle organisational issues of the work of the Seimas and give advice to the Speaker of the Seimas, if he requests so.
Article 28. Conference of Chairs
1. The Seimas shall have a Conference of Chairs comprising the members of the Board of the Seimas and the representatives of the political groups.
2. Each political group shall appoint one representative for every ten members of the group to the Conference of Chairs.
3. In addition, each political group shall appoint to the Conference of Chairs one representative for the remaining segment of fewer than ten members of the political group, provided that the said segment of fewer than ten members shall comprise more than five Members of the Seimas.
4. Political groups consisting of fewer than ten members shall each appoint one representative to the Conference of Chairs.
5. The principal task of the Conference of Chairs shall be to consider and approve work programmes of the Seimas session and agendas of sittings, to co-ordinate issues concerning the organisation of the work of the committees and political groups of the Seimas, and to submit drafts of the decisions on said issues to the Seimas and the Board, and give advice to the Speaker of the Seimas.
Chapter VI
SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS, Deputy SPEAKERS OF THE SEIMAS
and Board OF THE SEIMAS
Article 29. Powers of the Speaker of the Seimas
The Speaker of the Seimas shall:
2) within ten days of the adoption of a law by the Seimas, certify with his signature the authenticity of the text and refer it to the President of the Republic to sign;, within ten days sign the Statute of the Seimas and amendments thereto; within three days sign the laws which have not been signed by the President of the Republic and not been returned to the Seimas for repeat consideration within ten days of the submission thereof, and proclaim them;
3) within ten days of the adoption, sign the resolutions of the Seimas and other acts passed by the Seimas;
4) within 24 hours sign the minutes of Seimas sittings and the decisions of the Board of the Seimas, provided he has presided over them;
5) temporarily act as President of the Republic or temporarily deputise for President of the Republic in the cases specified in Article 89 of the Constitution;
6) have the right to convene an extraordinary Seimas sitting or an extraordinary session in the cases laid down in paragraph 1 of Article 89 of the Constitution;
8) propose to the Seimas candidatures to Constitutional Court judges in accordance with the procedure established by the Constitution;
9) propose to the Seimas the candidatures of the Seimas ombudsmen and the head of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office for appointment and dismissal;
10) propose candidatures to the Seimas for appointment and dismissal to the posts of heads and deputy heads of state institutions in the cases provided by the Constitution and laws;
11) preside over the sittings of the Seimas and the Board of the Seimas or charge one of his Deputies to carry out this function;
12) submit drafts of the work programmes of a session and draft agendas of week- or day-long sittings to the Conference of Chairs or charge one of his Deputies to carry out this function;
13) submit draft agendas of meetings of the Board of the Seimas or charge one of his Deputies to carry out this function; and
3. The Speaker of the Seimas and, in his absence, his Deputy may, provided he is not presiding over a sitting, voice his own opinion out of turn or the opinion of the Board of the Seimas on any issue under consideration at the Seimas sittings.
Article 291. Temporary Acting for the President of the Republic
1. The Speaker of the Seimas shall temporarily act for the President of the Republic in the following cases, specified in paragraph 1 of Article 89 of the Constitution:
3) when the Seimas removes the President of the Republic from office according to impeachment proceedings;
2. When temporarily acting for the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the Seimas shall, for that period of time, lose his powers in the Seimas; all powers of the President of the Republic shall be temporarily passed over to the Speaker of the Seimas. The Speaker of the Seimas shall act for the President of the Republic until a newly elected President of the Republic takes the oath in the manner prescribed by law. The Seimas shall appoint one of the Deputy Speakers of the Seimas to temporarily act for the Speaker of the Seimas during that period of time.
3. When the Seimas receives a transcript of the entry of the act of civil status, issued in the manner prescribed by law, attesting the death of the President of the Republic, or a decree of the President of the Republic on the resignation of the President of the Republic enters into force, an extraordinary sitting of the Seimas shall be immediately convened during the session, or an extraordinary session shall be convened during the period between the sessions, for the adoption of a Seimas resolution specified in paragraph 7 of this Article.
4. Upon receiving a conclusion of the medical commission, approved in accordance with the procedure established in Article 29(3) of this Statute, regarding the state of health of the President of the Republic, the Seimas may appeal to the Constitutional Court with the resolution adopted by a majority vote of more than half of all the Members of the Seimas, requesting to present a conclusion whether, according to the state of his health, the President of the Republic is able to discharge his duties.
5. Upon receiving a conclusion of the Constitutional Court specified in paragraph 4 of this Article, the Seimas shall consider it at a plenary or extraordinary Seimas sitting during the session, or at an extraordinary session during the period between the sessions. Having resolved by a 3/5 majority vote of all the Members of the Seimas that the President of the Republic is unable to discharge his duties due to the state of health, the Seimas shall adopt a resolution specified in paragraph 7 of this Article.
6. Following the adoption of the resolution on the removal of the President of the Republic from office according to impeachment proceedings, the Seimas shall adopt a resolution specified in paragraph 7 of this Article at the same or an extraordinary sitting.
7. In the cases established in this Article, the resolution adopted by the Seimas shall indicate the circumstances on which the Seimas resolution is based, the appointment of the Speaker of the Seimas to temporarily act for the President of the Republic, and the appointment of a Deputy Speaker of the Seimas to temporarily act for the Speaker of the Seimas. The Seimas resolution shall enter into force from the date of its adoption. It shall be published in the official gazette Valstybės žinios in the manner prescribed by law; it shall also be broadcast on the Lithuanian national radio and television on the date of its adoption and though other means of the mass media.
Article 292. Temporary Deputising for the President of the Republic
1. The Speaker of the Seimas shall temporarily deputise for the President of the Republic in the following cases, specified in paragraph 2 of Article 89 of the Constitution:
1) when the President of the Republic is temporarily abroad and therefore unable to discharge the duties of his office;
2. The Speaker of the Seimas shall temporarily deputise for the President of the Republic after the entry into force of a decree of the President of the Republic whereby the Speaker of the Seimas is appointed to temporarily deputise for the President of the Republic due to the latter’s temporary absence beyond the boundaries of the country or his illness.
3. In the cases referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article the Seimas shall adopt a resolution regarding the temporary deputising for the President of the Republic. No discussions shall be held at a Seimas sitting on the issue of the necessity to adopt a Seimas resolution. A Seimas resolution shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.
4. In the cases referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, the Speaker of the Seimas shall retain the powers of the Speaker of the Seimas.
Article 293. Setting up a Commission of Doctors
1. When solving an issue whether the President of the Republic is able to carry out the duties of his office due to the state of health, the Seimas, shall, be its resolution, approve a commission of doctors consisting of at least five members, which shall present to the Seimas the conclusions regarding the state of health of the President of the Republic. Candidatures of Commission members shall be nominated to the Seimas by the Seimas Board.
Article 30. Powers of the Deputy Speakers of the Seimas
1. The Deputy Speakers of the Seimas shall carry out the functions assigned to them by the Speaker of the Seimas.
2. The Deputy Speakers of the Seimas shall within 24 hours sign the minutes of Seimas sittings and the decision of the Board of the Seimas, provided they have presided over those sittings upon the Speaker’s of the Seimas charge.
3. In the event that the Speaker of the Seimas is temporarily away or has been taken ill and is unable because of that to execute his duties, the first Deputy Speaker of the Seimas or another Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, at the behest of the Seimas, shall deputise for him during such period.
4. In the cases specified in Article 291 of this Statute, the Deputy Speaker of the Seimas whom the Seimas appointed to temporarily act as Speaker of the Seimas, shall carry out such duties until the Speaker of the Seimas will start again to execute his duties.
Article 31. Secretary General of the Seimas
1. The Secretary General of the Seimas shall be a civil servant - head of the institution who shall be responsible and accountable to the Seimas and the Board of the Seimas.
2. The Secretary General of the Seimas shall be the head of the Office of the Seimas. The Secretary General of the Seimas shall, in the manner prescribed by law, be appointed to office for the period of five years and dismissed from office by the Seimas on the recommendation of the Speaker of the Seimas.
4. The position of Secretary General of the Seimas shall be incompatible with participation in the activities of political parties or political organisations.
5. The Secretary General of the Seimas shall:
2) supervise the consideration of issues, inquiries and interpellations submitted to the Government members and heads of other state institutions and furnish related information to Members of the Seimas;
3) consider the issues raised by the Members of the Seimas concerning the functioning of the Office of the Seimas; ensure the implementation of the decisions of the Board of the Seimas;
4) ensure the preparation of a draft work programme of a session, draft agendas for week- and day-long sittings, draft agendas of the Conference of Chairs and the material related to all the issues subject to consideration which are prepared by the Speaker of the Seimas and his Deputies;
5) endorse official documents prior to their being submitted to the Speaker of the Seimas for signature and, within his remit, sign official documents;
7) regularly submit to the Seimas summarised data concerning proposals, wishes and letters addressed by voters to the Seimas;
8) together with the representatives of the political groups, arrange the seats in the Plenary Chamber for the members of the political groups and for those Members of the Seimas who do not belong to any political group and allocate premises for meetings of the political groups;
9) in the manner prescribed by law, appoint to office and dismiss civil servants of the Office of the Seimas;
10) approve regulations, rules of procedure, employees’ job descriptions and instructions for clerical work of the divisions of the Office of the Seimas;
Article 32. Powers of the Board of the Seimas
The Board of the Seimas shall:
1) approve and submit to the Ministry of Finance draft estimates of programmes and expenditures of the Office of the Seimas;
2) on the advice of the committees, consider and send the Members of the Seimas on business trips with written tasks of the Seimas, the Board, and committees; approve reports on such trips;
3) by the advice of the committees or political groups, consider and approve trips of the Members of the Seimas during a session which are not financed from the funds of the Seimas;
4) when necessary, consider draft work programmes of a Seimas session and draft agendas of week- or day-long sittings, and submit conclusions to the Conference of Chairs or the Seimas;
7) when necessary, establish to which institutions or persons the principal committee must refer a draft law for conclusions;
8) when necessary, adopt a decision to relieve the principal committee of the obligations set forth in Article 147 of this Statute;
9) when necessary, form working groups for drafting laws and carrying out the assignments of the Seimas or the Board of the Seimas;
10) assist in organising the joint work of the committees on issues which fall within the remit of several committees;
11) approve the structure of the Office of the Seimas and the largest possible number of posts of civil servants and employees in the Office of the Seimas and the institutions accountable to the Seimas who are working under employment contracts and receiving salaries from the State Budget or the state monetary funds;
13) appeal to the Minister of Health regarding the nomination of candidatures for a commission of doctors, which is approved by the Seimas, when the Seimas considers whether the President of the Republic is able to carry out the duties of his office for health reasons,
Article 33. Meetings of the Board of the Seimas
1. Meetings of the Board of the Seimas shall be convened and presided over by the Speaker of the Seimas or his deputy, authorised by him.
2. Other Members of the Seimas and permanent representatives of the President of the Republic and the Government, may participate in the meetings of the Board of the Seimas as observers. Other individuals may also be invited to meetings of the Board of the Seimas.
3. Issues for consideration may be submitted to the Board by the Board members, committees, commissions, political groups, and the Secretary General of the Seimas.
Article 34. Decisions of the Board of the Seimas
1. Decisions of the Board of the Seimas shall be adopted by open vote and a simple majority of those in attendance, provided that a meeting of the Board of the Seimas is attended by at least half of the Board members. A tie vote shall be decided by the vote of the Speaker of the Seimas or, in his absence, of his deputy who is presiding over the meeting.
2. The Members of the Seimas shall be informed of the decisions of the Board of the Seimas by the committees and political groups within three working days of the day on which the decision was adopted during a session or within a week of the beginning of the next session.
3. Committees and political groups may appeal against the decisions of the Board of the Seimas to the Seimas, if it is considered that the said decisions violate or restrict the rights of a Member of the Seimas, a political group or a committee, or have been adopted exceeding the powers assigned to the Board. Such complaints shall be considered and resolved by the Seimas, upon hearing the conclusions of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures.
Article 35. Meetings of the Conference of Chairs of the Seimas
1. During a session, meetings of the Conference of Chairs of the Seimas (hereinafter referred to as the Conference of Chairs) shall be held regularly at a time specially allocated for this purpose.
2. Extraordinary meetings of the Conference of Chairs shall be convened at the request of the Speaker of the Seimas, the Board of the Seimas, the chair of the Conference of Chairs, or at least 1/3 of the members of the Conference of Chairs. The members of the Conference of Chairs shall be given notice of the time and agenda of extraordinary meetings at least six hours prior to the beginning thereof.
3. Meetings of the Conference of Chairs shall be presided over by the chair whose duties, according to the schedule approved by the Conference of Chairs, shall be executed in turn by the chairs of each political group for one week. An opening meeting of the Conference of Chairs held during the first session shall be presided over by the oldest Chair of a political group.
4. Issues for consideration by the Conference of Chairs, which are within its remit, may be proposed and submitted to the Speaker of the Seimas or his deputy, authorised by him by the members of the Conference of Chairs, the Government and by other Members of the Seimas who submit draft laws. A draft agenda of the Conference of Chairs shall be drawn up according to these proposals by the Speaker of the Seimas or his deputy authorised by him.
5. Other Members of the Seimas, permanent representatives of the President of the Republic and the Government may attend meetings of the Conference of Chairs as observers.
Article 36. Powers of the Conference of Chairs
During its meetings, the Conference of Chairs shall:
1) consider draft estimates of programmes and expenditures of the Office of the Seimas and submit these together with its own proposals and remarks to the Board of the Seimas;
4) consider and co-ordinate proposals regarding the appointment of a lead committee or additional appointment of committees for consideration of a draft law and regarding the setting of a preliminary date of a debate on a draft law at a Seimas sitting;
5) consider and co-ordinate rising differences concerning other issues of the organisation of the work of the Seimas;
6) hear the proposals of the chairs of the committees and chairs of the political groups on mutual relations between the committees and political groups, and submit proposals thereon to the Seimas or the Board;
7) submit recommendations to the Board of the Seimas concerning the resolution of issues which are assigned to its remit;
8) perform the function of a co-ordinating (conciliatory) committee in the event of principal disagreements concerning key issues considered in the Seimas;
9) when necessary, establish to which institutions or persons the principal committee must refer a draft law for conclusions;
Article 37. Decisions of the Conference of Chairs
1. With the exception of decisions concerning the agendas of week- or day-long sittings and the decisions specified in subparagraphs 8 and 9 of Article 36 of this Statute, the decisions of the Conference of Chairs shall be consultative with regard to the Seimas and the Board of the Seimas.
2. Consultative decisions of the Conference of Chairs and the decisions concerning the organisation of the work of the Conference itself shall be adopted by a simple majority vote of the members of the Conference of Chairs of the Seimas taking part in the meeting.
3. Decisions concerning drafts of the work programme of a Seimas session, agendas of week- or day- long sittings shall be adopted provided that they are opposed by no more than 1/3 of the members of the Conference of Chairs participating in the meeting of the Conference of Chairs.
4. If any item of the agenda is adopted by majority vote, but is opposed by more than 1/3 of the members of the Conference of Chairs, they shall be submitted to the Seimas as recommendations.
Article 38. Right to Form Political Groups and Working Procedure
of the Political Groups
1. The Members of the Seimas shall form political groups voluntarily, not restricted by any mandates. Political groups may not be established on the basis of professional or local interests.
2. A political group shall consist of at least seven Members of the Seimas. Each Member of the Seimas may be a member of only one political group.
3. The chair of a political group, his deputy or the member of a political group authorised by it shall have the right to represent in the Seimas such a part of the Members of the Seimas, established by this Statute, which their political group forms in the Seimas.
4. Political groups shall establish their own working procedure, provided that it does not contradict this Statute.
Article 39. Announcement of the And of Political Groups
1. The Members of the Seimas who formed a political group shall present an application signed by them to the Speaker of the Seimas during the session. The name of a political group and the names of the chair and deputy chairs must be stated in this application.
2. If a political group formed by the Members of the Seimas complies with the requirements of this Statute, the Speaker of the Seimas must, within one week, announce the establishment of this political group at a Seimas sitting.
3. The Speaker of the Seimas shall be notified in writing of any changes in the name, composition or leadership of a political group, the termination of the activities of a political group or its disbandment, and the formation of a coalition of the political groups no later than on the following working day. The Speaker of the Seimas shall announce such information at the next Seimas sitting.
Article 40. Majority and Minority of the Seimas
1. The political groups of the Seimas whose total number of the members is more than half of the Members of the Seimas and which have signed a joint action declaration or coalition Government agreement shall be considered the majority of the Seimas.
Article 41. Opposition Political Groups
1. Political groups of the Members of the Seimas or their coalitions which disagree with the Government programme may declare themselves Opposition political groups.
2. The political groups or their coalitions which proclaim in the Seimas the political declarations wherein the provisions distinguishing them from the majority of the Seimas are laid down, shall be considered Opposition political groups.
3. Opposition political groups or their coalitions shall announce alternative Government programmes.
4. Opposition political groups and their coalitions shall be guaranteed all the rights of political groups and coalitions which are provided for in the Statute of the Seimas. No reason may provide for the restriction of such rights.
5. If an Opposition political group or their coalition has more than ½ of the Members of the Seimas belonging to the minority of the Seimas, the chair of such political group or the head of the coalition shall be named the leader of the Seimas Opposition. The Opposition leader shall enjoy additional rights of an Opposition leader provided for in this Statute.
Article 42. Provisional Groups
1. Members of the Seimas may form provisional groups for the implementation of common interests concerning a specific matter.
2. Such group shall be considered to be formed when an application is submitted to the Speaker of the Seimas, signed by no less than five Members of the Seimas.
PART III
COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS OF THE SEIMAS
Chapter IX
Procedure for APPOINTING
THE COMMITTEES OF the Seimas
Article 43. List of the Committees of the Seimas
The following committees shall be appointed in the Seimas:
Article 44. Appointment of the Committees of the Seimas
1. Seimas committees shall be formed during the first session, except for the case specified in paragraph 2 of this Article.
2. The Committee on European Affairs shall be set up in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 441 of this Statute.
3. Upon receipt of a draft resolution submitted by the Speaker of the Seimas, at each next regular session changes in the composition of the committees shall be approved by adhering to the principle of proportional representation of the political groups, a new committee shall be set up or committees shall be set up anew.
4. Committees shall be made up of no less than seven and no more than 17 Members of the Seimas (with the exception of the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs) according to the principle of proportional representation of the political groups. The exact number of members of each committee shall be determined by a resolution of the Seimas.
5. The Conference of Chairs shall then approve the norms of representation of the political groups and the group of the non-attached Members of the Seimas in all committees in compliance with the principle of their proportional representation.
6. The political groups and the group of the non-attached Members of the Seimas shall distribute among themselves seats in the committees, according to the number of seats approved by the Conference of Chairs.
7. The Members of the Seimas who have permission to handle or have access to classified information may be members of the Committee on National Defence and Security.
8. Political groups, taking into consideration the requests and remit of their members, shall recommend to the committees as many members as they are accorded seats. In the event that the wish of a Member of the Seimas to become a member of a particular committee, expressed in his application, does not comply with the principle of proportional representation of political groups, the Seimas may adopt a resolution to appoint a Member of the Seimas to a committee other than the one indicated in his application. Applications of the political groups bearing the signatures of the recommended Members of the Seimas shall be submitted to the Speaker of the Seimas who must, within two weeks, present the composition of committees to the Seimas for approval.
9. The number of substitutes for committee members shall not be restricted. Each political group shall submit their candidatures, having registered them in numerical order.
Article 441. Setting up of the Committee on European Affairs
1. The Committee on European Affairs shall be constituted of not less than 15 and not more than 25 Members of the Seimas in accordance with a principle of proportional representation of the Seimas political groups. The political groups shall delegate representatives from committee chairs or deputy chairs, chairs or deputy chairs of the political groups, members of the political groups responsible for European Union matters. An exact number of the Committee members and composition of the Committee shall be approved by a Seimas resolution. Members of the Seimas serving on other committees may be members of the Committee on European Affairs.
Article 45. Powers of a Substitute for a Seimas Committee Member
1. When a committee member does not participate in a meeting of the committee, all rights of the said member shall be given to the substitute for the committee members of the same political group, who attends that meeting and is the first in the established list of substitutes.
Article 46. Elections of the Chair and Deputy Chair of a Seimas Committee
2. The Conference of Chairs of the Seimas shall approve proposals for Seimas committees concerning the political groups whose representatives should be elected chair and deputy chair of a Seimas committee.
3. The chair and deputy chair of a committee shall be elected from the representatives of different political groups, and the total number of chairs and deputy chairs of the committees accorded to the Seimas political groups must be in proportion to the number of the Members of the Seimas belonging to them.
4. The chair and deputy chair of a committee shall be approved by the Seimas. If the Seimas does not approve the presented candidate, the committee must select another candidate.
5. A member of the Board of the Seimas (except the case of the Committee on European Affairs), a Member of the Seimas who is a Government member, the chair or deputy chair of a Seimas commission may not serve as the chair and deputy chair of a committee.
6. A representative of the Opposition political group or their coalition which has more than ½ of the Members of the Seimas belonging to the minority of the Seimas shall be elected chair or deputy chair of the Committee on the Budget and Finance and the Committee on Audit. The chair of the Committee on the Budget and Finance shall have two deputies.
8. A committee may re-elect the chair or deputy chair at any other time and must also apply to the Seimas for approval of a new chair or deputy chair. In the event that the Seimas does not approve the new chair or deputy chair, the former chair or deputy chair shall remain, and the committee may apply to the Seimas concerning the same issue only during the next regular session.
Article 47. Seimas Subcommittees
1. For the execution of their main fields of activities, committees may form subcommittees from their members.
4. The number of chairs of subcommittees accorded to the Seimas political groups must be in proportion to the number of the Members of the Seimas belonging to them.
Article 48. Working Procedure of the Seimas Committees
1. The remit of the Seimas committees and their powers and working procedure shall be established by this Statute and other laws.
2. Seimas committees shall be responsible and accountable to the Seimas. Reports on the work done by the committees may be heard at the beginning of each next regular session.
3. Committees must, during the set time, discuss and present conclusions on the matters referred to them for consideration, perform other tasks assigned to them by the Seimas.
4. Committees shall be responsible for the timely establishment of the need for appropriate laws and other legal acts; the initiation, within their remit, of the preparation thereof; and requesting comprehensive conclusions on the drafts thereof.
5. Seimas committees shall work in accordance with the plans approved by the committees themselves, which must be co-ordinated with the work programme of a Seimas session. Such plans shall state the persons responsible for the implementation and time limits of the implementation. Work plans of the committees and agendas of meetings shall be publicly announced.
6. The activities of committees shall be co-ordinated by the Speaker of the Seimas, the Board of the Seimas in accordance with the work programmes of Seimas sessions and work plans of the committees.
7. Committees may themselves approve the rules of working procedure, which must be in compliance with this Statute.
8. In order to prepare issues which are subject to consideration, committees may form from among their members preparatory working groups. The above groups may include other Members of the Seimas upon their consent and representatives of state institutions, parties and public organisations, experts and scientists. Funds for the experts of such groups shall be allocated in accordance with the approved estimate of expenditure of the committee.
Article 49. Powers of Seimas Committees
The main powers of the committees with respect to issues falling within their remit shall be:
1) to debate draft laws, prepare conclusions, and discuss issues referred to the committee for consideration;
2) on their own initiative or under the instruction of the Seimas, to prepare drafts of laws and other legal acts subject to enactment by the Seimas, and to analyse the necessity of new laws or the amendments to laws in effect;
3) to prepare and submit to the Seimas drafts regarding the harmonisation and supplementing of laws or the elimination of contradictions therein;
4) to consider the Government programme, on their own initiative or under the instruction of the Seimas, to consider programmes of activities of the Government or other state institutions, each within its specific field, and to submit their conclusions to the Seimas;
5) to consider, within their remit, candidates for heads of state institutions who are appointed by the Seimas or for the appointment whereof the approval of the Seimas is necessary, also candidates for deputy heads, and to consider the dismissal from office of the said officials;
6) to consider preliminarily a draft of a law of the Republic of Lithuania pertaining to the approval of the financial indicators of the State Budget and municipal budgets, and the budget execution statements;
7) to analyse and control the economic efficiency of the funds of the State Budget of the current year, consider and submit conclusions and proposals on the items and programmes of a draft State Budget for the next year, presented by the Government, on the issues within the remit of the committees, to seek rational choice of programmes and distribution of allocations for it;
9) while exercising parliamentary scrutiny, to hear information and reports furnished by ministries and other state institutions on the implementation of the laws of the Republic of Lithuania and other acts adopted by the Seimas; on their own initiative or on the instruction of the Seimas, to exercise parliamentary scrutiny of specific issues and to present their conclusions to the Seimas; on their own initiative or on the instruction of the Seimas, to consider annual reports on the activities of the state institutions accountable to the Seimas and to present their conclusions to the Seimas;
11) to prepare a work plan of the committee co-ordinated with the work programme of the Seimas session;
12) prepare the estimate of a committee’s expenditure within the amount appropriated for the committee;
14) to participate in the process of the preparation and co-ordination of a position of Lithuania concerning proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union (as they are defined in paragraph 4 of Article 1801), when necessary to submit conclusions regarding this position to the Seimas, the Seimas Committee on European Affairs, and the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs;
15) to consider other documents of the European Union (as they are defined in paragraph 5 of Article 1801), when necessary to submit conclusions regarding these documents to the Seimas, the Seimas Committee on European Affairs, and the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs;
16) when necessary to submit conclusions to the Seimas, the Seimas Committee on European Affairs or the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs regarding the compliance of proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union (as they are defined in paragraph 4 of Article 1801) with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality;
Article 50. Procedure of Co-operation between the Seimas Committees
2. Issues which fall within the remit of several committees may be prepared and discussed by these committees jointly on their own initiative or on the instruction of the Seimas or its Board. For this purpose they may set up joint working groups and hold joint committee meetings, which shall be presided over by the chairs of these committees in succession.
3. The committee shall have the right to submit a proposal to the Seimas or the Board of the Seimas concerning the passing over of the issues under discussion to another committee for consideration.
4. The committee shall have the right to present its opinion on the issue discussed by another committee, and to ask another committee to present its conclusions, which must be submitted within 15 days.
Article 51. Rights of a Member of a Seimas Committee
1. A committee member shall have the right of a decisive vote on all the issues under consideration in the committee. He shall 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 meetings, to submit proposals concerning the inspection of state institutions and the hearing of their information.
Article 52. Powers of a Chair and Deputy Chair of a Seimas Committee
1. The chair of the committee shall:
1) convene committee meetings and see that necessary documents and other material be prepared for them;
2) taking into account the work programme of a Seimas session, decisions of the committee, decisions of the Seimas or the Board of the Seimas or proposals of the initiators of the committee meetings, prepare a draft agenda of a committee meeting;
3) according to the approved work plans and other decisions of the committee, issue instructions to the committee members and provide them with the material and documents relating to the activities of the committee;
4) for the execution of the work plan of the committee, organise members of the committee to work in preparatory commissions and working groups;
7) sign the resolutions, conclusions and minutes of the meetings of the committee, and the draft laws prepared and edited by the committee, which are submitted to the Seimas for debate, and endorse the adopted and amended laws and other acts of the Seimas prepared by the committee;
10) regularly notify members of the committee of the received draft laws, new assignments for the committee, the execution of the decisions of the committee, consideration of its recommendations, and work in representing the committee;
11) each month notify the Commission for Ethics and Procedures of the members who do not attend committee meetings and who do not fulfil the assignments set forth in subparagraph 3 of paragraph 1 of this Article;
2. On the instruction of the chair of the committee, a deputy chair shall discharge certain functions of the chair. If the chair of the committee is away or has fallen ill and is therefore temporarily unable to fulfil the duties of office, he shall be deputised for by his deputy for the period of his absence, and in case the latter is absent too - by the committee member who is authorised by the chair.
Article 53. Meetings of the Seimas Committees
1. During a session, regular committee meetings shall be organised not less frequently than once a week. During a Seimas sitting, committee meetings shall be organised only with the consent of the Seimas. Between ordinary Seimas sessions, there shall normally be a one-month adjournment in the work of the committees.
