# CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF FLUID

**Complete draft with Preamble and Titles I to XIII, 340 articles.**

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## Standing decisions of record

| Question | Decision |
| --- | --- |
| Economic core | Planned core, cooperative producers, no capital markets, physical accounting first, currency abolished as capital and reduced to a residual entitlement device |
| Planning direction | Councils propose, each level negotiates and reconciles |
| Enterprise failure | Support permitted, with published reasons and a terminal date |
| Consumption | Free provision wide, including computing and communication devices; residual unit covers minor discretionary goods; resource-intensive goods held in common |
| Rights of nature | All nature holds rights, universal standing; foreign economic entities held to a distinct and stricter regime |
| Ecological budgets | Ecological Budget Authority sets them, binding, courts enforce |
| Throughput | Steady state cap at a safe level |
| Nuclear fission | Permitted as a transitional source until full renewable supply is certified |
| Animals | Husbandry approximating natural upbringing now; extension of rights on certification of sufficient cultured meat |
| Rights holders | All rights to all residents; citizenship automatic after five years and carrying no additional right |
| Social rights | Minimum core enforceable now, reasonableness review above it |
| Contribution | Duty to contribute, care and study counted, presumed of every person, unconditional in effect |
| Legislature | One elected Assembly of two hundred members |
| Electoral system | Open-list proportional in twenty sub-regional districts, proportionality computed nationally |
| Local decision | Direct democracy where practicable, councils where it is not |
| Constitutional veto | Preventive review by the Constitutional Chamber over ecology, rights and constitutional matters |
| Head of state | None. The Presiding Officer of the Assembly acts |
| Executive | Executive committees of the Assembly, composed in its proportions. No premier, no ministers, no cabinets |
| Territorial tiers | Four governing tiers: commune, sub-region, region, Republic |
| Competences | General competence for communes, enumerated lists above them |
| Territorial resources | Direct allocation to each commune by published formula, no tax |
| Economic councils | Answerable to the elected council of the same tier, and the Congress to the Assembly |
| Default of a territory | Court appoints a commissioner for named tasks, the council remains |
| Constitutional justices | Drawn by lot from a public pool, confirmed by the Judicial Council |
| Effect of unconstitutionality | Declaration of incompatibility, cure period, lapse on expiry |
| Judges | Judicial Council, open competition, single twelve-year term |
| Judicial Council | Majority residents drawn by lot, minority judges elected by judges |
| Trials | Professional judges. Lay participation through restorative panels |
| Anti-capture | Publicity, random assignment, rotated leadership, external inspectorate |
| Democratic self-defence | Substantive limits on acts, plus a monitoring office. No ideological classification |
| Name of the regime | Participatory democracy |
| Oversight offices | Five offices. Heads drawn by lot, confirmed by the Judicial Council |
| Voting | Paper for national procedures. Audited free-software electronic voting for local ones |
| Emergency | Bureau declares, Assembly confirms by two thirds within seven days, six months in twenty-four |
| Armed forces | Territorial Defence militia, voluntary, no conscription, no standing army |
| Policing | Communal, unarmed by default, armoury on judicial authorisation |
| Action abroad | Defence automatic at home. Anything beyond the frontier needs a referendum |
| Union | The Democratic Socialist Bloc deepened. Common standards, no direct effect |
| Defectors | Citizenship on recognition, without the five-year residence |
| Imports | Domestic capacity first. Costly imports licensed, Ecological Authority may veto |
| Solidarity | Floor of one hundredth of allocated resources, the Congress may exceed it |
| Amendment | Referendum in every case, initiated by the Assembly or by residents |
| Unamendable core | Eleven limbs. The rest of Titles I to III amendable by ordinary constitutional procedure |
| Replacement | Convention elected for the purpose, ratified by referendum, core survives |
| Accessibility | Official summary without legal force, booklet to every dwelling, ten-year review |

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## PREAMBLE

We, the residents of the Republic of Fluid, adopt this Constitution. We must take care of our soil, water, air and people. Our earlier texts declared rights and named nobody to enforce them. No person owns the labour of another and what all of us need is furnished to each of us freely. Our borders are open to those in flight. Reasoning systems weigh and count, but we decide. This text is long because governance is complex.

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# TITLE I: FOUNDATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC

**Article 1. Nature of the Republic**
1. The Republic of Fluid is a sovereign republic, constituted as a participatory democracy, founded on the rule of law, on the social ownership of the means of production, and on the permanent obligation to sustain the ecological conditions of life.
2. Its legal order is unitary. Its communes and regions govern themselves under Title VII.
3. The republican form of government is perpetual.

**Article 2. Human dignity**
1. Human dignity is inviolable. All public authority is bound to respect and protect it.
2. In no case does an emergency, an economic plan, a majority or an international obligation authorise its violation.

**Article 3. Sovereignty of the people**
1. Sovereignty belongs to the people of the Republic and is exercised only through the institutions and procedures established by this Constitution.
2. The people exercise sovereignty directly through communal assembly, popular initiative and referendum; through bodies drawn by lot; through the workplace, user and neighbourhood assemblies of Titles IV and VII; and through elected representatives and mandated delegates. Participation extends to those who work in an undertaking, use a service, inhabit a territory or bear an ecological burden, in the decisions that affect them. In no case is participation reduced to the periodic election of representatives.
3. Whoever assumes public power outside the procedures of this Constitution commits usurpation. Prosecution of usurpation is subject to no limitation of time, and no obedience is owed to its author.

**Article 4. Supremacy and direct effect**
1. This Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic.
2. It binds the legislature, the executive committees and the administration, the courts, the communes, the regions, the planning bodies, the cooperatives and every holder of delegated public function.
3. The rights guaranteed in Title III have direct effect and may be invoked before any court without implementing legislation.
4. A norm, act, plan or decision that conflicts with this Constitution is void to the extent of the conflict.

**Article 5. Ecological foundation**
1. The Republic exists within a finite biosphere. Maintenance of its regenerative capacity conditions the validity of all economic planning.
2. Public authorities, communes, regions and economic organisations conduct their activity within the ecological budgets established under Title II.
3. Ecological harm is prevented at source. Where prevention fails, restoration is owed to the affected system and to the persons and communities injured.
4. Scientific uncertainty about the extent of an ecological harm justifies protective measures and furnishes no ground for deferring them.
5. The natural heritage is held in trust for succeeding generations. Depletion transferred to the future is accounted as a present cost.

**Article 6. Social ownership**
1. The means of production are held in social ownership.
2. Social ownership takes four forms: the commons, held by the whole people and inalienable; cooperative usufruct, held by the working members of an enterprise for the duration of their work in it; communal and regional enterprise; and public establishments serving universal needs.
3. Holding a productive asset confers no right to income from it. Income arising from the bare holding of productive assets is abolished.
4. Capital markets, tradable claims on productive assets, rent extracted from land, enterprises operating for profit, and the employment of persons for the appropriation of their surplus labour are prohibited.
5. Personal property is guaranteed under Title III.

**Article 7. Coordination of the economy**
1. The economy is planned for the satisfaction of declared and assessed human needs within the ecological budgets of Title II.
2. Planning proceeds by physical accounting. Energy, materials, water, land, emissions, labour time and the useful life of goods are the primary units of the plan.
3. Essential goods and services, enumerated in Title IV, are provided free at the point of use and allocated according to registered need.
4. Every resident holds the right to register their needs and the duty to register them truthfully. Aggregated need declarations are a binding input to the plan and are published in anonymised form.
5. Currency understood as a store of value, an instrument of accumulation or a claim upon the labour of others is abolished. Where a unit of account remains necessary for goods outside the essential provision, that unit is personal, non-transferable, non-accumulable, expiring, and issued on equal terms under Title IV.
6. Cooperatives coordinate horizontally by negotiated agreement and vertically through the planning bodies of Title IV. Each enterprise operates under a binding resource ceiling and bears the consequences of its own performance.
7. Sufficiency, durability, repair, reuse and the return of materials to productive use are objectives of the plan and criteria of its lawfulness.

**Article 8. Territory**
1. The territory comprises the land, inland waters, territorial sea, airspace, subsoil and adjacent seabed of the Republic.
2. The territory is indivisible. In no case may a portion of it be alienated, ceded, leased to the exclusive use of a foreign power, or made the site of a foreign military installation.
3. Division of the territory into communes and regions is governed by Title VII.

**Article 9. Common heritage**
1. Land, watercourses, watersheds, aquifers, forests, wetlands, coastlines, the seabed, the atmosphere, mineral deposits, the electromagnetic spectrum and the genetic heritage of the territory constitute the common heritage of the people.
2. The common heritage is inalienable, unseizable and imprescriptible. Its use is granted as revocable usufruct on the conditions set in Titles II and IV.

**Article 10. Knowledge commons**
1. Scientific knowledge, software, technical designs, seed varieties, pharmaceutical formulations and cultural works produced with public resources belong to the knowledge commons and are open to all persons on equal terms.
2. Exclusive rights over the use of knowledge, including patents, are prohibited within the Republic.
3. Authorship is protected by attribution and by the moral rights defined in Title III.

**Article 11. Secularity**
1. The Republic is secular. Public authority adopts no religion or worldview, funds none, hinders the practice of none and privileges the practice of none.
2. No public office carries a religious qualification.
3. Public education transmits verified knowledge and the methods by which knowledge is tested.

**Article 12. Political pluralism**
1. Political pluralism is guaranteed and constitutes a condition of the legitimacy of public power.
2. Parties, trade unions, cooperative federations and civic associations form freely, govern themselves democratically, and publish their statutes, membership rules and accounts.
3. A political association may be restricted or dissolved only by judgment of the Constitutional Court, upon proof that it pursues by force or by fraud the abolition of democratic self-government, of social ownership, or of the equal dignity of persons. The judgment specifies the acts proved and the measure proportionate to them.
4. In no case may an administrative authority classify a political association by its ideology, and no electoral consequence attaches to such classification.

**Article 13. Distribution and accountability of powers**
1. The judicial, planning and oversight functions are exercised by bodies distinct from the Assembly and from one another. The legislative and executive functions are united in the Assembly, which legislates in plenary sitting and executes through the committees constituted under Title VI.
2. In no case may a body exercise a power that this Constitution confers on another. The union of functions under paragraph 1 is controlled by the courts, by the organs of planning, by the offices of Title IX, and by the residents through the recall of Article 128 and the referendum of Article 140.
3. Every holder of public office is accountable for its exercise, removable by the procedures of this Constitution, and personally liable for damage caused by unlawful acts.
4. Terms of office are limited in duration. Accumulation of offices is restricted under Title IX.

**Article 14. Legality, publicity and non-retroactivity**
1. Public authority acts on the basis of law, within its limits, and for the purpose for which the power was conferred.
2. A legal norm binds only after publication in the public register. Secret law produces no effect.
3. Retroactive application of a norm creating or aggravating liability is prohibited. A more favourable penal law applies retroactively.
4. Administrative and planning decisions state their reasons in writing and are open to challenge before an independent body.

**Article 15. Reception of international law**
1. Treaties ratified under Title XI form part of the law of the Republic and prevail over ordinary statute.
2. Peremptory norms of general international law bind the Republic at all times.
3. In no case may a treaty diminish the rights guaranteed in Title III or the ecological budgets established under Title II. Where an international obligation conflicts with them, the Republic seeks its revision and applies the domestic standard in the interval.

**Article 16. Languages, symbols and seat**
1. Every person may address public authority in a language they understand, with interpretation and translation provided free of charge. The languages of official record are determined by organic law.
2. The flag, emblem and public holidays of the Republic are established by organic law.
3. The seat of the institutions of the Republic is fixed by organic law.

**Article 17. Organic laws**
1. Matters that this Constitution reserves to organic law are regulated by statute adopted under the reinforced procedure of Title V.
2. An organic law may develop the Constitution and may add nothing to it. Its conformity is verified by the Constitutional Court before promulgation.

