Reading of Laws
6.3.1 Detailed Provisions
Some countries do not provide guidance on the reading of laws at all. Many countries however state principles in the constitution and details in the Standing orders (Table 6.4).
6.3.2 Remarks
The legislative procedures are rarely regulated in detail in the constitutional texts but focus mainly on the introduction of bills by governments or members in the respective houses of parliaments. The predominant role of committees (Standing Committees; Special committees and others) for the UK[391] is well known and is followed by the parliamentary systems of British descent (Canada, Australia,[392] New Zealand, Ireland);[393] but also other constitutions refer to the role of committees in the preparatory and amending phase of legislation (e.g. Austria, Belgium, France, Denmark, Italy, Lithuania,[394] Portugal, Sweden,[395] Switzerland, USA, Brazil, Cameroon, Congo) which leads to a preliminary examination of bills and regularly is regulated in detail by the respective Standing Orders.
The reading procedure of the houses in plenary sittings follows largely the model of three readings of the British model[396] even if the whole procedure is seldom comprehensively described in the constitutional norms but left to the Standing Orders (exceptions e.g. Portugal, Belgium and France).
More relevant for the constitutional texts is the role which the constituent power assigns to the chambers in bicameral parliaments after the introduction of Government bills. Bills may be introduced in either house or chamber and after the first reading transmitted to the other chamber for review but some bills concerning specified matters may only be submitted to the Second Chamber (Senate: e.g. Bolivia, Algeria); special procedures may be prescribed for financial bills normally to be submitted to the unitary chamber (Assembly, House of Representatives: e.g.
Ireland, India[397]).Table 6.4 | | Reading of laws
| Reading Procedures | Standing Committees & others | Countries |
| No express regulation in B-VG, but Standing Orders (Sec. X:3 lectures) | “Main Committee” (“HauptausschuB”): art. 55 B-VG | Austria |
| First and Second Reading (art. 76 par. 3); voting article by article (art. 76 par. 1) | Standing and Temporary Committees (Sec. I, IV Rules of Procedure) | Belgium |
| 3 Readings (§ 41 par. 2) | Committees (§ 51) | Denmark |
| Government bills are tabled in one of the chambers after consultation of the “State Council” (Conseil d’Etat): art. 39 par. 2 a; first plenary reading after certain time limits in the two chambers (art. 42 par. 3); 2 readings, in case of disagreements between 2 chambers ev 3. reading (art. 45) | Prior referral of bills to one of the Standing or specific Committees (art. 42 par. 1, 43) | France |
| Government bills first to be communicated to “Bundesrat”; then to “Bundestag”: art. 76 par. 2, 3 readings | Germany | |
| Bills after the first reading are scrutinized by committees (“sede referente procedure”), followed by a general debate in the chamber (“sede deliberante”) or by the Assembly for bills concerning constitutional amendments; legislative delegation, ratification of international treaties; budget proposals: art. 72 par. 1,4 | Rules of procedure may fix shortened procedures and set up permanent committees; art. 72 par. 3 | Italy |
| Any bill must be tabled to the other Chamber: art. 20.1 | Specific detailed rules for money bills: Senate (“Seanad”) may only give recommendations: art. 21 | Ireland |
| Government bills are tabled in the 2nd chamber or Plenary Assembly, then transmitted to the 1st Chamber | Netherlands | |
| Detailed regulation: general debatedebate in detail and final vote: art. 168 par. 1, 2; approval in plenary session for const. amendments and special majorities for specific subjects: art. 168 par. 4; also for statutory decrees (“decreto leis”) on request of 10 deputies: art. 169 | Referral to committees after general debate: art. 168 par. 3 Urgency procedure on request of a MP, faction or government: art. 170 | Portugal |
| Cabinet proposal tabled in congress of deputies (“congreso”), debated and voted; transmitted to Senate: art. 90 | Spain | |
| 1 and 2nd reading in the Commons; then referred to a Committee; after 3rd reading bill is transferred to House of Lords | A Standing Committee debates the bill in detail; may amend it and report to the House for 3rd reading | United Kingdom |
Table 6.4 (continued)
| Reading Procedures | Standing Committees & others | Countries |
| Explicit regulation only concerning the referral of a bill before the final vote by the Parliament—on motion by initiator, Government or President of Parliament—to the Constitutional Court: art. 6 par. 2 | Regulation of readings in the Standing orders: general debate; debate in detail; referral to committees; final vote | Hungary |
| 3 readings: art. 119 par. 1; amendments by initiator, deputies or council of ministers possible; vote by simple majority of Sejm before submitted to Senate: art. 120 | Poland | |