2. Regular and extraordinary committee meetings shall be held upon the proposal of the committee chairs. Extraordinary committee meetings shall be also held at the request of more than one third of the committee members or on the instruction of the Seimas or the Board of the Seimas. A preliminary agenda of a regular committee meeting shall be usually approved during the preceding committee meeting. During an extraordinary meeting, only the issues submitted by the initiators of a committee meeting shall be considered.
3. Committees may have closed meetings, when the information related to a State or commercial secret or other information the use and furnishing whereof are restricted by law is provided during the deliberation. A decision to hold a closed meeting is adopted by a majority vote of the committee members.
4. Committee meetings and decisions adopted thereat shall be deemed valid when more than half of the committee members are present at the meeting. Committee meetings shall be presided over by the committee chair or by a deputy committee chair on the instruction of the chair. Prior to the Seimas’ approval of a committee chair, meetings shall be presided over by the oldest member of the committee.
5. In committee meetings, including closed meetings, Members of the Seimas who are not members of those committees may participate in an advisory capacity.
6. Committees may invite to their meetings other Members of the Seimas and municipal councillors, representatives of ministries, other state institutions, parties, public organisations, and educational institutions, specialists, scientists and other persons deemed necessary, having co-ordinated it with heads of these institutions or organisations.
7. Committee meetings shall be open for representatives of the mass media, with the exception of closed meetings. Following each committee meeting, a report shall be prepared to the Seimas Press Service, in which the essence of discussions on the issues concerned and the decisions adopted shall be set forth.
Article 54. Hearings in the Seimas Committees
1. A committee may decide to organise special hearings in the committee for preliminary discussion of a draft law and proposals and amendments submitted in regard thereto when the committee exercises parliamentary scrutiny and for the drawing-up of draft conclusions concerning the issue under consideration.
2. Experts, representatives of interested institutions and groups of the population, and persons having the right of legislative initiative shall participate in hearings of the committee in which the proposals and amendments concerning the legal act under consideration shall be discussed. Decisions shall not be adopted during hearings.
3. For the organisation of such hearings and preparation of conclusions concerning the draft, a committee must appoint two responsible committee members (usually, one from the Seimas majority and one from the Seimas minority) and decide on the experts, interested persons and public officials to be invited to the hearings.
Article 55. Decisions of Seimas Committees
1. Committee decisions shall be adopted by open, simple majority vote of the committee members participating in a meeting. In the event of a tie vote, the vote of the committee chair shall be decisive.
2. When a member of a committee requests that voting on his proposal be conducted, the chair of the committee meeting must put the said proposal to a vote.
3. If the minority of the committee members, which consists of at least three Members of the Seimas, expresses a separate opinion concerning the issue discussed by the committee, this opinion must be announced together with the decision of the committee.
4. Decisions shall be adopted at joint meetings of several committees if each committee expresses its support for the decisions.
6. Decisions adopted by committees shall have advisory effect for state institutions. When sending recommendations and proposals to the state institutions, the committees shall inform the Speaker of the Seimas and, if necessary, the Government of this.
7. Upon receipt of recommendations and proposals of Seimas committees, state institutions, except courts, must consider them. The committees must be informed about the results of such consideration and measures which have been taken within 15 days of receipt of the proposals or any other period of time established by the committees.
Article 56. Powers of Seimas Committees when Exercising Parliamentary Scrutiny
1. Committees shall, within their remit, have the right to control how laws are observed and recommendations and proposals of the committees are taken into consideration; on their own initiative or on the instruction of the Seimas, to exercise parliamentary scrutiny of separate problems; on their own initiative or on the instruction of the Seimas, to consider annual reports of the state institutions accountable to the Seimas.
2. If a committee decides that it is necessary to hear the information of a Government member or an official of any other state institution (except courts), the chair of the committee shall notify the Government member or the head of any appropriate state institution of this. In this event, the Government member or any other official must, not later than within two weeks (unless otherwise requested by the committee), participate in a committee meeting; if the said person fails to attend the sitting, the chair of the committee shall inform the Seimas of this.
3. Committees shall have the right to demand documents, conclusions in writing, reports, and other necessary material from state institutions, except courts, and officials.
Article 57. Seimas Committee Conclusions, Reports and Participation in the Seimas Discussions
1. A committee shall prepare conclusions and make reports during the Seimas sittings on issues which it prepared, whose parliamentary scrutiny it exercised or which it examined as the principal committee and shall prepare supplementary conclusions and make supplementary reports on the issues which were referred to the committee for additional examination.
2. Committee conclusions shall be a comprehensive description of consideration at a committee. They shall contain information on the proposals and amendments received during the consideration, experts who took part therein, amendments to the draft proposed by the committee or the conclusions made by the committee on the issue considered. The Board of the Seimas shall establish the requirements for the committee conclusions and the form thereof.
Article 58. Remit of the Committee on Environment Protection
The remit of the Committee on Environment Protection shall be:
1) to draw up and consider drafts of laws and other legal acts, and proposals on the issues pertaining to environmental quality, sustainable development, climate change, natural resources: use and protection of forests, land, biodiversity, soil, water, protected areas, the use of renewable and alternative energy sources, territorial planning, construction and housing, urban planning and architecture, landscape, community economy and assessment of the impact on the environment;
2) to co-ordinate the work of interested state institutions and other organisations in the process of drafting laws on the issues which fall within the remit of the Committee;
3) to examine, from an environmental point of view, drafts of laws and other legal acts referred to the Committee;
4) to prepare and consider proposals concerning the formation of Lithuania’s environmental protection policy;
Article 59. Remit of the Committee on the Budget and Finance
The remit of the Committee on the Budget and Finance shall be:
1) to consider the draft State Budget of the Republic of Lithuania presented by the Government to the Seimas for approval and to submit a review of the conclusions of all the committees;
3) to prepare, together with other committees, conclusions regarding a set of reports on implementation of the State Budget;
5) to prepare and present conclusions concerning the draft laws which affect the revenue and expenditure of the State Budget;
6) to discuss and present conclusions and proposals regarding draft laws on taxes and special funds, the procedure of financing agencies and organisations maintained from the budget, their expenditure standards, the standards of the formation of municipal budgets, the budget allocations for the implementation of various programmes and for the maintenance of the Seimas and its staff;
7) to exercise parliamentary scrutiny of the use of State property and activities of the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Lithuania and to present proposals and recommendations relative thereto;
8) to consider the National Audit Office opinions submitted to the Seimas and/or the Seimas Committee on the Budget and Finance and, in conjunction with the Seimas Committee on Audit and other Seimas committees, to evaluate and, when necessary, to assist in implementing the recommendations of the National Audit Office presented in these opinions;
9) to put forward proposals on parliamentary assignments to the National Audit Office to perform public audit;
Article 591. Remit of the Committee on Audit
The remit of the Committee on Audit shall be:
1) to consider public audit reports and opinions submitted by the National Audit Office to the Seimas and/or the Seimas Committees;
2) to prepare a draft of a Seimas resolution concerning the implementation of the recommendations of the National Audit Office laid down in public audit reports and opinions;
3) to co-ordinate activities of the Seimas Committees and Commissions when considering the issues of public audit and submitting conclusions thereon;
4) to exercise parliamentary scrutiny of the efficiency of the implementation of the functions of the National Audit Office, the State Property Fund, the Public Procurement Office, to put forward proposals and recommendations relating to the improvement of their activities, and to participate in the preparation of draft laws pertaining thereto;
5) to prepare, debate and submit to the Seimas draft resolutions on financial audit of the National Audit Office, the report on the activities of the National Audit Office presented by the General Auditor to the Seimas;
6) to submit proposals on the conclusions presented by the National Audit Office on a set of reports on implementation of the State Budget and on the reports presented by the Government on the state debt and the state property;
7) to consider, together with other Seimas committees, whether the managers of appropriations use the State Budget appropriations and the State property rationally and efficiently;
9) to debate draft laws referred to the Committee, to prepare conclusions thereon and to examine issues of accounting, reporting, external and internal audits;
10) to prepare and submit to the Seimas draft resolutions on the assignment to the National Audit Office to perform public audit which is not provided for in the annual public audit programme;
11) to debate and present recommendations on drafts of annual public audit programmes drawn up by the National Audit Office;
Article 60. Remit of the Committee on Economics
The remit of the Committee on Economics shall be:
1) to prepare and consider drafts of laws and other legislative acts pending the adoption by the Seimas and proposals on the State regulation of Lithuania’s economy in the fields of energy, transport (air, waterway, railway, and road transport), safe traffic and transport infrastructure, logistics, investments, industry, trade, services, business and tourism, on the management, use, disposal and privatisation of the State property, public procurement and free economic zones;
2) to prepare and consider drafts of laws and other legislative acts pending the adoption by the Seimas and proposals on the legal regulation of activities of economic entities (setting up, registration, activities, reorganisation, competition, bankruptcy of enterprises), partnership of State and private capital (concessions), the legal regulation of activities of public institutions;
3) to consider drafts of laws and other legislative acts pending the adoption by the Seimas, where such drafts are referred to the Committee by the Seimas, and to prepare and submit conclusions thereon;
4) to submit conclusions and proposals on the long-term strategy of the development of Lithuania’s economy, formation of the general economic (macroeconomic), economic competitiveness, economic sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises, investment policy;
5) to consider and submit proposals on the issues which are within the remit of the Committee and which are related to a draft law on the approval of financial indices of State and municipal budgets of the Republic of Lithuania presented by the Government and to the State investment programme provided for in the said draft;
6) to consider and submit proposals on a set of reports on implementation of the State Budget with regard to the issues within the remit of the Committee;
7) to exercise parliamentary scrutiny of activities of institutions engaged in administration and control of the economy (the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Economy and the agencies of the fields of their administration, the Competition Council, the Privatisation Commission, the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy, the State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate, the State Tobacco and Alcohol Control Service under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, and the Public Procurement Office under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania) and to submit proposals and recommendations concerning the improvement of the activities thereof;
8) to examine the use of the appropriations allocated for the programmes and investment projects implemented by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Economy and the agencies of the fields of their administration, the Competition Council, the Privatisation Commission, the National Control Commission for Prices and Energy, the State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate, the State Tobacco and Alcohol Control Service under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, and the Public Procurement Office under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania;
9) to co-ordinate the activities of interested institutions of state administration and other organisations in the course of preparation of drafts of laws and other legal acts pending the adoption by the Seimas on the issues within the remit of the Committee;
Article 61. Remit of the Committee on European Affairs
The remit of the Committee on European Affairs shall be:
1) to consider, within its remit, major issues falling within the remit of the Seimas and pertaining to the membership of the Republic of Lithuania in the European Union and to submit conclusions related thereto;
2) to help ensure parliamentary scrutiny of the sovereignty of the Republic of Lithuania and the implementation of its rights and duties as a member of the European Union;
3) to help ensure an appropriate representation of the interests of the Republic of Lithuania in the European Union;
4) to help the Seimas exercise parliamentary scrutiny of the activities of the Government and other institutions related to planning and performance of actions for the implementation of strategies of the European Union, to the implementation of important regional projects of European integration (especially those related to infrastructure), to the use of the structural funds, and to the issues concerning the participation of Lithuania in the activities of institutions of the European Union;
5) to supervise timely and proper adoption, during the legislative procedure, of laws implementing legal acts of the European Union;
6) to co-ordinate the activities of Seimas committees and commissions when considering European Union issues and presenting conclusions thereon;
7) to co-operate, within the limits of its remit, with the European Parliament and other institutions of the European Union, and with the committees on European affairs of the national parliaments of the European Union Member States and other European states;
9) to participate, within the limits of its remit, in the process of the preparation and evaluation of a position of Lithuania concerning proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union (as they are defined in paragraph 4 of Article 1801), where necessary to present Seimas opinion regarding this position to the Government and to evaluate the presentation of the position in the institutions of the European Union;
10) to consider, within the limits of its remit, other documents of the European Union (as they are defined in paragraph 5 of Article 1801), where necessary, to present conclusions and proposals concerning these documents;
11) to submit, within the limits of its remit, where necessary, conclusions to the Seimas on the compliance of the proposals to adopt the legal acts of the European Union (as they are defined in paragraph 4 of Article 1801) with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality;
12) to organize debates on major issues of the agenda of the European Union in a Seimas plenary sitting and European weeks in the Seimas;
Article 611. Remit of the Committee on the Development of Information Society
The remit of the Committee on the Development of Information Society:
1) to prepare and consider drafts of laws and other legal acts regulating the design of the sustainable development of the knowledge society and the knowledge economy, progress of innovation technologies and management and modernisation of communications, management and safety of information resources and communications infrastructure, to consider and submit proposals related to these issues;
2) to consider and submit to the Seimas the conclusions and proposals regarding the design of the sustainable development of the knowledge society and the knowledge economy, investment promotion, communication administration and modernisation, formation of an information security policy;
3) to co-ordinate activities of state institutions and agencies and other organisations when preparing drafts of laws and other legal acts on the issues falling within the Committee’s remit;
4) to analyse international legal acts and international practice related to the design of the sustainable development of communications, the knowledge society and the knowledge economy, ensuring of information security, to submit proposals and conclusions to the Seimas;
5) to review the use of the funds allocated for the development of communications, innovations, information security, the knowledge society and the knowledge economy in each programme of the manager of budget appropriations and to evaluate the effectiveness of investments;
6) to submit proposals regarding the compliance of drafts of laws and other legal acts prepared by the Seimas Committees and the national strategy of the development of the information and knowledge society;
7) to exercise parliamentary scrutiny on the issues within the Committee’s remit, to hear information and reports of the ministries, other state institutions and agencies on the implementation of the laws and other legislative acts adopted by the Seimas and related to the issues within the Committee’s remit.
Article 62. Remit of the Committee on Rural Affairs
The remit of the Committee on Rural Affairs shall be:
1) to draft laws and other legal acts regulating the activities of agriculture and food industry and to present conclusions on the drafts referred to the Committee for consideration;
2) to draw up and consider proposals on the formation of Lithuania’s agricultural and rural policy, the setting of the fields of agricultural science and training, and the drafting of necessary legal acts;
3) to discuss and present conclusions concerning the draft laws and programmes submitted by the Government, items in the draft State Budget pertaining to the issues of agriculture and food industry, and social problems of rural residents;
4) to carry out an examination of draft laws regulating Lithuania’s economy in terms of agricultural and rural policy and to submit recommendations and conclusions;
Article 63. Remit of the Committee on National Security and Defence
The remit of the Committee on National Security and Defence shall be:
1) to consider and draft laws and other legal acts on the issues pertaining to national defence, State security, civil defence, State border protection, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Special Investigations Service;
2) to co-ordinate the work of the interested state institutions in drafting laws and other legal acts on the issues within the remit of the Committee, and in the fields related to the implementation of the Law on the Basics of National Security;
3) to consider and present proposals concerning the formation of the defence policy of the public and the State and creation and improvement of appropriate structures;
4) to exercise parliamentary scrutiny of national defence, State security, civil defence, State border protection, and the Special Investigations Service under the Ministry of the Interior, to present proposals and recommendations on the improvement of their activities;
Article 64. Remit of the Committee on Social Affairs and Labour
The remit of the Committee on Social Affairs and Labour shall be:
2) to consider the draft budget of the State Social Insurance Fund presented by the Government for approval and to submit conclusions during its consideration in the Seimas concurrently with the consideration of the draft State Budget of the Republic of Lithuania;
3) to exercise general and continuous control of the execution of the budget of the State Social Insurance Fund;
4) to draft laws and other legal acts and proposals on the issues of family policy, social security and labour;
5) to prepare and present conclusions on the laws which influence the real income, social provision and standard of living of the population;
6) to draft laws regulating family support, employment, labour relations, social care and acquisition of apartments by the population and to present conclusions on drafts of those laws and other legal acts referred to the committee for consideration;
7) to co-ordinate the work of interested state institutions and other organisations in drafting laws on the issues within the remit of the Committee;
Article 65. Remit of the Committee on Health Affairs
The remit of the Committee on Health Affairs shall be:
1) to draft laws regulating health care of the population, public health and health promotion activities and to present conclusions relative to the drafts of the said laws and other acts referred to the Committee for consideration;
2) to co-ordinate the work of interested state institutions and other organisations in drafting laws on the issues within the remit of the Committee;
4) to exercise parliamentary scrutiny of health system institutions and other institutions related to the solution of individual and public health problems and to submit proposals and recommendations for the improvement of the activities thereof;
Article 66. Remit of the Committee on Education, Science and Culture
The remit of the Committee on Education, Science and Culture shall be:
1) to prepare and consider drafts of laws, resolutions and other documents which regulate education, science, culture and provision of information and to present proposals relative thereto;
2) to consider and present conclusions on draft documents referred to the Committee and related to the issues of education, science, culture and provision of information and other projects, ascertaining whether they are in conformity with State policy on these issues;
3) to prepare proposals and recommendations for the Government and local authorities concerning education, science, culture and provision of information;
Article 67. Remit of the Committee on Legal Affairs
The remit of the Committee on Legal Affairs shall be:
3) to consider and present conclusions concerning drafts of proposed supplements and amendments of the Constitution and to preliminarily ascertain whether draft laws under discussion are in conformity with the Constitution;
4) to consider and present conclusions for harmonising the legislation of the Republic of Lithuania with that of the European Union;
5) to prepare draft laws and proposals related to the enhancement of the effectiveness of law enforcement and to crime control and to co-ordinate the preparation of such drafts;
6) to consider and present conclusions and proposals concerning reforms of the system of law enforcement;
7) to present legal findings concerning drafts of laws and other legal acts prepared by other committees;
8) to consider and submit to the Seimas an opinion concerning candidates for judges and presidents of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, judges of other courts, prosecutors who are appointed by the Seimas or whose nomination requires the approval of the Seimas and concerning the dismissal of judges and prosecutors;
9) to exercise parliamentary scrutiny of the activities of law enforcement institutions, with the exception of 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, the Ministry of the Interior, the Prosecutor’s Office and other law enforcement institutions;
Article 68. Remit of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
The remit of the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall be:
1) to prepare conclusions concerning the ratification and denouncement of international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania and other issues of foreign policy which are considered by the Seimas;
2) to prepare and consider drafts of laws and other legal acts related to foreign affairs and to submit conclusions thereon;
3) to exercise parliamentary scrutiny of the ministries and other government agencies which carry out foreign policy, submit proposals and recommendations regarding the improvement of their activities; to consider and submit proposals concerning for developing and implementing State foreign policy;
4) taking into account the priorities of foreign policy, to co-ordinate the activities of the International Relations Department of the Office of the Seimas, to discuss the representation of the Seimas in international organisations and fora, to submit recommendations concerning activities of the Seimas delegations, to co-ordinate activities of the interparliamentary relations groups, to submit recommendations and proposals to them, to hear and evaluate reports on activities of the Seimas delegations in international organisations and fora and the Seimas political groups at least once a year starting from the date of their setting-up;
5) to exercise control of state institutions which present information about Lithuania meant for foreign countries, prepare conclusions and proposals relative thereto;
6) to maintain and develop, in conjunction with State and public organisations, the relations with Lithuanian emigrants and their organisations and with the Lithuanians autochthons residing outside the Republic of Lithuania;
7) to consider, in conjunction with other committees, the problems related to the regulation of migration and 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 missions abroad;
9) to consider in advance proposals of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, submit conclusions and recommendations related to the appointment of diplomatic representatives of the Republic of Lithuania in foreign states and international organisations and the recalling of the said representatives;
10) to participate, within its remit, in the process of the preparation and evaluation of Lithuania’s position concerning proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union (as they are defined in paragraph 4 of Article 1801), where necessary, to present Seimas opinion regarding these positions to the Government and to evaluate the presentation of the position in the institutions of the European Union;
11) to consider, within its remit, other documents of the European Union (as they are defined in paragraph 5 of Article 1801), where necessary, to present conclusions and proposals regarding these documents;
Article 69. Remit of the Committee on State Administration and Local Authorities
The remit of the Committee on State Administration and Local Authorities shall be:
1) to prepare, on the instruction of the Seimas or on its own initiative, drafts of legal acts on the issues of State government and public administration, shaping of regional policy, reform of territorial structures, and the organisation, financing and economic independence of the work of local self-government;
2) to consider drafts of laws and other legal acts, prepare conclusions and proposals related to them, on the issues of the reform of State government, public administration and local self-government, administrative division of the territory of the State, regulation of the legal relations of civil service and local self-government;
3) to consider the Government programme provisions pertaining to the reform of state government, public administration and local self-government;
4) to consider, within the remit of the Committee, and to present to the Seimas conclusions concerning candidates for heads of public authorities and other political officials who are appointed by the Seimas;
5) to consider chapters of a draft law on the approval of financial indicators of the State Budget and municipal budgets and to prepare conclusions related to the implementation of the State Budget and municipal budgets in conjunction with other committees;
6) to approve proposals, as submitted to the Seimas by the Government, on the administrative division of the territory of the State and the and of territorial boundaries of individual municipalities and counties;
7) to submit conclusions to the Seimas concerning the motivation for introducing direct rule and setting of the date of new elections to municipal councils;
8) to discuss the issues within the remit of the Committee which have been referred to it on the instruction of the Seimas, the Board or the Speaker of the Seimas;
9) to consider proposals of the Association of Local Authorities of Lithuania on drafts of laws and other legal acts of the Seimas which are under preparation regarding the issues of local self-government development;
10) to hear, when exercising parliamentary scrutiny, the reports and information of institutions of State government and local self-government pertaining to the implementation of laws of the Republic of Lithuania and other acts adopted by the Seimas in respect of the issues within the remit of the Committee and to submit proposals and recommendations related to the matter in question to the Seimas, the Government and the Association of Local Authorities of Lithuania.
Article 70. Remit of the Committee on Human Rights
The remit of the Committee on Human Rights shall be:
1) to prepare and consider drafts of laws and other legal acts and proposals on the issues related to the guarantees of civil rights and the regulation of relations of the nationalities living in Lithuania;
2) to present recommendations and proposals to ministries, state institutions, and other organisations, and to Seimas committees on issues concerning the protection of civil rights and the improvement of relations of the nationalities;
3) to submit, in the prescribed manner, proposals concerning the structure, staff and funding of the Seimas Ombudsmen’s Office;
4) to consider complaints, opinions and proposals referred to the Seimas concerning the work of the Seimas ombudsmen;
5) to prepare, where necessary, a draft resolution on the vote of no-confidence in the Seimas ombudsman and to submit it to the Seimas for consideration; to consider and submit to the Seimas conclusions regarding the draft resolutions which are prepared by other committees;
6) to consider the material submitted by the Seimas ombudsman concerning a breach of law made by ministers and other officials accountable to the Seimas and to submit its conclusions to the Seimas for consideration;
7) to consider and prepare drafts of laws and other legal acts related to the affairs of Lithuanians residing abroad;
Article 71. Formation of Commissions
1. Having acknowledged the necessity, the Seimas may form a standing commission to examine special problems or form temporary investigation, control, revision, preparatory, editorial and other commissions to examine and prepare or fulfil other assignments of the Seimas.
2. If the term of the commission’s existence is not clearly indicated at the time of its formation, the activity of the commission shall be terminated by decision of the Seimas upon completion of the assigned tasks.
3. The number of commission members shall be established first, when forming the commission. The requirements of proportional representation of the Seimas political groups and the term to be proposed for candidates for commission membership shall be established subsequently.
4. Should the submitted list of candidates for commission membership prove to be insufficient, the political groups may each verbally suggest an additional candidate during a meeting, after which each Member of the Seimas may do likewise, until the required number of candidates is attained.
5. Each of the recommended candidates must agree verbally and, if not present at the meeting, submit a written agreement to work in the commission. The Seimas shall vote on the list of candidates thus obtained. Should it fail to be approved, the procedure shall be repeated.
6. When candidates for commission membership are proposed during a Seimas sitting and not according to designated norms and even if at least two Members of the Seimas express doubt regarding any of the candidates, he shall be voted on individually. If more candidates are recommended for commission membership during a Seimas sitting than the established number of candidates and all of the proposed candidates agree to work on the commission, an open-ballot vote shall be taken with the list of candidates included on the ballots.
Article 72. Procedure for Forming Ad Hoc Control or Investigation Commissions
1. Ad hoc control or investigation commissions shall be formed for the purpose of control of implementation of the decisions of the Seimas, collection and presentation of information and conclusions required to analyse the problem at hand and in other instances stipulated in this Statute.
2. Ad ho control or investigation commissions shall be formed of at least five persons in accordance with the procedure established in Article 71 of this Statute.
Article 73. Initiative to Form an Ad Hoc Control or Investigation Commission
1. The Board of the Seimas, committees, political groups and a group of at least one-fourth of the Members of the Seimas shall have the right of initiative to form ad hoc control or investigation commissions, unless this Statute stipulates otherwise in certain instances.
2. Initiators must submit to the Seimas a draft proposal of a decision on formation of an ad hoc control or investigation commission, which shall indicate the aim of formation of such a commission, its tasks and powers.
Article 74. Working Procedure of Commissions
1. The chair or deputy chair of a standing commission shall be elected and approved according to the procedure established for committees. A member of the Board of the Seimas or a Government member may not become chair or deputy chair of the commission. The Seimas shall appoint chair of an ad hoc commission.
2. The Board of the Seimas shall usually approve the estimate of a commission’s expenses and other issues relevant to its activity.
3. Unless the Seimas decides otherwise, during the course of their powers commissions shall follow the rules of procedure of committees.
5. Having completed its work, an ad hoc commission shall submit to the Seimas the draft or conclusion which it has prepared or edited and which the Seimas shall approve by passing a resolution.
Article 75. Powers and Working Procedure of an Ad Hoc Control or Investigation Commission
1. If an issue is being examined which is relevant to a State secret, the meetings of an ad hoc control or investigation commission shall be closed to all persons except those who have been invited, a list of whom shall be compiled in accordance with the commission member’s wishes. In other instances, the ad hoc control or investigation commission may hold closed meetings only with the prior agreement of the Seimas.
2. The data collected in the course of work by an ad hoc control or investigation commission and related to a State secret shall not be published.
Article 76. Decisions of an Ad Hoc Control and Investigation Commission
1. Having completed an assigned task, an ad hoc control or investigation commission shall submit to the Seimas the collected and summarised data, conclusions and a prepared draft decision.
2. A resolution shall be passed at the Seimas sitting regarding the issue examined by an ad hoc control or investigation commission.
3. A Seimas resolution may communicate a vote of no-confidence in the Government, a minister or head of another state institution who is appointed by the Seimas or may present conclusions regarding the proposed impeachment process.
Article 77. Formation of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures
1. A standing Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall be set up in the Seimas. All political groups of the Seimas must be represented in this Commission. When setting up a Commission, at first the number of Commission members shall be fixed and the rates of proportional representation of the Seimas political groups shall be set. Proposals of the Seimas political groups regarding candidates for membership of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall be submitted in writing to the Speaker of the Seimas.
2. Should the Seimas fail to approve the first and the second candidate nominated by the same Seimas political group, it shall not be voted separately for the third candidate nominated for membership of the Commission by this political group.
