The organization of the Commissions:

Each democratic legislative, creates the permanent commissions to accomplish its
functions and, to be efficient.

The number of the permanent commissions is various in the legislative of different
countries.  For some countries, the number of the permanent commissions is provided
by constitution, for example in France, (six for each chamber).

In US, each Congress Chamber preserves a commission’s number, called “standing
committees,” considered as permanent and, created in accordance with different life’s
fields: as agriculture, the service of the armed forces, foreign affaires, education, work,
etc.  The British Chamber of Communes, differently from the American and French
legislative, preserves eight permanent commissions “standing committees,” nominated
according to alphabetic order, Commission A, B, C, and so on.  The British and
French Commissions are not specializing on different issues and they have less power
than their correspondent bodies in many other Parliaments.

In Albania, the number and the field of the activity of the commissions, are fixed by the
People’s Assembly, in the beginning of each Legislature.  Our People Assembly has 13
such permanent commissions that are covering different fields of the vital activity.  In
some countries, as Hungary, etc., the change of the number of the permanent
commissions, can be done with the consensus of the parliamentarian groups.

Nearly in all the democratic countries, the representation in the permanent commissions
is in proportion with the number of the seats that political forces have in the Legislative.

A deputy can participate in two or more permanent commissions.  He gives the
possibility to the small parliamentarian groups, to cover all the political issues, which
are related with the program of their parties.  So, is assured the appropriate
representation in a larger political specter, in the different activities of Parliament.

The democratic legislative, apart from the permanent commissions (committees)
“standing committees,” creates from time to time some selected commissions “select
committees,” which interrogate, make special investigations and, recommendations on
definite issues.  For example, in Italy, each chamber creates investigative commissions
on public’s interests issues.

The bicameral legislative creates sometimes joint commissions “joint committees,”
composed by members of each chamber, to supervise definite issues.


So, in the end of the ‘70, both chambers of the American Congress created
commissions (committees) to investigate the assassinates of President John F. Kennedy
in 1963 and, Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, to know if they were acts of individuals’
murders, as concluded by early investigations, or as they were results of conspiration.

Even the Chamber of Communes in Great Britain, have created a lot of definite
commissions (committees) for special investigations, called “Select Committees.”  The
aim of these commissions is to grub and to collect the needed information by this
Chamber.  On this purpose, there will be held hearing sessions, “hearings,” by
gathering information and interwing witnesses, and documents, and after that they
present a report, which stimulates often the changes in the existing legislation and, the
administrative practices.  Nevertheless, in Britain which is different with American,
most of the government investigations are done through royal commissions.

Ad hoc commissions have been created even by the People Assembly, as for example,
for Shkodra’s events on April 2, 1991, with the intention to verify the results of the
investigations made by criminal prosecution organs, as well as for the civil unrest during
February-March of this year.

Nevertheless, this commissions are composed by deputies only and, not other persons,
like specialists.  Also, the American or British investigation commissions, do not held
hearing sessions “hearings” and, they cannot call witnesses to testify in front of them.

The review of the draft-laws by the Commission (Committee):

In the biggest part of the democratic legislative, the draft-laws are sent and reviewed
by the commissions, before they will be under general discussed in a plenary session.
As a consequence, the Commissions have a lot to say, not only on the content of the
draft-law, but even on which draft-laws have the real chance to become laws.  Some
legislative of different countries, on the reviewing of draft-laws, follows the French
model, where is founded the institution of the Reporter “Rapporteur.”  In this case,
since each draft-law is reviewed by a special commission, this one nominates a
member as a reporter on this draft.  He will be responsibility and, lead discussion on
this draft, for the preparation of the respective report, for  the defense of the position
held by the commission in the debate before all the Assembly.

Nevertheless, in the British Chamber of Communes, the draft-laws are sent to the
commissions, after the generale discussion and, after a lot of details are decided by the
whole Chamber.  In Italy, each draft-law, which is presented to one of the legislative
chambers, is reviewed by a commission and, after that by the chamber itself, which
approves the draft article by article and with a definitive voting.


The power and the role of the permanent commissions in the legislative process, are
different in different modern democracies, in accordance with the principle of the
separation of powers and the taking under control or supervision and respective check
and balance of the Legislative and Executive (checks and balances).  In one side, is the
commission (committee), of the USA Congress, which are the most powerful in the
world.  They not only accept the draft-laws before the general debate and, before the
main political decisions have been taken, but they can take even important political
decisions by them self.  In the other extreme, are staying the commissions (committees)
of the Chamber of Communes in British Parliament, which don’t take any draft-law
until the end of the second reading, when the decisions of the base policy are already
taken.  They are authorized to do a lot of changes and amendments only on
unimportant details; they are not specializing on issues of particular fields, so that they
not develop special expertise in any field.  Their members are submitted to a hard
discipline by their parties, inside the commissions (committees), as well as outside
them.  As a consequence, the last organs, play a relative unimportant role in the British
legislative process.  The power of the legislative commissions (committees) in the other
democracies, is staying between these extremes.  On one side, the commission’s
reports serve usually as a base for debate and action for all the legislative, (and a
commission has a considerable power to redraft and amend the draft-laws send to it).
On the other side, in most of the parliamentarians’ democracies, the control of the
legislative agenda by the government and, the control of the political parties on the
votes of their members is so strong that is very hard for the commissions, to do
something against the will of their government.

In Albania, as well as in England, the commissions usually does not essential
corrections on the draft-law presented by the government, or they do a simple
information of the People Assembly, in a plenary session, relating to their thoughts or
opinions.

Submitted by Perikli Polloshi
Legal Consular of the Court of Cassation
Director of the Foreign Relations Department, Court of Cassation
Tirana, Albania