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# TITLE II: ECOLOGICAL ORDER

## Chapter 1: Rights of Nature

**Article 18. Rights of natural entities**
1. Nature holds the right to exist, to persist, to maintain its cycles, structures and functions, and to be restored where it has been damaged.
2. These rights belong to ecosystems, watersheds, watercourses, aquifers, forests, wetlands, soils, coastal and marine systems, the atmosphere, and to species and their populations, whether or not any statute names them.
3. Organic law may name particular entities and confer legal personality upon them. Absence of such naming diminishes no right under this Article.
4. The rights of nature bind public authorities, communes, regions, planning bodies, cooperatives, associations and persons alike.

**Article 19. Standing**
1. Any person may bring an action in the name of a natural entity to prevent, halt or remedy a violation of Article 18. No showing of personal injury, residence, nationality or economic interest is required.
2. Communes, regions, cooperatives, unions, scientific institutions, associations and the Ecological Budget Authority hold the same standing.
3. Court fees, security for costs and adverse costs orders are excluded in actions under this Article, except where the court finds the action vexatious.
4. A settlement or withdrawal in an action under this Article takes effect only upon judicial approval, and the court may substitute another applicant to continue the proceedings.

**Article 20. Guardianship and remedies**
1. Where an entity is named under Article 18(3), the court or the organic law appoints guardians who act in its interest and account publicly for their conduct. Guardianship confers no ownership and no power of disposal.
2. Remedies comprise cessation, interim injunction, restoration of the affected system to its prior condition, compensation applied to that system in priority to any other claimant, and where restoration is impossible, permanent protection of an equivalent system.
3. Restoration is owed by the author of the harm in labour, materials and energy drawn from that author's own resource allocation.
4. Officers and members who decided upon or executed the harmful act are personally liable, and the liability of an organisation extinguishes no personal liability.
5. Grave and either widespread or long-lasting damage to a natural system constitutes the offence of ecocide, prosecuted under Title VIII.

**Article 21. Foreign economic entities**
1. Enterprises, cooperatives and associations constituted under foreign law, or controlled from abroad, may carry on economic activity in the Republic only under a public licence, revocable and limited in time.
2. Such entities hold the rights conferred by their licence and by statute. The constitutional guarantees attaching to the forms of social ownership under Article 6 do not extend to them.
3. The Republic may reserve sectors to domestic social ownership, set quantitative ceilings on imports, impose sourcing, disclosure, labour, ecological and reparation duties stricter than those borne by domestic organisations, and require the transfer of technique to the knowledge commons as a condition of licence.
4. In any proceeding under this Title, a foreign economic entity bears the burden of proving that its activity conforms to the applicable ecological budgets.
5. A foreign economic entity may challenge a measure of ecological or economic protection on grounds of procedural regularity alone, and may invoke no right under Title III, which is reserved to natural persons.
6. In no case may the Republic be submitted to foreign or arbitral jurisdiction in a dispute with such an entity. Disputes are heard by the courts of the Republic.
7. This Article applies to entities. Natural persons hold the rights guaranteed in Title III irrespective of nationality, residence or status.

## Chapter 2: The Ecological Budgets

**Article 22. Steady state**
1. The aggregate throughput of energy and materials of the Republic is held constant at the safe level determined under this Chapter.
2. Where measured throughput exceeds the safe level, a binding schedule of reduction applies until the level is reached, whereupon the cap holds.
3. Gains in efficiency, technique or organisation are applied to sufficiency of provision, restoration of damaged systems, reduction of working time, durability of goods and the reserve margin. In no case are they applied to an expansion of throughput.
4. Output, provision and quality of life may rise only within a constant throughput.
5. The cap is expressed both in aggregate and per resident, and revision of either figure follows Article 25.

**Article 23. Content of the budgets**
1. The ecological budgets fix, for the Republic and for each region and watershed, the ceilings and floors governing:
   a) primary energy supplied, by source;
   b) materials extracted, imported and placed in use, by mass and by category;
   c) greenhouse gas emissions, together with a cumulative budget expressed as a total remaining quantity;
   d) freshwater abstraction and return, computed per basin;
   e) conversion, sealing and degradation of land and soil;
   f) nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrient flows;
   g) release of toxic and novel substances;
   h) harvest of forests, fisheries and other living populations, set below documented regeneration;
   i) the minimum area and connectivity of habitat held in protection;
   j) the minimum quantity of restoration owed in each period.
2. Materials and energy embodied in imports are counted against the budgets of the Republic. In no case may a domestic ceiling be discharged by purchase of an offset, credit or entitlement outside the territory.
3. Budgets are set for periods of five years, with annual ceilings within each period.

**Article 24. The Ecological Budget Authority**
1. The Ecological Budget Authority determines the ecological budgets. It is independent of the executive committees, of the planning bodies and of the Assembly.
2. Its members are appointed for a single term of nine years from among persons of established scientific standing in the earth, life and ecological sciences, in ecological economics and in the knowledge of the territory, by the procedure of organic law, which secures disciplinary diversity and excludes appointment by any single organ.
3. A member may be removed during the term only by judgment of the Constitutional Court for incapacity or grave misconduct, and holds no other public office, no office in an economic organisation and no interest in any licensed foreign entity.
4. Its resources are fixed as a share of the plan, and in no case may they be reduced by any organ during a term.
5. It may require from any organ, commune, region, cooperative or licensed entity any information, measurement, sample or access necessary to its function, and it maintains the monitoring system of Article 35.
6. It publishes its data, methods, models, assumptions and the identity and reasoning of dissenting members. Deliberations conducted in secret produce no valid budget.

**Article 25. Procedure**
1. Before adopting a budget the Authority collects and examines:
   a) the ecological reports of cooperatives and enterprises on their own operations;
   b) the reports and objections of worker assemblies, consumer assemblies and unions;
   c) the ecological studies and monitoring records of communes and regions;
   d) the knowledge held by inhabitants of the affected territory concerning its condition and history;
   e) independent scientific work submitted by any person or institution.
2. Failure to furnish a report required under paragraph 1(a) is an offence and grounds for suspension of the resource allocation of the organisation in default.
3. The draft budget is published for ninety days. Every substantiated objection receives a written and public answer, and the final budget states the changes made in consequence.
4. Any person may petition for revision upon new evidence. The Authority answers within ninety days, and its refusal is reviewable under Article 27.
5. A region or commune may adopt local limits stricter than the budget. Adoption of weaker limits is void.
6. Revision that raises a ceiling requires published evidence that the higher figure remains within documented regenerative capacity, together with the concurring opinion of the scientific institutions designated by organic law.

**Article 26. Binding force**
1. The ecological budgets bind the economic plan, the organs of planning, the executive committees, the communes, the regions, the cooperatives and every licensed entity.
2. A plan, programme, licence, permit, contract or administrative act that exceeds an applicable budget is void to the extent of the excess and confers no right.
3. Distribution of the budget among regions, sectors and enterprises belongs to the planning bodies of Title IV, which allocate according to the satisfaction of essential needs in the order established there, to the equality of provision between territories, and to the least throughput sufficient to the purpose.
4. Where an allocation is exhausted, production dependent upon it halts, and the essential provision guaranteed under Title IV holds priority over all other use.
5. Aggregation, transfer or trading of allocations between enterprises is permitted only under the procedure of organic law, within a sector, without any consideration passing, and with no increase in the total.

**Article 27. Judicial enforcement**
1. The Ecological Chamber of the Constitutional Court hears actions under this Title. Its composition and procedure are governed by Title VIII.
2. It may annul the offending act, enjoin the activity in the interim, order restoration on a fixed timetable, order the sequestration of resources sufficient to accomplish it, and declare the personal liability of those responsible.
3. Interim relief is granted where a credible risk of irreversible harm is shown, and the applicant furnishes no security.
4. Scientific uncertainty concerning the extent of a harm justifies no refusal of relief.
5. Judgments and their execution are published and monitored, and the Chamber reports annually on compliance.

## Chapter 3: Substantive Regimes

**Article 28. Water**
1. Water is a common good. Access to water sufficient for life, hygiene and dignity is guaranteed under Title III and precedes every other use.
2. The watershed is the unit of water administration, and its boundaries govern in preference to administrative divisions.
3. Abstraction beyond documented recharge is prohibited. Ecological flows are fixed for every watercourse, and in no case may a plan reduce them.
4. Any grant of water to an economic organisation is a revocable usufruct, unassignable and untradeable.
5. Discharge of untreated effluent to any water body is prohibited, and the author of a contamination bears its remediation.

**Article 29. Land, soil and food**
1. Land is held under the common heritage of Article 9 and is allocated as revocable usufruct conditioned upon use and upon maintenance of the soil.
2. Accumulation of land beyond the limits fixed by organic law is prohibited, as is holding land unused where a communal need for it is established.
3. Loss of topsoil beyond documented formation, sealing of fertile land, and conversion of primary habitat are prohibited.
4. The Republic pursues food sovereignty, sustaining the capacity to feed its population from its own territory within the budgets of this Title.
5. Agriculture conserves soil life, diversity of crop and breed, and the seed heritage, which belongs to the knowledge commons under Article 10.
6. Cultivated varieties, breeds and cultivation techniques developed by inhabitants are recorded and protected, and their appropriation by exclusive right is void.

**Article 30. Forests, wetlands, coasts and sea**
1. Primary forests, old growth, peatlands, wetlands, dunes, reefs and seagrass meadows are inalienable and are protected against conversion.
2. Harvest of forests and of living marine populations remains below documented regeneration, computed for each population.
3. Coastal land within the strip fixed by organic law is public, open to passage, and closed to construction except for works serving navigation, rescue or ecological protection.
4. Extraction from the seabed is prohibited. Organic law may permit works of restoration, cable laying and scientific investigation.

**Article 31. Biodiversity and animals**
1. The Republic maintains and restores the diversity of species, populations and habitats within its territory, and habitat connectivity is a condition of validity of every spatial plan.
2. Extinction of a population by an act or omission of a public organ or an economic organisation engages the liability established in Article 20.
3. Sentient animals hold the right to be free from avoidable suffering, mutilation and confinement incompatible with their nature. Organic law establishes the conditions of their keeping, transport and killing, and the inspection that enforces them.
4. Deliberate introduction of a species outside its range requires authorisation founded on ecological assessment.
5. Animals kept for food are raised in conditions approximating their natural upbringing, with outdoor ranging, social grouping and the expression of behaviour characteristic of the species. Confinement systems that prevent these conditions are prohibited, and the stocking densities, transport times and methods of killing are fixed by organic law.
6. Where the Ecological Budget Authority certifies that cultured meat produced without killing is available in quantity sufficient to the nutritional needs registered under Article 7(4) and within the budgets of this Title, the killing of sentient animals for food ceases to be necessary, and organic law extends the rights guaranteed in paragraph 3 accordingly, naming any case in which killing remains lawful. The Assembly considers the extension within one year of certification.

**Article 32. Energy**
1. The energy system is held in social ownership, planned as a single system, and operated within the ceilings of Article 23(1)(a).
2. Extraction of fossil fuels within the territory is prohibited. Combustion of fossil fuels is phased out on the binding schedule fixed by organic law, and the schedule may be shortened and may not be lengthened.
3. Sources are selected within the budget according to the least cumulative harm across the whole life of the installation, including construction, fuel, land occupied, waste and decommissioning.
4. Provision of energy sufficient for heating, cooking, light, communication and mobility is guaranteed under Title IV, and in no case is it interrupted for a reason of allocation.
5. Installations are sited by procedure that secures the participation of the affected commune and the compensation of burdens it bears for the whole.
6. Nuclear fission is permitted as a transitional source. Authorisation of a new installation lapses on the date certified by the Ecological Budget Authority as that on which the whole of the energy supplied is drawn from renewable sources, and operating installations are retired on the schedule fixed by organic law from that date. Organic law governs siting, operation, custody of waste for the whole period of its activity, and decommissioning, and the labour, materials and energy required for custody and decommissioning are reserved within the plan before operation begins.