Article 78. Activity Fields and Powers of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures
Remit of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall be:
1) to prepare drafts of and proposals for legal acts which are related to the activities and ethics of the Members of the Seimas;
2) to assist, by observing ethical norms, the Seimas, Seimas divisions and Members of the Seimas in developing democracy, co-ordinating various points of view and convictions, striving for moral harmony and amicable relations between the Members of the Seimas;
3) to supervise the observance of the Statute of the Seimas and other legal acts regulating the activities of the Members of the Seimas; to examine, on a proposal of the Speaker of the Seimas, his deputies, chairs of committees and commissions, other Members of the Seimas or on its own initiative violations of these legal acts or ethics; to consider conflicts arising between the Members of the Seimas; and where necessary, to present conclusions to the Seimas, the Speaker of the Seimas, or the Board of the Seimas;
4) to examine and present conclusions concerning procedural disputes at the request of the Seimas, the Speaker of the Seimas, the Board of the Seimas, the presiding member of a Seimas sitting, a political group;
5) to examine information presented by the law enforcement bodies of the Republic of Lithuania concerning personal activities of the Members of the Seimas contradicting laws and to present conclusions to the Seimas thereon;
6) to control whether the funds allocated from the State Budget to cover Members of the Seimas’ expenses related to their parliamentary activities are used for their intended purpose;
7) to analyse the reasons for which Members of the Seimas have failed to attend sittings of the Seimas and meetings of the Seimas committees and commissions and to announce information on the Seimas website concerning the sittings missed without a justified reason and assignments which have not been carried out;
8) to examine the letters and proposals of voters, state agencies and public organisations on the issues concerning the activities of the Members of the Seimas;
9) to check whether the Members of the Seimas submit private interest declarations properly and timely and to store them;
10) to prepare, based upon annual private interests declarations of Members of the Seimas or at a request of a Member of the Seimas, written recommendations for the Member of the Seimas regarding the measures to be taken by that Member of the Seimas in order to co-ordinate his activity with the Law on the Alignment of Public and Private Interests in Civil Service and requirements of Article 18 of this Statute;
11) to have the right, on the instruction of the Chief Official Ethics Commission or on the receipt of a statement to the effect that a certain Member of the Seimas does not fulfil the requirements of the Law on the Alignment of Public and Private Interests in Civil Service and Article 18 of this Statute, to conduct an investigation into the activities of said Member of the Seimas. The Speaker of the Seimas, the person who submitted the statement, the Member of the Seimas whose activity was investigated and the Chief Official Ethics Commission shall be notified of the received statements, a decision to conduct an investigation and the results of the investigation. Should it be established in the course of the investigation that the Member of the Seimas failed to fulfil the requirements of the Law on the Alignment of Public and Private Interests in Civil Service and Article 18 of this Statute, the Seimas shall be immediately informed thereof;
12) to deliberate an appeal of every Member of the Seimas regarding violation of his rights defined by this Statute and to furnish a justified reply;
13) to control on an ongoing basis the compliance of the Members of the Seimas with the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 60 of the Constitution, paragraph 1 of Article 6 and paragraph 4 of Article 15 of this Statute and, on the assignment of the Seimas, to investigate activities of the Members of the Seimas;
14) to initiate an investigation into a possible violation by a Member of the Seimas of the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 60 of the Constitution, paragraph 1 of Article 6 and paragraph 4 of Article 15 of this Statute.
2. If upon initiating an investigation it is suspected that the Member of the Seimas has violated the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 60 of the Constitution, paragraph 1 of Article 6 of this Statute or paragraph 4 of Article 15, the Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall propose to the Seimas to entrust it with the assignment to conduct an investigation of the activities of the Member of the Seimas or to set up an ad hoc investigation commission. Having conducted the investigation into the activities of the Member of the Seimas on the assignment of the Seimas and having established that the Member of the Seimas has violated the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 60 of the Constitution, paragraph 1 of Article 6 and paragraph 4 of Article 15 of this Statute, the Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall, together with the conclusion of the conducted investigation, submit to the Seimas a draft resolution concerning the cessation of the powers of the Member of the Seimas on the grounds provided for in subparagraph 7 of Article 63 of the Constitution and subparagraph 7 of paragraph 1 of Article 8 of this Statute.
3. If in the course of the investigation into the activities of the Member of the Seimas suspicions are raised that the Member of the Seimas might have grossly violated the Constitution and/or breached the oath, the Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall, by a majority vote of not less than 4/5 of all the Commission members, propose to the Seimas to initiate impeachment proceedings against that Member of the Seimas.
4. If in the course of the investigation into the activities of the Member of the Seimas suspicions are raised that the Member of the Seimas might have committed a crime, the Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall, at the next Seimas sitting, give a notice thereof to the Seimas and, without delay, in writing to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 79. Office of the Seimas
1. The Office of the Seimas shall ensure the activities of the Seimas and resolve Members of the Seimas’ household issues. The Office of the Seimas shall function in compliance with the regulations approved by the Board of the Seimas.
2. The Office of the Seimas shall be a state agency. It shall have the rights of a legal person, a settlement account with the bank, and seal with the State Emblem of Lithuania.
3. The Office of the Seimas shall, in a manner prescribed by law, manage, use and dispose of the State property in trust.
Article 80. Petitions Commission and Deliberation of Petitions in the Seimas
1. A standing Petitions Commission of the Seimas shall be formed for the purpose of examining in the Seimas petitions of Lithuanian citizens.
2. The Petitions Commission shall be formed in accordance with provisions of Article 71 of this Statute.
3. The Petitions Commission shall examine petitions addressed to the Seimas, by the citizen of the Republic of Lithuania.
4. A special law and the regulations of the Petitions Commission shall determine the procedure for submitting and examining of petitions.
5. The complaints addressed to the Seimas regarding the decisions of the Petitions Commission of the Seimas shall be presented by the Chair of the Petitions Commission in the course of a Seimas sitting. The Seimas shall adopt a reasoned Seimas protocol resolution pertaining to the issue, the draft whereof shall be submitted by the Chair of the Petitions Commission.
Article 801. Setting-up of the Commission for the Parliamentary Scrutiny of Operational Activities and its Objectives
1. The Commission for the Parliamentary scrutiny of Operational Activities (hereinafter: “the Commission”) shall be set up according to the procedure established by Article 71 of the Seimas Statute, by the decision of the Seimas, preserving the principle of proportional representation of the political groups. The Commission shall consist of seven Members of the Seimas and shall be a standing commission.
Article 81. Parliamentary Delegations and Interparliamentary Relations Groups
1. The Seimas parliamentary delegations to international organisations and forums shall be formed in the same manner as ad hoc commissions.
2. Interparliamentary relations groups shall be formed on the basis of self-determination by Members of the Seimas.
3. Having received the recommendation of the initiators, the Speaker of the Seimas shall inform the Members of the Seimas regarding the commencement and end of joining interparliamentary relations groups and of the initiators of the formation thereof and shall announce the date and location of the first meeting.
4. Following the first meeting of the group in the course whereof the group chair, deputy or assistants shall be elected, the group chair shall announce formation of the interparliamentary group. The group shall be registered at the Seimas based upon a statement by the chair of the group.
5. The Speaker of the Seimas shall inform the parliaments of respective states and their leaders regarding the formation of such groups in the Seimas.
6. The Board of the Seimas, taking into consideration the recommendations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the workload of a specific working group, the importance of economic, political or moral aspects, shall support the activities of political groups: appoint the secretary of the group, finance the reception of guests invited by the group or visits of the group’s members on the invitation of political groups from other states.
7. The Committee on Foreign Affairs shall co-ordinate activities of interparliamentary groups. The Chairs of the groups shall, at least twice during their term in office, submit written information reports to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The Committee on Foreign Affairs may hear the group chair’s report during the Committee meeting.
Article 82. Convening of the First Session of the Seimas
1. The Seimas shall be deemed elected after the Central Electoral Commission announces that at least three-fifths of Members of the Seimas have been elected.
2. 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.
Article 83. Opening Sitting of the Newly Elected Seimas
1. As a rule, the opening sitting of the newly elected Seimas shall open at twelve o’clock in the Seimas premises.
2. The opening sitting of the Seimas shall be opened by the oldest 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 oldest Member of the Seimas. He or she shall take the chair until the Speaker of the Seimas is elected.
Article 84. Work Procedure of the Seimas upon Commencement of the Opening Session
1. Upon the commencement of the opening session of the Seimas, time shall be assigned for the formation of political groups and the Conference of Chairs.
2. Thereafter, as a rule, the Seimas, in the following order, shall:
3) consider the Programme of the Government submitted by the Prime Minister and decide whether or not to approve it;
Article 85. Seimas Sessions
5. If the day of the opening of a session is a non-working day, only one sitting shall be held on that day.
Article 86. Convening of Extraordinary Sessions
1. Extraordinary sessions shall be convened by the Speaker of the Seimas on the written proposal of at least one-third 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.
2. In the cases provided for in paragraph 1 of Article 89 of the Constitution, the Speaker of the Seimas shall have the right to convene an extraordinary session. It shall be convened not later than within 24 hours. A Seimas sitting may be commenced only if there is a proposal signed by at least 1/3 of the Members of the Seimas.
3. The Board of the Seimas must notify all of the Members of the Seimas of an extraordinary session at least two days prior to the opening of the session, except for urgent cases.
4. Only issues submitted by the initiators thereof shall be considered at an extraordinary session. The work programme of extraordinary sessions shall be approved by the Seimas.
Article 87. Venue of Seimas Sittings
2. In the event that the Seimas cannot convene in the Seimas premises, the Speaker of the Seimas or the Board of the Seimas may temporarily assign another place for sittings to be held. All the Members of the Seimas must be notified of such a decision.
Article 88. Secretariat of Plenary Sittings
1. The Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall be a structural subdivision which shall provide services during sittings of the Seimas and the Conference of Chairs and shall fulfil the related assignments of the Speaker and Deputy Speakers of the Seimas.
2. The Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall:
1) register all submitted drafts of laws and other legal acts and their updated versions, findings and proposals;
2) accept proposals of the Seimas Committees, Members of the Seimas and the Government concerning a work programme of a session and refer them to the Speaker of the Seimas;
3) be responsible for timely presentation of material required for a sitting to the presiding Member of the Seimas sitting, Members of the Seimas, Seimas Committees, political groups, the President of the Republic and the Government;
4) register all the Members of the Seimas participating in a sitting, receive applications of the Members of the Seimas concerning their inability to take part in the sitting during the voting scheduled beforehand, and inform the Commission for Ethics and Procedures thereof;
5) accept requests of the Members of the Seimas to put questions to a reporter, to participate in discussions, to advance an opinion on reasons for voting, and refer them to the member presiding over the sitting;
6) register questions and interpellations of the Members of the Seimas addressed to the members of the Government, heads of the state institutions, and transfer them to appropriate officials;
7) assist the member presiding over a sitting in ensuring that Seimas sittings be conducted in compliance with the requirements of the Seimas Statute;
8) attend to adequate technical preparation and service of the sittings and arrange for the interpretation of sittings;
9) provide information on sittings to the Members of the Seimas, Seimas Committees, political groups, the President of the Republic and the Government, divisions of the Office of the Seimas;
Article 89. Session Work Programme
1. The preparation of sessions, with the exception of the first session, shall be organised by the Speaker of the Seimas. Together with his deputies, he shall prepare drafts of the work programme of the session and of the agenda of sittings held during the first week.
2. The Members of the Seimas may obtain said drafts at the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings two working days before the opening of the session.
3. 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.
5. The draft of the session work programme shall be considered by the Conference of Chairs upon receiving the written proposals of the Government and the President of the Republic. The Conference may amend and supplement the draft in the manner established in Article 37 of this Statute.
6. The draft, along with the amendments and supplements and the recommendations made by the Conference of Chairs, shall be submitted to the Seimas for debate.
7. At the first session following the election, the Seimas shall, as a rule, consider and approve the work programme at the time specified in Article 84 of this Statute. Other sessions shall open with the discussion and approval of the work programme.
8. Individual items of the work programme shall be discussed and put to the vote at the Seimas in accordance with the same procedure as is applicable to the adoption of laws on an article-by-article basis.
Article 90. Preparation of a Weekly Agenda of Sittings
1. In accordance with the approved work programme of the session, the Speaker of the Seimas, together with the Seimas Deputy Speakers, shall draft a detailed agenda of sittings for a week and submit it to the Conference of Chairs for debate. Proposals shall be submitted by the members of the Conference of Chairs, committees, other Members of the Seimas, and the Government.
2. The time of the sittings, the issues under discussion, the registration number of a draft, the stage of debate, and the rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs must be specified in the agenda. The Seimas must be informed also of the proposals which were not adopted.
3. If any of the issues on the agenda of a specific week are not discussed within that week, these issues shall be included without voting in the agenda of the following week.
4. With the exception of cases specified in this Statute, issues which are included in drafts of laws, resolutions or other acts in accordance with the requirements set forth in Chapter 19 of this Statute shall be entered in the weekly agenda.
5. The Conference of Chairs shall decide at its sitting whether or not to approve each item of the presented agenda in accordance with the procedure established in Article 37 of this Statute.
6. If a decision is passed to work one day a week, the Conference of Chairs 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 the weekly agenda of sittings.
Article 91. Approval of a Weekly Agenda of Sittings
1. A draft weekly agenda of sittings approved at the Conference of Chairs shall be put to the vote at a Seimas sitting without preliminary discussion thereon.
2. The items of the agenda presented as recommendations by the Conference of Chairs and the full 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 Members of the Board of the Seimas, committees, political groups and the Government.
Article 92. Mandatory Inclusion of Issues on the Agenda
1. At the written request of a group of at least one-third of the Members of the Seimas, inclusion of an issue in the session work programme or in the weekly agenda or in the agenda of the next day shall be mandatory, provided that the issue has been prepared and relevant provisions for its discussion have been made in accordance with the procedure established in this Statute. No more than one and a half hours shall be assigned for debating such issues unless the Seimas decides to extend the discussion period.
2. Should the President of the Republic request so, the issues and reports recommended by him shall be included in the agenda of the sitting on a mandatory basis (without a vote).
3. The Government shall have the right to request inclusion of a Government report concerning an important issue on the agenda of a sitting of the Seimas. Under a decision of the Seimas, a discussion may follow the report.
4. At the written request of more than one-tenth of all of the Members of the Seimas, inclusion of the discussion concerning an especially important matter in the agenda of the next day shall be mandatory. No more than 30 minutes shall be assigned for the discussion, unless the Seimas decides to extend this discussion. Following the discussion, the Seimas may instruct one of the committees or commissions to examine that matter. Only one such discussion may be held per sitting.
Article 93. Daily Agenda of Sittings
1. The Speaker of the Seimas shall, together with his deputies, draw up, on the basis of the approved weekly agenda of sittings, a detailed draft daily agenda of the sittings in which the rapporteur and the time of debate or voting on every issue must be specified separately.
2. The abovementioned draft agenda shall be considered and adopted at the Seimas on the day preceding the sitting.
3. If the draft daily agenda of a sitting is approved at the Conference of Chairs, it shall not be discussed at the Seimas sitting and the Seimas shall immediately vote on the approval of the agenda.
Article 94. Inclusion of Additional Issues on the Agenda and Removal of Issues from the Agenda
1. The Board of the Seimas, the Conference of Chairs, the Government and Seimas political group shall have the right to propose at a Seimas sitting to include additional issues in the adopted weekly or daily agenda of sittings or to remove issues from these agendas.
2. A proposal to include additional issues in the agenda or to remove issues from the agenda may be adopted if the majority of the Members of the Seimas present at the sitting votes for the proposal.
Article 95. Language of the Seimas Sittings
Seimas sittings shall be held in the Lithuanian language. Guests, experts or witnesses who do not speak the language shall have the right to speak in any other language, provided they notify the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings thereof no later than six hours in advance; the Secretariat must see to it that interpretation is provided.
Article 96. Frequency of Seimas Sittings
1. As a rule, four sittings a week – two on Tuesday and two on Thursday – shall be held during the Seimas session, with a week-long adjournment of Seimas plenary sittings every three weeks.
2. On other days of the week and in the week when no plenary sittings are held, meetings of the Board of the Seimas, the Conference of Chairs, political groups, committees and commissions and meetings of the Members of the Seimas with electors or representatives of local authorities shall be held.
Article 97. Agenda of Seimas Sittings
1. The last twenty minutes of every day’s evening sitting shall be allotted to Members of the Seimas for making statements on urgent state issues and broadcast on national radio.
2. Those wishing to speak shall, prior to the morning sitting, submit a written request to the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings. The Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall present the received requests to the member presiding over the sitting.
3. No discussion shall be held on the opinions expressed in statements of Members of the Seimas. The Seimas may without discussion approve the proposal of a Member of the Seimas to assign investigation of an issue to an appropriate Seimas committee or commission. The Seimas committee or commission must start investigating this issue not later than within a week.
4. Thirty minutes of a evening sitting on Tuesday is given to the Parliamentary Question Time (half an hour long), i.e. to replies of individual Government Members, Seimas officials, heads of the state institutions appointed by the Seimas, except judges of the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court, and to replies of heads of other state institutions to the inquiries of Members of the Seimas, while a segment of a morning sitting on Thursday is usually allotted to the Parliamentary Question Time (an hour long).
5. Agendas of every third Thursday evening sitting shall be drawn up by the political groups of the Opposition. Taking into consideration the principle of proportional representation of the political groups of the Opposition, the Board of the Seimas shall appoint, prior to the beginning of a regular Seimas session, a political group or a coalition of political groups responsible for the agenda of such sittings. In this case the agenda shall not be approved at the Seimas sitting and must be submitted along with the draft weekly agenda of sittings.
6. Every Thursday, except the Thursdays indicated in paragraph 5 of this Article, no more than two hours shall be allotted at the end of the evening sitting for consideration of the drafts registered by the Members of the Seimas. Such drafts shall be included in the agenda in accordance with the order of their registration, unless more than one-third of the Members of the Seimas object to such inclusion. A Member of the Seimas may request the Seimas to postpone consideration of the draft registered by him, however in this case, the draft may be included in the agenda only when the turn for its consideration comes again.
Article 98. Time of Seimas Sittings and Registration of Members of the Seimas
1. As a rule the morning sitting of the Seimas shall be held from 10:00 a.m. and the afternoon sitting – from 3:00 p.m.
2. Members of the Seimas shall be registered at the beginning of every sitting and before the voting planned in advance.
3. Based upon a decision of the member presiding over a Seimas sitting or at the request of a political group which is supported by at least a half of the Members of the Seimas participating in the sitting, the Seimas sitting may be extended by not more than one hour, provided that the Seimas has failed to consider all issues on the approved agenda.
Article 99. Extraordinary Seimas Sitting
1. An extraordinary Seimas sitting must be held when it is requested in writing by the President of the Republic, at least one-third of the Members of the Seimas, the Board of the Seimas, and in the cases provided for in paragraph 1 of Article 89 of the Constitution – by the Speaker of the Seimas.
2. Only the issues submitted by the persons on whose initiative the sitting is held shall be considered at such a sitting.
Article 100. Member of the Seimas Presiding over a Seimas Sitting
1. Sittings of the Seimas shall be presided over by the Speaker of the Seimas or Deputy Speaker of the Seimas.
2. The Member of the Seimas presiding over a Seimas sitting:
1) shall, orally and by banging the gavel, announce the opening and closing of the sitting and, as necessary, may also announce an adjournment not provided for in the agenda;
2) shall attend to the conduct of proceedings of Seimas sittings, supervise compliance with this Statute during the sittings, and control the performance of duties of the group of tellers and the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings;
3) shall not take part in discussions and may not in any other way influence the Members of the Seimas as regards the decisions pending the adoption;
4) shall give the floor to the Members of the Seimas, direct a debate and may pose questions to the Members of the Seimas in order to specify the essence of proposals;
5) shall watch over the duration of speeches and, if the time limit is exceeded, shall warn the rapporteur and may interrupt him after the second warning;
6) may extend the time of a speech delivered on an urgent issue provided that the Seimas does not object;
7) may warn the rapporteur or interrupt him after the second warning if the rapporteur is speaking not to the point;
9) shall phrase questions to be put to the vote on the basis of results of the debate; pursuant to this Statute, establish the voting procedure, announce the beginning of voting and, in accordance with the information presented by the group of tellers or electronic voting machines, announce the results of the voting;
10) shall call to order the Members of the Seimas if they do not adhere to the Statute and make noise in the Plenary Chamber and publicly insult the President of the Republic, the Seimas, the Speaker, the Members of the Seimas, 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 for Ethics and Procedures or exclusion of the Member of the Seimas from the Plenary Chamber;
11) shall take a decision to exclude from the Plenary Chamber the invited persons or the correspondents if they interfere with the sitting;
12) shall, when adopting decisions, announce at the request of the Members of the Seimas the article of the Statute in compliance with which he is acting; and
Article 101. Open and Closed Seimas Sittings
2. On a decision of the Seimas and at the request of the Speaker of the Seimas, the President of the Republic or the Prime Minister, a closed sitting may be held by way of exception and may be attended, in addition to the Members of the Seimas, only by persons specially invited to the sitting and, as necessary, by the personnel of the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings.
3. The Board of the Seimas, the Government, political groups and committees shall have the right, on a duly justified basis, to propose to hold a closed sitting.
Article 102. Guests and Observers of Seimas Sittings
1. The Speaker of the Seimas or the Board of the Seimas may invite to speak at sittings the most prominent guests of the Republic of Lithuania: heads of foreign states, members of governments, heads of parliamentary delegations and international organisations, and chairs of organisations of Lithuanian emigrants.
3. The President of the Republic, members of the Government, the justices of the Constitutional Court, the President of the Supreme Court and heads of the state institutions formed by the Seimas may attend the sittings without a special invitation and state their opinion during discussions where issues related to their work are considered. An entry regarding their participation shall be made in the minutes of a sitting.
4. Open sittings of the Seimas shall be public. They may be attended by all persons having permits to enter the Seimas premises. The Board of the Seimas shall establish the procedure for observing sittings in the Plenary Chamber.
Article 103. Meeting of the Members of the Seimas
1. The Seimas may convene a meeting of all the Members of the Seimas 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.
Article 104. Reports, Speeches and Replies to Questions
2. In the cases set forth in Article 106 of this Statute, the Members of the Seimas may speak from their seats or into the microphones installed in the Plenary Chamber.
3. Speaking during sittings shall be allowed only on the permission of the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting.
4. As a rule, one principal report and one additional report shall be made on every issue under consideration.
5. The duration of a report shall be fixed by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting in co-ordination with the person delivering the report. Usually, reports should not exceed 30 minutes.
6. Additional reports shall be allotted up to fifteen minutes; closing statements and speaking in a debate on behalf of the Government or a committee shall be allotted up to ten minutes; speaking on behalf of a political group - up to seven minutes, and speeches delivered on behalf of the rapporteur himself shall be given up to five minutes. If, prior to the start of a debate at the Seimas a decision is adopted to limit the duration of the debate, the time allotted to political groups shall be divided in proportion to the size of the political groups and the chairs of the political groups shall inform the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting as to the member of the political group who will speak and the duration of his speech.
7. During the presentation of a draft, a report shall be allotted ten minutes and replies to the questions of the Members of the Seimas – up to ten minutes.
8. A reply to a single question may not exceed three minutes, whereas the question itself may not take longer than one minute.
9. Only one question shall be permitted at a time. A person shall be allowed to ask a second question only when it is his turn again.
Article 105. Procedure of Organising Discussion
1. Registration of persons wishing to take the floor shall begin an hour before the first sitting of the day when an issue is to be discussed and shall close by the commencement of the discussion of the issue. Upon completion of registration, the Member of the Seimas 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 Plenary Sittings.
2. Speakers shall be given the floor during discussions in the order in which they have registered to speak. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting may change the order for the purpose of ensuring proportional representation of political groups and committees and for presenting arguments “for” and “against”.
3. A speaker may waive his right to take the floor. If the speaker leaves the Plenary Chamber without giving prior notice to the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting and is not present when called upon to speak, he shall be deemed to have waived his right to take the floor. The Members of the Seimas may not transfer to each other the speaking time allotted to them.
Article 106. Speeches Regarding Procedure and Other Issues
1. During debates, the Members of the Seimas shall have the right to take the floor not more than once for every item on the agenda.
2. Questions, remarks, and speeches concerning the reasons or procedure for voting, issues related to the termination of discussion, and proposals to reject or postpone the issue under consideration shall constitute an exception.
3. In the abovementioned cases, no advance registration shall be required. However, every Member of the Seimas shall have the right to pose a question, speak or make a remark only once on each given issue on the agenda, and concerning the reasons for voting – once before each voting.
4. Remarks shall be made in response to another person’s speech or asking for an explanation. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall decide whether to give the floor to make a remark.
5. Speeches on termination of the procedure, discussion, postponement of deliberation of an issue or rejection of a draft and remarks shall have precedence over the issue under consideration. In the abovementioned cases, members shall be given the floor for no longer than two minutes after the speaker has finished speaking. In the cases specified in the Statute, such speeches may be followed by vote.
Article 107. Debates on Reasons for Voting
1. Members of the Seimas may speak on reasons for voting after the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting announces the issue on which vote will be taken and asks whether there are any persons present who wish to speak on reasons for voting. The duration of speech may not exceed two minutes.
2. When the Seimas votes on an issue in its entirety or the adoption of a draft law, not more than four Members of the Seimas may take the floor in favour of and not more than four Members of the Seimas against the reasons of voting. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall give priority to chairs of political groups and those speaking on behalf of political groups.
Article 108. Termination and Limitation of Discussions
1. Discussions shall be terminated on the decision of the Seimas, except when this Statute provides for a different procedure for termination of discussions.
2. Proposals to terminate a discussion 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 more Member of the Seimas supports the proposal. Prior to voting, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting must announce how many persons registered for speaking and how many have already spoken.
3. Upon resolving to terminate the discussion, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting must give the floor to one more Member of the Seimas whose turn it is to speak and to any person who are entitled to be given the floor pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article. In addition, the speaker may be given the floor for final statement.
4. During the discussion, the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the Seimas, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Seimas Opposition shall have the right to take the floor one time out of turn.
5. If members of the Government and one representative of a political group or of a committee notify the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings of their wish to be given the floor prior to termination of a discussion, they shall retain the right to take the floor even if it is resolved to terminate the discussion.
6. The Seimas may limit in advance the general duration of discussion on each issue or the number of speakers. In such cases, proposals to terminate a discussion shall not be accepted.
Article 109. Adjournment of a Debate on an Issue and Postponement of the Debate
1. In discussing each issue and prior to the commencement of voting, the Seimas shall take an unscheduled adjournment of no less than half an hour and no more than an hour or the debate on the issue may be postponed to the next sitting if the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting, the lead committee or a political group so requests and the request is supported by at least one-third of the Members of the Seimas present at the sitting, or if an opposition political group so requests and the request is supported by at least one-fifth of the Members of the Seimas present at the sitting.
2. In discussing an issue, such adjournments and postponements of debates may only be done twice. Only one unscheduled adjournment of a debate on the same issue may be taken during the same sitting.
3. If the Statute was expressly violated during a debate on an issue, the committee which prepared the draft of the law or other legal act, a political group, or the Commission for Ethics and Procedures shall have the right to request that the debate on the issue be postponed, but for no longer than one week.
Article 110. Speech of a Member of the Seimas on a Personal Issue
1. If the conduct or words of a Member of the Seimas are presented in a distorted manner by other speakers, he shall have the right to request that the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting give him the floor to speak on a personal issue for up to two minutes.
2. If the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting rejects the request, the Member of the Seimas shall have the right to request that the issue of whether or not he should be given the floor to speak on a personal question be put to the vote.
Article 111. Voting Methods and Procedure
1. Open ballot voting shall be conducted on issues debated at Seimas sittings, except for the cases stipulated by this Statute.
2. Laws and resolutions of the Seimas shall be adopted using the electronic vote counting system. Voting shall also take place on individual provisions of an issue under consideration, individual articles or stipulations of a law, protocol decisions and work programme of the session, agenda of sittings and other issues. Data regarding the vote of each Member of the Seimas shall be public. On the decision of the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting, these issues may be voted upon by show of hands.
3. Individual instructions approved by the Board of the Seimas shall establish how to use the electronic vote counting system.
Article 112. Voting Procedure
1. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall announce the commencement of voting procedure.
2. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting must inform the Members of the Seimas how many votes are needed to adopt a decision.
Article 113. Decision Taking
1. Laws of the Republic of Lithuania, Seimas resolutions and other Seimas decisions are adopted by a simple (i.e., more than half) majority of the Members of the Seimas present at the sitting, with the exception of specific cases stipulated by the Constitution and this Statute. Laws shall be adopted when not less than half of all Members of the Seimas attend a Seimas sitting.
