[Official version in English][1]

RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

16th edition - July 2004

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TITLE I. MEMBERS, PARLIAMENT BODIES AND POLITICAL GROUPS

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CHAPTER 3. BODIES AND DUTIES

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Rule 22
Duties of the Bureau

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8. The Bureau shall be the authority responsible for authorising meetings of committees away from the usual places of work, hearings and study and fact-finding journeys by rapporteurs.

Where such meetings are authorised, the language arrangements shall be determined on the basis of the official languages used and requested by the members and substitutes of the committee concerned.

The same shall apply in the case of the delegations, except where the members and substitutes concerned agree otherwise.

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Rule 28
Accountability of the Bureau and the Conference of Presidents

1. The minutes of the Bureau and the Conference of Presidents shall be translated into the official languages, printed and distributed to all Members of Parliament and shall be accessible to the public, unless the Bureau or the Conference of Presidents exceptionally, for reasons of confidentiality, as laid down in Article 4(1) to (4) of European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, decides otherwise with regard to certain items of the minutes.

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TITLE II. LEGISLATIVE, BUDGETARY AND OTHER PROCEDURES

CHAPTER 1. LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURES – GENERAL PROVISIONS

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Rule 41
Consultation on initiatives originating from a Member State

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5. The time period referred to in Article 39(1) of the EU Treaty shall commence when it is announced in plenary that Parliament has received, in the official languages, an initiative, together with an explanatory statement confirming the initiative's conformity with the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to the EC Treaty.

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CHAPTER 4. SECOND READING

Committee stage

Rule 57
Communication of the Council's common position

1. Communication of the Council's common position pursuant to Articles 251 and 252 of the EC Treaty takes place when it is announced by the President in Parliament. The President shall make the announcement after he has received the documents containing the common position itself, all declarations made in the Council minutes when it adopts the common position, the reasons which led the Council to adopt its common position and the Commission's position, duly translated into the official languages of the European Union. The President's announcement shall be made during the part-session following the receipt of such documents.

Before making the announcement, the President shall establish, after consulting the chairman of the committee responsible and/or the rapporteur, that the text he has received is indeed a common position and that the circumstances described in Rule 55 do not apply. Failing this, the President, together with the committee responsible and, where possible, in agreement with the Council, shall seek an appropriate solution.

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TITLE IV. RELATIONS WITH OTHER BODIES

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CHAPTER 2. STATEMENTS

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Rule 106
Statements by the European Central Bank

5. A verbatim report of proceedings under paragraphs 3 and 4 shall be drawn up in the official languages.

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CHAPTER 5. RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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Rule 116
Written declarations

1. Up to five Members may submit a written declaration of not more than 200 words on a matter falling within the sphere of activities of the European Union. Written declarations shall be printed in the official languages and distributed. They shall be included with the names of the signatories in a register. This register shall be public and shall be maintained outside the entrance to the Chamber during part-sessions and between part-sessions in an appropriate location to be determined by the College of Quaestors.

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TITLE VI. SESSIONS

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CHAPTER 2. ORDER OF BUSINESS OF PARLIAMENT

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Rule 134
Urgent procedure

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2. As soon as the President has received a request for urgent debate he shall announce this to Parliament. The vote on the request shall be taken at the beginning of the sitting following that during which the announcement was made, provided that the proposal to which the request relates has been distributed in the official languages. Where there are several requests for urgent debate on the same subject, the approval or rejection of the request for urgent debate shall apply to all the requests on the same subject.

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CHAPTER 3. GENERAL RULES FOR THE CONDUCT OF SITTINGS

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Rule 138
Languages

1. All documents of Parliament shall be drawn up in the official languages.

2. All Members shall have the right to speak in Parliament in the official language of their choice. Speeches delivered in one of the official languages shall be simultaneously interpreted into the other official languages and into any other language the Bureau may consider necessary.

3. Interpretation shall be provided in committee and delegation meetings from and into the official languages used and requested by the members and substitutes of that committee or delegation.

4. At committee and delegation meetings away from the usual places of work interpretation shall be provided from and into the languages of those members who have confirmed that they will attend the meeting. These arrangements may exceptionally be made more flexible where the members of the committee or delegation so agree. In the event of disagreement, the Bureau shall decide.