**Article 33. Materials, durability and circulation**
1. Goods are designed for the longest service life attainable, for repair by their user, for disassembly and for the recovery of their materials.
2. Deliberate limitation of service life, obstruction of repair, and withholding of the information, tools, parts or software necessary to repair are prohibited.
3. Every product carries a public record of its materials, its origin, its energy of production, its expected life and its route of recovery.
4. The producer bears the return, repair, reuse and recovery of what it places in use, and this duty is a charge upon its resource allocation.
5. Landfill and incineration are the residual routes, permitted where reuse and recovery are shown to be impossible.

**Article 34. Pollution, toxic substances and remediation**
1. Release of a substance to air, water or soil is lawful only within the ceilings of Article 23 and under permit.
2. A substance whose effects are undetermined is introduced only after assessment, and the burden of demonstrating harmlessness lies upon whoever proposes its use.
3. Substances that persist, accumulate in living tissue or damage inheritance are prohibited, except for uses named in organic law as necessary in medicine or science and confined by strict conditions.
4. Contaminated sites are inventoried, published and remediated on a binding timetable, and where the author is identifiable the cost falls upon that author.
5. Concentration of polluting activity in territories inhabited by the poor, by minorities or by any group defined by origin, language or belief is prohibited, and the distribution of ecological burdens is reviewable under Article 27.

**Article 35. Ecological information**
1. The condition of the territory, the flows of energy and materials, the discharges of every installation, and compliance with the budgets are measured continuously and published in open, machine-readable and permanent form.
2. Ecological information is public. Commercial confidentiality is no ground for withholding it, and any withholding requires a reasoned decision reviewable within thirty days.
3. Falsification, concealment or destruction of ecological data is an offence, and the persons who ordered and who executed it are liable.
4. Persons who disclose evidence of ecological harm or of falsification are protected against reprisal, and their protection is enforceable in the courts.

**Article 36. Ecological emergency**
1. Upon evidence of imminent and grave ecological harm, the Ecological Budget Authority declares an ecological emergency, defining its territory, its duration and the measures required.
2. The declaration takes immediate effect. It lapses after one hundred and eighty days unless the Assembly confirms it, and confirmation may be renewed for the same period.
3. Emergency measures may restrict production, transport, extraction and discharge, and may direct labour and materials to protection and restoration.
4. In no case does a declaration under this Article suspend the essential provision of Title IV, the rights guaranteed in Title III or the procedures of Title V.
5. The declaration and every measure taken under it are reviewable under Article 27 at the instance of any person.

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# TITLE III: FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES

## Chapter 1: General Provisions

**Article 37. Holders**
1. The rights guaranteed in this Title belong to every natural person present in the territory or subject to the authority of the Republic, whatever their origin, nationality, status of residence or possession of documents.
2. Residence is the operative status of this Constitution. Every person residing in the territory holds the rights of this Title in full, including the political rights of Article 60.
3. Legal persons hold the rights of this Title only where their nature permits and to the extent that organic law provides. Foreign economic entities are governed by Article 21.
4. Absence of documentation deprives a person of no right and furnishes no ground for withholding provision, care, education, shelter or access to a court.

**Article 38. Equality**
1. All persons are equal in dignity and before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law.
2. Discrimination is prohibited on grounds of origin, ancestry, ethnicity, colour, language, nationality, status of residence, belief, religion, opinion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, bodily characteristics, age, disability, state of health, form of family, condition of work or occupation, or any comparable ground.
3. Discrimination comprises unequal treatment of similar cases, uniform treatment of materially different cases, and apparently neutral measures that burden a protected group disproportionately.
4. Measures that correct an established disadvantage are lawful, are reviewed periodically, and last as long as the disadvantage they correct.
5. Where a claimant establishes facts from which discrimination may be presumed, the burden of proving its absence lies upon the respondent.

**Article 39. Effect**
1. The rights of this Title bind all public authority directly and require no implementing statute.
2. They bind cooperatives, communal and regional enterprises, public establishments, planning bodies, associations, landlords of communal housing and providers of essential services in their relations with persons.
3. Courts interpret every norm in conformity with this Title, and where two readings are open, the reading more favourable to the right prevails.
4. Interpretation draws upon international human rights instruments binding on the Republic, which set a floor and no ceiling.

**Article 40. Limitation**
1. A right of this Title may be limited only by a norm of law that is public, precise and foreseeable.
2. A limitation is lawful only where it pursues the protection of the rights of others, of public health, of public safety, of the ecological budgets of Title II, or of the democratic order defined in Article 12(3), and only where it is suitable to that purpose, necessary because no less restrictive measure suffices, and proportionate in its effect to the weight of the purpose.
3. The essential content of a right is beyond limitation.
4. Public morality furnishes no ground of limitation.
5. The authority imposing a limitation bears the burden of justifying it, and states its reasons at the time it acts.
6. Limitation for a purpose other than the one invoked is void.

**Article 41. Minimum core and progression**
1. Each social and economic right of Chapter 5 has a minimum core, comprising the level of provision below which a life of dignity becomes impossible.
2. The minimum core is immediately enforceable by any person before any court, is subject to no plea of insufficient resources, and holds priority over every other claim upon the plan.
3. Above the minimum core, a person may require that the measures of the planning bodies, the executive committees, the communes and the regions be reasonable: coherent, adequately resourced, capable of achieving progression within a stated time, attentive to those in greatest need, and open to review.
4. Provision achieved is retained. A measure that reduces an attained level is presumed unconstitutional, and the authority adopting it bears the burden of demonstrating necessity, exhaustion of alternatives, and protection of those in greatest need.
5. Organic law specifies the content of each minimum core in quantities, and the specification is revisable upward.

**Article 42. Derogation**
1. Derogation from the rights of this Title is permitted only under a state of emergency declared and controlled under Title X, only to the extent strictly required by the situation, and only for its duration.
2. No derogation is permitted from Article 2, Articles 45 to 48, Article 49(3) to (6), Article 52(1), Article 62(2), Article 78, Article 80(1) and (2), Article 81, or from the equality guaranteed in Article 38.
3. A derogation is published with its reasons, is reviewable by the Constitutional Court at the instance of any person, and lapses on the date stated in the declaration.
4. In no case may a derogating measure distinguish between persons on a ground listed in Article 38(2).

**Article 43. Remedies**
1. Every person whose right is threatened or violated has access to a prompt, effective and free remedy before an independent court.
2. Remedies comprise a declaration, an injunction, an order of restoration, an order to perform on a fixed timetable, annulment of the offending act, and reparation.
3. Reparation is owed by the public body, the enterprise or the establishment responsible, in goods, services, labour or restoration of position.
4. Persons who decided upon or executed a violation are personally liable, and the liability of the organisation extinguishes no personal liability.
5. Interim protection is granted where a credible risk of irreparable harm is shown.

**Article 44. Prohibition of abuse**
In no case is a provision of this Title to be read as conferring a right to engage in an activity or perform an act aimed at the destruction of the rights recognised in it, or at their limitation to a greater extent than this Constitution permits.

## Chapter 2: Integrity and Liberty

**Article 45. Life**
1. Every person has the right to life. The death penalty is abolished, and in no case may any norm reintroduce it, including in time of war.
2. Public authority protects life against threats arising from want, contamination, disease, violence and disaster, and this duty is enforceable under Article 41(2) as to the minimum core.
3. Killing by an agent of the Republic is lawful only where strictly unavoidable to protect life against unlawful violence, and every such death is investigated by an independent body whose report is public.

**Article 46. Integrity and autonomy of the person**
1. Every person has the right to physical and mental integrity.
2. Medical treatment requires free, informed and revocable consent. Emergency intervention upon a person incapable of consent is governed by organic law and by the known will of that person.
3. Every person decides upon their own body, including reproduction, contraception, termination of pregnancy, gender-affirming care, and the refusal of treatment. Provision of these services falls within Article 66.
4. Medical or scientific experimentation without free and informed consent is prohibited.
5. Compulsory sterilisation, non-consensual surgery upon intersex persons, and treatment aimed at altering sexual orientation or gender identity are prohibited.
6. Trade in organs, tissues and gametes is prohibited.
7. The conditions under which a person suffering an incurable and grievous condition may obtain assistance to end their life are fixed by organic law, which secures the voluntary character of the decision and protects against pressure arising from want, isolation or the burden borne by others.

**Article 47. Prohibition of torture**
1. Torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment are prohibited.
2. Expulsion, return or extradition of a person to a place where they face a real risk of such treatment, of persecution, of the death penalty, or of enforced disappearance is prohibited, and in no case does an assurance furnished by the receiving authority displace this prohibition.
3. A statement obtained by such treatment is inadmissible in any proceeding, except in a proceeding against its author.
4. Places of detention are open to unannounced inspection by an independent body and by the courts.

**Article 48. Servitude and forced labour**
1. Slavery, servitude, trafficking in persons and forced or compulsory labour are prohibited.
2. Labour exacted as a punishment, as a condition of receiving provision, or as a condition of remaining in the territory is forced labour.
3. Service required in an ecological emergency under Article 36 or a state of emergency under Title X is limited in duration, remunerated in provision, allocated equally, and excluded where it endangers life or health.

**Article 49. Liberty and security**
1. Deprivation of liberty is permitted only in the cases and by the procedure fixed by law.
2. Detention on the ground of status of residence, of poverty, of destitution, or for the purpose of removal from the territory is prohibited.
3. A person deprived of liberty is informed at once, in a language they understand, of the reasons and of their rights, and may notify a person of their choosing.
4. A detained person is brought before a judge within forty-eight hours, and the judge orders release where the detention lacks lawful ground.
5. Every person may at any time petition a court to examine the lawfulness of a detention, and the court decides within seventy-two hours. In no case is this remedy suspended.
6. Secret detention and enforced disappearance are prohibited. A register of detentions is maintained and is accessible to the courts, to counsel and to the family.
7. Unlawful detention gives rise to reparation.

**Article 50. Private life and the home**
1. Every person has the right to respect for their private and family life, their home and their communications.
2. Entry into a dwelling, search, seizure and interception of communications require prior judicial authorisation founded on individualised suspicion, specifying its object and its duration.
3. Indiscriminate collection, retention or analysis of the communications, movements or associations of the population is prohibited, and in no case may a statute authorise it.
4. Correspondence between a person and their counsel, physician or spiritual adviser is inviolable.

**Article 51. Data and automated decision**
1. Personal data are processed on a lawful basis fixed by law, for a stated purpose, to the minimum extent that purpose requires, and for a limited period.
2. Every person may know what data concerning them are held, by whom and to what end, and may obtain rectification and erasure.
3. Consent obtained as a condition of access to an essential service, or by terms whose acceptance is required for access, is void.
4. Trade in personal data is prohibited. Data generated in the operation of public services and planning systems belong to the knowledge commons under Article 10, in aggregated and anonymised form.
5. A decision producing legal effects upon a person is taken by a human being who is identified and accountable. Automated systems may assist, and in no case may they decide.
6. Every person may obtain the reasons for a decision affecting them, including the logic, inputs and weightings of any system that assisted it, and may require review by a person who had no part in the original decision.
7. Systems that score, rank or profile persons for the allocation of provision, of housing, of education or of liberty are prohibited.

## Chapter 3: Conscience, Expression and Association

**Article 52. Thought, conscience and religion**
1. Freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief, including the freedom to hold none, to change belief and to make it known, is inviolable in its internal dimension.
2. Manifestation of belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance is subject to Article 40 alone.
3. Compulsion to declare a belief, an opinion or an affiliation is prohibited.
4. Conscientious objection to bearing arms is guaranteed, and organic law provides an alternative service of equal duration in care, restoration or civil protection.