2. Decisions on protocol resolutions of the Seimas (resolutions included in the protocol), individual provisions of an issue being debated, individual articles or statements of a law, issues of working procedure of a session shall be adopted by majority vote, these decisions may also be adopted without a vote (by consensus) i.e., when the question by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting: ‘Are there any against?’ is followed by no reply, he announces: ‘Adopted.’
3. At every sitting the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting must, prior to the first voting and also prior to voting on an entire law or adoption of any other legal act, check the number of Members of the Seimas attending the sitting.
4. If before any voting the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting or any political group fails to request to check the number of Members of the Seimas attending the sitting, this may not be questioned later. The last count established at the sitting shall be considered the number of the Members of the Seimas attending the sitting.
Article 114. Roll Call Voting
1. Roll call voting shall be permitted in adopting Lithuanian Republic laws, Seimas resolutions or other acts, except for issues regarding individuals, provided that one of the political groups so requests and at least one-third of the Members of the Seimas attending the sitting supports such request.
2. Such a request may be submitted by the representative of a political group only upon conclusion of a debate on an issue and prior to voting on the entire draft.
3. In such a case, ballot papers for roll call voting shall be distributed to the Members of the Seimas prior to the commencement of voting; upon receipt of the ballot papers, the Members of the Seimas shall sign the record of issued ballot papers.
4. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall announce the time of commencement and completion of roll call voting. Respective information shall be announced throughout the premises of the Seimas.
5. Prior to the commencement of roll call voting, the chair of any political group may request a postponement of the voting. In this case, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall indicate the precise duration of the postponement; this voting must take place not later than by the end of the next day of sittings. Such mode of postponement of voting may be applied only once.
6. Upon announcing commencement of voting, every Member of the Seimas shall fill in the ballot paper, sign it, and hand it over to the tellers’ group.
Article 115. Voting by Secret Ballot
1. When electing Speaker of the Seimas, Deputy Speakers of the Seimas, resolving an issue related to no-confidence in the Government, the Prime Minister or an individual minister, no-confidence in any official of the Seimas or dismissal of the head of a state institution appointed by the Seimas on the grounds of no-confidence, and when a vote is taken on the wording of charges during impeachment proceedings Members of the Seimas shall vote solely by secret ballot.
2. Moreover, voting by secret ballot shall be conducted when resolving issues concerning appointment and dismissal of justices of the Constitutional Court, judges of the Supreme Court and presidents of these Courts, chairs of the divisions of the Supreme Court, dismissal of state officials specified by the Constitution and laws on the grounds of no-confidence, appointment of heads of state institutions accountable to the Seimas, and issues concerning the approval of appointment or dismissal of chairs and judges of the Court of Appeal and chairs of the divisions of this Court.
3. On the decision of the Seimas, other issues regarding individuals may also be voted on by secret ballot.
5. Ballot papers shall be stamped and issued by the tellers’ group. Upon receiving their ballot papers, the Members of the Seimas shall sign the record of issued ballot papers.
Article 116. Voting by Open Ballot
1. Voting shall be conducted by open ballot when it is necessary to elect several candidates to posts from a larger number of candidates and when it has not been resolved to vote by secret ballot.
2. In voting by open ballot, the procedure for voting and establishing the results shall be the same as in voting by secret ballot, except that secret voting booths shall not be used and ballot papers shall be filled out in the Plenary Chamber.
Article 117. Ballot Papers
1. A standard ballot paper for voting by secret and open ballot shall be approved by the Seimas prior to voting.
2. Issues concerning the dismissal of an official or declaration of no-confidence in the official shall be voted on using ballot papers with the following words: ‘Confidence’ and ‘No-confidence’ or ‘To dismiss’ and ‘Not to dismiss’.
3. One ballot paper shall be used to vote on either the recalling of a single official or the declaration of no-confidence in a collegial institution or one of its members, or the dismissal of a single official.
4. One ballot paper may contain the surnames, in alphabetical order, of candidates to the same position.
6. The Member of the Seimas casting his vote shall cross out on the ballot paper the surname of the candidates against whom he is voting or the statements which he does not support.
7. Ballot papers which are not of the approved form or which are unstamped and ballot papers containing more surnames than the number of officials being elected or more than one alternative statement shall be deemed invalid.
9. The record of counting of votes by ballot papers shall be signed by the chair of the tellers’ group and the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting.
Article 118. Putting Issues to the Vote
1. Voting may be held on one statement or two alternative statements. In the first instance, the vote shall be expressed by “For”, “Against” or “I abstain”. In the second instance, the vote shall be expressed by “For the first statement” or “For the second statement”.
2. Alternative statements shall be voted upon in the order in which they were submitted for a debate. If there are more than two statements, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting must group them by topic so that they are all decided upon in several rounds of voting for one or two statements.
3. The statement which collects the most votes shall be adopted provided the necessary majority of votes is collected; otherwise, it shall again be put to the vote to confirm the decision.
4. If this fails to be accomplished, the Members of the Seimas may either propose a compromise or postpone the issue.
5. At his own initiative or at the request of at least two Members of the Seimas, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall split the issue put to the vote into two.
6. The decision to postpone an issue shall be voted on before voting on the subject matter of the issue.
Article 119. Tellers’ Group
1. When the electronic vote counting system is not used, the tellers’ group shall organise the voting and count the votes.
2. The tellers’ group shall also assist the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting in checking the number of the Members of the Seimas present in the Plenary Chamber and in reviewing registration thereof.
4. The Seimas shall appoint the tellers’ group in an alphabetical order for the period of one month upon the proposal of the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting. The group may not consist exclusively of the members of one political group.
5. The Members of the Board of the Seimas, chairs of committees and commissions, chairs of political groups, and members of the Government shall not be assigned to the tellers’ group.
7. The Seimas may declare no-confidence in the tellers’ group or one of its members by a majority of votes cast by the Members of the Seimas present at the sitting. In such an event, a new group or a new group member shall be appointed.
Article 120. Announcement of Voting Results
Voting results shall be announced by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting based on the information provided by the tellers’ group or by the indicators of the electronic voting counting system.
Article 121. Repeat Voting and Adjournment
1. Before a debate on another issue on the agenda begins, voting carried by show of hands or by using the electronic vote counting system may be repeated if doubts arise regarding vote counting accuracy and if so requested by the Speaker of the Seimas, Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting or at least five Members of the Seimas present at the sitting. The decision to repeat the voting shall be adopted by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting.
2. The tellers’ group shall also have the right to request that voting be repeated if it admits that it miscalculated votes.
3. Voting for the submitted proposal shall also be repeated when resulting in a tie. If after a repeat voting the result remains the same, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall announce an adjournment of voting for at least one hour.
4. If a manifest infringement of individual voting is established, the vote shall be repeated at the request of the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting or a political group, even after a debate of another issue on the agenda starts.
5. The chair of any political group may request the adjournment of a repeat vote, prior to its commencement. In this case, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall adjourn the voting for not less than 15 minutes and not more than 30 minutes.
Article 122. Minutes of Seimas Sittings
1. Minutes of Seimas sittings shall be drawn up and published by the Document Department of the Seimas and signed by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting. Minutes of closed sittings shall not be published and shall be stored in accordance with the procedure established by the Board of the Seimas.
2. Minutes shall contain debated issues, speakers, adopted resolutions and voting results. Full texts of adopted protocol resolutions shall be recorded in the minutes.
3. Additional information (data concerning the registration of the Members of the Seimas, roll call voting results and results of voting on the adoption of legal acts, statements of the Members of the Seimas, etc.) shall be appended to the minutes.
4. Minutes shall be distributed to committees and political groups no later than the next working day after the sitting.
5. The Members of the Seimas may state their complaints regarding the minutes at the end of the morning sitting held on the next day of the Seimas sittings. If there are disputable issues, the Seimas shall adopt a decision thereon by a simple majority of votes cast by the Members of the Seimas after a brief explanation by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting.
Article 123. Verbatim Reports of Seimas Sittings
1. The Document Department of the Office of the Seimas shall draw up and publish verbatim reports of Seimas sittings. Original copies of the reports shall be stored in the Document Department and subsequently transferred to the Seimas Archives. Verbatim reports shall be recorded in a computer medium.
2. Members of the Seimas and other persons who were given the floor during a sitting shall have the right to check, within two days after the Seimas sitting, the verbatim reports of their speeches prepared for publication. Upon checking the text against audio recordings, they may revise the edited version of the verbatim report of their speeches provided this does not change the essence of the speech. If the speaker does not present any complaints concerning the text of the verbatim report, it shall be assumed that he agrees with the text.
3. In the event of disputes or misunderstandings concerning the edited text of a verbatim report prepared for publication, a decision thereon shall be adopted by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the respective sitting.
4. Verbatim reports of closed sittings shall not be published and shall be kept in accordance with the procedure established by the Board of the Seimas.
5. Representatives of the mass media may obtain texts of speeches given during Seimas sittings through the Public Information and Media Division no later than within 24 hours from the sitting during which the speech was given. Verbatim reports of Seimas sittings shall be printed in a special publication and shall be publicly available.
Article 124. Minutes of Meetings of the Board of the Seimas and the Conference of Chairs
1. Minutes shall be taken at meetings of the Board of the Seimas and the Conference of Chairs; no verbatim reports shall be drawn up of these meetings.
2. Minutes shall contain the names of participants in a meeting, debated issues, speakers, adopted resolutions and voting results.
Article 125. Minutes of Meetings of Seimas Committees and Commissions
1. Seimas committees and commissions shall take minutes of their respective meetings according to the rules established by the Board of the Seimas.
2. Committee and commission resolutions, conclusions and minutes of the meetings shall be signed by committee and commission chairs.
4. Upon the completion of the calendar year, the minutes of meetings and other documents of committees and commissions shall be transferred to the Seimas Archives according to the procedure established by the Board of the Seimas.
Article 126. Submission of Draft Laws for Public Comments
2. When submitting drafts for public comments, the names of the persons in charge of drafting and initiators thereof must be indicated.
Article 127. Endorsement and Signing of Acts Adopted by the Seimas
1. Adopted laws of the Republic of Lithuania, prior to their forwarding to the President of the Republic for signature, and other acts of the Seimas, prior to their submission to the Speaker of the Seimas for endorsement or signature within seven days of their adoption, shall be submitted endorsed by the chair of the lead committee, the rapporteur who participated in the adoption and the authors of the adopted amendments.
2. Adopted laws bearing an endorsement of the Speaker of the Seimas shall be forwarded within 24 hours to the President of the Republic for signature.
3. Acts adopted by the Board of the Seimas shall be signed by the Speaker of the Seimas or the Deputy Speaker of the Seimas empowered by him.
Article 128. Publication and Entry into Force of Acts Adopted by the Seimas
1. Laws and other documents of the Seimas shall be published and shall enter into force pursuant to the Law on the Procedure of Publication and Entry into Force of Laws and Other Legal Acts.
2. Laws signed by the President of the Republic and resolutions of the Seimas shall be forwarded to the Government, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Auditor General and, as necessary, to heads of other state institutions and to local authorities not later than within three working days after their signature.
Article 129. Seals of the Seimas
1. The Seimas shall have the great seal, which is 38 mm in diameter, and the lesser seal, which is 27 mm in diameter, each displaying the Lithuanian State Emblem.
2. The Secretary General of the Seimas shall be responsible for the use and keeping of the Seimas seals.
3. The great seal of the Seimas with the Lithuanian State Emblem shall be affixed on laws, resolutions and other official documents of the Seimas and on documents, international treaties and other documents signed by the Speaker of the Seimas and communicated to institutions of state government and administration of foreign states.
Article 130. Right to Speak on Behalf of the Seimas, Seimas Committees and Seimas Commissions
1. The Speaker and Deputy Speakers of the Seimas shall have the right to speak on behalf of the Seimas.
2. The Seimas may also authorise heads of delegations to international organisations who are appointed by the Seimas and a Seimas spokesperson to speak on behalf of the Seimas.
Article 131. Broadcasting of Seimas Sittings
1. Seimas sittings shall be broadcast on the webpage of the Seimas in accordance with procedure laid down by the Board of the Seimas.
Article 132. Press Conferences
1. The Public Information and Media Division of the Seimas shall organise press conferences of Members of the Seimas.
2. As a rule, press conferences of the Members of the Seimas who represent the opposition political groups shall be held at least twice a week.
Article 133 Official Reports on Seimas Activity
Official reports on activities of the Seimas, the Board, Conference of Chairs, committees and commissions of the Seimas shall be prepared and published according to the procedure established by the Board of the Seimas.
Article 134. Registration of Documents and Information Material on Seimas Activity
1. Documents prepared by Members of the Seimas (or received from elsewhere) and proposed to be distributed among the Members of the Seimas, committees or political groups shall be distributed by the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings.
2. The documents must be registered at the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings and signed by at least one Member of the Seimas.
3. The procedure for submitting, registering and distributing drafts of laws and other legal acts shall be established by Chapter XIX of this Statute.
4. Information concerning Seimas activity shall be prepared and, as necessary, presented to the Members of the Seimas by the Parliamentary Research Department of the Office of the Seimas.
5. To improve the provision of information to the public, the Seimas Publishing House Valstybės žinios shall issue the Seimo kronika (Chronicle of the Seimas). It shall contain descriptions of Seimas sittings, a list of the enacted laws, voting results, summaries of statements by Members of the Seimas, ordinances of the Speaker of the Seimas, decisions of the Board of the Seimas, committees and political groups, newly registered drafts of legal acts and other important information concerning the activities of the Seimas.
Article 135. Requirements for a Draft Submitted for Registration
1. Drafts of laws and other legal acts and proposals concerning the legislation thereof shall be submitted to the Seimas by the institutions and persons who, pursuant to the Constitution, have the right of legislative initiative.
2. A draft or proposal submitted to the Seimas for consideration must be signed by the initiators thereof. When a draft law is submitted to the Seimas by citizens of the Republic of Lithuania in accordance with the right granted to them by the Constitution, it shall be signed by the representatives authorised by the initiators; the draft shall be accompanied by citizens’ signatures collected in accordance with the procedure established by the law.
3. An explanatory note shall accompany the draft law specifying the following:
1) the reasons leading to the preparation of the draft, those who proposed it first and the persons who took part in the preparation or improvement of the draft;
4) envisaged legal regulation provisions, positive qualities of newly regulated issues and expected positive results;
5) possible negative consequences of the enacted law and the measures which should be taken to avoid these consequences;
8) incorporation of the law into the legal system, the legal acts currently in force in this field (a list of these acts shall be presented) and the legal acts currently in force which must be amended or repealed upon adoption of the submitted draft;
9) the compliance of the draft law with the requirements of the Law on the State Language, the Law on Procedure for Drawing up Laws and Other Regulatory Acts and the norms of the standard Lithuanian language and the assessment of the definitions used in the draft and the terms referring to the definitions in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on the Term Bank and the legal acts implementing this Law;
10) the conformity of the draft law with the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the European Union documents;
11) the names of persons to prepare secondary legislation, if necessary for the implementation of the law, and time limits for preparation thereof, and the guidelines of this secondary legislation;
12) the amount of budget funds to be spent or saved in respect of the implementation of the law (estimates to be supplied for the next year and subsequent years);
14) author or group of authors of the draft law, initiators of the draft law: institution, persons or representatives authorised by citizens;
15) key words of the draft law which are necessary for the inclusion of this draft in the search engine, including the key words according to the Thesaurus Eurovoc;
4. Initiators of draft laws shall attach to an explanatory note a comparative version of a submitted draft amending a law, which sets forth the amendments. Amendments in the text of a new version of an article (paragraph or subparagraph thereof) shall be printed in boldface and the words to be deleted shall be stricken through. If an article (paragraph or subparagraph thereof) is proposed to be substantially amended, the text of the former version (stricken through) and the new version of the article (paragraph or subparagraph thereof) shall be presented. If the whole article (paragraph or subparagraph thereof) is proposed to be repealed, the number of the article (paragraph or subparagraph thereof) proposed to be repealed shall be specified in the subject matter of the amendments and the whole text (stricken through) of the article (paragraph or subparagraph thereof) shall be presented. If the draft law is followed by an annex containing references to legal acts of the European Union, a conformity table shall be attached presenting the conformity of the draft law, on an article-by-article basis, to the legal acts of the European Union specified in the annex.
5. A draft law, where necessary, shall be accompanied by a draft law or resolution on the implementation procedure of this law. The draft law shall be accompanied by other draft legal acts being adopted by the Seimas which amend or repeal the legal acts currently in force and which must be adopted after the enactment of the submitted draft law.
6. The requirements of Part V, with the exception of those regarding an explanatory note, shall apply to all drafts of laws and other regulatory acts of the Seimas (hereinafter in this Chapter: ‘draft laws’), except in specific instances stipulated by this Statute.
7. A draft law amending a law may be presented at a plenary sitting of the Seimas not earlier than after six months following the enactment of the law. This requirement shall not apply when implementing rulings of the Constitutional Court in accordance with the procedure laid down by Article 1812 of the Statute of the Seimas or when a draft law amending the law is submitted by the Government or at least 1/5 of all Members of the Seimas.
Article 136. Registration of a Draft Law and Subsequent Activities
1. All submitted draft laws and proposals shall be registered in the register of draft laws and proposals received by the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings indicating all authors and initiators of a draft and all the documents submitted by them.
2. Drafts of laws and other legal acts together with an explanatory note shall, not later than within three working days, be forwarded to the Speaker of the Seimas, committees, political groups, Government, Office of the President of the Republic and, where necessary, to appropriate local authorities.
3. With respect to a registered draft law, the Legal Department of the Office of the Seimas shall, within seven working days of the receipt thereof, draw up conclusions on conformity of the draft with the Constitution, laws, principles of legislation and technical rules of law-making and on conformity of the submitted documents to the requirements of this Statute. If this is a large draft, the Director of the Legal Department shall have the right to apply to the Conference of Chairs for the extension of this period.
4. If a draft law is submitted by Members of the Seimas, the President of the Republic or citizens, it shall be transferred to the European Law Department under the Ministry of Justice, which shall, within ten working days of receipt thereof, draw up conclusions on conformity of this draft with the European Union law.
5. Draft laws together with an explanatory note, conclusions of the Legal Department and the European Law Department under the Ministry of Justice shall be distributed among the Members of the Seimas not later than one working day prior to the submission thereof at a Seimas sitting.
6. When considering a draft and further preparing it, the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall be presented with and register all updated versions of the draft, submitted conclusions and amendments and indicate the persons who have submitted them.
Article 137. Concurrent Consideration of Several Draft Laws. Alternative Drafts
1. 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 amendments to the Constitution in accordance with the procedure for amending the Constitution.
2. Drafts of laws amending or repealing other laws which must be adopted upon the enactment of the proposed draft law shall also be considered concurrently.
3. If several alternative drafts of a law have been received, they shall be considered concurrently during the discussion in the Seimas committee and at the sitting of the Seimas, and one of these drafts shall be selected.
4. If several draft laws amending the same or different articles of the same law have been submitted, all of them shall be presented and considered at a Seimas sitting, and the committee assigned by the Seimas as the lead committee may join them and submit a joint draft to the Seimas for consideration.
Article 138. Preliminary Conclusions on a Draft Law by the Seimas Committee, the Government and Other Institutions
1. The Speaker of the Seimas, the Board of the Seimas may refer a draft law to one of the committees to make a preliminary analysis and to prepare conclusions.
2. If the Legal Department presents conclusions that a draft is not in compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the Committee on Legal Affairs must undertake preliminary consideration of this draft.
3. As necessary, the Speaker of the Seimas and the Board of the Seimas may, on their own initiative or on the recommendation of the committee, request that the Government and other institutions present to the Seimas their conclusions concerning the draft under consideration.
Article 139. Circumstances under which a Draft Law is not Submitted for Deliberation by Seimas
1. If the Legal Affairs Committee comes to the conclusion that a draft law is not in conformity with the Constitution and no draft amendments to the Constitution have been presented in accordance with the established procedure, the Speaker of the Seimas shall present this conclusion for consideration in the Seimas. If the Seimas does not consent to the conclusion of the Committee on Legal Affairs by a majority of the votes cast by all Members of the Seimas, a draft of an appropriate law may be considered even without the draft amendments to the Constitution.
2. In the event that the same draft law or another draft law of similar content was rejected by the Seimas within the last six months, such a draft shall not be accepted for repeat consideration.
3. 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 familiarised therewith.
4. In all of the above cases, drafts with a corresponding endorsement of the Speaker of the Seimas shall be returned to the Secretariat of Preliminary Sittings; at the Secretariat, the draft shall be recorded in the register of rejected draft laws and proposals and shall thereafter be forwarded to the Seimas Archives. A notice to this effect must be published in the Seimo kronika and the person who submitted the draft must be notified thereof.
Article 140. Initiators’ Right to Recall a Draft Law
1. The initiators of a draft law shall have the right to recall this draft before it is considered at a sitting of the Seimas. The said persons must immediately give a written notice of the decision to the Secretary General of the Seimas, and the latter must notify the Seimas.
2. The recalled draft law shall be returned to the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings along with the Secretary’s General endorsement, where it shall be entered in the register of the returned drafts and proposals and transferred to the Seimas Archives.
3. However, in the event that the draft law recalled by the initiators is, no later than the next day, officially supported and submitted by another entity vested with the right of legislative initiative, the consideration procedure of such draft shall be continued. The above provision shall not apply to draft laws submitted by the President of the Republic or the Government.
Article 141. Procedure of Submission of a Draft
1. A draft law or any other act of the Seimas shall be submitted at a Seimas sitting by the initiator of the draft or his representative (a representative of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, a minister or vice minister authorised by the Government, or a representative of citizens), who shall briefly describe the draft (up to ten minutes) and shall answer questions of the Members of the Seimas (up to ten minutes).
2. Thereafter, the Member of the Seimas presiding over a sitting shall familiarise the Members of the Seimas with the conclusions of the Legal Department of the Office of the Seimas and the conclusions of the Seimas committees, the Government and the European Law Department under the Ministry of Justice and shall put proposals to the vote.
Article 142. Drafts Presented by Citizens
A draft law submitted by citizens must be presented at a Seimas sitting no later than one week after the registration thereof during a session of the Seimas and, if registered between Seimas sessions, during the first sitting of the next session.
Article 143. Decisions on a Submitted Draft
1. The Seimas shall adopt one of the following decisions concerning a submitted draft of a law or any other act of the Seimas:
2) to adjourn the procedure of submission of the draft and to specify the actions to be taken by the initiators prior to repeated submission of the draft to the Seimas;
2. If the Seimas decides to commence the procedure of consideration, a decision may be taken on submission of this draft for public comments.
3. All decisions on the presentation and consideration of a draft law at the sitting of the Seimas shall be adopted by a simple majority of votes cast by those voting, with the exception of decisions to reject a draft or to submit the draft for public comments, which will be adopted by the majority of at least 1/4 of all the Members of the Seimas.
4. If the Seimas decides to commence the procedure of consideration, a decision may be taken on application of an urgency procedure or a special urgency procedure.
Article 144. Activities Following a Decision to Commence the Procedure of Consideration of a Draft
1. The procedure of consideration of a draft shall consist of the following: consideration at the lead committee, consideration at the sitting of the Seimas, and adoption of the draft.
2. Upon deciding to commence the procedure of consideration of a draft, the Seimas must at the same sitting set an approximate date of consideration at a sitting of the Seimas (no earlier than after a week and no later than by the end of the session), and the lead committee and additional committees for further consideration or improvement of the draft. The proposal concerning the date of the preliminary consideration, the lead committee and additional committees shall be deliberated and submitted to the Seimas by the Conference of Chairs for approval.
Article 145. Mandatory Conclusions Regarding a Draft Law
1. In the event that funding related to the adjustment of the State Budget is required for the implementation of the 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, together with a draft law amending the Law on the State Budget which is being considered, must be presented during further consideration of the draft.
2. If a draft law proposes substantial modifications to the legal regulation (to lay down, change or abolish the rights or duties of right-holders, to define directions of the reform or strategy of the development of particular areas) and the lead committee or at least 1/5 of all Members of the Seimas (but not later than 72 hours after the completion of consideration in the lead committee) support this initiative, the decision to commence the procedure of consideration of the draft law shall be followed by commissioning the independent expert evaluation of the draft law in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Board of the Seimas.
Article 146. Draft Laws Submitted for a Referendum
If an initiative group for the calling of a referendum on the provisions of a law is formed, the issue shall be considered at the next Seimas sitting during the Seimas session after it is confirmed that the required number of signatures has been collected. Representatives of the initiators of the referendum shall be invited to attend the sitting.
Article 147. Preparedness of the Lead Committee to Consider a Draft Law
1. The committee which has been appointed by the Seimas as a lead committee for the consideration of a draft law, in respect whereof the consideration procedure has been commenced, must, within one week, discuss at a sitting the preparedness to consider the draft in the committee.
2. To this end, the committee shall assign responsible committee members - persons in charge of drafting the committee’s conclusions (as a rule, one from the Seimas majority, one from the Seimas minority), shall stipulate which experts’ opinions need to be heard, may request additional conclusions from other committees or state institutions, shall specify time limits for submission of comments, proposals and amendments by other interested persons to the committee, the deadline for submission to the committee of a first draft of conclusions by the persons in charge of drafting the committee’s conclusions, shall take other preliminary decisions.
3. Persons having the right of legislative initiative may submit comments and proposals not less than two hours prior to the lead committee’s meeting at which the consideration of the draft of the committee’s conclusions will commence.
4. If the lead committee decides to return the draft law to the initiators for improvement, persons having the right of legislative initiative may submit comments and proposals regarding the improved draft law according to the same procedure.
5. If the committee decides to improve the draft law, a working group may be formed for this purpose.
6. As necessary, the committee may consider issues concerning the preparedness to consider the draft also at other sittings.
7. The lead committee must, according to the procedure established by the Board of the Seimas, announce on the website of the Seimas the information regarding the time limit designated for submission of proposals and comments by interested persons and the access to the text of the draft law. The lead committee must forward the draft law to interested state institutions and, where necessary, to public organisations, local authorities, and political parties for them to send their evaluations. The Board of the Seimas or the Conference of Chairs may specify the institutions or persons to whom the draft must be forwarded or may relieve the lead committee of the lead committee’s obligations defined in this paragraph.
8. The entire material received concerning the draft law shall be evaluated and summarised by the lead committee.
Article 148. Hearings during Consideration of a Draft Law in the Committee
1. Following the expiry of the time limit for submitting comments and proposals on a draft law, all of the comments received from interested persons and experts may be considered in the lead committee’s hearings to which all persons who submitted comments and proposals shall be invited. Hearings shall be organised by persons in charge of drafting the committee’s conclusions. Results of consideration shall be recorded in the draft of conclusions.
2. After the consideration of the comments and proposals of interested persons is completed in hearings and if many comments, proposals and amendments are received from persons who have the right of legislative initiative, there may be hearings designated by the committee to consider the comments and proposals regarding the draft law submitted by additional Seimas committees designated by the Seimas, Members of the Seimas, the Government and the President of the Republic. These comments and proposals may be presented by the authors thereof not less than two hours before the meeting of this committee.
3. It shall be possible not to hold hearings during consideration of the draft law in the committee if the amendments and comments are few in number; however, in this case all the authors of amendments and comments must be invited to attend the committee’s meeting in which the draft law is being considered under Article 149 of this Statute.
Article 149. Consideration of a Draft Law at a Meeting of the Lead Committee
1. A draft law and the draft of the committee’s conclusions must be considered by the lead committee no later than four working days prior to the debate thereon at a Seimas sitting. The time and venue of such consideration must be publicly announced to the Members of the Seimas, Government and the Office of the President of the Republic at least two working days prior to the committee’s meeting. Concurrently, the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings must be provided with the draft law and the draft of the committee’s conclusions amended, in accordance with the results of the consideration at the hearings, and signed by the persons in charge of drafting of the committee’s conclusions and indicating the amendments and proposals which have been received from additional committees, experts, interested persons and persons having the right of legislative initiative and the comments and proposals which are taken into account and which are not and why and the proposals regarding amendment of the draft law.
2. Only those proposals and comments regarding the draft law by persons having the right of legislative initiative which were submitted not later than two hours prior to the committee’s meeting shall be considered at the committee’s meeting.
