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

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

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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:

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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)

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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)

15. 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.

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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).

19. 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).

20. 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

21. 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;