1. Right of Petition

(i)    Any Citizen of the Partner States, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Partner State, shall have the right to address, individually or in association with other citizens or persons, a petition to the Assembly on a matter which comes within the Community’s fields of activity and which affects him, her or it directly.

(ii)    Petitions to the Assembly shall show the name, occupation, nationality and permanent address of each petitioner.

(iii)    Petition must be written in the official language of the Community, which is English.  Petitions written in any other language will be considered only where the petitioner has attached a translation or summary drawn up in official language of the Community

(iv)    Petitions shall be entered in a register in the order in which they are received if they comply with the conditions laid down in sub-rule (2), those that do not shall not be filed and the petitioner shall be informed of the reasons therefore.

(v)    Petitions entered in the register shall be forwarded by the Speaker to the Committee responsible, which shall first ascertain whether the petitions registered fall within the sphere of activities of the Community.

(vi)    Petitions declared inadmissible by the Committee shall not be filed; the petitioner shall be informed of the decision and the reasons therefore.

(vii)    In such cases the Committee may suggest to the petitioner, that he contacts the competent authority of the Partner State concerned or of the Community.

(viii)    Unless the person submitting the petition asks for it to be treated in confidence, it shall be entered in a public register.

 

2. Examination of Petition

(i)    The Committee responsible may decide to draw up a report or otherwise express its opinion on petitions it has declared admissible.

(ii)    When considering petitions, the Committee may organize hearings or dispatch Members to establish the facts of the situation.

(iii)    The Committee shall where necessary submit motions for resolutions to the Assembly or petitions which it has considered.

(iv)   The Speaker shall inform petitioners of the decisions taken and the 
reasons therefore.


3. Notice of Petitions

(i)    Notice shall be given in the Assembly of the petitions entered in the register referred to in Rule 85(1) (d) and the main decisions on the procedure to be followed in relation to specific petitions.

(ii)    The title and a summary of the texts of petitions entered in the register, together with the texts of the opinions and the most important decisions forwarded in connection with the examination of the petitions, shall be made available to the public in a database, provided the petitioner agrees to this. Confidential petitions shall be preserved in the records of the Assembly, where they shall be available for inspection by Members.