Procedural Basics for the Plenary Meetings of the National Assembly of Cambodia 2012 International Seminar on Parliamentary Research Services from 26-29 June, 2012 at NARS, National Assembly of the Republic of Korea Presented by: Mr. Prakath Pen, Deputy Director International Relations Department

Outline: 1- Brief History of Cambodia Legislature 2- National Assembly of Cambodia: Current situations 3- Procedural Basics for Plenary meetings 4-Conclusion

1- Brief history of Cambodian Legislature: Bicameral Paris Peace Agreement (23 Oct. 91) brought a change of history-First General Election 1993 The National Assembly (NA) : Directly elected by Cambodian voters with a 5-year term The Senate : Indirectly elected by the Commune Councils with a 6-year term. 2 members appointed by the King, 2 elected by the NA.

II-Current situation: Mandates of the Houses The Senate is on its third mandate 1999 : The Creation of the Senate 2006 : Second mandate 2012 : Third mandate The National Assembly is on its fourth mandate Elections so far: 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 Next election : 2013

Current Composition The National Assembly has123 members Cambodia People Party = 90 Seats Sam Rainsy Party = 26 Seats Human Rights Party = 3 Seats FUNCINPEC Party = 2 Seats Norodom Ranaridh Party = 2 Seats The Senate has 61 members Cambodia People Party = 46 Seats Sam Rainsy Party = 11 Seats Nominated by the King = 2 Seats Nominated by NA = 2 Seats

Structures and Roles Organizational Structure: Roles and functions Permanent standing committees Nine specialized commissions General Secretariat Roles and functions Legislative Role Representative Role Oversight Role Formation of Government Adoption of national budget

Permanent Standing Committee Organizational Structure: National Assembly Permanent Standing Committee C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C1: Commission on Human Rights, Complaint Reception, C2: Commission on Economy, Finance, Banking and Stated Audit C3: Commission on Environment, Rural Development C4: C5: C6: C7: C8: C9:

Organizational Structure: Secretariat Secretariat General GDAF Protocol Personnel Dept Finance Admint Procurement GAST IRD Information Precedural Research Dept Constituency Inspectorate Legal Center Internal Audit Dept

III-Procedural basics for the Plenary meetings 1-Examination of the bills 2- Procedural debate at the parliamentary setting 3- Adoption of the bills 4- Review session of the bill by the Senate 5- Promulgation and Effectiveness of the bills 6- Examination of the constitutionality 7- Amendments

1-The Examination of the bill Draft law is proposed by the Government (article 21 of the Internal Rule) Proposed law is proposed by the members of the National Assembly and the Senate (article 22 (new) of the Internal Rule) Permanent standing committee level (PSC): Convene to examine and decide which commission to handle the draft law Commission level Internal meeting: study and analyze the bill Inter-meeting: invite the responsible ministry that propose the bill to discuss or revise Produce the report on the result of the study and analysis of the bill for the PSC The PSC convene for adoption of the agenda for the plenary meeting (Article 19 of the Internal meeting)

1-The examination of the bill (Cont.) The Plenary Session Adoption of the agenda for the meeting The Chair of the Responsible commission report to the session on the result of studying the bill The defense of the bill by the responsible commission or ministry-in-charge 2- The procedure of the plenary sitting The meeting shall discuss and adopt on the whole content meaning that the bill shall be considered or not. The meeting shall discuss and adopt articles by articles or chapter by chapter. Sometimes, the NA can use the short-cut procedure by discussing and adopting only on articles or chapters that have been proposed/ recommended to have an amendment. However, this can be done as long as the PSC inform all MPs in advance.

2- The deliberation at the Plenary Sitting The meeting shall discuss and adopt the bill ( Article 9 (new) on the internal rule) In principle, any member who is listed to speak shall not surpass the limit of 20 minutes and the deputy who wishes to give response to any speaker shall have only 5 minutes to speak. bill ( Article 45 (new) on the internal rule) In the debate, the deputy shall take their respective turn to have comments, meaning that one give pro and other shall give cont. (Article 57 of the NA Internal Rule) The Chairman of the meeting may authorize an additional 10 minutes to any speaker if he think it is necessary or useful for the debate.

