A. The Status of the parliamentary administration
The Chancellery of the Sejm performs organizational,
technical and consultative tasks related to the activity of the Sejm and its
organs. The Chancellery of the Sejm could be defined as an integrated and
full-fledged Sejm service system for legal, organizational, logistical,
advisory and financial matters.
The operation of the Chancellery is based on the
following rules:
-
political impartiality of the
Chancellery of the Sejm,
-
information self-reliance of the Sejm
(it relies on its own body of experts),
-
full budgetary autonomy (a draft
budget is passed by the Marshal of the Sejm [Speaker of the House] on the
motion of the Chief of the Chancellery of the Sejm, the Finance Minister
automatically incorporates this draft into the draft of the national budget),
-
maximizing legislative assistance
(i.a. through strengthening of legal expertise support),
-
conformity to the market principles
(viz. running a restaurant, a hotel and provision of other services to the
Members).
The aim of the Chancellery is to enable the MPs to
perform their representative functions and also provide them with professional
assistance including, in particular, access to professional literature,
expertise, other reports and materials related to the work of the Sejm.
The Chancellery of the Sejm provides technical,
organizational and financial means for the proper functioning of MPs' offices
or other organizational units rendering services to MPs in constituencies. The
members of legal services of the Chancellery of the Sejm attend the proceedings
relating to bills and draft resolutions and are entitled make conclusions and
remarks within the field of law and legislation.
The organization of the Chancellery of the Sejm is specified in the Statute of the Chancellery, promulgated on request of the Chief of the Chancellery of the Sejm, by the Marshal of the Sejm. The organizational units of the Chancellery of the Sejm, according to its Statute, are: the Executive Office of the Marshal of the Sejm, the Information Bureau, the Legal and Organizational Bureau, the Interparliamentary Relations Bureau, the Sejm Sittings Secretariat, the Legislative Bureau, the Bureau of Research, the Sejm Committees' Bureau, the Deputies' Service Bureau, Sejm Library, Sejm Publishing Office, Computer Centre, Parliament Guard, and units of administrative and financial nature (see diagram attached).
In
Other officials come under the provisions of Employees
in State Offices Act (1982), or Employees in Courts and Public Prosecutor’s
Office Act (1998), or Employees in Local Government Offices (1990). They are
employed under private law contracts and subject to the jurisdiction of Labour
Courts.
The Employees in State Offices Act regulates the status of the administrative staff in the Chancellery
of the Sejm, the Chancellery of the Senate,
the Chancellery of the President, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional
Tribunal, the Commissioner for the Citizen’s Rights and some non-governmental
bodies. The Act regulates also status of government officials who are not
members of the Civil Service Corps.
Rights and duties of the parliamentary staff
are specified by The Employees in State Offices Act, Internal Law enacted by
the Marshal of the Sejm and by the Chief of the Chancellery and by individual
private law contracts.
Recruitment of employees in the Chancellery of
the Sejm is an open and competitive process. Anyone who complies with the
requirements specified in notices about vacancies can apply. The vacancies are
published in the newspapers and, on the web site of the Chancellery office.
Some of the posts in the structure of the
Chancellery (posts connected with the legislative process) are subjected to the
special procedure of recruitment which requires a 12-month preparatory service,
which is a form of introductory training. This procedure is specified by the
internal regulation of the Chancellery.
Such preparation gives candidates
both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Theoretical part of the
preparatory service consists of (amongst others):
·
information
on functioning of the Sejm and legal information (legislative procedure, constitutional
sources of law, rules of practice, EU law, status of a public officer),
·
basic
knowledge about organisational and functional principles of a given office
(strategy and legal basis for the functioning of a given office, etc.)
During the preparatory service the
candidate learns about the structure and tasks of the office, its specific
units and the structure of subordinate organisational units, especially those,
which have direct contact with the public.
The preparatory service ends with an
interview before the examination committee. If the result is positive, the
candidate gets a permanent contract, otherwise the contract is terminated. If
the new employee demonstrates theoretical knowledge and practical skills and
knowledge of organisational and functional principles relating to the exercise
of the office, the Chief of the Chancellery may shorten the period of the
preparatory service up to 6 months or even waive the obligation to go with it.
The most common procedure of
recruitment for higher posts is internal promotion. Sometimes these posts are
filled by way of competition. The Chancellery of the Sejm has its own salary
rules different from Civil Service Corps’ rules.
B. The
relation between the political bodies and the parliamentary administration
The Chancellery of the Sejm is directed by the
Chief of the Chancellery with assistance of no more than two deputies (art. 200
of the Standing Orders). The Chief of the Chancellery is appointed and recalled
by the Marshal of the Sejm in consultation with the Rules and Deputies’ Affairs
Committee. The opinion of the Committee is not binding for the Marshal. Deputy
Chiefs of the Chancellery are appointed and recalled by the Marshal of the Sejm
in consultation with the Chief of the Chancellery.
