SECTION V

CHAPTER 1

1. The Senate shall deliberate in sittings.

2. The Marshal of the Senate, no later than within 7 days before the planned sitting, shall notify of the date and proposed agenda for this sitting, the Senators, the President of the Republic of Poland, the Marshal of the Sejm, the Prime Minister, and in cases when deliberations on the budgetary legislation are scheduled - also the President of the Supreme Chamber of Control.

3. In particularly justified cases, the Marshal of the Senate may decide to shorten the deadline specified in para. 2 above.

1. The right to attend the sittings of the Senate is held by the persons named in Article 32, para. 2, and members of the Presidium of the Sejm, members of the Council of Ministers, the President of the Constitutional Tribunal, the Commissioner for Citizens’ Rights and the First President of the Supreme Court.

2. The right to attend the sittings of the Senate is also given to guests invited by the Presidium of the Senate.

3. Authorised employees of the Senate Chancellery shall have the right to enter the sitting hall.

1. Sittings of the Senate shall be held on the days set by a resolution of the Senate or by the Marshal of the Senate.

2. The proposal for the agenda for a sitting of the Senate shall be set by the Marshal of the Senate. However, the agenda may only contain matters made known to the Senators by way of printed notice given to them no later than 3 days before the sitting. In exceptional cases, this period may be shortened upon agreement by the Senate.

3. Committees and Senators may submit to the Marshal of the Senate, no later than 10 days before a sitting, motions concerning the agenda. Non-compliance with them shall require that an explanation be given at the presentation of the agenda to the Senate.

Upon a motion made by a Senator, at the beginning of a sitting, the Marshal of the Senate may propose an addition to the agenda.

1. Sittings of the Senate shall be open.

2. The Senate, upon a motion from the Marshal of the Senate or of at least 10 Senators, may pass a resolution to hold deliberations in camera, if the good of the State is at stake. This resolution has to be passed by the Senate with an absolute majority vote with the presence of at least half of the statutory number of Senators.

3. The Senate shall decide upon holding deliberations in camera in a closed sitting.

1. The right of a citizen to obtain information on the activities of the Senate and its bodies is exercised in particular by:

2. The detailed terms of access to the information as specified in para. 1, points 2 and 3, and in particular the location and time for access to the information, is defined by the Marshal of the Senate.

1. Information on a planned sitting of the Senate and the planned agenda is passed to news agencies, and additionally made public via computer network.

2. Senate papers, minutes and stenographic reports on sittings of the Senate, minutes and stenographic records on sittings of Senate committees, as well as other documents and materials connected with the activity of the Senate and Senate committees, can in particular be made available by the Chancellery of the Senate via computer network, as well as at the Chancellery’s offices, with the opportunity of reviewing them, preparing copies of them and making notes.

1. Minutes and a stenographic report shall be made of the course of the Senate sitting; those shall be the only official records of the Senate sitting.

2. The minutes of the Senate sitting shall include a brief account of the deliberations and - as an annex - full texts of acts passed, resolutions undertaken, reports presented and motions as well as other materials considered by the Senate.

3. The minutes and the stenogram, together with the annexes, shall be made available to Senators 30 days after the sitting of the Senate. The working version of the stenographic report is made available to senators the day after the sitting.

4. A Senator and anyone participating in the debate may voice objections or corrections to the minutes, no later than by the day of the beginning of the next, after the minutes are made available, sitting of the Senate. The Marshal of the Senate decides on whether to accept a correction.

5. Minutes, to which no objections or corrections have been filed, shall be considered valid. The adoption of the minutes shall be confirmed by the signature of the Marshal of the Senate or the presiding Deputy Marshal and the secretary of the sitting in charge of the minutes. The minutes bearing the seal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland shall be kept in the Senate Archives.

6. Individual results of a vote conducted with the use of electronic equipment and the results of a vote by roll call conducted with the use of voting cards, shall be published in the stenographic report.

7. Printing of the stenographic report shall be ordered by the Marshal of the Senate.

The Marshal of the Senate may order the deletion, from the minutes or the stenographic record, of terms detrimental to the dignity of the Senate or contrary to the senatorial oath. The matter shall then be passed on to the Rules and Senate Affairs Committee.

A generally available, non-official account of the course of the Senate sitting and the sittings of the Senate Committees shall be the "Diary of the Senate of the Republic of Poland", published by order of the Marshal of the Senate.

