AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF PROCEDURE

Amendment 1

Article 1

Joint Parliamentary Assembly

1. The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly is set up pursuant to Article 17 of the Partnership Agreement between the Members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part.

2. The Joint Parliamentary Assembly shall be composed of equal numbers of EU and ACP representatives. The members of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly shall be, on the one hand, members of the European Parliament and, on the other, members of parliament or, failing this, representatives designated by the parliament of each ACP State. In the absence of a parliament, the attendance without the right to vote of a representative from the ACP State concerned shall be subject to the prior approval of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

3. The credentials of the members of the Assembly shall be established by a letter of appointment from the appropriate authorities of the respective states in the case of ACP representatives and from the President of the European Parliament in the case of its representatives.

Amendment 2

Article 18

Assembly resolutions

1. The Bureau shall draw up a list of no more than five topics relating to development cooperation between the EU and ACP countries under the Partnership Agreement, which shall be included in the draft agenda in accordance with Article 8 of these Rules.

2. A representative of the ACP States, a political group or ten members may table a motion for a resolution on a subject covered by the Partnership Agreement. However, motions for resolutions shall be limited to the subjects that are included in the agenda for the session and shall be no more than 800 words long. Motions for resolutions shall be tabled four weeks before the opening of the session in which they are to be discussed and voted on.

3. Motions for resolutions shall be submitted to the Bureau. The Bureau shall verify that each motion for a resolution fulfils the requirements of the preceding paragraph, is included on the agenda and is available in English and French. The Bureau's proposals shall be submitted to the Assembly for its approval.

4. The Bureau shall refer to the respective rapporteurs motions for resolutions on matters related to the general report or the powers of the parliamentary committees.

5. The President shall invite the authors of resolutions on the same topic to draw up a compromise resolution. Following a debate, each compromise resolution and any amendments to it shall be put to the vote in the Assembly. If a compromise resolution has been approved, all the other resolutions on the same topic fall.

6. Motions for resolutions on fundamental freedoms and individual human rights cases shall be examined according to specific rules of procedure drawn up by the Bureau.

7. Resolutions adopted by the Assembly shall be forwarded to the Commission and the Council of Ministers and to any other interested parties. The Commission and the Council of Ministers will report on follow-up to adopted resolutions at the next session of the Assembly.

Amendment 3

ANNEX I: Powers, responsibilities, membership and procedures of standing committees

Article 1

There shall be three standing parliamentary committees with the following powers and responsibilities:

I. COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL AFFAIRS

This committee is responsible for matters relating to:

1. Political dialogue (Article 8 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement) and institutional development;

2. Respect for and promotion of human rights, democracy and good governance (Article 9 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement);

3. Peace-building policies, conflict prevention and resolution (Article 11 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement);

4. Issues concerning migration (Article 13 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement);

5. Assembly relations with relevant international organisations.

This committee will coordinate the work of fact-finding missions, including those sent to monitor elections, according to Article 28 of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly.

II. COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, FINANCE AND TRADE

This committee is responsible for matters relating to:

1. Economic development and trade cooperation, as well as capacity-building for development and partnership;

2. Macroeconomic and structural reforms, economic sector development and tourism (Articles 22-24 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement);

3. New ACP-EC trading arrangements, market access and the gradual integration of ACP States into the world economy (Articles 34-37 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement);

4. Trade and labour standards (Article 50 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement);

5. Rural development, fisheries and food security (Article 53 and 54 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement);

6. All issues concerning development finance cooperation including follow-up of the implementation of the European Development Fund.

III. COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL AFFAIRS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

This committee is responsible for matters relating to:

1. Social and human development;

2. Social infrastructure and services, including health and education issues (Article 25 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement);

3. Youth and cultural issues (Articles 26 and 27 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement);

4. Gender issues (Article 31 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement);

5. Environment and natural resources (Article 32 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement).

Article 2

1. Each member of the Assembly will have the right to be a member of one of the standing committees.

2. Two of the committees shall be composed of 52 members and one of 50 members and shall consist of equal numbers of, on the one hand, Members of the European Parliament and, on the other, members of Parliament representing the ACP countries. Should the number of ACP countries increase, the number of places on the standing committees will increase pro rata.

3. Members may also attend meetings of committees to which they do not belong in an advisory capacity or if the subject under discussion covers their country or region, if invited by the Committee Bureau.

4. The participation of representatives who are not members of a Parliament shall only be allowed if the subject under discussion covers their country, but they will not have the right to vote.

5. Unless a committee decides otherwise, all meetings are public.

Article 3

1. The composition of the committees shall, as far as possible, reflect the composition of the Assembly.

2. The committees shall elect a Committee Bureau among its members for a period of one year.

3. The Committee Bureau shall consist of two co-chairmen (one representative of the European Parliament and one representative of the ACP countries) and two co-vice-chairmen (one representative of the ACP countries and one representative of the European Parliament).

4. The committees shall be jointly chaired by a member of the European Parliament and by a member of a Parliament representing an ACP country.

5. The committees may appoint rapporteurs to examine specific questions within their competence and prepare reports and resolutions to be submitted to the Assembly.

6. The committees shall report to the Assembly on their activities.

Article 4

1. Committees shall meet when convened by their co-chairs and for a maximum of four sessions per year, two of them during the session of the Assembly.

2. Any member may table amendments for consideration in committee. As far as the procedure is concerned, Articles 3 (attendance of other institutions), 4 (observers), 9 (quorum), 10 (presidency of sittings), 16 (right to vote and methods of voting) and 29 (consultation with civil society) of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly shall apply mutatis mutandis to committee meetings.