6

Lifecycle of Parliamentary
Documents

Australia • Canada • European Parliament • France
Germany • Israel • Japan • Portugal • Sweden
United Kingdom

December 2021

LL File No. 2022-020729
LRA-D-PUB-002570

The Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Directorate(202) 707-5080 (phone) • (866) 550-0442 (fax) • law@loc.gov • http://www.law.gov

This report is provided for reference purposes only.
It does not constitute legal advice and does not represent the official
opinion of the United States Government. The information provided
reflects research undertaken as of the date of writing.
It has not been updated.

Contents
Comparative Summary ............................................................................................................................. 1
Australia ...................................................................................................................................................... 3
Canada ....................................................................................................................................................... 24
European Parliament ............................................................................................................................... 38
France......................................................................................................................................................... 45
Germany .................................................................................................................................................... 52
Israel .......................................................................................................................................................... 58
Japan .......................................................................................................................................................... 64
Portugal ..................................................................................................................................................... 67
Sweden ...................................................................................................................................................... 87
United Kingdom ...................................................................................................................................... 94

Comparative Summary
Ruth Levush
Senior Foreign Law Specialist

This report addresses the lifecycle of parliamentary documents in Australia, Canada, theEuropean Parliament, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Portugal, Sweden, and the UK. The
report contains individual jurisdictional surveys prepared by foreign law specialists in the Global
Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress based on researching legal sources
published in the jurisdictions surveyed, where applicable in the native languages.
The jurisdictions surveyed include ones with unicameral parliamentary systems, composed ofIsrael, Portugal, and Sweden, and those with bicameral systems, including Australia, Canada,
France, Germany, Japan, and the UK. The European Parliament, the European Union’s only
directly elected body, is also surveyed.
The lifecycle of parliamentary documents, also referred to as the parliamentary document
process, consists of the processing, producing, publishing, collecting, preserving, and distributing
to users of parliamentary documents. Parliamentary documents subject to processing in thejurisdictions surveyed often include documents and records that are produced in parliament,such as bills and related information, explanatory memoranda and bill digests, petitions, tabled
papers, written and audio reports of parliamentary proceedings, and parliamentaryresearch publications.
While certain types of parliamentary documents are published in the official gazettes of thejurisdictions surveyed, other documents are often preserved as part of a historical parliamentaryarchive as well as in current legislative records. Depending on whether a jurisdiction has morethan one official language, documents may be published in all the official languages, as is the casein Canada and the European Parliament. Israel has special procedures for documenting andtranslating speeches by foreign dignitaries and statements in a language other than Hebrew madein parliament.
Access to parliamentary documents is guaranteed under constitutional provisions in France,
Japan, Portugal, and Sweden. The production, publication, and preservation of parliamentary
documents in all surveyed jurisdictions are also governed by legislation, standing orders,
resolutions, and procedural rules of the relevant parliamentary chambers.
National or parliamentary archives have traditionally engaged in official record keeping ofparliamentary documents in some jurisdictions, with national or parliamentary libraries also
contributing by collecting and providing access to various parliamentary documents along withreference and analysis to advise members, where applicable.
The jurisdictional surveys of Australia, Canada, the European Parliament, Germany, Israel, andPortugal describe special procedures for documenting, correcting, and approving recording offloor proceedings and hearing minutes in the plenum and in committees, with different rules
applicable in some jurisdictions for confidential hearings and records.
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Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: Comparative Summary

Subject to restrictions on dissemination of certain sensitive documents, information sharing
among legislative agencies and within parliamentary departments is a common practice. Projects
for preservation of and access to digital records of parliamentary documents exist in all surveyedjurisdictions with procedures in place for coordinating digitization of multiple types ofparliamentary documents by designated bodies, such as parliamentary or national libraries
and archives.
The attached jurisdictional surveys provide detailed information on particular aspects of theprocessing of parliamentary documents.

The Law Library of Congress2Australia
Kelly BuchananChief, Foreign, Comparative, andInternational Law Division II

SUMMARY

In the Parliament of Australia, the production, management, and publication of various
types of parliamentary documents are governed by different laws, depending on thecontext, and by the standing orders, resolutions, and other orders of the two houses ofParliament (the House of Representatives and the Senate). The Parliament’s website is
the primary online source for all parliamentary documents and provides access to
ParlInfo Search (which enables users to search and obtain parliamentary information
resources), ParlView (a video archive service), and the ParlWork application (which
provides a consolidated view of live, real-time chamber business information).
The Department of Parliamentary Services has overall responsibility for the information
systems and services of the Parliament. It is also responsible for the production of
Hansard (the report of proceedings of the Parliament and its committees) and forrecording, broadcasting, and archiving the audio and audiovisual record of chamberand committee proceedings. The clerks of the House and Senate head two additional
parliamentary departments that serve as the secretariats of the respective houses. These
departments are responsible for producing and managing a range of parliamentary
documents, including the creation of documents to facilitate the business of the twohouses, such as the minutes of meetings, and the processing of documents that aretabled in (i.e., presented to) the Parliament. Special procedures apply to Parliamentary
Papers, which are a subset of tabled documents. Under resolutions of each house,particular types of documents are made Parliamentary Papers and are published,indexed, and distributed to relevant entities.
The Parliamentary Library is part of the Department of Parliamentary Services. It
provides information, analysis, and advice to senators, members, and their staff. In
addition to commissioned research, it publishes the Parliamentary Handbook of theCommonwealth of Australia, blog posts, bills digests, and research publications on policy
issues. It maintains a collection for use within the Parliament, selects and processes
material for library and media databases in ParlInfo Search, and is involved in projects
to digitize and make available historical materials.
The parliamentary departments work together on various projects related to providing
online access to parliamentary information. The Australian Parliamentary Digital Strategy
2019-2022 states that “[t]he provision of digital services for the Parliament isunderpinned by comprehensive governance and advisory arrangements” and sets out
strategies and associated objectives related to, for example, providing access to key
parliamentary information and data sources, and developing a digital preservation
framework to ensure the permanent preservation of parliamentary businessinformation. The corporate documents of the departments provide information on
current and recent projects related to digital records of parliamentary documents.

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Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: Australia
In addition to the parliamentary departments, certain non-parliamentary federal
agencies have a role in producing, storing, and providing access to different types of
documents. In particular, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel is responsible for draftingand publishing bills and other legislation; the National Archives of Australia collects,
stores, and preserves official records of parliamentary office holders, such as thepresiding officers of the two houses and the chairs of parliamentary committees; andthe National Library of Australia collects, preserves, and provides access to various
parliamentary documents, including Parliamentary Papers and other records.

I. The Parliament of Australia
Chapter I of the Australian Constitution describes the composition and powers of the Parliamentof the Commonwealth of Australia (i.e., the Federal Parliament), which consists of the Queen(represented by the Governor-General) and a bicameral legislature. 1 The House ofRepresentatives currently consists of 151 members representing single electorates, 2 while the
Senate consists of 76 senators, “twelve from each of the six states and two from each of themainland territories.” 3 The Constitution also establishes the role of the presiding officers of thetwo houses: the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 4
Australia has a Westminster-style system of government, whereby the executive government
comes from within the Parliament and is responsible to the Parliament. 5 The leader of the politicalparty (or coalition) with the support of the majority of members of the House of Representatives
becomes the Prime Minister, and selects ministers from both houses of Parliament. 6

II. Overview
A. Australian Parliamentary Documents
Documents and records produced in the Australian Parliament include the following: 7

1 Constitution of Australia s 1, https://perma.cc/5FT5-552D.
2 Members, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/4VGV-KBZ4.
3 Senate, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/W4HA-KYSC.
4 Constitution ss 17 & 35.
5 The Australian System of Government (House of Representatives Infosheet 20), Parliament of Australia,
https://perma.cc/E3UQ-UUM9.
6 Id.
7 See generally Parliamentary Publications, australia.gov.au, https://perma.cc/YT33-PC6X.

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Bills and related information, including explanatory memoranda and bills digests. 8•

Petitions. 9•

Tabled papers, i.e., papers presented to the Parliament, including “reports fromparliamentary committees, annual reports of departments and agencies, reports from the
Auditor-General and legislative instruments.” 10 Parliamentary Papers are a subset of suchtabled papers. 11•

Hansard, i.e., the report of proceedings of the Parliament and its committees. 12•

Audio and audiovisual recordings of proceedings.

•

Chamber documents, i.e., documents used to facilitate the business of the two houses,
including the agenda for each sitting day (“Senate Order of Business” and “House ofRepresentatives Daily Program”), the business currently before each chamber (Notice
Papers), and the minutes of meetings for each sitting day (“Journals of the Senate” and “Votes
and Proceedings for the House of Representatives”). 13•

Parliamentary Library research publications. 14

B. Legal Framework
1. Relevant Legislation
The production, publication, and preservation of parliamentary documents may be governed bydifferent legislation, depending on the document type and the context. This includes the
8 Bills and Legislation, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/DH3R-GT2N.
9 Petitions, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/NQ7M-HN26.
10 Tabled Papers, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/HL5H-M8LQ.
11 Parliamentary Papers Series, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/22T2-8VDH; National Archives ofAustralia (NAA), Parliamentary Papers (Fact Sheet 21), https://perma.cc/ADU2-42HT.

12 Hansard, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/3CNL-RWB5. The “Hansard Mission Statement” reads
as follows:

To provide an accurate, substantially verbatim account of the proceedings of the parliamentand its committees which, while usually correcting obvious mistakes, neither adds to nor
detracts from the meaning of the speech or the illustration of the argument.
For chambers: A rendition which is accurate and readable, with minimal alterations being
made only to clarify ambiguous or confusing passages and to ensure that the meaning isunderstandable and the argument coherent. Politically sensitive subjects require a morestrictly verbatim approach.
For committees: An accurate, basically verbatim rendition. Witnesses should, by and large, be
given their exact words, even though these are sometimes confusing and not always strictly
grammatical. Editing should be kept to a minimum and used only in circumstances where it isdeemed absolutely necessary and can be justified as such.
13 Chamber Documents, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/S85R-NZJP.
14 Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/8LK6-XD6Q.

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Australian Constitution, Parliamentary Service Act 1999 (Cth), 15 Parliamentary Privileges Act
1987 (Cth), 16 the Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946 (Cth), 17 the Archives Act 1983
(Cth), 18 and the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). 19
The drafting and publication of legislation is governed by the Parliamentary Counsel Act 1970
(Cth), 20 along with the Legislation Act 2003 (Cth). 21
2. Standing Orders and Resolutions
The standing orders and resolutions of each chamber of Parliament contain various procedural
rules related to different types of records and documents produced within or for the Parliament.
The Senate and the House have the power to make such rules under section 50 of the Constitution.
a. House of Representatives
House standing orders related to records and documents include the following: 22•

SO 27, requiring that the Clerk keep and sign the official record of the proceedings of theHouse, which must contain the proceedings and decisions of the House and attendanceof members.

•

SO 28, providing that “[u]nder the direction of the Speaker, the Clerk shall have custody of
the Votes and Proceedings, records, and all documents presented to the House.”•

SO 199, providing for documents to be presented to the House by ministers or by the Speaker“pursuant to statute or otherwise.”•SO 200, providing that the House may also order that documents be presented.

•

SO 203, providing that “[a]ll documents presented to the House are authorisedfor publication.”•SO 208(d), requiring that the terms of petitions be printed in Hansard.

•

SO 209(c), requiring that ministerial responses to petitions also be printed in Hansard andpublished on the House’s website.

•

SO 219, requiring that a Publications Committee be appointed “to consider all documents
presented to the House which have not been made a Parliamentary Paper by either House of

15 Parliamentary Service Act 1999 (Cth), https://perma.cc/N56Q-RLRL.
16 Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 (Cth), https://perma.cc/QN2T-JWZ2.
17 Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946 (Cth), https://perma.cc/2Q4F-2UMY.
18 Archives Act 1983 (Cth), https://perma.cc/98MG-Q9HM.
19 Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), https://perma.cc/5GB3-AYKL.
20 Parliamentary Counsel Act 1970 (Cth), https://perma.cc/Q3UF-9V4V.
21 Legislation Act 2003 (Cth), https://perma.cc/4AP5-E57P.
22 House of Representatives Standing Orders (as at 19 September 2019), https://perma.cc/ZL99-2K7S.

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Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: Australia

the Parliament. The committee may report when it sees fit and may recommend a document
be made a Parliamentary Paper, in whole or in part.” Furthermore, “[i]f conferring with asimilar committee of the Senate the committee may inquire into and report on the publicationand distribution of parliamentary and government publications and on matters referred to it
by a Minister.”•SO 223, requiring that select committee reports be presented to the House on or before thedate set by the House.

•

SO 247, requiring that committee reports be presented together with the minutes ofproceedings. When a report it presented, “it may be ordered to be made a Parliamentary
Paper with or without the documents accompanying it.” Special procedures are set out
regarding the receipt and publication of reports completed while the House is not sitting.

In addition, there are various relevant House resolutions, including resolutions regarding•

the time frame within which government responses to committee reports must be tabled in
the House;•

the disclosure of evidence and documents of House and joint committees;•

the procedures for tabling ministerial papers;•

Hansard and the authority to publish records and debates of proceedings;•

the publication of records of the Privileges Committee, including authorization for thetransfer of such records to the National Archives of Australia;•

the broadcasting of proceedings; and•the documents that are to be made Parliamentary Papers.23

b. Senate
Senate standing orders related to records and documents include the following: 24•

SO 22, requiring that a Publications Committee be appointed for each Parliament, and that“[a]ll documents presented to the Senate which have not been ordered to be printed by either
House of the Parliament shall stand referred to the committee, which shall makerecommendations on the printing of documents.” Furthermore, when sitting with a similarHouse committee, the committee has the power to “inquire into and report on the publicationand distribution of parliamentary and government publications and on such related matters
as are referred to it by the relevant minister.”•SO 28, enabling the Senate to fix the date for a committee to report its proceedings to
the Senate.

23 See Resolutions of the House, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/DXV2-WDMY. The resolutions are

published with the House Standing Orders starting from page 110.
24 Senate Standing Orders, https://perma.cc/2FCX-5LSZ.

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Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: Australia•

SO 37, regarding the disclosure of evidence and documents presented to a committee.

•

SO 38, regarding the preparation of a committee report and its presentation to the Senate.

•

SO 43, requiring that all proceedings of the Senate be recorded by the Clerk in the Journals of
the Senate, be signed by the Clerk and, “except in so far as they relate to a meeting of the
Senate in private session, be published.” Furthermore, this standing order requires thatbusiness before the Senate must be placed on the Notice Paper, which must also be published,and provides that “[p]ublication of the record of debate in the Senate, known as Parliamentary
Debates and Hansard, is authorised by this standing order.”•SO 44, providing that “[t]he custody of the Journals, records and all documents laid before
the Senate shall be in the Clerk, and they shall not be taken from the chamber or Senate offices
without the permission of the Senate.”•

SO 69(4), requiring that all petitions received be printed in Hansard.

•

SO 165, providing for the Senate to order the production and tabling of documents by aminister, and setting out the methods for tabling documents that are presented pursuant tostatute, by the President of the Senate, or by a minister.

•SO 167, providing that “[t]he publication of each document laid on the table of the Senate is
authorised by this standing order.”In addition, various procedural orders and resolutions of the Senate relate to the presentation andpublication of documents, including a resolution requiring that government responses tocommittee reports be tabled in the chamber within a particular period. 25 There are alsoorders regarding•

the disclosure of minority or dissenting reports of a committee, and the unauthorized
disclosure of committee proceedings, documents, or evidence; 26•

requirements for various agency and ministerial documents and information to be tabled; 27•a requirement for the Leader of the Government in the Senate to table a list of all orders forthe production of documents made during the current Parliament that have not been fullycomplied with, together with information regarding such noncompliance; 28•

the types of documents that are to be made Parliamentary Papers upon their presentation to
the Senate; 29

25 Senate Order 44, Committee Reports – Government Responses (14 March 1973, J.51, amended 24 August 1994

J.2054), https://perma.cc/4CQ2-2AGD.

26 Senate Procedural Orders of Continuing Effect, Order 2, Disclosure of Minority or Dissenting Reports (22November 1995, J.4198), https://perma.cc/93ZW-2CKT.

27 Senate Procedural Orders of Continuing Effect, Orders for Documents, https://perma.cc/JDD8-6TU7.
28 Id. Order 23, Report of Outstanding Orders for Documents (7 December 2017, J.2534).
29 Senate Procedural Orders of Continuing Effect, Order 24A, Publications Committee – Inclusion ofDocuments in Parliamentary Papers Series (8 February 2018, J.2648), https://perma.cc/U6WC-8KVM.

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broadcasting of Senate and committee proceedings; 30 and•the storage of Senate documents, in which the Senate “authorises the storage outside
Parliament House by the National Archives of Australia of documents laid before the Senate,provided that the storage of those documents is under the control of the Department of the
Senate and microfilm or digital copies of them are available within Parliament House.” 31

C. Relevant Agencies
1. Parliamentary Departments
As indicated by the standing orders of the two houses, the clerks of each chamber have asignificant role in the creation and management of documents and records. The Clerk of theHouse of Representatives heads the Department of the House of Representatives, while the Clerkof the Senate heads the Department of the Senate. In addition to these two departments, theDepartment of Parliamentary Services (DPS) and the Parliamentary Budget Office make up theparliamentary service (as distinct from the “public service”) under the Parliamentary Service Act
1999 (Cth). The heads of the departments report to the presiding officers of the two chambers.
The Parliamentary Service Act 1999 (Cth) provides that the parliamentary service consists ofdepartment secretaries, the parliamentary librarian, and parliamentary service employees. 32 It“serves the Parliament by providing professional support, advice and facilities to each House of
the Parliament, to parliamentary committees and to Senators and Members of the House ofRepresentatives, independently of the Executive Government of the Commonwealth.” 33 The act
sets out several values, including that the parliamentary service is “professional, objective,
innovative and efficient, and works collaboratively to achieve the best results for the Parliament,”
and that it “performs its functions with probity and is openly accountable for its actions to theParliament and the Australian community.” 34
a. Department of Parliamentary Services
DPS is headed by the Secretary of DPS and encompasses the Parliamentary Library, headed by
the Parliamentary Librarian, and an information services division, headed by the Chief
Information Officer, as well as several teams reporting to the Chief Operating Officer. The
information services division includes branches for the following areas: digital business services,
digital customer services, digital recording services, and cyber security. 35
30 Senate Order, Broadcasting of Senate and Committee Proceedings (11 December 2013, J.336),
https://perma.cc/8X6N-APNN.
31 Senate Procedural Orders of Continuing Effect, Order 29, Storage of Senate Documents (6 October 2005,

J.1200, amended 27 June 2012, J.2668), https://perma.cc/FHE8-XPWD.
32 Parliamentary Service Act 1999 (Cth) s 9(1).
33 Id. s 9(2).

34 Id. s 10. See also Parliamentary Service Determination 2013 (Cth), https://perma.cc/NA45-A8NP.
35 Department of Parliamentary Services Organisational Chart (effective as at Oct. 18, 2021),
https://perma.cc/2GRS-M2FU.

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The Digital Business Services Branch “delivers and operates business applications andcapabilities that support effective administration of parliamentary departments, effective runningof Parliament and its committees, and engagement with the public through technology.” The
Digital Recording Services Branch “records, broadcasts and archives the audio and audio-visual
record of chamber and committee proceedings and produces the official written record ofparliamentary debates and committee hearings (Hansard).” 36
Information about the Parliamentary Library is provided in Section III, below.
b. Department of the House of Representatives
The Department of the House of Representatives includes a Table Office, Procedure Office,Committee Office, and the office of the Serjeant-at-Arms. 37 The Department maintains the House
internet site (part of the Parliament website, aph.gov.au) and can assist the public with various
information about the work of the House, including how to access documents tabled in the
Parliament. 38 It also “engages with the Australian community through information resources
published on the parliament’s website, various social media platforms and educational seminars
on topics including legislation, the Commonwealth budget process and the work ofparliamentary committees.” 39
In terms of parliamentary documents and other information, the Department’s role includes
•
•
•
•
•
•

processing of all bills
drafting of private members’ bills
creating documents to support members in the Chamber and Federation Chamber [thesecond debating chamber of the House of Representatives]
creating and processing the records and documents of the Chamber and Federation
Chambercollecting, analysing and publishing procedural and statistical information
advising and supporting the Speaker and members in relation to legislative,
procedural and administrative matters. 40

c. Department of the Senate
The Department of the Senate consists of a Clerk’s Office, Table Office, Procedure Office,Committee Office, and the office of the Usher of the Black Rod. It also encompasses the Senate
36 Department of Parliamentary Services Annual Report 2020-21 (DPS AR 2020-21), at 12 (Sept. 2021),

https://perma.cc/7GUJ-JTLB.

37 Department of the House of Representatives Organisational Chart, Parliament of Australia,

https://perma.cc/WXB4-R2EW. See also The Clerk and Other Officials (House of Representatives Infosheet 21),
Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/TDZ4-W4N6.
38 Department of the House of Representatives Service Charter Parliament of Australia (Jan. 2014),
https://perma.cc/A9VY-YU5P.
39 Department of the House of Representatives Corporate Plan 2021-22, at 10 (2021), https://perma.cc/J3BN-PYYM.
40 Id. at 14.

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Public Information Office and the Parliamentary Education Office. 41 The Department’s Corporate
Plan for 2021-22 explains that it publishes “the Senate’s records, and produce[s] an array of
information resources so that people may understand and engage in its work.” 42 The roles andresponsibilities of the different offices related to parliamentary documents and other information
include the following: 43•

Clerk’s Office: The relevant duties of this office include the “production, amendment andupdating of Odgers’ Australian Senate Practice,” and the “production and dissemination ofmaterial relating to the work of the Senate and its committees to the widest
possible audience.”•

Table Office:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

provision of procedural and programming advice and documentation
production of the official record of Senate proceedings (Journals of the Senate)production of the record of all business before the Senate (Notice Paper)production of the daily Order of Business (the Red)
processing of all legislation considered by the Senate
provision of an inquiry and distribution service covering all documentation andbusiness before the Senate
arranging custody of all documents tabled in the Senate
provision of committee secretariats for the Selection of Bills, Appropriations andStaffing and Senate and Joint Publications committees.

•

Senate Public Information Office: This office “works with other areas of the department toimprove approaches to publishing and sharing information.” It is “responsible for web
publishing, design and development; video production; graphic design and print; and projectliaison.” It also “manages the Senate’s social media presence, and produces informal records,
including the Dynamic Red, The Week Ahead, the Senate Daily Summary, and statistics about
the work of the Senate.”•

Procedure Office: This office provides a range of services to senators and departmental staff.
It has a Research Section with responsibilities that include publishing information about the
Senate online as well as in books and brochures, and maintaining a procedural information
resource center. The office also provides legislative drafting services, principally to nongovernment senators.

•

Parliamentary Education Office: This office is jointly funded by the departments of the Senate
and the House of Representatives. It “delivers parliamentary education services to teachers,
students and other learners across Australia,” including through “comprehensive websites
covering fundamental concepts such as representation, law-making, the separation of powers
and responsible government.”

41 Department of the Senate Organisational Chart, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/JU9U-2YWG.
42 Department of the Senate Corporate Plan 2021-22 (2021), https://perma.cc/8M62-KCZJ.
43 Department of the Senate: The Clerk and Other Offices, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/6KME-JQCE.
See also Department of the Senate Annual Report 2020-21, at 28–68 (2021), https://perma.cc/MCQ3-J2XA.

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2. Office of Parliamentary Counsel
Separate from the parliamentary service departments, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, which
is a statutory agency established under the Parliamentary Counsel Act 1970 (Cth), is responsiblefor drafting Commonwealth bills and subordinate legislation; preparing compilations andreprints of Commonwealth laws; and publishing bills, laws, compilations and reprints, andinformation related to Commonwealth laws. It also prepares and publishes Government Notices
Gazettes and maintains the Federal Register of Legislation. 44
3. National Archives of Australia
In terms of the role of the National Archives of Australia with respect to the collection, storage,
and preservation of parliamentary documents, the National Archives explains that[i]nformation that relates directly to official government or parliamentary business, suchas the role of a minister of state, parliamentary secretary or other office holder, is a
Commonwealth record and subject to the Archives Act 1983. Other office holders include
the presiding officers, Leader of the Opposition, shadow ministers and chairs ofparliamentary committees.
Commonwealth records need to be maintained as evidence of government orparliamentary business, to protect the rights and entitlements of Australians and thegovernment, and as part of Australia’s heritage.
The most valuable Commonwealth records are kept permanently by the National Archivesof Australia as part of the archival resources of the nation. 45

It further explains that “[r]ecords not made or received in connection with the official duties ofsenators or members are not subject to the Archives Act, but should be managed to ensure they
can be retrieved when needed.” 46 These are considered to be personal, non-Commonwealth,records of the senator or member concerned and may include, for example, information
concerning electorate matters, including correspondence with or on behalf of constituents; staff,
finance, and office management records; and information or records of party political matters.
4. National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia collects various parliamentary documents, including
Parliamentary Papers and manuscripts (“including papers of ministers and documents relating
to political parties”). 47 The National Library’s collection development policy states with respect
to government publications that
44 Our Functions, Office of Parliamentary Counsel, https://www.opc.gov.au/about-opc/our-functions.
45 Information and Records Management for Senators and MPs, NAA, https://www.naa.gov.au/information-

management/records-authorities/types-records-authorities/general-records-authority-38/information-andrecords-management-senators-and-mps.

46 Id.
47 Australian Politics and Government, National Library of Australia (NLA), https://perma.cc/K7X5-GNPL.

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12Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: Australia[m]uch government publication takes place online, whether through downloadable
documents or through websites more generally. With almost universal internet access inAustralia, these publications are easily accessible without a mediating institution such as
the Library. However, there are challenges for the long-term preservation of this material,
which can disappear extremely rapidly and entirely, particularly in times of frequentchanges to the machinery of government. Through collection of such material, the Libraryperforms an essential role in preserving and ensuring enduring access to government
information, whether electronic or hard copy. 48

The policy further states that “[p]riority material includes major policy initiatives, parliamentary
publications and the output of public agencies with significant publishing responsibilities . . .” 49
In addition, it notes that “[t]he National Archives of Australia retains responsibility for preserving
Commonwealth Government records. To ensure efficient and effective collecting activity in both
institutions, the Library may collaborate with the archives where the institutions’ collecting
responsibilities intersect.” 50
Requirements for depositing both print and digital material published in Australia with the
National Library (i.e., legal deposit) 51 are governed by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). 52 However,
Commonwealth, state, and territory government publications are excluded from the legislation.
Instead, these are “also received by deposit under a variety of directives and circulars.” 53
Government publications are deposited with the National Library and other participating
libraries under the Commonwealth Library Deposit and Free Issues Schemes (LDS). Under the
LDS, “[t]here is . . . a special requirement for publications tabled in Parliament. Agencies must
supply copies of these publications to the participating libraries in print form, even if the
document is also available electronically.” 54 The Digital Transformation Agency is responsible forthe LDS policy.
The National Library previously maintained GovPubs: The Australian Government Publications
Guide, which remains available as a “key resource for locating selected types of government
publications,” including legislation and explanatory memoranda, notice papers, Hansard,

48 What We Collect, NLA, https://perma.cc/55U9-NGVF.
49 Id.
50 Id.
51 What Is Legal Deposit?, NLA, https://perma.cc/7VF7-3XPH; Legal Deposit in Australia, National eDeposit,

https://ned.gov.au/resources/legal-deposit-in-australia.html.
52 Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) s 201.
53 Acquisition Methods, NLA, https://perma.cc/KJ7L-6J65.

54 Commonwealth Library Deposit and Free Issues Schemes, Digital Transformation Agency,
https://www.dta.gov.au/help-and-advice/guides-and-tools/commonwealth-library-deposit-and-free-issueschemes.

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parliamentary handbooks,
proceedings/journals. 55

Parliamentary

Papers,standing

orders,

and

votes

and

III. The Role of the Parliamentary Library in the Parliamentary Document Process
The Parliamentary Library provides information, analysis, and advice to “senators, members,
their staff, the staff of parliamentary departments and the Governor-General.” 56 In addition tocommissioned research, it publishes the Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia,
blog posts, bills digests (which “provide senators and members with an impartial andindependent explanation and commentary on Bills as they come before the Parliament” 57), andresearch publications on a range of policy and legislative issues. The DPS Annual Report for 202021 states that, “[a]lthough produced for the Library’s clients, these publications have a broader
benefit as they are published on the web and are available to inform the public debate on
important social, economic and legal issues.” 58
The Parliamentary Library also maintains a library collection for research purposes and for use
by its clients. 59 Furthermore, the Library selects and processes material for library and media
databases in ParlInfo Search. 60 The Annual Report also explains that[t]he Parliamentary Library, like all legislative libraries, has an important role inchronicling the history of the Parliament. This underlies much of the work of our Politics
and Public Administration team and is reflected in many research publications, including
the Parliamentary Handbook and the ‘Wadsworth’ database [“containing the digitised
biographies of all Commonwealth parliamentarians since 1901”]; the biographies ofparliamentarians; condolence books; annual chronologies of events in Parliament; andother regular papers addressing elections, electoral boundaries, the composition ofparliaments by party or gender, or voting and crossing the floor. 61

Information regarding recent and current initiatives of the Library related to the digitizationand publication of various parliamentary documents is provided below in Section VI.