3. Representatives of the initiators of the draft, representatives of the additional committees preparing conclusions, experts confirmed by the committee and persons having the right of legislative initiative who submitted amendments to the draft law shall be invited to participate in the consideration by the lead committee. These persons must be given the floor at the committee’s meeting.
4. Other Members of the Seimas present at the committee’s meeting shall be given the floor to speak about the draft under consideration.
5. Representatives of other interested state institutions, local authorities, political parties and organisations and public organisations may also be invited to the meeting. With the consent of the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting, they may also be given the floor.
Article 150. Decisions of the Lead Committee
1. During consideration in the lead committee one of the following decisions must be adopted and presented for consideration of the draft at the Seimas sitting:
1) to approve a draft law submitted by the initiators or a draft law improved by the committee and the committee’s conclusions;
2) to approve or to reject the amendments of the draft law received from persons having the right of legislative initiative (approved amendments shall be included in the draft law improved by the committee; all of the amendments received from these persons shall be included in the committee’s conclusions);
3) to adjourn the consideration in the committee and to return the draft law and the draft of conclusions for improvement by persons in charge of drafting the conclusions who are to implement the actions indicated by the committee;
2. If the lead committee adopts a decision to return the draft to initiators for improvement or to reject the draft, this committee must nevertheless submit its conclusions to the Seimas.
3. If the committee was given several alternative drafts, during one of the upcoming meetings the committee shall decide on the alternative draft to be approved and shall begin the consideration thereof in the committee.
4. After consideration in the lead committee, the draft and the committee’s conclusions approved by the committee shall be forwarded to the Document Department of the Office of the Seimas for editing. The edited draft shall be co-ordinated with representatives of the initiators thereof and of the committees (persons in charge of drafting of the conclusions).
5. When possible, recording shall be made and minutes of the speeches shall be taken during the consideration in the lead committee.
6. If during consideration of the draft in the lead committee, at least three committee members disagree with the decision of the majority, they may present a separate opinion to the Seimas which must be included in the committee's conclusions and discussed as alternative during the debate at the Seimas sitting.
Article 151. Procedure of Debate on Draft Laws
1. A draft law and conclusions of the committee shall be distributed among Members of the Seimas no later than 72 hours before the commencement of the Seimas sitting at which this draft is due to be debated.
2. During the debate at a Seimas sitting, the expediency, conception, basic provisions and principles of the draft law shall be discussed and the amendments and supplements received from persons having the right of legislative initiative and also amendments regarding the draft law approved by the committee which were submitted by the President of the Republic, the Government or a Member of the Seimas at least 48 hours prior to the time stipulated in the Seimas agenda for commencement of consideration of the draft law. During the debate of the draft law at the Seimas sitting, a Seimas decision shall be adopted with respect to the amendments and supplements.
3. At a Seimas sitting, a draft law shall be debated in the following sequence:
1) a report drawn up by the lead committee which considered the draft law and presenting conclusions concerning the results of consideration of the draft in the lead committee;
2) a vote, if the lead committee proposes to return the draft to its initiators or to reject it. If the Seimas does not approve the lead committee’s proposal, the Seimas may appoint another lead committee or set up a special Seimas commission to improve the draft law. In this case, the commission shall perform the functions of a lead committee and act in accordance with the working procedure of such committee. If a decision is adopted to appoint another lead committee or special commission to improve the draft, a Seimas protocol resolution must be concurrently adopted containing principal provisions as to what the lead committee or special commission must correct in the draft. A Member of the Seimas presenting a proposal to refer the draft to another lead committee for improvement must submit a draft of this protocol resolution;
5) a general discussion on the basic provisions of the draft law – statements of the Government, other committees, political groups, and individual Members of the Seimas;
6) following a general discussion, if the authors of an alternative draft disagree with the lead committee’s decision not to approve the alternative draft, a vote to approve the committee’s decision;
7) following a general discussion, another vote to approve the draft law approved by the lead committee if requested by a Member of the Seimas;
8) an adjournment of the Seimas sitting, if the Seimas does not approve the draft submitted by the lead committee or if the Seimas decides to approve an alternate draft which has not been approved by the lead committee; the draft shall be returned to the same lead committee for improvement or the Seimas may appoint another lead committee or a special Seimas commission to be set up for editing the draft. In this case, the commission shall perform the functions of a lead committee and act in accordance with the working procedure of such committee;
9) decisions debated and adopted with respect to the amendments and supplements of the draft law which were presented during the consideration in the lead committee by persons having the right of legislative initiative and which have not been approved by the lead committee;
10) decisions debated and adopted with respect to the amendments and supplements of the draft law which were presented by the President of the Republic, the Government or a Member of the Seimas at least 48 hours prior to the debate on the draft at the Seimas sitting, if the amendment or supplement submitted by him is supported by at least ten Members of the Seimas.
4. The time allotted to the general discussions on the agenda of the Seimas sitting shall be proportionately divided among representatives of Seimas political groups. If the representatives of the Seimas political groups have not fully used the time allotted for discussion, the discussion shall be completed prior to the expiry of the allotted time.
Article 152. Presentation and Adoption of Amendments of a Draft Law during the Debate at the Seimas Sitting
1. The President of the Republic, the Government or a Member of the Seimas must forward all of the proposed amendments, deletions and supplements to the draft law to the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings at least 48 hours prior to the time established in the agenda of the sitting for commencement of the debate on the draft law.
2. The Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall submit amendments of the draft law to the lead committee considering the law, make copies and distribute them to all of the Members of the Seimas. The conclusions of the lead committee must indicate other amendments and supplements submitted by persons having the right of legislative initiative in the course of the consideration of the draft in the lead committee and those of the mentioned amendments and supplements which have not been approved by the committee.
3. If new amendments, supplements and deletions were received according to the procedure established in paragraph 1 of this Article, but not considered by the lead committee, a meeting of the lead committee must be held prior to the debate on the draft law at a Seimas sitting to consider the received proposals.
4. New amendments, supplements and deletions may not be presented and accepted during the debate on the draft at a Seimas sitting, except for editorial amendments which are not debated and voted on, but submitted in writing to the lead committee considering the draft law.
5. The amendments and supplements of the Members of the Seimas which have been presented in accordance with the procedure in paragraph 1 of this Article shall not be presented by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting for consideration and voting if supported by less than ten Members of the Seimas after the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting announces them during the sitting.
6. During the debate on amendments and supplements at a Seimas sitting, the floor shall be given only to authors of the amendments and supplements (up to two minutes for each proposal, except the proposals referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article), to the rapporteur and the persons speaking on the reasons for voting; the rapporteur shall not be questioned.
8. Amendments of an individual article of a law shall be debated and adopted according to the following procedure:
1) the rapporteur shall read the received written proposals to amend an entire article, to amend certain statements, to supplement the article and to delete certain statements of the article; he also may briefly comment on each of them (up to two minutes);
2) decisions on the submitted proposals shall be adopted by voting. When there are several proposals regarding the same article, the vote shall be taken in the order of the proposals indicated in subparagraph 1 of this paragraph and in the indicated order – according to the procedure of the submission of the proposals. Supplements to or amendments of an amendment shall be voted on prior to voting on the amendment itself;
4) the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall not submit for voting the proposals contradicting those adopted earlier;
5) when a rapporteur informs that the lead committee has considered and adopted the proposal, it is possible not to vote on it, unless Members of the Seimas oppose this;
Article 153. Seimas Decisions Following a Debate on a Draft Law at a Seimas Sitting
Following the debate the Seimas shall decide:
1) whether to approve the draft law approved by the committee with the amendments adopted during a Seimas sitting and to set the date of adoption of the law not earlier than after two working days;
2) whether to submit the draft for public comments. In this case, the procedure shall be repeated starting with the consideration of the draft in the lead committee;
3) whether to return the draft for improvement to the lead committee. If such a decision is adopted, the Seimas shall concurrently adopt a protocol resolution specifying the principal provisions regarding amendments of the draft to be made by the lead committee. A Member of the Seimas who presents the proposal to return the draft to the lead committee for improvement must submit the draft of this protocol resolution. In this case, the procedure shall be repeated starting with the consideration of the draft in the lead committee. Such a decision may only be adopted once in the course of the debate on the draft;
4) whether to adjourn the debate on the draft, if the debate is not be completed during the same sitting or if it becomes clear that the Members of the Seimas require additional information for the debate on the draft, or according to the procedure established by Article 109 of this Statute;
5) whether to return the draft to initiators for considerable improvement. In this case, the procedure of the debate on the draft law shall be repeated starting with the submission thereof at the Seimas sitting;
Article 154. Additional Adjournments during a Debate on a Draft Law
1. If the rapporteur requests and considers an additional meeting of the lead committee to be necessary in order to co-ordinate the adopted amendments and supplements, an adjournment may be made following the vote on all of the amendments and supplements, but not to later than the next day of Seimas sittings.
2. The amendments and supplements made by the committee, which may not contradict the essence of the amendments already adopted, shall be debated after the adjournment and voted on. In the course of this debate other proposals for amendments and supplements shall not be accepted.
3. If the amendments repealing the articles decisive of the principles and structure of the law and individual chapters or sections were adopted in the course of the debate on the draft law by the Seimas, the rapporteur may, before the end of the debate on the draft at a Seimas sitting, propose an adjournment of the draft for improvement.
Article 155. Submission of Amendments and Supplements of a Draft Law
1. The lead committee must submit to the Seimas for adoption a draft law newly edited by the Document Department of the Office of the Seimas. The Legal Department of the Office of the Seimas shall also submit conclusions regarding this draft. Drafts must be forwarded to these Departments at least four working days prior to the adoption thereof.
2. The edited draft law and the conclusions of the Legal Department must be distributed to the Members of the Seimas and delivered to the Government and the President of the Republic at least three working days before the sitting.
3. At the time of adoption only those amendments, supplements and deletions shall be considered which are supported by at least one-fifth of the Members of the Seimas during the sitting after the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting announces them. All proposed amendments, supplements and deletions of the draft law must be submitted by the persons having the right of legislative initiative to the Secretariat of Plenary Sitting at least 48 hours before the time indicated in the agenda of the sitting for commencement of the procedure of adoption of the law.
4. The Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall refer the amendments, supplements and deletions to the lead committee considering the draft law, make copies thereof and distribute them to all Members of the Seimas. The lead committee must evaluate the received amendments, supplements and deletions and the conclusions of the Legal Department thereon prior to the adoption of the draft law.
5. If new amendments, supplements and deletions were received according to the procedure established in paragraph 3 of this Article, but not previously considered by the lead committee, an adjournment of at least 24 hours for consideration of these proposals and the conclusions of the Legal Department thereon in the lead committee shall be made in the adoption of the draft.
Article 156. Time and Procedure of Adoption of a Draft Law
1. During a regular session, draft laws shall be usually adopted on Thursdays, at a morning sitting.
2. During the adoption of the law, the rapporteur shall briefly discuss the received additional proposals and amendments, indicating the persons who submitted them.
3. Subsequently, individual sections of the draft law shall be put to the vote. Unless the Seimas decides otherwise, the draft shall be adopted on an article-by-article basis.
4. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall put to the vote the articles decisive of the principles and structure of the draft law first.
5. The articles for which there are no proposals may be adopted in their entirety by consensus, unless any Member of the Seimas objects to this. Only those articles for which there are proposals or to which Members of the Seimas object shall be put to the vote individually.
6. New amendments, supplements and deletions submitted in accordance with the procedure established in paragraph 4 of Article 155 shall not be put to the vote by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting if they are supported by less than 1/5 of the Members of the Seimas after the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting announces them.
7. During the adoption of the law the floor shall be given only to authors of the submitted amendments and supplements (up to two minutes regarding each proposal, except for the proposals mentioned in paragraph 5 of this Article), the rapporteur and those speaking on the reasons for voting; the rapporteur shall not be questioned.
Article 157. Adoption of an Individual Article of a Draft Law
1. An individual article of the draft law shall be considered and adopted in accordance with the following procedure:
1) the rapporteur shall read the received written proposals to amend an entire article, to amend certain statements of the article, to supplement the article and to delete certain statements of the article; he also may briefly comment on each of them (up to two minutes);
2) decisions on the submitted proposals shall be adopted by voting. When there are several proposals regarding the same article, the vote shall be taken in the order of the proposals indicated in subparagraph 1 of this paragraph and in the indicated order – according to the procedure of the submission of the proposals. Supplements to or amendments of an amendment shall be voted on prior to voting on the amendment itself;
4) the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall not submit for voting the proposals contradicting those adopted earlier or the proposals identical to those rejected earlier;
5) when the rapporteur informs that the lead committee has considered and adopted the proposal, it is possible not to vote on it, unless Members of the Seimas object to this;
Article 158. Adjournments during Adoption of a Draft Law
1.If the rapporteur requests and considers an additional meeting of the lead committee to be necessary in order to co-ordinate the adopted proposals, an adjournment may be made following the vote on all articles, but not to later than the next day of Seimas sittings.
2. After the adjournment, amendments and supplements made by the committee which must not contradict the content of the adopted articles shall be debated and put to the vote. In the course of this debate, other proposals concerning amendments and supplements shall not be accepted.
3. If the articles decisive of the principles and structure of the law were not adopted in the course of the debate on the draft law by the Seimas, the rapporteur may, before the end of the debate on the draft at a Seimas sitting, propose an adjournment of the draft for improvement.
4. If the Seimas accepts this proposal, the procedure shall be repeated starting with the consideration of the draft law in the lead committee. This possibility may be availed only once in the course of the debate on the draft law.
5. If, in the course of adoption of the draft law, while voting on articles of the draft law on taxes or articles of other laws which regulate taxes or which may substantially affect state revenue, a member of the Government, a person authorised by the Government so requests, the adoption of the law shall be adjourned till the next day of Seimas sittings. When continuing adoption of the draft law, the procedure of adoption of the last article prior to the adjournment shall be repeated.
6. If during the debate on the draft law, it is amended in such a manner that its provisions may be not in compliance with the European Union law, the lead committee may request the European Law Department under the Ministry of Justice to submit new conclusions.
7. During the adoption of the law and prior to a vote on the draft law in its entirety, an adjournment must be made if there are no proposals submitted and debated on at the Seimas regarding drafts of a law or a resolution on implementation of the law and laws amending, supplementing or repealing other laws or articles thereof related to the law being adopted, where the Seimas has resolved that these legal acts must be adopted.
Article 159. Voting on a Draft Law in its Entirety
1. Proposals to reject a draft shall not be accepted in the course of adoption of a law. The draft shall be considered rejected if the number of votes cast for it is less than required.
2. After all the articles of the draft law have been debated on, the draft law shall be put to the vote in its entirety.
3. If the draft law is not adopted, the Seimas may assign drafting of a new law to the initiators of the draft or the lead committee.
Article 160. Withholding of the Signing of the Law
1. Before the adopted law is submitted to the President of the Republic for signature, the Speaker of the Seimas, a committee or no less than one-fifth of Members of the Seimas may submit to the Seimas a reasoned motion concerning the violations of the Statute of the Seimas committed, in their opinion, during the adoption of the law.
2. If such a motion is received, the Commission for Ethics and Procedures must present its conclusions and proposals to the Seimas within five working days.
3. Until the Commission for Ethics and Procedures presents such conclusions, the Speaker of the Seimas shall not forward the law to the President of the Republic for signature.
4. In the event that the Commission for Ethics and Procedures states that the legislative procedure or any other significant provisions of this Statute were grossly violated and this conditioned the decision of the Seimas, or the Commission for Ethics and Procedures has not submitted its conclusions in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph 2 of this Article, the Seimas shall decide by vote whether to repeal the disputed law or to leave it in effect.
Article 161. Submission of a Rejected Draft
If the draft law is rejected at any stage of debates, it may be submitted repeatedly, but no earlier than six months after the rejection of the draft.
Article 162. Proposal for a Debate Subject to Urgency Procedure
1. Debates on drafts of Seimas resolutions and, if the Seimas so decides, on draft laws shall be subject to urgency procedure.
2. The above procedure shall be applied on a reasoned motion of the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the Seimas or his Deputy deputising for the Speaker of the Seimas, the Leader of the Opposition, the lead committee, a political group or the Government.
3. A decision to hold a debate on a draft law subject to urgency procedure may be adopted during the submission of or debate on the draft at a Seimas sitting by a majority of votes cast by Members of the Seimas, provided that the majority comprises more than one-fifth of all the Members of the Seimas.
Article 163. Debate Subject to Urgency Procedure
1. Where urgency procedure applies, the time period between the stages of a debate on a draft (consideration in the lead committee, debate at the Seimas sitting and adoption) shall be shortened; other time limits established in this Statute and related to legislation shall also be shortened.
Article 164. Debate Subject to Special Urgency Procedure
1. Debates on draft laws and draft resolutions of the Seimas shall be subject to special urgency procedure on a reasoned motion of the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the Seimas or his Deputy deputising for the Speaker of the Seimas, or the Government.
2. A decision to hold a debate on a draft law subject to special urgency procedure may be adopted at a Seimas sitting by a majority of votes cast by Members of the Seimas, provided that the majority comprises more than one-fourth of all the Members of the Seimas.
3. A decision to hold a debate subject to special urgency procedure may be taken during the submission of or consideration on the draft at a Seimas sitting.
4. The requirements of Article 155 of the Statute shall not apply to the debate on a draft subject to special urgency procedure and the procedure of adoption following the submission may begin not earlier than after a three-hour interval. During such interval the amendments proposed by the persons having the right of legislative initiative, conclusions of the Legal Department concerning these amendments shall be submitted in writing and the draft shall be edited by the Document Department. Amendments submitted by the persons having the right of legislative initiative shall be submitted in writing not later than one hour prior to the commencement of the adoption of the draft.
Article 165. Decisions of the Seimas Regarding a Law Returned by the President of the Republic
1. If, pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 71 of the Constitution, the President of the Republic returns a draft law adopted by the Seimas for repeat consideration by the Seimas, the Speaker of the Seimas shall notify the Seimas thereof at the next sitting.
2. No later than the next day of sittings the Seimas must decide by voting whether to debate on the returned law anew or to consider the law not adopted.
3. In the latter case, the Seimas may assign to one of the committees the preparation of a new draft of the law or setting-up of a working group for the above purpose. Voting may be preceded only by speaking on the reasons for voting (two in favour, two against).
Article 166. Debate on a Returned Law
1. Debate on the returned law shall involve hearing of the reports by the lead committee and additional committees and a joint discussion shall be held.
Article 167. Adoption of the Returned Law
1. During adoption of the returned law, a vote shall first be taken whether to adopt the entire law without amendments.
2. A law repeatedly debated on by the Seimas shall be deemed adopted if more than half (in the case of a constitutional law - at least three-fifths) of all the Members of the Seimas voted in favour thereof.
3. If the law without amendments is not adopted, a vote shall be taken whether to adopt the law with all of the amendments and supplements submitted by the President of the Republic.
Article 168. Application of Chapter XXVI
1. This Chapter shall apply to drafts of laws amending, supplementing and repealing the Constitution, constitutional laws and constitutional acts as the constituent part of the Constitution which are specified in Article 150 of the Constitution (hereinafter: ‘amending the Constitution’).
Article 169. Right of Initiative to Amend the Constitution
1. The right of initiative to amend the Constitution in the Seimas shall be enjoyed by a group of at least one-fourth of the Members of the Seimas or at least 300 000 of citizens of the Republic of Lithuania having the right to vote. The will of initiators of constitutional amendment regarding the initiative to amend the Constitution must be expressed clearly and unambiguously (without insertions, deletions, inscriptions or reservations).
2. If a Member of the Seimas who has signed a draft law amending the Constitution makes an insertion in the draft, deletes or enters words in the text of the draft or indicates a reservation in the text of the draft or, not less than 24 hours before the submission of the draft to a Seimas sitting, withdraws his signature by submitting a document to the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings, the signature of the Member of the Seimas shall not be counted. If the number of signatures left makes up less than one-fourth of all signatures of the Members of the Seimas, it shall be considered that the right of initiative to amend the Constitution has not been exercised. This fact shall be recorded by the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings in the register of received draft laws and proposals.
3. The procedure for exercising the right of initiative to amend the Constitution of 300 000 citizens of the Republic of Lithuania having the right to vote shall be laid down by law.
4. Chapter I “The State of Lithuania” and Chapter XIV “Alteration of the Constitution” of the Constitution may be amended only by referendum. The procedure for calling and executing a referendum shall be laid down by law.
Article 170. Specific Features of Submission and Debate of Draft Laws Amending the Constitution
1. The Seimas must consider a draft law amending the Constitution initiated at the Seimas by 300 000 citizens of the Republic of Lithuania in accordance with the procedure laid down by the law. This draft shall be submitted at a Seimas sitting by a member of the initiative group of citizens or any other person authorised by the initiative group not later than within a week following the registration of the draft during the Seimas session and where the draft is registered between the Seimas sessions – at the first sitting of the next Seimas session.
2. Following the submission at a Seimas sitting, draft laws amending the Constitution shall be submitted for public comments in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 126 of this Statute.
3. Draft laws amending the Constitution may not be debated on and adopted according to urgency or special urgency procedure.
4. The Committee on Legal Affairs shall be the lead committee considering draft laws amending the Constitution. The committees appointed by the Seimas as additional for consideration of a draft law amending the Constitution must take their decision regarding this draft not less than a month prior to the consideration of this draft in the Committee on Legal Affairs.
5. The Committee on Legal Affairs must consider a draft law amending the Constitution not later than ten days prior to the debate on this draft at a Seimas sitting. A decision taken by the Committee on Legal Affairs with regard to the draft law amending the Constitution must be distributed to the Members of the Seimas not later than seven days before the debate on the draft at a Seimas sitting; the decision must be also forwarded to the President of the Republic and the Government.
6. It shall be prohibited to restrict discussions on a draft law amending the Constitution when debating on it at a Seimas sitting, with the exception of the cases where such a decision is taken by a majority of votes cast by at least one-third of all of the Members of the Seimas.
7. Comments and proposals of the Members of the Seimas regarding the text of a draft law amending the Constitution submitted after the approval by the Seimas of the draft by a majority of votes cast by not less than two-thirds of all the Members of the Seimas when voting for it for the first time, shall not be debated and voted on when the Seimas debates and votes on the draft law amending the Constitution for the second time.
Article 171. Procedure of Adoption of Draft Laws Amending the Constitution
1. The procedure of adoption of draft laws amending the Constitution shall be commenced not earlier than ten days after the debate on them at a Seimas sitting.
2. Draft laws amending the Constitution shall be debated and voted on twice at Seimas sittings, with an adjournment of at least three months between the first and the second voting.
3. A draft law amending the Constitution shall be deemed adopted by the Seimas provided that at least two-thirds of all the Members of the Seimas vote in favour thereof during each voting and that the same text of the draft law amending the Constitution is put to the vote each time.
Article 1711. Constitutional Laws and the List of Constitutional Laws
1. The following shall be deemed to be constitutional laws:
3. The Constitutional Law on the List of Constitutional Laws may include constitutional laws regulating especially significant social relationships and ensuring their stability.
4. Laws amending, supplementing or repealing the provisions of the Constitution, the constitutional laws and constitutional acts specified in Article 150 of the Constitution and the constitutional laws specified directly in the Constitution shall not be included on the list of constitutional laws.
Article 1712. Right of Initiative of Constitutional Laws
The right of initiative of constitutional laws in the Seimas shall be enjoyed by Members of the Seimas, the President of the Republic and the Government. Moreover, this right shall be enjoyed by 50 000 citizens of the Republic of Lithuania having the right to vote.
Article 1713. Specific Features of Submission of and Debate on Draft Constitutional Laws
1. The Seimas must debated on a draft constitutional law initiated at the Seimas by 50 000 citizens of the Republic of Lithuania in accordance with the procedure laid down by the law. This draft shall be submitted at a Seimas sitting by a member of the initiative group of citizens or any other person authorised by the initiative group not later than within a week following the registration of the draft during the Seimas session and where the draft is registered between the Seimas sessions – at the first sitting of the next Seimas session.
2. Following the submission at a Seimas sitting, draft constitutional laws shall be submitted for public comments in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 126 of this Statute.
3. Draft constitutional laws may not be debated on and adopted according to urgency or special urgency procedure
4. The Committee on Legal Affairs shall be the lead committee considering draft constitutional laws. The committees appointed by the Seimas as additional for consideration of a draft constitutional law must take their decision regarding this draft not less a month prior to the consideration of this draft at the Committee on Legal Affairs.
5. The Committee on Legal Affairs must consider a draft constitutional law not later than ten days prior to the debate on this draft at a Seimas sitting. A decision taken by the Committee on Legal Affairs with regard to this draft must be distributed to the Members of the Seimas not later than seven days before the debate on the draft at a Seimas sitting; the decision must be also forwarded to the President of the Republic and the Government.
Article 1714. Procedure of Adoption of Draft Constitutional Laws
1. The procedure of adoption of draft constitutional laws shall be commenced not earlier than ten days after the debate on them at a Seimas sitting.
2. A draft constitutional law shall be deemed adopted if more than half of all the Members of the Seimas vote in favour thereof.
3. A draft constitutional law amending or supplementing a constitutional law shall be deemed adopted if at least three-fifths of all the Members of the Seimas vote in favour thereof.
4. Constitutional laws, except the constitutional laws specified directly in the Constitution, may be repealed only by simultaneously striking them off the list of constitutional laws. In this event, draft constitutional laws shall be debated and voted on at the same time. A constitutional law shall be repealed and stricken off the list of constitutional laws if at least three-fifths of all the Members of the Seimas vote in favour thereof.
5. A constitutional law of the list of constitutional laws shall be adopted, amended, supplemented or repealed if at least three-fifths of all the Members of the Seimas vote in favour thereof.
6. A draft constitutional law which has not been adopted may be submitted to the Seimas for repeat debate no sooner than after nine months. This requirement shall not apply when implementing resolutions of the Constitutional Court in accordance with the procedure laid down by Article 1812 of this Statute.
Article 172. Submission of a Draft State Budget
1. A draft State Budget shall be drawn up in accordance with the procedure established by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Budget Structure.
2. Upon drawing up a draft State Budget for the next year, the Government shall submit the draft to the Seimas by 17 October, together with the data on which this draft is based.
3. The Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall, not later than within three days, forward copies of the draft State Budget to the members of the Board of the Seimas, committees, political groups and the Auditor General.
4. The report of the Government on the draft State Budget shall be heard at the next sitting of the Seimas.
5. Thereafter, at least 15 days shall be assigned for consideration of the draft State Budget in committees and political groups. During that period, plenary Seimas sittings shall not be held.
6. Following the submission of the draft State Budget at the Seimas sitting, the Committee on Budget and Finance shall, in accordance with the procedure established by the Board of the Seimas, announce on the website of the Seimas the time limit for submitting to the committee proposals and comments of interested persons regarding the draft State Budget.
7. The Committee on Budget and Finance shall forward the proposals and comments to relevant committees of the Seimas within their remit, for their consideration according to the procedure established by this Statute.
Article 173. Consideration of the Draft State Budget in Committees
1. The committees, with the exception of the Committee on Audit, shall consider the classification chapters of the draft State Budget within their remit and shall formulate their conclusions and amendments and submit them by 10 November to the Committee on Budget and Finance. The Auditor General shall submit his conclusions concerning the draft State Budget to the Committee on Budget and Finance and the Committee on Audit by 15 November. The Committee on Audit shall consider and evaluate comments and proposals presented in the Auditor’s General opinion on the draft State Budget and shall submit its opinion and proposals thereon to the Committee on Budget and Finance by 20 November and on the assignment of the Seimas – also to the Seimas by the deadline set by it.
2. Representatives of the Government, other state institutions and the Committee on Budget and Finance shall be invited to the meetings of committees during which the draft State Budget is to be considered.
Article 174. Proposals on the Draft State Budget
1. At all stages of consideration of the draft State Budget, committees, political groups, and individual Members of the Seimas may propose an increase in the expenditure provided for in the draft only on condition that they specify the sources of financing of the expenditure.
