The Petitions Committee of the Polish Parliament (Sejm) – the Legal Basis and Practice of Functioning

Abstract

The article is intended to present the procedural solutions adopted in the Polish Sejm’s Rules of Procedure, the purpose of which was to specify in detail the procedure for hearing petitions in the Sejm, and thus to put the constitutional right of petition into effect. The author refers to historical attempts to statutorily regulate the petition hearing procedure. Remarks on the current statutory basis for filing petitions with the Sejm and the rules on consideration of petitions by the Sejm bodies – the Marshal of the Sejm and the Petitions Committee, are presented in the context of parliamentary practice during recent years. The author presents statistical data on petitions submitted for consideration by the Petitions Committee and the most frequently used manners of processing them in the practice of petition handling. Comments for the law as it should stand regarding the procedure for hearing petitions in the Sejm, which have been the subject of consideration in recent years, are also presented.

Keywords

• constitution
• petitions
• sejm
• polish sejm’s rules of procedure
• committees of the sejm