IV. Special Procedures for Handling Parliamentary Papers
As stated above, Parliamentary Papers are a particular subset of documents that are tabled in
Parliament. , Following the completion in December 2017 of a Joint Committee on Publications

55 Australian Politics and Government, supra note 47; GovPubs: The Australian Government Publications Guide,

https://perma.cc/27H4-ZXKQ.

56 About the Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/9LK9-2XVJ. See also

Parliamentary Services Act 1999 (Cth) s38B(1).
57 DPS AR 2020-21, supra note 36, at 70.
58 Id.
59 See id. at 71.
60 Id. at 84.
61 Id. at 74.

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inquiry into the printing standards for documents presented to Parliament, 62 both the House and
Senate made resolutions with respect to Parliamentary Papers in 2018. 63 Under the resolutions,various types of documents are automatically made Parliamentary Papers upon theirpresentation in the respective house. Specifically, the resolutions state as follows:
That unless otherwise ordered, and provided that they conform to the printing standards,
the following documents shall be made Parliamentary Papers upon their presentation to
the [House of Representatives or Senate]:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

substantive reports of parliamentary committees;
annual reports of Commonwealth entities;
a report of a royal commission;a report of the Productivity Commission;a report of the Auditor-General;a report of the Australian Human Rights Commission;a report of the Australia Law Reform Commission;a report of the Australian Electoral Commission on the redistribution of electoral
division boundaries;
Australian Government white papers;
a report in a series that has previously been included in the Parliamentary Papers
Series on the recommendation of a Publications Committee; andbudget papers and ministerial statements presented following the presentation of theappropriation bills. 64

The Parliament’s website explains that,[o]f all the documents presented to Parliament each year, only documents of a substantial
nature are included in the Parliamentary Papers series (PPS).
Documents are either ordered to be included in the PPS at the time they are tabled in
Parliament, or they are considered later by the Publications Committees and arecommendation for inclusion in the PPS is made to the relevant House, which usuallyaccepts the Committee’s recommendation.
Organisations, such as State, publicly funded university and parliamentary libraries
receive the PPS free of charge. In this way, the more significant tabled documents datingfrom federation are available throughout Australia for use by students, researchers andother sections of the public.

62 See Joint Committee on Publications: Inquiry into the Printing Standards or Documents Presented to Parliament,

Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/7K52-AE73.

63 Joint Committee on Publications, Inquiry into the Printing Standards for Documents Presented to Parliament: 2017

Report (Oct. 2017), https://perma.cc/6EL2-EMXV.

64 House of Representatives Resolution, Parliamentary Papers, adopted 28 March 2018,https://perma.cc/H4NB-QSX3; Senate Procedural Orders of Continuing Effect, Order 24A, Publications
Committee – Inclusion of Documents in Parliamentary Papers Series (8 February 2018, J.2648),
https://perma.cc/U6WC-8KVM.

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The series is therefore a major reference source for information on the role and activities of
the Australian Parliament and Government. 65

The website also sets out advice to government agencies regarding requirements for the electronic
PPS and adherence to the established printing standards. 66 It also contains advice for recipientsof Parliamentary Papers, which states that the PPS is the administrative responsibility of the
Department of the House of Representatives (specifically, the Table Office), and that the PPS
is a hard copy, annually numbered and indexed set of the significant documents presented
to the Parliament which either House has ordered to be included in the series. The
Parliament, through the Joint Committee on Publications and the Presiding Officers,
determines which organisations are entitled to receive sets of the PPS gratis. Recipients are
generally only entitled to one set annually.
The PPS comprises of loose documents (called pamphlet copies), which are processed as
Parliamentary Papers as soon as possible after tabling, and are dispatched in economicalparcels and not necessarily in numerical order. All PPS copies of documents have labels at
the foot of the back cover as a means of identification. Copies without this label may havebeen received from the Australian Government’s distribution systems (either the Library
Deposit Scheme or its ‘free issue’). No sets of the PPS are available through theGovernment’s distribution systems. 67

The presiding officers of the two houses responded to particular recommendations of the Joint
Committee in June 2018. This included the recommended resolution set out above, which had
already been adopted by both chambers, and a recommendation that DPS work with thedepartments of the House and Senate to “develop a dedicated web interface with appropriate
functionality for locating and accessing tabled documents and in particular the Parliamentary
Papers Series).” The presiding officers agreed with this recommendation and stated that[t]he Departments of the Senate, House of Representatives and Parliamentary Services
have advised that a project to receive and publish tabled documents online has been
approved and prioritised under the Department of Parliamentary Services’ ICT Capital
Works Plan. The project will take a holistic approach to modernising the way the
Parliament receives, stores and publishes tabled documents, including delivering an
intuitive dedicated web interface for accessing these documents online. The PPS is an
important subset of tabled documents and will be made available as a distinct collection
from the new web interface. 68

Currently, the Parliament website provides lists of documents included in the PPS by year, datingback to 2002. 69 For the lists starting from 2013, these also include links to the listed documents in
the ParlInfo search platform (see below, Section VI). In addition, ParlInfo provides a full,
65 Parliamentary Papers Series, supra note 11.
66 Advice to Government Agencies, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/BV6F-79AV.
67 Advice for Recipients, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/E7LP-QX4J.
68 Response of the Presiding Officers to the Report of the Joint Publications Committee: Inquiry into the PrintingStandards for Documents Presented to Parliament (June 2018), https://perma.cc/H9F5-7LDK.

69 List by Calendar Year: Parliamentary Paper Series, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/H6VK-5W53.

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searchable list of all tabled papers dating back to 1901 (i.e., the date of federation), with digitizedversions provided. 70 Other relevant resources for locating documents include the Register ofCommittee Reports for both the House and Senate. The House register “is a complete list of all
House of Representative and Joint Committee Reports from 1901 to the current day”; “[w]here
an electronic version of a report is available a link to the report is provided.” 71 The Senate register
currently commences from 1970 and provides lists of reports in different PDF documents; links
to the reports are not provided in the lists. 72 The Senate also has a special page with links tosignificant committee reports tabled prior to 1997. 73 Further information regarding digitization
projects is provided in Section VII, below.
The National Archives explains that tabled papers that are not part of the PPS, and therefore are
not ordered to be printed, are listed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives or in the
Journal of the Senate, and that such papers are maintained by the house in which they were tabled,i.e., by the respective departments of each house. 74
Odgers’ Australian Senate Practice and House of Representatives Practice provide detailed information
regarding the history and practices of the two houses with respect to the tabling of documents. 75
These publications also provide information about the rules and practices of the houses withrespect to the recording, publication, and broadcasting of the proceedings of the two houses. 76

V. Information Sharing Among Legislative Agencies
The four parliamentary departments are guided by the Strategic Framework: The Parliamentary
Service. 77 Among the strategies in this document are to “[e]xplore and develop innovativetechnology and systems for the timely delivery of information and services to the Houses, theircommittees, parliamentarians and their staff,” and to “[i]mprove and enhance access toparliamentary information and proceedings.” 78 The document also states that the departments
70 Tabled Papers dataset on ParlInfo Search, https://perma.cc/438Q-5YA7. See also Tabled Papers, supra note10.

71 House of Representatives Register of Committee Reports, Parliament of Australian, https://perma.cc/4E2Z3NTC.
72 Register of Senate Committee Reports, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/5JLH-4BNR.
73 Senate Committees: Significant Reports, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/YGA7-URQX.
74 NAA, Parliamentary Papers (Fact Sheet 21), supra note 11.
75 Documents Presented in the House, in House of Representatives Practice (7th ed. June 2018),
https://perma.cc/W2V7-5LNF; Distribution and Printing of Documents, in House of Representatives Practice (7thed. June 2018), https://perma.cc/QZU8-ENCR; Chapter 18: Documents Tabled in the Senate, in Odgers’ Australian
Senate Practice (14th ed. updated to June 30, 2021), https://perma.cc/JD75-GDMS.
76 Access to Proceedings, in House of Representatives Practice (7th ed. June 2018), https://perma.cc/TQC2-A3T8;

House Documents – Agenda and Record, in House of Representatives Practice (7th ed. June 2018),
https://perma.cc/EB4B-467H; Chapter 3: Publication of Senate Proceedings, in Odgers’ Australian Senate Practice(14th ed. updated to June 30, 2021), https://perma.cc/SW7B-A242.
77 Strategic Framework – The Parliamentary Service, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/NEM2-6PHQ.
78 Id.

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work collaboratively on a range of key initiatives, including the development andimplementation of the Australian Parliamentary Digital Strategy 2019-2022. This strategy explainsthat “[t]he provision of digital services for the Parliament is underpinned by comprehensive
governance and advisory arrangements.” 79 This includes the presiding officers, the Secretary of
DPS (who has executive responsibility for information and communication technology services
for the Parliament), the Chief Information Officer (who heads the Information Services Division),and the heads of the parliamentary departments. In addition, “[t]he Parliamentary ICT Advisory
Board (PICTAB) is the peak advisory body that guides all strategic elements of ICT service
delivery within APH and across the electorate offices. PICTAB includes a significant
representation of Senators and Members across all political affiliations.” 80
Further information about the Digital Strategy is provided below in Section VII.

VI. Users’ Access to Parliamentary Documents
The Parliament of Australia website, aph.gov.au, is the primary access point for all of theparliamentary documents listed in Section II.A. of this report. The site also includes information
about senators, members, and committees; statistical information; and documents on the practiceand procedure of each chamber, including the detailed reference works referred to above,
standing orders, procedural information bulletins, and guides and information sheets.
Information about the parliamentary departments, including their corporate publications, is alsoavailable, as well as Parliamentary Library publications.
The Parliament’s website provides access to the ParlInfo Search, which “enables visitors to theParliament of Australia website to search and obtain Australian Parliamentary information
resources including Hansard, Bills, Senate Journals, Votes and Proceedings, Notice Papers,
Parliamentary Handbook and much more.” 81
In addition, users can access the ParlWork application, which “presents parliamentary
information sourced from various parliamentary applications including the Chamber
Department’s Table Office Production System (TOPS) and the Department of Parliamentary
Service’s (DPS) ParlInfo Search (PIS).” 82 Originally created for parliamentarians and their staff,
the application has been extended to the general public and “provides access to a consolidated
view of live, real-time chamber business information, accessible from any device with aconnection to the internet and a web browser.” 83

79 Parliament of Australia, Australian Parliament Digital Strategy 2019–2022, at 11, https://perma.cc/6597-QAEL.
80 Id.
81 House of Representatives: Powers, Practice and Procedure, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/6B8DVTLD.
82 About ParlWork, ParlWork, https://perma.cc/N9PK-XFPP.
83 Information Guide, ParlWork, https://perma.cc/X5JH-LKFS.

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Live webcasts of proceedings in the Parliament have been made available since 1999. 84 ParlView
is the Parliament’s video archive service and it linked to from the main website. 85 Users canbrowse the most recent 100 items from the House and Senate chamber and their committees, fromjoint committees, and from press conferences and other events, or can search for older material,
including historical recordings.

VII. Projects for Preservation of and Access to Digital Records of Parliamentary
Documents
A. Australian Parliamentary Digital Strategy 2019-2022
The Digital Strategy sets out that the stakeholders of the parliamentary departments with respect
to digital services are as follows:
Our internal stakeholders are the users of digital services within the Australian Parliament,
including at Australian Parliament House, electorate offices and CommonwealthParliament Offices around Australia. This includes parliamentarians and all staff who
support the work of the Parliament and its committees.
Our external stakeholders are found in the broader Australian public, who access theParliament’s information, and for whom we are custodians of parliamentary records. 86

In terms of public accountability, the Digital Strategy states that[t]he citizens of the Commonwealth have a legitimate expectation to be able to engage withthe work of the Parliament and access information generated through the parliamentary
process. We are trusted custodians of parliamentary information, and will seek to digitiseand preserve it as an asset for future generations. 87

Two of the strategic themes set out in the document are “Manage Information as a Strategic
Asset” and “Innovative Digital Content Delivery and Publishing.” These are explained
respectively as follows:
We aim to optimise core parliamentary information assets for the benefit of the Parliament
and the Commonwealth. We will take an enterprise approach with our systems to makethem interoperable and maximise the integrity of content as part of the nation’s collective
memory. Our environment will be underpinned by common, secure digital platforms andsupported by transparent, inclusive information architecture and governance.
We will optimise our information flows, processes and delivery platforms to meet thecommunity’s expectations of how parliamentary business information is published andconsumed. Our public information will be accessible to users so they can be informed ofand engage with the business of the parliament. Our systems will deliver rich media
84 Watch Parliament, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/43M3-PSFW.
85 ParlView, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/9FKW-PK7U.
86 Australian Parliament Digital Strategy 2019–2022, supra note 79, at 6.
87 Id. at 7.

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content, and facilitate interoperability of data across systems to allow third parties toleverage our information in real time. 88

Various objectives, for achievement by 2022, are listed under these themes, including
the following:
•

•
•
•

We will provide our citizens with access to key parliamentary information and data
sources including legislative information, committee information and records ofproceedings (Hansard, voting information and tabled documents)
Developing a digital preservation framework to ensure the permanent preservation ofparliamentary business information
Chamber and committee documents will be cross-referenced and presented so thatusers can rapidly and intuitively find information that meets their needs
Audio-visual recordings of parliamentary proceedings will be more accessible,
including through the provision of web content accessibility services and integrated
presentation with Hansard, to enhance navigation and facilitate discovery about thework of the Parliament. 89

The Digital Strategy states that several roadmaps will be developed to “outline the investments
and initiatives to implement the strategy, and align with the annual budget planning process andcapital works program.” This includes a roadmap related to information management “to guidethe way information will be collected, stored, managed, secured and preserved throughout its
lifecycle,” and a digital processing and publishing roadmap “to guide improvements to theParliament’s digital publishing and content delivery systems.” 90
B. Recent and Current Activities
1. Department of Parliamentary Services
In the 2020-21 fiscal year, DPS’s deliverables included enhancing “digital engagement withparliamentary content.” 91 This is also included as a high-level activity in the DPS 2021-22
Corporate Plan, with an intended result being “[e]nhanced digital access to parliamentary
information for the community to engage easily with the parliamentary process.” 92 The DPS
Annual Report for 2020-21 states that it is working on[t]he installation of a new Parliamentary Information Management System (PIMS)
business platform to underpin the next generation of Hansard services. This is one of thefirst major enhancements deployed to the cloud environment that meets the new security
accreditation framework. PIMS leverages and builds upon a common code base with theparliaments of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and the Australian Capital
Territory. Additional PIMS-enabled services and capabilities will be launched in 2021–22,
88 Id. at 8.
89 Id.
90 Id. at 10.
91 DPS AR 2020-21, supra note 36, at 9.
92 Department of Parliamentary Services Corporate Plan 2021-22, at 19 (2021), https://perma.cc/7K84-PG7S.

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including live transcript presentation to clients and major workflow improvements for theHansard team. 93

The report further stated that[t]he video-on-demand project commenced in 2020–21 to replace the ParlView system that
underpins recording and archival of parliamentary proceedings and other events
associated with the Parliament. The new system will improve accessibility to
parliamentary proceedings, both near-live and on-demand. This project is scheduled to golive in early 2022. 94

2. Parliamentary Library
The 2020-21 DPS Annual Report states that the Librarycompleted important projects to improve our technology infrastructure and applications,
including the launch of a new discovery system to improve access to collection materials.
Collaborative initiatives with colleagues in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel andthe Department of the Senate enhanced the preservation and accessibility of importantparliamentary records. Another significant achievement was the beta release of the
Parliamentary Handbook Online, which enables searching of the Library’s data on current
and former parliamentarians, ministries, electorates and committees. This is a key
milestone in a multi-year project to make this data publicly accessible and more easily used
for research. Further improvements are underway to increase the amount of data available
and improve the search functionality. 95

Furthermore,[d]igitisation of contemporary and historic records remains a high priority for the Library,with significant milestones having been achieved since the digitisation program began in
2014–15. Previous financial years saw the digitisation of the historic press releases, thePrime Ministers’ collections, biographical ‘condolence’ packs and the Parliamentary
Papers Series 1901–2012 as well as the Library’s own research publications. 96

The report further explains the Library’s involvement in collaborative projects with otherparliamentary agencies to improve access to information:
In June 2019, the Library began work with the Department of the Senate to enhance online
access to the Senate Tabled Papers collection (1902–2013), which had been hosted on an
external vendor’s repository. The project was completed in 2020–21, resulting in 261,020
papers (some nine million images) being uploaded into ParlInfo and creating a unified
digital collection.

93 DPS AR 2020-21, supra note 36, at 18.
94 Id. at 22.
95 Id. at 57.
96 Id. at 72.

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Through the project, the Library and Table Office worked together to identify errors andlocate documents missing from the Senate original online database, and the Libraryenriched metadata and optical character recognition (OCR) capability for each file, carriedout quality assurance and loaded them into the ParlInfo Search database. Files were also
converted into formats that meet current preservation standards. It was work that required
meticulous care; and the success of the project points to the benefits of collaborative
endeavours such as these. The project has improved both the preservation and accessibilityof this important collection. The old repository has been decommissioned, making ParlInfo
the single source of access to this collection and enabling the Senate Tabled Papers dataset
to be searched in its entirety, from 1901 to the present day.
The second partnership, with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, saw Bills andExplanatory Memoranda introduced in the House of Representatives from 1901 to 1996
digitised, quality assured and made available in ParlInfo. This collection includes 11,124
Bills and 2,919 Explanatory Memoranda. Documents from 1996 to 2001 will be completed
during 2021–22, completing the project. 97

The Library also assesses older digitized collections “for their ongoing accessibility and utility as
digital processes improve.” This includes metadata remediation for a collection of radio andtelevision news and current affairs programs and remediating historic Hansard files that havemissing fragments or errors in attribution due to changes in the format of the parliamentary
debates over the years. 98
3. Department of the House of Representatives
The Department of the House of Representatives 2021-22 Corporate Plan states that[t]he department will further expand the use of digital work practices in accordance withthe principles of the National Archives of Australia’s (NAA) Building Trust in the Public
Record Policy. The department will also work with other parliamentary departments toimplement frameworks for digital preservation and development of capability in
information management. 99

In addition, in terms of community awareness, “[t]he department will also further enhance its
digital publications and information offerings to meet the growing need for parliamentary
information.” 100
4. Department of the Senate
According to the 2020-21 Annual Report of the Department of the Senate, in 2021-22 the Table
Office of the Department will

97 Id. 72-73
98 Id. at 72.
99 Department of the House of Representatives Corporate Plan 2021-22, supra note 39, at 21.
100 Id. at 22.

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Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: Australiacontinue to support various ICT related activities, including contributing to the ongoing
maintenance, enhancement and testing of existing systems that support the work of theoffice and the Senate, as well as involvement in projects such as the development of a new
system to facilitate the receipt and publication of tabled documents in digital format. Thiswas originally intended to be implemented in the current reporting period, but wasdelayed by the extra demands placed on ICT resources by the COVID-19 pandemic. 101

101 Department of the Senate Annual Report 2020-21, supra note 43, at 40.

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CanadaTariq Ahmad
Foreign Law Specialist *SUMMARY

Canada’s House of Commons, the lower chamber, produces documents such as
parliamentary records and publications for the use of members, their staff, and the
public. These include Journals; Debates; Order Papers and Notice Papers; Project Orderof Business; Status of House Business; Minutes of Proceedings, Evidence, and Reportsof Committees; and Bills. Similarly, the Senate of Canada produces “chamber
documents” which include Debates, Journals, Order Papers and Notice Papers. All ofthem are available on their respective websites.
Parliament has “exclusive control” over its documentary record and publications as amatter of parliamentary privilege, and publication must be authorized by the respective
chamber. In the House of Commons, these documents are published under theauthority of the House as represented by the speaker or the clerk. The House andparliamentary committees produce their own records and publications. Since 1995,
these records have been available predominantly online.
The Library of Parliament is the primary “information repository” of the Parliament of
Canada. One of its mandates is to preserve Parliament’s “documentary heritage” andensure access to its collections. The Library of Parliament, in collaboration with theCanadian Research Knowledge Network, provide access to the “Canadian
Parliamentary Historical Resources,” in the form of a “free searchable database ofdigitized versions of parliamentary publications” from the first session of the first
Parliament (1867) until coverage on House of Commons and Senate websites began.

I. Overview
A. Parliamentary Documents
Canada’s federal legislative branch consists of the monarch, the House of Commons, and the
Senate. The Senate and House of Commons constitute Canada’s bicameral Parliament.
Canada’s lower chamber of Parliament, the House, produces documents as parliamentary
records and publications for the use of members, their staff, and the public. 1 These documentsallow interested parties to follow the business before the House, and provide a permanent recordof debate, decisions, and issues raised before the chamber and affiliated committees. 2
Parliamentary publications published by the House are divided into seven document categories,* This report was prepared with the assistance of Law Library intern Aaron Dishy.
1 The Parliamentary Record, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice (Marc Bosc & André Gagnon eds., 3d ed.

2017), https://perma.cc/HU58-P8XA.
2 Id.

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which include Journals; Debates; Order Papers and Notice Papers; Project Order of Business;
Status of House Business; Minutes of Proceedings, Evidence, and Reports of Committees; andBills. Each document type includes specialized procedures for handling and administration. 3
Similarly, the Senate of Canada produces “chamber documents,” which include Debates of the
Senate (“the edited transcript of proceedings”), Journals of the Senate (“the Senate’s official
record”), Order Papers and Notice Papers (“the Senate’s official agenda”). The Senate Procedural
Notes stipulate, “[w]ith the exception of the Order Paper and Notice Paper, these documents are nolonger printed in paper form, but are available electronically on the Internet.” 4Recent parliamentary publications are accessible online on the House of Commons and Senate
websites. House of Commons publications can be browsed or searched through a “Publication
Search” tool. For older and more historic publications, the Library of Parliament (LOP), 5 incollaboration with the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN), a member organizationof libraries and research institutions, provides access to the “Canadian Parliamentary Historical
Resources.” Parliamentary documents are published electronically in both official languages(English and French).
B. Legal Framework
Parliament has exclusive control over its documentary record and publications as a matter ofparliamentary privilege. 6 In accordance with Canada’s Constitution, 7 and with the Parliament of
Canada Act, 8 “the general and public law of Canada includes parliamentary privilege, which
consists of the privileges, immunities and powers held, enjoyed and exercised by the Senate andthe House of Commons, respectively, and their respective Members.” Parliamentary privilege“enables them to carry out their constitutional functions free from external interference.
Parliamentary privilege is one of the safeguards of the constitutional separation of powers.” 9
The Access to Information Act generally does not appear to apply to parliamentary proceedings, 10
but recent reforms have made information “open by default” by making key information
concerning certain contracts, hospitality, and travel expenses that apply to “senators, members of
Parliament, and the administrative bodies that support Parliament” available proactively,
without the need to make a request.” 11 Access to information is restricted “if the Speaker of the
3 Parliamentary Publications, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.
4 Senate Procedural Notes, No. 13: Chamber Documents, Senate of Canada, https://perma.cc/W9XC-UVLT.
5 About the Library, Library of Parliament (LOP), https://perma.cc/9HFC-DBRN.
6 John Patrick Joseph Maingot, Parliamentary Privilege in Canada 40–44 (2nd ed. Montreal: House of Commons &McGill-Queen’s U. Press, 1997).
7 Constitution Act, 1867 30 & 31 Vict., c 3 (U.K.), § 18, https://perma.cc/XGF4-N76J.
8 Parliament of Canada Act, R.S.C. 1985, c P-1, https://perma.cc/QT6K-L92Z.
9 Important Notices, Parliament of Canada, https://perma.cc/Z2HA-KSJZ.
10 Access to Information Act, R.S.C. 1985, c A-1, https://perma.cc/9PQS-MFJL.
11 News Release, Gov’t Can., Government Completes Major Improvements to the Access to Information Act (June21, 2019), https://perma.cc/AFR4-RYZ4.

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Senate or the Speaker of the House of Commons, as applicable, determines that the publication
may constitute a breach of parliamentary privilege.” 12
1. House of CommonsHouse of Commons proceedings are regulated by written rules known as the Standing Orders. 13
House of Commons Procedure & Practice has a chapter on the parliamentary record that describes
the legal and procedural authorities used to publish parliamentary publications:
The House of Commons has exclusive control of its publications. These documents are
published under the authority of the House (as represented by the Speaker or the Clerk).
All parliamentary publications are produced in both official languages. The Constitution
and the Official Languages Act provide for the use and equal status of the official
languages in the “records and journals” of Parliament. 14

No member of Parliament is permitted to alter the official record unless there is consent by
the House. 15
Parliamentary documents are published under the authority of the House, as represented by the
speaker of the House or the clerk of the House. 16
Many of the Standing Orders of the House of Commons make explicit reference to the
Journals, the Debates, the Order Paper and Notice Paper. These publications, along withminutes of committees, and bills introduced in the House of Commons, are produced byorder of the House under the authority of the Speaker and are considered official
publications. Other unofficial publications (for example, the Projected Order of Businessand the Status of House Business) have come into existence through administrativedecisions or following recommendations of committees. The Status of House Business ispublished under the authority of the Speaker, while the Projected Order of Business ispublished under the authority of the Clerk. 17

The clerk is responsible for preparing parliamentary documents. Under Standing Order 151
The Clerk of the House is responsible for the safekeeping of all the papers and records ofthe House, and has the direction and control over all the officers and clerks employed in
the offices, subject to such orders as the clerk may, from time to time, receive from the
Speaker or the House. 18
12 Access to Information Act § 71.12.
13 Standing Orders of the House of Commons (consolidated version as at Sept. 21, 2021),
https://perma.cc/QMS8-SK2V.
14 Parliamentary Publications, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.
15 John George Bourinot, Parliamentary Procedure and Practice in the Dominion of Canada 186-87 (Thomas Barnard

Flint ed., 4th ed. 1916).

16 Parliamentary Publications, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.
17 Id.
18 Standing Orders of the House of Commons, supra note 13, at 157.

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2. Senate of Canada
Senate proceedings are regulated by the Rules of the Senate. 19 The Senate publishes “chamber
documents” under similar legal and procedural authority:
The Senate maintains exclusive control over its publications. Rule 14-5 [Rules of the Senate
of Canada] 20 provides that the publishing of any documents relating to the proceedings of
the Senate shall be as ordered by the Senate. In accordance with the Constitution and the
Official Languages Act, all chamber documents are published in English and French, andboth versions are equally authoritative. 21

C. The Role of Parliamentary Committees, Offices (Including Members’ Offices) andAgencies
Parliamentary committees, including the House, produce their own records and publications. 22
Since 1995, these “records have become available primarily by electronic means.” 23 They
include three main documents:•

Minutes of Proceedings: the formal record of business occurring during acommittee meeting;•

Evidence: the in extenso transcript of what is said during a committee meeting;and•Reports to the House: the means by which committees make their views andrecommendations known. 24

All committee records are “made available electronically under the authority of the Speaker ofthe House.” Under the Standing Orders, “committees are empowered to print papers andevidence as may be ordered by them” but are subject to certain limitations guidelines of the Boardof Internal Economy. 25
Other agents of Parliament, such as the auditor general, chief electoral officer, commissioner ofofficial languages, privacy commissioner, and information commissioner, also produce their own
publications and reports, which typically are authorized, regulated, or subject to provisions intheir authorizing legislation.
19 Rules of the Senate of Canada (updated Oct. 2020), https://perma.cc/US8C-P3LU.
20 Id. Rule 14-5 states, “[t]he publishing of anything relating to the proceedings of the Senate shall be as orderedby the Senate.”

21 Senate of Canada, Senate Procedure in Practice 76 (June 2015), https://perma.cc/2Z2G-NZKH.
22 Parliamentary Publications, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.
23 Id.
24 Id.
25 Id.

