LAW
on the setting up, organization and operation
of the Legislative Council*
Art. 1. (1) On the date of the coming into force of the present law, it should be set up the Legislative Council, a specialist body of the Parliament, which shall give its advice on the drafts of normative acts with a view to the systematization, unification and coordination of the whole legislation; it shall keep the official record of the legislation of Romania.
(2) The Legislative Council shall have its seat at the Chamber of Deputies.
Art. 2. (1) The Legislative Council shall have the following powers:
a) to analyze and give its opinion on the bills, legislative proposals and the government's statutory orders and decision drafts having a normative character, with a view to their submission for legislating or enactment, as the case may be;
b) to analyze and give its opinion, at the request of the president of the Parliamentary Committee which debates in substance on amendments submitted to the Committee, and the bills or legislative proposals received by the Committee after their endorsement by one of the Chambers of Parliament;
c) to carry out directly or to coordinate, on the disposition of the Chamber of Deputies or of the Senate, the elaboration of certain drafts of codes or other laws of a particular complexity;
d) to work out on the disposition of the Chamber of Deputies or of the Senate, or on its own initiative, studies for the systematization, unification and coordination of the legislation and, on this basis, to make proposals to the Parliament or the Government, as the case may be;
e) to examine the conformity of the legislation with the provisions and principles of the Constitution, and to inform the standing bureaus of the Chambers of the Parliament or the Government, as the case may be, about the cases of unconstitutionality established, to present, within 12 months at the most from its setting up, proposals for accommodation of the previous legislation with the provisions and principles of the present Constitution;
f) to keep an official record of the legislation and to organize data processing of the record system;
g) to coordinate the elaboration and publication of legislative indexes, collections of normative acts, in Romanian and in other languages, and to approve, with a view to publication, from the point of view of the conformity with the official record of the legislation, the collections elaborated by other authorities or natural or legal persons;
h) to preserve one copy of the originals of the passed laws and of their promulgation decrees.
(2) The Legislative Council shall yearly submit to the Parliament the report on its activity.
Art. 3. (1) The bills and the legislative proposals shall be submitted to the Parliament, for debating, with the advisory opinion of the Legislative Council.
(2) The advisory opinion shall be given within the term established by the Standing Bureau or by the Standing Committee of the Chamber of the Parliament which has requested it. If the advisory opinion is not given in the established term, this fact shall not prevent the development of the legislative proceedings.
(3) The advisory opinion is a consultative one and has as its object:
a) the conformity with the Constitution of the proposed regulation, as well as the nature of the law;
b) the elimination of the contradictions or of the noncorrelations between the provisions of the bill or legislative proposal, and the ensuring of their complete character, the observance of the standards of legislative technique;
c) the indication of the implications of the new regulation on the legislation in force, through the identification of the legal provisions that, having the same object of regulation, are to be abrogated, amended or unified, as well as through the avoidance of the regulation of certain identical aspects in distinct normative acts.
(4) Within 6 months as from the coming into force of the law, the Legislative Council shall submit to the standing bureaus of the two Chambers the standards of legislative technique for the elaboration of the normative acts so that those interested should be able to exercise the right to legislative initiative.
Art. 4. (1) The drafts for statutory orders and decisions having a normative character shall be submitted to the Government for adoption only under advisory opinion of the Legislative Council, regarding the legality of the planned measures, and the manner in which the exigencies provided under Article 3, paragraph (3) are achieved, exigencies which shall be applied adequately.
(2) The advisory opinion is a consultative one.
(3) The advisory opinion shall be given within the term requested by the Government, which term cannot be smaller than 10 days in the case of the bills with an ordinary procedure, and of 2 days in the case of bills with an emergency procedure. For the statutory orders provided under Article 114, paragraph (4) of the Constitution, the term is of 24 hours.
Art. 5. (1) In fulfilling its powers, the Legislative Council shall cooperate with the public administrative authorities and with the public specialized institutions, according to the nature of the respective works.
(2) The public administrative authorities and the public specialized institutions are under the obligation to provide for, in the terms and conditions established by the Legislative Council, the information and reference material requested by it, and to afford the necessary support for carrying out its powers.