The Chief and his deputies are not
subject to the provisions of Employees in State Offices Act, neither they are
members of the Civil Service Corps.
The Marshal has not direct influence
over the „configuration” of the parliamentary administration.
C. The responsibility of the Chief
of the Chancellery
Under Article 201 of the Standing Orders, the
Chief of the Chancellery of the Sejm is the official superior of all the
employees of the Chancellery of the Sejm and is responsible for their activity.
He is also responsible for implementation of the budget of the Chancellery of
the Sejm and for the property of the State Treasury administered by the
Chancellery of the Sejm. Deputies of the Chief have their own areas of
activity, but responsibility to the Marshal on behalf of the whole of the
administration is borne by the Chief. The consequence of the hierarchical
structure of the Chancellery is low autonomy of the middle grade executive
staff. However, particular units inter-operate autonomously to some extent.
In the Chancellery of the Sejm there
is no Standing Committees’ staff other than strictly technical one (secretarial
and documentation clerks). The staff of
each Standing Committee belongs to the Sejm Sittings Secretariat (one of the
units of the Chancellery). The staff of the committee is accountable to the
Chief of the Chancellery but also to the Chair of the Committee.
D. Data on the parliamentary workload
Poland, like most modern democracies, has a
bicameral parliament. The legislative power is vested in the Sejm and the
Senate. The Sejm of the Republic of Poland is composed
of 460 Deputies The two legislative bodies are elected each for 4-year
terms of office.
The Sejm debates in the course of
sittings (there are no sessions). Timetable of the Sittings of the Sejm is set
by the Presidium of the Sejm or by way of a resolution of the Sejm. Each
sitting lasts from one to four days (usually Wednesday – Friday or Tuesday -
Friday).
During the first two years of the
current term (the period between 19.10.2001 and 30.09.2003) there were 57
sittings of the Sejm (19 sittings in 2003) which covered 157 sittings days.
Under article 193 of the Standing
Orders:
The Sejm shall pass bills by a majority of
votes in the presence of at least half of the statutory number of Deputies,
unless the Constitution provides otherwise. The same procedure shall apply to
adoption of resolutions and other decisions, unless provisions of the
Constitution, of statutes or the Standing Orders of the Sejm provide otherwise.
In
the period:
-
19.10.2001-31.12.2001 the
Sejm passed 36 bills,
-
1.01.2002-31.12.2002
– 218 bills,
-
1.01.2003-
30.09.2003 – 157 bills.
During 19.10.2001-30.09.2003 the
Sejm adopted almost 600 bills, resolutions, and other measures.
Sejm committees are Sejm organs
established for the consideration and preparation of matters under deliberation
by the Sejm, as well as expression of their opinions on matters referred for
their consideration by the Sejm, the Marshal of the Sejm or the Presidium of
the Sejm. Committees are also supervisory organs of Sejm, within the scope
specified by the Constitution and statutes.
According to the established
practice, the nature of standing committees reflects their subject-matter,
functions or organizational status (i.e. its duties corresponds with the scope
of activity of one of the supreme or central organs of the State). The Standing
Orders of the Sejm establishes 25 standing committees.
The scope of activities of
individual committees is specified in an appendix to the Standing Orders of the
Sejm. The most important duties of standing committees include:
- consideration of bills
and draft resolutions;
- consideration of
resolutions, adopted by the Senate, relating either to introduction of
amendments to the text of a bill passed by the Sejm or rejection of it,
- consideration of
reports and information from ministers and heads of the supreme organs of the
State administration, as well as heads of other State offices and institutions;
- analyse of activities
of individual branches of administration and State economy;
- giving opinion on
motions to elect or appoint individual persons to, or recall from, particular
State offices, which have been referred to them by the Marshal of the Sejm.
In order to deal with the matters
not covered by the competence of its standing committees, the Sejm may
establish special committees. Upon the creation of a special committee, the
Sejm defines, by means of a resolution, its aims, principles and procedures of
operation. Such committees operate temporarily and are dissolved upon the
presentation of a report to the Sejm on the activities performed.
The average number of sittings of each
committee during the period between 19.10.2001 and 31.12.2002 was 62.
Main rules of the procedure of
standing committee’ sittings are specified by the Standing Orders. However, there are many customs and
practises which are not contained in this act.
According to the Standing Orders the
duty of the Marshal of the Sejm is to ensure the operation and punctuality of
the work of Sejm and its organs. He has the power to control the regularity of
the procedures adopted by the committees.
