The Senate
No. 005/599/SSR/S  

SECHKEY SAMRECH 

President of the Senate of the Kingdom of Cambodia

 

  • Referring to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia;

  • Referring toReach Kret No. NS/RKT/0399/43 of, March 11,  99, on the Appointment of the President, the First Vice President  and the Second Vice President of the Senate for the  first session;

  • Referring to Sechkey Samrech No. 04,  of April 30, 1999 of the Constitutional Council concerning the Constitutionality of the Internal Regulations of the Senate.

IT IS HEREBY DECIDEDS 

Article 1:   To promulgate the Internal Regulations of the Senate which haves been adopted on  April 9, 1999 at the first session of the first legislature of the Senate, except for Article 48 which is inconsistent with the new Article 110 of the Constitution. 

Article 2:    This decision shall enter into force from the date of its signature . 

Phnom Penh, May 03, 1999 

Signature and Seal 

 

CHEA SIM 

INTERNAL REGULATIONS OF 
THE SENATE OF THE KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA 

CHAPTER 1

TEMPORARY OFFICE AND ROLES
 

Article 1:    The Senate shall convene its ordinary session twice a year. 

Each session shall last at least three months. The Senate shall convene an extraordinary session provided there is a request made by the King, the prime minister, or at least one- third of the senators.

Article 2:  The Senate shall conduct its first session no later than 60 days after its election according at the convocation of the King. The King,. Queen, or representative of the King declares or has the honor to declare open the first session of each legislature. At the first session of each legislature the Senate shall conduct its business under the chairmanship of one acting president who is the oldest senator and unanimously elected and assisted by five youngest and elected senators who shall act as secretaries. 

Under the leadership of the president, the Senate shall perform its functions as  follows: 

(a)   To declare the names of rightful senators; 

(b)   To select the president and two vice presidents; 

The Senate may not discuss any matter under the chairmanship of the oldest senators.
 

CHAPTER 2

VALIDITY OF THE SENATORS

 

Article 2:  At the opening meeting convened to determine the validity the senators the oldest senator shall declare to the Senate: 

  • The names of elected senators which have been sent by the national election committee;

  • The names of elected senators which have been contested and such contests were rejected by the Constitutional Council.

The validity of the senators' names shall be promptly posted at the Senate and publicized after the meeting. 

Article 2: The senators shall enjoy the same rank and immunity as those the highest ranking officials of the Kingdom of Cambodia. 

CHAPTER 3

THE PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT, STANDING COMMITTEE AND VARIOUS COMMITTEES OF 
THE SENATE
 

Article 5: After the opening declaration of the senate legislature by the King and Queen or his Representative and provided at least seven- tenths (7/10) of the senators are present the Senate may conduct a separate election to elect its president and two vice presidents by a two-third majority vote of the whole Senate. 

Article 6: Under the chairmanship of its president, the Senate may conduct an election to elect members for its committees by a two-third majority vote of the whole Senate. 

The Senate shall have the following committees: 

  1. Human Rights and Complaint Reception Committee;

  2. Financial and Banking Committee;

  3. Economic, Planning, Investment, Agriculture, Rural Development, and Environment Committee;

  4. Interior, National Defense, Ethics and Investigation Committee;

  5. Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, Broadcasting and Information Committee;

  6. Judiciary Committee;

  7. Education, Religious, Culture, and Tourism Committee;

  8. Health, Social Affairs, Labor, and Women Affairs Committee; and

  9. Public Works, Transportation, Telecommunication, Post, Industry, Energy, and Commerce Committee.

Article 7: The Standing Committee of the Senate, shall be composed of:.

  • The President of the Senate;

  • The two vice presidents of the Senate;

  • The chairmen of committees of the Senate

  • The President of the Senate shall serve as the Chairman of the Senate's standing committee.

The Senate's Standing Committee shall have the same term as to the Senate's legislature. 