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II. The Role of the National or Parliamentary Library in the Parliamentary Document
Process
A. LOPLOP is the primary “information repository” of the Parliament of Canada. One of its mandates
and services is to “[p]reserve Parliament’s documentary heritage and ensure access to its
collections,” 26 and it “collects, curates, preserves and ensures access to historical information
about Parliament.” 27 LOP is managed by the parliamentary librarian, who exercises control andadministration of the library. Having the status of a deputy head, the parliamentary librarianreports to the speakers of the House and Senate. 28 LOP’s extant collection includes 650,000 items
tended to by 300 staffers. 29 LOP serves four identified communities. They include
parliamentarians and their staff, parliamentary committees, organizations that support
Parliament, and the Canadian public. 30 Speakers of the Senate and the House of Commons are
vested with the direction and control of LOP. The Standing Joint Committee of the Library of
Parliament is composed of legislators responsible for advising speakers on LOP’s operations. 31
The Parliament of Canada website, including LEGISinfo, is a “collaborative effort” 32 managed
jointly by LOP and the House and Senate. Each entity has the “sole right and responsibility forthe content that it posts on this site.” 33
LOP provides a number of resources to preserve and provide access to Canada’s parliamentary
historical resources, namely, two databases: Parlinfo and Canadian Parliamentary Historical
Resources. 34 Parlinfo is an online tool that allows a user to “perform customized searches of the
Library of Parliament’s extensive collection of historical data about the Parliament of Canada, itsinstitutions and the people and events that have shaped it since 1867.” 35
Concerning preservation efforts, LOP’s Annual Report 2009-2010 details the development of aparliamentary publications preservation program. One of its projects entailed the following:
For example, one copy of every volume of debates and journals has now been archived in
the secure collections area in appropriate environmental conditions. This program ensures

26 About the Library: Mandate, LOP, https://perma.cc/SP5E-J6AL.
27 About the Library: Services, LOP, https://perma.cc/A4G9-Z5KU.
28 About the Library: Organizational Overview, LOP, https://perma.cc/Y2Q7-YSEZ.
29 LOP, Strategic Outlook 2017-2022 (2017), https://perma.cc/37FC-4K8S.
30 About the Library: Mandate, supra note 26.
31 About the Library: Organizational Overview, supra note 28.
32 Help, LEGISInfo, https://perma.cc/4PCG-VN2D.
33 Important Notices, Parliament of Canada, supra note 9.
34 LOP, Annual Report 2018-2019 16 (2019), https://perma.cc/LA99-HF44.
35 Historical Information About Parliament, LAP, https://perma.cc/K37M-N6C6.

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the preservation of collections and is in line with the Library’s proposed
digitization agenda. 36

LOP’s Annual Report 2013-2014 also highlighted a “revitalized conservation program,” in which
the library bound more than 1,500 volumes of debates, journals, and other standard collection
items and conserved nearly 1,100 valuable collection items for the Senate, House, and LOP. 37
More on LOP’s role in the digital preservation of parliamentary documents (including theCanadian Parliamentary Historical Resources project) is found in Section VI of this report.
LOP also produces its own research publications, which “provide non-partisan, reliable andtimely information and analysis on current and emerging issues, legislation and major public
policy topics.” These include HillNotes, which are “quick reads on topics of interest to
parliamentarians,” HillStudies, which are “[i]n-depth reads on topics of interest to
parliamentarians,“ and legislative summaries, which are “[c[oncise analyses of certain bills
before Parliament.” 38
The workflow management from creation to publication of research documents produced by LOP
is stewarded by an organizational partnership between LOP and the Canadian information
management corporation Opentext. Opentext’s workflow “manages the lifecycle of research
information” of LOP documents and helps preserve “Parliament’s documentary heritage” and“ensure access to collections.” 39
B. Library and Archives Canada (LAC)
One of the mandates of the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is to manage and preserve
Canada’s documentary heritage and provide enduring access to it. LAC serves as the “permanent
repository of records of the Government of Canada, as well as publications and records ofhistorical or archival value.” LAC is the “sole organization in the Government of Canada with anational mandate for long-term preservation. This mandate is enshrined in LAC’s legislation,
empowering the Librarian and Archivist to ensure that documentary heritage is available to
Canadians for the long term.” 40
In the past, LOP has collaborated with LAC in a digital preservation project called the Early
Debates Project for the initial digital imaging of parliamentary debates from 1901 to
the mid-1990s. 41

36 LOP, Annual Report 2009-2010 11 (2010), https://perma.cc/VZ8F-82KP.
37 LOP, Annual Report 2013-2014 19 (2014), https://perma.cc/QY72-QW6L.
38 Research Publications, LOP, https://perma.cc/8QPL-6V3M.
39 Open Text Customer Detail: The Library of Parliament Streamlines Research Services Using OpenText ECM Suite,
OpenText, https://perma.cc/DY7R-D8QP.
40 Libr. & Archives Can., Strategy for a Digital Preservation Program (Nov. 2017), https://perma.cc/4P54-Y3Z5.
41 LOP, Annual Report 2010–2011 2, https://perma.cc/QVZ4-EBP5.

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III. Special Procedures for Handling Particular Types of Parliamentary Documents
A. Journals
Journals are the minutes of the meetings of the House and are considered “the authoritative
record of its proceedings.” 42 Journals of the Senate are the “official record of Senate proceedings”
and take note of “all proceedings, decisions and votes taken by the Senate in the course ofa sitting.” 43
When the House is sitting, the unrevised Journals are available online immediately after the
adjournment of the House. At the end of each session a “compilation of the revised Journals alongwith other information is produced in a limited number of bound copies.” 44 Unlike the UnitedStates House of Representatives, there is no requirement to adopt minutes at the start of thefollowing sitting. 45
Journals are prepared by House staff under the clerk. “No explicit authority exists by which
Journals are produced.” 46 The foundation for the Journals are the scrolls—“notes and records kept
by the Clerk and other Table Officers in the course of a sitting.” 47 Errors are corrected by “those
responsible for the publication.” 48 In September 1994, the Parliament began publishing revised
weekly Journals, as well as unrevised daily Journals. In September 2014, weekly Journals were
eliminated. Until 1997, Journals were printed separately in English and French editions. Since
that time, a bilingual side-by-side format has been adopted. 49
In the same way, in the Senate, unrevised Journals are also prepared based on the clerk’s scrollsand “published after each sitting in both languages.” The unrevised Journals are “posted on theInternet (at www.sencanada.ca and www.parl.ca) the morning after each sitting.” At the end ofeach session, “the Journals are revised, edited and published in bound volumes.” 50

42 The Journals, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.
43 Senate Procedural Notes: Journals of the Senate, Senate of Canada, supra note 4.
44 The Journals, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.
45 Id.
46 Id.
47 Id.
48 Id.
49 Id.
50 Senate Procedural Notes: Journals of the Senate, Senate of Canada, supra note 4.

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B. Debates
Debates, or “Hansard,” 51 are full-length reports of House debates. They are compiled fromtranscribed audio recordings and information from parliamentary staff. Like Journals, Debates
follow the order of proceedings in the course of a sitting. Unlike Journals, they contain the fulldeliberations of the House, including speeches and statements. 52 Similarly, debates of the Senate
are “a verbatim transcript of the proceedings of the Senate published after each sitting.” 53
In the House, debates are prepared in both official languages and made available online. The
language used by the member speaking is indicated. They are produced in a limited number ofbound copies. The unedited transcripts of Debates are known as “blues” because they were
published on blue paper in the past. 54
Members and delegates may submit changes to the parliamentary publications editorial staff.
Minor alterations may not disturb the meaning of House discourse. Substantial error must be
brought to the attention of the House by means of a point of order. When the accuracy of therecord is in question, it is the responsibility of the speaker to investigate. 55
Similarly, in the Senate,
Senators may correct errors or make minor alterations to the blues before these are
published as the Debates, but they must obtain agreement of the Senate to make substantial
corrections to the Debates. If this permission is given, the correction is published in a
subsequent issue of the unrevised Debates. The Debates are published in separate English
and French documents that are available on the parliamentary website the morning aftera sitting. 56

C. Order Papers and Notice Papers
The Order Paper and Notice Paper are published together on days when the House sits. The
Order Paper is the authoritative agenda of all items of business to be considered by the House.
The Notice Paper contains all items for which notice must be given. Together, the documents
contain all items of business that may be put before the House. 57

51 Hansard is the family name of the first official printer of debates in the British Parliament. The term now

refers to official reports of parliamentary debates. Norman Wilding & Philip Laundy, An Encyclopaedia of
Parliament 340-45 (London: Cassell, 4th ed. 1972).
52 The Debates, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.
53 Senate Procedural Notes, Debates of the Senate, Senate of Canada, supra note 4.
54 The Debates, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.
55 Id.
56 Senate Procedural Notes, Debates of the Senate, Senate of Canada, supra note 4.
57 The Order Paper and Notice Paper, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.

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Notice Papers must be distributed before a matter of substance is put before the House. 58 The
sponsoring member sends an e-notice or written notice for inclusion. Notices received are
published in that day’s Notice Paper and are automatically placed on the Order Paper. Items areprimarily taken up in accordance with the order assigned in the Order Paper. This reflects thedual nature of the Order Paper—it contains all items of business and the sequence in which they
are considered. 59
The Order Paper and Notice Paper are examined by the clerk’s procedural staff. If a procedural
irregularity is found, modification to form or content may occur. As long as a motion has not been
proposed to the House, it may be withdrawn. Once a Notice Paper has been transferred to theOrder Paper, it can only be removed by order of the House.
The Order Paper and Notice Paper are bilingual publications available electronically and in
printed versions. 60
The Senate also uses Order Paper and Notice Paper as the “official agenda of the Senate.” It “setsout all items of business before the Senate, including items for future sittings” and is “preparedin advance of each sitting based on decisions taken at the previous sitting and notices given bysenators.” In the Senate, the Scroll is an “administrative document based on the Order Paper andNotice Paper.” It is printed on larger paper, “with more space for notes, and with abbreviated text
for long items of business. Senators have access to the Scroll through a shared electronic
folder. An annotated version of the Scroll is also prepared for the Speaker’s use during
the sitting.” 61
D. Projected Order of Business
A Projected Order of Business is a tentative working agenda that lists all business by thegovernment and private members (members of parliament who are not cabinet members) taken
up in the House. It serves as “a simplified, unofficial, daily agenda in addition to theOrder Paper.” 62This document is produced in a side-by-side bilingual format. Both electronic versions as well as
printed versions are made available. The listings within the document are subject to change
without notice. 63

58 Id.
59 Id.
60 Id.
61 Senate Procedural Notes, Order Paper and Notice Paper, Senate of Canada, supra note 4.
62 The Order Paper and Notice Paper, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.
63 Id.

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In the Senate, “a summary version of anticipated business,” called the Scroll Notes, “is circulatedby email to all senators prior to a sitting. These notes are not authoritative and are subject tochange at any time.” 64
E. Status of House Business
A Status of House Business provides a history of each item of House business. It is produced
under the authority of the speaker. Status of House Business documents have five corresponding
sections. In Part 1, the legislative progress of each bill is recorded. Part 2 provides similar
information about private members’ bills and motions. Part 3 contains questions submitted byprivate members. Part 4 details committee reports and motions regarding standing or special
committees. Part 5 holds information about appointments and amendments. 65
F. Minutes of Proceedings, Evidence, and Reports of Committees
Each committee of the House produces its own records. These primarily born-digital documents
are segmented into the following three categories:•

minutes of proceedings are the formal records of business during a committee meeting,•evidence documents are complete transcripts of a committee meeting, and•reports of committees refer to the documents where committee members make theirrecommendations known. 66

These documents are made available electronically under the authority of the speaker. Minor
corrections can be made by submitting a proposed change. More significant changes must be
made by the committee responsible. 67
G. Bills
The House examines proposed laws or bills submitted for approval by cabinet ministers andprivate members. They are published under the authority of the speaker and are made available
electronically. Clerks are empowered to make nominal corrections to bills. 68 The speaker may alsoorder a correction when a document does not reflect a decision of the House. 69

64 Senate Procedural Notes, Order Paper and Notice Paper, Senate of Canada, supra note 4.
65 Id.
66 Id.
67 Id.
68 Bills, in House of Commons Procedure & Practice, supra note 1.
69 Arthur Beauchesne et al., Beauchesne’s Rules & Forms of the House of Commons of Canada 233 (Toronto:
Carswell, 6th ed. 1989).

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LEGISinfo is the “primary source of information regarding legislation before Parliament,” 70 and
it includes the following information:•••

The full text of the most recent version of a bill and any previous versions of the bill.
The bill’s life cycle, from the day it is introduced for first reading until it receives
royal assent.
Links to the relevant content in official parliamentary publications associated withthe passage of a bill. 71

IV. Coordination and Information Sharing Among Legislative Agencies
As noted earlier, the Senate, House, and LOP each manage their own websites and the Parliamentof Canada website jointly, and each entity has the “sole right and responsibility for the content
that it posts on [the Parliament of Canada] site.” 72 Information Services, which is headed by thechief information officer/executive director, is “responsible for providing information
management and information technology, multimedia, publishing and printing services to theHouse of Commons.” 73 The Senate website is “managed jointly by the Communications
Directorate and the Information Services Directorate of the Senate.” 74
The House, Senate, and LOP appear to have an “information management partnership.” 75 The
three institutions have had a working group, the parliamentary information management
committee, since at least 2004. A 2015 report by an outside consultancy group for a Senate
standing committee describes its workings.
The Parliamentary Information Management framework is a governance initiative of the
Clerks of the Senate and House of Commons, and the Parliamentary Librarian who
worked together to improve how information is presented online. The Information
Services Directorate and the Communications Directorate are both represented on the
Parliamentary Information Management Committee (PIM), which provides guidancearound how information management is shared by the House of Commons, Library of
Parliament and Senate. Guidance is based on the PIM Vision, which was developed in
2004. The PIM vision does not, however, address a joint digital communications or content
management strategy for the three bodies and within the Senate itself. 76

70 Help, LEGISInfo, supra note 32.
71 Id.
72 Important Notices, Parliament of Canada, supra note 9.
73 Id.
74 Important Notices, Senate of Canada, https://perma.cc/X833-M8FM.
75 LOP, Annual Report 2009–2010, supra note 36, at 19.
76 Blueprint Public Relations Inc., Senate of Canada Communications Functional Review 35-36 (Mar. 10, 2015),
https://perma.cc/RP9M-EDFR.

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V. Users’ Access to Parliamentary Documents
Subsection 18(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982, states, “The statutes, records and journals of
Parliament shall be printed and published in English and French and both language versions areequally authoritative.” 77 Section 5 of the Official Languages Act stipulates that “[t]he journals
and other records of Parliament shall be made and kept, and shall be printed and published, inboth official languages.” 78
A. House of CommonsAll House of Commons parliamentary publications “are published simultaneously in both official
languages and are made available electronically on the House of Commons website.” 79 In 1994,
the House began to “distribute its publications electronically. The following year, it began theprocess of making its publications accessible worldwide by posting them online.” 80 Thesepublications include the Journals; Debates; Order Papers; Notice Papers; Projected Orders ofBusiness; Statuses of House Business; Minutes of Proceedings, Evidence, and Reports ofCommittees; and Bills. 81
House publications, such as Debates, 82 dating back to 1994 are accessible online on the House
website and can be searched or browsed. A more advanced search of publications can be madethrough a “Publication Search” tool for content published after January 2001. 83
B. Senate
Similarly, Senate publications such as Debates, 84 Journals, Order Papers, and Notice Papers
dating back to 1996 are accessible on the Senate website and can be searched or browsed.

VI. Projects for Preservation of and Access to Digital Records of Parliamentary
Documents
In Canada, as noted above, publishing of parliamentary documents online “commenced in 1994,”
and by the ”early 2000s, the digitization of Hansard had evolved into an integrated data
management system called Prism.”85 Prism “integrates all aspects of parliamentary business:
77 Constitution Act, 1982, § 18(1); see also Constitution Act, 1867, § 133.
78 Official Languages Act, R.S.C. 1985, c 31 (4th Supp.), § 5, https://perma.cc/H2N5-AHPW.
79 Our Procedure: Parliamentary Publications, House of Commons, https://perma.cc/A66T-SHY2.
80 Id.
81 Id.
82 Hansard Index, House of Commons, https://perma.cc/2C7U-GMN7.
83 Publication Search, House of Commons, https://perma.cc/CAK2-79P8.
84 Calendar of Debates of the Senate (Hansard), Senate of Canada, https://perma.cc/CA8L-UBJ9.
85 Audrey O’Brien, Prism: The House of Commons Integrated Technology Project, in 25(2) Canadian Parliamentary
Rev. (2002), https://perma.cc/5NGH-8RFW.

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bills, committee evidence and debate transcripts.” 86 It launched in 2001. The system was “capableof managing all aspects of information publishing, from the capture of the spoken word to the
distribution of Hansard itself.” 87
According to one report, “[u]ntil very recently, the electronic record of Hansard encompassed
only the past two decades of parliamentary debates.” 88 In the summer of 2013, the LOP adopted
a digital preservation strategy that focused on “priority setting for digit content” both through“partnerships and its own infrastructure.” 89
In 2013, LOP “scanned the entire historical proceedings from 1867 to 1999,” and the“corresponding files were given to Canadiana, a nongovernmental organization committed tothe preservation of Canadian heritage, which in turn deposited the proceedings in an online
digital archive of PDF files.” 90 In 2018, Canadiana merged with CRKN. 91
Today, LOP, in collaboration with the CRKN, provides access to the Canadian Parliamentary
Historical Resources portal, in the form of a “free searchable database of digitized versions ofparliamentary publications from the 1st Session of the 1st Parliament (1867) until coverage atourcommons.ca and sencanada.ca begins.” The publications that are made available are “debates,
journals, committee documentation and bills of both the Senate and the House of Commons.”
The portal also contains “the Senate Minutes of Proceedings, the Rules of the Senate, the Houseof Commons Votes and Proceedings, and the Standing Orders of the House of Commons.
Historical sessional papers are also available from 1867 to 1901.” 92
More recently, the Scrapbook Debates of the Parliament of Canada, 93 which are a “collection ofnewspaper clippings about Senate and House of Commons proceedings that were publishedfrom 1867 to 1871, before Parliament introduced an official record for its debates,” are publicly
available. They are the “only organized source of parliamentary proceedings for that period.” 94
According to LOP, “[d]igital versions of their contents can be searched by the public on the
Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources portal.” 95

86 Kaspar Beelen et al., Digitization of the Canadian Parliamentary Debates, 50 Can. J. Pol. Sci. 849, 852 (2017),
https://perma.cc/NVB9-HWCW.
87 House of Commons, Report to Canadians 2006 24 (2006), https://perma.cc/4F2L-26WU.
88 Id.
89 LOP, Annual Report 2013–2014 177 (2014), https://perma.cc/7ADZ-4TH4.
90 Id.
91 Heritage Content, CRKN, https://perma.cc/L6XB-MHA4.
92 Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources, LOP, https://perma.cc/9M4J-ZTEU.
93 The Scrapbook Debates of the Parliament of Canada, LOP, https://perma.cc/N4PU-ZNBR.
94 LOP, Annual Report 2017–2018 15 (2018), https://perma.cc/SD5W-FPNE.
95 Id.

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The Publishing and Depository Services Directorate, which is a part of Public Services andProcurement Canada, also has a mandate “to provide the public with centralized access toGovernment of Canada publications.” 9696 Learn About What We Do, Gov’t Can. Publications, https://perma.cc/4VA6-KVC5.

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European Parliament
Jenny Gesley
Foreign Law Specialist

SUMMARY

In the European Union (EU), the directly elected European Parliament acts as a colegislator on an equal footing with the Council of the European Union. The Treaty on
the Functioning of the European Union and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of theEuropean Union provide that citizens of the EU have a right of access to documents ofthe EU’s institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies. This right of access is specified in theRules of Procedure of the European Parliament, Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001, and abureau decision of November 28, 2001. Public access to a register of documents isprovided in electronic form. Legislative procedure documents or those concerning
parliamentary business are entered in the public register as soon as they have beentabled or made public.
For each committee meeting, a rapporteur prepares legislative reports, non-legislative
reports, or own-initiative reports, depending on the topic, and presents them to theplenary. For each sitting of the plenary, minutes of the meeting, a multilingual verbatim
report, and an audiovisual recording are prepared. The minutes and verbatim reports
are preserved in the records of the European Parliament and published in the Official
Journal of the EU.
The European Parliament historical archives unit is the official record keeper of theEuropean Parliament and manages and preserves the official public documents andother archival fonds. Rules on public access to the historical archives are set forth inCouncil Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83. All the documents in the historicalarchives are digitized and/or converted in the PdfA format in order to assure theirpermanent conservation.

I. Overview
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the main institutions of the European Union (EU) and is
its only directly elected body. 1 It exercises legislative and budgetary functions together with theCouncil of the European Union (Council), 2 as well as supervisory and consultative functions. 3
The role and powers of the European Parliament have changed and been expanded over time. In
2009, the ordinary legislative procedure (formerly called co-decision procedure) became thestandard procedure for passing legislation at the EU level, with the European Parliament acting

1 Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union [TEU], art. 13, para. 1, art. 14, para. 3, 2016 O.J. (C 202)13, https://perma.cc/3NQE-GMSW.
2 The Council is made up of government ministers from each EU country. See TEU, art. 16, para. 2.
3 TEU, art. 14, para. 1.

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as a co-legislator on an equal footing with the Council. 4 There are up to three readings and thetwo institutions have to approve an identical text. Within the European Parliament, the proposals
are examined by the appropriate committee (or several committees), which adopts a report andpresents it to the plenary session. 5 All legislative acts are published in the Official Journal of theEuropean Union (OJ). 6 Effective July 1, 2013, only the OJ published in electronic form (e-OJ) isauthentic and produces legal effects. 7
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union (Charter) provide that “[a]ny citizen of the Union, and any naturalor legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State, shall have a right ofaccess to documents of the Union’s institutions, bodies, offices and agencies.” 8 Each EU
institution, body, or agency specifies in its own Rules of Procedure how access will be granted.9
The Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament state that access to parliamentary documents
is subject to the principles, conditions, and limits laid down in Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001. 10
Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001 deals with the scope of the right of access to documents of theEuropean Parliament and other institutions, sets out exceptions, provides the procedure forsubmitting an application to access documents, and provides that public access to a register of
documents must be provided in electronic form, among other things. 11 The right to access to
documents of the European Parliament was further defined in a bureau decision of November
28, 2001. 12 Legislative procedure documents or those concerning parliamentary business areentered in the public register as soon as they have been tabled or made public. 13

II. The Role of the EP’s Historical Archives in the Parliamentary Document Process
According to its website, the historical archives unit “is the official record keeper of the European
Parliament. It manages and preserves the Parliament's official public documents and other

4 Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union [TFEU], arts. 289, 294, 2016 O.J.

(C 202) 47, https://perma.cc/X2NH-JV26.

5 Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, Sept. 2021, rules 49–55, https://perma.cc/45FY-JSF9.
6 TFEU, art. 297; EUR-Lex: Access to the Official Journal, European Union, https://perma.cc/BB2C-4MHQ.
7 Consolidated Version of Council Regulation (EU) No 216/2013, art. 1, 2013 O.J. (L 69) 1,

https://perma.cc/8MPR-GAVM.

8 TFEU, art. 15, para. 3, 2016 O.J. (C 202) 47, https://perma.cc/X2NH-JV26; Charter of Fundamental Rights ofthe European Union [Charter], art. 42, 2012 O.J. (C 326) 39, https://perma.cc/7829-KP5L.

9 TFEU, art. 15, para. 3.
10 Id. art. 232; Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, rule 122.
11 Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001, 2001 O.J. (L 145) 43, https://perma.cc/TZ6E-N7PU.
12 Consolidated Version of the Rules Governing Public Access to European Parliament Documents (Bureau

Decision), 2011 O.J. (C 216) 19, https://perma.cc/GD4D-ARFD. The Bureau of the European Parliament, madeup of the president, 14 vice-presidents, and five quaestors, is the body that lays down rules for Parliament,
among other responsibilities. About Parliament: The Political Bodies of the European Parliament, European
Parliament, https://perma.cc/6AZZ-H6EP.
13 Id. art. 4, para. 3.

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Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: European Parliamentarchival fonds, dating back to 1952.” 14 Rules on public access to the historical archives are set
forth in Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83. 15
The holdings of the historical archives include
a variety of types of records, such as adopted texts, reports, parliamentary questions, petitions
and committee papers spanning from the creation of the European Community of Coaland Steal Assembly in 1952 to the present… The core of the holdings is constituted by thefiles related to the legislative activity of the Parliament, through the committees work andthe plenary sittings.
Other special parliamentary collections illustrate the first stages of the development of theEuropean Union (records of the Assembly ad Hoc and of the Committee of the Four
Presidents) and the development of parliamentary cooperation between the European
Economic Community and countries of the Associated African and Malagasy States(AAMS), now the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP).
The Archives also hold collections of private political papers of Members and former
Members which give an insight into the political activity of the Parliament. 16

III. The Role of the Parliamentary Library in the Parliamentary Document Process
The Parliamentary Library is not involved in the parliamentary document process. The Citizens’
Library Unit of the European Parliamentary Research Service’s Directorate for the Library andKnowledge Services makes library services available to the public and outside researchers.
Patrons may consult sources about EU services and the work of the European Parliament. 17

IV. Special Procedures for Handling Particular Types of Parliamentary Documents
A. Committee Meetings
Committee meetings are generally public. If a meeting is closed to the public, the committee may
nonetheless decide to make documents from the meetings available to the public. 18
For each committee meeting on a proposal for a legally binding act, the committee appoints arapporteur to document the process. The legislative report must include amendments to the
proposal, short justifications for amendments, a draft legislative resolution, an explanatory
statement including a financial statement, and a reference to the impact assessment by the

14 Historical Archives, European Parliament, https://perma.cc/QL2E-CK5Y.
15 Consolidated Version of Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No. 354/83, 1983 O.J. (L 43) 1,

https://perma.cc/URJ5-568T.

16 Holdings, European Parliament Historical archives, https://perma.cc/7QTX-5L23.
17 European Parliamentary Research Service [EPRS], Library and Knowledge Services (Sept. 2021),

https://perma.cc/M3DH-H3NS.

18 Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, rule 121, para. 3.

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European Parliament. 19 The rapporteur for a non-legislative report must include a motion for a
resolution, an explanatory statement including a financial statement, and the texts of any motions
for resolutions. 20 Drawing up own-initiative reports, meaning reports on a subject within thecompetence of the committee on which no referral has taken place, requires authorization fromthe Conference of Presidents. 21
Reports in general must include the vote taken on the report as a whole and how each member
voted. 22 Minority positions may be included at the request of the author. 23 The rapporteur
prepares the committee’s report and presents it to the European Parliament on behalf ofthat committee. 24
B. Plenary Sessions
Plenary sessions are always public. 25 Documents that form the basis for the debates and decisions
are made available to the members of the European Parliament. 26 They may be prepared, signed,
and distributed in electronic form. 27 A list of these documents is included in the meeting
minutes. 28 In addition, non-confidential preparatory documents can be accessed by MPs andpolitical groups directly via the EP’s internal computer system. 29 All documents of parliament
are available in all of the official languages of the EU. 30
For each sitting, minutes are prepared. They must detail the proceedings, list the documents thatformed the basis for the debates and decisions, name the speakers, and document all decisions,
including the result of any vote on any amendment. Minutes must be made available at least half
an hour before the beginning of the afternoon period of the next sitting. 31 The minutes of eachsitting of the plenary must indicate which members were recorded as “present” in the attendanceregister or “excused” by the president. 32 In cases of voting by roll call, the minutes must record
the votes by political group in the alphabetical order of member' names, with an indication of
19 Id. rule 51.
20 Id. rule 53.
21 Id. rule 54. The Conference of Presidents consists of the president of the European Parliament and the chairsof the political groups. See rule 26, para. 1.
22 Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, rule 55, para. 3.
23 Id. rule 55, para. 4.
24 Id. rule 55, para. 1.
25 Id. rule 121, para. 2.
26 Id. rule 169.
27 Id. rule 170.
28 Id. rule 202, para. 2.
29 Id.
30 Id. rule 167, para. 1.
31 Id. rule 202.
32 Id. rule 156, para. 2.