| Bills and legislative proposals are tabled in enumerated cases to the Chamber of Deputies, in all other cases to the Senate: art. 77; and are sent respectively to the other Chamber | Romania | |
| Proposals are examined by a Legislative Council; Chap. VIII, §20ss; further Regulation in Standing Orders | Preparation of bills in committees: Chap. IV § 5 | Sweden |
| Discussion by parliamentary committees; then debate in both chambers and identical votes: art. 156 par. 2 | Switzerland | |
| Vote by simple majorities; Regulation by Standing orders: art. 69 | Lithuania | |
| Majority vote for normal bills (art. 45 par. 1) legislation procedure regulated in Standing Orders | Georgia | |
| No constitutional regulation but left to Standing Orders | Ukraine | |
| No regulation, reference to Standing Orders: art. 88 par. 2 | Turkey | |
| Bills are tabled at State Duma; transmitted to Federal Council: art. 105 par. 3 | Russia | |
| Bills are transferred to committees and transferred after vote to the other chamber respectively | Standing, select or joint Committees | USA |
| 3 readings; after first reading transfer to committees | Canada | |
| Bill will be read in 3 sittings of each House, for 2nd reading submitted to Committees | Standing, select and Joint committees | Australia |
| Equal participation of both houses: art. 107 par. 2; 3 readings in both houses b | Special procedures for money bills: art. 109 | India |
Table 6.4 (continued)
| Reading Procedures | Standing Committees & others | Countries |
| Equal participation of both houses; 3 readings | Pakistan | |
| Approval by both houses: art. 59; bills are transferred to the other house for deliberation | Japan | |
| Bills in Nat Assembly are submitted to competent committees for review | South Korea | |
| “Organic law” bills and bills are only approved by “National Assembly”, i.e. House of Representatives and Senate: Sec. 81; bills are submitted to Senate (sec. 136) | Thailand | |
| Bills are transferred to the other chamber (art. 78); after general approval sent to the respective committees; then ordinary procedures in chambers continue: art. 79 | Argentina | |
| Bills introduced in a chamber are transferred to commissions, plenary discussions in general and detail: art. 163.1;3. | Legislative initiatives for special matters are submitted in Senate (art. 163.3) | Bolivia |
| Bills introduced are debated in commissions and transferred to other chamber: art. 58; reviewed in other chamber in 1 reading: art. 65 | Committee debate: art. 58 par. 2.1 | Brazil |
| Special majorities are prescribed for laws interpreting the constitution, organic laws, ordinary laws: art. 66 | Chile | |
| Bills are debated and voted in plenary sittings of chambers: art. 71 par. 2, after approval sent to the reviewing chamber: art. 71 par. 1 lit.a, par. 2 | Mexico | |
| Bills are introduced to People’s National Assembly; except bills relating to local regulation, regional development & regional division are submitted to Nat Council: art. 137; Each house discusses and “endorses” the text voted in the other house: art. 138 par. 4 | Algeria | |
| Bills originating from Government or 1/10of MP’s are submitted to special committees | Normally bills pass a “proposal committee” and with approval by Government will be transmitted to a “special committee”: art. 122 par. 2 | Egypt |
| Bills are introduced at the National Assembly or Senate; sent to committees; Government bills first debated in plenary: art. 29 par. 1; 2 | Bills are sent to commissions: art. 29 | Cameroon |
Table 6.4 (continued)
| Reading Procedures | Standing Committees & others | Countries |
| Bills are introduced in one of the chambers and transmitted for deliberation to other chamber: art. 144, 147 | Bills are sent to permanent or special Commissions: art. 148 par. 1, 2 | Congo |
| Bills introduced in the chambers are transferred to the other chamber and need approval by both houses: art. 58 par. 1, 3 | Nigeria | |
| Bills introduced in one Chamber must be passed to the other Chamber: Sec. 73 (5) | South Africa |
a Bills must comply with the requirements of an organic law (art. 39 par. 3); in case of disagreement between conference of presidents of chambers and the Government the question may be referred to the Constitutional Court (art. 39 par. 4)
b For more details see Wikipedia, Indian Legislative Procedure, accessed on 30 July 2021
Constitutional texts and Standing Orders can provide for special urgency procedures which may abbreviate the normal reading procedures (e.g. Italy: art. 72 par. 2, Portugal: art. 170) or enable the Government to temporarily substitute the legislative procedure (e.g. Spain: art. 86) which touches upon the issue of the legislative decree power of the Executive. Poland had a provision in place according to which the Government could shorten the discussion time of a bill in the Sejm, the Senate and the President’s office from 30 to seven day in March 1995 and thereby defining the procedure, which led to a decrease from 57% of laws past by fast track procedure in 1994 to 12% in 1995 and strengthened the position of the opposition in Poland.[398]
6.4