**Article 53. Expression and information**
1. Every person has the right to hold opinions, to express them, and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas by any means, without frontier and without prior authorisation.
2. Censorship is prohibited. Prior restraint is permitted only by judicial order to prevent an imminent and grave harm to life or to the physical integrity of identified persons.
3. Expression is restricted only under Article 40, and only for direct incitement to violence, for dehumanisation of persons by reason of a ground listed in Article 38(2), for defamation of an identified person, for disclosure endangering life, or for the protection of the private life of others.
4. Criticism of public authority, of the plan, of officeholders and of this Constitution is protected in full, and defamation of institutions, of the Republic and of its symbols constitutes no offence.
5. The prohibition of ideological classification under Article 12(4) extends to expression. In no case may public authority register a person by opinion.
6. In no case is deprivation of liberty an available penalty for an offence of expression.

**Article 54. Means of communication**
1. The infrastructure of communication, including networks, spectrum, exchanges and the physical layer of the public information systems, is held in social ownership and is operated as a common carrier, without discrimination among senders, recipients or content.
2. Access to the network sufficient for participation in public life is guaranteed under Article 69.
3. Media organisations are held by cooperatives, communal or regional bodies, or associations, are governed by their working members and their public, and publish their sources of resources and their editorial statutes.
4. Concentration of the means of communication is prohibited, and organic law fixes the ceilings that prevent it.
5. Public authority establishes no monopoly of information, and the plan allocates resources to media organisations by a rule that is public, automatic and independent of the content published.
6. Journalistic sources are protected, and in no case may any authority order their disclosure.

**Article 55. Assembly**
1. Every person has the right to assemble peacefully in public and in private, without prior authorisation.
2. Notification may be required for an assembly on a public way, and its absence justifies no dispersal.
3. Dispersal of a peaceful assembly is prohibited. Where violence occurs, measures are directed at its authors, and the assembly retains its protection.
4. The use of chemical agents, kinetic projectiles and mass detention against assemblies is prohibited.
5. Agents policing an assembly are individually identifiable at all times.
6. Strike, occupation of a workplace, blockade and the withholding of labour are protected forms of assembly and action, and are subject to Article 40 alone, with continuity of the essential provision of Article 62 secured by minimum services fixed in advance by agreement.

**Article 56. Association and self-organisation**
1. Every person may form, join and leave associations, unions, cooperatives, federations, parties and communal bodies, and compulsion to belong to any is prohibited.
2. Formation requires registration alone, which is refused by no discretionary decision, and dissolution follows Article 12(3).
3. Workers organise, bargain and act collectively, including within cooperatives and against their own management organs, and reprisal for such activity is void and grounds for reparation.
4. Associations govern themselves, and public authority intervenes in their internal affairs only to protect the rights of their members.

## Chapter 4: Residence, Citizenship and Political Rights

**Article 57. Residence and movement**
1. Every person lawfully present may move freely within the territory and choose their residence.
2. Residence is established by presence and by the intention to remain, is recorded by declaration, and is refused on no ground listed in Article 38(2).
3. Every person may leave the territory and return to it.
4. Collective expulsion is prohibited. Individual removal requires a reasoned decision, a hearing, legal assistance and suspensive appeal, and is governed by Article 47(2).
5. Assistance and rescue are owed to any person in distress at sea or at a frontier, and delivery of a rescued person to a place governed by Article 47(2) is prohibited.
6. Frontier procedures that place a person beyond the reach of the courts, and the conduct of asylum or removal procedures in the territory of another state, are prohibited.

**Article 58. Citizenship**
1. Citizenship of the Republic is acquired automatically upon five years of residence, without examination, fee, oath, renunciation of another nationality or discretionary decision. The registrar records it, and the record is declaratory.
2. Citizenship is acquired at birth by a person born in the territory, and by a child of a citizen.
3. Citizenship confers no right beyond those held by every resident under Article 37(2). Its function is the representation of the person before other states and international bodies.
4. Deprivation of citizenship is prohibited. In no case is renunciation permitted where it would leave the person stateless.
5. Public office is open to every resident on the conditions fixed in Titles V, VI and VIII, and no office is reserved by reason of citizenship.

**Article 59. Asylum**
1. Every person has the right to seek and to enjoy asylum from persecution, war, violence, disaster, ecological collapse or destitution imperilling life.
2. Persecution comprises persecution by reason of any ground listed in Article 38(2), and by reason of ecological, trade union or democratic activity.
3. An applicant holds the rights of this Title in full from arrival, including provision under Chapter 5, access to labour, education and healthcare.
4. Penalisation on account of irregular entry or presence is prohibited.
5. Extradition is refused where the request is founded on a political offence, on trade union or ecological activity, or where Article 47(2) applies.

**Article 60. Political rights**
1. Every resident who has attained the age of sixteen years votes in every election and referendum of the Republic, of their region and of their commune, and stands for election on the same terms.
2. The vote is universal, equal, free, secret and direct. Compulsion, inducement and the purchase of a vote are offences.
3. Registration on the electoral list is automatic upon the recording of residence, and the list is maintained by the Electoral Commission of Title IX.
4. Deprivation of liberty deprives a person of no political right, and voting facilities are provided in every place of detention.
5. Persons under guardianship retain the vote, and in no case does a medical or judicial decision remove it.
6. Every resident may initiate legislation, sign an initiative and petition any organ, on the conditions fixed in Title V.

**Article 61. Petition, information and protection of disclosure**
1. Every person may address a petition to any public organ, cooperative federation or planning body, and receives a reasoned answer within a fixed period.
2. Information held by public authority, by planning bodies, by cooperatives in respect of their use of common resources, and by licensed foreign entities is public. Withholding requires a reasoned decision founded on a ground fixed by law, reviewable within thirty days, and in no case is commercial confidentiality such a ground.
3. A person who discloses evidence of an offence, of a violation of rights, of ecological harm, of falsification of data or of misuse of the plan is protected against dismissal, exclusion, prosecution, reduction of provision and every other reprisal, and holds a right to reinstatement and reparation.
4. Protection under paragraph 3 attaches irrespective of the channel of disclosure and of the motive of the discloser.

## Chapter 5: Provision, Contribution and Social Rights

**Article 62. Guarantee of essential provision**
1. Essential provision comprises food, drinking water, sanitation, housing, energy, healthcare, medicines, education, care, clothing, transport and access to communication.
2. Essential provision is furnished free at the point of use to every person, in the quantity and quality fixed as the minimum core under Article 41(5), and is conditioned upon no contribution, conduct, status, document, debt or behaviour.
3. Interruption or reduction of essential provision as a sanction, as a means of enforcement, or in consequence of an allocation shortfall is prohibited, and Article 26(4) secures its priority within the plan.
4. Provision above the minimum core is governed by Article 41(3) and by the plan.
5. Where a residual unit of account is issued under Article 7(5), it is issued equally to every resident, expires at the end of the period, and in no case is it transferable, lendable, pledgeable or accumulable. Its issue in no way affects the free character of essential provision.

**Article 63. Registration of needs**
1. Every person may register their needs, and the register is accessible, assisted where required, available in every language of record, and open to amendment at any time.
2. Registered needs bind the planning bodies as an input under Article 7(4), and a refusal to satisfy a registered essential need is reviewable under Article 43.
3. Registration data are personal data under Article 51 and are published in aggregated form alone.
4. Absence of registration deprives a person of no provision, and the planning bodies estimate the needs of persons who have not registered.

**Article 64. Food and water**
1. Every person has the right to sufficient, safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food, and to water for drinking, cooking and hygiene.
2. Hunger and undernourishment constitute a violation of the minimum core and engage Article 41(2).
3. Disconnection of a dwelling from water is prohibited.

**Article 65. Housing**
1. Every person has the right to adequate, secure, habitable, accessible and affordable housing, of a size and quality fixed as the minimum core, situated within reach of work, care, education and transport.
2. Housing is allocated according to registered need, without discrimination, by a procedure that is public and reviewable.
3. Eviction into homelessness is prohibited. Eviction requires judicial order, a hearing, and the prior offer of alternative housing meeting the minimum core.
4. Homelessness constitutes a violation of the minimum core, and the responsible authority remedies it within the period fixed by organic law.
5. Occupation of a dwelling held vacant beyond the period fixed by organic law is a defence to any proceeding for possession.
6. Letting of a dwelling for gain is prohibited. Personal tenure is secure and is transferable for no consideration. Where a household falls below the size for which the dwelling was allocated, Article 185 governs.

**Article 66. Health**
1. Every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and to healthcare that is available, accessible, acceptable and of adequate quality.
2. Emergency care, primary care, maternal and neonatal care, mental healthcare, palliative care, vaccination and essential medicines constitute the minimum core, and in no case are they refused to any person for any reason.
3. Medicines and medical technique belong to the knowledge commons under Article 10, and their production is planned to meet registered need.
4. Public health measures restricting liberty are governed by Article 40 and by Title X, are limited to the period of necessity, and are subject to judicial review.
5. The determinants of health, including housing, work, nutrition, air, water and the ecological budgets, are integrated into the plan, and the health effect of a planning decision is assessed and published.

**Article 67. Education**
1. Education is free and available to every person at every level, and compulsory to the age fixed by organic law.
2. Education develops the person, transmits verified knowledge and the methods of testing it, cultivates ecological understanding, the practice of self-government, and the capacities of reading, reasoning and mathematics, and prepares every person for participation in the economic and political life of the Republic.
3. Learning throughout life, retraining, and technical, artistic and higher education are open to every person on the basis of their aspiration and capacity.
4. Institutions of learning and research are self-governing in matters of teaching and inquiry, and the freedom of research and teaching is guaranteed.
5. Establishments operating for gain are prohibited. Communities may found establishments of their own within the common curriculum fixed by organic law, and their conformity with this Title is supervised.
6. Instruction is provided in the languages of the communities of the territory on the conditions fixed by organic law.

**Article 68. Care**
1. Care of children, of persons with disabilities, of the sick and of the aged is a public responsibility and is provided free, at a quality and in a quantity fixed as the minimum core.
2. Care performed within households and communities is labour under Article 70, is counted in the plan, and is supported by provision, training, respite and reduction of other contribution.
3. Every person has the right to determine, so far as their condition allows, the manner and place of the care they receive, and institutional confinement without consent requires judicial authorisation and periodic review.
4. Care work is distributed within households and communities by no rule of sex or gender, and the plan supports the equal distribution of it.

**Article 69. Energy, mobility and communication**
1. Every person has the right to energy sufficient for heating, cooling, cooking, light, hygiene and communication, and disconnection of a dwelling is prohibited.
2. Public transport sufficient to reach work, care, education, provision and public life is guaranteed and is free at the point of use.
3. Access to the network at a capacity sufficient for participation in public life, in the registration of needs and in the procedures of self-government is guaranteed.

**Article 70. Contribution**
1. Every person contributes to the common life according to their capacity, and this duty is recognised as the ground of the abundance the Republic distributes.
2. Contribution comprises labour in an enterprise, a commune or a public establishment; care under Article 68; study and training; ecological restoration and monitoring; service in the organs of self-government, in juries and in bodies drawn by lot; artistic, scientific and cultural work; and any other activity recognised by organic law as sustaining the common life.
3. Every person is presumed to contribute. The presumption operates in all dealings with public authority, and in no case is proof of contribution required of any person as a condition of anything.
4. The duty of contribution gives rise to no sanction, to no deprivation, to no reduction of provision, and to no disability of any kind, and Articles 48 and 62(2) govern.
5. Capacity is determined by the person, and organic law provides support for those whose condition, age or circumstance limits it, without inquiry into their willingness.
6. Every person chooses the form, the place and the duration of their contribution, and the plan adapts to the choices registered.
7. Where the plan cannot secure sufficient labour for a task essential to the minimum core, the planning bodies publish the deficit, and organic law provides for its resolution by open call, by reduction of the contribution required in other tasks, by rotation accepted voluntarily, and by revision of the plan. In no case is compulsion available outside Article 48(3).