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how they voted. 33 For voting by secret ballot, the minutes must indicate the names of members
who have taken part. 34 For electronic votes, only the numerical result of the vote is recorded. 35
At the beginning of each sitting, parliament approves the minutes from the last sitting. 36
Objections are considered by the whole parliament. 37 Once the minutes are approved, they are
signed by the president of the European Parliament and the Secretary-General, preserved in therecords of the European Parliament, and published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ). 38
Adopted texts are published immediately after the vote and are also preserved in the records ofthe European Parliament. 39
In addition to the minutes of the sitting, a multilingual verbatim report and an indexed
audiovisual record of the proceedings are prepared. 40 The audiovisual record is linked to theverbatim report. 41 Corrections to typescripts of speeches must be submitted to the secretariat of
the European Parliament within five working days. 42 Members who have not spoken in a debate
have the option of submitting a written statement of not more than 200 words, which is appended
to the verbatim report of the debate. 43 The verbatim report is published as an annex to the OJ andis preserved in the records of the European Parliament. 44
C. Information-Sharing Among Legislative Agencies
In general, the European Parliament keeps the national parliaments of the EU Member States
regularly informed of its activities. 45 Documents concerning a legislative procedure at the EU
level that are officially transmitted by a national parliament to the European Parliament are
forwarded to the appropriate committee. 46

33 Id. rule 190, para. 4.
34 Id. rule 191, para. 4.
35 Id. rule 192, para. 2.
36 Id. rule 202, para. 3.
37 Id. rule 202, para. 4.
38 Id. rule 202, para. 5.
39 Id. rule 203, para. 1.
40 Id. rules 204, 205.
41 Id. rule 205, para. 2.
42 Id. rule 204, para. 3.
43 Id. rule 171, para. 11.
44 Id. rule 204, para. 4.
45 Id. rule 150, para. 1.
46 Id. rule 150, para. 4.

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D. User’s Access to Parliamentary Documents
As mentioned, Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001 deals with the right of access to documents of theEuropean Parliament and provides that public access to a register of documents must be provided
in electronic form. 47 In particular, legislative documents must be directly accessible to the
public. 48 For other documents, citizens must submit a written application, which includes theelectronic form. 49 No reason for the application is required. 50 The application may be submitted
in any EU language. 51 Access to the requested documents must be given within a period of 15
working days. 52 If access is not granted, the European Parliament must provide reasons for therefusal, and the applicant may ask for reconsideration. 53 If access is granted, the applicant may
choose to either consult the documents on the spot or receive a copy, including an electronic copy,
whichever he or she prefers. 54
Access to sensitive documents classified as (top) secret or confidential, such as documents
concerning public security, defense, and military matters, is generally prohibited, but may be
granted subject to special rules. 55 Sensitive documents can only be recorded or released in the
public register with the consent of the originator. 56
The European Parliament must inform the public of the right to access to documents under
Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001 and how and where applications for access may be submitted. 57
The public register website of the European Parliament contains references to documents
produced or received by the institution since December 3, 2001. 58 The “Unit for Transparency Public Access to Documents and Relations with Lobbyists” operates the public register and assists
the public. 59 In general, documents in the public register, in electronic form, consultation of
documents on the spot, and copies of less than 20 DIN A4 pages are provided free of charge. 60

47 Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001, art. 2, para. 4, arts. 11, 12.
48 Id. art. 2, para. 4, art. 12.
49 Id. art. 6, para. 1.
50 Id.
51 Id.
52 Id. art. 7, para. 1.
53 Id. art. 7.
54 Id. art. 10.
55 Id. art. 4, para. 1, art. 9; Bureau Decision, arts. 17-20.
56 Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001, art. 9, para. 3.
57 Id. art. 6, para. 4, art. 14, para. 1.
58 Bureau Decision, art. 1; Public Register of Documents, European Parliament, https://perma.cc/5S5K-WC9L.
59 Bureau Decision, art. 3.
60 Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001, art. 10, para. 1.

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E. Projects For Preservation of and Access to Digital Records of Parliamentary Documents
According to the website of the EP’s historical archives, all the documents are “digitised and/or
converted in the PdfA format in order to assure their permanent conservation. Once transformedin the electronic format, the documents are stored in our database, in relation with theirclassification and description.” 61 They may be consulted on premises or, under certain
circumstances, be obtained from the historical archives directly. 62

61 Our Mission, European Parliament Historical archives, https://perma.cc/4UVX-JYJL.
62 Id.; Consolidated Version of Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83, art. 9.

The Law Library of Congress44France
Nicolas Boring
Foreign Law Specialist

SUMMARY

France has a bicameral parliament composed of a National Assembly and a Senate, eachof which has its own library and archives. The French National Library, the BnF, does
not appear to be involved in the parliamentary document process apart fromparticipating in digitization efforts.
Many parliamentary documents must be published in the official gazette, which is
published by an agency under the authority of the secretary-general of the government,
who in turn is under the authority of the prime minister.
The French Constitution requires that a full transcript of every public session of the
Senate and National Assembly be published in the official gazette. Other parliamentary
documents published in the official gazette include bills, resolutions, and questions to
the government. The official gazette is now published online only, and the Senate andNational Assembly publish many parliamentary documents on their own websites andon open data web portals. Additionally, there are ongoing efforts to digitize historicalparliamentary documents, from the French Revolution onward.

I. Overview
France has a bicameral parliament composed of a National Assembly and a Senate.1 In contrast
to the United States, where the Library of Congress serves as both the national library and thelegislative library, France’s national library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), is distinct
from the parliamentary libraries. The National Assembly and Senate each have their own library
and archives.2 By law, each parliamentary assembly is responsible for its own archives anddetermines how archived documents are collected, preserved, classified, and accessed.3 The BnF
does not appear to be involved in the parliamentary document process, apart from participating
in digitization efforts. Rather, the parliamentary document process is centered on theparliamentary libraries and archives along with France’s official gazette (Journal officiel), as
described below.
Both the Senate and National Assembly’s libraries have dual roles: they exist both to inform thelegislators and help them in their missions, and to preserve some of France’s bibliographicalpatrimony. The Senate’s library contains 370,000 volumes, including 12,800 that date from before
1 Constitution du 4 octobre 1958 (as amended) (Const.) art. 24, https://perma.cc/VQP6-8TW4.
2 Direction de la bibliothèque et des archives, Sénat, https://perma.cc/Q33H-NPEJ; Bibliothèque et archives,

Assemblée nationale, https://perma.cc/47SW-PK8L.
3 Ordonnance n° 58-1100 du 17 novembre 1958 relative au fonctionnement des assemblées parlementaires (asamended) art. 7 bis, Légifrance, https://perma.cc/8NPR-WS77.

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1830 and 9,300 that are considered particularly rare and valuable, 6,500 manuscripts, and 45,000
prints and engravings.4 The library of the National Assembly contains close to 700,000 volumes
in French, primarily on the topics of law, political science, history, economics, and social sciences,
as well as university doctoral dissertations on these same topics.5 It also contains 1,900
manuscripts and many rare and original editions.6 Neither of these institutions is usually open to
the public.7
The preservation of parliamentary documents falls within the scope of the parliamentaryarchives, as described in Section II. The Senate archives and library are managed and organizedunder a single directorate,8 as are the National Assembly archives and library.9
The publication of many parliamentary documents falls under the responsibility of the official
gazette, which is published by the Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information(Direction de l’information légale et administrative, DILA).10 The DILA is an agency under theauthority of the secretary-general of the government, who in turn is under the authority of theprime minister.11
The Senate’s day-to-day operations, including archiving and publication of documents, aregoverned by the Senate Regulations (Règlement du Sénat), and its Bureau General Instructions(Instruction générale du Bureau).12 Similarly, the National Assembly’s day-to-day operations,
including archiving and publication of documents, are governed by the National Assembly
Regulations (Règlement de l’Assemblée nationale), and by its own Bureau General Instructions(Instruction générale du Bureau).13

4 Bibliothèque du Sénat, Description de la Bibliothèque, BnF Gallica, https://perma.cc/74SK-KTLC.
5 Bibliothèque et archives, supra note 2.
6 Id.
7 Id.
8 Direction de la bibliothèque et des archives, supra note 2.
9 Bibliothèque et archives, supra note 2.
10 Diffusion légale, Direction de l’information légale et administrative (May 29, 2018), https://perma.cc/6UDY-

NVNY.
11 Qui sommes nous?, Direction de l’information légale et administrative (May 26, 2018),

https://perma.cc/4HV8-TNBK.
12 Règlement du Sénat et Instruction générale du Bureau, Sénat (Nov. 1, 2021), https://perma.cc/D3NL-VXGG.
13 Règlement de l’Assemblée nationale, Assemblée nationale, https://perma.cc/PJ5J-RCBZ; Instruction

générale du Bureau, Assemblée nationale (Sept. 2018), https://perma.cc/77MM-6WWW.

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II. The Roles of the National and Parliamentary Libraries in the Parliamentary
Document Process
A. Senate
The Senate’s archives are collected, preserved, classified, and communicated by the Senate’s
Library and Archives Directorate.14 The Senate’s various directorates submit their documents forarchiving according to methods and on timetables defined jointly with the Library and Archives
Directorate, in accordance with their administrative utility and their scientific and historic value.15
Senate regulations require that committee meetings be recorded and that these recordings be
deposited in the Senate archives.16
B. National Assembly
The National Assembly’s archives and library were merged into a single organizational unit, theArchives and Library Service, in 2009.17 The Archives Division of the Archives and LibraryService is in charge of collecting, organizing, and preserving the National Assembly’s archives.18
C. National Library
The BnF, France’s national library, does not appear to be very involved in the parliamentary
document process, except for digitization efforts. The BnF has a partnership with DILA to digitize
the official gazettes from their first publication in 1869.19 The BnF also has partnerships with the
Senate and the National Assembly to digitize the transcripts of their sessions held since 1881.20

III. Special Procedures for Handling Particular Types of Parliamentary Documents
A. Senate
The French Constitution requires that a full transcript of every public session of the Senate be
published in the official gazette.21 The Senate’s internal rules add that these transcripts should be
published on the Senate’s website as well.22
14 Instruction générale du Bureau, Sénat (Nov. 1, 2021), XIX. Archives (I).
15 Id. XIX. Archives (II).
16 Règlement du Sénat art. 15 ter.
17 Fiche de synthèse n°74: Le service de la bibliothèque et des archives, Assemblée nationale, https://perma.cc/Q3JQ-

Y26U.
18 Id.
19 Journal officiel (JORF) Présentation, BnF, https://perma.cc/3KJV-34TW.
20 Id.
21 Const. art. 33.
22 Instruction générale du Bureau, Sénat, XI. Comptes rendus (III).

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It should be noted that the Constitution allows the Senate to meet in closed, confidential sessions
upon the request of the prime minister or of one-tenth of the number of senators,23 in which casethe proceedings would presumably not be published. This does not appear to have ever
happened under the current Constitution, which has been in force since 1958, but it happened
four times during World War I and twice during World War II.24
Bills and proposed resolutions are published in the official gazette.25 Senators may submit written
questions to the executive. These questions, and the answers to them, are published in the official
gazette.26 Several other documents are published in the official gazette, including the Senate’sorder of the day, summonses issued by Senate committees, adopted resolutions, the results ofpublic Senate votes, and the appointment of committee members and delegation members.27
Senate committees can decide how to publicize their work.28 Each committee may decide to meet
confidentially upon the request of the prime minister, of the committee president, or of one-tenthof its members. It may then decide whether to publish the minutes of that meeting in theofficial gazette.29
B. National Assembly
The French Constitution requires that a full transcript of every public session of the National
Assembly be published in the official gazette.30 The National Assembly Regulations also requirethat an audiovisual report of every public session be published.31
Like the Senate, the Constitution allows the National Assembly to meet in closed, confidential
sessions upon the request of the prime minister or of one-tenth of its members.32 The National
Assembly (or its predecessor institution, the Chamber of Deputies) appears to have met in closed
sessions during both world wars, but does not appear to have done so since then.33

23 Const. art. 33.
24 Les comités secrets, Sénat, https://perma.cc/256A-5Q8U; Les Comités secrets de 1940, Sénat,https://perma.cc/R8JX-GGWX.
25 Règlement du Sénat art. 24.
26 Règlement du Sénat art. 75; Instruction générale du Bureau, Sénat, II. Publications au Journal officiel (Lois etdécrets).
27 Instruction générale du Bureau, Sénat, II. Publications au Journal officiel (Lois et décrets); Instruction

générale du Bureau, Sénat, III. Publications au Journal officiel (Débats parlementaires).
28 Règlement du Sénat art. 15 ter.
29 Id.
30 Const. art. 33.
31 Règlement de l’Assemblée nationale art. 59.
32 Const. art. 33.
33 Comités secrets, Assemblée nationale, https://perma.cc/QDH3-TSF9; La République dans la tourmente (1939-1945), Assemblée nationale, https://perma.cc/P2GN-55NE.

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Several parliamentary documents are published in the official gazette, including the compositionand declarations of the National Assembly’s political groups,34 the constitution of special
commissions, the submission of bills,35 questions to the government,36 the submission of proposed
resolutions, and adopted resolutions.37
Additionally, the National Assembly publishes bills, reports, and advisory opinions on its
website.38 This is done by the National Assembly’s Service of Communication andMultimedia Information.39
A number of other parliamentary documents are published by the National Assembly in the formof a serial (feuilleton), including the order of the day, the committees’ orders of the day,summonses issued by the National Assembly’s leadership, any information regarding the
National Assembly’s composition and the appointments it makes, lists of publishedparliamentary and extra-parliamentary documents, and information regarding the National
Assembly’s internal and external communications.40
Investigative committees may work under rules of confidentiality, in which case the documents
related to the investigation will be deposited under seal in the National Assembly’s archives.41
An investigation report, or any section of the report that the National Assembly has decided not
to publish, will also be deposited under seal in the archives.42

IV. Users’ Access to Parliamentary Documents
Many parliamentary documents are published in the official gazette or on the Senate andNational Assembly’s websites. Access to unpublished parliamentary documents islimited, however.
Only senators and Senate staff have access to the Senate’s library, but outside researchers canapply for access if they wish to conduct research on the Senate or on documents that only exist
within its holdings.43 The National Assembly’s library is slightly more open in that, in addition
to members and staff of the National Assembly, it is open to senators, to members of the European

34 Règlement de l’Assemblée nationale arts. 19, 21.
35 Id. art. 81.
36 Id. art. 135.
37 Id. art. 136.
38 Instruction générale du Bureau, Assemblée nationale (Sept. 2018), art. 22.
39 Id.
40 Instruction générale du Bureau, Assemblée nationale (Sept. 2018), art. 20.
41 Instruction générale du Bureau, Assemblée nationale (Sept. 2018), art. 6.
42 Id.
43 Bibliothèque du Sénat, Description de la Bibliothèque, BnF Gallica.

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Parliament, and to former members of the French parliamentary assemblies.44 Outside
researchers can also apply for access to the National Assembly’s library if they need access to
documents that are not available elsewhere.
By default, documents archived by the Senate may be released to members of the public after aperiod of 25 years.45 This period may be longer for information involving certain topics such as
national security.46 If an archived document used to belong to a specific senator, this senator (orformer senator) may consent to have the document released before the default period of 25 years.
Similarly, the Senate’s leadership may approve the release of other archived documents before
the default period.47
Documents archived by the National Assembly may also be released to the public after a default
period of 25 years, unless they concern a topic that justifies a longer period of confidentiality.48
Only current and former members of the National Assembly, or individuals specially authorized
by the secretary general or president of the National Assembly, may access the archives inperson.49 However, the National Assembly’s Archives Division manages a Parliamentary
Documentation Center, which is open to the public and provides access to archived documents
and other parliamentary documents, to the extent they can be released to the public.50

V. Projects for Preservation of and Access to Digital Records of Parliamentary
Documents
Since 2016, the French official gazette is only published online, on the French government’s legal
portal, Legifrance.gouv.fr.51 Furthermore, on June 22, 2015, the National Assembly launched a
dedicated web portal to give access to its parliamentary records in an open data format.52 This
portal is accessible at https://data.assemblee-nationale.fr/. The Senate also has an open data web
portal at https://data.senat.fr/. Both portals appear to be part of a larger open data web portal
called data.gouv.fr. This broader web portal is developed and operated by an agency called
Etalab, which is part of the Interministerial Directorate of Information Technology (Direction
interministérielle du numérique).53

44 Bibliothèque et archives, Assemblée nationale.
45 Instruction générale du Bureau, Sénat (Nov. 1, 2021), XIX. Archives (III).
46 Id.
47 Id.
48 Instruction générale du Bureau, Assemblée nationale (Sept. 2018), art. 27.
49 Id.
50 Centre de Documentation Parlementaire, Assemblée nationale, https://perma.cc/NMQ2-AGKK.
51 Journal officiel (JORF) Présentation, BnF.
52 Data.gouv.fr accueille les données de l’Assemblée nationale / Data.gouv.fr Welcomes French National Assembly’s Open

Data, Etalab (June 22, 2015), https://perma.cc/74S9-U4CM.
53 À propos de data.gouv.fr, data.gouv.fr, https://perma.cc/WV2J-C95C.

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As mentioned above, the BnF is in a partnership with DILA to digitize the official gazettes
published since 1869 and has partnerships with the Senate and the National Assembly to digitize
the transcripts of their sessions since 1881. Additionally, the National Assembly’s Archives
Division has a program to digitize and publish online documents from the French Revolution
onward.54 These documents are available online on a dedicated website athttps://archives.assemblee-nationale.fr/.

54 Fiche de synthèse n°74: Le service de la bibliothèque et des archives, Assemblée nationale.

The Law Library of Congress51

Germany
Jenny Gesley
Foreign Law Specialist

SUMMARY

In Germany, the main legislative role is assigned to the German Bundestag(parliament). The German Bundesrat is the constitutional body through which therepresentatives of the German state governments participate in the legislative process.
The Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag and the Rules of Procedure of theGerman Bundesrat contain rules on producing records of committee hearings andplenary sittings. Publicly available materials of the German Bundestag and Bundesrat
are accessible and searchable online in the Documentation and Information System for
Parliamentary Material (DIP). The Parliamentary Archives (“Parliament’s Memory”)
preserves, catalogs, and indexes the records of the German Bundestag and Bundesrat
and makes them available for internal and external use.
All printed papers and plenary records from the German Bundestag have been
digitized and are fully searchable. Digital versions of printed papers from the German
Bundesrat are available from 1984 onwards; however, only documents from 2003 andnewer are searchable. Plenary records from the Bundesrat have been completely
digitized; however, only documents after the year 2000 are searchable. The digitization
process for Bundesrat documents is ongoing.

I. Overview
Germany is a federal republic with sixteen states (Länder). 1 It has a parliamentary system in which
the main legislative role is assigned to the German Bundestag (parliament), the only
constitutional body that is directly elected by the people. 2 The German Bundesrat is theconstitutional body through which the representatives of the German state governments
participate in the legislative process. 3
The Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag (Geschäftsordnung des Deutschen
Bundestages, BTGO 1980) and the Rules of Procedure of the German Bundesrat(Geschäftsordnung des Bundesrates, BRGO 1966) contain rules on producing records ofcommittee hearings and plenary sittings. 4 The Parliamentary Documentation Division of the

1 Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland [Grundgesetz] [GG], May 23, 1949, Bundesgesetzblatt[BGBl.] I at 1, as amended, art. 20, para. 1, https://perma.cc/5VJ4-PTLU (original), https://perma.cc/B4F4LPFW.
2 Id. art. 20, para. 1; arts. 38–49, 77.
3 Id. art. 77, paras. 2–4.
4 Geschäftsordnung des Deutschen Bundestages [BTGO 1980], June 25, 1980, BGBl. I at 1237, as amended, § 73,

para. 1, § 116, para. 1, § 120, https://perma.cc/K229-ESU3 (original), https://perma.cc/PL4A-72GA (English
translation, updated through Apr. 2020); Geschäftsordnung des Bundesrates [BRGO 1966], Nov. 26, 1993, BGBl.

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German Bundestag catalogs and indexes publicly available materials of the German Bundestag
and Bundesrat. 5 These materials are available and searchable online in the Documentation andInformation System for Parliamentary Material (DIP). 6 The Archive Regulations of the German
Bundestag (Archivordnung für den Deutschen Bundestag) contain rules on collecting,preserving, and accessing historically valuable parliamentary records (those of “enduring
value”). 7
Likewise, parliamentary documents of the German state parliaments are available and searchable
online in the database “Parlamentsspiegel.” 8
The 19th parliamentary term, which started on October 24, 2017, and concluded on October 26,
2021, has produced a record number of parliamentary documents, more than 31,700. 9 The least
number of parliamentary records (2,443) were produced in the 9th parliamentary term, which ran
from 1980 to 1983. 10

II. The Role of the Parliamentary Archives in the Parliamentary Document Process
According to the website of the German Bundestag, the Parliamentary Archives(Parlamentsarchiv) are “Parliament’s Memory.” 11 Its purpose is to “preserve archival material
and facilitate its use. . . . [A]rchival material shall encompass the documents of Parliament and its
Administration, which are of enduring value.” 12 Printed papers (Drucksachen), plenary records(Protokolle), and audiovisual recordings of plenary and committee meetings are always of
enduring value. Excluded are documents of members or parliamentary groups of the German
Bundestag. 13

I at 2007, as amended, § 34, https://perma.cc/L38L-5DQB (original), https://perma.cc/LJ9H-7PFH (English
translation).
5 Parliamentary Documentation, Deutscher Bundestag, https://perma.cc/JT8X-3A7C.
6 Dokumentations- und Informationssystem für Parlamentsmaterialien [DIP], Deutscher Bundestag,https://perma.cc/42Z2-KJAC.

7 Archivordnung für den Deutschen Bundestag, Mar. 21, 2019, https://perma.cc/L4DW-EX36 (original),

https://perma.cc/ZFT7-2X5R (English translation).

8 Parlamentsspiegel, Landtag NRW, https://perma.cc/MPU5-BB5Y.
9 Press Release, Deutscher Bundestag, Der Rekordbundestag: Noch nie wurden so viele Drucksachen publiziert(July 27, 2021), https://perma.cc/ER6B-6RRJ.

10 Id. Please note that the 9th parliamentary term was shorter than usual.
11 The Parliamentary Archives – Parliament’s Memory, Deutscher Bundestag, https://perma.cc/K252-85R8.
12 Archivordnung für den Deutschen Bundestag, § 1.
13 Id. § 1, para. 3.

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The website states thatIn the Parliamentary Archives, the records of the German Bundestag are preserved,
catalogued, indexed and made available for internal and external use. The Parliamentary
Archives also prepare documentation and reference materials.
The Archives’ holdings include files, printed papers, minutes of proceedings, Internet
pages, photographs and images as well as video recordings of plenary sittings, public
committee meetings, and other parliamentary events.
The Parliamentary Archives compile all documents relating to the passage of legislation in
the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, thereby creating a comprehensive set of documentationfor each individual law. 14

III. The Role of the National or Parliamentary Library in the Parliamentary
Document Process
The Library of the German Bundestag (Bibliothek des Deutschen Bundestages) does not have acollection mandate for parliamentary documents in print. It “supplies information and literature,in printed and electronic form, to Parliament, its bodies, and the Bundestag Administration; [i]t
is a lending library with designated reference stocks.” 15
The German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, DNB) does not have a specificmandate to collect parliamentary publications in print. Instead, the German National Library Act
requires the German National Library to collect, archive, catalog, and preserve all “media works”
published in Germany, all media works published abroad in the German language, alltranslations of German works published abroad, and media works about Germany publishedabroad in other languages (Germanica) from 1913 onwards. 16 In addition, it administers printed
works written or published between 1933 and 1945 by German-speaking emigrants. 17 The DNB
Act defines media works as “all representations in text, image and sound that are distributed inmaterial form or made accessible to the public in immaterial form.” 18 That general mandate does
include parliamentary documents; however, it is not the focus of the DNB’s collection mandate.

14 The Parliamentary Archives – Parliament’s Memory, supra note 11.
15 Benutzungsordnung für die Bibliothek, Nov. 8, 2018, § 1, https://perma.cc/TD5V-7SM7 (original),

https://perma.cc/H2FH-YTCB (English translation).

16 Gesetz über die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek [DNBG], June 22, 2006, BGBl. I at 1338, as amended, § 2, no. 1,
https://perma.cc/84ZL-MYAX.
17 Id. § 2, no. 2.
18 Id. § 3, para. 1.

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IV. Special Procedures for Handling Particular Types of Parliamentary Documents
A. Bundestag Plenary Sessions
The Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag (Geschäftsordnung des Deutschen
Bundestages, BTGO 1980) provide that for each sitting of the plenary, a written stenographic
record must be produced (plenary record). 19 The minutes are distributed to the members of theGerman Bundestag. 20 All other records of the meeting, such as tape recordings, are stored at theParliamentary Archives. 21 Speakers receive a transcript of their speech and must submit any
corrections to the stenographic service within two hours. 22 Corrections may not alter the content
of the speech. 23 The transcript is deemed approved if this deadline is missed. 24 In general,interjections are made part of the plenary record unless the President of the Bundestag and thoseconcerned agree to remove it. 25 Plenary records are made publicly available online the day after
the meeting. In addition, a partial plenary record for the first part of the ongoing plenary session
is made available during the session. 26
In addition to the plenary protocol, an official record (Amtliches Protokoll) is created, which issigned by the President of the Bundestag and distributed to the members. 27 Objections to theofficial record must be submitted to the President of the Bundestag by the end of the next day theplenary is in session. If no objections are raised by that deadline, the official record is deemed
approved. 28 If an objection cannot be resolved by the Secretaries (Bundestag members who help
chair plenary meetings), the President consults the whole Bundestag for its opinion. If theBundestag finds the objection to be well founded, the amended section is annexed to theofficial record. 29

19 BTGO 1980, § 116, para. 1.
20 Id. § 116, para. 2.
21 Id. § 116, para. 3.
22 Id. §117.
23 Id. § 118, para. 1.
24 Id. § 117.
25 Id. § 119, para. 1.
26 Plenarprotokoll, Deutscher Bundesrat, https://perma.cc/E62V-ZVJ3.
27 BTGO 1980, § 120.
28 Id.
29 Id. § 121.

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B. Bundestag Committee Meetings
In general, committee meetings are not public. 30 There are special guidelines for the treatment ofminutes of non-public committee meetings that do not constitute classified material. 31 The Rulesof Procedure provide that written minutes of every committee meeting must be taken. They must
include all motions and the decisions taken. 32 However, making a stenographic record requires
the permission of the President. 33 With regard to distribution of the minutes to the committee
members and objections, the rules for plenary sessions apply. 34 Persons who demonstrate alegitimate interest may inspect the minutes only after the promulgation of the law concerned orat the end of the electoral term. 35
C. Bundesrat Meetings
Likewise, the Rules of Procedure of the German Bundesrat provide that a verbatim record(stenographic record) must be made of each Bundesrat meeting. 36 The stenographic record ismade publicly available online a few days after the meeting. 37 English and French-languagetranslations of selected decisions are also available. 38 The record is deemed approved if noobjection is filed with the President of the Bundesrat within two weeks of publication of therecord. 39 The Bundesrat may choose to refrain from making a record for a non-public meeting. 40

V. Users’ Access to Parliamentary Documents
The public can access parliamentary documents online free of charge in the DIP on the
Bundestag’s website. In addition, printed versions of parliamentary documents (printed papers
and plenary records) from the Bundestag and the Bundesrat may be ordered, subject to a fee,from Reguvis Fachmedien GmbH, the company that also provides access to the German Federal
Law Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt). 41 Furthermore, several public libraries, including the German
National Library as explained above, collect printed versions of parliamentary documents of theGerman Bundestag and Bundesrat.
30 Id. § 69, para. 1.
31 Anhang 2 - Richtlinien für die Behandlung der Ausschussprotokolle gemäß §73 Abs. 3 GO-BT, Sept. 16, 1975,

as amended, https://perma.cc/5RG7-KHVQ (original), https://perma.cc/PL4A-72GA (English translation).
32 BTGO 1980, § 73, para. 1.
33 Id.
34 Id. § 74.
35 Anhang 2, at I.1.
36 BRGO 1966, § 34, para. 1.
37 Plenarprotokolle, Bundesrat, https://perma.cc/S649-EMSP.
38 Übersetzungen von Bundesratsbeschlüssen, Bundesrat, https://perma.cc/GF8H-V3BZ.
39 BRGO 1966, § 34, para. 3.
40 Id. § 34, para. 2.
41 Einzelverkauf, Reguvis, https://perma.cc/93FF-2VHJ.

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Archival materials held by the Parliamentary Archives may be accessed by anyone upon request
pursuant to the Archive Regulations and the Regulations on the Use of the Parliamentary
Archives. 42 Priority is given to members of the German Bundestag, parliamentary groups, andthe Bundestag administration. 43

VI. Projects For Preservation of and Access to Digital Records of Parliamentary
Documents
Parliamentary documents are available online in the DIP. 44 In 2014, all documents from theGerman Bundestag (printed papers and plenary records) were made available in a digitized PDF
version, starting with the first electoral term (September 1949). 45 They are fully searchable. 46
Digital versions of printed papers from the German Bundesrat are available from 1984 onwards;
however, only documents from 2003 and newer are searchable. Plenary records from the
Bundesrat have been completely digitized; however, only documents after the year 2000 are
searchable. The digitization process for Bundesrat documents is ongoing. 47
Digital versions of deliberation documents (Beratungsverfahren) are available from the beginningof the eighth electoral term, which started in December 1976. Documents from the first to theseventh electoral term are currently being digitized. 48

42 Archivordnung für den Deutschen Bundestag, § 3, para. 1; Nutzungsordnung für das Parlamentsarchiv,

Mar. 26, 2019, https://perma.cc/K6RV-89TB (original), https://perma.cc/EBC8-V859 (English translation).

