Print SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA STATUTE, 17 February 1994 No.I-399 (New edition since 22 December 1998 No. VIII-1000, as amended by 11 November 1999, No VIII-1419) (official translation, excerpt)
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PART III. COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS OF THE SEIMAS
Chapter X. Powers and Working Procedure of the Seimas Committees
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Article 48. Working Procedure of the Seimas Committees
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8. In order to prepare issues which are subject to consideration, committees may form from among their members preparatory working groups. The said groups may include other Seimas Members upon their consent, as well as representatives of State institutions, parties and public organisations, experts and scientists. Funds for the experts of such groups shall be allocated in accordance with the approved estimate of expenditures of the committee.
Article 49. Powers of Seimas Committees
The main powers of the committees with respect to issues within their competence shall be:
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10) to consider proposals of voters and public organisations;
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Article 54. Readings in the Seimas Committees
1. The committee may decide to organise special readings of the committee for preliminary discussion of a draft law and proposals and amendments submitted in regard to it when the committee carries out parliamentary scrutiny, as well as for the drawing up of draft conclusions concerning the issue under consideration.
2. Experts, representatives of the interested institutions and groups of the population, persons having the right of legislative initiative, shall participate in readings of the committee in which the proposals and amendments concerning the legal act under consideration shall be discussed. Decisions shall not be adopted during readings.
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PART V. LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE
Chapter XIX. Registration of Drafts of Laws and other Seimas Acts
Article 135. Requirements of Draft Submitted for Registration
1. Drafts of laws and of other acts of the Seimas, as well as the proposal concerning the legislation thereof, shall be submitted to the Seimas for consideration by the institutions and persons who, pursuant to the Constitution, have the right of legislative initiative.
2. Submitted drafts and proposals must be signed by the initiators. When the draft law is submitted to the Seimas by Lithuanian Republic citizens in accordance with the right granted them by the Constitution, it shall be signed by representatives of the initiators and also, collected signatures of citizens shall be presented together with the draft.
3. A covering letter shall be submitted together with the draft law wherein, the following shall be set forth:
1) the objectives and goals of the prepared draft;
2) the current legal procedure in accordance with which the issues considered in the draft law are being regulated;
3) what new provisions of legal regulation are planned, the positive qualities of the newly regulated issues, and the positive results which are foreseen;
4) possible negative consequences of the enacted law and the measures which should be applied in order to avoid said consequences;
5) the incorporation of the draft law into the legal system, which legal acts in said sphere shall remain valid (a list of said acts shall be presented), and which of the valid legal acts must be amended or repealed upon adoption of the draft;
6) whether a draft law is in conformity with the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the documents of the European Union;
7) in the event that the subordinate legislation is required for the implementation of the law, who should prepare it and when, as well as the guidelines of said subordinate legislation;
8) amount of funds the implementation of the law will require, or will allow to save, from the budget (assessments to be supplied for next year and subsequent future);
9) the evaluation and findings of specialists obtained during the period that the law was drafted;
10) author or group of authors of the draft law, draft law initiators: institution, persons or representatives authorised by citizens;
11) significant words of the draft law, which are necessary for the to inclusion of this draft in the computer search system;
12) other substantiations and explanations which the initiators feel are necessary.
4. Initiators of draft laws shall attach a comparative variant of a submitted draft of amendments of a law, in which the essence of amendments is set forth, to a covering letter. New amendments in the text of a new version of an article (its paragraph or item) shall be printed in boldface, and the words proposed to be struck out shall be crossed out with a thin line. Provided that an article (its paragraph or item) is proposed to be basically amended, the text of the former version (crossed out with a thin line) and the new version of an article (its paragraph or item) shall be presented. Provided that the whole article (its paragraph or item) is proposed to be declared invalid, the number of the article (its paragraph or item) proposed to be declared invalid shall be specified in the essence of the amendments, and the whole text (crossed out with a thin line) of such article (its paragraph or item) shall be presented.
5. A draft law or resolution on the implementation procedure of this law shall, as needed, be submitted with the draft law.
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Chapter XX. Presentation of Drafts of Laws and other Standard Acts at seimas Sittings
Article 141. Procedure of Presenting a Draft
1. A draft of a law or any other standard act shall be presented at the sitting of the Seimas by the initiator (Seimas Member, Government member, representative of the Republic President or citizens˙ representative ), who shall give a brief (maximum of 10 minutes) characterisation of the draft and shall answer questions of the Seimas Members (up to 10 minutes).