**Article 71. Conditions of labour**
1. Every person contributing labour has the right to safe and healthy conditions, to the tools and training the task requires, to protection against harassment and violence, and to refuse work that endangers life, health or the ecological budgets, without reprisal.
2. Workers govern the enterprise in which they work, on the terms of Title IV, and hold the right to information concerning its resources, its plan, its ecological account and its decisions.
3. Dismissal from an enterprise requires a reasoned decision, a hearing and appeal to an independent body, and in no case does it affect the provision guaranteed under Article 62.
4. Work is allocated by no rule of sex, gender, origin, belief or condition, and equal treatment is owed for work of equal value in every dimension of the conditions of labour.
5. Persons deprived of liberty who perform labour hold the rights of this Article in full.

**Article 72. Working time and rest**
1. In no case does weekly working time exceed twenty-four hours, distributed over no more than four days, and organic law may reduce it further.
2. Gains realised under Article 22(3) are applied to the reduction of working time in the proportion fixed by organic law.
3. Every person has the right to daily and weekly rest, to annual leave of a duration fixed by organic law, to leave for care, for study, for parenthood in every form of family, for illness and for bereavement, and to disconnection from work outside working time.
4. Night work, shift work and work necessary at all hours are compensated by reduced hours and additional rest, and are distributed by rotation.

**Article 73. Culture, science and the arts**
1. Every person may participate in cultural life, enjoy the arts, and share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Creation, performance and research are free, and public authority establishes no orthodoxy of form, method or subject.
3. Authors, inventors, performers and researchers hold moral rights to attribution and to the integrity of their work. Exclusive economic rights over the use of a work are prohibited under Article 10(2), and the plan supports creators by resources allocated on public and content-independent criteria.
4. The cultural heritage of the communities of the Republic, in its material and immaterial forms, is protected, and communities govern the heritage that belongs to them.

**Article 74. Personal property and inheritance**
1. Personal property comprises the dwelling occupied by the person, the goods of personal, household and family use, savings of the residual unit of account within its period of validity, tools of personal craft, and the products of personal labour.
2. Personal property is guaranteed, is unseizable in respect of the goods necessary to a life of dignity, and is expropriated only by law, for a purpose of public or ecological necessity, upon a hearing, and with provision of an equivalent.
3. In no case is personal property converted into a means of production, let for gain, or employed to obtain the labour of another, and Article 6(3) and (4) govern.
4. Personal property passes on death to the persons designated by the deceased or by organic law, within the limits it fixes.
5. In no case is usufruct of productive assets, of land or of the common heritage heritable, and it passes on death or on cessation of work to the collective from which it was granted.

## Chapter 6: Ecological Rights of Persons

**Article 75. Healthy environment**
1. Every person has the right to a clean, healthy and ecologically sound environment, comprising breathable air, uncontaminated water and soil, a stable climate, functioning ecosystems and freedom from harmful noise and light.
2. This right forms part of the minimum core and is enforceable under Article 41(2) and Article 27.
3. Every person has the right to be free of a disproportionate share of ecological burdens, and Article 34(5) governs their distribution.
4. Persons displaced by ecological harm within the territory hold the right to housing, provision and restoration of their livelihood.

**Article 76. Ecological participation**
1. Every person has the right to ecological information under Article 35, to participate in the procedures of Article 25, and to access the courts under Articles 19 and 27.
2. Participation occurs while the decision remains open, and a decision taken after the participation prescribed by law states the objections received and the answer given to each.
3. Persons and communities affected by a proposed installation, extraction or infrastructure are heard, and their agreement is sought by the procedure fixed in Title VII.

## Chapter 7: Justice

**Article 77. Access to justice**
1. Every person has the right to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law.
2. Access to courts is free of charge in matters concerning the rights of this Title, and legal assistance is provided at public cost where a person requires it.
3. Proceedings are conducted in a language the person understands, with interpretation provided.
4. Judgments state reasons and are published, except for the parts whose publication would violate the private life of a person.
5. Extraordinary tribunals are prohibited. Every person is tried by the ordinary courts established under Title VIII.

**Article 78. Legality**
1. An act constitutes an offence only where a law in force at the time of its commission so provided, in terms precise enough to allow a person to know it.
2. In no case is a penalty heavier than the one applicable at the time of the offence imposed, and a subsequent law more favourable applies.
3. Collective punishment is prohibited.
4. No person is tried or punished twice for the same act.

**Article 79. Criminal process**
1. A person charged is presumed innocent until proved guilty by a court.
2. Every person charged has the right to be informed promptly of the accusation, to time and facilities for defence, to counsel of their choosing at public cost where required, to examine witnesses, to remain silent without adverse inference, and to appeal to a higher court.
3. Evidence obtained in violation of this Title is inadmissible.
4. Pre-trial detention is exceptional, is limited in duration by organic law, and requires reasons specific to the person and the case.
5. Trials are conducted by professional judges. Residents take part in the administration of justice through the restorative procedures of Article 80(3) and Article 227, and through the Judicial Council under Article 208.

**Article 80. Penalty and restoration**
1. Penalties respect the dignity of the person and pursue restoration of the harm, reparation to the injured, and the return of the person to the common life.
2. Life imprisonment without prospect of release, indefinite detention, and solitary confinement beyond the brief period fixed by organic law are prohibited.
3. Restorative procedures involving the injured person, the responsible person and the affected community are available at every stage, and participation in them is voluntary for the injured person.
4. Persons deprived of liberty retain every right of this Title except those whose restriction the deprivation strictly entails, including provision under Article 62, healthcare, education, contact with family, and the vote.
5. Deprivation of liberty is the penalty of last resort, is imposed only where the protection of others requires it, and is reviewed periodically by a court.
6. A person injured by an offence has the right to protection, to participation in the proceedings, to information and to reparation from the responsible person and, where that person cannot furnish it, from the Republic.

## Chapter 8: Duties

**Article 81. Duties of the person**
1. Every person respects the rights of others, the equal dignity of all, and the ecological budgets of Title II.
2. Every person contributes under Article 70, participates in the self-government of the Republic, and serves when drawn by lot for a deliberative body under Article 142, for the Judicial Council under Article 209, or for a restorative panel under Article 227, on the conditions fixed by organic law.
3. Every person registers their needs truthfully under Article 7(4), and furnishes truthfully the information the plan requires of them.
4. Every person defends this Constitution against its abolition by force or by fraud, and obedience is not owed to any order to participate in such an abolition.
5. In no case does failure in a duty of this Article affect the provision guaranteed by Article 62, and it gives rise only to the consequences fixed by organic law in conformity with Article 40.

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# TITLE IV: SOCIAL OWNERSHIP AND ECONOMIC COORDINATION

## Chapter 1: Forms of Social Ownership

**Article 82. The forms and their relation**
1. The means of production are held in the four forms established by Article 6(2), and organic law creates no fifth.
2. Each form carries a distinct mode of governance: the commons by the whole people through the organs of Chapter 2, cooperative usufruct by those who work in the enterprise, communal and regional enterprise by the inhabitants through their councils, and public establishments by their users, their workers and the Republic jointly.
3. A productive asset is assigned to one form. Assignment follows the scale of the activity, the number of persons affected, and the character of the need served, and is fixed by organic law and revisable by the procedure it establishes.
4. Conversion between forms follows a public procedure, requires the consent of those who work in the enterprise and of the affected users, and transfers no asset out of social ownership.

**Article 83. The commons**
1. The common heritage of Article 9, the knowledge commons of Article 10, the infrastructure of communication under Article 54(1), the energy system under Article 32(1), the network of transport, water and sanitation systems, and the systems of public information and planning constitute the commons.
2. The commons are inalienable, unseizable and imprescriptible, and in no case are they pledged as security.
3. Use of a commons resource is granted as revocable usufruct, conditioned upon the purpose granted, upon compliance with the ecological budgets, and upon actual use.
4. Communities that have long used and maintained a commons resource govern its use, and organic law recognises their rules where these conform to Titles II and III.
5. Governance of a commons resource observes the boundaries of the resource, the participation of its users in the rules that bind them, graduated response to breach, accessible resolution of conflict, and the recognition of local rules by higher authority.

**Article 84. Cooperative usufruct**
1. A cooperative holds the assets it operates in usufruct for the duration of the activity, and holds them by no title of ownership.
2. Usufruct confers the power to use, to organise, to maintain and to improve, and confers no power to sell, mortgage, lease for gain, or dispose of the asset.
3. In no case is usufruct heritable, and Article 74(5) governs.
4. Cessation of the activity, dissolution of the cooperative, or persistent breach of the ecological budgets returns the assets to the commune, the region or the branch federation from which they were granted.
5. The surplus of a cooperative belongs to the plan and is applied in the order fixed by Article 100(4).

**Article 85. Internal constitution of the cooperative**
1. Every person who works in a cooperative is a member of it after the probation fixed by organic law, which in no case exceeds six months. Categories of non-member worker are prohibited, and Article 88(2) governs.
2. The general assembly of members is the supreme organ. Each member holds one vote, and voting power attaching to seniority, function, capital or any other ground is void.
3. The assembly adopts the internal plan of the enterprise, its offer to the planning procedure, its working conditions and rotation of tasks, its admission of members, and its ecological account, and it elects and dismisses the management organ.
4. Officers of the cooperative are elected for limited terms, are recallable by the assembly at any time, remain subject to the working time of Article 72, and receive no provision distinguishable from that of any other member.
5. Users of the goods the cooperative produces, the council of the commune in which it operates, and a delegate of ecological interest sit in the assembly with the right to be heard and to place items on its agenda, on decisions affecting them.
6. Minutes, resource accounts, ecological accounts and the internal plan are public under Article 61(2).
7. Trade union organisation within the cooperative, including action against its own management organ, is protected under Article 56(3).

**Article 86. Communal and regional enterprise**
1. Communes and regions operate enterprises serving the needs of their inhabitants where the scale of the activity or the character of the need makes this appropriate.
2. Such enterprises are governed by a board composed of delegates of their workers, of the council of the commune or region, and of their users, in proportions fixed by organic law which accord the workers no less than one third.
3. The provisions of Article 85(4), (6) and (7) apply to them.

**Article 87. Public establishments**
1. Health, education, care, scientific research, civil protection, custody of nuclear waste, and the operation of the commons enumerated in Article 83(1) are conducted by public establishments.
2. Each establishment is governed by a council composed of delegates of its workers, of its users, and of the organ that constituted it, and its director is appointed by that council for a limited and renewable term and is recallable by it.
3. In no case does a public establishment operate for gain, charge for a service falling within Articles 62 and 107, or convert to any other form.

**Article 88. Personal craft and prohibited forms**
1. A person may work alone or with the members of their household in craft, art, cultivation, repair, care and comparable activity, using tools held as personal property under Article 74(1), and this activity requires no authorisation.
2. Engaging the labour of a person outside the household in such activity is prohibited, and the activity is conducted through a cooperative once it extends beyond the household.
3. Enterprises operating for profit, partnerships in capital, shares, bonds, tradable claims on productive assets, lending at interest, insurance for gain, brokerage, letting of land, dwellings, tools or productive assets for gain, and the private appropriation of the product of another person's labour are prohibited.
4. A contract, arrangement or instrument that produces in substance an effect prohibited by paragraph 3 is void, and the party who procured it is liable under Article 43.
5. Foreign economic entities are governed by Article 21 and hold no form of social ownership.

**Article 89. Federations**
1. Cooperatives and enterprises operating in the same branch of production constitute a branch federation, membership of which is compulsory.
2. Federations coordinate the branch, hold the technical knowledge and the reserve of the branch, conduct the support procedure of Article 103, organise the reorganisation of Article 104, distribute the branch allocation among their members, and represent the branch in the planning procedure.
3. Federations are governed by delegates of the member enterprises, elected by their assemblies, mandated, recallable, and serving limited terms.
4. A federation directs the internal affairs of a member enterprise only in the cases this Constitution and organic law provide.
5. Federations maintain a solidarity fund of resources, contributed by their members on a published scale, and applied under Articles 103 and 104.