43 Archivordnung für den Deutschen Bundestag, § 3, para. 1.
44 Was ist recherchierbar, Deutscher Bundestag, https://perma.cc/33ME-QL3K.
45 Press Release, Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksachen und Plenarprotokolle ab 1949: Neue Version desDokumentenarchivs PDok verfügbar (Apr. 22, 2014), https://perma.cc/TQ6X-AF59.
46 Was ist recherchierbar, supra note 44.
47 Id.
48 Id.

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IsraelRuth Levush
Senior Foreign Law Specialist

SUMMARY

The processing and preservation of parliamentary documents in Israel is regulated bylaw and by parliamentary rules. The official text of laws passed by the Knesset on thethird reading, as well as the text of government bills filed with the Knesset for firstreading, are edited and published by the government in print and digital form.
The Knesset’s Protocols Department and the Knesset Archives coordinate
parliamentary document processing. The Knesset Rules of Procedures (Rules) govern
the documentation of both plenary and committee hearings.
Transcripts of plenary hearings are published in Divrei HaKnesset. Minutes, speeches
and documents used in plenary hearings, as well as minutes of committee hearings arealso available on the Knesset website subject to limited exceptions enumerated by
the Rules.
The Knesset has made the National Legislative Database available on its website. The
database involved an extensive digitization program, which included scanning andcataloging historical parliamentary documents, including plenary and committee
hearings, bills, and enacted laws. The database was established with the collaborationof the Knesset's information systems, the Knesset Archives, and the Ministry of Justice,and is open to all users.

I. Overview
Israel’s legislative body is a unicameral parliament known as the Knesset. 1
In accordance with the Law and Government Order 5708-1948, as amended, legislation in Israel
requires publication in the official gazette, Reshumot. 2 In addition to other official documents,
Reshumot publications include laws passed by the Knesset on the third reading, as well as the textof government bills filed with the Knesset for first reading. The editing and print of Reshumot
publications is done by the Official Publications Department at the Ministry of Justice. 3 Reshumot
publications are also available digitally at Gov.il, Israel's Government Services and Information

1 The Work of the Knesset, Knesset website, https://perma.cc/NHC9-T4GF.
2 Law and Government Order 5708-1948, §10, Iton Rishmi [The Provisional Government of Israel] No. 2, 1stapp. p. 1 (May 21, 1948), as amended, available at available at Nevo Legal Database (Nevo),https://perma.cc/7KJE-ZGAQ (in Hebrew, by subscription).
3 Reshumot (The Official Gazette), Ministry of Justice, https://perma.cc/NM9B-TCS7.

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website. Gov.il was built and is managed by the E–government Unit of the Prime
Minister's Office. 4
The processing, producing, publishing, collecting, preserving and distributing to users ofparliamentary documents are regulated by the Knesset Rules of Procedures. 5 General provisions
on the processing of archival materials by Israeli state institutions are addressed in the Archives
Law, 5716-1955, as amended. 6
Processing of parliamentary documents began with the first meeting of the People's Council, on
May 4, 1948, before Israel’s May 14, 1948 Declaration of Independence. 7 Since then there has been
continuous documentation and preservation of information in the Knesset Archives. 8
The processing of parliamentary documents involves coordination between the Knesset’s
Archives and the Knesset’s Protocols Department (KPD). The KPD is responsible fordocumenting Knesset deliberations in plenary sessions as well as in committees by preparing“Knesset protocols.” A “Knesset protocol” is a parliamentary record that documents a hearingthat took place in the Knesset whose purpose is to provide an accurate and clear reflection of the
discussion and the decisions made during it. 9
The KPD records the minutes of plenary hearings and voting, and distributes them as the hearing
is taking place as a temporary record. 10 It also records the hearings of the Knesset committees,
both public and confidential, and distributes the minutes to various databases. 11

II. The Role of the Knesset Archives in the Parliamentary Document Process
It is the Knesset Archives, not Israel’s National Library, 12 that serves as both an administrative
and a historical archival repository of parliamentary documents. According to the
Knesset’s website:
The administrative archives provide archival services to the administrative departmentsof the Knesset; their purpose is to preserve and describe all current records in accordancewith the working procedures and practices of the organization; the historical archives

4 About Gov.il., Israel Government Portal, https://perma.cc/C3P5-T6L7.
5 Knesset Rules of Procedures (updated to April 6, 2021) (Rules), https://perma.cc/864H-EFK5 (in Hebrew).
6 The Archives Law, 5716-1955, §§ 1& 4(a), Sefer HaHukim (SH, Book of Laws, official gazette) 5716 No. 171 p.

14, as amended, available at Nevo, https://perma.cc/55R8-A5RY (in Hebrew).

7 Declaration of Independence, Knesset (May 14, 1948), https://perma.cc/GK6S-AYJZ.
8 Knesset Archives, Knesset (in Hebrew), https://perma.cc/QSA5-2884 (in Hebrew).
9 KPD, Knesset website (in Hebrew), https://perma.cc/5J5A-C7T3 (in Hebrew).
10 See Latest Plenum Minutes, Knesset website (in Hebrew), https://perma.cc/LXK2-4BGM (in Hebrew).
11 KPD, supra note 9.
12 See Our Story, The National Library of Israel, https://perma.cc/M2J6-J5T8.

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Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: Israelpreserve and describe the parliamentary records created by the Knesset as well as thephotograph collection and the special ceremonial records.
In fact, the Archives function as a custodian of the memory of the Knesset, and maintainrecords related to significant events in the State of Israel since its establishment in 1948.
The collections of the historical archives are essential to the research endeavor and to thelegislative process. They are used by history researchers in the field of Israeli
parliamentarianism as well as by the Knesset Members, Knesset Committees,
Parliamentary Assistants and by the Knesset employees involved in routine dailyparliamentary work. 13

For the past decade, the Knesset Archives has been working on a multi-year extensive digitization
program, which includes scanning and cataloging historical parliamentary documents. All themain parliamentary documents, including hearings of plenary sessions and committees, bills, andenacted laws, were scanned and are available in the Knesset's digital databases. 14
A description of the duties of Archives staff provides insight into the responsibilities of the
Knesset Archives. These include:•

Implementing the Knesset's record documentation and preservation policy•

Ensuring public access to the records through digital databases and the Knesset
parliamentary website•

Managing the physical and electronic records•

Implementing the principles of physical and electronic record management with a view topreserving the integrity and accessibility of the records•

Arranging, describing, and providing information about the records of the legislative process
for certain Knesset committees•

Maintaining relations between the Knesset and the State Archives15

III. Special Procedures for Handling Particular Types of Parliamentary Documents
Parliamentary activity in the Knesset includes legislative processes at the Knesset plenarychamber and at the Knesset committees. According to the Knesset website,
The Knesset Plenum is the core of the parliamentary work and it plays a decisive role withregard to legislation, control over government decisions, and placing issues on
the agenda…

13 Introduction to the Parliamentary Documentation of the Knesset, The Knesset Archives, https://perma.cc/WPM8B3HK.
14 See About the Knesset Archives, Knesset website (in Hebrew), https://perma.cc/QSA5-2884 (in Hebrew).
15 The Archives Staff, Knesset website, https://perma.cc/SK2N-YBST.

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The Knesset Committees exert a significant influence on the parliamentary work as awhole. A large amount of the parliamentary work is carried out by the Knesset
Committees. The Committees' debates are attended by professional experts, university
professors, position holders and Government employees, representatives of various
interest groups, representatives of different social and civic groups who are willing to
express their point of view before the Knesset Committees.
To-date there are twelve Standing Committees and a number of Committees for special
matters. The Committees hold in-depth technical debates on Private Members' andGovernment Bills and prepare the legislative drafts that are submitted to the Knesset
Plenum for the first, second and third readings. The Committees are also entitled by the
Knesset Rules of Procedure to initiate bills on their behalf and submit them to the Knesset
Plenum for the first reading.
In addition the Committees are empowered to debate and approve the country's secondary
legislation namely the regulations, ordinances, decrees and agreements issued by theGovernment Ministers in accordance with the provisions of the first legislation.
The Committees are also empowered to control the activity and performance ofGovernment Ministries and Agencies. In that respect the Knesset Committees are entitledto summon the Ministers to their meetings and ask them to report on topics related to theirsphere of activity as well as on the budgetary expenditures of their Ministries…
Both the Knesset Plenary and the Knesset Committees have developed a number ofprocedures with a view to preserving their records and making them available to future
generations. 16

The procedures that apply for processing and preservation of parliamentary documents issued
or used in either the Knesset plenary chamber and at the Knesset committees are contained in the
Knesset Rules of Procedures (Rules). 17
A. Records of Plenum Hearings
The Rules require documentation of minutes of Knesset hearings, including a full record of theproceedings; oral speeches, including those from the podium and unscheduled interruptions; andvoting results. The transcript and detailed voting results are published on the Knesset’s website. 18
In addition to speeches in Hebrew, the record is required to include translations of any speechdelivered in the Knesset plenum other than in Hebrew by foreign dignitaries, with a transcript of
the speech in the language in which it was made included in appendices of Divrei HaKnesset(DK; Protocols of Knesset Proceedings, ‫)דברי הכנסת‬. 19
18F

16 Introduction to the Parliamentary Documentation of the Knesset, supra note 13.
17 Knesset Rules of Procedures, supra note 5.
18 Id. § 38(a).
19 A head of state, prime minister or head of a foreign parliament, as well as the head of an internationalorganization in which Israel is a member, may be allowed to speak at the Knesset plenum in their language
subject to the approval of the Knesset Speaker and the Knesset [House] Committee, Rules § 38 & 22.

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The record of Knesset hearings must be prepared by the DK’s editor and published in the DK,
along with appendices containing documents confirmed by the Knesset Secretary or Deputy
Secretary as having been filed, as instructed by the Knesset Secretary. 20 Before publication,
minutes of hearings should be made available for inspection by Knesset members who spoke at
the hearings. Members may submit corrections and indicate omissions in their remarks asrecorded in the minutes within seven days. 21
Knesset hearings must also be videotaped and made available for viewing to the general public
by electronic means. 22
B. Records of Knesset Committee Hearings
In accordance with the Rules, minutes should also be taken at committee hearings. The record
should include a list of the Knesset members present and the names of non-members who wereinvited and were present, unless their identity must be kept confidential by law. The minutes
should specify if the hearing was not public or if the content was confidential.23
Any speaker may request to correct errors and omissions in the minutes by writing to the KPD.
Errors may be corrected by the record taker with notification to the committee chair; in cases of
doubt, the committee will determine whether the protocol should be corrected. 24
Statements in a language other than Hebrew should be recorded in the protocol translated into
Hebrew, and depending on a decision by the Knesset Secretary, may also be included in the
appendix of the protocol in the language used. 25
Minutes of committee hearings are available to public viewing and are posted on the Knesset’s
website. 26 Hearings of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Joint Committee on
Defense Budget are generally confidential, however. Similarly excluded are hearings wherecommittee chairs have determined that confidentiality was required to protect public welfare,state security, or protection of minors and vulnerable persons. 27
Though not available to the public, minutes of confidential hearings are available for review bypermanent members or permanent substitute members of committees in which the hearings wereconducted. Regardless of committee membership, Knesset members may review minutes of
20 Rules § 39(b).
21 Id. § 39(a).
22 Id. § 40.
23 Id. § 119(a).
24 Id. § 119(c).
25 Id. § 119(d).
26 See Protocols of Committees’ Hearings, Knesset website, https://perma.cc/6KHA-6H9Q (in Hebrew).
27 Rules § 119(b-d).

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hearings in which they participated, and if invited to attend part of a hearing, they may review
only that part of the hearing at the offices of the relevant committee. 28
The procedures governing the review of minutes of committee hearings are described in theArchives Regulations (Review of Archival Material Deposited in the Archives), 5770-2010, as
amended (Regulations). 29

IV. Users’ Access to Parliamentary Documents
In principle, any person may inspect material kept at the State Archives under conditions
enumerated by the Regulations. 30 Transcripts of plenary hearings are published in DK. Minutes,
speeches and documents used in plenary hearings, as well as minutes of committee hearings, areavailable on the Knesset website under the conditions enumerated in part III, above. As noted,
special rules apply regarding access to confidential hearings by committee members or Knesset
members who participated in the hearings.

V. Projects for Preservation of and Access to Digital Records of Parliamentary
Documents
In 2014 the National Legislative Database (NLD) was made available on the Knesset’s website.
The NLD contains the text of all Israeli laws and draft bills that are either pending or which havebeen rejected. Every law has a page in the database that shows its legislative history since it was
first enacted and all its amendments, including different versions proposed by its drafters,
parliamentary debates, and the minutes of the deliberations in the Knesset committees. 31
The establishment of the NLD required the collection, scanning and optimization of informationand documents originating from the Knesset's information systems and the Knesset Archives,
and the cooperation of the Ministry of Justice in obtaining historical materials to fill in gaps. 32

28 Id. § 119(e).
29 Archives Regulations (Review of Archival Material Deposited in the Archives), 5770-2010, Kovetz HaTakanot(KT, Collection of Regulations) 5770 No. 6917 p. 1462, as amended, Nevo, https://perma.cc/XBP4-FXSP (inHebrew).
30 Id. § 3.
31 National Legislative Database, Knesset website, https://perma.cc/X7N5-W3SD (in Hebrew).
32 Id.

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JapanSayuri Umeda
Senior Foreign Law Specialist

SUMMARY

The Diet, Japan’s parliament, consists of two houses, the House of Representatives andthe House of Councillors. The secretariat of each house produces, collects, processes,
and preserves legislative documents. Both houses provide information to the public on
their websites. In addition, the National Diet Library provides an online database of therecords of proceedings in both houses and the history of laws and regulations (theprogress of deliberation and revision).

I. Overview
The Diet, Japan’s parliament, consists of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Houseof Councillors. 1
The Constitution of Japan states that deliberation in each house must be public. Each house must
keep a record of proceedings, and these records must be published and given general circulation.
Extraordinarily, a secret session may be held if a majority of two-thirds or more of the housemembers present passes a resolution to do so. The house must still record and publish
proceedings of the secret session, except for parts that the house decides must be kept secret.2 In
addition, upon demand of one-fifth or more of the members present, the votes of the members
on any matter in a secret session must be recorded in the minutes. 3
There are no other national laws to regulate parliamentary documents. The secretariats of bothhouses produce, collect, process, and preserve legislative documents in accordance with internal
rules. The Secretariat of the House of Representatives Document Handling Rules and the Houseof Councillors Secretariat Document Management Rules provide general administrative rules. 4

1 Constitution of Japan (1946), art. 42, https://perma.cc/3Y8U-CL9S (unofficial translation).
2 Id. art. 57, para. 2; Diet Law, Act No. 9 of 1947, amended by Act No. 86 of 2014, art. 63,
https://perma.cc/8ZYY-49CS (unofficial translation).
3 Constitution art. 57, para. 3.
4 Ayako Ohkura, 参議院事務局及び衆議院事務局における現用文書の管理 [Management of Documents by the

Secretariats of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, Record Management, No. 74] 27-29 (2018),
https://perma.cc/MSW6-E46Q (in Japanese).

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II. Record of Proceedings
Both the House of Representatives and House of Councillors rules list items that must be includedin the record of proceedings. 5 The secretariat of each house produces the record of proceedings. 6
It obtains the signature of the chairperson of the committee for committee proceedings and of thepresident of the house for plenary sessions. 7 Each house stores its records of proceedings. 8 Some
records of proceedings of plenary sessions and committee meetings are available online on eachhouse’s website. 9 The House of Representatives provides its records of proceedings of plenary
sessions and committee meetings after January 2001. 10 The House of Councillors provides its
records of proceedings during the last 30 days. 11
The records of proceedings of plenary sessions in each house are also sent to the National Printing
Bureau. The bureau publishes them in an extra edition of the official gazette (Kanpō). 12

III. Bills and Laws
The House of Representatives’ website provides the progress of deliberation of bills, the texts ofbills at the time of submission, and proposed amendment to bills. 13 The House of Councillors’
website provides the texts of bills at the time of submission and proposed amendment to bills. 14
We were unable to locate any regulation that obligates the houses to provide such information.
Enacted laws and regulations are published in the official gazette by the National
Printing Bureau. 15
5 Rules for the House of Representatives, 1947, as amended, art. 200, https://perma.cc/2UA7-8DEP (inJapanese); Rules for the House of Councillors, 1947, as amended, art. 157, https://perma.cc/3KTL-9YPF(unofficial translation).
6 事務局 [Secretariat], House of Representatives, https://perma.cc/P3WY-YTKG (in Japanese).
7 Rules for the House of Representatives arts. 62, 205; Rules for the House of Councillors arts. 57, 159.
8 Rules for the House of Representatives arts. 62, 205; Rules for the House of Councillors arts. 57, 159; 両院の事

務局における文書管理の概要 [Summary of Document Management by Secretariat of Each House], Cabinet Office(2014), https://perma.cc/8DTS-RGPZ (in Japanese).
9 Article 160 of the Rules for the House of Councillors states “[t]he minutes shall be distributed in electronic orother appropriate media to each Member and be available to the general public.”

10 会議録 [Records of Proceedings], House of Representatives, https://perma.cc/56NZ-JGAN (in Japanese).
11 会議録情報 [Information on Records of Proceedings], House of Councillors, https://perma.cc/5Q64-YM46(in Japanese).
12 Rules for the House of Representatives, 1947, as amended, art. 206; 会議録の閲覧・購入 [Browsing andPurchase of Records of Proceedings], House of Councillors, https://perma.cc/LG5V-VXBV (in Japanese).
13 議案情報 [Information on Bills], House of Representatives, https://perma.cc/TAU5-CFA4 (in Japanese).
14 議案情報 [Information on Bills], House of Councillors, https://perma.cc/K8HR-X8U5 (in Japanese).
15 官報について [About the Official Gazette], Nat’l Printing Bureau, https://perma.cc/RAH9-GK7H (in Japanese).

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IV. The Role of the National or Parliamentary Library
The National Diet Library provides an online database of the records of proceedings in bothhouses. 16 The database was established jointly with both the houses. 17 The library also provides
a database of the history of laws and regulations (the progress of deliberation and revision) thathas links to the text of the records of proceedings, laws and regulations, and bills. 18 We wereunable to locate any law or regulation that obligates the library to establish and manage these
services. The library’s website explains that it created the databases to connect the Diet andthe people. 19

V. Projects for Preservation of and Access to Digital Records of Parliamentary
Documents
As mentioned in Section IV, the National Diet Library established an online database of therecords of proceedings jointly with both the houses. Subsequently, the National Diet Librarycompleted a similar database of the previous parliament, the Imperial Diet. 20 Additionally, bothof the houses have continuously digitized parliamentary documents and expanded theinformation that is provided on their websites.

16 国会会議録検索システム [Diet Records of Proceedings Search System], Nat’l Diet Libr., https://perma.cc/4WQ2-

PYY8 (in Japanese).
17 使命・役割 [Mission and Roles], Nat’l Diet Libr., https://perma.cc/V7KU-5XUC (in Japanese).
18 日本法令索引 [Japanese Law Index], Nat’l Diet Libr., https://perma.cc/MR4B-Y6AD (in Japanese).
19 Mission and Roles, supra note 17.
20 Id.

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Portugal
Eduardo Soares
Senior Foreign Law Specialist
Elizabeth Marin
Global Legal Research Intern

SUMMARY

Regulations enacted by the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic along with theAssembly’s Regiment (internal rules) define a series of services and organs that together
provide support to the legislative process and guarantee that all legislative activities are
documented, preserved, publicized, and made available to members of Parliament andthe public.
The Constitution defines what must be published in an official gazette, and a resolution
enacted by the Assembly of the Republic established the Official Gazette of theAssembly of the Republic as the legislature’s official journal, which must register all its
legislative activities. A law defines what is published in the Official Gazette of the
Republic as established by the Constitution. Both gazettes are available online free ofcharge, and for preservation and historical archival purposes, hard copies andelectronic copies of them are available to the public at the parliamentary library and the
National Library.

I. Overview
Portugal’s Parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, has enacted several resolutions that
established the services and units responsible for publishing, distributing, and preserving
parliamentary documents. These resolutions, along with the Regiment (internal rules) of theAssembly of the Republic, laws, and decree-laws, provide the legal framework that organizes the
lifecycle of parliamentary documents in the country.
A working group was formed in 2016, at the request of the president of the Assembly of the
Republic, to assess, among other things, the technological structure of the information available
on the website of Portugal’s Parliament and to take advantage of new technologies’ potential tofocus and strengthen the relationship between citizens and the Assembly of the Republic. In 2018,
it recommended a greater involvement with citizens through a more user-friendly website thatprovides, in a more transparent and accessible way, information on deputies and parliamentary
activity in general.

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A. Legal Framework
1. Resolution of the Assembly of the Republic No. 20 of February 16, 2004
Resolution of the Assembly of the Republic No. 20 of February 16, 2004, establishes the structure
and responsibilities of the services of the Assembly of the Republic, as well as the principles thatgovern them and the levels of management and hierarchy that coordinate and delineate them. 1
The Parliamentary Support Directorate (Direção de Apoio Parlamentar, DAP) is responsible forcoordinating, together with the Editorial Division (Divisão de Redação), preparation of the Official
Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic (Diário da Assembleia da República) and of parliamentary
documents for publication. 2
The Plenary Support Division (Divisão de Apoio ao Plenário, DAPLEN) registers, numbers, organizes
and makes available projects and drafts of bills (projetos e propostas de lei), drafts of resolutions(projetos e propostas de resolução), charter and deliberation bills (projetos de regimento e de deliberação),requests for consideration of decree-laws, requirements, motions, votes, formal questioning,debates, and other parliamentary acts and documents. 3 The DAPLEN also submits to the Editorial
Division the documents to be published in the Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic, under theterms of the Regiment. 4 It develops the final proposed draft of texts approved by the plenary
sessions and submits these drafts to the authoritative parliamentary committee. 5
The Committee Support Division (Divisão de Apoio às Comissões, DAC) works alongside the
Editorial Division to register committee and subcommittees meetings and determine which meetings
should be transcribed for publication in the Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic. 6 The
DAC also drafts meeting minutes, summaries, and reports based on requests fromparliamentary committees. 7
The Editorial Division oversees the electronic publication of the Official Gazette of the Assemblyof the Republic. 8 It also transcribes plenary and parliamentary committee meetings to publish in
the gazette. 9

1 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, de 16 de Fevereiro, as amended by Resolução da

Assembleia da República No. 74/2018, de 20 de Março, art. 1, https://perma.cc/9XK5-X4JE.
2 Id. art. 8(1)(i).
3 Id. art. 9(c).

4 Id. art. 9(g). See Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, de 31 de Agosto, arts. 112, 115, 116,https://perma.cc/2ZDB-3KER.
5 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, de 16 de Fevereiro, as amended by Resolução da

Assembleia da República No. 74/2018, de 20 de Março, art. 9(m).

6 Id. art. 10(1)(n).
7 Id. art. 10(1)(p).
8 Id. art. 11(a).
9 Id. art. 11(b).

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The Information and Culture Directorate (Direção de Informação e Cultura), which ensures technicaland logistical support to the parliamentary body in charge of cultural affairs, 10 is composed of theLegislative and Parliamentary Information Division (Divisão de Informação Legislativa eParlamentar, DILP), the Passos Manuel Library (Biblioteca), the Parliamentary Historical Archives(Arquivo Histórico Parlamentar (AHP)), the Publications Division (Divisão de Edições), and theMuseological and Citizenship Division (Divisão Museológica e para Cidadania). 11
The work of DILP includes ensuring the administration and loading of database contents relating
to legislative and parliamentary activity; 12 processing, dissemination, and retrieval of information
relating to legislative and parliamentary activity; 13 and developing, producing, anddisseminating information products in the field of legislative and parliamentary activity that
contain summaries, analyses, and comparative tables. 14
The following services are the responsibility of the Passos Manuel Library: 15a) Acquire, process and disseminate bibliographic, scientific and technical information,from abroad and from international organizations, in the various areas of knowledge,
relevant to support parliamentary activity;b) Manage the Library’s bibliographic collection and ensure its conservation andpreservation;c) Manage the contents of library management databases and others within the scope of its
activity;d) Participate, in articulation with the other competent organizational units, in the
preparation of technical notes for legislative initiatives;e) Develop, produce and disseminate information products on matters of interest to
parliamentary activity, namely with regard to the portals of parliamentary committees;f) Carry out all the necessary procedures for the acquisition of material in accordance withthe users’ needs;g) Acquire and disseminate information produced by the national media and, eventually,
local, regional and international [media], which is considered of interest for thedevelopment of the activities of the Assembly of the Republic;h) Promote and collaborate in activities to disseminate the bibliographic heritage of theAssembly of the Republic, namely with regard to vintage books [Livro Antigo];i) Cooperate with other national and foreign institutions in matters of information sharing;

10 Id. art. 13(1)(e).
11 Id. art. 13(2).
12 Id. art. 14(1)(a).
13 Id. art. 14(1)(b).
14 Id. art. 14(1)(i).
15 After the Revolution of April 25, 1974, the Library was renamed the Library of the Assembly of the Republic.
In 2017, it was renamed the Passos Manuel Library. História, Parlamento, Assembleia da Republica,
https://perma.cc/X9HM-NKXP.

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Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: Portugalj) Preserve and make available the printed collection of the Gazette of the Assembly of the
Republic and the Official Gazette of the Republic [Diário da República]. 16

The AHP ensures the management of the Assembly of the Republic’s documentation (expediente).17
It also supports the organization of the archives pertaining to the Assembly of the Republic’s
current services. 18 It defines methodologies to optimize the management of the Assembly of the
Republic’s documents, by developing necessary instruments to implement the increasing efficiency
of producing, processing, and archiving such documents. 19 It also incorporates documents
produced by the services at the end of each legislature or after the administrative, legal, or
evidential deadlines stipulated in the regulation for the management of archival documents andthe respective table for document selection. 20
In addition, the AHP promotes the organization and description of the documents in its custody. 21
It is charged with ensuring the conservation of all the documents to avoid physical degradation,
misplacement, and unavailability. 22 The AHP manages access to the documents in its custody andthe communication of information conveyed by them. 23 It guarantees the security of the documents
and the information contained therein according to the policy defined by the Assembly of the
Republic and applicable legislation. 24
The Publications Division proposes, plans, and executes all processes relating to the editions of
the Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic on the activity, history, and heritage of the
Parliament, ensuring its scientific and editorial quality as well as its suitability for different
audiences. 25 It oversees the graphic image of the Assembly of the Republic, carrying out thenecessary design work to support parliamentary events and gazette editions, 26 and it secures the
copyright to the editions of the Assembly of the Republic’s gazette. 27
The Museological and Citizenship Division proposes preventive and curative conservation
measures for the artistic and museological heritage of the Assembly of the Republic, 28 provides
16 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, de 16 de Fevereiro, as amended by Resolução da

Assembleia da República No. 74/2018, de 20 de Março, art. 15.
17 Id. art. 16(a).
18 Id. art. 16(b).
19 Id. art. 16(c).
20 Id. art. 16(d).
21 Id. art. 16(e).
22 Id. art. 16(f).
23 Id. art. 16(h).
24 Id. art. 16(k).
25 Id. art. 17(a).
26 Id. art. 17(b).
27 Id. art. 17(f).
28 Id. art. 18(e).

