Title VI · Execution And The Administration · Public Register of the Republic of Fluid

145

Absence of a head of state

The Republic has no head of state, and nobody personifies it.

1.The Republic has no head of state. The functions that other constitutional orders confer upon such an office are exercised by the Presiding Officer of the Assembly under Article 146, by the Executive Council under Article 153, and by the Assembly itself.
2.In no case does any person embody, personify or represent the unity of the Republic.
3.In no case does any office carry a prerogative, a reserve power, a power of appreciation over the acts of another organ, an immunity, or a precedence beyond those this Constitution expressly states.

146

The Presiding Officer of the Assembly

The Assembly's Presiding Officer chairs it, signs texts and performs protocol, deciding nothing.

1.At its first sitting the Assembly elects from among its members a Presiding Officer and two deputies, by a majority of its members.
2.The Presiding Officer serves for the term of the Assembly, is recalled by it at any time by a majority of its members, and ceases to hold the office upon losing the seat.
3.The Presiding Officer directs the sittings of the Assembly impartially, represents the Assembly before other organs, promulgates and publishes texts under Article 138, receives the envoys of other states and of international bodies upon the proposal of the competent committee, signs instruments of ratification under Title XI, and performs the acts of protocol the Republic requires.
4.In the exercise of the functions of paragraph 3 the Presiding Officer holds no power of appreciation and refuses no act, and Article 138(1) and (2) govern.
5.The Presiding Officer retains the seat and the vote of a member, presides over the Coordinating Bureau, and sits on no executive committee.
6.Where the office is vacant or its holder is prevented, the senior deputy acts.

147

Nature

Execution belongs to committees of the Assembly, and there are no ministers and no cabinets.

1.Execution belongs to the Assembly and is exercised through executive committees composed of its members.
2.The executive committees together form the Executive Council. In no case does the Executive Council exist apart from the Assembly, hold a mandate of its own, or answer to any organ other than the Assembly and the courts.
3.There is no Premier, no minister and no cabinet. In no case is any office of execution filled by a person outside the Assembly, and in no case is any such office the subject of a separate election.
4.Each executive committee prepares the legislation of its field and directs its execution. The body that drafts a law administers it.
5.Execution follows the law and the plan as adopted. In no case does an executive committee hold a policy of its own against the text it executes.

148

Constitution and composition of the committees

Committees are composed in the Assembly's own proportions, so every list is represented.

1.Organic law establishes the fields of execution and constitutes one executive committee for each, and the number of committees in no case exceeds twenty.
2.Within thirty days of its convening, the Assembly constitutes the executive committees for its whole term.
3.The seats of each committee are apportioned among the lists represented in the Assembly in proportion to their seats, by the method of Article 120(2). Every list obtaining seats in the Assembly is represented in every committee whose size permits, and in no case is a list excluded from the Executive Council by reason of its numbers.
4.Each list designates its own members to the committees, and in no case does any other list, organ or officer approve, refuse or alter a designation.
5.Each member sits on one executive committee, and organic law fixes the size of the committees so that the seats available correspond to the membership of the Assembly.
6.Committees comprise no fewer than seven and no more than fifteen members.
7.A change in the strength of the lists during the term, arising from Article 124(3) or from a by-election, alters the composition of the committees at the following ordinary revision, which occurs annually.

149

Chairs and the Coordinating Bureau

Each committee elects a chair, and the chairs form a Bureau that coordinates without commanding.

1.Each committee elects its chair from among its members by a majority of the committee, and the chairs are distributed among the lists so as to reflect their strength in the Assembly.
2.The chair convenes the committee, directs its work and signs its acts, and in no case decides a matter alone or against the committee.
3.The Coordinating Bureau consists of the chairs of the executive committees and is presided over by the Presiding Officer of the Assembly.
4.The Bureau coordinates execution among the fields, settles conflicts of competence between committees, prepares acts requiring the concurrence of several committees, transmits the matters of Article 154(5) to the National Planning Congress, and represents the Executive Council before the Assembly.
5.In no case does the Bureau give an instruction to a committee, revise a decision of a committee, or exercise a power of execution of its own.
6.Acts of the Bureau are taken by a majority of the chairs, are recorded by name, and are published.

150

Recall, vacancy and continuity

The Assembly may recall a member from a committee, or reconstitute a committee entirely.

1.The Assembly may recall a member from an executive committee by a majority of its members, and the list that designated that member designates a successor within fifteen days.
2.A list may replace its own designee at any time by notice to the Presiding Officer, and the replacement takes effect upon publication.
3.A committee whose conduct the Assembly disapproves is reconstituted entire by a majority of the members of the Assembly, and Article 148(3) and (4) govern the fresh composition.
4.In no case does recall, replacement or reconstitution suspend execution, and the committee continues to act throughout.
5.Upon the end of a term the committees continue in office until the succeeding Assembly constitutes new ones, conducting current affairs and adopting no measure admitting of delay.
6.In no case does a vote of the Assembly upon a committee affect the plan adopted under Title IV, the ecological budgets, or the provision guaranteed by Article 62.