## Chapter 2: Organs and Procedure of Planning

**Article 90. Principles of the plan**
1. The plan satisfies registered and assessed needs within the ecological budgets of Title II, in physical units, in the order of priority fixed by Article 91(2).
2. The plan is made by negotiation among those affected by it, at the level at which the effects fall, through the procedure of Article 97.
3. Decisions of the plan are taken by assemblies and councils composed of persons. Computation assists them, and in no case does it decide, Article 51(5) and (6) applying to every planning system.
4. The plan, its inputs, its models, its assumptions, its variants and the reasons for the choice made among them are public in open and machine-readable form.
5. The plan is a set of quantities and obligations, and in no case does it authorise any organ to direct the labour of any person, Article 48 governing.

**Article 91. Priority within the plan**
1. Allocation follows the ecological budgets, which are binding under Article 26, and in no case is a priority of this Article capable of displacing them.
2. Within the budgets, resources are allocated in the following order: the minimum core of essential provision under Articles 41 and 62; the restoration owed under Articles 20 and 23(1)(j); essential provision above the minimum core; the maintenance and renewal of existing productive capacity and infrastructure; general provision under Article 107; the reserve under Article 105; and thereafter the remaining purposes admitted by the plan.
3. Equality of provision between territories is a criterion of allocation at every rank of paragraph 2, and in no case does a commune or region receive provision inferior to the general standard.
4. Where an allocation is exhausted, Article 26(4) governs.

**Article 92. Workplace assemblies**
1. The assembly of each enterprise states, for each planning period, the needs of the enterprise in materials, energy, labour, equipment and knowledge, the quantities and qualities it can produce, its ecological account under Article 25(1)(a), and the improvements it proposes.
2. The statement is public, is furnished truthfully under Article 81(3), and is the foundation of the offer of the enterprise in the procedure of Article 97.
3. Overstatement of need and understatement of capacity are offences under organic law, and Article 100(3) provides for their detection.

**Article 93. User and neighbourhood assemblies**
1. Inhabitants of each neighbourhood, users of each service, and persons affected by each installation constitute assemblies open to every resident, meeting on a published calendar.
2. These assemblies examine the provision received, state the needs of the locality in addition to those registered under Article 63, and formulate objections to the offers of enterprises and to the drafts of the plan.
3. Their statements enter the planning procedure with the same standing as those of the workplace assemblies.
4. Assemblies of users of a service designate the delegates who sit under Articles 85(5), 86(2) and 87(2).

**Article 94. Communal economic councils**
1. Each commune has an economic council composed of delegates of the workplace assemblies within it, delegates of the user and neighbourhood assemblies, delegates of the communal council of Title VII, and a delegate of ecological interest designated under organic law. The council answers to the communal council under Article 183.
2. The council reconciles the offers and the needs stated within the commune, allocates the resources apportioned to the commune, and formulates the communal component of the plan.
3. Delegates hold mandates from the bodies that elected them, are recallable at any time, serve limited terms, and report publicly on each round of negotiation.

**Article 95. Regional economic councils**
1. Each region has an economic council composed of delegates of the sub-regional economic councils, of the branch federations operating in the region, of the user assemblies of regional services, and of ecological interest. The council answers to the regional council under Article 183.
2. The council reconciles what the communal councils have failed to reconcile among themselves, allocates the resources apportioned to the region, and formulates the regional component of the plan.
3. Article 94(3) applies to its delegates.

**Article 96. The National Planning Congress and the Planning Secretariat**
1. The National Planning Congress is composed of delegates of the regional economic councils, of the branch federations, of the assemblies of users of national services, and of ecological interest, in proportions fixed by organic law which accord the regional councils no less than one half.
2. The Congress adopts the plan of the Republic, apportions the ecological budgets among regions and branches under Article 26(3), fixes the reserve under Article 105, fixes the intensity threshold under Article 112(2), and resolves what the lower levels have failed to reconcile.
3. Delegates to the Congress are mandated, recallable, and limited in term, and they hold no seat in the Assembly of Title V and no office in the Executive Council of Title VI. The Congress answers to the regional economic councils, branch federations and user assemblies that constitute it, and to the Assembly under Article 143.
4. The Planning Secretariat is a technical body serving all levels of the procedure. It collects the statements, computes the balances of materials, energy, labour and emissions, prepares the variants, publishes the deficits and the surpluses, and holds no power of decision.
5. The Secretariat is bound by Article 90(3) and (4), publishes its methods and code as part of the knowledge commons, and answers to the Congress and to the oversight organs of Title IX.

**Article 97. The planning cycle**
1. The plan is adopted for a period of five years, with annual quantities within it, and follows a cycle of six stages:
   a) registration of needs under Article 63, and the statements of the workplace, user and neighbourhood assemblies under Articles 92 and 93;
   b) computation by the Secretariat of provisional balances, and publication of the deficits, the surpluses and the variants;
   c) rounds of negotiation, in which each level reconciles the offers and needs before it, and refers upward only what it has failed to reconcile;
   d) reconciliation and adoption under Article 98;
   e) execution, with the in-year adjustment of Article 99;
   f) public account of the period, examined by the assemblies that furnished its inputs.
2. Stage (c) comprises no fewer than three rounds, and a round concludes only after the objections received have been answered in writing and published.
3. A matter is decided at the lowest level at which the effects of the decision fall, and a higher level takes up a matter only upon referral under paragraph 1(c) or where the effects extend beyond one level.
4. Every stage is public. A plan adopted upon inputs withheld from publication is void.

**Article 98. Reconciliation and deadlock**
1. Reconciliation seeks agreement among the affected interests, and a level records agreement only where the enterprises, the users and the ecological delegate have each been heard and answered.
2. Where a level fails to reconcile within the time fixed for the round, the matter passes to the level above with the positions of the parties and the reasons for the disagreement.
3. Where the Congress fails to reconcile, it decides by vote of its delegates, publishes the dissenting positions, and states the reasons for the choice made among the variants.
4. A decision under paragraph 3 that does not conform with Article 91 is void, and any person may bring an action under Article 43.
5. In no case does delay in the procedure suspend the essential provision of Article 62, which continues on the quantities of the preceding period until the new plan takes effect.

**Article 99. Adjustment during the period**
1. The plan is adjusted during its period upon changes in registered need, upon failure of harvest, supply or installation, upon disaster, and upon a declaration under Article 36.
2. Adjustment follows an abridged procedure fixed by organic law, preserves the order of Article 91, and is published with its reasons within fifteen days.
3. Cumulative adjustments exceeding the proportion fixed by organic law require a fresh round of negotiation under Article 97(1)(c).

## Chapter 3: Allocation, Accounts and Enterprise Discipline

**Article 100. Resource ceilings and accounts**
1. Each enterprise, establishment and commune receives a ceiling for each planning period, expressed in energy, materials, water, land, emissions and labour time.
2. The ceiling binds. Consumption beyond it halts the activity dependent upon the exhausted allocation, and Article 26(2) and (4) govern.
3. Each enterprise keeps physical accounts of what it receives, what it holds, what it produces, what it discards and what it emits, publishes them at intervals fixed by organic law, and submits them to audit by the Audit Office of Title IX and to verification by the Ecological Budget Authority.
4. A surplus of production above the plan is applied in the following order: to the unmet needs registered under Article 63, to the reserve of Article 105, and to the reduction of the ceiling of the following period where the surplus arose from an improvement in technique.
5. Concealment or falsification of the accounts is an offence, and Articles 35(3) and 61(3) apply.

**Article 101. Review of performance**
1. The branch federation reviews each member enterprise at the close of each annual period against its ceiling, its plan, its ecological account, its conditions of labour and the satisfaction of the needs it undertook to meet.
2. The review is public, states its findings and its reasons, and is answered by the assembly of the enterprise, whose answer is published with it.
3. Persistent shortfall in the satisfaction of undertaken needs, persistent consumption beyond ceiling, or persistent breach of the ecological budgets opens the procedure of Article 102.
4. Deficiency arising from disaster, from ecological emergency, from failure of supply attributable to another enterprise, or from a defect in the plan itself is recorded as such and opens no procedure against the enterprise.

**Article 102. Support**
1. An enterprise in difficulty may receive support from the solidarity fund of its federation, from the reserve of Article 105, or from both.
2. Support is granted only upon a public decision that states the grounds of the difficulty, the measures proposed, the quantities allocated, the results required and the date on which the support ends.
3. Support runs for two years at the most, and is renewed once and for one further year only, upon a fresh public decision founded on independent evaluation showing that the measures are taking effect.
4. In no case does total support to one enterprise exceed the proportion of the branch allocation fixed by organic law, and the support extended within a branch in any period is published in aggregate and by recipient.
5. During support the enterprise reports at quarterly intervals, remains bound by its ecological ceiling, which in no case does support raise, and admits the inspection of the federation and of the Audit Office.
6. The persons who decided the grant are identified in the decision, and they answer for it before the assemblies that elected them.
7. Expiry of support without attainment of the results required opens the procedure of Article 104 by operation of law, and further support to the same enterprise for the same grounds is prohibited within the following five years.
8. Support is granted for the maintenance of a productive capacity that the plan requires, and in no case is it granted to preserve an activity that the plan has ceased to require.
9. In no respect does support affect the provision guaranteed to the members of the enterprise under Article 62, and Article 62(2) governs throughout.

**Article 103. Cause of difficulty**
1. Before granting support the federation determines whether the difficulty arises from the plan, from external circumstance, from technical obsolescence, or from the conduct of the management organ or of the assembly.
2. Where the difficulty arises from the plan, the matter is referred to the level that adopted it, which corrects the allocation under Article 99.
3. Where the difficulty arises from the conduct of the management organ, the assembly is convened to consider its dismissal under Article 85(3), and support is conditioned upon the measures the assembly adopts.

**Article 104. Reorganisation and dissolution**
1. Reorganisation transfers the assets, the tasks and the members of an enterprise to another enterprise of the branch, to a communal or regional enterprise, or to a newly constituted cooperative.
2. Reorganisation is decided by the federation upon a public procedure in which the assembly of the enterprise, its users and the council of the commune are heard, and is reviewable under Article 43.
3. Dissolution follows only where reorganisation is impracticable, returns the assets under Article 84(4), and is decided by the same procedure.
4. Members of a reorganised or dissolved enterprise retain their provision in full, receive a place in another enterprise or establishment conforming to Article 70(6), receive training where the new task requires it, and suffer no reduction of any right of Title III.
5. In no case does reorganisation or dissolution interrupt the essential provision that the enterprise furnished, and continuity of that provision is secured before the measure takes effect.

**Article 105. Reserve, formation and experiment**
1. The plan holds a reserve of resources, fixed by the Congress at no less than the proportion set by organic law, applied to unanticipated need, to disaster, to support under Article 102, to the formation of new enterprises, and to experiment.
2. Any group of persons may found a cooperative by registration, and in no case is refusal of registration permitted on a discretionary ground.
3. A new cooperative applies to the branch federation and to the communal economic council for an initial allocation from the reserve, stating the need it proposes to meet and its ecological account. Refusal states reasons and is reviewable under Article 43.
4. The plan allocates resources to experiment in technique, in organisation of work and in forms of provision, admits the failure of an experiment as a cost of the plan, and imposes no consequence under Article 101 upon an enterprise for the failure of an authorised experiment.

## Chapter 4: Provision and Distribution

**Article 106. Categories of provision**
1. Provision is organised in four categories:
   a) essential provision under Article 62, free at the point of use and guaranteed as minimum core;
   b) general provision under Article 107, free at the point of use;
   c) minor discretionary goods, allocated through the residual unit of account under Article 111;
   d) resource-intensive goods, held and used in common under Article 112.
2. Movement of a good from category (c) to category (b) as production permits is a standing objective of the plan.
3. Movement of a good from category (b) to category (c) requires a published demonstration of scarcity and is presumed unconstitutional under Article 41(4).
4. Categories (a) and (b) are furnished free of charge, and in no case is payment, credit, deposit, membership, contribution or proof of anything required for access to them.