E. Relations between the parliamentary administration and the legislative
process
There are four units of the Chancellery which
offer all kind of services connected with the legislative process:
-
The
Sejm Sittings Secretariat is responsible for organising and preparing the
plenary sittings. It sets up the order of all items of business which the Sejm
will be dealing with during the sittings. It also supports the Presidium of the
Sejm (the Marshal and the Vice-Marshals) in managing the internal affairs of
the Sejm;
-
The
Sejm Committees' Bureau is responsible for organising and preparing committees’
sittings;
-
The
Legislative Bureau is responsible for compliance of draft legislation (drafts
and amendments) with the system of drafting rules;
-
The
Bureau of Research - on request of Deputies and the Sejm organs - gives
experts' opinions and information about:
·
interpretation,
contents and implementation of legal acts - mainly in the field of
constitutional, administrative , civil, economy, labour and criminal law;
·
economic
policy, agriculture, food industry, environmental protection, international
economic cooperation, regional and transborder cooperation;
·
political
systems of particular countries, legal regulations and institutional solutions
binding in those countries,
·
European
integration, international relations, Poland's foreign and defence policies;
·
work
of ministries and other state institutions as well as non-governmental
organizations;
·
taxation
issues, functioning of certain financial institutions or financial mechanisms
that exist in other countries;
·
general
and particular solutions regarding education, health care, social security,
housing policy, existing in foreign countries.
The Parliamentary Law Unit of the Bureau of
Research is responsible for preparing - on request of Deputies and the Sejm
organs - expert reports on consistency of bills with the Constitution.
The European Law Unit of the Bureau of Research
supplies the organs of the Sejm with opinions on conformity of non-government
bills with EU law.
(The Standing Order requires a
written statement to be attached to every bill as to its conformity with EU legislation.
If the legislation is being proposed by the government, its conformity with EU
law is verified by the Department of European Law in the Office of the
Committee for European Integration. If it is not a government bill, the
statement on conformity with EU law is verified by the European Law Unit of the
Bureau of Research of the Sejm Chancellery. If the statement concludes that a
bill does not conform to EU law, it does not preclude the bill from being
passed but it does provide information on areas of non-conformity. Parliament
must then consider such areas of non-conformity, and amendments may be proposed
to overcome points of non-compliance.
F. Latest changes in parliamentary administration
The most important changes in Polish
parliamentary administration are connected with the ongoing process of European
Integration. In 200, on the basis of covenant between the Chancellery of the Sejm, the Chancellery
of the Senate, the Office of the European Integration Committee, the
Governmental Legislative Centre and The French Parliament (Sénat and Assemblée
Nationale), as well as the Spanish Senate, there was adopted a PHARE Programme:
“Institutional Strengthening – Administration. Parliamentary Legislative
Procedures”
The main purpose of the program was
to enhance the harmonisation of the Polish legislation with the EU law. The
objective of the program was to strengthen the governmental and parliamentary
legislative process of transposition of the
acquis communautaire.
The program contains the following
components:
(1) preparing a report which provides a
complete picture of the situation and formulates recommendations in view of the
following aims:
·
Improving
the co-ordination between the Government and the Sejm and the Senate
departments responsible for examining and appraising the conformity of the
proposed domestic legislation to the EC legislation
·
Improving
the efficiency of the procedure for
preparing bills at Governmental level, Improving the efficiency of the
legislative procedures for examination by the Sejm and the Senate of bills
transposing the acquis communautaire.
The report was prepared after:
-
the
assessment of the legislative procedures and methodologies at the parliamentary
level,
-
the
appraisal of the legislative and methodological procedures at Government level
in the field of harmonisation of law (in particular the functions of the legal
advice, as provided in France by the Conseil d’Etat, the SGG) and assessment of
inter-ministerial co-operation,
-
the
assessment of the information circuits and access to relevant documentation.
(2) Training of the administrative staff
(approx. 230 persons):
- training of drafters (Presentation
of the techniques of transposition the Union law into the domestic legal system
used in selected Member States and different methods of harmonising national
laws within the European Union),
- training of Parliamentary Committee staff
(the aim was to improve the quality of work and organisation of the
Parliamentary Committees and developing the level of skills of the staff as
regards the assimilation of the acquis
to enable them to channel Members of Parliament’s requests correctly).
-
training of experts (the purpose of the training was to provide the concerned
experts with a comprehensive knowledge of comparative law and of the existing
procedures in different parliaments and governments of the Member States in
order to enable them to identify, in minimum time, the difficulties that the
transposition of the EU law to domestic law might entail).
- study visits for staff in a Member State’s
Parliament or governmental institutions (in France, Spain and Germany)
(3) Training and study visit of
parliamentarians
(4) Setting up and development of
the function of the Parliamentary Centre for European Documentation and
Information (the Centre) The Centre was established at the Sejm. It provides
information services for the Deputies, the staff of the Chancelleries of the
Sejm and the Senate as well as for the Government officials with direct access
to the European Union documentation and legislation.
