Chamber of Deputies

The Committee on Legislation, which was set up following the amendments to the Rules of Procedure made in 1997 (Rule 16-bis), is made up of 10 MPs - five from the majority and five from the opposition - chosen by the President of the Chamber of Deputies. It is chaired by each of its members in turn, in accordance with criteria established by the Committee on the Rules of Procedure (See the opinion of 16 October 2001, confirmed on 6 October 2009).

All Decree Laws introduced by the Government are submitted to the Committee on Legislation. Parliamentary Committees are also required to seek the opinion of the Committee on Legislation in respect of bills that contain provisions to delegate legislative powers, repeal legislation, or that transfer issues already governed by law to the regulating power of other parties.

With all other draft legislation, the Committee on Legislation gives an opinion whenever called upon to do so by at least one fifth of the members of the Committee considering the bill. It may also do so as part of the consideration of Government bills referred to Parliamentary Committees for opinion.

The Committee expresses its opinion on the quality of draft legislation and considers the homogeneity, simplicity, clarity and exact formulation of bills as well as their effectiveness in simplifying and reforming existing legislation. When examining Decree Laws, it also considers whether rules regarding the specificity and homogeneity of legislation have been followed and whether those regarding standing limitations on content have been observed.

In carrying out its mission, the Committee has also acquired fact-finding functions for matters within its scope of competence and exercises them by means of hearings.