CHAPTER 2

The Marshal of the Senate shall preside over debates of the Senate with the assistance of two secretaries of the Senate appointed by the Marshal.

1. The Marshal of the Senate shall present, for the Senate's approval, the draft of the agenda.

2. If the draft agenda presented by the Marshal does not take into account the motions specified in article 34, para. 3, and these are upheld by the parties submitting these motions, then the Senate shall resolve whether to include the motions.

1. The Marshal of the Senate shall give the floor in matters included in the agenda.

2. Senators intending to take part in a debate pertaining to a specific point in the agenda should sign up with the secretary of the Senate keeping a list of speakers.

3. Signed motions of a legislative nature are submitted by senators by the end of the discussion on a point in the agenda.

4. The Marshal of the Senate shall give the floor to Senators in the order recorded in the list of speakers. The first to speak shall be the rapporteur; if there was a difference of opinions in the committee, the further speakers shall be the rapporteurs of the views of minorities.

5. Before undertaking deliberations, Senators may ask the rapporteur, from their seat, short questions of no longer than 1 minute concerning the bill, resolution or problem on which he is reporting. The rapporteur shall answer these questions.

6. The Senators may also pose, from their seats, short questions of no longer than 1 minute concerning the bill or resolution under consideration, to persons referred to in Article 33, para. 1, and present at this sitting, in matters within the scope of bodies or institutions they direct.

7. The Marshal of the Senate may draw the attention of a Senator who, in his presentation, is straying from the subject under consideration, by saying: "to the point, please". Having twice called upon the Senator to keep "to the point, please", the Marshal of the Senate may request the Senator in question to surrender the floor.

The subjects to be included in Senate debates may be:

1. The presentation of a rapporteur speaking on behalf of a committee may not last more than 20 minutes; the allocution of a Senator in a discussion - may not exceed 10 minutes, except when the Marshal of the Senate extends this time limit due to the gravity of the matter under deliberation.

2. In discussion over an issue, a Senator may speak only twice. The second allocution in the same matter may not exceed 5 minutes.

3. The Marshal of the Senate shall decide about extending the time limit of an allocution or about granting additional floor time to a speaker.

4. The Marshal of the Senate may undertake a decision to delete from the minutes a statement coming from a Senator who has not been granted the floor or who has continued his allocution after his right to speak has been rescinded.

1. The Marshal of the Senate, during the sitting, shall watch over adherence to the Senate Rules and proper decorum and order in the chamber.

2. The Marshal of the Senate shall "call to order" a Senator who disturbs the order during the course of the sitting.

3. The Marshal of the Senate shall "call to order with a record in the minutes" a Senator who has seriously violated the order during the course of the sitting.

4. The Marshal of the Senate may make a decision to exclude a Senator from a sitting, if the Senator disturbs the order during the course of the sitting even though he has already, at this sitting, been called to order with a record in the minutes.

5. In the cases cited in para. 4 above, the Marshal of the Senate may call a recess in the sitting.

6. A senator can appeal to the Rules and Senate Affairs Committee against the Marshal’s decision referred to in para. 3 and 4. The committee shall reject the appeal or request the Marshal to reverse his decision. The Marshal shall accept the motion of the Committee or present the case for resolution by the Senate.

7. Until a decision is reached, the Senator who has been excluded shall not participate in the sitting.

1. Outside the framework of the agenda or in respect to the debate, the Marshal of the Senate shall grant the floor only on a motion of order, a reply, or a rectification of an incorrectly understood or inaccurately quoted statement. Such an intervention may not exceed 3 minutes.

2. Motions of order shall include the following:

3. A motion of order should contain the request and a brief justification.

4. Approval or rejection of a motion of order shall be decided by the Senate after hearing the mover and possibly one of the opponents of the motion.

1. The Marshal of the Senate at the end of a sitting after the agenda has been concluded grants the floor to Senators for Senator’s statements to be announced. A statement can relate to issues connected with the exercise of a Senator’s mandate, but it cannot relate to issues that were included in the agenda of the current Senate sitting.

2. A Senator’s statement cannot last longer than 5 minutes. The Marshal of the Senate can express consent to the submission of a statement in writing to the minutes, and the wording of such a statement is included in the stenographic report.

