Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly

The National Assembly shall conduct its proceedings in the Slovenian language.

The deputies of the Italian and Hungarian national minorities shall have the right to speak and to table motions, petitions, questions and other submissions which are written in the Italian or the Hungarian language. Their speeches and formally filed submissions shall be translated into the Slovenian language.

The collegium of the president shall be a consulting body of the president of the National Assembly. The collegium shall help the president to organise the work of the National Assembly, to co-ordinate the work of standing committees and to prepare sessions of the National Assembly, and in other matters within the competence of the president of the National Assembly.

The collegium of the president shall consist of the president of the National Assembly, the deputy presidents, the leaders of deputy groups and the deputies of the Italian and Hungarian national minorities. The president of the National Assembly shall invite to a session of the collegium the General Secretary of the National Assembly, the secretary of the secretariat for legislation and legal affairs, and he may also invite the presidents of standing committees, expert employees of the National Assembly and others.

Deputies who were elected from lists having the same nomination and deputies who are members of the same parliamentary party shall have the right to constitute only one deputy group. A deputy may only be a member of the deputy group of the list having the same nomination as that on which he was elected or of the deputy group of the political party of which he is a member.

The deputies of the Italian and Hungarian national minorities shall have the status of a deputy group.

Deputies who were elected from voters' lists shall also have the status of a deputy group, irrespective of their number.

When choosing members of standing committees, it shall be necessary to take into account the distribution of deputies in delegations in international parliamentary institutions and international organisations.

Members of national minorities shall have the right to choose the standing committees in which they wish to participate.

The National Assembly shall constitute by decree a commission to study certain common matters or to study individual matters.

The National Assembly shall have the following permanent commissions:

- a commission for elections, nominations and administrative matters,

- a mandate-immunity commission,

- a Rules of Procedure commission,

- a commission for national minorities.

The commission for national minorities shall:

- deliberate matters relating to the situation and the rights of the Italian and the Hungarian national minorities,

- deliberate matters relating to the development of the education and cultural and economic activity of these minorities,

- deliberate matters related to the provision of public information and publication activities of these national minorities,

- deliberate questions of the development of relations between the Italian and Hungarian national minorities and their respective motherlands,

- propose measures for the exercise of the rights of both national minorities.

Matters which are given for deliberation to a standing committee and matters related to decisions or to the programme of work of a standing committee shall be included in the order of the day of the sessions of that standing committee.

After deliberation at a session, the standing committee shall formulate a report for the National Assembly. A report to the National Assembly may only be submitted by a primary standing committee.

The report of a standing committee must contain opinions and proposals, on which it is possible to vote in the National Assembly.

The commission for national minorities may also submit, directly to the National Assembly, a report on individual articles of laws pertaining to the exercise of the rights of national minorities as provided for by the Constitution.

The voting in a standing committee shall be public. A proposal shall be passed with a majority of declared votes.

In the selection of candidates, the commission for elections, nominations and administrative matters shall apply the provisions of these Rules of Procedure for elections and nominations accordingly.

The commission for national minorities shall pass decisions relating to the rights of national minorities with the consent of the representatives of the national minorities.

The President of the National Assembly shall determine the primary standing committee to participate in the debate of a proposed law and report to the National Assembly.

When the proposed law contains provisions which require funds from the national budget, the president of the National Assembly shall also assign such law for debate to the standing committee competent for financial matters. This standing committee shall also present an opinion on amendments which have financial consequences for the national budget. This standing committee may present its report on the financial consequences of a proposed law or amendment directly to the National Assembly.

When the proposed law also regulates the rights of national minorities, the commission for national minorities may report directly to the National Assembly on these provisions.

It shall not be possible to enact a law which pertains exclusively to the exercise of rights and the status of national minorities, until the representatives of the national minorities have expressed their consent to the law.

Word for word recordings of minutes of sessions of the National Assembly shall be accessible to the public.

Contributions to debates by deputies of the Italian of Hungarian national minorities in the Italian or Hungarian languages shall be entered into the session minutes in their language together with a Slovenian translation.