Where it has been established after the result of a vote has been announced that there are discrepancies between different language versions, the President shall decide whether the result announced is valid pursuant to Rule 164(5). If he declares the result valid, he shall decide which version is to be regarded as having been adopted. However, the original version cannot be taken as the official text as a general rule, since a situation may arise in which all the other languages differ from the original text.

Rule 139
Transitional arrangement

1. Exceptionally, in applying Rule 138, account shall be taken, with regard to the official languages of the Member States which acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004, as of that date and until 31 December 2006, of the availability in real terms and sufficient numbers of the requisite interpreters and translators.

2. The Secretary-General shall each quarter submit a detailed report to the Bureau on the progress made towards full application of Rule 138, and shall send a copy thereof to all Members.

3. On a reasoned recommendation from the Bureau, Parliament may decide at any time to repeal this Rule early or, at the end of the period indicated in paragraph 1, to extend it.

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Rule 143
List of speakers

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2. The President shall call upon Members to speak, ensuring as far as possible that speakers of different political views and using different languages are heard in turn.

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CHAPTER 4. QUORUM AND VOTING

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Rule 150
Tabling and moving amendments

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6. Amendments shall be put to the vote only after they have been printed and distributed in all the official languages, unless Parliament decides otherwise. Parliament may not decide otherwise if at least thirty-seven Members object.

Rule 139 shall apply mutatis mutandis to this paragraph.

Oral amendments tabled in committee may be put to the vote unless one of the committee's members objects.

Rule 151
Admissibility of amendments

1. No amendment shall be admissible if:

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(d) it is established that the wording in at least one of the official languages of the text it is sought to amend does not call for amendment; in this case, the President shall seek out a suitable linguistic remedy together with those concerned.

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CHAPTER 6. PUBLIC RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

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Rule 173
Verbatim reports

1. A verbatim report of the proceedings of each sitting shall be drawn up in the official languages.

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TITLE VII. COMMITTEES AND DELEGATIONS

CHAPTER 1. COMMITTEES - SETTING UP AND POWERS

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Rule 176
Committees of inquiry

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7.
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With regard to the languages used, a committee of inquiry shall apply the provisions of Rule 138. However, the bureau of the committee:
- may restrict interpretation to the official languages of those who are to take part in the deliberations, if it deems this necessary for reasons of confidentiality,
- shall decide about translation of the documents received in such a way as to ensure that the committee can carry out its deliberations efficiently and rapidly and that the necessary secrecy and confidentiality are respected.

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TITLE VIII. PETITIONS

Rule 191
Right of petition

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3. Petitions must be written in one of the official languages of the European Union.

Petitions written in any other language will be considered only where the petitioner has attached a translation or summary drawn up in an official language of the European Union. The translation or summary shall form the basis of Parliament's work. Parliament's correspondence with the petitioner shall employ the official language in which the translation or summary is drawn up.

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ANNEX III
Guidelines and general principles to be followed when choosing the subjects to be included on the agenda for the debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law provided for under Rule 115

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Deadline for tabling amendments

7. The deadline for tabling amendments shall allow sufficient time between their distribution in the official languages and the time set for the debate on the motions for resolutions to enable Members and political groups to give them due consideration.

ANNEX X
Performance of the Ombudsman's duties

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B. Decision of the European Ombudsman adopting implementing provisions[2]

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Article 15
Languages

15.1 A complaint may be submitted to the Ombudsman in any of the Treaty languages. The Ombudsman is not required to deal with complaints submitted in other languages.

15.2 The language of proceedings conducted by the Ombudsman is one of the Treaty languages; in the case of a complaint, the language in which it is written.

15.3 The Ombudsman determines which documents are to be drawn up in the language of the proceedings.

15.4 Correspondence with the authorities of Member States is conducted in the official language of the state concerned.

15.5 The annual report, special reports and, where possible, other documents published by the Ombudsman are produced in all official languages.

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ANNEX XII
Exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission

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B. Agreement between the European Parliament and the Commission on procedures for implementing Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission

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6. The European Parliament is to adopt such resolutions in plenary; it is to have a period of one month in which to do so, beginning on the date of receipt of the final draft of the implementing measures in the language versions submitted to the Commission.

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ANNEX XVI
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to documents

European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents[3]

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

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HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

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Article 6. Applications

1. Applications for access to a document shall be made in any written form, including electronic form, in one of the languages referred to in Article 314 of the EC Treaty and in a sufficiently precise manner to enable the institution to identify the document. The applicant is not obliged to state reasons for the application.

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