Article 8:  The roles of the President of the Senate shall be as follows: 

(a)   To ensure the proper functioning of the Senate in accordance with the Constitution; 

(b)   To preside over meeting sessions of the Senate and the Standing Committee; 

(c)   To declare open or postpone sessions of the Senate and the Standing Committee; 

(d)   To lead discussions and sign the minutes of the Senate's meetings; 

(e)   To ensure the Senate compliance with the internal regulations; 

(f)    To maintain order in the Senate; 

(g)   To represent the Senate for matters related with the King, the National Assembly, or public authorities; 

(h)   To coordinate with the President of the National Assembly to organize joint plenary sessions of the Senate and the National Assembly. 

Article 9:  The two vice presidents shall work as assistants to the President. The vice presidents shall work on behalf of the President when he is absent or unable to work. 

Article 10: The chairman, vice chairmen, and secretary of each committee shall be elected by a vote. 

Each committee shall be comprised of at least five (5) senators. 

The quorum for any session of the Standing Committee or other committees shall be more than one half (1/2) of all senators serving such committee. 

All resolutions of the. Standing Committee and other committees shall be based on an absolute majority of all senators serving in such committee. 

Article 11: When necessary, the Senate may adopt a resolution by an absolute majority vote of all of the senators to establish a special committee comprised of few or many senators as required. 

Article 12: Each committee may request the Senate President to appoint an expert who is not a senator to assist~ in its affairs. The expert shall have  no right to make any decision over the committee's affairs. 

Each committee shall determine its roles, competence, and duties in accordance with the Constitution, the. internal regulations of the National Assembly, and applicable laws of the state and submit them to the Standing Committee for review and approval. 

Article 13: The roles of the Senate Standing Committee shall be as follows: 

  • To manage the Senate's affairs in between sessions;

  • To prepare the agenda for every Senate session;

  • To ensure the functioning of its general secretariat;

  • To propose to the Senate President for the review and decisions on allegation, arrest, custody, or detention in relation to the removal of the senator ship status of any senator or on stripping the immunity from any senator;

If any committee chairman is absent, the vice chairman or secretary of such committee shall be authorized to attend in a Standing Committee session but shall not however have the right to make decisions on behalf of the chairman. 

Article 14: Senators serving in the Standing Committee and other Senate committees who fail to attend sessions without any notification shall be subject to disciplinary sanctions as stipulated under Articles 67 and 68. 

CHAPTER 4

THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT
 

Article 15: The Senate shall have a General Secretariat responsible for preparing minutes of meetings of the Senate,  the Standing Committee, and other committees in addition to handling the Senate administrative affairs and other external relations. 

Article 16: The General Secretariat shall be administered by a Secretary General and assisted by a deputy secretary general. 

The Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General shall be selected amongst high ranking officials who have more than 10 years of administrative experiences, and who are not senators or leaders of any political party. 

Article 17: The Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General shall be appointed by Reach Kret at the request of the Senate President after the consent of the First and Second Vice Presidents. 

The Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General shall enjoy the same title as those of secretary of state and under-secretary of state. 

Article 18: All the General Secretariat staff shall be appointed by the Senate President at the request of the General Secretariat.

Article 19: The General Secretariat shall prepare annexes on the organization and functioning of the General Secretariat and the general statute of civil servants/staff for submission to the Standing Committee for approval and implementation. 

Article 20: All minutes and documents of the Senate shall be kept on file at the General Secretariat and shall not be disclosed to the outside without the written approval of the Senate President. 

CHAPTER 5

AGENDA
 

Article 21: The Senate Standing Committee shall prepare the agenda for every session. 

The President shall read the remaining agenda to the Senate at the end of each session. 

Article 22: The agenda shall be listed in the following order: 

1)    matters declared to be urgent by the Senate; 

2)    matters submitted to the Senate by the National Assembly; 

3)    matters submitted to the Senate by the Royal Government; 

4)    matters submitted to the Senate by its committees; and 

5)    matters submitted to the Senate by a senator. 

CHAPTER 6

DRAFT LAWS, PROPOSED LAWS, AND REVIEW OF ISSUES
 

Article 23: Draft laws or proposed laws that are initially adopted by the National Assembly and the issues that are submitted by the National Assembly for review shall be sent to the Senate Standing Committee. They shall be in writing and be circulated to every senator along with the Statement of Purpose. 

The Senate Standing Committee sends the draft laws or the proposed laws or the issues to the technical expert commission for review. After the review, the commission chairman shall make the commis- sion's recommendations to the Senate. 

