File n° 59 

I. – Publication of parliamentary proceedings

1. – Public debates

From the home page of the site, the netsurfer may access the order papers, agendas and minutes of the debates of the National Assembly and of its committees and delegations. The provisional minutes of a plenary sitting are on line two hours after the opening of the sitting, the complete analytical minutes are on line three hours after the end of the sitting and the official verbatim minutes are on line two days after.

2. – Legislation

The internet site of the National Assembly relates the entire adoption procedure for laws passed by term of Parliament and for resolutions passed by the National Assembly. It publishes all parliamentary documents produced during these procedures: Government bills, Members’ bills, legislative reports, results of votes and bills passed.

For each term of Parliament, it provides a legislative file in which each bill may be followed from its original tabling to its final passing by means of a specific interactive folder.

3. – Monitoring Government

A search engine grants access to written questions and ministerial replies for the X^th, XI^th and XII^th Parliaments, i.e. since 1993. Pictures of Government question time are also archived.

The site publishes the information reports of the committees, delegations and fact-finding missions of the National Assembly, as well as those of its offices and its parliamentary committees of inquiry.

II. – Notes on and photographs of M.P.s

The notes on and photographs of M.P.s are placed on line and archived by term of Parliament. Each file relates the biography, terms and works of the M.P. and provides the opportunity of writing to him and visiting his personal site. During election time, the links between the site of the National Assembly and these personal sites are suspended.

III. – European and international Activities
 of the National Assembly

The Constitution has provided the Parliament with a mission to monitor European legislative procedure. Thus the site of the National Assembly publishes the work, minutes and the information reports of the delegation which follows the procedures for the drawing-up of European law. It also publishes documents relating to resolutions adopted by the National Assembly on draft bills emanating from European Union bodies.

The international activities of the National Assembly which are announced in a weekly diary, lead to the publication of numerous documents on the site. These include reports of friendship groups, the proceedings of colloquia or speeches.

IV. – events at the Palais Bourbon

Events or exhibitions which take place at the National Assembly are announced on the site.

V. –  interactive Services

1. –  Portal to other sites

The home page of the internet site of the National Assembly grants access to the site of the programmes televised by the parliamentary television channel LCP-Assemblée nationale, as well as to a site, managed in collaboration with the National Education Ministry, given over to civic instruction for children.

2. – General Information

The role, the working and the history of the National Assembly are described on interactive pages or by more complete texts. The books in the collection “Connaissance de l’Assemblée” (“Getting to Know the National Assembly”) are reproduced. A virtual visit of the Palais Bourbon is also provided as well as an organization chart and a journey through the various departments. The mechanisms for the recruitment of parliamentary civil servants are updated with each new competitive examination.

One section deals with practical information allowing citizens to access or visit the National Assembly as well as to attend a debate in the public gallery.

The plan of the site and the main sections are provided in four languages: English, German, Italian and Spanish.

3. –  Publications List

Publications lists, available by subscription, including one about the European activities of the National Assembly, allow subscribers to receive the list of documents which have just been published on the site, every day of sitting. A hypertext link means that subscribers can access it directly. On June 30, 2006, there were 18 000 subscribers.

4. –  Document search

Several search engines, in full text or by reference, allow netsurfers to search the whole site, as well as certain sections or collections of documents which they have pre-selected. Several collections of statistics on the make-up of the National Assembly and its proceedings are published each session.

VI. – technical ConsidErations

The conception and maintenance of the site are carried out by the multimedia team in the Communication, Multimedia Information and Information Systems Departments of the National Assembly.

A general update of the pages published is systematically carried out every day around 7am, preceded by an update of the information provided by the different databases of the information system.

Specific updates are also carried out quite regularly during the day, depending on the agenda, the availability of the most frequently requested documents and the progress of the proceedings in plenary sitting. Thus it is possible to consult an incomplete version of the analytical minutes of debates which is updated all along the sitting.

The internal production site is duplicated outside the National Assembly and is accessible on the web via a host transmission server which is managed by a company chosen after tender. The radio and televised broadcasting of the plenary sitting is hosted separately.

The on-line information on the site of the National Assembly is public. The reproduction of the contents of the site pages may be authorized, particularly for publishers and those transmitting public data, by prior written request and on the condition of mentioning the source, not infringing intellectual property rights and respecting the integrity of the documents reproduced. In no case may this information be used for commercial or advertising reasons without the express agreement of the National Assembly.