Tracking Changes on Bills (From Submission to Voting by Plenum) (GR0025)

The original text of bills is amended through various stages of processing, from the parliamentary committee level to voting in the Plenum. Commitment 1 is a basic requirement for legislative process documentation, aiming to achieve the adoption of a system that a) monitors the status and history of actions during processing of the bills by the Parliament, b) assists the production of different versions and c) allows for quick distribution, both internally to members of Parliament and the public. At the same time, it serves as a reliable information data base of the Parliament, allowing parliamentarians and the public to retrieve information in an accurate and timely manner, thus promoting the principles of parliamentary transparency.

Commitment 4.1. Track changes on bills

Commitment Text:

The original text of bills is amended through various stages of processing, from the parliamentary committee level to voting in the Plenum. Commitment 4.1 is a basic requirement for legislative process documentation, aiming to achieve the adoption of a system that a) monitors the status and history of actions during processing of the bills by the Parliament, b) assists the production of different versions and c) allows for quick distribution, both internally to members of Parliament and the public. At the same time, it serves as a reliable information data base of the Parliament, allowing parliamentarians and the public to retrieve information in an accurate and timely manner, thus promoting the principles of parliamentary transparency.

Milestones –Timescales

The steps and actions to be followed for achieving the commitment were as follows:

•       Completion by December 2014:

o   4.1.1. Review legislative information flow: Collaboration with Central Government Bodies (General Secretary of the Government Ministries etc.) in order to review information flow from drafting of the bill to voting in Plenum and its subsequent transmission to the National Printing Office for publication

o   4.1.2. XML standard for legislative documents: Exploration and joint adoption of an international open standard XML for syntax, structuring, processing and electronic transmission of bills and amendments

•       Completion by June 2016:

o    4.1.3. Legislative document handling system: Development of a system to handle structured legislative documents, track the document changes and produce different versions of digitally signed documents at each stage of the legislative process