2. Thereafter, the presiding officer shall familiarise the members with the conclusions of the Legal Department of the Seimas Office and also of the Seimas committees and conclusions of the Government and the Bureau of European Law under the Government, provided that such conclusions have been received, and shall put proposals to the vote.
Article 142. Drafts Presented by Citizens
A draft law presented by citizens must be submitted at a Seimas sitting no later than one week following registration thereof during a session of the Seimas and, if registered between Seimas sessions, during the initial sitting of the other session.
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Chapter XXI. Consideration of Draft Laws in the Principal Committee
Article 147. Preparedness of Principal Committee to Consider the Draft of a Law
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3. Persons having the right of legislative initiative for publication of laws, may submit remarks and proposals up to at least 2 hours time prior to the principal committee meeting, wherein the consideration of the draft of the committee˙s conclusions shall commence.
4. Should the principal committee decide to return the draft law to the initiators for revision, persons having the right of legislative initiative, may submit remarks and proposals for revision of draft law, according to the same procedure.
5. If the committee is charged to revise the draft, a working group may be formed for said purpose.
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7. The principal committee must publish in the press according to the procedure established by the Seimas Board, the information regarding up to what time the committee shall await proposals and remarks of interested persons and how it would be possible to acquaint oneself with the text of the draft law. The principal committee must send the draft law to all interested State institutions and, as necessary, to public organisations, local governments, political parties and organisations, in order that said institutions and organisations could send their evaluations. The Seimas Board or Assembly of Elders may establish to which institutions or persons the draft must be sent, or may relieve the principal committee of the principal committee’s obligations established in this paragraph.
8. All of the material received concerning the draft law shall be evaluated and summarised by the principal committee.
9. If a draft law has been presented to the public for consideration, the proposals received shall be referred to the principal committee.
Article 148. Hearings during Draft Law Deliberation in the Committee
1. Following the expiration of the time limit for submitting remarks and proposals on a draft law, all of the remarks obtained from interested persons and experts may be deliberated in principal committee hearings, to which participation of all remark and proposal presenters shall be invited. The hearings shall be organised by preparers committee conclusions. Results of deliberations shall be marked in conclusions of the draft.
2. After the deliberation of the remarks and proposals of interested persons shall be completed in hearings, if many remarks, proposals and amendments are received from persons who have the right of legislative initiative, there may be hearings designated by the committee, in which shall be discussed the remarks and proposals regarding the draft law, of Seimas designated additional Seimas Committees, Seimas Members, the Government and Republic President. These remarks and proposals may be presented by the authors thereof with no less than 2 hours remaining before the meeting of this committee.
3. It shall be possible not to hold hearings during draft law deliberations in the committee if the amendments and remarks which have been received shall only be a few in number, in which eventuality all the authors of amendments and remarks shall be invited to attend the committee meeting, in which the draft law is being deliberated in accordance with Article 149 of this Statute.
Article 149. Deliberations in the Principal Committee of Draft Law
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3. Representatives of the initiators of the draft, representatives of the committees which are preparing additional conclusions, and experts confirmed by the committee as well as persons having the right of legislative initiative who have submitted amendments to the draft law shall be invited to the deliberations by the principal committee. Said persons must be granted the floor at the meeting of the committee.
4. Other Seimas Members present at the committee sitting shall be, as a rule, allowed to have the floor to discuss the draft under consideration.
5. Representatives of other interested state institutions, local governments, political parties and organisations and public organisations may also be invited to the sitting. Upon the consent of the presiding officer, they may also be granted the floor.
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Chapter XXVI. AMENDMENT Of THE CONSTITUTION AND CONSIDERATION OF DRAFT CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS
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Article 169. The Right of Constitutional Amendment Initiative
1. Consideration of the draft Law on Amendment of the Constitution shall commence consideration in the Seimas only in cases when the draft is submitted by a group of at least 1/4 of the Seimas Members or at least 300,000 electors who have expressed their will by putting their signatures under the text of the proposed amendment, with the exception of cases provided for in the Constitution which provide for constitutional amendment only by referendum.
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