2. It shall not be permitted to propose a decrease in the expenditure included in the draft State Budget pursuant to the law, other regulations adopted by the Seimas and international obligations of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 175. Consideration of the Draft State Budget in the Seimas Committee on Budget and Finance
1. Having received the conclusions of other committees and the opinions and proposed amendments of political groups, the Committee on Budget and Finance shall, together with the representatives of the Government, political groups and other committees, consider the draft State Budget and formulate conclusions thereon.
2. The Committee on Budget and Finance must either adopt the amendments to the law on the State Budget proposed by another committee if these amendments are within the remit of the respective committee or reject the amendments, presenting a reasoned reply.
3. Any committee of the Seimas shall be entitled to submit proposals to amend those chapters of the State Budget which are not within its remit. In this case, the Committee on Budget and Finance shall not be obliged to provide a reasoned reply to the committee whether it has accepted the amendments proposed by that committee.
Article 176. First Debate on the Draft State Budget in the Seimas
Article 177. Second Debate on the Draft State Budget in the Seimas
1. The second debate on the draft State Budget shall be scheduled not later than within 15 days after its first debate. During the second debate the Government shall present the draft revised in accordance with the received proposals and comments.
2. During the sitting, a representative of the Government shall announce which proposals and amendments submitted by committees, political groups and individual Members of the Seimas have been included in the draft State Budget and which have been rejected, shall justify those rejections and shall answer questions of the Members of the Seimas.
3. After the discussion, a vote shall be taken on assigning of the date of adoption of a law approving the State Budget at one of the upcoming Seimas sittings.
4. Prior to the commencement of the sitting, new proposals and amendments shall be submitted to the representative of the Government in accordance with the procedure established in Article 152 of this Statute.
Article 178. Approval of the State Budget
1. Alternative proposals and amendments which are objected to by the Government but which meet the conditions set out in Article 174 of this Chapter may be adopted only after more than half of all the Members of the Seimas vote in favour thereof.
2. Upon debating and adopting decisions concerning the proposals and amendments, the Seimas must vote on the draft State Budget in its entirety.
3. The State Budget shall be approved pursuant to the indices established in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Budget Structure.
Article 179. Additional Debate upon Rejection of the Draft State Budget
1. In the event that the Seimas rejects the draft State Budget, one more debate shall be assigned to be held no sooner than after five days and no later than after ten days, during which a draft revised by the Government in accordance with the comments of the committees, political groups and Members of the Seimas shall be presented.
2. The debate shall be conducted according to the procedure provided for in Article 177 of this Chapter.
Article 180. Amendment of the State Budget
1. The Seimas may amend the State Budget during the budget year. The Budget shall be amended in the same procedure it is drawn up, adopted and approved. When amending the State Budget, it shall be possible not to adhere to the time limits specified in paragraphs 2 and 5 of Article 172, paragraph 1 of Article 173, paragraph 1 of Article 176, paragraphs 1 and 5 of Article 177 and paragraph 1 of Article 179.
4. If funds which cannot be allocated from the Government Reserve Fund are required, the Government shall submit to the Seimas a draft law amending the Law on the State Budget. The purpose and amount of the required funds and the source of the financing thereof shall be specified in the draft.
5. A law amending the State Budget shall be adopted by a majority of votes cast by the Members of the Seimas participating in the sitting, unless the Government objects thereto.
Article 1801. Debate on European Union Matters
1. The Seimas shall debate on and address European Union matters in accordance with the procedure established in this Chapter.
2. In this Chapter, the term ‘sectoral committee’ shall mean any Seimas committee, except the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
3. In this Chapter, the term ‘draft legislative acts of the European Union’ shall mean draft legislative acts which are forwarded to the Seimas by the institutions of the European Union and to which the provisions of Protocol No 2 on the Application of the Principles of Subsidiarity and Proportionality annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union apply.
4. In this Chapter, the term ‘proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union’ shall cover proposals and amended proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union regulating the areas which pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania are related to the remit of the Seimas and with regard to which a position of the Republic of Lithuania is being prepared or renewed.
5. In this Chapter, the term ‘other documents of the European Union’ shall mean documents of the European Union to which the consultation procedure laid down in Article 18022 is applied, in particular:
Article 1802. Remit of the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs when Debating on European Union Matters
1. The Committee on European Affairs shall debate on European Union matters which are within the remit of the Seimas and, if necessary, make decisions on behalf of the Seimas. This Committee shall also:
1) debate on whether proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union comply with the principle of subsidiarity laid down in Article 1806 of this Statute and with the principle of proportionality, except for the areas within the remit of the Committee on Foreign Affairs according to paragraph 2 of this Article;
2) consider other documents of the European Union and, when necessary, present conclusions regarding these documents;
3) consider proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union and other documents of the European Union and, when necessary, present Seimas opinion to the Government, except for the areas within the remit of the Committee on Foreign Affairs according to paragraph 2 of this Article;
4) consider Government referrals according to Article 18020 and, when necessary, present conclusions regarding them;
5) consider proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union and other documents of the European Union and, when necessary, present Seimas opinion to the institutions of the European Union, except for the areas within the remit of the Committee on Foreign Affairs according to paragraph 2 of this Article.
2. The Committee on Foreign Affairs shall consider and, when necessary, present an opinion on behalf of the Seimas or present Committee conclusions regarding:
1) proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union and other documents of the European Union relating to the issues of the EU common foreign and security policy and defence policy;
2) certain aspects of external relations of the European Union related to the common commercial policy and co-operation with the World Trade Organisation;
3. By decision of the Speaker of the Seimas, the Chair of the Committee on European Affairs or the Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the issues subject to debate may be referred to a plenary sitting of the Seimas for debate.
4. If necessary, joint meetings of the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall be convened.
5. The Chair of the Committee on European Affairs and the Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall inform the Speaker of the Seimas about the debate on European Union matters.
6. Meetings of the Committee on European Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and their joint meetings intended to debate on European Union matters shall be held in accordance with the procedure established in Articles 18024 – 18040.
Article 1803. Informing the Seimas about European Union Matters
1. The Government shall immediately inform the Seimas about proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union and other documents of the European Union in writing or using the Lithuanian-EU legislative information system.
2. Confidential information, especially that received from the COREU and ESDP-NET communication networks, shall be furnished according to the procedure established by the law.
3. The Seimas committees and their members may at any time request the Government to present additional information about the proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union and other documents of the European Union debated on in the institutions of the European Union, the Government, and working groups for European Union matters.
4. If the Government establishes that in order to implement the proposal to adopt a legal act of the European Union it will be necessary to adopt a law, it shall draw attention of the Seimas to this fact as soon as possible.
5. The Seimas representative in the European Parliament shall regularly inform the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Seimas committees, and the Board of the Seimas about the activities of the European Parliament, especially about the debate on highly relevant and relevant proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union and on other documents of the European Union in the European Parliament.
Article 1804. Identification of Priorities
1. After the receipt by the Seimas of an annual legislative and work programme of the European Commission, the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall forward it to the Seimas committees. The Seimas committees shall, within one month, debate on the annual legislative and work programme of the European Commission and submit to the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs their reasoned conclusions regarding the relevance to Lithuania of the proposals presented in this programme.
2. Taking into consideration the relevance to Lithuania of the proposal to adopt a legal act of the European Union provided for in the programme the committees shall assign it to one of the following categories:
3. After receiving the conclusions of the Seimas committees, the Seimas Committee on European Affairs and the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs shall summarise them at a joint meeting and communicate to the Government.
4. The Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs, having decided that a proposal to adopt a legal act of the European Union or any other document of the European Union not contained in an annual legislative and work programme of the European Commission is highly relevant or relevant, may assign such document to the categories specified in subparagraph 1 and 2 of paragraph 2 of this Article.
5. When submitting the positions of the Republic of Lithuania pursuant to Article 1807, the Government shall draw the attention of the Seimas to highly relevant and relevant proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union by marking them in a special manner.
6. When submitting the positions concerning the proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union, the Government may propose to the Seimas Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs to change the assignment of a legal act of the European Union to the categories specified in paragraph 2 of this Article.
7. When submitting the positions concerning the proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union not contained in an annual legislative and work programme of the European Commission, the Government may propose to the Seimas Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs to assign them to the categories specified in subparagraphs 1 and 2 of paragraph 2 of this Article.
Article 1805. Debate on Proposals to Adopt Legal Acts of the European Union or on Other Documents of the European Union Directly Received from the Institutions of the European Union
1. Proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union or other documents of the European Union which the Seimas receives directly from the institutions of the European Union shall be registered at the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings and forwarded to the Committee on European Affairs and sectoral committees within their remit. The documents of the European Union pertaining to the areas indicated in paragraph 2 of Article 1802 of this Statute and received in such a manner shall be forwarded to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and sectoral committees within their remit.
2. Draft legislative acts of the European Union shall, on a decision of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs (concerning the areas indicated in paragraph 2 of Article 1802 of this Statute), be forwarded to the sectoral committees within their remit.
3. The Seimas shall submit to the Government the information regarding the proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union or regarding other documents of the European Union referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.
4. Proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union which have been received directly or other documents of the European Union may be debated on in the sectoral committees, the Committee on European Affairs and Committee on Foreign Affairs prior to the submission of a position of the Republic of Lithuania pursuant to Article 1807 of this Statute. A decision concerning the entry of such documents on the agenda of the committee meeting shall be made by the committee chair or they shall be included on the agenda at the written request of one-third of the committee members. In this case, the debate on such documents shall be held in accordance with the procedure established in Articles 18011 and 18012, applying the procedure for debating laid down for the sectoral committees.
5. The proposals with respect to which the Seimas may make known its opposition within six months in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Treaty on European Union and in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union shall be considered by the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs within their remit, by evaluating conclusions of the sectoral committee. On a recommendation of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Seimas may adopt a resolution regarding such a proposal. The conclusions of the sectoral committee and the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall be presented during the sitting. The Committee on European Affairs shall be responsible for notifying the European Council or the Council of the European Union and national parliaments of the Member States of the European Union of the Seimas resolution as soon as possible.
Article 1806. Control of the Principle of Subsidiarity
1. The sectoral committees shall, within their remit, be responsible for proper and timely control of the principle of subsidiarity.
2. If necessary, the sectoral committee shall submit conclusions on compliance of a draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity usually not later than within five weeks of the receipt of the draft legislative act of the European Union or within ten working days of the receipt of the position of the Government (presented in accordance with the procedure established in paragraph 3 of Article 1807 of this Statute) on the compliance of the draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity. Before a meeting of the sectoral committee, the Legal Department of the Office of the Seimas shall prepare the conclusions on compliance of the draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle subsidiarity.
3. The Committee on European Affairs or, within its remit, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, on their own (their chairs’) initiative and upon receiving the request of the Speaker of the Seimas, the conclusions of the sectoral committee submitted in the manner prescribed in paragraph 2 of this Article, the appeal of the political group, the Government’s position on compliance of the draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity, shall usually consider this issue at the committee meeting within one week. Such meeting shall also be attended by the representatives of the sectoral committee and the Legal Department of the Office of the Seimas that presented the conclusions on the compliance of the draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity.
4. When dealing with issues relating to the compliance of legal acts of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity, joint meetings of the Committee on European Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the sectoral committee that presented the conclusions shall be held if necessary.
5. Upon deciding that a draft legislative act of the European Union possibly does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity, the conclusions of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs together with a draft Seimas resolution on a reasoned opinion on the compliance of the draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity shall be referred for debate at a Seimas plenary sitting.
6. The conclusions of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs concerning the non-compliance of the draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity must be debated on at the Seimas plenary sitting not later than within one week after its registration at the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings, but, if possible, not later than one week prior to the expiry of the eight-week time limit from the date of communication of the draft legislative act of the European Union to the national parliaments of the Member States in the official languages of the European Union.
7. The draft Seimas resolution presented by the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs regarding a reasoned opinion on the compliance of the draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity shall be debated on at a Seimas plenary sitting in accordance with special urgency procedure. The conclusions of the sectoral committee and the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the compliance of the draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity shall be presented at the sitting.
8. A resolution of the Seimas on a reasoned opinion on the compliance of the draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity adopted at a Seimas plenary sitting shall be forwarded to the Government. This resolution of the Seimas shall be published in the official gazette Valstybės žinios, unless the Seimas decides otherwise.
9. The Committee on European Affairs shall be responsible for the communication of the resolution of the Seimas referred to in paragraph 8 of this Article to the parliaments of other Member States of the European Union and the relevant institutions of the European Union as soon as possible, but not later than within one week after the adoption of the resolution.
Article 1807. Submission of a Position
1. An institution responsible for the preparation of a position of the Republic of Lithuania concerning a proposal to adopt a legal act of the European Union or concerning another document of the European Union (hereinafter: ‘position’) shall submit to the Seimas a position immediately after its preparation, but not later than three days prior to the debate on the position at the institutions of the European Union. The information system shall show the changes of the position made in the course of the preparation thereof.
2. The position shall contain:
2) an reasoned opinion on compliance of the proposal concerning a legal act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity;
3) the essence of the proposal to adopt a legal act of the European Union and the progress of deliberations on it;
5) basic assessment of impact according to the methodology, as approved by the Government, for assessment of the impact of draft decisions;
6) a proposed position and the progress of deliberations on it: purpose; minimum necessary result of negotiations; specific provisions to be discussed; specific wording of the speech; names of state institutions and agencies with which the position has been co-ordinated;
10) person directly in charge of drafting the position (name and surname, institution, job title, telephone number, e-mail address);
3. The institution responsible for highly relevant and relevant proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union and/or concerning draft legislative acts of the European Union shall, within 15 working days from the receipt of the document from the institution of the European Union, submit a position to the Seimas.
4. The position shall be registered at the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings and forwarded to the sectoral committee of the Seimas and to the Committee on European Affairs and the position on the issues specified in paragraph 2 of Article 1802 shall be forwarded to Committee on Foreign Affairs.
5. When necessary, the chair of the sectoral committee, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs may appoint or, if the position or the proposal to adopt a legal act of the European Union with the position information is marked as highly relevant or relevant, must appoint a committee member responsible for the participation in the process of preparation and co-ordination of the position.
Article 1808. Hearings Concerning a Proposal to Adopt a Legal Act of the European Union
1. The sectoral committee, the Committee on European Affairs, and the Committee on Foreign Affairs may, where necessary, hold hearings concerning proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union.
2. The purpose of such hearings shall be to inform the public about legislative initiatives of the European Union, to find out the attitude of the public, professionals and interested groups towards the proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union and their possible impact on Lithuania, and to find out their positions and arguments.
3. Hearings concerning proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union shall be open to the public. The date and time of hearings shall be published in the mass media.
Article 1809. Hearings on a Position
1. The sectoral committee, the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs may, where necessary, hold hearings on a position.
2. Hearings shall be held after the position has been marked as “co-ordinated” in the information system.
3. A representative of the institution responsible for the preparation of a position or the head or representative of a working group for the preparation of the position, other representatives of the Government and its institutions, experts invited by the committee, representatives of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and members of the European Parliament elected in the Republic of Lithuania may be invited to hearings.
Article 18010. Communication of a Seimas Opinion
1. The Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs may communicate an opinion of the Seimas on proposals to adopt legal acts of the European Union to the Prime Minister going to the sitting of the European Council and the ministers going to sittings of the Council of the European Union.
2. When making a decision on the opinion of the Seimas, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall evaluate the conclusions communicated by the sectoral committee.
3. On a decision of the Speaker of the Seimas or on a proposal of one of the chairs of the committees specified in paragraph 1, particularly urgent issues may be debated on at a closed plenary sitting of the Seimas during which the Seimas may adopt a recommendation. Such recommendation shall not be published in the official gazette Valstybės žinios.
4. If the sectoral committee, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs does not decide otherwise three days before the meeting of the European Council or the Council of the European Union, it shall be deemed that the Seimas approves of the position submitted by the Government regarding the issues which are assigned to moderately relevant pursuant to Article 1804.
Article 18011. Debate on a Position in the Sectoral Committee
1. Having decided to present conclusions on the position, the sectoral committee shall debate on the position in the committee.
3. For purpose of debating on the position, the sectoral committee shall appoint responsible members of the sectoral committee – persons in charge of drafting committee conclusions. The sectoral committee shall decide on experts whose opinions should be heard. Conclusions or additional information of other sectoral committees, state institutions, conclusions of the Legal Department regarding possible impact of a proposed legal act of the European Union on the national legal regulation may be requested. The sectoral committee shall decide on the deadline for submission of comments and proposals to it, the deadline for submission of the first draft of conclusions of persons in charge of drafting the conclusions to the committee, the deadline for taking of other preparatory decisions.
4. The committee members, the Government and the Office of the President of the Republic must be informed about the time and venue of the debate on a proposal not later than two working days prior to the committee meeting.
5. A representative of the institution responsible for the preparation of a position or the head or a representative of the working group for the preparation of the position, other representatives of the Government and its institutions, experts approved by the committee, and representatives of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs may be invited to the debate held in the sectoral committee.
6. Meetings of the sectoral committee or the parts thereof shall be closed when debating on a position. Confidentiality must be ensured during the preparation for the debate and during the debate on the position.
7. Audio recording of the debate shall be made during the meeting of the sectoral committee and the minutes of the meeting shall be taken.
8. In the committee the debate on a legal act of the European Union with regard to which a position is being debated shall be public. Representatives of various non-governmental organisations, public groups and other interested representatives may be invited to such committee meeting or its part.
9. In urgent cases, it shall be possible not to comply with the requirements laid down in paragraphs 3-5 of this Article on a decision of the chair of the sectoral committee.
Article 18012. Submission of an Opinion of the Sectoral Committee on a Position
1. During the debate on a position in the sectoral committee, the following must be decided:
2. Following the debate in the sectoral committee, the conclusions of the sectoral committee shall, usually within one working day before meetings of the Committee on European Affairs and/or the Committee on Foreign Affairs, be forwarded to the chair of the Committee on European Affairs and/or the chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and to the head of the institution responsible for the preparation of the position or the head of the working group for the preparation of the position.
3. If, when debating the position in the sectoral committee, not less than three committee members do not agree with the decision of the majority, they may present their separate opinion. This opinion must be included in the committee conclusions and discussed as alternative in the Committee on European Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Affairs or a Seimas plenary sitting.
Article 18013. Repeat Co-ordination of Conclusions in the Sectoral Committee and Referral of Co-ordination of a Position to the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs
1. The sectoral committee may hold repeat deliberations on positions in accordance with the procedure established in Articles 18011 - 18012.
Article 18014. Co-ordination of a Position in the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs
1. The position referred to the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 18013 shall be debated by these committees in accordance with the procedure established in Articles 18011-18012.
2. In the meetings of the Committee on Foreign Affairs taking decisions on the issues specified in paragraph 2 of Article 1802, the opinion of the President of the Republic shall, if necessary, be presented by the President himself or a person authorised by him. Where necessary, an issue under consideration may be referred to the State Defence Council.
Article 18015. Failure to Submit Seimas Proposals
Except for the cases when the opinion of the Seimas is presented, if the Committee on European Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Affairs or the sectoral committee does not submit proposals concerning a position within 15 working days from the communication of the position in the information system, but not later than three working days before the submission of the position in the meetings of the Council of the European Union, its working groups or committees, it shall be deemed that the Seimas approves the position.
Article 18016. Preparation for Deliberations on a Position following a Decision to State an Opinion on Behalf of the Seimas in the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs
1. Prior to a meeting in which it is planned to state an opinion of the Seimas to the Prime Minister and/or the minister going to the meeting of the European Council and the meeting of the Council of the European Union, the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall forward the position to the committee members and, if available, the conclusions of the sectoral committee.
2. The position may be debated on in the committee meeting without the conclusions of the sectoral committee if, on a decision of the Speaker of the Seimas, the chair of the Committee on European Affairs or the chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs or at the request of the Government, it is necessary to debate on the position promptly or the sectoral committee has failed to submit the conclusions.
Article 18017. Deliberations on a Position in the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs
1. A position shall be debated on in the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the following manner:
1) the Prime Minister or the minister presents the position in the committee meeting and answers the questions of the committee members;
2) the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting presents the conclusions of the sectoral committee;
2. Time allotted for general discussion on the agenda of the committee meeting shall be proportionately allocated to the representatives of the Seimas political groups. If the representatives of the Seimas political groups do not fully use the time allocated to them, the discussion shall be finished earlier than scheduled.
3. After discussing the position, the committee shall decide by consensus whether it should, on behalf of the Seimas, state its opinion about the position. In the event of a failure to reach mutual agreement on this issue, open voting shall be taken.
4. If the committee decides to state the opinion, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting shall propose the wording of the opinion. The opinion shall be adopted by open vote.
Article 18018. Parliamentary Reservation
1. Parliamentary reservation shall be a statement of the Government or its representative in the institutions of the European Union that the Republic of Lithuania will not present its position on the proposal to adopt a legal act of the European Union until such position is co-ordinated with the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.
2. The Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs may instruct the minister to voice the parliamentary reservation with regard to the issues marked as highly relevant or relevant.
Article 18019. Reporting of the Government Concerning the Participation in Meetings of the European Council and the Council of the European Union
1. The Prime Minister, the minister, other representatives of the Government shall submit at a meeting of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs oral and written reports about the participation in meetings of the European Council and the Council of the European Union, drawing attention of the relevant committee to all doubts expressed at the meetings of the Council of the European Union regarding the compliance of a draft legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity.
2. On European Union matters of major importance, the Prime Minister, the minister, other representatives of the Government may, on the proposal of the Speaker of the Seimas, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs (their Chairs), the Prime Minister, and ministers, report about the participation in the meetings of the European Council and the Council of the European Union during the Seimas plenary sitting.
Article 18020. Referral of the Government to the Seimas at its own Discretion
1. Having decided to prepare a position of the Republic of Lithuania on the proposal to adopt legal acts of the European Union or other documents of the European Union, except those specified in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Article 1801 of this Statute, the Government may at its own discretion refer to the Seimas requesting to submit conclusions or proposals with regard to the position.
2. The Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall at its own discretion debate the position in accordance with the procedure established in Article 18017. The Committee may refer to the sectoral committee requesting to submit conclusions with regard to the position in accordance with the procedure established in Articles 18011-18012. Where necessary, the Committee shall submit conclusions or proposals with regard to the position.
Article 18021. Consideration of European Union Matters Subject to Urgency Procedure
At the request of the Government, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall consider the issues specified in Article 1807 in accordance with the procedure established in Article 18020.
Article 18022. Consulting on Other Documents of the European Union
1. The Government shall consult the Seimas on other highly relevant and relevant documents of the European Union.
2. Other documents of the European Union about which the Government informs the Seimas shall be registered at the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings and forwarded to the Committee on European Affairs and the sectoral committees within their remit. The documents of the European Union received in such manner and related to the areas set out in paragraph 2 of Article 1802 shall be forwarded to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the sectoral committees within their remit.
3. Other documents of the European Union may be dealt with in the sectoral committees, the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. A decision on inclusion of such documents in the agenda of committee meetings shall be taken by the committee chair or they shall be included in the agenda at a written request of one-third of the committee members. Further consideration of such documents shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure established in Articles 18011 – 18012 by applying to all committees the procedure of consideration established for the sectoral committees.
Article 18023. Consideration of Candidates for the Positions in Institutions of the European Union who are Nominated by the Republic of Lithuania and whose Nomination Requires the Approval of the Seimas
1. The Seimas shall consider the candidates nominated by the Republic of Lithuania to the following positions in the institutions of the European Union:
2) judges of the Court of Justice of the European Communities and the Court of First Instance of the European Communities;
2. Candidates referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be considered by the Seimas in accordance with the procedure established in Articles 200–202 of the Statute, without applying paragraph 4 of Article 202.
3. Having considered the candidates for the positions in institutions of the European Union who are nominated by the Republic of Lithuania and whose nomination requires the approval of the Seimas, the Seimas shall adopt a protocol resolution on the approval or disapproval of such candidate. This protocol resolution shall be forwarded to the Government together with the Seimas opinion.
Article 18024 . General Rules of Meetings of the Committee on European Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs when Considering and Addressing European Union Matters
1. As used in Articles 18024-18040, the term ‘the Committee’ shall mean only the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
2. Committee meetings shall be held in the state language of the Republic of Lithuania. The guests who do not speak the language shall have the right to speak in any other language, provided that they inform the Office of the Committee about this not later than 24 hours prior to a meeting. The Office must ensure interpreting.
Article 18025. Periodicity of Committee Meetings
1. The Committee on European Affairs shall hold its meetings twice a week – on Wednesdays and Fridays.
2. When addressing European Union matters, the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall hold its meetings as appropriate.
Article 18026. Extraordinary Meeting of the Committee
1. An extraordinary meeting of the Committee must be convened at a written request of the Speaker of the Seimas, one-third of the Committee members, on the instruction of the Seimas or the Board of the Seimas, or on a reasoned decision of the Committee Chair.
Article 18027. Organisation of Committee Meetings
2. The Committee Chair or members may, for reasons deemed to be valid, decide by the majority vote to hold an open Committee meeting.
3. When a Committee member does not attend a Committee meeting, the substitute for such Committee member must participate in this meeting.
4. In extraordinary cases and for reasons of major importance, the Committee members or their substitutes may, with the Chair’s consent, submit in writing their opinion on the European Union matter being considered.
5. The Committee members shall be registered at the beginning of each meeting and before each voting.
6. Committee meetings and the decisions taken shall be valid if more than half of the Committee members attend the meeting and, in the case of special urgency procedure, voice their opinion.
7. For non-attendance of meetings without an important reason, the Member of the Seimas presiding over a meeting may propose to the Seimas Commission for Ethics and Procedures to evaluate the conduct of the Committee member.
8. Taking into account the nature of a matter being considered, the Committee may, on a decision of the Member of the Seimas presiding over a meeting, hold meetings disregarding all or part of the rules of Committee meetings laid down in Article 18024-18040. In this case, general rules of committee meetings laid down in Article 48-57 of the Statute shall apply.
Article 18028. Member of the Seimas Presiding over a Committee Meeting
2. The Member of the Seimas presiding over a Committee meeting:
1) shall, orally and by banging the gavel, announce the opening and closing of the meeting and, where necessary, may also announce an adjournment not provided for in the agenda;
2) shall attend to the working procedure of Committee meetings, observe the adherence to this Statute at the meetings, control the performance of the duties by the Office of the Committee;
3) shall give the floor to the Committee members and other participants of the meeting, lead the discussion, and may pose questions to the Committee members in order to specify the essence of proposals;
4) shall watch over the duration of speeches and, if the time limit is exceeded, warn the speaker and may interrupt him after the second warning;
6) may warn the speaker or interrupt him after the second warning, if the speaker is speaking not to the point;
8) shall, on the basis of discussion results, formulate statements to be adopted by consensus or to be put to the vote; pursuant to this Statute, shall establish the voting procedure and announce the beginning of voting and the results of the voting;
9) shall call to order the Committee members if they do not adhere to the Statute, make noise in the meeting room, publicly insult the President of the Republic, the Seimas, the Speaker of the Seimas, the Committee on European Affairs, its Chair and members, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, its Chair and members, the Government, the Prime Minister, a minister or ministers, and may submit proposals for inclusion of the warnings in the minutes or for evaluation of the conduct of a Committee member in the Commission for Ethics and Procedures, or for removal of such Committee member from the meeting room;
10) shall take a decision to remove from the meeting room the invited persons if they interfere with the meeting;
11) when adopting decisions, at the request of the Committee members, shall specify the article of the Statute he is acting in compliance with;
Article 18029. Participants of Committee Meetings
1. Besides the Committee members or their substitutes, the following persons shall attend Committee meetings:
2. The Member of the Seimas presiding over a Committee meeting may invite heads or representatives of other state institutions whose participation is related to the nature of a matter being considered to speak at the Committee meetings.
3. The members of the European Parliament elected in the Republic of Lithuania shall be entitled to participate in meetings of all committees and commissions of the Seimas in an advisory capacity and to present comments and proposals in writing or orally.