Art. 6. (1) The Legislative Council is composed of the Division of public law, the Division of private law, and the Division of official record of legislation and of documentation.
(2) Each division has in its structure a number of sectors.
(3) The domains of activity of the divisions and sectors, as well as their powers should be established through the Regulations on Legislative Council organization and operation.
(4) The financial and bookkeeping works of the Legislative Council should be made by the specialized department of the Chamber of Deputies.
Art. 7. (1) The Legislative Council shall be directed by the president of the Council, and each division, by a division president.
(2) The president of the Legislative Council, and the division presidents should be appointed by the majority vote of the Deputies and Senators met in joint session of the two Chambers of the Parliament, on the basis of three proposals made by the standing bureaus, for each office, with the advisory opinion of the joint juridical committees. The president of the Legislative Council and the division presidents shall exercise their powers as from the date of taking, individually, the oath provided under paragraph (3), before the presidents of the two Chambers.
(3) The oath should have the following contents: I swear to observe the Constitution and the other laws of the Country, to defend the interests of Romania, the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens, and to fulfil with honour and professional conscience the charges incumbent upon me. So help me God!
(4) The office of president of the Legislative Council shall be assimilated to that of a minister, and the office of division president, to that of a state secretary.
Art. 8. (1) The president of the Legislative Council shall have the following powers:
a) to represent the Council before the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the other public authorities, as well as in the relations with natural and legal persons;
b) to sign the documents of the Council, which may be issued only with his consent;
c) to hire, in accordance with the law, the employees of the Council, excepting those appointed under the terms of the present law;
d) to exercise any other powers which are incumbent upon him, in accordance with the law.
(2) The president shall be a person entitled to authorize expenditure from the budget.
(3) The powers and duties of the division presidents shall be established by the organization and operation regulations of the Legislative Council.
(4) One of the division presidents, appointed by the president of the Council, shall be his deputy by right.
Art. 9. (1) Each sector of a division shall be directed by one of the counsellors, excepting the research and documentation sector and the secretariat of the Legislative Council, which shall be directed each of them by a director.
(2) The counsellors and the directors shall be appointed by the president of the Council, with the approval of the standing bureaus of the Chambers of Parliament.
(3) The counsellors and the directors shall exercise their powers and duties as from the date of taking the oath, provided under Article 7, paragraph (3), before the president of the Council and of the division where they are appointed.
(4) Every division president shall be assisted by one of the counsellors provided under paragraph (1), who shall be his deputy by right.
Art. 10. The Regulations on Legislative Council organization and operation, and the list of posts shall be approved in the joint session of the standing bureaus of the two Chambers of Parliament, with the advisory opinion of the joint juridical committees.
Art. 11. (1) The legislative proposals made by Deputies or Senators shall be forwarded to the Legislative Council, for endorsement, by the secretary general of the Chamber where they have been lodged, on the date of registering, and the bills initiated by the Government, or the drafts of statutory orders or decisions of the Government, having a normative character, by its secretary general.
(2) To the bills there shall be attached the documents and information which were used to their elaboration.
(3) The Senators and Deputies who are authors of legislative proposals, the ministers, state secretaries and state under-secretaries may, of their own accord or at the invitation of the president of the Legislative Council, participate in the examination, in the Council's divisions, of the drafts of normative acts submitted to endorsement. They may be invited by the president of the Legislative Council to the examination, in order to be endorsed, of the drafts of normative acts in their field of activity irrespective of initiators.
Art. 12. The drafts that constitute the object of the legislative initiative of the citizens shall be submitted for endorsement to the Legislative Council under the legal conditions stipulated by the law for the exercise of such initiative.
Art. 13. (1) The advisory opinion of the Legislative Council shall be transmitted in a written form, under the president's signature.
(2) The favourable advisory opinions that are not accompanied by objections or proposals shall not be motivated.
In the other cases, the advisory opinion shall include the complete motivation of each objection or proposal, and it shall be accompanied by the studies, documents and information they are based upon, those having a historical or comparative law character included, as the case may be.