3- The Adoption of the bill The Voting in the Plenary Meeting of the National Assembly is only valid, when there is: The quorum of over two-thirds of all its members for any voting that required the majority of two-thirds of all its members. (Article 151 new of the Constitution) The quorum of over half of all its members for any voting that required the absolute majority of all its members. Article 90 new of the Constitution) The Internal Rule or its amendment shall take the absolute majority of all its members (Article 82 new of the constitution and article 83 new of the Internal Rule) All matters reviewed by the National Assembly shall be expressed its opinions through three different ways: show of hands, open vote and secret vote.

4- Review session by the Senate The adopted bill by NA shall then send to the Senate for review, correct and comment. The process of examining and deliberation at the Senate is similar to the National Assembly The responsible Commission reviews the Bill and either: Recommends that the full Plenary not consider the legislation. Requests that the full Plenary decide whether to consider the legislation. Requests that the full Plenary consider the legislation on an urgent issue. It takes 30 days to examine and give views on the adopted bill. In case of urgency this time frame shall be reduced to five working days (Article 113 (new) of the Constitution)

4- Review session by the Senate If the Senate gives a favorable view, or gives no view, within the provided time limits, the law already adopted by the National Assembly will be submitted for promulgation. If the Senate proposes amendments to the adopted bill, the National Assembly shall immediately examine it in a second reading. The National Assembly shall decide on the sole amendments proposed by the Senate, either by accepting or rejecting them, in totally or in part.

The Shuttle process between the National Assembly and the Senate: (1) Bill passed-sent forth Bill amended-sent back (2) (3) Bill rejected-sent forth Bill purely reject-sent back (4) (5) Bill adopted and sent to the King

5- Promulgation of the law and its effectiveness The Draft or Proposed Laws that have been adopted and reviewed in accordance with the above Rules and Procedures shall be granted the Royal Kram (Royal Assent) and be promulgated by the King. (article 28 new of the Constitution) The President of the National Assembly shall send letter and related documents to the Prime Minister for taking action to grant the signature and promulgation from the King. All Laws promulgated by the King shall be published in the Journal Official (Official Gazette). For laws on Organization, the Internal Rule of the Senate and the Internal Rule of the National Assembly shall be sent to the Constitutional Council for checking the constitutionality before promulgation.

6- Examination of the Constitutionality The Constitutional Council shall have the competence to guarantee the respect of the Constitution, to interpret the Constitution and the laws adopted by the National Assembly and the reviewed by the Senate. The Constitution also granted the Constitutional Council a jurisdictional power to monitor the law and to examine the constitutionality of law. According to the Article 136 (new) of the Constitution the King, the Prime Minister, the President of the National Assembly or one-tenth of Assembly members, the President of the Senate or one- fourth of the Senators to the Council may send the adopted bill the Constitutional Council for examining the constitutionality of that law. According to Article 140 (new) and 141 (new) of the Constitution) The Constitutional Council shall pronounce within the time frame of thirty days at the latest, whether the Laws are or not conformity with the Constitution (Article 140-new of the Constitution). Any citizens may also appeal the constitutionality of Laws to the Constitutional Council, but only indirectly, through representatives or the President of the National Assembly, Senators or the President of the Senate (Article 141-new of the Constitution).

7- Amendments The King, the Prime Minister, the President of the National Assembly with the request of ¼ of MPs (31 MPs) of the total members has rights/authority to propose or initiate an amendments to the Constitution. The revision or amendment to the Constitution shall be made by two third majority of the MPs. (Article 151 new of the Constitution). At least 31 MPs shall be able to propose the amendment to the Internal Rule of the National Assembly and the voting to adoption shall be made by most majority (or 50+1) 63 MPs of the MPs. (Article 82 new of the Internal Rule). Any propose or initiatives to the amendment aiming at reducing national revenue or adding more load to the people shall be prohibited. ( Article 81 new of the constitution).

IV- Conclusion Separate powers: Legislative, Executive and Judiciary Bicameral: National Assembly (five years) and the Senate (Six Year) Each institution is governed by its own Internal Rule NA is in the fourth mandate There are seven ways of the procedural basics for the plenary meeting

Process of Examining and Adopting Bills King Constitutional Councils Natioanl Assembly Permanent Standing Committee/PSC Specialized Commissions Senate Government Draft Laws/Bills MPs/Senators Promulgation Examination of Constitutionality ¬2¦ ¦ Examine and Adopt ¬ 1¦ Examine and Advise/Comments;