**Article 107. General provision**
1. General provision comprises clothing and footwear beyond the minimum core, furniture and household equipment, cooking and laundry facilities, bedding, tools of craft and repair, bicycles and personal mobility equipment, personal computing and communication devices under Article 108, connection to the network at the capacity of Article 69(3), public transport, books and instruments, sporting and recreational equipment, materials of study and of art, goods of childhood and of care, meals in communal canteens, admission to cultural and sporting facilities, accommodation in communal holiday facilities, and medicines and appliances beyond the essential list.
2. Organic law maintains the catalogue of general provision, and the catalogue is extended by the plan as production permits.
3. General provision is furnished according to registered need under Article 63 and to the standards of quantity and quality fixed by the plan, and is allocated under Article 113 where it falls short of the need registered.
4. Libraries of tools, equipment, instruments and vehicles are maintained in every commune, and lending precedes personal allocation for goods used intermittently.

**Article 108. Personal computing and communication devices**
1. Every person who needs one receives a personal computing device and a mobile communication device as general provision, together with connection to the network.
2. Devices are produced by cooperatives to a design admitting repair by the user, comprising modular construction, a battery replaceable without special tools, replaceable display, camera and connectors, standard fasteners, and published schematics, part numbers and service documentation.
3. Repair parts are furnished free of charge for the whole of the declared service life, which is ten years at the least for a computing or communication device, and repair workshops are maintained within reach of every commune.
4. Functional and security updates are furnished for the whole of the declared service life. Withdrawal of support before its expiry is prohibited, and expiry obliges the producer to publish the software and the interfaces necessary for the device to be maintained by its user or by any other person.
5. Repair, refurbishment and reuse precede replacement in the plan, and a device is replaced upon the demonstration that repair is impracticable.
6. Variants of a device exceeding the standard specification fall within Article 111, and the standard device remains available to every person under paragraph 1.
7. When a device is ordered from a cooperative, the person ordering it is offered, by separate options none of which is marked in advance, the preinstallation of the electronic ballot application of Article 245, the preinstallation of one or more repositories of free software, and the choice among the operating systems and suites available under Article 109(3). In no case does declining an option affect the allocation, the delivery, the specification or the service life of the device.

**Article 109. Freedom of software**
1. Software furnished with a device belongs to the knowledge commons under Article 10, and its source code, build procedure and documentation are public.
2. The operating system and the software suite furnished with a device are developed and maintained by communities, associations or cooperatives independent of the executive committees. In no case are they owned, controlled, directed or determined by public authority. The Republic maintains no operating system of its own and prescribes none.
3. The person receiving a device chooses among the available systems and suites, may replace any of them, holds the administrative control of the device, and installs software of their own choosing.
4. In no case is a device permitted that carries software the user cannot examine, modify, replace or remove; that transmits data without the knowledge and consent of the user; that can be disabled, degraded or restricted remotely; that conditions its operation upon a connection to a particular service; or that confines the installation of software to a single source.
5. Public authorities, planning bodies, enterprises and public establishments conduct their work on free and open software whose source is public, and in no case does a public organ acquire software under an exclusive licence.
6. File formats, protocols and interfaces used in public administration, in the planning system and in essential and general provision are open, documented and implementable by any person.
7. Devices produced within the Republic permit the installation of software obtained from any source, by the user, without authorisation, without an account, and without connection to any service. In no case may a device, an operating system or a component of either prevent such installation, condition it, obstruct it by an additional procedure, or discourage it by a warning framed to deter the user.

**Article 110. Durability and the standard of design**
1. Article 33 governs the design, the service life, the record and the recovery of every good furnished in provision.
2. The plan fixes for each class of good a minimum service life, a guarantee of the availability of parts, and a route of recovery, and in no case does it admit a design failing any of these.
3. Variety of models is limited to what serves distinct needs, and multiplication of models that obstructs the supply of parts and the practice of repair is prohibited.

**Article 111. The residual unit of account**
1. The residual unit of account established by Article 7(5) allocates minor discretionary goods, comprising goods outside categories (a) and (b) of Article 106 whose production falls below the intensity threshold of Article 112(2).
2. The unit is issued equally to every resident at the beginning of each period, expires at its close, and is personal, non-transferable, non-assignable, non-pledgeable and non-accumulable. A purported transfer is void and extinguishes the unit transferred.
3. The unit measures a claim upon a defined quantity of goods within paragraph 1, bears no interest, and in no case is it exchanged for labour or held as a store of value.
4. Issue of the unit is uniform. Issue varying by contribution, by conduct, by function, by office or by any ground listed in Article 38(2) is void.
5. The quantities of goods obtainable by the unit are published, are fixed by the plan in physical terms, and are revised only at the opening of a period.
6. Organic law may abolish the unit for any class of goods upon their movement into general provision, and abolition of the unit entire is an objective of the plan.

**Article 112. Resource-intensive goods and common use**
1. Goods whose production or use exceeds the intensity threshold are produced only where a common use justifies them, are held by the commune, the region, the federation or a public establishment, and are used by booking, by rotation or by lot on published rules.
2. The intensity threshold is fixed by the National Planning Congress on the advice of the Ecological Budget Authority, is expressed in energy, materials, land and emissions per unit of use, and is published.
3. Personal allocation of a good above the threshold is excluded, and in no case does the residual unit obtain such a good.
4. Where the ecological budgets admit the production of a good in no quantity, it is produced in none, and the refusal is published with its reasons and is reviewable under Article 27.
5. Accommodation, workshops, vehicles, boats, heavy tools, instruments and comparable goods held for common use are distributed equitably among communes, and in no case does a commune hold a share inferior to the general standard.

**Article 113. Fair allocation and waiting**
1. Where provision falls short of the need registered, allocation follows published rules applying the urgency of the need, the duration of the wait, and the drawing of lots.
2. Waiting lists are public in anonymised form, state the position of each applicant to that applicant, and are open to challenge under Article 43.
3. Preference by office, by function, by contribution, by acquaintance or by any ground listed in Article 38(2) is void, and the person who granted it is liable under Article 43(4).
4. Article 51(7) prohibits the scoring, ranking and profiling of persons in allocation, and the rules of paragraph 1 are applied by identified persons under Article 51(5).

**Article 114. Prohibition of parallel markets**
1. Sale, resale, letting, pledging or exchange for consideration of goods received in provision is prohibited, and the transaction is void.
2. Gifts between persons are lawful. Arrangements of reciprocal transfer that constitute in substance a market in provision are void.
3. Accumulation of goods beyond personal and household use for the purpose of exchange is prohibited.
4. Trading in places in a queue, in appointments, in allocations and in access to any provision is an offence.
5. In no case does foreign currency circulate as a means of payment within the territory, and Article 118 governs external exchange.

## Chapter 5: Labour in the Plan

**Article 115. Allocation of labour**
1. Labour reaches the plan through the choices registered by persons under Article 70(6), and compulsion is excluded by Article 48 and Article 70(4).
2. Enterprises, establishments and communes publish the tasks they require, the conditions attaching to them, the training furnished and the working time they carry, and any person may offer their contribution to any of them.
3. Where a task attracts fewer contributors than the plan requires, the working time attaching to it is reduced below the ceiling of Article 72(1), its conditions are improved, the training for it is expanded, and the deficit is published under Article 70(7). In every case compulsion is excluded.
4. Where a task attracts more contributors than the plan requires, places are allocated on rules published in advance under Article 113(1), and those not placed are offered training and transfer.
5. In no respect does reduction of working time under paragraph 3 diminish the provision of the contributor.

**Article 116. Arduous tasks, rotation and training**
1. Tasks that are dangerous, unhealthy, monotonous or degrading are registered publicly, and their elimination by technique, by redesign or by automation is a standing objective of the plan, which reports annually on the reduction achieved.
2. While such tasks persist, they are distributed by rotation accepted voluntarily, have reduced working time and additional rest under Article 72(4), and are concentrated upon no group defined by a ground listed in Article 38(2).
3. Every person may obtain the training required for the contribution they choose, at public cost and without limit of age, and Article 67(3) governs.
4. Enterprises furnish training in the tasks they require, and the time spent in training is contribution under Article 70(2).
5. Automation displacing a task confers upon the persons who performed it the right to training, to transfer conforming with Article 70(6), and to the retention of their provision in full, and Article 22(3) governs the application of the gain.

## Chapter 6: External Economic Relations

**Article 117. Planned external exchange**
1. Exchange with entities outside the Republic is conducted by the planning bodies through a single external account, and is directed to obtaining goods and knowledge that the territory cannot furnish within its ecological budgets.
2. Materials and energy embodied in imports are counted against the budgets under Article 23(2), and imports are refused where they would exceed them.
3. Imports produced under conditions violating Article 48, or under ecological conditions that would be unlawful within the Republic, are prohibited, and the burden of demonstrating conformity lies upon the supplier under Article 21(4).
4. Exports are permitted where essential and general provision remain unimpaired and the ecological budgets are observed.
5. Borrowing abroad, the contracting of external debt, the pledging of the common heritage or of any productive asset as security, and submission to external financial conditionality are prohibited.

**Article 118. Solidarity transfers**
1. Transfers of solidarity under Title XI are made in goods, in labour, in technique and in knowledge, are recorded in physical units, and are counted within the plan and the ecological budgets.
2. A transfer creates no claim, no debt and no obligation upon the receiving people, and carries no condition touching their internal affairs.
3. Transfers of knowledge are made through the knowledge commons under Article 10, without exclusive right and without restriction upon use.

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# TITLE V: THE ASSEMBLY AND POPULAR DECISION

## Chapter 1: Composition and Election

**Article 119. The Assembly of the Republic**
1. The Assembly of the Republic is the sole legislative organ of the Republic and consists of one chamber.
2. The Assembly comprises two hundred members elected by the residents of the Republic.
3. The Assembly legislates, executes through the committees constituted under Title VI, appoints and dismisses the holders of the offices this Constitution assigns to it, ratifies treaties under Title XI, and declares and terminates states of emergency under Title X.
4. The Assembly does not itself adopt the economic plan or allocate resources, which belong to the organs of Title IV. The National Planning Congress answers to the Assembly under Article 143.

**Article 120. The electoral system**
1. Members are elected by universal, equal, free, secret and direct suffrage under Article 60, by open list, in the sub-regional districts established under Article 121.
2. Proportionality is computed at the level of the Republic. The seats of the Assembly are apportioned among the lists in proportion to the votes each has obtained throughout the territory, by the method of odd divisors fixed by organic law.
3. The seats obtained by a list are assigned to its district lists in the order of the votes each district list has obtained, so that the composition of the Assembly reflects the national result and the members are drawn from the districts that returned them.
4. No legal threshold of representation applies. A list obtaining votes sufficient for one seat under paragraph 2 receives it.
5. Each voter casts one vote for a district list and may express preference for candidates within it. Candidates within a list are elected in the order of the preferences expressed, and any order fixed by the list itself yields to that expressed by the voters.
6. Each list presents candidates so that no sex or gender exceeds sixty per cent of its candidates and of its candidates in electable positions.
7. In no case does the validity of an election depend upon the level of participation.

**Article 121. Districts and apportionment**
1. The electoral districts are the sub-regions of the two regions, established by organic law.
2. Seats are apportioned among the districts in proportion to their resident population, recorded by the register of residence and revised every ten years and after every change of boundary.
3. No district returns fewer than five members. Districts whose population falls below that entitlement are combined until the entitlement is reached.
4. In no case does the population of a district depart from the average population per seat by more than ten per cent, and a departure of five per cent or more obliges revision at the following apportionment.
5. Boundaries are drawn by an independent commission constituted under Title IX, upon a public procedure with hearings in the affected localities, by criteria of contiguity, of respect for communal boundaries and for settled communities of interest, and with no regard to the distribution of past votes or to the residence of any candidate.
6. The proposal of the commission takes effect unless the Assembly rejects it entire by a majority of three fifths, whereupon the commission submits a fresh proposal.