151

Responsibility

Committees publish their acts, minutes and named votes, and answer to the Assembly.

1.Each executive committee answers to the Assembly for the execution of its field, reports to it at intervals fixed by the rules of procedure, and publishes its acts, its minutes and its votes by name.
2.Any member may question a committee, which answers within the period fixed by the rules of procedure.
3.The Assembly may constitute a committee of inquiry under Article 132 into the conduct of any executive committee, and the members of that committee attend, testify and produce documents.
4.Members of executive committees are personally liable under Article 43(4) for damage caused by their unlawful acts.
5.Prosecution proceeds under the ordinary law before the ordinary courts. Article 127(1) protects opinions expressed and votes cast, and the office furnishes no further immunity and no privilege of procedure.

152

Conditions and incompatibilities

Committee members keep their seat, hold the same provision as anyone, and declare their interests.

1.Membership of an executive committee is reserved to members of the Assembly and is held for the term of the Assembly, subject to Article 150.
2.Members of executive committees retain their seat and their vote in plenary sitting, and cast no vote upon a motion under Article 150(1) or (3) concerning their own committee, nor upon the annual account of the field they execute.
3.The office is incompatible with the offices listed in Article 125(1), with a management organ of an enterprise, a federation or a public establishment, and with any function in a foreign economic entity.
4.Members declare publicly, on taking the office and annually, their contributions under Article 70, the associations to which they belong, and every interest capable of affecting the office.
5.In no case is the provision of a member of an executive committee distinguishable from that of any other resident, and Article 126(1) and (2) apply.
6.For three years after leaving the office no former member takes a function in a foreign economic entity licensed under Article 21, and organic law fixes the further restrictions this Article requires.

153

Functions of the Executive Council

Committees execute the laws and the plan, and run the administration in their field.

1.The executive committees execute the laws and the plan, direct the administration in their fields, prepare the bills of their fields, conduct the external relations of the Republic under Title XI, direct civil protection, and exercise the civilian direction of the forces under Title X.
2.A committee adopts regulations for the execution of laws within its field, within their limits and for their purposes alone.
3.The committee competent in external relations represents the Republic before other states and before international bodies, and the committee competent in justice represents it before the courts.
4.Each committee reports annually to the Assembly upon its field, and the report is published.
5.Where a matter falls within several fields, the committees act jointly, and the Bureau prepares the act under Article 149(4).

154

Limits of execution

Committees cannot plan, allocate resources, legislate, or restrict a right by regulation.

1.In no case does an executive committee adopt the plan, allocate resources, fix a ceiling, alter an ecological budget, or exercise a power that Title II or Title IV confers on another organ.
2.In no case does a committee legislate in a matter reserved to organic law, restrict a right of Title III by regulation, or amend an act of the Assembly.
3.A regulation exceeding the law it executes is void, and any person may challenge it under Article 43.
4.In no case does a committee alienate a commons resource, grant an exclusive right over knowledge, or submit the Republic to a foreign or arbitral jurisdiction, and Articles 83(2), 10(2) and 21(6) govern.
5.A committee executes the plan as adopted. Where it finds a provision of the plan impracticable, it publishes the finding with its reasons and refers the matter through the Bureau to the National Planning Congress under Article 99, and in no case does it depart from the plan before the referral is decided.
6.The union of legislative and executive functions in the Assembly enlarges the powers of neither, and every act of execution remains subject to Article 137, to Article 43 and to the oversight offices of Title IX.

155

Right of economic initiative

Federations, unions, user assemblies and communal councils can introduce bills and demand answers.

1.Branch federations, cooperatives acting jointly in the number fixed by organic law, unions, user and neighbourhood assemblies, and communal economic councils may introduce a bill in the Assembly under Article 133(1).
2.The same bodies may require an executive committee to consider a measure within its field. The committee answers within sixty days, in writing, publicly, and upon each point raised.
3.The same bodies may require the introduction of a matter into the planning cycle, and the Planning Secretariat places it before the negotiation at the next stage under Article 97(1)(c).
4.The same bodies may require a hearing before the committee of the Assembly competent in the matter, and refusal is permitted only by reasoned decision published with its grounds.
5.Organic law fixes the thresholds of this Article, which in no case exceed what a single branch federation, a single union of national scope, ten cooperatives acting jointly, five user assemblies or three communal economic councils can satisfy.
6.Exercise of a right under this Article is subject to the approval of no organ.

156

Duty of consultation

Measures affecting production, work, provision or ecology are void without prior consultation.

1.Before adopting a regulation, a programme or a measure of execution affecting production, conditions of work, provision or the ecological budgets, the competent executive committee consults the federations, unions, user assemblies, communal councils and regions affected.
2.The committee publishes the objections received and its answer to each substantiated objection, together with the changes made in consequence.
3.A measure adopted without the consultation this Article requires is void.
4.Where a matter admits of no delay, the committee may adopt a measure before consulting, states the grounds of urgency publicly, conducts the consultation within thirty days, and the measure lapses unless confirmed after it.