Article 18030. Reports, Speeches and Replies to Questions
1. Speaking during a meeting shall be allowed only with the permission of the Member of the Seimas presiding over a Committee meeting. Only the Speaker of the Seimas shall enjoy the right to speak out of turn and without prior permission.
2. As a rule, one principal report and one additional report shall be made on every matter being considered.
3. The duration of a report shall be set by the Member of the Seimas presiding over a Committee meeting after consultation with the person delivering the report. Usually, reports should not exceed 30 minutes.
4. Additional reports shall be allotted up to 15 minutes; closing statements and speaking in a discussion on behalf of the Government or a sectoral committee shall be allotted up to ten minutes; speaking on behalf of a political group - up to seven minutes, and speeches delivered on behalf of the rapporteur himself shall be given up to five minutes. If, prior to the start of a discussion in the Committee a resolution is adopted to limit the duration of the discussion, the time allotted to political groups shall be divided in proportion to the size of the political groups and the representatives of the political groups shall inform the Member of the Seimas presiding over the Committee meeting as to the member of the political group who will speak and the duration of his speech.
5. The time allotted for replies to questions of the Committee members shall not exceed ten minutes. A reply to a single question may not exceed three minutes, whereas the question itself may not take longer than one minute.
6. Only one question shall be permitted at a time. A person shall be allowed to ask a second question only when it is his turn again.
Article 18031. Procedure for Organising Discussions
1. Registration of persons wishing to take the floor shall begin an hour before the meeting and end before the commencement of consideration of a relevant issue. The Member of the Seimas presiding over a Committee meeting must announce the list of persons participating in the discussion. Registration for speaking shall be carried out at the Office of the Committee.
2. Speakers shall be given the floor during discussions in the order in which they have registered to speak. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting may change the order for the purpose of ensuring proportional representation of political groups and sectoral committees and for presenting arguments in favour and against. The Speaker of the Seimas may, at his request, take the floor out of turn.
3. A Committee member may waive his right to take the floor. If he leaves the meeting room without giving prior notice to the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting and is not present when called upon to speak, he shall be deemed to have waived his right to take the floor. The Committee members may not transfer to each other the speaking time allotted to them.
Article 18032. Speeches Regarding Procedure and Other Issues
1. During discussion, the Committee 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 reasons or procedure for voting, matters related to the termination of discussion, and proposals to postpone the issues being considered shall constitute an exception.
2. In the cases specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, no advance registration shall be required. However, every Committee member shall have the right to pose a question, speak or make a remark only once on each given issue on the agenda, and concerning the reasons for voting – once before each voting.
3. Remarks shall be made in response to another person’s speech or asking for an explanation. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting shall decide whether to give the floor to make a remark.
4. Speeches regarding procedure and termination of the discussion may not last more than two minutes.
5. If the speaker speaks on an issue other than the one for which he has been given the floor, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting may interrupt him.
Article 18033. Speaking on Reasons for Voting
1. Participants of a meeting may speak on reasons for voting after the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting announces the issue on which vote will be taken and asks whether there are any persons present who wish to speak on reasons for voting. The duration of speech may not exceed two minutes.
2. When the Committee votes on an issue in its entirety, not more than two Committee members may take the floor in favour of and not more than two Committee members against the reasons for voting. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting shall give priority to those speaking on behalf of political groups.
Article 18034. Termination and Limitation of Discussions
1. Discussions shall be terminated on the decision of the Committee, except when this Statute provides for a different procedure for termination of discussions.
2. Proposals to terminate a discussion 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 more Committee member supports the proposal. Prior to voting, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting must announce how many persons registered for speaking and how many have already spoken.
3. Upon resolving to terminate the discussion, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting must give the floor to one more Committee member whose turn it is to speak, the Speaker of the Seimas and to any person who are entitled to be given the floor pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Article. In addition, the speaker may be given the floor for final statement.
4. If members of the Government and a representative of a political group or of a committee notify the Office of the Committee of their wish to be given the floor prior to termination of a discussion, they shall retain the right to take the floor even if it is resolved to terminate the discussion.
5. The Committee may limit in advance the general duration of discussion on each issue or the number of speakers. In such cases, proposals to terminate a discussion shall not be accepted.
Article 18035. Decision Taking
Committee decisions shall be taken by consensus. In the event of failure to take a decision by consensus, such decision shall be put to the vote.
Article 18036. Voting
1. Committee decisions shall be taken by voting in Committee meetings by a simple majority (i.e. more than a half) of the votes cast by the Committee members participating in the meeting.
2. Decisions on specific provisions of an issue being considered shall be taken by a majority of votes cast by the Committee members who voted.
3. During each meeting before the first voting and before the voting on a decision, the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting shall check the number of the Committee members attending the meeting.
4. The commencement of voting procedure shall be announced orally by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting.
5. No issues shall be considered until the end of the voting. The floor shall be given only to those speaking for reasons for voting.
6. If voting results in a tie, a decision in favour of which the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting voted shall be taken.
Article 18037. Vote Counting
Article 18038. Announcement of Voting Results
1. The results of voting shall be announced by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting based on the vote counting information provided by the Office of the Committee.
2. Voting may be repeated before the consideration of another issue on the agenda if the accuracy of the vote counting is doubted and if the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting or not less than five Committee members attending the meeting request so. The decision to repeat the voting shall be taken by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting.
Article 18039. Minutes of Committee Meetings
1. Minutes of Committee meetings and their extracts shall be compiled by the Office of the Committee. Minutes of the Committee meetings shall be signed by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the meeting.
2. The issues considered, speakers, adopted resolutions, and voting results shall be recorded in minutes. The full texts of protocol resolutions adopted during a meeting shall be recorded in the minutes.
3. Additional information (statements of the Committee members, separate opinions) shall be appended to the minutes.
4. The date of a meeting, its participants, the list of the issues considered shall be indicated in the extracts of the minutes of Committee meetings announced to the public and the mass media.
5. The Committee members may state their complaints regarding the minutes on the next day of the Committee meetings. If there are disputable issues, the Committee shall take a decision thereon by a simple majority of votes cast after a brief explanation by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the previous meeting.
Article 18040. Audio Recording and Verbatim Reports of Committee Meetings
1. Audio recording of Committee meetings shall be carried out by the Office of the Committee. Audio recordings shall be fixed in a computer medium.
2. The Document Department shall draw up verbatim reports of Committee meetings. Verbatim reports shall be fixed in a computer medium. Their originals shall be preserved in the Office of the Committee and subsequently transferred to the Seimas Archives.
4. Committee members and other persons given the floor during a meeting shall have the right to check, within two working days after the Committee meeting, the prepared verbatim reports of their speeches. Upon checking the text against audio recordings, they may revise the edited version of the verbatim report of their speeches provided this does not change the essence of the speech. If the speaker does not present any complaints concerning the text of the verbatim report, it shall be assumed that he agrees with the text.
Article 18041. Referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union for Bringing an Action Disputing the Validity of a Legislative Act of the European Union Infringing the Principle of Subsidiarity
1. The right of initiative of the Seimas to refer to the Court of Justice of the European Union for bringing an action disputing the validity of a legislative act of the European Union infringing the principle of subsidiarity (hereinafter in this Chapter: ‘referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union’) shall be enjoyed by a group of not less than one-fifth of the Members of the Seimas, the committees and the political groups.
2. A submitted draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union shall be entered on the register of draft laws and proposals received by the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings, which will indicate all authors and initiators of the draft and all the documents presented by them. Usually, a draft must be submitted within three weeks from the publication of the legislative act of the European Union in the Official Journal of the European Union. An action disputing the validity of a legislative act of the European Union infringing the principle of subsidiarity shall be submitted in the annex to the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
3. A draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union must be presented at a Seimas sitting not later than within one week from its registration during a Seimas session and in the event of the registration of the draft in the period between Seimas sessions – at the first sitting of the next session. The text of the draft must be delivered to the Members of the Seimas not later than 48 hours before presenting it at a Seimas sitting. When presenting at the Seimas sitting the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union, the representative of the initiators of this draft shall describe the draft and answer the questions of the Members of the Seimas. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting shall then submit motions for voting.
4. The Seimas shall adopt one of the following decisions regarding the submitted referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union:
5. If the Seimas decides to initiate the debate procedure, a draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union shall be forwarded for further consideration to the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs, if the legislative act of the European Union is assigned to its remit pursuant to Article 1802 of this Statute, and to the sectoral committee taking into account the areas of activities of the committees as laid down in Chapter XI of this Statute. The draft shall be forwarded for consideration to the Committee on Legal Affairs in all cases.
6. Having received the conclusions of the Legal Department of the Office of the Seimas, the conclusions of the Committee on European Affairs and the position of the Government on the validity of a legislative act of the European Union, the sectoral committee, except the Committee on Legal Affairs shall, not later than within one week after the adoption of the Seimas decision to initiate the debate procedure in respect of the draft, submit conclusions to the Committee on Legal Affairs and to the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs regarding the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
7. Having received of the conclusions of another sectoral committee, the conclusions of the Legal Department of the Office of the Seimas, the conclusions of the Committee on European Affairs and the position of the Government on the validity of a legislative act of the European Union, the Committee on Legal Affairs shall, not later than within two weeks after the adoption of the Seimas decision of the debate procedure in respect of the draft, present conclusions to the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs regarding the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
8. Having received the conclusions of the sectoral committee and the opinions of the political groups (if submitted), the position of the Government on the validity of a legislative act of the European Union, the Committee on Legal Affairs, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall usually consider the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union within a week at a meeting of the Committee. As a rule, such meeting must be attended by the chairs of the sectoral committees or the rapporteurs appointed by them, the representatives of the Legal Department of the Office of the Seimas and the European Law Department.
9. If the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Legal Affairs and another sectoral committee decide that a legislative act of the European Union infringes the principle of subsidiarity, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall submit to a plenary sitting of the Seimas a draft protocol resolution of the Seimas proposing to give approval to the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Such a draft protocol resolution of the Seimas shall be debated on at a Seimas plenary sitting not later than within one week from the decision of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs to forward the draft for debated at a Seimas plenary sitting.
10. If the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Legal Affairs and another sectoral committee decide that a legislative act of the European Union does not infringe the principle of subsidiarity, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall submit to a Seimas plenary sitting a draft protocol resolution of the Seimas proposing not to give approval to the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The draft protocol resolution of the Seimas shall be debated on at a Seimas plenary sitting not later than within one week from the decision of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs to forward the draft for debate at a Seimas plenary sitting.
11. If the conclusions of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Legal Affairs and another sectoral committee regarding the compliance of a legislative act of the European Union with the principle of subsidiarity (the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union) differ, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs shall forward the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union for debate at a Seimas plenary sitting. The draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union shall be debated on at a Seimas plenary sitting not later than within one week from the decision of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs to forward the draft for debate at a Seimas plenary sitting. During the Seimas sitting, the conclusions of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Legal Affairs and another sectoral committee shall be introduced.
12. The referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union and the protocol resolutions of the Seimas specified in paragraphs 9 and 10 of this Article shall be adopted by a majority of votes cast by the Members of the Seimas present at the Seimas sitting and shall enter into force on the day of the adoption thereof.
13. The referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union and the protocol resolutions specified in paragraphs 9 and 10 of this Article shall be forwarded to the Government. The Government shall, in a prescribed manner, prepare necessary procedural documents and bring an action on behalf of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
14. On the initiative of the Members of the Seimas, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs or other committees and political groups, the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs may at any time, even in the cases where the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union is being debated on, state an opinion urging the Government to bring an action on behalf of the Republic of Lithuania regarding the validity of a legislative act of the European Union or any other legal act of the European Union or to make an intervention in any case heard by the Court of Justice of the European Union in which the question of validity of the legislative act of the European Union infringing the principle of subsidiarity is raised.
15. Persons authorized by the Seimas or representatives of the Government shall present oral or written reports on the referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union and the implementation of the opinions, specified in paragraph 14 of this Article, of the Committee on Foreign Affairs or the Committee on European Affairs at meetings of the Committee on European Affairs or the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Legal Affairs, another sectoral committee to which the draft referral of the Seimas to the Court of Justice of the European Union has been forwarded for consideration.
CHAPTER XXVIII
APPROVAL of Legal Acts Adopted by the European Union. RATIFICATION AND DENUNCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES
Article 18042. Approval Legal Acts Adopted by the European Union
Legal acts of the European Union adopted in the cases specified in the Treaty on European Union and in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union shall be approved by a law of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 181. Ratification and Denunciation of International Treaties
1. A law concerning the ratification of an international treaty shall be adopted by a majority of votes cast by the Members of the Seimas present at the sitting, but no less than two-fifths of all of the Members of the Seimas.
2. A law concerning the denunciation of an international treaty shall be deemed to have been adopted if no less than three-fifths of all of the Members of the Seimas voted in favour thereof.
Article 1811. Supervision of the Implementation of Rulings, Conclusions and Decisions of the Constitutional Court
The Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, appointed by the Speaker of the Seimas, shall be responsible for the supervision the implementation in the Seimas of rulings, conclusions and decisions of the Constitutional Court.
Article 1812. Implementation of Rulings of the Constitutional Court
1. Within a month after the receipt of a ruling of the Constitutional Court in the Seimas, the Legal Department of the Office of the Seimas shall, taking into account the interpretation of the constitutional norms and principles presented in the ruling of the Constitutional Court, submit to the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs proposals on the implementation of this ruling. The Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs shall consider this ruling not later than within two months after the receipt in the Seimas of the ruling of the Constitutional Court sent by the Constitutional Court.
2. If, according to the ruling of the Constitutional Court, a law (or a part thereof) or any other act (or a part thereof) adopted by the Seimas is not in compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs or any other Seimas committee appointed by or a working group set up by the Board of the Seimas on the recommendation of the Committee on Legal Affairs must, not later than within four months after the receipt in the Seimas of the ruling of the Constitutional Court sent by the Constitutional Court, prepare and submit to the Seimas for consideration a draft amending that law (or a part thereof) or any other act (or a part thereof) being adopted by the Seimas which is not in compliance with the Constitution. If the draft is complex, the Board of the Seimas may extend the time limit for its preparation, but not exceeding 12 months. On the recommendation of the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs, the Board of the Seimas may propose to the Government to prepare a draft amending the appropriate law (or a part thereof).
3. When preparing drafts amending the laws or any other acts adopted by the Seimas as referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, loopholes and inconsistencies in legal regulation, other shortcomings and arguments set out in the ruling of the Constitutional Court must be taken into account. The Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs shall be informed about and supervise the progress of preparation of these acts.
Article 1813. Implementation of Conclusions of the Constitutional Court on an International Treaty of the Republic of Lithuania
1. Having received the conclusions of the Constitutional Court stating that an international treaty to which the Republic of Lithuania is a party is not in compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and prior to the ratification of such treaty by the Seimas, the Seimas shall, in the manner prescribed by this Statute, appoint the Seimas committees responsible for harmonization of the international treaty with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and submission of this issue for debate by the Seimas. In all cases, the Committee on Legal Affairs shall be the lead committee. When necessary, the Seimas may appoint an additional committee.
Article 1814. Debate on and Adoption at the Seimas of Laws and Other Acts Adopted by the Seimas
Drafts amendments of laws (or parts thereof) and other acts (or parts thereof) adopted by the Seimas which are drawn up in the course of implementation of the decisions of the Constitutional Court referred to in this Chapter shall be debated on and adopted in accordance with the procedure established in Part V of this Statute.
Article 182. A Resolution
1. A resolution shall be a non-regulatory act of the Seimas adopted to confirm in writing the opinion of the Seimas on any issue of national importance.
2. Other non-regulatory acts of the Seimas (appeals, declarations, non-regulatory resolutions, etc.) shall be adopted in the same manner as resolutions.
3. The President of the Republic, the Government, the Members of the Seimas, committees and political groups shall have the right to initiate a resolution.
Article 183. Submission of and Debate on a Draft Resolution
1. The text of a draft resolution must be submitted to the Members of the Seimas at least two hours prior to the debate thereon.
Article 184. Seimas Decisions Following Debate on a Draft Resolution
Following a debate on a draft resolution, the Seimas shall resolve whether:
1) to adopt a resolution without amendments. This proposal may not be adopted if more than one-third of all of the Members of the Seimas object to this;
Article 185. Editing of a Draft Resolution
1. If a decision is taken to edit a draft resolution, the Seimas shall set the date and time of debate on it and shall establish an editorial commission.
2. An editorial commission may not consist of more than nine Members of the Seimas. At least one of the initiators of the draft resolution must be included in the editorial commission.
Article 186. Adoption of an Edited Resolution
1. After the editorial commission announces the edited text, new proposals may be debated on only on a decision of the Seimas.
2. If the editorial commission rejects the proposals submitted earlier, the Seimas shall vote on them based at the request of those submitting the proposals.
PART VI
ELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF OFFICIALS,
APPROVAL OF THE APPOINTMENT THEREOF
AND A DEBATE ON THE GOVERNMENT PROGRAMME
Article 187. Term of Office of Seimas Leaders
1. The Speaker of the Seimas shall be elected by secret ballot at the first sitting of the Seimas following the elections.
2. The Speaker of the Seimas and Deputy Speakers shall be elected from among the Members of the Seimas at the first session of the Seimas for the entire term during which the Seimas is in office.
3. Upon the resignation, demise or dismissal by the Seimas of any of the above Seimas officials or upon the election or appointment thereof to another office, elections of a new official for the position shall be held during the next sitting of the Seimas in accordance with the procedure provided for in this Statute.
Article 188. Nomination of Candidates for Seimas Leaders
1. Candidates for the position of Speaker of the Seimas may be nominated by written application of at least one-tenth of the Members of the Seimas.
2. Candidates for the positions of Deputy Speakers of the Seimas shall be nominated by the Speaker of the Seimas after consultations with political groups in such a manner that two or three representatives of the Seimas Opposition would hold the positions of Deputy Speakers of the Seimas. The Deputy Speakers of the Seimas shall be elected by secret ballot.
Article 189. Speeches of Candidates for Seimas Leaders and Discussions Regarding the Candidates
1. Having been nominated for a position, candidates must, prior to the elections, state whether they agree to run for election.
2. Each candidate, in alphabetical order, shall be given the floor for 15 minutes and candidates for the position of Speaker of the Seimas shall be entitled to 30 minutes with another 30 minutes allotted to answer questions.
Article 190. Election of Seimas Leaders
2. If more candidates than necessary are nominated for one position, voting shall be done by ballot with a list of candidates.
3. A candidate shall be deemed elected if more than half of the voting Members of the Seimas vote for him, with the exception of repeat voting, in which case the candidate who receives a relative majority of votes shall be deemed elected.
Article 191. Repeat Voting for Candidates for Seimas Leaders
1. In voting for a vacancy if 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 voting.
2. If several candidates receive the equal and smallest number of votes and more votes are cast for at least two other candidates, the candidates with the smallest number of votes shall be removed from the next ballot. Otherwise, all of the candidates shall remain on the next ballot.
3. If the situation remains unchanged after the repeat voting, the election shall be postponed to another day. If two candidates receive the required number of votes, the provisions of paragraph 4 of this Article shall apply.
4. If there are two candidates for a vacancy during repeat voting, the Member of the Seimas who receives more votes shall be deemed to have been elected. In the event of a tie, repeat voting shall be held on another day; if no candidate is elected during the repeat voting, a new voting shall be taken.
5. When elections to several vacancies are held simultaneously and the number of candidates exceeds the number of positions, the names of all of the candidates nominated but not elected shall be entered on the ballots for repeat voting. After the repeat voting, the candidates who received the largest number of votes shall be deemed to have been elected. If, after the repeat voting, it is not possible to identify the winning candidates, voting shall be repeated on another day.
Article 192. Nomination of a Candidate for the Position of Prime Minister and Consideration thereof in Political Groups
1. In the cases provided for in the Constitution, the Seimas shall, after the President of the Republic nominates a candidate for the position of Prime Minister, give the President of the Republic an opportunity to present the candidate during the next sitting.
2. Upon presenting the candidate for the position of Prime Minister, the President of the Republic shall not be asked any questions.
3. After the President of the Republic presents the candidate, the latter shall be given the floor (for up to 30 minutes); the candidate shall then answer questions posed by the Members of the Seimas (for up to 40 minutes).
4. The candidature for the position of Prime Minister shall be referred to political groups of the Seimas for consideration. Political groups shall have the right to invite the candidate to their meetings for a question-and-answer session at a time co-ordinated with the candidate.
Article 193. Debate of the Candidate for the Position of Prime Minister at a Seimas Sitting
1. A Seimas sitting must be held within one week from the presentation of the candidate for the position of Prime Minister in order to adopt a decision concerning the proposed candidate.
2. During the sitting, the conclusions of political groups, beginning with the largest political group and ending with the smallest political group, shall be heard first.
3. Thereafter, a discussion shall be held, at the end of which the candidate shall be given the floor (for up to 20 minutes) and provided with the opportunity to answer questions posed by Members of the Seimas (for up to 30 minutes).
4. Once the candidate finishes answering questions, a vote shall be taken on the approval of the candidate for the position of Prime Minister.
Article 194. Presentation of the Government Programme
1. The Prime Minister shall, within 15 days of the appointment, present to the Seimas a Government of the composition chosen by him and approved by the President of the Republic and submit the Government programme for debate.
3. The Government programme must be distributed among the Members of the Seimas at least 24 hours prior to the sitting.
Article 195. Consideration of the Government Programme in Committees and Political Groups
1. After presentation, the Government programme shall be considered by the Seimas political groups and Seimas committees.
2. Committees and political groups shall have the right to invite the Prime Minister or any minister, at a time agreed upon, to answer questions concerning the Government programme.
Article 196. Debate on the Government Programme at a Seimas Sitting
1. The Seimas must consider the Government programme at a sitting within 15 days after its presentation.
2. At the sitting a report by the Leader of the Seimas Opposition and conclusions of the committees and political groups, starting with the opposition ones, shall be heard first.
3. Thereafter, a debate shall be held, at the close of which the Prime Minister shall be given the floor (for up to 20 minutes), with the opportunity provided to the Prime Minister and ministers to answer further questions posed by the Members of the Seimas (for a total period of up to an hour and a half).
4. The debate concerning the Government programme may be terminated by a majority of votes cast by more than half of the voting Members of the Seimas. Such a proposal shall be put to the vote without discussion if at least one other Member of the Seimas expresses support for the proposal. If the opposition political group objects to termination of the discussion and its proposal is supported by one-fourth of the Members of the Seimas present at the sitting, the discussion shall be continued.
Article 197. Approval or Rejection of the Government Programme
1. When the Prime Minister and ministers finish answering questions of the Members of the Seimas, 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 political groups.
2. 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 ten days and the procedure of debate thereon shall be repeated in accordance with the procedure established in Articles 194-196 of this Statute.
3. The new Government shall be given powers to act after the Seimas approves its programme by a majority of vote cast by the Members of the Seimas present at the sitting.
4. The Members of the Government shall be sworn in the Seimas in accordance with the procedure established by the Law on the Government.
Article 198. Giving of Powers to the Government from Anew
1. When more than half of the ministers are replaced, the Government must be given powers by the Seimas from anew. Otherwise, the Government must resign.
2. If more than half of the ministers are replaced, in order to be given new powers the Prime Minister must, within seven days of the last replacement of ministers, present a newly appointed minister and amendments to the Government programme, if the amendments have been made, at a Seimas sitting and if the replacement is made between sessions, the Prime Minister must present a newly appointed minister and amendments to the Government programme within the first seven days of the next Seimas session.
3. During the presentation, the Members of the Seimas may pose questions to the Prime Minister and the newly appointed minister (for up to 30 minutes).
4. When amendments to the Government programme are presented, debate shall be continued according to the procedure established in Articles 194 and 195 of this Statute.
5. Otherwise, discussion shall be held immediately after the presentation of the minister following which the Seimas may take a vote concerning the giving of powers to the Government or may decide to refer the issue to the committees and political groups for consideration, but for no longer than seven days.
6. A discussion shall be held at a Seimas sitting after the conclusions of the committees and political groups have been presented, but no later than within one week and a vote concerning the giving the powers shall be taken upon hearing an additional speech by the Prime Minister (for up to 30 minutes).
Chapter XXXII
DEBATE ON CANDIDATES FOR
JUDGES OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND THE SUPREME COURT
AND OTHER STATE OFFICIALS AND THEIR APPOINTMENT
Article 199. Appointment of Judges and Other State Officials or Approval of Candidates for Judges and Other State Officials
1. The Seimas shall appoint judges of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court and presidents of these Courts and shall also appoint state officials as established by the Constitution and the laws.
2. Persons who nominate candidates for these positions shall be established by the Constitution and relevant laws.
Article 200. Presentation of Candidates for Positions Subject to Appointment
1. Candidates for positions subject to appointment by the Seimas or for positions subject to appointment by approval of the Seimas shall be presented at Seimas sittings by the person nominating these candidates or proposing the composition of a collegial institution (in corpore).
2. 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 collegial institution.
3. The biographical data of the candidates must be distributed among the Members of the Seimas prior to the presentation.
4. Information concerning candidates for judges of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court must be announced on the website of the Seimas at least two weeks before their presentation in the Seimas.
5. Candidates for judges of the Constitutional Court shall be submitted to the Seimas three months prior to the procedure of their appointment.
6. These candidates, including members of collegial institutions (in corpore), must attend a Seimas sitting at which they are presented.
7. After being presented, candidates for judges of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court and candidates for the position of heads of state institutions shall be given the floor (for up to ten minutes).
8. All candidates must answer questions put to them by Members of the Seimas: up to 15 minutes shall be allotted to each candidate for judges of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court and to every other individual candidate, and up to 30 minutes shall be allotted to all of candidates for members of a collegial institution.
Article 201. Consideration of Candidates at Committee and Political Group Meetings
1. After being presented, candidates shall be considered by the Seimas political groups and appropriate committees.
2. Political groups and committees shall have the right to invite candidates, at a time agreed upon, to attend their meetings in order to pose questions to them.
Article 202. Debate on Candidates at a Seimas Sitting
1. Proposed candidates must be debated on at a Seimas sitting within ten days from their presentation.
1. The sitting must be attended by the person presenting the candidates and the candidates themselves, including candidates for members of collegial institutions (in corpore).
3. Conclusions of political groups and committees shall be heard first. Thereafter, a discussion shall be held at the end of which the candidates and the person presenting them shall be given the floor (for up to ten minutes).
Article 203. Oath of State Official in the Seimas
1. Prior to the commencement of work, judges of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court 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 law.
Article 204. Time Limits of a State Official’s Appointment to a Vacant Position
If a state official or a court judge is dismissed, resigns or for some other reason is no longer able to carry out his duties, during a session of the Seimas another person must be appointed to this position or the candidate for the position must be approved within one month of the and of the vacancy or the beginning of the session.
PART VII
SUPERVISORY ACTIVITIES OF THE SEIMAS
Chapter XXXIII
ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT
AND OTHER STATE OFFICIALS TO THE SEIMAS
Article 205. Notification of the Seimas Concerning Resolutions Adopted by the Government and the Separate Opinion of the Auditor General
1. Within three working days after adoption of resolutions of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and ordinances of the Prime Minister, copies of these documents must be delivered to the Seimas for distribution among members of the Board of the Seimas, committees and political groups.
2. If the Auditor General does not agree with a resolution of the Government and states a separate opinion thereon, he shall, within three working days following the sitting of the Government, notify the Seimas thereof in writing.
3. Having received the separate opinion of the Auditor General, the Secretary General of the Seimas shall, not later than within two working days, refer it to the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs and, if necessary, to other Seimas committees.
Article 206. Reports by Government Members and Heads of State Institutions
1. At the request of the Seimas, the Government or individual ministers must report to the Seimas for their respective activities.
2. The above shall also apply to heads of other state institutions who are either appointed by the Seimas or whose appointment is subject to approval of the Seimas, with the exception of courts.
3. Invited persons shall answer questions posed by the Members of the Seimas and shall furnish other information concerning their own activities and the activities of the institutions subordinate to them.
4. When drawing up a weekly agenda of Seimas sittings, it shall be established which head of a state institution shall answer the questions or inquiries of the Members of the Seimas that week.
