The Presidency of the Parliamentary Summit for Hemispheric Integration, with a view to ensuring transparency and speed to the works of its Thematic Committees, rules as follows:

Article 1. These Regulations shall instruct the functioning and organization of all works developed within the scope of the Thematic Committees and the Committee-General of the Parliamentary Summit for Hemispheric Integration.

Article 2. The Committees sessions shall be public and held at the venue and time determined by the Summit Board.

Article 3. The Summit’s plenary session will be the Committee-General assembly, to be chaired by its President, upon receipt of the Thematic Committees’ reports, which will be incorporated, after debates, to an official document comprising the approved conclusions.

Article 4. The Committees shall limit their discussions to the items contained in their respective agendas.

Article 5. National State representatives and representatives from international organizations not enrolled in the Summit, as well as other invited guests, will follow the Committees meetings as observers only and be given no voice.

Article 6. Each Committee Board shall be comprised by a President, and two Vice-Presidents from different States, to be appointed by the Summit Board from among the legislative house Speakers participating in the Summit.

Article 7. It is the responsibility of the Committee President:

I – to sign all documents issued by the Committee;

II – to preside the meetings and ensure observance of order and the required protocol;

III – to inform the Committee of every incoming matter and forward it accordingly;

IV – to inform the Committee of the meetings’ agenda;

V – to assign the floor Committee members, for the preiods of time stipulated herein;

VI – to settle any disputes, claims, and omissions arising from these Regulations that may have an impact on the works of the Committee;

VII – to sign, jointly with the Reporteur, the Committee report;

VIII – to submit the Committee report to the Summit Board.

Paragraph 1. Committee Board members must not serve in the capacity of reporteur.

Paragraph 2. Each Committee shall be aided by an Administrative Support Secretariat.

Article 8. The Committees’ Reporteurs, and their respective Deputy Reporteurs, shall be chosen from among representatives of the Host Country, following an appointment by the Speaker of the House.

Paragraph 1. It is a duty incumbent on the Reporteur to copyedit the text to be submitted to the Committee-General.

Paragraph 2. The expression of dissonant opinions by Committee members regarding the issues at hand shall be included in the annals of the Summit.

Article 9. The Committee works shall be initiated only in the presence of at least half of its members.

Article 10. In debating the matters, the Committee shall observe the following procedures:

I – members wishing to debate the matters contained in the agenda shall sign up before the Committee Board prior to the start of discussions;

II – once debates are in progress, the Committee members may have the floor for a fixed, non-extendable period of 10 minutes, following the sign-up order, mindful of the possibility of a requirement being made to end the discussions after five debaters have spoken;

III – the Committee Board shall acknowledge contributions in written form from Committee members not making oral statements, such possibility being extended also to Observers.

Article 11. Committee Members will interrupt a speaker only when they are yielded to.

Sole Paragraph. Contributions yielded to shall take up the time assigned to the speaker.

Article 12. In appreciating the reports from Thematic Committees at the Committee-General, the following procedures should be attended to:

I – members wishing to discuss the report shall sign-up before the Summit Board, prior to the start of discussions;

II – after an issue is introduced by the President, the floor shall be given to the Reporteur, who will read the report;

III - once the report is open to discussions, members may have the floor for a fixed, non-extendable period of 3 minutes, following the sign-up order, mindful of the possibility of a requirement being made to end the discussions after five debaters have spoken;

IV – the President may see it fit to concede to the Reporteur an additional, non-extendable period of five minutes to reply, in this case assigning equal time to the member voicing a dissonant opinion to justify his intervention.

Article 13. The Legislative Advisory Staff shall be responsible for coordinating the works of the Committees.

Art. 14. These Regulations shall enter into force on the date of Thematic Committees inauguration.

Brasilia, November 19, 2002.