157

Subsidiarity in execution

Execution belongs to the closest level, and local knowledge prevails on local matters.

1.Execution belongs to the level closest to the persons affected. The executive committees execute what the communes and the regions cannot execute by reason of scale, of the extent of the effects, or of the equality this Constitution requires between territories.
2.A committee assumes a task belonging to a commune or a region only by reasoned decision, limited in time, published, and reviewable under Article 43.
3.In matters of local ecological condition, of local need and of local practice, the knowledge held locally prevails, and Articles 25(1)(d), 83(4) and 97(3) govern.
4.Where a national measure of execution and a local one conflict, the local measure applies, except where the national measure protects the minimum core of Article 41, the ecological budgets, or equality of provision between territories under Article 91(3).
5.The executive committees furnish to the communes and regions the resources, information and technical assistance that execution at their level requires, and in no case may these be withheld for reasons of policy.

158

Principles

The administration must give reasons and decide on time, or the applicant wins by default.

1.The administration serves the residents, acts under law and within its competence, publishes its acts, states its reasons, decides within the periods fixed by law, and answers for its conduct.
2.The administration acts impartially, and Article 38 governs its treatment of every person.
3.Where the administration fails to decide within the period fixed, its silence is taken as a decision favourable to the applicant, except in matters touching the ecological budgets, public health, or the rights of third persons, where silence is taken as a refusal open to appeal.
4.Access to the administration is free of charge in every matter concerning the rights of Title III.

159

The career service

Officials are recruited by open competition, hold tenure, and must refuse unlawful orders.

1.Officers of the administration are recruited by open competition upon published criteria, conducted anonymously so far as the function permits.
2.Officers hold tenure. Removal follows only for cause established by a disciplinary procedure affording a hearing and an appeal to an independent body.
3.Officers execute the law under whatever composition of the Executive Council holds office. An officer refuses a manifestly unlawful order, and this refusal is a duty, is protected under Article 61(3), and grounds no disciplinary measure.
4.Advancement follows demonstrated competence upon published criteria, and Article 38 governs.
5.Officers exercising functions exposed to corruption are rotated at intervals fixed by organic law, and the register of officers, their functions and their declarations of interest is public.
6.Officers hold the working time of Article 72 and the provision of Articles 62 and 107, and in no case is their provision distinguishable by reason of rank.

160

(Vacant. Political cabinets are abolished by Article 147(3). The number is reserved for renumbering at the drafting stage)

Vacant. Political cabinets are abolished by Article 147.

161

Administrative procedure

You are heard before an adverse decision, and can appeal to an independent body and then a court.

1.Before an adverse decision the person concerned is heard, has access to the file, and is informed of the matters weighing against them.
2.Decisions state their reasons in writing, name the person deciding, and state the remedy available and its period.
3.Article 51(5) and (6) govern every decision assisted by an automated system, and Article 51(7) prohibits the systems there named.
4.Every decision is open to review by an independent body and thereafter to the courts under Article 77.

162

Liability

The Republic pays for unlawful administration, and officials answer personally for serious fault.

1.The Republic answers for damage caused by the unlawful action or inaction of the administration, and reparation follows Article 43.
2.Officers are personally liable for damage caused by gross fault or by wilful misconduct, and the Republic recovers from them what it has paid.
3.In no case does an order of a superior exonerate the officer who executed a manifestly unlawful act.

163

Public functions inalienable

Custody, inspection, registers, planning systems and essential provision can never be contracted out.

1.Public functions are exercised by the administration, by public establishments, by communes and by regions.
2.In no case is a public function conferred upon an entity operating for gain or upon a foreign economic entity, and Article 21 governs.
3.In no case are custody of persons, inspection, coercion, adjudication, the keeping of registers, the operation of the planning systems, or the administration of essential provision delegated to any body outside paragraph 1.

164

Public information systems

Public systems run on free and open software, with open formats and no single supplier.

1.The information systems of the administration and of planning run on free and open software under Article 109(5), and their source, interfaces and formats are public under Article 109(6).
2.Public registers are open, machine-readable, permanent and free of charge, and Article 61(2) governs any withholding.
3.In no case does an automated system take a decision, and Article 90(3) governs the planning systems.
4.Dependence of a public system upon a single supplier is prohibited, and the Republic retains the capacity to operate, modify and maintain every system it uses.

165

Account and audit

The Bureau publishes an annual account of the administration in physical units.

1.The Coordinating Bureau submits to the Assembly and to the Audit Office of Title IX an annual account of the administration, expressed in physical units and in the ecological accounts of Title II.
2.The account is published, and Article 144(4) governs its examination.

Execution And The Administration

Chapter 1 · Representation of the Republic