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information on the Assembly of the Republic’s artistic and heritage assets, 29 and organizes andmaintains an information and reception center for citizens. 30
2. Regiment of the Assembly of the Republic
The Regiment of the Assembly of the Republic states that bills or proposed laws should beaccompanied by studies, documents, and opinions that provide reasoning for the proposed
legislation as well as the position of entities heard by the government in the process of approving
such legislation. 31 The Regiment also provides the requirements for documenting parliamentarycommittee meeting minutes, including that all committee meetings should be recorded without
prejudice to their confidential nature when the law or committee regulations so require. 32 Thesemeeting minutes should indicate parliamentary committee members’ absence or presence andthe results of votes, among other things. 33
3. Decree-Law No. 103 of May 16, 2012
Decree-Law No. 103 of May 16, 2012, established the Directorate of the Book, Archives, andLibraries (Direção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Bibliotecas, DGLAB), a directorate that merged
the functions of the Directorate of the Book and Libraries with the Directorate of the Archives. 34
In the area of archives, the DGLAB is responsible for designing and implementing a national
policy on archives and their management that meets the government’s obligations in the domainof archival documentation (património arquivístico). 35 In addition, DGLAB is tasked withpromoting the development and quality of a national network of archives to facilitate access toarchival information. 36
4. Decree-Law No. 47 of March 3, 2004
Decree-Law No. 47 of March 3, 2004, defines the general regime of incorporation into publicarchives. 37 It states that documents of recognized historical or cultural importance, produced byprivate or public entities, are incorporated into the archives with the objective of preserving,defending, enhancing, and sharing these documents. 38 Decree-Law No. 47/2004 also details that
documents produced by the government’s central administration and its services should be
29 Id. art. 18(g).
30 Id. art. 18(h).
31 Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, de 31 de Agosto, art. 124(3), https://perma.cc/2ZDB3KER.
32 Id. art. 107(2).
33 Id. art. 107(1).
34 Decreto-Lei No. 103/2012, de 16 de Maio, pmbl., https://perma.cc/G385-DAA3.
35 Id. art.2(3)(a).
36 Id. art.2(3)(e).
37 Decreto-Lei No. 47/2004, de 3 de Março, art. 1, https://perma.cc/3XWR-X6N8.
38 Id. art. 2.

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incorporated into the National Archive of Torre do Tombo (Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo,
ANTT). 39 Decree-Law No. 47/2004 states that, as determined by Decree-Law No. 16 of January
23, 1993, ANTT is the national archives management body. 40 Agencies or companies that havehistorical archives that offer public access and long-term preservation are exempt from sendingarchival materials to ANTT. 41
5. Decree-Law No. 16 of January 23, 1993
Decree-Law No. 16 of January 23, 1993, establishes the general regime of archives and of archival
heritage (património arquivístico). 42 It states that the National Archives/Torre do Tombo (osArquivos Nacionais/Torre do Tombo) is the management body responsible for implementing thenational archival policy, under terms defined by law. 43 The national archives management
consists of defining the principles and rules for collection, handling, classification, conservation,and enhancement of archival heritage. 44 This law also states that the government has a
responsibility to promote the inventory of archival heritage and support the organization ofarchives, whatever their nature, as well as to guarantee, facilitate, and promote access to
documentation held by public entities. 45 Decree-Law No. 16/93 defines the national archives as
documentation predominantly gathered from central administration bodies or national
institutions. 46 It is the responsibility of the originating services, in accordance with the adopted
policy, to implement document management systems as well as guarantee and provide
instruments, resources, and infrastructures to support the operation of these systems. 47
B. Coordination
1. Processing
DAPLEN provides specialized legal and administrative support to the president of the Assemblyof the Republic, the Plenary, the Bureau of the Assembly (Mesa da Assembleia), and the permanentcommittee by providing all the necessary information and documentation for their respective
activities. 48 DAPLEN also puts forward the preparation of deliberations, resolutions, decrees, andother documents for the signature of the president of the Assembly of the Republic. 49
39 Id. art. 3(1)(a).

40 Id. pmbl.; Decreto-Lei No. 16/93, de 23 de Janeiro de 1993, art. 8, https://perma.cc/G2CY-F4A6.
41 Id. art. 3(2).

42 Decreto-Lei No. 16/93, de 23 de Janeiro de 1993, art. 1(1), https://perma.cc/G2CY-F4A6.
43 Id. art. 8.
44 Id. art. 7.
45 Id. art. 2(2).
46 Id. art. 9(a).
47 Id. art. 14.
48 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 9(a).
49 Id. art. 9(n).

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2. Production
a. Technical Notes
DAC coordinates and participates in the preparation of technical notes for legislative initiatives
with the other authoritative organization units. 50 The participants in this process of preparing
technical notes for legislative initiatives are DAPLEN, 51 DILP, 52 and the Passos Manuel Library. 53
The services of the Assembly of the Republic prepare a technical note for each proposed projector bill. 54 When possible, the technical note should, among other things, analyze the bill’s
compliance with formal, constitutional, and regulatory requirements; 55 contain legal andacademic frameworks about the legislative topic; 56 and identify other similar pending
initiatives. 57 The technical note should be attached as an annex to the parliamentary committee’s
prepared opinion. It will accompany the legislative initiative throughout the legislative process. 58
b. Meetings, Minutes, and Transcriptions
DAC, in conjunction with the Editorial Division, registers committee and subcommittee meetingsand identifies which work should be transcribed. 59 The Editorial Division converts into text thefull recording of plenary meetings as well as meetings of the parliamentary inquiry committees(comissões parlamentares de inquérito); this text may then be transcribed and published in the
Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic. 60
c. Other Informational Documents
DAC is also tasked with preparing solicited minutes, summaries, reports, and opinions. 61 DILP
prepares, produces, and diffuses information products that contain syntheses, analyses, andcomparative frameworks, 62 as mentioned in Section I.A. DILP also responds to information

50 Id. art. 10(1)(b).
51 Id. art.9(l).
52 Id. art. 14(1)(g).
53 Id. art. 15(d).
54 Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, art. 131(1).
55 Id. art. 131(2)(a).
56 Id. art. 131(2)(b).
57 Id. art. 131(2)(c).
58 Id. art. 131(4).
59 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 10(1)(n).
60 Id. art. 11(b).
61 Id. art.10(1)(p).
62 Id. art. 14(1)(i).

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requests about parliamentary and legislative activity from parliamentary groups, cabinets, andother national and foreign groups. 63
3. Publishinga. Constitutional Principle
Article 119 of the Portuguese Constitution states that the following should be published in the
Official Gazette:a) Constitutional laws;b) International conventions and the respective ratification notices, together with the restof the notices in relation thereto;c) Laws, executive laws and regional legislative decrees;d) Decrees of the President of the Republic;e) Resolutions of the Assembly of the Republic and of the Legislative Assemblies of theautonomous regions;f) The Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic, the Council of State and theLegislative Assemblies of the autonomous regions;g) Decisions of the Constitutional Court, and other court decisions to which the law grants
generally binding force;h) Regulatory decrees and other decrees and regulations issued by the Government,
together with decrees of the Representatives of the Republic to the autonomous regions
and regional regulatory decrees;i) The results of elections to or for entities that exercise sovereignty, organs of autonomous
regions and local government organs, as well as to the European Parliament, and also theresults of national and regional referenda. 64

Failure to publicize the acts provided for in subparagraphs (a) to (h) listed above and of any act
with a generic content of entities that exercise sovereignty, organs of autonomous regions, andlocal government organs will cause them to be without legal effect. 65 The law must specify theforms in which other acts are to be publicized and the consequences of any failure to do so. 66
b. Official Gazette of the Republic
Decree-Law No. 263-A/76 of April 9, 1976, designates the Official Gazette of the Republic as theofficial gazette, which had previously been named the Official Gazette of the Government (Diário

63 Id. art. 14(1)(l).
64 Constituição da República Portuguesa, VII Revisão Constitucional [2005], art. 119(1), https://perma.cc/5P3S-

RUCE.

65 Id. art. 119(2).
66 Id. art. 119(3).

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do Governo). 67 Law No. 74/98 of November 11, 1998, establishes that the legal effectiveness of acts
included in the Official Gazette of the Republic depends on their publication. 68 It also mandates
that the Official Gazette of the Republic be distributed on the day corresponding to its date. 69 Decree
Law No. 83/2016 of December 16, 2016, establishes universal and free access to the Official Gazetteof the Republic as a public service. 70 It provides that the Official Gazette of the Republic is
exclusively published electronically.71 The electronic version of the Official Gazette of the Republic
is edited and made available by the National Press (Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, INCM) 72 via
the gazette’s electronic portal. 73
The Official Gazette of the Republic has two series as outlined by Law No. 74/98. 74 The
documents published in the first series include, but are not limited to, constitutional laws,75
international conventions and the respective presidential decrees, 76 laws and decree-laws, 77
decrees from the president of the Republic, 78 and decisions and declarations of the Constitutional
Tribunal. 79 The second series publishes any dispatches from the government, 80 results of local
elections, 81 and budgets for state services. 82
DAPLEN numbers, organizes, and sends laws, resolutions, and declarations to the INCM for
publication in the first series of the Official Gazette of the Republic. 83 DAPLEN also works with
the National Press to ensure that the documents comply with publication guidance. 84

67 Decreto-Lei No. 263-A/76, de 9 de Abril, art. 1, https://perma.cc/84X7-89T3.
68 Lei. No. 74/98, de 11 de Novembro de 1998, as amended by Lei No. 43/2014, de 11 de Novembro, art. 1(1),https://perma.cc/LR6B-3XBC.

69 Id. art. 1(3).
70 Decreto-Lei No. 83/2016, de 16 de Dezembro, as amended by Decreto-Lei No. 84/2019, de 28 de Junho, art.

1(1), https://perma.cc/QQD6-5N88.
71 Id. art. 2(1).

72 Diário da República, Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, https://perma.cc/LM5J-224W.
73 Diário da República Eletrônico, https://perma.cc/ZH8C-6FGU.
74 Lei. No. 74/98, art. 3(1).
75 Id. art. 3(2)(a).
76 Id. art. 3(2)(b).
77 Id. art. 3(2)(c).
78 Id. art. 3(2)(d).
79 Id. art. 3(2)(h).
80 Id. art. 3(3)(a).
81 Id. art. 3(3)(b).
82 Id. art. 3(3)(c).
83 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 9(q).
84 Id. art. 9(r).

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Any deputy or parliamentary group may request correction of the texts of acts published in the
Official Gazette of the Republic, which is assessed by the president of the Assembly of the
Republic, who, after notification by the Bureau of the Assembly, sends the text to the National
Press within the time established for publishing corrections. 85
c. Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic
Resolution of the Assembly of the Republic No. 35/2007 of August 20, 2007, states that the Official
Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic (Diário da Assembleia da República) is the official journalof the Assembly, 86 and that the gazette publishes two independent series. 87
The first and second series of the gazette are published exclusively and fully in electronic format
on the Assembly of the Republic’s internet portal. 88
The first series contains a complete, accurate account of what occurred in each plenary meeting. 89
It includes the start and end hours of meetings as well as members’ attendance, 90 and the fullrecord of statements and actions by the president of the Assembly of the Republic, deputies, orother meeting attendees. 91 The first series can also include a summary mentioning topics
discussed, an indication of discussion participants, and voting results as well as other elements
the president of the Assembly of the Republic may deem necessary to include. 92
The second series includes the text of resolutions and deliberations and decrees, proposed bills,
and legal opinions from parliamentary committees. 93 The second series also includes reports
about parliamentary committees’ activities in accordance with the Regiment, as well as theminutes of the parliamentary committees and hearings. 94 The text of votes, parliamentary
inquiries, and requests for consideration of decree-laws are included in the second series. 95
Resolution No. 68/2003 of August 7, 2003, states that the first series of the Official Gazette of theAssembly of the Republic should be published exclusively in electronic form as of September 15,
2003. 96 Resolution No. 68/2003 also states that the second series of the gazette should stop being
85 Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, art. 115(2).
86 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 35/2007, de 20 de Agosto de 2007, art.1(1),https://perma.cc/9AD6-852Q.
87 Id. art. 1(2).
88 Id. art. 2(1).
89 Id. art. 3(1).
90 Id. art. 3(2)(a).
91 Id. art. 3(2)(b).
92 Id. art. 3(4).
93 Id. art.5(1)(A).
94 Id. art.5(1)(C).
95 Id. art.5(1)(B).

96 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 68/2003, de 7 de Agosto, art. 1(1), https://perma.cc/UK92-D33X.

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published in the traditional form and necessary measures should be adopted to ensure electronic
publication in the shortest time frame. 97
Deputies and parliamentary groups as well as the offices and services of the Assembly of the
Republic must deliver, simultaneously with a paper version, an electronic version of the documents
detailing their parliamentary activity regarding the legislative process. 98
Rule No. 1/2020 also mentions that all documents and acts required to be published in the Official
Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic should be available in real time on both the Parliament’s
website and intranet. 99
d. Databases
In conjunction with other services, the administration and uploading of database contents related
to parliamentary and legislative activities is ensured by DAPLEN,100 DAC, 101 and DILP. 102
4. Collecting
The services prepare, edit, and deposit in the Passos Manuel Library and in the National Libraryfour copies of a printed version of the two series of the Official Gazette of the Assembly of the
Republic, prepared solely for this purpose. 103 The AHP collects documents produced at the endof each legislative session. 104
The INCM guarantees the sending, in electronic format, of the two series of the Official Gazetteof the Republic, for the purposes of the digital public archive, to the National Library, National
Archive of Torre do Tombo, 105 and other entities that are bound by this duty to file. 106
5. Preservation
In terms of preserving parliamentary documents, the Passos Manuel Library (discussed in Section
II.A. below) preserves and makes available the printed collections of the Official Gazette of theAssembly of the Republic and the Official Gazette of the Republic. 107 The AHP is responsible for
97 Id. art. 1(2).
98 Id. art. 2(1).
99 Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, art. 113.
100 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 9(f).
101 Id. art. 10(1)(r).
102 Id. art. 14(1)(a).
103 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 35/2007, art. 2(3).
104 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 16(d).

105 Decreto-Lei No. 47/2004, de 3 de Março, art. 3(1).
106 Decreto-Lei No. 83/2016, de 16 de Dezembro, art. 4(2).
107 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 15(j).

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following preservation guidance to ensure that documents do not physically deteriorate, become
misplaced, or become unavailable. 108
6. Distribution
The Editorial Division and the Bureau of the Assembly of the Republic ensure the timely
electronic publication of the Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic, guaranteeing
its dissemination. 109
The Official Gazette of the Republic has an online version with universal and free access that
includes the possibility of printing, downloading, and searching the content of acts published in
the first and second series of the Gazette in electronic format. 110
The AHP manages access to its documents and the communication of information conveyed bythem. 111 It promotes and collaborates in activities to disseminate archival heritage. 112
C. The Role of Parliamentary Committees, Offices, and Agencies
Permanent parliamentary committees are responsible for, among other things, assessing
proposed bills, projects, changes to legislation, and treaties and agreements submitted to the
Assembly and for producing relevant opinions (pareceres). 113 They are also responsible forpreparing reports on issues within their scope, 114 and they present and approve projects fora vote. 115
Specifically, parliamentary committees are responsible for approving their legal opinions andsending them to the president of the Assembly of the Republic within 30 days from the date of
their admissibility. 116 A legal opinion has four parts: considerations, 117 the opinion of the deputy

108 Id. art. 16(f).
109 Id. art. 11(a).
110 Decreto-Lei No. 83/2016, de 16 de Dezembro, art. 3.
111 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 16(h).
112 Id. art. 16(i).
113 Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, art. 35(a).
114 Id. art. 35(i).
115 Id. art. 35(m).
116 Id. art. 136(1).
117 Id. art. 137(1)(a).

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author, 118 the conclusion, 119 and annexes. 120 These legal opinions are published in the Official
Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic. 121
In addition, to gather more information to exercise their functions properly, parliamentarycommittees have the authority to request or conduct studies, 122 hold hearings, 123 or consult
specialists. 124 Documents, such as the legal opinions and technical notes that have been analyzed
or are being analyzed by parliamentary committees, should be available on the parliamentaryinternet portal if they do not contain sensitive information. 125
Parliamentary committees are responsible for the final draft of bills that fall within their scope. 126
Once the preparation of the final draft text is concluded, the text is published in the Official
Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic. 127

II. The Role of the National Library in the Parliamentary Document Process
A. Passos Manuel Library
The Passos Manuel Library, which serves as the parliamentary library,128 develops, produces, anddistributes informational reports about issues of interest for the parliamentary committees. 129
This library also acquires, processes, and distributes information in various knowledge areas,
including bibliographic, scientific, and technical information, and foreign and internationalorganization information, that supports parliamentary activities. 130 Additionally, the libraryfollows all the necessary procedures to acquire different kinds of documents in accordance withusers’ needs. 131
In addition, the library acquires and disseminates information produced by nationwide and, whereappropriate, local, regional, and international organs of social communication considered of

118 Id. art. 137(1)(b).
119 Id. art. 137(1)(c).
120 Id. art. 137(1)(d).
121 Id. art. 136(4).
122 Id. art. 103(1)(a).
123 Id. art. 103(1)(d).
124 Id. art. 103(1)(e).
125 Id. art. 103(2).
126 Id. art. 156(1).
127 Id. art. 156(4).
128 História, Parlamento, Assembleia da Republica, supra note 15.
129 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 15(e).
130 Id. art. 15(a).
131 Id. art. 15(f).

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Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: Portugalinterest in conducting the activities of the Assembly of the Republic. 132 In terms of information
sharing, the library cooperates with both national and foreign institutions. 133 The library alsopreserves and makes available a printed collection of a complete set of the Official Gazette of theAssembly of the Republic and the Official Gazette of the Republic. 134
Under the legal deposit regime, established by Law No. 77 of July 1, 1988, all services andorganizations of the central, regional, and local administrations, as well as public entities and higher
grade cooperative organizations (organizações cooperativas de grau superior), are obligated to send to
the library a copy of all official and unofficial publications not intended for internal circulation.135
B. National Library of Portugal
The National Library of Portugal (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal) also collects and preserves
printed copies of the Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic. 136 According to DecreeLaw No. 78/2012, the National Library is a state central administrative service and has
administrative autonomy. 137 The National Library’s mission is to collect, process, and conserve
culturally and historically important documents (património documental português) that are either
in the Portuguese language or about Portugal. 138 Its objectives include receiving, processing,conserving, and providing access to documents covered by the legal deposit regime or otherdocuments. 139

III. Special Procedures for Handling Particular Types of Parliamentary Documents
A. Floor Proceedings
As mentioned in Section I.A., DAC, in conjunction with the Editorial Division, registers
committee and subcommittee meetings and identifies which work should be transcribed for
publication in the Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic, 140 as well as publication ofplenary and parliamentary committee meetings. 141

132 Id. art. 15(g).
133 Id. art. 15(i).
134 Id. art. 15(j).
135 Lei No. 77/88, de 1 de novembro de 2021, as amended by Retificação No. 17/2021, de 04 de Junho, art. 53,

https://perma.cc/FT69-KJ6Y.

136 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 35/2007, de 20 de Agosto de 2007, art. 2(3),https://dre.pt/dre/detalhe/resolucao-assembleia-republica/35-2007-637186.

137 Decreto-Lei No. 78/2012, de 27 de Março de 2012, art. 1, https://perma.cc/9GCU-FSUW.
138 Id. art. 2(1).
139 Id. art. 2(2)(a).
140 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 10(1)(n).
141 Id. art. 11(b).

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The Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic also registers and documents deputies’
absences from plenary or parliamentary committee meetings if they are absent while representing
the Assembly of the Republic somewhere else. 142 Absences from plenary meetings are publishedin the internet portal of the Assembly of the Republic along with the respective nature of thejustification, if any. 143 Deliberations in the Assembly of the Republic, Permanent Committee, andother settings are also transcribed and signed by the president of the Assembly of the Republic. 144
When they do not need to take the forms provided for in article 166 of the Constitution, 145 thedeliberations follow regular numbering and are published in the second series of the Gazette. 146
B. Hearing Minutes
All committee meetings are recorded, without prejudice to their reserved character, when thelaw, bylaws or regulations of the committee so prescribe. 147 The DAC drafts solicited meeting
minutes, summaries, reports, and opinions. 148 Meeting minutes of parliamentary committees
include the roll call of members, summary of topic discussions, deputies’ positions on issues, andthe results of votes. 149 Minutes are published in the second series of the Official Gazette of theAssembly of the Republic. 150
C. Reports of Internal Legislative Branches
Legal opinions are published in the Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic. 151 The
parliamentary committee approves the opinion and sends it to the president of the Assembly of
the Republic within 30 days of the date of its admissibility. 152 Technical notes accompany legal
opinions as an annex to the parliamentary committee’s prepared opinion. 153

142 Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, art. 56(3).

143 Id. art. 56(2).
144 Id. art. 116(1).
145 Constituição da República Portuguesa, VII Revisão Constitucional [2005], art. 166.
146 Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, art. 116(2).
147 Id. art. 107(2).
148 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 10(1)(p).
149 Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, art. 107(1).
150 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 35/2007, art. 5(1)(B)(C).
151 Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, art. 136(4).
152 Id. art. 136(1).
153 Id. art. 131(4).

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All documents that are being analyzed or have been analyzed by parliamentary committees anddo not contain sensitive material should be available on the Assembly of the Republic’s portal on
the internet. 154 These documents can include studies, 155 information, 156 and hearings. 157
Project teams are created when the realization of certain projects, given their inter-service or
multidisciplinary nature, cannot be effectively pursued through the formal organizational
structure. 158 Project teams consisting of public service technicians or including individuals who
do not belong to the civil service are created by order of the president of the Assembly of the
Republic, after obtaining the opinion of the Council of Administration. 159 The order creating theteams must have, among other things, their objectives, 160 a budget, 161 and the determination ofparticipating staff, institutions, and organizations or services to research the project. 162 A copy of
their final projects should be submitted to the parliamentary library. 163

IV. Information Sharing Among Legislative Agencies
Resolution No. 20/2004 references the use of integrated management instruments to support the
principles of rationalizing and simplifying work methods and management flexibility to promote
efficiency and service productivity. 164 In addition, these tools should support inter-parliamentary,international, and inter-institutional cooperation. 165 Under integrated management, the different
services of the Assembly of the Republic can participate to define policies, develop program
planning, and participate in actions of inter-parliamentary training and cooperation. 166
DILP and DAC cooperate to make available and verify statistical and analytical information
related to parliamentary committee activities. 167 The parliamentary library is also responsible forcooperating with other national and foreign institutes to share information. 168

154 Id. art. 103(2).
155 Id. art. 103(1)(a).
156 Id. art. 103(1)(b).
157 Id. art. 103(1)(d).
158 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 39(1).
159 Id. art. 39(2).
160 Id. art. 39(3)(a).
161 Id. art. 39(3)(b).
162 Id. art. 39(3)(d).
163 Id. art. 39(6).
164 Id. arts. 3(1)(b), 36(1).
165 Id. art. 3(1)(e).
166 Id. art. 36(2).
167 Id. art. 10(1)(t).
168 Id. art. 15(i).

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V. Users’ Access to Parliamentary Documents
The Constitution of Portugal states that citizens have the right to access administrative archives
and registers, notwithstanding concerns of internal and external security, criminal investigation,and individuals’ privacy. 169
Resolution of the Assembly of the Republic No. 64 of July 10, 2014, which approves the
Declaration for Parliamentary Openness and Transparency, recognizes parliamentary
information as a public good that citizens can use and republish, with exceptions defined bylaw, 170 and states that this information should be freely accessible. 171 It further determines that
the Assembly of the Republic should ensure that complete parliamentary information is available
to the public, 172 and that it should attempt to update parliamentary information in real time. 173
The Assembly of the Republic should also adopt policies that promote transparency inparliamentary procedures as well as design and implement measures to ensure the proactive
dissemination of parliamentary information. 174 When the Assembly of the Republic cannot
immediately publish information, it should establish partnerships with civil society to guarantee
widespread public access to information. 175 Additionally, the public should be informed of theparliamentary agenda, such as session programming, scheduled voting, and committee
meetings. 176
The Assembly of the Republic should also publish on its website the full record transcriptions ofplenary meetings, as well as the meetings’ audio or video. 177 In addition, the Assembly of the
Republic should make reports produced by or submitted to it available if the reports do not havelegal restrictions. 178 The Assembly of the Republic should strengthen access to parliamentary
information, such as debates, and ensure this information is digitized and permanently available
to citizens free of legal or financial restrictions. 179 The Assembly of the Republic guarantees the
public’s access to the parliamentary library and all the historical information organized by the
AHP. 180 Information should be available through various formats, including radio, printed

169 Constituição da República Portuguesa, art. 268(2).
170 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 64/2014, de 10 de Julho, No. 1, https://perma.cc/SY89-HJSQ.
171 Id. No. 33.
172 Id. No. 10.
173 Id. No. 11.
174 Id. No. 13.
175 Id.
176 Id. No. 17.
177 Id. No. 21.
178 Id. No. 22.
179 Id. No. 26.
180 Id.

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materials, and the internet or mobile technologies. 181 The Assembly of the Republic and its
plenary sessions are accessible in person and open to all citizens, subject to verifiable limitations
on space and security. 182

VI. Projects for Preservation of and Access to Digital Records of Parliamentary
Documents
All parliamentary information included in the Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republicshould be available in real time on the Assembly of the Republic’s internet and intranet. 183
Resolution No. 20/2004 states that the parliamentary services should collaborate to develop an
information system to strengthen communication between the Assembly of the Republic andcitizens, particularly through a digital strategy. 184
Resolution No. 64/2014 states that the use of Assembly of the Republic internet websites facilitatesaccess to parliamentary information, regardless of geographical barriers. 185 Parliamentary
information related to debates since the Constitution of 1822 to the present day has been digitized
and is permanently available to citizens to use without legal or financial restrictions. 186
The AHP possesses all documentation related to parliamentary activity from 1821 to the presentday. 187 Parliament also provides live and recorded broadcasts of parliamentary meetings andwork in real time and through digital archives. 188
Furthermore, Resolution No. 64/2014 states that, to facilitate access, parliamentary documents
should be collected and published through open software that can be read and processed bycomputers to ease the use and analysis of documents by citizens, civil society, the private sector,
and other institutions or administrations, as long as the use of the information complies with legal
and community obligations for reusing public sector information. 189
Search mechanisms should also ensure fast access to parliamentary information searched bycitizens through the creation of databases that permit both simple and complex searches; thisinformation will be available permanently at www.parlamento.pt. 190
181 Id. No. 27.
182 Id. No. 28.
183 Regimento da Assembleia da República No. 1/2020, arts. 112(2), art. 113.
184 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 20/2004, art. 3(3).
185 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 64/2014, No. 31.
186 Id. No. 26.
187 Fundos e coleções, Parlamento, https://perma.cc/4VAR-RZCK.
188 Resolução da Assembleia da República No. 64/2014, No. 30.
189 Id. No. 34.
190 Id. No. 39.

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Assembly of the Republic websites should be maintained, and the Assembly of the Republic iscommitted to continued innovation and updating to improve interaction with voters on thedigital formats. 191
In 2016, Dispatch No. 26/XIII of June 9, 2016, created the Digital Parliament Working Group (Grupode Trabalho para o Parlamento Digital).192 Among other things, the working group’s functions
included proposing suggestions for the restructuring of information available on Assembly of the
Republic websites. 193 It also evaluated the possibility of better dissemination of parliamentary
activity through new forms of digital communication employing new technologies to strengthen
bidirectional communication between the Assembly of the Republic and citizens. 194
The working group was tasked with evaluating the implementation of Resolution of theAssembly of the Republic No. 64 of July 10, 2014, which is the Declaration for Parliamentary
Openness and Transparency (discussed in Section V above). 195
Moreover, the working group was tasked with preparing a final report providing
recommendations to better the quality of parliamentary democracy using new technologies, withthe goal of bringing together citizens and the Parliament. 196
In 2018, the working group published its final report that provides a summary of innovation
guidelines for the domain of a digital parliament as well as creation of the conditions for a moredigitized parliament. 197
Some of the recommendations included the redesign of the Assembly of the Republic website toprovide, in a more transparent and accessible way, the following:•

information on deputies and parliamentary activity in general, 198•

automatic downloading of information available to reuse on websites and apps by otherinstitutions, researchers, and the public, 199•

creation of a Pool of Suggestions (Bolsa de Sugestões) intended to collect, on an informal basis,suggestions for political action by deputies that allows citizens to give their comments to

191 Id. No. 38.
192 Despacho No. 26/XIII, de 9 de Junho de 2016, Grupo de Trabalho para o Parlamento Digital, No. 1,

https://perma.cc/YE8C-SVG5.
193 Id. No. 6(II).
194 Id. No. 6(III).
195 Id. No. 6(I).
196 Id. No. 9.

197 Assembleia da República, Grupo de Trabalho Parlamento Digital, Relatório Final (Março 2018), Balanço dos
Trabalhos, 2, https://perma.cc/V5ZM-USYY.

