On May 16, 2017, the Bureau of the Parliament approved the Open Parliament Action Plan 2017-2018. The Action Plan was drafted by the Permanent Council on Open Governance, with the active participation of the Consultative Group. The Action Plan envisages commitments in line with the principles of OGP: accessibility to information, citizen engagement, accountability, technology and innovations.

Important and ambitious commitments were included in the 2015-2016 Action Plan, which was approved on July 17, 2016 at the sitting of the parliamentary bureau. In spite of the active participation of the civil society organizations, the implementation of the first action plan was not conducted successfully, as there were many problems in the fulfilment of the individual commitments.

Out of 18 commitments, only 5 were fully fulfilled, while 9 were fulfilled partially. Amongst the unfulfilled commitments there were several ambitious commitments, including:

• Drafting Code of Ethics for MPs
• Improving Explanatory Notes

Transparency International Georgia monitored the fulfillment of the Action Plan, having published two monitoring reports on the process.

Initiatives Presented by Transparency International Georgia

After the completion of the First Open Action Plan, the Permanent Council on Open and Transparent Governance began work on formulating the next action plan. At the first meeting, there were discussions on transferring the unfulfilled commitments from the First Open Parliament Action Plan into the Second Action Plan.

During the work on the new Action Plan, Transparency International Georgia recommended seven new initiatives:

3 recommendations were fully included in the new Action Plan:

• Information on justified absences of MPs from committee and plenary sittings should be available on the parliamentary webpage
• Information on the work trips and expenses of MPs should be made available on the parliamentary webpage
• Raising Public Education and Awareness on Activities, Role and Mission of the Parliament of Georgia; Strengthening Institutional Image and Role of the Parliament of Georgia

1 recommendation has been partially included:

• The rules of procedure of the Parliament should determine the procedures and response mechanisms for the discussions of reports on freedom of information. Reports on FOI should be discussed at the committee and plenary sittings, which should be held by public agencies in December of every year. Effective response mechanisms should be formulated. According to the decision of the Permanent Council, the consolidated report on FOI will be presented at the committee sitting.

3 recommendations were not included in the Action Plan:

• Stenographic records of committee sittings should be made available within 1 day
• Thematic video archive for plenary and committee recordings
• The implementation of a subscription service, which will allow regular citizens to receive updates on parliamentary activities, including the work of the committees

Commitments that were transferred from the first Action Plan into the new one:

• Improvement of Explanatory Notes: The indicators for the commitment were changed, namely: instead of the decision of the bureau, the commitment now includes a requirement for changes to the rules of procedure and respective normative acts
• Obligation to Develop Justifications for Changes to the Agenda: The indicators for this commitment were altered: the changes to the agenda are made in case of respective justification, and improvement of regulation of expedited hearings of draft laws

Commitments and indicators in the 2017-2018 Action Plan

Three meetings were held between the Council and Consultative Group. Finally, 28 commitments were included in the 2017-2018 Action Plan, including 16 commitments transferred from the 2015-2016 Action Plan, which were either partially or completely unfulfilled. Those commitments, that were not implemented under the 2015-2016 Action Plan and were transferred to the new Action Plan, have been partially amended. For example, the commitment on deputy questions envisaged the publishing of statistics on the webpage; in the new Action Plan, the statistical information on the questions sent by committees will also be published. Also, the physical access commitment has been amended in a way to guarantee a more visible spot for the access information on the webpage.

We provide you the brief overview of the 2017-2018 Open Parliament Action Plan, the timely implementation of which will improve the work of the Parliament:

Citizen Engagement

• Implementation of an electronic system for petitions (Institute for Development of Freedom of Information)
• Improving the mechanism for engaging citizens in the discussion of constitutional amendments  (National Democratic Institute)

• Submitting Legislative Proposals and Initiatives Electronically to the Parliament of Georgia and Implementing its Support Mechanism through the Official Website of the Parliament of Georgia (Institute for Development of Freedom of Information)
• Empowering Citizens to Engage in the Legislative Process (GYLA), Institute for Development of Freedom of Information)
• Easing Access to the Parliamentary Information for Persons with Disabilities (Institute for Development of Freedom of Information(),  UNDP)
• Raising awareness of OGP activities (Georgian Parliament, Transparency International Georgia)
• Ensuring Physical Access (Transparency International Georgia)
• Developing and Approving the State Concept of CSO Development (Civil Society Institute)

Accessibility

• Updating the List of Public Information to be Proactively Published by the Parliament of Georgia (Transparency International Georgia, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information,  UNDP, GYLA)
• Posting Changes and Edits Made to Initial Draft Legislation on the Website of the Parliament of Georgia in a Visible and Timely Manner (GYLA)
• Publishing of information on Majoritarian MPs on the parliamentary webpage (Georgian Parliament)
• Timely publication of information related to committee proceedings and video recordings of hearings (GYLA)
• Preparation of action plans by committees at the start of each year (UNDP)

Accountability

• Conducting Annual Meeting of the Parliament of Georgia and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) (Civil Society Institute)
• Drafting and publication of annual reports on parliamentary performance (GIZ)
• Implementation of self-assessment mechanisms by the Parliament (Georgian Parliament)

Transparency

• Increasing the amount of ad hoc investigative committees (GYLA)
• Monitoring system for FOI reports (Institute for Development of Freedom of Information and Transparency International Georgia)
• Developing Code of Ethics for Members of the Parliament of Georgia (National Democratic Institute)
• Improving the Content of Explanatory Notes (Transparency International Georgia)
• Obligation to Develop Justifications for Changes to the Agenda and expedited hearings (Transparency International Georgia)
• Monitoring/oversight over the executive OGP in Georgia (Georgian Parliament)

Technology and Innovation

• Improving voting records in the Parliament (National Democratic Institute and Jumpstart)
• Creating an information module for the parliamentary webpage (Institute for Development of Freedom of Information)
• Restructuring of the parliamentary webpage (Georgian Parliament)