(3) The advisory opinion cannot include appreciations of a political nature.
(4) The initiators or the authority which has solicited the advisory opinion may request Legislative Council additional explanations or may invite its president or his representative to the debate of the legislative proposals or endorsed bills.
Art. 14. (1) The drafts of codes and other complex laws, directly elaborated by the Legislative Council or under its guidance shall be accompanied by a detailed report including the main solutions adopted, the results of the substantiation studies entered upon, references to jurisprudence and pertaining comparative law, the possible alternative solutions, measures for the systematization of the legislation imposed by the adoption of the proposed regulations, as well as any other similar aspects which may be of interest for the debate of the drafts.
(2) The report together with the regulation draft shall be submitted to the Parliament after their approval by the Government.
Art. 15. (1) The advisory opinions and the other works of the Legislative Council should be debated in its divisions and sectors.
(2) The manner to work in the Legislative Council's divisions and sectors as well as the relations between them should be established by the Council's organization and operation regulations.
Art. 16. (1) In the offices of president of the Legislative Council, division president or counsellor there may be appointed persons who have only the Romanian citizenship and the place of residence in the country, who have graduated from law, who have also a good professional and moral reputation and at least 15 years experience in juridical activities.
(2) For the other offices in the structure of the Legislative Council's machinery, the conditions for appointment should be established by its organization and operation regulations.
(3) The specialist execution offices should be filled by competitive examination, in the terms of the law. The competitive examination should be organized by the Appointment and Discipline Committee of the Legislative Council, composed of 3 counsellors appointed by the president of the Legislative Council; the respective committee shall operate in keeping with the rules established through the organization and operation regulations.
Art. 17. (1) The office of president of the Legislative Council, those of division president, of counsellor and expert are incompatible with any other public or private office, except that of academic professorial activity in Law.
(2) The staff of the Legislative Council cannot belong to the political parties.
Art. 18. (1) The offices of president of the Legislative Council, of division president, counsellor or expert shall cease by resignation in case of infringement of the provisions under Article 17, of disfranchisement, a final sentence for perpetration of a criminal offence, or in other situations stipulated by the law, as the case may be.
(2) The cessation of the exercise of offices stipulated under paragraph (1) shall be established by the authorities in front of which those holding these offices have taken the oath.
Art. 19. (1) The infringement of the provisions of the present law and of the stipulations of the organization and operation regulations of the Legislative Council shall involve the responsibility of the culprits and the application of the disciplinary penalties as stipulated by the law for the civil servants.
(2) The president of the Legislative Council and the division presidents shall be interrogated for disciplinary transgressions by the joint juridical committees of the two Chambers, and the disciplinary penalties shall be applied by the standing bureaus of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate.
(3) The execution specialist staff of the Council shall be investigated, for the disciplinary transgression committed, by the Appointment and Discipline Committee of the Legislative Council, and the penalties shall be applied by the president of the Legislative Council, in keeping with the terms of the law and of the organization and operation regulations.
Art. 20. The remuneration of the execution specialist offices in the Legislative Council shall correspond to similar offices, in the machinery of the two Chambers of the Parliament.
Art. 21. For the carrying out of certain works of a particular importance, the president of the Legislative Council may approve the consultation, as external co-workers, of certain experts of a high qualification who shall enjoy the corresponding rights due, in keeping with the law, to the external co-workers of the machinery of the Parliament's Chambers.
Art. 22. (1) The budget of the Legislative Council is part of the state budget.
(2) The budget draft shall be drawn up by the Legislative Council, with the Ministry of Finance's advisory opinion.
(3) For the year 1993, the Government shall earmark, from the budgetary reserve at its disposal, the funds necessary to the organization and operation of the Legislative Council.
Art. 23. The provisions under Article 3 shall be applied after 30 days from the coming into force of the organization and operation regulations of the Legislative Council.
* The Law No. 73/November 3, 1993 Law on the setting up, organization and operation of the Legislative Council was published in the Monitorul Oficial (Official Gazette of Romania), Part I, No. 260, November 5, 1993.