Article 24: Proposed laws submitted by the Senate must be in writing and divided into articles attached with the Statement of Purpose. The proposed laws shall be sent to the National Assembly through the Senate Standing Committee after submission to the Senate technical expert commission for recommendation. 

Article 25: Draft laws authors shall have the right to present reports and provide recommendations to support them before the commission review. 

Article 26: The commission reviewing the draft or proposed laws or issues which are initially adopted by the National Assembly, can suggest the Senate the following: 

  • Dismiss and not consider;

  • Express option in advance whether they should consider or not;

  • Accept for consideration and treat the matter as urgent.

Article 27: Proposed laws authors or issues initiators can retract the proposed laws or issues even through the Senate has already begun the debate. For proposed laws or issues revoked, other members can request the Senate to reconsider the debate again. 

CHAPTER 7

DEBATE ON DRAFT LAWS AND PROPOSED LAWS
 

Article 28: Every Senator can request to change the draft laws or proposed laws in writing to either the technical expert commission or to the Senate plenary session. 

Article 29: The Senate can decide to accept or reject the request for debate. 

Article 30:  The Senate does not enact the change on the day requested unless it is consider as urgency. 

Article 31: Debates on draft laws or proposed laws shall be as follows: 

  1. The Senate debates and adopts whether the draft laws or proposed laws should be considered or not.

  2. The Senate meeting shall decide to adopt article by article or chapter by chapter.

The Senate session can use summary procedures to debate only articles or chapters which are requested to be changed in writing as stated in the above articles. 

When ever a procedure is adopted, the Standing Committee shall inform the Senate. 

The Senate adopts the entire draft laws or proposed laws. 

CHAPTER 8

BUDGET OF SENATE 

Article 32: The Senate shall have an autonomous budget for its operations. The Senate budget proposal shall be determined by its Standing Committee and shall be forwarded to the competent ministry for allocation into the state budget. 

CHAPTER 9

EXPRESSION OF OPINIONS (VOTINGS)
 

Article 33: For issues to be reviewed by the Senate, the Senate can vote using either one of the three methods: 

  • By raising hands; 

  • By open vote; or 

  • By secret vote.

Article 34: For vote by raising hands, the President and the secretaries shall count the numbers of members who raise their hands. If they realize that the counting result is not clear, they must have a new vote count again. 

Article 35: When a 'vote by raising hands is done twice and ,the result is still not clear, the Senate shall resort to the use of the open vote. 

  • The open vote method shall be done in the following manner: 

The election commission shall hold the ballot box to collect the ballots from the Senators. The Senators shall write down their names on the ballots. There are three types of ballots: the blue color for disagree", the white color "agree" and white color with blue striped for "abstention". 

After the vote, the secretaries shall count the ballots. After the ballot counts, the Senate President shall announce the result. 

Article 36:  The open platform vote method shall be done in the following manner: 

Each Senator goes to the platform to put his/her ballot into the ballot box. 

The Senate shall resort to the use of this method only when at least 6 Senators have requested it. 

Article 37: The secret vote method shall be used to appoint, to approve, or to adopt motions for censure. 

Article 38: All vote adoptions shall be taken according to the majority votes as determined in the constitution. For other votes the absolute majority of the members of the whole Senate shall be considered as valid.

Article 39: If the numbers of vote for and against are equal, a new voting must take place. If the second result is still equal, the Senate must consider the result as not being agreed upon. 

Article 40: After obtaining the result of the vote, the Senate shall declare whether the Senate has adopted or not rejected the legislation. 

CHAPTER I10

MATTERS DECLARED AS URGENT
 

Article 41:   Draft laws, proposed laws, issues raised, or any motions which are considered as urgent shall be first put in the debate agenda. 

Article 42:   A status of urgent can be requested by the National Assembly, the Royal Government, the initiators of the proposed laws, by the issues initiators, or by the motion initiators. 

The Senate shall decide on the request stated in the above articles. 

Article 43:  Those requesting a status of urgency shall provide their reasons in writing.   The Senate President shall inform the Senate which shall consider whether to agree or disagree with the urgency request.
 

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