5. Heads of state institutions who are appointed by the Seimas or whose appointment is subject to approval of the Seimas shall submit (usually by March 1) an annual report on the activities of the institution. Upon receipt of such report, the Speaker of the Seimas shall notify the Seimas about this and the latter shall decide on the committee to be assigned with consideration of the submitted report. Having considered the report, the committee shall prepare a conclusion and a draft resolution to be debated at a Seimas sitting along with the report by the head of the state institution. The Seimas shall adopt a resolution regarding the head’s report and institution’s activities.
Article 207. Annual Report of the Government and Discussion
1. Every year (by March 31), the Government must submit its annual activity report which must also discuss short-term priorities. The Government activity report shall be presented by the Prime Minister who answers questions posed by Members of the Seimas during the presentation. The questions shall be posed following the same procedure as during the Parliamentary Question Time (an hour long).
2. All ministers shall attend the presentation of the Government activity report at the Seimas sitting and shall, at the request of the Members of the Seimas, answer questions.
3. Following presentation of the Government activity report at the Seimas sitting, it shall be considered by the Seimas committees followed by a special discussion at the Seimas at the end of which the Seimas may adopt a resolution. The Leader of the Seimas Opposition and representatives of opposition political groups shall be the first to take the floor in the discussion.
Article 208. Replies by Government Members to Questions Posed at a Seimas Sitting
1. During a session of the Seimas, at Parliamentary Question Time (an hour long) held at the beginning of each Thursday evening Seimas plenary sitting, members of the Government shall answer oral questions of the Members of the Seimas for a period of 60 minutes.
2. Members of the Seimas may pose relevant questions and questions of high interest to the public. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting may permit not to answer questions which in his opinion are not relevant and not of high interest to the public.
3. If the posed question, in the opinion of the member of the Government or the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting, requires a comprehensive and detailed response, such question must be submitted in writing at the request of the member of the Government or the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting.
4. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting may interrupt any question which, in his opinion, is similar to the statement or opinion of a Member of the Seimas.
5. Questions shall be submitted in the following order: the Leader of the Seimas Opposition may first pose two questions followed by questions of the representatives of all political groups in succession starting with the opposition political groups and taking into account the size of the political groups.
6. A Member of the Seimas may inform a member of the Government in advance of the question he is to ask him.
7. The Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting may, at his own discretion, permit posing of additional questions to a minister who has already answered a question. Such additional questions may be posed by any Member of the Seimas, however that Member of the Seimas whose question the minister answered shall have priority in posing an additional question.
8. The minister may request to postpone his answer until the next Parliamentary Question Time (an hour long). In this case, the question of the Member of the Seimas left unanswered shall be included in the minutes of the sitting.
9. The minister to whom a question is addressed may request that another minister answers the question if this question belongs to the remit of another minister.
11. The decisions of the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting may not be disputed in the course of the Parliamentary Question Time (an hour long), however, a Member of the Seimas who is not satisfied with the minister’s answer or whose question has not been considered by the Member of the Seimas presiding over the sitting as relevant or of high interest to the public may, after the close of the Parliamentary Question Time (an hour long), declare that he will submit his question in writing.
12. The duration of oral questions may not exceed one minute and the answer of a member of the Government may not last longer than two minutes.
13. Prior to a Seimas sitting, ten Members of the Seimas may submit to the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings a written question for a member of the Government who is to attend the sitting concerning an issue of particular importance requesting to provide an answer during the same sitting. One Member of the Seimas may sign not more than one such request.
14. An answer of the member of the Government to the above question shall be allotted not more than 20 minutes at the end of the sitting. On the decision of the Seimas the time allotted for an answer may be extended. The Members of the Seimas who have signed the request shall have the right of priority to pose oral questions. If the member of the Government requests so, he shall be provided with a possibility to answer the submitted question at the next sitting, but not later than within three days.
Article 209. Answers by Heads of State Institutions to Questions Posed by Members of the Seimas at a Seimas Sitting
1. During a Seimas session at the Parliamentary Question Time (half an hour long) held every Tuesday, members of the Government, the Auditor General and heads of other state institutions who are appointed by the Seimas or whose appointment is subject to approval of the Seimas and other heads of state institutions, except judges, must answer written questions submitted in advance by the Members of the Seimas.
2. Written questions shall be submitted via the Secretariat of Plenary Sittings no later than two days prior to the sitting.
3. Twenty-four hours prior to the sitting of the Seimas, the Conference of Chairs shall determine the members of the Government or heads of state institutions who are to answer questions submitted to them in writing, usually taking into account the number of questions submitted in writing.
4. The Speaker of the Seimas shall establish the sequence of questions to be answered and shall inform the Conference of Chairs thereof prior to the sitting of the Seimas.
5. 15 minutes shall be allotted for answering questions of the Members of the Seimas which have been submitted in advance.
6. The remaining time shall be used for answering additional oral questions. Members of the Seimas whose written questions are answered by a member of the Government shall have priority in posing additional oral questions. The remaining time shall be allotted for answering questions of other Members of the Seimas taking account of the size of political groups; the Leader of the Seimas Opposition and chairs of the opposition political groups shall be the first to pose questions.
Article 210. Actions Taken to Prosecute, Hold in Custody or Otherwise Restrict Freedom of State Officials
1. The Prime Minister, the ministers and judges may not be prosecuted, held in custody, their freedom may not be in any other way restricted without a prior consent of the Seimas or, in the period between the sessions of the Seimas, without a prior consent of the President of the Republic.
2. If a motion is submitted by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Lithuania to prosecute, hold in custody or otherwise restrict freedom of the Prime Minister, an individual minister or a judge, the Seimas shall take the following action:
1) if the Prime Minister or minister are Members of the Seimas and the judge is the president or judge of the Constitutional Court, president or judge of the Supreme Court, president or judge of the Court of Appeal, the Seimas shall adopt decisions according to Article 23 of this Statute;
2) if the Prime Minister or minister are not Members of the Seimas and the judge is not the president or judge of the Constitutional Court, president or judge of the Supreme Court, president or judge of the Court of Appeal, the Seimas shall decide whether to set up an investigation commission for granting permission to prosecute, hold in custody or otherwise restrict freedom of the Prime Minister, the minister or the judge. In this case, actions shall be taken pursuant to paragraphs 2, 4, 5 and 6 of Article 23 of this Statute.
Article 211. Immunity from Prosecution for Speeches in the Seimas
The Prime Minister and ministers may not be subject to prosecution for speeches given in the Seimas, however they may be held liable for personal insult or slander, in accordance with general procedure.
Article 212. Concept and Presentation of a Written Question
A question which has been submitted in writing by a Member of the Seimas or their group to a member of the Government or the head of a state institution to which they expect to receive a written answer shall be considered as a written question.
Article 213. Concept of and Right to Present an Inquiry
1. A Member of the Seimas or their group shall present a written inquiry to a member of the Government or another head of a state institution who is appointed by the Seimas or whose appointment is subject to approval by the Seimas, except courts, requesting to obtain information concerning his activities and decisions adopted by him.
2. Only a question which a Member of the Seimas or their group has addressed to a state institution, however, in their opinion, has not been adequately examined or has been resolved negatively shall be considered as an inquiry.
Article 214. Submission of a Written Question and an Inquiry
1. The Secretariat of Plenary Sittings shall register written questions and inquiries and refer them to an appropriate official.
2. At a Seimas sitting, the Speaker of the Seimas shall inform the Seimas about new written questions and inquiries of Members of the Seimas and about the replies received in writing.
3. Written questions and inquiries of Members of the Seimas referred to the Government and state institutions and the replies to inquiries of the Members of the Seimas shall be published in the Seimo kronika (Chronicle of the Seimas).
4. A Member of the Seimas submitting a written question or inquiry must indicate the official to whom it is addressed.
Article 215. Response to a Written Question or an Inquiry
1. The time limit of a response to a written question or inquiry may not exceed ten days from receipt of the written question or inquiry and during a session of the Seimas the time limit of a debate on the inquiry at a Seimas sitting shall be within ten days of the receipt of a response to the inquiry.
2. If the official to whom a written question or inquiry is addressed is unable to reply within the set time limit, he must provide an explanation in writing and propose his own time limit, but no later than one month from receipt of the written question or inquiry, however, if the Members of the Seimas submitting the inquiry do not agree with these reasons, a debate on the inquiry must be organised within the set time limit.
Article 216. Debate on an Inquiry at a Seimas Sitting
2. If at least one-fifth of Members of the Seimas request a debate on an inquiry at a Seimas sitting, the inquiry shall be debated on a mandatory basis.
4. Members of the Seimas submitting an inquiry (at least one representative thereof) must take part in the debate on the inquiry. Whenever the Member of the Seimas submitting the inquiry does not participate in the sitting, debate on the inquiry shall be adjourned. If the person submitting the inquiry fails to participate in the sitting without giving prior notice the inquiry shall be annulled.
5. A Member of the Seimas submitting an inquiry may not preside over a Seimas sitting at which his inquiry is to be debated on.
6. An inquiry shall be debated on at a Seimas sitting according to the following procedure:
7. The floor shall normally be given in turn to Members of the Seimas in favour of and those against the response to the inquiry. If the Seimas decides not to continue the discussion, no more than four Members of the Seimas shall be given the floor.
Article 217. Proposal to Dismiss an Official
1. Proposals to dismiss a Seimas official 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 reasoned letter from the Board of the Seimas, a committee, or at least one-fifth of the Members of the Seimas. A committee may not propose to dismiss the chair of another committee.
2. Motions for the dismissal of an official shall be filed with the Speaker of the Seimas; motions for dismissal of the Speaker of the Seimas shall be filed with the First Deputy Speaker of the Seimas. The Seimas may not consider an issue related to no-confidence in the Speaker of the Seimas if the latter is temporarily deputising for the President of the Republic.
Article 218. Procedure of Dismissal of an Official
1. The official of the Seimas whose dismissal is under discussion may not preside over that sitting.
2. During discussions concerning the dismissal of an official of the Seimas or head of a state institution, the first person to be given the floor shall be the representative of the initiators of dismissal (for up to ten minutes); thereafter, the floor shall be given to the official whose dismissal is debated on (for up to 30 minutes). The latter shall then be given up to another 30 minutes to answer questions.
4. A decision concerning the dismissal of Seimas officials or heads of state institutions because of no-confidence in them shall be adopted by secret ballot with a majority of votes cast by more than half of all Members of the Seimas; a decision concerning the dismissal of Seimas officials or heads of state institutions on other grounds shall be adopted by a majority of votes by the Members of the Seimas attending the Seimas sitting cast by open vote.
Article 219. Submission of an Interpellation
1. During the session, a group of at least one-fifth of Members of the Seimas may submit an interpellation to the Prime Minister or a minister requesting the officials to explain the reasons for the decisions adopted by these officials.
2. No signature may be withdrawn after the interpellation has been submitted to the Speaker of the Seimas who shall register it without delay and forward it to the appropriate member of the Government and Members of the Seimas.
Article 220. Written Response to an Interpellation
1. Upon receipt of an interpellation a member of the Government must, not later than within two weeks, submit a written response to the Speaker of the Seimas, which the Members of the Seimas shall be familiarised with.
Article 221. Procedure of Debate on an Interpellation at a Seimas Sitting
1. An interpellation shall be debated on at a Seimas sitting according to the following procedure:
3) answers to questions posed by the Members of the Seimas to the official who received the interpellation (for up to 30 minutes); questions shall be posed according to the same procedure as during the Parliamentary Question Time (an hour long);
4) discussion during which the floor is usually given in turn to the Members of the Seimas in favour of and those against the response to the interpellation;
Article 222. Seimas Resolution on an Interpellation and Consequences of Adoption thereof
1. A draft resolution of the Seimas on an interpellation must be presented to the Seimas for debate no later than on the next day of sittings.
2. The Seimas’ approval or disapproval of the response of the Prime Minister or an individual minister must be stated in a draft resolution of the Seimas concerning the interpellation.
3. In the case that the response of the Prime Minister or the individual minister is recognised as inadequate and no-confidence in the Prime Minister or the individual minister is declared in a draft resolution of the Seimas, the draft may be adopted by a majority of votes of more than a half of all the Members of the Seimas cast by secret ballot.
4. If such resolution is adopted, the Prime Minister or the individual minister in whom no-confidence has been declared must resign.
Article 223. No-confidence in the Government
1. During a session of the Seimas, a group of at least one-fifth of all of the Members of the Seimas may submit a reasoned draft resolution declaring direct no-confidence in the Government.
2. Such draft resolution shall be debated on at a Seimas sitting in accordance with the procedure established by Articles 219-221 of this Statute as an interpellation to the Prime Minister, but an editorial commission will not be set up.
3. During the debate at the Seimas sitting of the issue of no-confidence in the Government, Members of the Seimas may pose questions to all of the ministers, providing the opportunity for the ministers to give replies (for up to 60 minutes).
Article 224. Supervision of the Implementation of the State Budget
1. The general continuous control of the implementation of the State Budget shall be exercised by the Committee on Budget and Finance.
2. Other committees of the Seimas may hear the information regarding the performance of the budget articles which are within their remit.
3. The implementation of the State Budget shall be debated on at a Seimas sitting at least on a semi-annual basis.
Article 225. Presentation of a Set of Reports on Implementation of the State Budget
1. The Government shall prepare and, by March 31, present to the Speaker of the Seimas a set of reports on implementation of the State Budget for the previous year.
2. The Auditor General must present to the Speaker of the Seimas an opinion on the set of reports on implementation of the State Budget not later than within six months from the date on which the Government presented the set of reports on implementation of the State Budget to the Speaker of the Seimas.
3. The Speaker of the Seimas shall, within two working days, present the set of reports on implementation of the State Budget and copies of the opinion of the Auditor General on the set to the Committee on Budget and Finance and to other committees and political groups.
4. Upon receipt of the opinion of the Auditor General, a report of the Government on the set of reports on implementation of the State Budget and an additional report of the Auditor General shall be heard at the next Seimas sitting.
Article 226. Debate on a Set of Reports on Implementation of the State Budget at a Seimas Sitting
1. A set of reports on implementation of the State Budget and the opinion of the Auditor General thereon together with a draft State Budget for the next year must be debated on at a Seimas sitting by November 20.
2. A report of the Committee on Budget and Finance and the conclusions of other committees shall be heard at the Seimas sitting.
3. Following the discussion, a resolution of the Seimas on the set of reports on implementation of the State Budget shall be adopted.
4. If the set of reports on implementation of the State Budget is not approved, the Seimas shall solve a matter concerning the procedure of retroactive confirmation of validity of revenue or expenditure. An appropriate resolution shall be drafted for that purpose and a vote on no-confidence in the Prime Minister, an individual minister or the Government may also be taken according to the procedure established in Articles 222-223 of this Statute.
Chapter XXXVIII
INSTITUTING Of Impeachment Proceedings and
Preliminary ACTIONS OF IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS
Article 227. Concept of Impeachment Proceedings
Impeachment proceedings shall be the parliamentary procedure applied by the Seimas to the persons specified in Article 74 of the Constitution for their actions in conflict with the Constitution, carried out during the tenure of office, in order to solve the issue of the constitutional liability of such persons.
Article 228. Grounds for Instituting Impeachment Proceedings
1. The right to submit to the Seimas a motion to institute impeachment proceedings against a person specified in Article 74 of the Constitution shall be vested in a group of Members of the Seimas consisting of at least one-fourth of the Members of the Seimas and in the case referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 78 of this Statute – in the Commission for Ethics and Procedures.
2. A motion to institute impeachment proceedings may be submitted under at least one of the following grounds:
3. Having established that the person specified in Article 74 of the Constitution is suspected of having committed a crime, the Prosecutor General shall immediately inform the Seimas thereof.
4. In the case that the President of the Republic is suspected of having committed a crime, the Seimas shall set up a special investigation commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 232 of this Statute.
5. Having heard the Prosecutor General’s report on other persons specified in Article 74 of the Constitution, the Seimas shall decide whether to give its approval to prosecute the specific person or to set up a special investigation commission in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 232 of this Statute, if proposed by the entity referred in paragraph 1 of this Article.
6. Upon the receipt by the Seimas of a copy of the effective court judgment of acquittal or a decision to dismiss the case, the Speaker of the Seimas or a Deputy Speaker shall immediately familiarise the Members of the Seimas with the judgment or decision. Having familiarised the Members of the Seimas with the judgment of acquittal or decision to dismiss the case, the Seimas shall, at the next sitting, adopt a resolution to terminate impeachment proceedings.
7. Upon the receipt by the Seimas of a copy of the effective court judgment of conviction, the Speaker of the Seimas or Deputy Speaker shall immediately familiarise the Members of the Seimas with the judgment. Having familiarised the Members of the Seimas with the court judgment of conviction, the Seimas shall carry out impeachment proceedings in accordance with the procedure established in Article 239-242 of this Statute.
Article 229. Statute of Limitations on a Motion to Institute Impeachment Proceedings
1. A motion to institute impeachment proceedings on the grounds that a person is suspected of having committed a crime shall be subject to the statute of limitations set out in the Criminal Code.
Article 230. Form of a Motion to Institute Impeachment Proceedings
1. A motion to institute impeachment proceedings must be drawn up in writing and signed by all persons composing a group of not less than one-fourth of the Members of the Seimas, while in the case referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 78 of this Statute – it must be signed by the Chair of the Commission for Ethics and Procedures and accompanied by the extract of the minutes of the Commission meeting at which the voting on this motion was held.
Article 231. Special Investigation Commission
1. The Seimas shall familiarise with a motion of the entity specified in paragraph 1 of Article 228 to institute impeachment proceedings against a specific person.
2. If the motion to institute impeachment proceedings has been submitted by a group consisting of not less than one-fourth of all of the Members of the Seimas, the Seimas shall set up a special investigation commission to investigate the validity of the submitted proposals to institute impeachment proceedings and to prepare conclusions concerning the grounds for instituting impeachment proceedings.
3. If the motion to institute impeachment proceedings has been submitted by the Commission for Ethics and Procedures, the Seimas shall grant to it the powers of special investigation commission or shall set up a special investigation commission.
Article 232. Procedure for Setting up a Special Investigation Commission
3. Members of the commission shall be proposed according to the procedure established in Article 71 of this Statute by the Seimas majority and the Seimas minority.
Article 233. Meetings of the Special Investigation Commission
1. Meetings of the special investigation commission of the Seimas concerning impeachment proceedings shall usually be closed.
2. Meetings of the special investigation commission shall be recorded in the minutes. Minutes shall be taken by a secretary appointed by the commission. The minutes of the meeting shall be signed by the chair and secretary of the commission.
3. During meetings, explanations and arguments of the person against whom impeachment proceedings have been instituted shall be heard, witnesses shall be questioned, other evidence shall be collected, examined and evaluated, when necessary, experts and professionals shall be invited.
Article 234. Information on Work of the Special Investigation Commission
The chair of the commission or a member authorised by him shall inform the mass media about the course of the investigation.
Article 235. Questioning of Witnesses and Experts
1. Prior to questioning, witnesses and experts shall be warned of liability under Article 235 of the Criminal Code against their signature.
2. Questioning of witnesses shall be recorded in the minutes. After a witness has read the minutes they may be supplemented or amended and then must be signed by the witness.
Article 236. Content of Conclusions of the Special Investigation Commission
1. Upon the conclusion of the investigation, the special investigation commission shall present its conclusions containing:
2. If the proposals to institute impeachment proceedings are recognised as unjustified, it shall be stated that there are no grounds to institute impeachment proceedings in the Seimas.
Article 237. Approval of Conclusions of the Special Investigation Commission
1. A majority of votes cast by more than half of all of the commission members shall be necessary for the approval of the conclusions. The results of the voting shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting. The approved conclusions shall be signed by the chair or deputy chair of the commission.
Article 238. Non-approval of Instituting of Impeachment Proceedings
1. If the Seimas, by a majority of votes cast by the Members of the Seimas who attend the sitting, approves the conclusions of the special investigation commission that there are no grounds to institute impeachment proceedings or does not approve the conclusions of the special investigation commission that there are grounds to institute impeachment proceedings, a resolution to terminate impeachment proceedings shall be adopted.
Article 239. Instituting of Impeachment Proceedings in the Seimas
1. Having approved the conclusions of the special investigation commission that there are grounds to institute impeachment proceedings by a majority of votes cast by the Members of the Seimas who attend the sitting, the Seimas shall adopt a resolution to institute impeachment proceedings in the Seimas against a specific person and refer to the Constitutional Court for a conclusion whether specific actions of the person against whom impeachment proceedings have been instituted are in conflict with the Constitution.
2. Upon the receipt by the Seimas of a copy of the effective court judgment of conviction, it shall adopt a resolution to institute impeachment proceedings against a specific person and refer to the Constitutional Court for a conclusion whether the specific crime of the person against whom the impeachment proceedings have been instituted grossly violated the Constitution and breached the oath.
Article 240. Impeachment Proceedings in the Seimas after the Conclusion of the Constitutional Court Becomes Effective
1. Impeachment proceedings in the Seimas shall continue only upon coming into effect of the conclusions of the Constitutional Court whether specific actions of the person against whom impeachment proceedings have been instituted are in conflict with the Constitution.
2. Impeachment proceedings in the Seimas shall be public. The proceedings shall be broadcast by the national radio and television of Lithuania.
3. Hearings of impeachment proceedings shall be presided over by the Speaker of the Seimas or one of the Deputy Speakers of the Seimas. The official presiding over the hearings:
4. Members of the Seimas may pose questions to the participants of the proceedings only with permission of the official presiding over the hearings.
5. Members of the Seimas shall not be permitted to speak about the substance of the case or to attempt to influence the course of the proceedings in any other manner, however, they may protest the refusal of the official presiding over the hearings to permit questioning or a hasty decision to terminate questioning and may reject it by voting.
6. Upon coming into effect of the conclusion of the Constitutional Court whether specific actions of the person against whom impeachment proceedings have been instituted are in conflict with the Constitution or the conclusion whether the specific crime of the person against whom impeachment proceedings have been instituted grossly violated the Constitution or breached the oath, the official presiding over the hearings shall familiarise the Members of the Seimas with the conclusion at the next Seimas hearing.
7. The Seimas shall, at the hearing indicated in paragraph 6 of this Article, adopt a decision to terminate impeachment proceedings if the effective conclusion of the Constitutional Court whether specific actions of the person against whom impeachment proceedings have been instituted are in conflict with the Constitution states that none of the specific actions of the person against whom impeachment proceedings have been instituted are in conflict with the Constitution.
8. The Seimas shall, at the hearing indicated in paragraph 6 of this Article, adopt a decision to debate on the removal from office of the person subject to impeachment or deprivation of his mandate of a Member of the Seimas if:
1) the effective conclusion of the Constitutional Court whether specific actions of the person against whom impeachment proceedings have been instituted are in conflict with the Constitution states that at least one of the specific actions of such person grossly violated the Constitution and breached the oath;
2) the effective conclusion of the Constitutional Court whether specific crime of the person against whom impeachment proceedings have been instituted grossly violated the Constitution and breached the oath states that the specific crime grossly violated the Constitution and breached the oath;
9. Having adopted a decision specified in paragraph 8 of this Article, the Seimas shall appoint the date of a sitting to debate on the removal from office of the person subject impeachment or deprivation of his mandate of a Member of the Seimas. The debate must be held at least seven days after the day of the hearing at which that date was appointed. The person subject to impeachment shall be given a written notice against signature of the date and time of a hearing set by the Seimas when the issue of his removal from office or deprivation of his mandate of a Member of the Seimas will be debated on the basis of the conclusion of the Constitutional Court.
Article 241. Debate on Person’s Removal from Office or Deprivation of his Mandate of a Member of the Seimas
1. The person subject to impeachment shall have the right to participate at hearings held in the Seimas in person and/or represented by his lawyer. He shall enjoy the right to have several lawyers. The person subject to impeachment shall inform in writing the Seimas about the chosen lawyers not later than two days prior the first hearing of impeachment proceedings in the Seimas. In this case, they shall also be invited by a written notice to a hearing to be held in the Seimas. The person subject to impeachment and his lawyers may provide evidence of relevance to the issue of constitutional liability.
2. If the person subject to impeachment or his lawyers fail to attend a hearing on no valid grounds, their non-attendance shall not hinder impeachment proceedings in the Seimas.
3. During the impeachment proceedings carried out in accordance with the procedure established by this Article, the conclusion of the Constitutional Court and decisions of the latter and other courts shall not be debated on and their lawfulness and validity shall not be discussed. The facts established in the decisions and the provided legal qualification of such facts shall be the basis for consideration of the issue of constitutional liability of the person subject to impeachment; investigation of these issues shall not be carried out.
4. A Seimas hearing shall open with a report by the official presiding over the hearing in which the substance of the conclusion of the Constitutional Court shall be presented.
5. When the official presiding over the hearing gives the floor to the secretary of the hearing, he shall inform the Seimas about the attending participants of the impeachment proceedings in the Seimas and the reasons for non-attendance of those absent from the hearing.
6. On the decision of the official presiding over the hearing, the hearing may be adjourned for valid reasons.
7. Following the procedures laid down in paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Article, the floor shall be given to the person against whom impeachment proceedings have been instituted or, at his request, to one of his lawyers. The official presiding over the hearing and the lawyers shall then pose questions to the person subject to impeachment. These persons may in their speeches rely upon the evidence of relevance to the issue of constitutional liability. Members of the Seimas shall address questions to the above person or the lawyer speaking on his behalf only with the permission of the official presiding over the hearing.
8. The hearing of impeachment proceedings shall close with concluding remarks of the person subject to impeachment.
9. After the concluding remarks the floor shall be given to the Members of the Seimas in the manner prescribed by Article 107 of this Statute.
Article 242. Adoption of a Resolution to Remove the Person from Office or to Deprive him of the Mandate of a Member of the Seimas
1. Upon the completion of the debate on the removal from office of the person or deprivation of his mandate of a Member of the Seimas, the Speaker of the Seimas or Deputy Speaker shall present a separate draft resolution on every specific action by which the person subject to impeachment grossly violated the Constitution or breached the given oath, or on every specific crime. A draft shall contain the substance of the conclusion of the Constitutional Court, the decision to remove the person subject to impeachment from office (or to deprive him of the mandate of a Member of the Seimas) and the information that a Seimas resolution enters into force on the day of its publication in the mass media.
2. The resolution on the removal from office of the person (or deprivation of his mandate of a Member of the Seimas) shall be deemed to be adopted if at least three-fifths of all of the Members of the Seimas vote in favour.
3. The person shall be considered to have been removed from his office or to have been deprived of the mandate of a Member of the Seimas from the moment of the publication of the resolution in the mass media. He shall also incur liability under the law for the committed crimes. The persons who have resigned of their own accord or who have renounced the mandate of a Member of the Seimas shall lose the right of inviolability laid down by the Constitution and they may also incur liability under law in accordance with the general procedure for the committed crimes.
4. If, when voting in accordance with the procedure established in this Article, a resolution on the removal from office of the person (or deprivation of his mandate of a Member of the Seimas) is not adopted, it shall be deemed that the Seimas does not approve the impeachment. This shall be publicly announced by the official presiding over the hearing during the Seimas hearing and entered in the minutes of the hearing.
Article 243. Statement of Resignation
1. The person subject to impeachment shall have the right to resign or to renounce the mandate of a Member of the Seimas by submitting an application in writing at any stage of impeachment proceedings but not later than the beginning of voting.
3. After the person has resigned, the impeachment proceedings shall be terminated by a resolution of the Seimas. It shall indicate that the person subject to impeachment has submitted an application to resign, that this application has been granted and that the impeachment proceedings are terminated in the Seimas.
CHAPTER XL
IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS IN THE SEIMAS UPON RECEIPT
OF A COPY OF A JUDGMENT OF CONVICTION
Repealed
Article 261. Addressing Procedural Issues not Provided for in the Statute
1. The Member of the Seimas presiding over a Seimas sitting shall propose to address all procedural issues of the Seimas activities which are not provided for in this Statute and laws of the Republic of Lithuania.