3. No discussion shall be conducted on a Senator’s statement.

4. Senators’ statements, if they include specific motions and comments addressed to members of the Council of Ministers, representatives of state or local government bodies and institutions, shall immediately be directed by the Marshal of the Senate to the indicated addressees with a request for them to take a position.

5. Answers are granted to senators in writing within no longer than 30 days from the date of forwarding a statement.

6. In the event of exceeding the period specified in para. 5 or providing an answer that is clearly unsatisfactory then the provisions of article 8, para. 1, point 13 and 14 are applicable respectively.

1. Beyond the scheduled order of speakers, the Marshal of the Senate shall grant the floor to the Prime Minister and members of the Council of Ministers, upon request.

2. Beyond the scheduled order of speakers, the Marshal of the Senate shall also grant the floor to persons referred to in Article 32, para. 2 and Article 33, para. 1, and may also grant the floor to invited guests.

Beyond the scheduled order of speakers, the Marshal of the Senate may grant the floor to the rapporteur or the chairman of the committee which has prepared the report in question.

1. The rapporteuer, presenting a draft resolution to the Senate, shall discuss the filed motions, explaining the consequences of their passing, and the inter-relations or contradictions existing between them.

2. Once the list of speakers has been exhausted, the Marshal of the Senate shall close the discussion and call a recess in order that the appropriate committees may state their position with respect to the motions submitted in the course of the debate.

3. The committees shall deliberate jointly. Included in a report from the joint committees shall be a list of the motions presented by the committees, minority motions and motions from Senators submitted during the discussion.

4. The party submitting the motion can make alterations to his motion if the committees agree that the alterations do not constitute a significant change to the contents of the motion.

5. Committees can change the wording of a motion to limit its provisions exclusively to the proposed change in the law. If the party submitting the motion is present at the sitting of committees then the committees shall listen to his position.

6. After the recess, only rapporteurs and movers may speak.

7. The party submitting a motion can withdraw it up to the moment when the Senate proceeds to taking a vote. Any senator can retain a motion being withdrawn by taking over the rights of the original party submitting the motion.

CHAPTER 3

1. After the closing of discussion or the allocution of a rapporteur speaking on behalf of a committee, the Marshal of the Senate shall announce the vote in the Senate. From that moment on there shall be permitted only a submission or justification of a formal motion on the means or order of voting or asking the rapporteurs questions to clarify the contents of the amendment proposed.

2. Voting takes place using electronic apparatus registering the individual vote of senators voting and consists of pressing a button on the apparatus and raising an arm (open voting).

3. On a motion made by the Marshal of the Senate or by at least 20 Senators, as well as, in the case of failure of the electronic equipment, voting shall be conducted without the use of the electronic device for counting votes in the following manner:

4. A roll-call vote shall be conducted on the motion of the Marshal of the Senate or of at least 20 Senators.

5. A roll-call vote is conducted with the use of a ballot box prepared for this purpose. The Senators, one by one, in alphabetical order, shall be called out by the secretary of the Senate, and place their ballots in the box. The box shall be opened and the ballots counted by three secretaries of the Senate designated by the Marshal of the Senate.

6. Voting in personal matters shall be secret, with the exception of votes on the composition of senate committees.

7. Secret ballots are held using marked voting cards. The provisions of para. 5 are applicable respectively.

8. The voting results shall be announced by the Marshal of the Senate. The results of a roll-call vote and of a secret vote shall be announced by the Marshal of the Senate on the basis of a report presented by the secretaries of the Senate charged with counting the vote. The voting results shall be final and may not be the subject of discussion.

1. The order of voting shall be as follows:

2. The Marshal of the Senate may postpone voting on the total of the resolution for the time needed to ascertain if, as a result of the accepted amendments, there will not arise contradictions between the particular provisions.

3. The Senate may decide to vote on the resolution in-total, together with the amendments, if no objection has been declared in this matter.

4. The Marshal of the Senate shall not allow a vote on motions to a resolution of the Sejm, as specified in article 72, para. 1, exceeding the scope defined in article 72, para. 3.

5. In the event that a resolution is rejected, the Senate may return its proposal to be considered again by the respective committees.

All other resolutions, declarations, statements and appeals shall be voted upon in accordance with Article 54.

Resumption of a resolution shall be allowed only during the same sitting of the Senate and only in the case of an obvious mistake in a resolution previously taken.

A resolution taken by the Senate pertaining to a bill under consideration shall be submitted by the Marshal of the Senate to the Marshal of the Sejm.