198 Id. No. 1.
199 Id. No. 2.

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members in order to enhance their ability to participate in parliamentary debates or politicaloversight, 200 and•the reinforcement of the Assembly of the Republic’s presence on social media, which is in linewith the best practices existing in other parliaments. 201

The report states that, by the end of 2018, the Assembly of the Republic will have developed thenecessary procedures to digitize its internal administrative document process completely byacquiring software and implementing a process of total digitization. 202 The report also states that
implementing digitization of the legislative process and migrating and updating the technology
for parliamentary activity should conclude by March 2019. 203
In 2019, DGLAB published a report providing guidance to organizations to develop their plans
for the digital preservation of documents. 204
The plan details how organizations should initially develop a classification plan (plano declassificação) to allow the optimal application of a Digital Preservation Plan (plano de perservação
digital, PPD). 205 The classification plan should reflect the organization’s activities and outline how
to facilitate the retrieval of information relating to a function or activity, as well as define levelsof protection and access of information to different groups. 206 The plan also recommends a
selection table (tabela de seleção) as a step for organizations to develop a PPD to determine thetimelines for retaining, eliminating, or transferring information. 207 The document also provides
guidance on how to structure a PPD document with sections that, among other things, identify
systems, evaluate information, and state a preservation strategy. 208

200 Id. No. 3.2.
201 Id. No. 5.
202 Id. No. 9.1.
203 Id. No. 8.
204 Direção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Bibliotecas, Recomendações para a Produção de Planos dePreservação Digital, (2ª Versão, 2019), No. 1.1, https://perma.cc/A67L-7CSK.
205 Id. No. 2.1.1.
206 Id.
207 Id. No. 2.1.2.
208 Id. No. 3.2.

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SwedenElin Hofverberg
Foreign Law Specialist

SUMMARY

The legislative body in Sweden is the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag). Documents
produced as part of the legislative work, including documents by the parliamentarychamber, parliamentary committees, and the government, are archived by the Riksdag
Administration. The National Archives stores older documents, produced by the twochamber parliament (1867-1970). In addition, the National Library and theParliamentary Library store and archive copies of legislative documents. Recent
documents, starting with those registered on January 1, 2017, or later, are available andsearchable directly on the parliamentary website. Older documents have been digitized
and may be searched on the parliamentary website starting with documents fromJanuary 1, 1867. These documents may not be the complete series, however. Physicalcopies of all parliamentary documents dating back to 1521 are available in the National
Library print collection. The National Library has also made available digitally certain
documents that are related to parliamentary-like proceedings and activities, startingin 1521.
Most documents are accessible, free of charge, online. In-person access to certain older
documents requires a library card from the National Library or the Parliamentary
Library. The library cards are free of charge and available to all residents of Sweden.

I. Overview
The unicameral Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) is the legislative body in Sweden, directly electedby the people. 1 Members of Parliament elect the prime minister (head of government) who is
elected unless a majority (175) of the members of parliament actively vote against him or her. 2
The Swedish Parliament produces several different types of documents, including the following:•

reports and expert statements,•

petitions and statements,•

interpellations (formal questioning),•

chamber minutes,•

motions,•

propositions and letters,

1 1 kap. 1, 4 §§ Regeringsformen [RF] (Instrument of Government, Constitution) (SFS 1974:152),https://perma.cc/C3BU-9CY9.
2 6 kap. 4 RF.

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written questions,•answers to written questions, and•the Swedish Code of Statutes (Svensk författningssamling). 3

Until 2014, documents produced by the Swedish Parliament were published in the parliamentary
gazette, Riksdag & Department. 4 The publication was discontinued in 2014, and these documents
are now made available electronically on the parliamentary website. 5
A. Legal Framework
The right to access public documents, including parliamentary documents, is guaranteed in the
Swedish Constitution. 6 The Swedish Constitution provides in 2 ch. 1 § of the Freedom of the Press
Act that “[i]n order to promote free exchange of opinion, a free and comprehensive information,and free artistic creation, everyone shall have the right to access public documents.” 7
The work of the Swedish Parliament is regulated in the Swedish Constitution and the Riksdag
Act. 8 As specified in the Riksdag Act, the Riksdag Administration (Riksdagsförvaltningen)regulates how parliamentary documents are archived and cared for. 9 As specified in 14 ch. 2 §5p. of the Riksdag Act, the Riksdag Administration may “decide on instructions and general
guidelines on the registration of and weeding out of public documents and the management ofarchives and documents.” The Riksdag Administration has issued instructions on how
documents produced by the Parliament must be archived. 10 Parliament as well as parliamentaryagencies must have a designated person who is responsible for submitting documents to the
Riksdag Administration for archiving. 11 These persons, who include the speaker of the Riksdag,
are responsible for••document management, archiving and thinning of public documents kept within thearchivist’s area of responsibility,
notifying the registry of changes affecting the application of classification structuresand document management plans,

3 Dokumenttyper i Riksdagen, Sveriges Riksdag, https://perma.cc/KKH8-XL8Y (translation by author).
4 Sveriges Riksdag, Tidningen Riksdag & Departement, Konstitutionsutskottets betänkande 2013/14:KU33(May 7, 2014), https://perma.cc/G3L5-U39Y.

5 Konstitutionsutskottets betänkande 2013/14:KU33, https://perma.cc/N684-FKUZ.
6 2 kap. 1 § RF; 2 kap. 1 § Tryckfrihetsförordningen [TF] (Constitution, Freedom of the Press Act) (SFS
1949:105), https://perma.cc/2DWE-85J7.
7 14 kap. 2 § RO; Lag med instruktion för Riksdagsförvaltningen (SFS 2011:745), https://perma.cc/2EJG-8HFL.

4 kap. RF; Riksdagsordningen [RO] (Riksdag Act) (SFS 2014:801), https://perma.cc/BH4D-QZVT (original),
https://perma.cc/MH2W-WU8X (unofficial English translation).
8

9 Riksdagsförvaltningen, Sveriges Riksdag, https://perma.cc/EKY2-YQYU.
10 Riksdagsstyrelsens föreskrift om registrering och arkiv för riksdagen och dess organ (RFS 2014:3),

https://perma.cc/6FGP-BJL5.
11 Id. 12 §.

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ensuring that archive management is carried out in accordance with current
regulations, andappointing archivists who are responsible for archiving and the practical archive
management within their area of responsibility. 12

The instruction also specifies how and when documents produced by Parliament or one of its
agencies must be delivered to the Riksdag Registry (Diariet), which is part of the Riksdag
Administration. 13 These instructions includes timing requirements that differ depending on
document type as well as organizational requirements, as per specified instructions by the
Riksdag Registry. 14 The Riksdag Registry may also work together with the National Archive toarchive older material. 15 All older documents from the two-chamber parliament are stored with
the National Archives (Riksarkivet). 16
In addition to those public documents that must be archived by the Riksdag Administration, theregistry may also accept documents that pertain to a current or former member of Parliament’s
work, as well as materials from staff, associations, and interest organizations that are associatedwith Parliament. 17
Moreover, the Riksdag Administration is responsible for the maintenance of the parliamentary
website, as well as the registration of legislative documents. 18
All legislation adopted by Parliament must be shared, free of charge, with municipalities, regional
councils, and municipal libraries. 19
B. Coordination
We were unable to find any information about direct coordination among parliamentary offices.
C. The Role of Parliamentary Committees, Offices (Including Members’ Offices) andAgencies
The Swedish Parliament currently has 15 standing parliamentary committees, of which three areconstitutionally mandated. 20 The role of the committees is to prepare legislation in their

12 Id. 13 §.
13 Id. 20-21 §§.
14 Id. 20-21 §§.
15 Id. 24 §.
16 Riksarkivet, Tvåkammariksdagen, https://perma.cc/BR97-BSKH.
17 22 § Riksdagsstyrelsens föreskrift om registrering och arkiv för riksdagen och dess organ.
18 Organisation, Sveriges Riksdag, https://perma.cc/ULP5-VQ74.
19 7 § Författningssamlingsförordningen (SFS 1976:725), https://perma.cc/4E49-9NPK.
20 7 kap. 2 § RO.

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respective areas of expertise. 21 They have no explicit role in archiving official documents otherthan complying with the archiving requirements and ensuring that all public documents areregistered and archived with the official registry. 22
Not all documents received by the parliamentary offices are public documents, however. For
example, letters received by individual members of the Parliament do not qualify as public
documents and are not processed or saved by the official parliamentary registry. 23

II. The Role of the National and Parliamentary Libraries in the Parliamentary
Document Process
The National Library of Sweden is the Kungliga biblioteket. Its purpose is to “promote the qualityof Swedish research and a democratic development of society by providing source material andan efficient research infrastructure.” 24 The National Library refers to itself as “society’s memory”
on its website. 25
The Parliament Library (Riksdagsbiblioteket) is part of the Riksdag Administration and describes
itself as a “special library in social sciences and law. The Riksdag’s own source of knowledge,
part of democracy and open to all.” 26 It holds all parliamentary documents (riksdagstryck) from1867 onward. 27
The National Library and the Parliamentary Library are not the official repository of current
parliamentary documents. Under Swedish law, both libraries must receive copies of all written
and audiovisual products from all “Swedish Government agencies.” 28 However, this does notinclude parliamentary documents. A government proposal to include all parliamentary
documents was withdrawn following comments from the Law Council in 2011. 29 However, theNational Library collects copies of some documents, such as parliamentary letters(riksdagsskrivelser), whereas the Parliamentary Library holds copies of all current riksdagstryck. 30
Older parliamentary documents (riksdags protokoll) are available digitally only from the
National Library. 31
21 4 kap. 5 § RF.
22 Allmänna handlingar, Sveriges Riksdag, https://perma.cc/VSY3-S6WX.
23 Id.
24 1 § Förordning med instruktion för Kungl. Biblioteket (SFS 2008:1421), https://perma.cc/JB3M-KKKA.
25 Sveriges Nationalbibliotek Samhällets Minne, Kungliga biblioteket, https://perma.cc/3QGT-EJR5.
26 Besök Biblioteket, Sveriges Riksdag, https://perma.cc/LM3R-RL39.
27 Riksdagstryck, lagar och förarbeten, Riksdagsbiblioteket, https://perma.cc/LVA2-2J79.
28 2 § Förordning om statliga myndigheters skyldighet att leverera skrifter till Kungl. biblioteket och

Riksdagsbiblioteket (SFS 1988:377), https://perma.cc/FH8C-M364.

29 Prop. 2011/12:121 Leveransplikt för elektroniskt material, 62, https://perma.cc/MW6J-GPQ6.
30 Riksdagstryck, lagar och förarbeten, Riksdagsbiblioteket.
31 Digitaliserat Riksdagstryck 1521-1970, Kungiga Biblioteket, https://perma.cc/86GQ-JSVC; Ståndsriksdagen1521-1866, Kungliga Biblioteket, https://perma.cc/8W6C-6B8R.

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III. Special Procedures for Handling Particular Types of Parliamentary Documents
A. Parliamentary Documents
As mentioned in Section I, there are several different types of documents produced by the
Swedish Parliament . 32 The following documents are available on the parliamentary website,covering the time period indicated:•

propositions and letters 1867–present,•

motions 1867–present,•

petitions and accounts 1867–present,•

committee reports and opinions 1867–present,•

protocols 1867–present,•

voting records 2002/03–present,•

parliamentary letters 1867–1970, 2004/05–present,•

written questions 1998–present,•interpellations 1999–present, and•KU charges 2002–present. 33

These documents must also be archived with the Riksdag Administration. 34
B. Legislative Agencies
While the Swedish Parliament is the only body that may pass legislation, a number of government
agencies may pass regulations (förordningar). All such regulations must be registered in theofficial gazette, the Swedish Code of Statutes (Svensk författningssamling), 35 and shared, free ofcharge, with municipalities, regional councils, and municipal libraries. 36 However, theparliamentary agencies are not subject to the general duty to share all electronic material with the
National Library. 37
The rules for document management and archiving apply to the following parliamentaryagencies and boards:
32 Dokumenttyper i Riksdagen, Sveriges Riksdag, https://perma.cc/KKH8-XL8Y.
33 Id. (Translation by author.)
34 20-21 §§ Riksdagsstyrelsens föreskrift om registrering och arkiv för riksdagen och dess organ.
35 Svensk författningssamling, https://perma.cc/U5WX-UEJE; Ds. 1998:4 Myndigheternasföreskrifter, https://perma.cc/T9YF-Z93G.
36 7 § Författningssamlingsförordningen.
37 Prop. 2011/12:121 Leveransplikt för elektroniskt material, 62, https://perma.cc/MW6J-GPQ6; 2 §Förordning om pliktexemplar av elektroniskt material (SFS 2012:866), https://perma.cc/U3S6-7P5W.

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Parliamentary Ombudsmen (JO),•National Audit Office,•Swedish Central Bank (Riksbank),•

Board for the Remuneration of the Parliamentary Ombudsmen and the Auditors General,•

Board for Financial Support to Political Parties,•

Riksdag Disciplinary Board,•

Riksdag Remunerations Board,•

Riksdag Appeals Board,•

Ministerial Remunerations Board,•

Election Review Board,•

Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs,•

War Delegation, and•Board for the Examination of Transitionary Restrictions for Ministers and State Secretaries.38

IV. Information Sharing Among Legislative Agencies
We were unable to find any data about information sharing among legislative agencies.

V. Users’ Access to Parliamentary Documents
Parliamentary documents are accessible through the National Library, the Parliamentary Library,or directly on the Swedish Parliament website. 39 All documents that have been registered with
the Diariet of the Riksdag Administration starting from January 1, 2017, are accessible in electronic
format either by searching online (under Diariet) or through a request procedure. 40 Older
documents can be accessed digitally using a special link on the Parliament website. 41 That page
includes documents produced between January 1, 1867, and December 31, 1970. 42 Certain
documents, including handwritten older legislative materials, can only be accessed in print andin person by accessing the National Library’s special collections. 43
38 Riksdagens Myndigheter och Nämnder, Sveriges Riksdag, https://perma.cc/4K5H-N4ES.
39 Dokument & Lagar, Sveriges Riksdag, https://perma.cc/N59H-39C9.
40 Diariet, Sveriges Riksdag, https://perma.cc/JVZ5-CK7W.
41 The link goes to https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/?datum=1867-01-01&tom=1970-12-

31&q=&st=2&doktyp=bet,frsrdg,prot,mot,prop,rfs,rskr,reg (Dokument & Lagar, Sveriges Riksdag, showing
results for between Jan. 1, 1867, and Dec. 31, 1970, https://perma.cc/5FT4-CRBE), available under Genvägar(short cuts) at https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/.

42 Dokument & Lagar, Sveriges Riksdag, showing results for between Jan. 1, 1867, and Dec. 31, 1970, supra note

41.

43 Handskrifter, Kungliga Biblioteket, https://perma.cc/V5JC-D68A.

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To access print-only materials at the Parliamentary Library, individuals need a library card,
which can be obtained free of charge. 44 Similarly, to access the print parliamentary holdings at
the National Library, one must first acquire a library card, free of charge. 45

VI. Projects for Preservation of and Access to Digital Records of Parliamentary
Documents
Most parliamentary documents published by the unicameral parliament (starting in 1971) areaccessible digitally on the parliamentary website by searching or browsing by, among otherthings, type of document or year of publication. 46 In addition, documents from the two-chamber
parliament (1867-1970) are directly available electronically on the Swedish Parliament website, 47
and the National Library provides a digital index of parliamentary protocols from this period. 48
The National Library has digitized older parliamentary documents covering the 1521 to 1866
period, 49 i.e., the period that predates the documents available on the parliament website. The
parliamentary library links directly to this page from its website.50 The digitized material includes
early parliament meetings and meetings that were similar to parliamentary meetings. 51

44 Request and Borrow, Riksdag Library, https://perma.cc/F7PF-FU9Q.
45 Beställ och Låna, Kungliga Biblioteket, https://perma.cc/KJS2-HGDG; Ansök om att bli Låntagare på Kungliga

biblioteket, Kungliga biblioteket, https://perma.cc/N645-H9N8.
46 Dokument & Lagar, Sveriges Riksdag, supra note 39.

47 Dokument & Lagar, Sveriges Riksdag, showing results for between Jan. 1, 1867, and Dec. 31, 1970, supra note

41.

48 Digitaliserat Riksdagstryck för Tvåkammarriksdagen 1867-1970 (kb.se), Kungliga Biblioteket,

https://perma.cc/L9JG-MZ9M.

49 Digitaliserat Riksdagstryck 1521-1970, Kungiga Biblioteket, https://perma.cc/86GQ-JSVC; Ståndsriksdagen1521-1866, Kungliga Biblioteket, https://perma.cc/8W6C-6B8R.
50 Riksdagstryck, Lagar och Förarbeten, Rikdagsbiblioteket, https://perma.cc/UDQ8-QAAQ.
51 Ståndsriksdagens Dokument 1521-1866, Kungliga Biblioteket, https://perma.cc/YXR3-4QPW; Ståndsriksdagen1521-1866, Kungliga Biblioteket, https://perma.cc/8W6C-6B8R.

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Clare Feikert-Ahalt
Senior Foreign Law Specialist

SUMMARY

A variety of laws and conventions govern the lifecycle of parliamentary documents in
the United Kingdom (UK). There is a wide range of parliamentary documents that havedifferent procedures that attach to them. The key bodies involved in the production,
publishing and preservation of these documents include the Vote Office, theParliamentary Archives and the British Library.
The Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, who is also the Queen’s Printer, is an
official who operates from within the National Archives and is responsible for a wide
range of duties, including setting standards and the overseeing the publication oflegislation, statutory notices, and parliamentary papers.
The Parliamentary Archives is the custodian of publications of Parliament. It works topreserve the digital and paper records of Parliament. In addition, the British Libraryreceives publications through the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, which requires
publishers to deposit materials in the British Library. Parliament is not excused fromthis duty and must deposit print copies and, where an agreement is in place, electronic
copies of its papers. Moreover, the National Archives is both the official publisher andthe official archive for the UK. It is responsible for ensuring the records of Parliament
are safeguarded through their lifecycle and remain accessible, regardless of format, forfuture generations. These agencies have been actively engaged in ensuring that digitalrecords are not only preserved, but also archived in a form that is accessible to future
generations.

I. Overview
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) is the collective name of four
countries—England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. 1 The four separate countries wereunited under a single Parliament in London through a series of Acts of Union. 2 The UK has
undergone a period of devolution with the creation of a Scottish Parliament, a National Assemblyin Wales, and an Assembly in Northern Ireland. The UK has a bicameral parliament consisting of
the House of Lords (the upper house composed of both hereditary and life peers 3) and the Houseof Commons (the elected lower house).
1 This report will focus on the collection and preservation of parliamentary document process from theParliament at Westminster.

2 Stat. Wallie 1284, 12 Edw. 1 (repealed); Union with Scotland Act 1706, 6 Ann c. 11, as amended; Union with

Ireland Act 1800, 38 & 40 Geo. 3 c. 67; Government of Ireland Act 1920, 10 & 11 Geo. 5 c. 67 (repealed),
https://perma.cc/F2S6-ZX5S.

3 See House of Lords Act 1999, c. 34, https://perma.cc/ 485K-VQLR. This Act provided for the gradualabolishment of hereditary peers.

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A. Types of Parliamentary Documents
There are numerous forms of parliamentary documents in the UK. These include working papers
of Parliament that encompass bills and Hansard, the written record of Parliament; papers andreports that are produced by Parliament and its committees such as select committee reports andstanding orders (the rules that govern the conduct of business in both chambers); and papers
presented to Parliament from outside bodies, such as annual reports of government departments,
reports from inquiries, and reports from the National Audit Office.
Erskine May’s Parliamentary Practice, a leading treatise on the workings of Parliament, describes
a class of documents as parliamentary papers and divides these papers into four categories:••••

business papers, which record debates and decisions and set out future business;bills and associated documents;
papers laid before Parliament by external bodies, such as government departments, often
in accordance with statute or at the request of one or the other House; andpapers reported to Parliament by committees or others within Parliament to whom one orboth Houses have delegated particular responsibilities. 4

The National Archives states that the term “parliamentary papers” refers to documents that arelaid before (that is, formally presented to) Parliament. 5 The online provider of government
documents, the website gov.uk, which is administered under the auspices of the National
Archives, refers to three types of “official documents”: Command Papers, House of Commons
Papers, and un-numbered Act Papers. 6
There are a number of Acts of Parliament that require papers to be laid before either the Houseof Commons, House of Lords, or both. These are referred to as Act Papers, and they differ from
Command Papers, which are laid by command of the government. A paper cannot be laid as bothan Act Paper and a Command Paper, and it is the responsibility of the government organization
laying the paper to ensure that it is done by the correct authority. 7
After a paper has been laid before the chamber, it appears in the Appendix to the Votes andProceedings, which is published overnight at the end of each sitting day. The Votes andProceedings is the formal legal record of what happens in the House of Commons. 8 The Votes
and Proceedings is later compiled into the Journals of the House of Commons, which are the“permanent official record of the proceedings of the House.” 9 The Journals of the House of Lords

4 Erskine May, Parliamentary Practice ¶ 7.1, https://perma.cc/9P82-FGE9.
5 The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance 5 (last updated Sept. 2015), https://perma.cc/G6DJ-

57ZY.

6 Id. at 23.
7 House of Commons Journal Office, Guide to Laying Papers ¶ 9 (Aug. 2017), https://perma.cc/U8WP-CCKD.
8 Id. ¶ 8.
9 Erskine May, supra note 4, ¶ 7.15.

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are compiled from the Minutes of Proceedings that occur in that chamber. 10 It is considereddiscourteous to publish papers before a copy has been laid before the House, although the sameversion of any Command or House of Commons paper must be published on gov.uk on the same
day it is laid before Parliament. 11
There are a few organizations, such as the National Audit Office, the Electoral Commission, theHouse of Commons, and the House of Lords, that produce House of Commons papers and unnumbered Act and un-numbered Command Papers. These organizations are not permitted to
publish these papers on gov.uk, “because in the context of gov.uk they are not considered to be
government organisations.” 12
Deposited papers do not appear to be included in the categories of documents above. Deposited
papers are parliamentary documents that are put in either the House of Commons Library or theHouse of Lords Library, typically in response to a request for information from a Member ofParliament (MP) or peer. They are separate from parliamentary papers that are laid before
Parliament. 13 Deposited papers tend to be more technical or informational in nature, and can
include data tables, correspondence, maps and research findings. The House of Commons andHouse of Lords libraries holds deposited papers in a joint series and number themchronologically throughout the year. 14 These documents have been available in digital form to
the public since 2007. 15
B. Legal framework
A wide variety of legislation and conventions dictate how parliamentary documents are handled.
1. Laying Documents Before Parliament
What constitutes laying a document before Parliament was clarified in the Laying of Documents
Before Parliament (Interpretation) Act 1948. 16 This law provides that documents are properly laid
if done so during the existence of a Parliament and the procedures established in a standing order

10 Id. ¶ 7.16.
11 The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5, at 23.
12 Id. at 25. Excepted organizations are the National Audit Office; Electoral Commission; Local Government

Boundary Commission England; Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority; House of Commons andHouse of Lords; and medical professional bodies that are overseen by the Privy Council Office.
13 About Deposited Papers, UK Parliament, https://perma.cc/7CFN-FD8K.
14 Id.
15 Deposited papers from 2007 are available in digital form to online users and papers deposited between theyears 1987-2006 have been digitized and are also available online from the UK Parliament website. Papers prior
to that date are available in hard copy and can be requested to be viewed in the Parliamentary Archives.
Parliamentary Archives, UK Parliament, https://perma.cc/RYJ6-CK5C.
16 Laying of Documents Before Parliament (Interpretation) Act 1948, 11 & 12 Geo. 6, c. 59,
https://perma.cc/C97L-JQSS.

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or sessional order are followed, or if it is done at the direction of a chamber, or if it is done in amanner that follows the accepted practice for doing so. 17
In the House of Commons, Standing Orders 158 to 159, and in the House of Lords, Standing Order69, provide that delivering a copy of a Command Paper or statutory instrument to the Votes andProceedings Office on any day during the existence of Parliament constitutes laying the
document. 18 Laying the document before Parliament is typically done by the parliamentary clerkof the government department responsible for producing the paper, who formally presents the
document and lays it upon the Table of the House. 19 The purpose of this is to make theinformation in the papers available to the House and its Members, who may go to see thedocument as soon as it is laid. 20 This ensures the “general principle that the House should have
before it the information, including documents, necessary to enable it to fulfil its responsibility to
scrutinise and hold to account the conduct and administration of government” 21 can be met.
In addition to parliamentary papers, there are some Acts that require statutory instruments,
which are secondary legislation such as regulations, to be laid before Parliament. When thisobligation must be fulfilled, the Statutory Instruments Act 1946 requires a copy to be laid before
each House. 22
2. Legal Deposit
As a general matter of the law of legal deposit, every work published in the UK must be deposited
with the British Library within a month of publication, and upon demand, copies must also be
provided to the other legal deposit libraries in the UK. 23 Since 2013, this requirement has included
non-print materials, such as websites and electronic publications. 24 Parliamentary documents are
not exempt from this legal obligation and thus are deposited with the British Library.

17 Id. art. 1(I).
18 House of Commons, Standing Orders, 2019-20, HC 314, https://perma.cc/B3D5-49W7; Standing Orders of theHouse of Lords, 2020-21, HL 232, https://perma.cc/Q6YP-3SR9.

19 Erskine May, supra note 4, ¶ 7.28. See also The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5,
at 23.
20 House of Commons Journal Office, Guide to Laying Papers, supra note 7, ¶ 7. See also 490 Parl. Deb. HC (6thser.) (2009) col. 307, https://perma.cc/CL5W-AR3H.

21 Erskine May, supra note 4, ¶ 21.26, https://perma.cc/38WQ-6X32.
22 Statutory Instruments Act 1946, 9 & 10 Geo. 6, c. 36, https://perma.cc/7FR5-97XG.
23 The legal deposit libraries are The British Library; The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; The National

Library of Wales, Aberystwyth; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the University Library, Cambridge; and the
Library of Trinity College, Dublin. The Library of Queen’s University, Belfast, is not a Legal Deposit Library
under the terms of the Legal Deposit Libraries Act but it is treated as one for official publications in Northern
Ireland.
24 Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, c. 28, https://perma.cc/Q3YF-LBGU.

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3. Public Records Act
The Public Records Office Act was enacted in 1838 to provide for the safekeeping of publicrecords. 25 It originally only covered legal documents, and placed these documents in a nonministerial department under the Master of the Rolls as the keeper of records. 26 The Public
Records Act 1958 was enacted and extended the remit of public records to:administrative and departmental records belonging to Her Majesty, whether in the United
Kingdom or elsewhere, in right of Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and,in particular,—(a) records of, or held in, any department of Her Majesty’s Government in the United
Kingdom, or(b) records of any office, commission or other body or establishment whatsoever under
Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, shall be public records. 27

Parliamentary records do not appear to fall under the definition of public records contained inthis Act, which places the duty on government departments and offices to manage their records.
To comply with this duty, each department appoints a record officer who is responsible for all
public records produced by the department. The record officers work with the information
management department of the National Archives to select the records that should bepermanently preserved, ensure the records are prepared to archival standards, and prepare
finding aids. The information management department also “advises other government
departments on good record keeping, and promotes the effective and efficient management ofrecords across government.” 28
Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own national record offices. In Scotland, the National
Archives of Scotland holds records of courts and government departments that are wholly or
mostly concerned with Scottish affairs. 29 The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland contains
the records of the courts and government departments for Northern Ireland. 30
4. Standing Orders
Standing Orders of the House require a number of papers and bills to be printed and, in somecircumstances, deposited in the Vote Office and Private Bill Office. 31
25 Public Record Office Act 1838, 1 & 2 Vict. c. 94.
26 History of the Public Records Acts, The National Archives, https://perma.cc/XL7H-SWYF.
27 Public Records Act 1958, c. 51, sched. 2, https://perma.cc/4S2J-9GZN.
28 The Public Records System, The National Archives, https://perma.cc/SSX9-D28Y.
29 Public Records (Scotland) Act 1937, 1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6, c. 43, https://perma.cc/KNT6-5LD5; Public Records(Scotland) Act 2011, asp. 12, https://perma.cc/KVQ2-MRVT.

30 Public Records Act (Northern Ireland) 1923, c. 20, https://perma.cc/M59D-KP2D.
31 See, for example, House of Commons, Standing Orders: Public Business 2019, 2019-20, HC 314, Order 57,

https://perma.cc/R52P-CH4C; House of Commons, Standing Orders of the House of Commons: Private Business2017, 2017-18, Order 38, https://perma.cc/4FRU-YMMJ; House of Lords, Standing Orders of the House of Lords,
Public Business, 2020-21, HL 232, Order 49, https://perma.cc/K467-P46S.

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5. Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
The Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988 provides for both Parliamentary and Crown
copyright, which exists in the majority of content and websites produced by Parliament and thegovernment. 32 Parliamentary copyright is managed by the National Archives, and exists in work
made by or under the direction of the House of Commons or House of Lords, including
documents, sound recording, film, and live broadcasts of the proceedings of both Houses.
Parliamentary copyright exists in bills, but once they receive Royal Assent and are enacted into
law, they are then protected by Crown copyright.
However, items subject to Parliamentary copyright are typically governed by the Open
Government License, which permits the distribution, copying, publishing and transmittal of thismaterial by third parties, either commercially or non-commercially. 33 In cases where
Parliamentary or Crown copyright does not exist, or the Open Government License is used, theNational Archives encourages organizations that have their own copyright to reference the Open
Government License in the copyright statement. This provides that information is available foruse and re-use subject only to limited conditions. 34
The Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, who is also the Queen’s Printer, is an official
who operates from within The National Archives. The Controller is responsible under a Letters
Patent for managing copyright on the Crown’s behalf. Its responsibilities include setting thestandards and overseeing the publication of certain government documents, 35 such as legislation,
statutory notices, and parliamentary papers such as Command and House of Commons papers.
6. Data Protection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000
The Data Protection Act 1998 36 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 37 are important piecesof legislation regarding parliamentary documents and records. The Keeper of Public Records (theNational Archives) is required to enable the public to inspect and obtain copies of public records
that must be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act. 38 Parliament and its departments
must also comply with obligations created by the legislation and related codes of practice. 39

32 Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988, c. 48, § 163, https://perma.cc/L2YD-N9QX.
33 The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5, at 22.
34 Id. See also Open Government License for Public Sector Information, The National Archives,
https://perma.cc/43BL-SRRS.
35 The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5, at 3.
36 Data Protection Act 2018, c. 12, https://perma.cc/U8MF-SCT4.
37 Freedom of Information Act 2000, c. 36, https://perma.cc/PB5N-KPGS.
38 Public Records Act 1958, c. 51 § 5.
39 Code of Practice on the Management of Records Issued under Section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000,
https://perma.cc/F9X8-CBQ9.

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Compliance with these obligations “is underpinned by effective information and records
management.” 40
C. Coordination
The Government department responsible for creating the parliamentary paper is also responsible
for ensuring that, where necessary, it is laid before Parliament and, in all cases, correctly
published on gov.uk. 41 As noted above, the paper must be laid in the Journal Office before it ispublished online. 42 The majority of parliamentary papers are published under a contract that is
managed by the National Archives. 43
The National Archives is responsible “for ensuring that services for the production of these
documents are available to government organisations. The services are currently provided
through the cross-government Print Vendor Partner Contract, managed by the Crown
Commercial Service.” 44 The National Archives has produced extensive guidance as to how papers
should be produced and numbered. 45
In addition to the National Archives, there are a number of government organizations thatprovide assistance to those producing a parliamentary paper:•

Government Communication Service, which is part of the Cabinet Office and provides
information on branding 46•

Government Digital Service, which is part of the Cabinet Office and assists with making PDFs
ready for web use 47•

Crown Commercial Service, which is an executive agency sponsored by the Cabinet Officeand provides assistance on how to use the print vendor partnership contract 48

40 Houses of Parliament, Parliamentary Information & Records Management Policy (version 3.0, 2014),

https://perma.cc/S8FG-AS94.

41 House of Commons Journal Office, Guide to Laying Papers, supra note 7, ¶ 29.
42 Id. See also The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5, at 23; The National Archives,

Laying and Publishing a Paper, https://perma.cc/53X3-KF8E.

43

The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5, at 11.

44 Id. at 5. Government organizations extend to departments, agencies and public bodies; there are currently

581 of these organizations across the UK government. Departments, Agencies and Public Bodies, gov.uk,
https://perma.cc/ZPA5-286H.
45 The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5, at 22.
46 Branding Guidelines, Government Communication Service, https://perma.cc/GT85-9DC2.

47 Government Digital Service: Our Strategy for Parliamentary Information & Records Management Policy 2024,

Government Digital Service Blog (May 20, 2021), https://perma.cc/GK2T-9NYQ.

48 Crown Commercial Service, gov.uk, https://perma.cc/AQD7-D9SX. For information about the print vendor
partnership see The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5, at 11.

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Disability Unit, which is part of the Cabinet Office and aids in ensuring publications areaccessible to all 49•

Journal Office, which provides information on the requirements and numbering for House ofCommons Papers and un-numbered Act Papers as well as advice on the procedures to lay
papers before Parliament•

Vote Office and Printed Paper Office, which are responsible for distributing print copies of
papers to MPs and peers, respectively 50

D. The Role of Parliamentary Committees, Offices, and Agencies
Within the House of Lords, the Clerk of the Parliaments is the most senior official 51 and bears“overall responsibility for ensuring the preservation of and continued access to the [authentic]
records of Parliament.” 52 As noted above, parliamentary records do not fall under the definitionof public records contained in the Public Records Act, but Parliament follows the best practices
provided by the National Archives when managing its archives. 53
The Vote Office plays a significant role in the production and distribution of parliamentary
papers. It is responsible for publishing, printing and distributing amendment papers both in hard
copy and online. 54
Within Parliament, there are a number of positions that require coordination to ensure thatparliamentary papers and records are correctly produced and preserved. As noted above, thegovernment department that creates the parliamentary paper is also responsible for laying it
before Parliament where necessary and coordinating its publication on gov.uk, working with the
National Archives to ensure standards are met. 55
With regard to preservation of parliamentary documents, all parliamentary staff must ensure that
information is stored in shared systems so that it can be accessed by other users. Heads of teams
must ensure that users follow information management policies and procedures. Record officers
coordinate with Parliament’s Information and Records Management Service, which is responsible

49 Cabinet Office & Disability Unit, Guidance: Accessible Communication Formats (last updated Mar. 15, 2021),

https://perma.cc/4EX5-N99X.

50 The National Archives, Publishing: A Guide for Government Organisations 13 (2014), https://perma.cc/3YBA6BZS.
51 The Clerk of the Parliaments: Role and Functions, UK Parliament, https://perma.cc/46A8-ZPEQ.
52 UK Parliament, Parliamentary Archives, Collections Information Policy ¶ 3.2 (Oct. 2020),

https://perma.cc/Q8FM-DXHQ.

53 Public Records Act 1958, sched. 1, ¶ 2.

See also Parliamentary Archives, supra note 52, ¶ 3.3.

54 Erskine May, supra note 4, ¶ 7.4. See also Publications and Records, UK Parliament, https://perma.cc/T963-

2ZJ5.

55 House of Commons Journal Office, Guide to Laying Papers, supra note 7, ¶ 29.

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for managing and implementing information management policies and provide guidance to staff
and heads of teams to ensure that policies are met. 56
Parliament has published an Information Management Policy that sets out “a baseline standardof good practice and compliance for application across the Houses’ wide variety of proceduraland technical environments.” 57 It requires users to create and keep information enabling deliveryof the Houses’ services and providing complete and accurate evidence of decisions taken. The
information must be stored in a manner that makes it identifiable, accessible and retrievable at
all times in its lifecycle. The guidance further provides that digital information is preferred andthat hard copies of information will only be stored when “required for evidential, historical or
legal purposes, or it is not practical, efficient or economical to digitise the originals.” 58

II. The Role of the National or Parliamentary Library in the Parliamentary Document
Process
A. British Library
The British Library, the national library of the United Kingdom, is an executive non-departmental
public body. 59 Its mission is to make “intellectual heritage accessible to everyone, for research,inspiration and enjoyment.” 60 The British Library is a legal deposit library and every publicationin the UK must be deposited with it within one calendar month of being published. Copies mustalso be provided on demand to the other legal deposit libraries in the UK. 61
In 2013, the Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013 entered into force andmakes works published in a medium other than print, such as websites and electronic
publications, subject to legal deposit requirements. In cases where materials are published bothin print and online, the default legal deposit remains with the print version, unless an agreement
has been made between the British Library and the publisher. 62 From the start of the 2016-17
parliamentary session, an agreement was put in place for the British Library to collect andpreserve digital copies in PDF format of all Command and House of Commons papers publishedon gov.uk, rather than the print copies. 63
The legal obligation to deposit a copy of all published materials applies to all publishers, andthere are limited exceptions for the government and government organizations that publish their
56 UK Parliament, Information Management Policy

3-4 (Nov. 2020), https://perma.cc/PS4T-34BY.

57 Id. at 4.
58 Id. at 6.
59 British Library Act 1972, c. 54, https://perma.cc/54TP-M74Y.
60 Governance, British Library, https://perma.cc/C4WF-JKBY.
61 Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, c. 28 § 14, https://perma.cc/Q3YF-LBGU.
62 Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013, SI 2013/777 ¶ 14, https://perma.cc/L7BY-

YR8Q and Home, Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries, https://perma.cc/FQM4-DH3Y.

63 Publishing Processes and Practices Standards for Web and Print Publishing, The National Archives,
https://perma.cc/HTF7-NYUV.

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own materials. The National Archives has noted that under this legal framework, “[t]he British
Library is entitled to receive all externally available publications produced by government
departments in paper or electronic format.” 64
The legal deposit obligations includes un-numbered House of Commons, House of Lords, Act,and Command papers. 65 The one major exception is for content published before the regulations
were made. The British Library does not collect government publications that are intended forinternal audiences, such as internal circulars or internal guidance. 66 These publications fall under
the collections policy of the National Archives for “grey materials,” discussed below.
B. House of Commons and House of Lords Libraries
The House of Commons and House of Lords both have their own libraries that maintain acollection of books, journals, and databases for the use of MPs and peers. The purpose of theselibraries is to provide research and information to MPs, peers, and their staff, and they provide
resources to support these research needs. 67 The libraries do not appear to have a mandate tocollect parliamentary materials in print. The National Archives has stated that “the Library of the
UK Parliament has a particular requirement to be able to trace all government publications,” 68
but this appears to refer to the Parliamentary Archives.
C. Parliamentary Archives
Parliament first started to collect and preserve its records in 1497. 69 In modern times, this
responsibility falls to the Parliamentary Archives, which works to “capture the digital and paper
documents which form the official record of the UK Parliament.” 70 Its mission is
to safeguard the records of Parliament throughout their lifecycle—that is, from theircreation or receipt to their destruction or archiving—and to maintain their accessibility
thereafter, no matter what their format. 71

64 National Archives, Operation Selection Policy 36: Publications/Grey Literature ¶¶ 4.1.6 & 6.1.4 (2016),
https://perma.cc/2A5M-AFES. These include annual and departmental reports, externally available guidanceand standards, research reports, consultation papers, journals, external circulars, codes of practice, and external
training manuals.
65 The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5, at 26.
66 The National Archives, Operation Selection Policy 36: Publications/Grey Literature, supra note 64, ¶ 4.1.8.
67 About the Commons Library, House of Commons Library, https://perma.cc/8KWP-H9E6; About Us, House ofLords Library, https://perma.cc/6WPW-RTDJ.

68 The National Archives, Publishing: A Guide for Government Organisations, supra note 50, at 7.
69 UK Parliament, Parliamentary Archives, Collections Information Policy, supra note 52, ¶ 3.1.
70 About Us, UK Parliament, Parliamentary Archives, https://perma.cc/5849-QZ9T.
71 Parliamentary Archives, Digital Preservation Strategy for Parliament ¶ 11, https://perma.cc/KBL5-3Z9R.

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The Parliamentary Archives also serves as “the custodian of the record copies of digital original
publications on behalf of the House of Lords and House of Commons Libraries.” 72 Documents itpreserves include:
the key records which provide evidence of the deliberations, decisions and actions of theHouse of Commons and the House of Lords in carrying out their legislative and scrutinyfunctions, as well as those relating to their, and [the Parliamentary Digital Service’s],management and administrative functions, and to the physical environment in which
Parliament works. 73

The Parliamentary Archives notes that it “is a repository for records of Parliamentary provenanceand relevance. It is not a reference collection relating to all aspects of Parliamentary and political
history,” and it does not collect official, administrative or organizational records from MPs or
peers’ offices, the government, the devolved assemblies or Scottish Parliament, party
parliamentary groups, political parties, or political pressure groups. 74
The Parliamentary Archives receives its acquisitions directly from the departments, offices, andteams of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as from the Parliamentary
Digital Service. 75 It transfers physical and digital records to the Information and Records
Management Service. For digital records, the Information Records and Management Service
works together with the Parliamentary Digital Service to ensure a seamless flow of digital records
and metadata into its archives. 76
D. National Archives
The National Archives is a non-ministerial government department and is both the official
publisher and the official archive for the government of the UK. 77 The Controller of Her Majesty’s
Stationery Office works from within the National Archives and is responsible under a Letters
Patent from the monarch for managing Crown Copyright. The Controller has been responsible
for printing and publishing Acts of Parliament since 1889. 78 The Controller is also responsible
under a Letters Patent for the role of Queen’s Printer, and thus “is responsible for setting thestandards and overseeing the publication of certain government documents.” 79
72 UK Parliament, Parliamentary Archives, Collections Development Policy ¶ 6.2 (Oct. 2020),
https://perma.cc/Q8SA-PKP5.
73 Id. ¶ 3.2. The selection criteria for the Parliamentary Archives is listed in ¶ 9 of this policy.
74 Id. ¶ 4.2.
75 Id. ¶ 3.2.
76 UK Parliament, Parliamentary Archives, Collections Information Policy, supra note 52, ¶¶ 5.1 – 5.3.
77 Explore, The National Archives, https://perma.cc/5TQU-ACAX. Scotland and Northern Ireland haveseparate archives, known as the National Records of Scotland and the Public Record Office of Northern
Ireland, respectively. Home, National Records for Scotland, https://perma.cc/62GF-3HUS; PRONI Public
Record Office of Northern Ireland, NI Direct Government Services, https://perma.cc/ZA3F-4CSN.
78 About Us, Legislation.gov.uk, https://perma.cc/N8TA-VKKW.
79 The National Archives, Publishing: A Guide for Government Organisations, supra note 50, at 3.

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Publishing legislation is the responsibility of the Keeper of Public Records and the Queen’s
Printer for Scotland, and official copies of all UK legislation are lodged with the Parliamentary
Archives. 80 The legislative information service is managed on the governments’ behalf by the
National Archives, 81 which publishes legislation both in hard copy and online on the platform
legislation.gov.uk. In addition to providing a copy of legislation as originally enacted, theNational Archives provides a revised version of most primary legislation, and some secondary
legislation, on its platform. 82 The revised version incorporates amendments and annotations
about the effects on other legislation and the amending legislation. 83
In addition to managing the legislative information service on behalf of the government, theNational Archives also acts to preserve certain government publications. While it typically does
not collect and preserve parliamentary papers unless they form part of other unique papers or
have been significantly annotated and form part of a policy process, 84 it does collect certain
government publications that are not formally published, and thus not subject to the legal deposit
requirements, or documents that are not otherwise preserved. These types of publications are
frequently referred to as “grey literature.” 85 The National Archives has published extensive
guidance on what type of grey literature should be preserved, with a focus on whether the
documents are preserved elsewhere and the archival value of these works. For example, it
provides that bulletins and newsletters from government departments should be selected forpreservation at the National Archives if they “communicate information on policy or legislationor significant issues may be of archival value providing this information is not covered by records
already at The National Archives or records likely to be transferred in the future.” 86 It notes thatinternal circulars “are unlikely to be of archival value and should not be selected for permanent
preservation.” 87

III. Special Procedures for Handling Particular Types of Parliamentary Documents
A record of the proceedings in Parliament that occur in Westminster Hall and in General
Committee 88 is contained in a series known as the Official Report, commonly called Hansard. The

80 About Us, Legislation.gov.uk, supra note 78.
81 Frequently Asked Questions, Legislation.gov.uk, https://perma.cc/NV3V-KSUS.
82 The National Archives, A Guide to Revised Legislation on Legislation.gov.uk (Oct. 2013),

https://perma.cc/4QG5-QJND.

83 Understanding Legislation, Legislation.gov.uk, https://perma.cc/KM4K-4L5Q.
84 National Archives, Records Management Retention Scheduling (2012) ¶ 1.4, https://perma.cc/6LCN-L28T. See

also The National Archives, Records Collection Policy ¶ 3.4 (last reviewed Oct. 2019), https://perma.cc/R5DFWJH8.
85 National Archives, Operation Selection Policy 36: Publications/Grey Literature, supra note 64, ¶ 2.1.
86 Id. ¶ 6.6.3.
87 Id. ¶ 6.7.1.
88 House of Commons Information Office, The Official Report (Factsheet G17, 2010), https://perma.cc/F869XXGL.

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Official Report is available both in printed form and online from the year 1802 to date. 89 These
records contain a “substantially verbatim” report of what is said in Parliament, with words beingedited only “to remove repetitions and obvious mistakes, albeit without taking away from themeaning of what is said.” 90
The Hansard website provides content from the House of Commons and House of Lords
Hansards; the Parliamentary Digital Service is involved in producing it. Individual MPs have apersonal profile on Hansard that provides links to debates they have spoken in and their voting
record. 91 A site named Historic Hansard covers parliamentary debates for the period 1802-2005,
providing content from the bound volumes processed in an online format. 92 The historical content
currently has more limited metadata than the more current content, but future enhancements
are envisioned. 93

IV. Information Sharing Among Legislative Agencies
The Parliament’s Information Management Policy provides, “[t]he Houses promote a working
culture of openness and collaboration. Parliamentary information that is not sensitive will beaccessible to all staff and be restricted only when there is a business need to do so.” 94 To help
foster openness, the policy requires that technology planning should take “access permissions
and information sharing in systems into account.” 95 It further says that information should beprotected against accidental loss or destruction, and unauthorized disclosure. Measures should
ensure that users have the appropriate security clearance, and information should be sharedthrough links in order “to mitigate the risks of working from out-of-date copies and information
being over-retained in breach of policy.” 96With respect to information sharing to develop government websites, by the early 2000s thegovernment had developed a significant online presence, with each department having its own
website. In 2010, the Government Digital Service was established to “focus on fixing publishing,digitising high-volume transactional services, and building ’wholesale’ technology platforms.” 97
The common gov.uk platform was established and more than 2,000 websites were placed under
it. The Government Digital Service’s position enables it to evaluate the work of digital teams

89 Hansard (Parliamentary Debates), UK Parliament, https://perma.cc/TPY9-W2WJ.
90 About Hansard Online, UK Parliament, https://perma.cc/465U-CVAT.
91 Id.
92 House of Commons Hansard Archives, UK Parliament, https://perma.cc/76GL-266D.
93 About Hansard Online, UK Parliament, supra note 90.
94 UK Parliament, Information Management Policy, supra note 56, at 6.
95 Id.
96 Id.
97 Government Digital Service: Our Strategy for 2021-2024, Government Digital Service (May 20, 2021),
https://perma.cc/GK2T-9NYQ.

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across government to identify common needs for products, platforms and services and to build
electronic services centrally. 98

V. Users’ Access to Parliamentary Documents
On July 22, 2014, the Government Digital Service announced it would begin to use open standard
formats by default for all government documents, in order to provide users with a choice about
the software they use to read government documents, enable agencies to share work more easily,
and make it easier and cheaper to do business with the government. 99
All parliamentary documents published on gov.uk must meet the Government Digital Service
guidelines and accessibility standards to ensure that all users, including the disabled, are able toaccess them. 100 The vast majority of government organizations publish documents online in PDF,
and to ensure that the PDF version of parliamentary papers comply with relevant requirements,
the National Archives works with the Crown Commercial Services to ensure that papers
published through any contractors meet these standards. 101 The government no longer publishes
printed copies of official documents for sale, but there a number of private printers that offer
them. No supplier has been endorsed by the government. 102
The Parliamentary Archives provides a public search room that is open to the public to viewrecords that are not subject to restrictions on disclosure. 103 It also has a website and is working ona catalog to provide links to digital records. 104
The Freedom of Information Act provides individuals with the right to be told whether a publicauthority holds information and the right to be provided with the information, 105 subject to anumber of exemptions. Published parliamentary papers are exempt from the disclosure
requirements of the Freedom of Information Act because they are accessible to applicants byother means. 106

98 Id.
99 Making Things Open, Making Things Better, Government Digital Service (July 22, 2014),
https://perma.cc/8L4M-3Q4C.
100 Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018, SI 2018/852,

https://perma.cc/B3QK-6JTC. See also Guidance: Understanding Accessibility Requirements for Public Sector
Bodies, gov.uk, https://perma.cc/VQ3H-8B2D.
101 The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5, at 23. See also Print Management Services,
Crown Commercial Service, https://perma.cc/3ARK-CS8P.
102 Guidance: How to Buy Print Copies of Official Documents, gov.uk, https://perma.cc/LZT7-96DN.
103 UK Parliament, Parliamentary Archives, Collections Access Policy (Nov. 2020) ¶ 6.2, https://perma.cc/32QX-

ABPC.

104 UK Parliament, Parliamentary Archives, Collections Development Policy, supra note 71, ¶¶ 10.1 – 10.2.
105 Freedom of Information Act 2000, c. 36, https://perma.cc/PB5N-KPGS.
106 Id. § 21.

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VI. Projects for Preservation of and Access to Digital Records of Parliamentary
Documents
A. Digital Preservation at the British Library
As noted above, the Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013 requires nonprint work such as websites and electronic publications to be subject to legal deposit. 107 This
creates an archive of non-print work. The UK uses web crawling software to collect websites for
the UK Web Archive, 108 utilizing a seed list of domain addresses that are programmed into thesoftware. This software sends requests to target websites, which respond automatically anddeliver copies of the pages or files the software has requested. Websites and materials harvestedby the software are preserved in the legal deposit libraries’ web archive. 109 Web archiving of theScottish Parliament and of the Welsh Assembly are undertaken by the National Library of
Scotland and the National Library of Wales. 110 The UK Web Archive is separate from the UK
Government Web Archive (UKGWA), discussed below.
B. Digital Preservation at the National Archives
The National Archives maintains the UKGWA, and states that it is “one of the largest and mostheavily used web archives in the world, containing over three billion URLs and frequently
receiving more than ten million page views each month.” 111 Part of the duties of the National
Archive is to preserve the all web content owned by the central government, in all its forms,
where current technology permits. 112 The National Archives has stated that it intends “to capture
datasets published on government websites into the UKGWA where the publication format anddata contained within it is amenable.” 113 In 2008, the National Archives expanded the scope of
the UKGWA and created persistent links that allow users to access material that has been
removed from its original location. 114 The UKGWA is provided under contract to the National
Archives by a non-profit organization known as the Internet Memory Foundation. 115
From 2016, public bodies have been obligated to transfer born-digital records, meaning those thatwere created originally in digital form, rather than analog materials that have been subsequently

107 Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, c. 28, https://perma.cc/Q3YF-LBGU.
108 UK Web Archive, British Library, https://perma.cc/7RQC-WE57.
109 Electronic Legal-deposit: Websites and Web Pages, Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries,

https://perma.cc/WDJ6-47Y2.

110 The National Archives, Operational Selection Policy 27: UK Central Government Web Estate (April 2014) ¶ 3.3,https://perma.cc/4SJL-GVU2.
111 Id. ¶ 2.1.
112 Id. ¶ 4.1.
113 Id. ¶ 3.5.
114 Id. ¶ 2.3.
115 Id.

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digitized, to the National Archives. 116 The National Archives conducted a review of born-digitalrecords and found that, due to their high volume and lack of structure, they pose challenges tothe appraisal, selection, and review process, as well as to the ability of departments to respond to
Freedom of Information requests. 117 To tackle this, the National Archives has been investigating
the use of technology-assisted review to transfer born-digital records. It has currently found that“technology-assisted review using eDiscovery software can support government departments
during appraisal, selection and sensitivity review as part of a born-digital records transfer to The
National Archives.” 118 It will continue to work with the Cabinet Office and Government Digital
Service to test solutions.
To help preserve all versions of gov.uk websites, the National Archives advises those responsible
for managing them that superseded documents should not be removed, but instead the original
gov.uk page should be archived to “ensure the document remains available but . . . make it clearthat the content no longer reflects current policy.” 119 The National Archives states that website
owners should take steps to ensure that web archiving is considered in the design of any site andthat the owner notifies the National Archives of any new website. The person responsible formanaging the website must ensure the UGWA has successfully captured the site and that thecontent is complete and accessible prior to closing it. 120 The National Archives notes that “it isessential that departments verify capture [of publications on the website] by checking with The
National Archives’ web archiving team.” 121
The National Archives has stated that while commercially published materials are automaticallysent to the British Library to fulfil the legal deposit requirements, in certain instances government
departments publish documents but sometimes fail to deposit these documents with the British
Library, with some documents being published solely online and removed after a few months.122
To help to ensure preservation of such material, the UKGWA may select a department’s website
for permanent preservation. 123

116 Reviewing Digital Records Management in Government, The National Archives, https://perma.cc/2DD2-37EJ.
117 Our Research, The National Archives, https://perma.cc/RS2L-6T3P.
118 The National Archives, The Application of Technology Assisted Review to Born-digital Records Transfer, Inquiries
and Beyond (Feb. 2016), https://perma.cc/427C-2J83.
119 The National Archives, Parliamentary Papers Guidance, supra note 5, at 27.
120 The National Archives, Operational Selection Policy 27: UK Central Government Web Estate, supra note 110, ¶4.3.

121 The National Archives, Operation Selection Policy 36: Publications/Grey Literature, supra note 64, ¶ 4.3.2.
122 Id. ¶ 4.1.9.
123 The National Archives, Operational Selection Policy 27: UK Central Government Web Estate, supra note 110, ¶4.3.

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C. Digital Preservation at the Parliamentary Archives
The Parliamentary Archives has expressed concern that[t]he longevity of all Parliament’s digital resources is under threat. Without access to thetrusted digital information it needs to preserve (up to and including in perpetuity) neither
House will be able to support the work of its members or its administration, nor therequirements of the public for access to Parliamentary information wherever andwhenever they want it in the future. 124

As a result, the Parliamentary Archives has noted the urgency of preserving digital resources,
given that “a digital resource which is not selected for active preservation treatment at an earlystage in its existence will very likely be lost or unusable in a few years’ time.” 125The Parliamentary
Archives has urged active management of digital resources, including planning for preservation
before they are created:
the nature of technology requires a lifecycle management approach to be taken to themaintenance of digital resources. A continual programme of active management is neededfrom the design and creation stage of a system onwards, if preservation of that system’s
digital resources is to be successful. This in turn leads to the need for much morecollaboration between institutions, and changes to traditional IT and IM boundaries within
an organization. . . . In addition because digital preservation is a new and emerging
business area (unlike analogue preservation), the market for managed services is limited,
software is immature, standards are still being developed, cost models are in their infancy,
theoretical and practical research is still being undertaken and specialist skills are in
short supply. 126

To counter these concerns, the Parliamentary Archives has published both a Digital Preservation
Policy and a Digital Preservation Strategy that aim to ensure that digital resources will be bothpreserved and accessible to future users, including strategies to mitigate the risk that any
technology used will become obsolete. 127 Digital resources means both digital records and digitalassets. A digital record is defined as “any information that is recorded in a form that only acomputer can process and that satisfies the definition of a record as stated in the Parliamentary
Records Management Policy (April 2006).” 128 A digital resource is defined as “the material
produced as a result of digitisation, or digital photography; as well as more complex, structured
accumulations such as online learning resources, web pages, virtual reality tours and digitalaudio/visual files.” 129 Digital video recordings of parliamentary debates appear to fall within
this definition.
124 Parliamentary Archives, Digital Preservation Policy for Parliament ¶ 1 (1st ed. Mar. 2009),
https://perma.cc/76E9-9DJT.
125 Parliamentary Archives, Digital Preservation Strategy for Parliament, supra note 77, ¶ 7.
126 Id. ¶¶ 7, 8.
127 Parliamentary Archives, Digital Preservation Policy for Parliament, supra note 124, ¶ 1.
128 Parliamentary Archives, Digital Preservation Strategy for Parliament, supra note 77, ¶ 5. See also Houses ofParliament, Parliamentary Information & Records Management Policy, supra note 40.
129 Parliamentary Archives, Digital Preservation Strategy for Parliament,

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The policy aims to preserve digital resources by “provid[ing] for the preservation of both content
information objects and their associated metadata, the maintenance of a persistent bond between
the two, and the creation of new metadata to document the preservation processes
undertaken.” 130 The strategy is intended to maintain accessibility and readability of digital
resources over time, taking particular care to ensure that the resources are not machine dependentand do not require a specific hardware or software to access them; that the technology does not
become obsolete; that the integrity of the resources are maintained to ensure “its continued
integrity, authenticity and history”; 131 and that any media used to store the data is not fragile andis stored in appropriate conditions. 132
The Parliamentary Archives has also established a UK Parliament Web Archive that aims to“capture, preserve, and make accessible UK Parliament information published on the web [and]includes UK Parliament websites and social media dating from 2009 to the present.” 133 Access to
the Parliament Web Archive is open to anyone with an internet connection. 134

130 Parliamentary Archives, Digital Preservation Policy for Parliament, supra note 124, ¶ 2.
131 Parliamentary Archives, Digital Preservation Strategy for Parliament, supra note 77, ¶ 7.
132 Id.
133 Welcome to the UK Parliament Web Archive, Parliament.uk, https://perma.cc/BXU3-UBQN.
134 About, Parliament.uk, https://perma.cc/8LGT-269J.

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