**Article 122. Candidacy**
1. Every resident who has attained the age of sixteen years may stand for election.
2. Lists are presented by parties, by cooperative federations, by unions, by communal councils, by associations, and by groups of residents furnishing the signatures fixed by organic law, which in no case exceed two hundred per district.
3. Individual candidacy outside any list is admitted, and organic law provides for the treatment of such candidacies in the computation of Article 120.
4. Refusal of a candidacy is permitted only for want of a condition fixed by this Constitution or by organic law, is stated in writing with reasons, and is appealable to the Constitutional Court within seven days.
5. The resources of a campaign are furnished by the plan on a scale that is public, equal among lists satisfying the conditions of paragraph 2, and independent of past results. Contributions of goods, services, resources or the residual unit of account to a candidacy or a party are prohibited, and Article 114 governs.

**Article 123. Term and date of election**
1. The Assembly is elected for five years.
2. The ordinary election is held on 10 June of the fifth year, and the Assembly elected convenes within fifteen days of the proclamation of the result.
3. The term ends upon the convening of the succeeding Assembly, and in no case is it extended by decision of the Assembly itself.
4. Where a state of emergency under Title X or a state of armed attack makes the holding of an election impossible in part of the territory, the Assembly may postpone the election, by a majority of two thirds, upon the prior finding of the Constitutional Court that the impossibility exists, for a period of six months at the most, renewable once by the same procedure and upon a fresh finding. Beyond twelve months the election is held in the districts where it is possible, and the seats of the remaining districts stay vacant until it can be held there.
5. Postponement under paragraph 4 suspends the mandate of no member, and suspends no right of Title III, no procedure of Chapter 4 of this Title and no review under Article 137.

**Article 124. The mandate**
1. Members represent the whole people and exercise their mandate according to their own judgement.
2. Any instruction binding a member to vote in a given manner is void, and in no case may a party, a list or an association deprive a member of their seat.
3. A member who leaves or is expelled from the list on which they were elected retains the seat.
4. Members hold their seat for no more than three consecutive terms.

**Article 125. Incompatibilities**
1. The seat of a member is incompatible with delegation to the National Planning Congress, with judicial office, with the offices of Title IX, with membership of the Ecological Budget Authority, with command in the forces, and with a management organ of an enterprise, a federation or a public establishment. Membership of an executive committee is compatible with the seat and is reserved to members of the Assembly.
2. A member elected to an incompatible office chooses between them within fifteen days, and silence is taken as resignation of the seat.
3. Members declare publicly, on taking their seat and annually, their contributions under Article 70, the associations to which they belong, and every interest capable of affecting the exercise of the mandate.
4. In no case may a member act for consideration in the interest of any person before a public organ, and breach of this paragraph is an offence and grounds for the loss of the seat.

**Article 126. Provision and conditions of members**
1. Members receive the provision furnished to every resident under Articles 62 and 107, together with the accommodation, transport, assistance and materials the exercise of the mandate requires, furnished in kind and accounted publicly.
2. In no respect is the provision of a member distinguishable from that of any other resident by reason of the office.
3. Members remain subject to the working time of Article 72 so far as the sittings of the Assembly permit, and the mandate is contribution under Article 70(2).
4. Members retain the place of contribution they held before election, or receive one conforming with Article 70(6) upon the end of the mandate, and Article 104(4) applies to them.

**Article 127. Immunity and responsibility**
1. In no case may a member be prosecuted, detained or held liable at any time, including after the end of the mandate, for an opinion expressed or a vote cast in the exercise of the office. This immunity admits no exception.
2. Prosecution of a member for any other act proceeds under the ordinary law. Detention before judgment requires the authorisation of the Assembly, which is refused only upon a finding that the prosecution is directed at the exercise of the mandate, and which is required in no case for an offence committed in flagrancy or for an offence of corruption.
3. The Assembly states the reasons for a refusal under paragraph 2, and its decision is reviewable by the Constitutional Court at the instance of the prosecuting authority.

**Article 128. Recall of a member**
1. The residents of a district may recall a member they have elected.
2. A petition for recall is opened upon the signatures of five per cent of the residents registered in the district, collected within ninety days, and no petition is opened in the first year of a term or in the last six months of it.
3. The recall is decided by vote in the district. The member is removed where a majority of the votes cast is in favour and where those votes exceed one quarter of the residents registered in the district.
4. In no case does participation in the vote condition its validity beyond the requirement of paragraph 3.
5. A seat vacated by recall passes to the next candidate of the same district list in the order of Article 120(5), and where the list is exhausted, a by-election is held in the district.
6. No member is recalled more than once in a term, and no ground of recall need be stated.

**Article 129. Vacancy and dissolution**
1. A seat vacated by death, resignation, loss of seat or recall is filled under Article 128(5).
2. The Assembly may dissolve itself by a majority of two thirds of its members.
3. An election is held within sixty days of a dissolution, and the Assembly elected serves a full term of five years, whereupon the calendar of Article 123(2) resumes at the fifth year following.
4. In no case may the Assembly be dissolved during a state of emergency, during a state of armed attack, or within the six months preceding the ordinary election.
5. A dissolved Assembly continues to sit for the purposes of Article 130(4), of the control of a state of emergency, and of matters admitting of no delay, until the succeeding Assembly convenes.

## Chapter 2: Functioning

**Article 130. Sittings, publicity and record**
1. The Assembly sits in permanent session and fixes its own agenda, subject to the rights of initiative conferred by this Constitution.
2. Sittings are public. The Assembly may sit in closed session by a majority of two thirds, on grounds of the protection of life or of the security of the Republic alone, and the record of a closed sitting is published upon the expiry of the period fixed at the time of the decision, which in no case exceeds five years.
3. Records of sittings, of committee proceedings, of votes by name, of amendments and of the texts before the Assembly are published within twenty-four hours in open and machine-readable form.
4. The Assembly adopts its own rules of procedure, which conform to this Constitution and are reviewable under Article 137.
5. Sittings are accessible to persons with disabilities, are interpreted into the languages of record, and are transmitted publicly.

**Article 131. Quorum and majorities**
1. The Assembly deliberates in the presence of one half of its members and decides by a majority of the votes cast, except where this Constitution requires otherwise.
2. Organic laws are adopted by a majority of three fifths of the members.
3. Amendment of the Constitution follows Title XII.
4. Voting is by name and is recorded and published. Secret voting is admitted only for the election of persons, and Article 137 governs no such election.
5. Voting by proxy, by delegation and by any means concealing the identity of the voting member is prohibited.

**Article 132. Committees and inquiry**
1. The Assembly constitutes standing committees, composed in proportion to the strength of the lists, whose chairs are distributed among them.
2. A committee may require the attendance of any member of an executive committee, any officer of the administration, any officer of a planning body, any officer of a federation or public establishment, and any person holding a delegated public function, and may require the production of documents.
3. One quarter of the members may constitute a committee of inquiry, whose composition reflects the strength of the lists and whose chair belongs to the members who requested it.
4. A committee of inquiry may summon witnesses, take evidence on oath, and require documents, and its report is published together with the dissenting opinions of its members.
5. Refusal to attend, to testify or to produce a document is an offence, and Article 61(3) protects any person who furnishes information to a committee.
6. Committees hold no power to determine individual liability, which belongs to the courts.

## Chapter 3: Legislation

**Article 133. Initiative**
1. A bill may be introduced by: any member of the Assembly; an executive committee; a regional council; twenty communal councils acting jointly; the National Planning Congress in the matters of Title IV; the Ecological Budget Authority in the matters of Title II; the branch federations, unions, user assemblies and communal economic councils under Article 155; and the residents by popular initiative under Article 139.
2. Every bill is published on introduction, together with its author, its purpose and its text.
3. In no case may the exercise of an initiative be conditioned upon the approval of any organ.

**Article 134. Assessment and consultation**
1. Every bill is accompanied by an assessment, published with it, stating its effect on the rights of Title III, its effect on the ecological budgets of Title II, the resources its execution requires in physical units, and the persons and territories it affects.
2. A bill whose assessment is absent or manifestly incomplete proceeds to no vote.
3. Bills are open to public comment for sixty days between the first and second readings, and the committee publishes the comments received together with its answer to each substantiated objection.
4. The communes and regions affected by a bill are consulted, and a bill affecting the competences of Title VII proceeds only after their opinions have been published.
5. The Assembly may abridge the periods of this Article by a majority of two thirds where the matter admits of no delay, stating the grounds, and in no case may it abridge them for an organic law or for a bill restricting a right of Title III.

**Article 135. Procedure**
1. A bill receives three readings: a reading of principle, a reading in committee upon its articles, and a final reading.
2. Amendments are published before the sitting at which they are considered, and an amendment whose effect the assessment of Article 134(1) has not covered is remitted to the committee.
3. The final text is published for fifteen days before the final vote.
4. A bill rejected is reintroduced within the same session only upon the signature of one quarter of the members.

**Article 136. Organic laws and reserved matters**
1. The matters this Constitution reserves to organic law are regulated by no other instrument, and in no case may an organic law be amended by an ordinary law or by an act of an executive committee.
2. Organic laws are submitted to the Constitutional Chamber before promulgation in every case, under Article 137(3).
3. In no case may the Assembly delegate to an executive committee the power to legislate in a matter reserved to organic law, in a matter touching the rights of Title III, in criminal law, in electoral law, or in the matters of Titles II and IV.

**Article 137. Preventive constitutional review**
1. The Constitutional Chamber is the formation of the Constitutional Court constituted under Title VIII for the review of texts before promulgation.
2. The Chamber examines the conformity of a text with this Constitution, with the rights guaranteed in Title III, and with the ecological budgets binding under Article 26.
3. Referral to the Chamber is obligatory for organic laws, for the rules of procedure of the Assembly, and for any text restricting a right of Title III.
4. Referral is otherwise made, within fifteen days of the final vote and before promulgation, by: one tenth of the members of the Assembly; the Coordinating Bureau; a regional council; ten communal councils acting jointly; the National Planning Congress; the Ecological Budget Authority; the offices of Title IX within their competence; and by the residents upon the signatures fixed by organic law.
5. Referral suspends promulgation. The Chamber decides within thirty days, and within eight days where the Coordinating Bureau certifies urgency and the Chamber accepts the certification.
6. A provision declared contrary to this Constitution is not promulgated. Where it is separable, the remainder is promulgated, and where it is inseparable, the text returns to the Assembly.
7. Decisions of the Chamber state reasons, publish dissenting opinions, and bind every organ.
8. Review under this Article excludes no subsequent challenge to a promulgated law before the Constitutional Court by any person under Article 43, except upon a ground the Chamber has already examined and decided.

**Article 138. Promulgation, publication and entry into force**
1. A text adopted is promulgated within fifteen days by the Presiding Officer of the Assembly, whose function in this respect is declaratory and who holds no power to refuse.
2. Failure to promulgate within the period causes the text to take effect by operation of law, and the office of publication records it.
3. A text takes effect upon publication in the public register, or upon the later date it appoints, and Article 14(2) governs.
4. Texts are published in open and machine-readable form, in consolidated versions incorporating every amendment, in the languages of record, and without charge.

## Chapter 4: Popular Decision

**Article 139. Popular initiative**
1. Residents may introduce a bill in the Assembly upon the signatures of fifty thousand residents, or of two per cent of the residents registered, whichever is the lesser.
2. Signatures may be given in writing and by the public information system, are verifiable and revocable, and are collected within twelve months.
3. The Assembly considers an initiative within one hundred and twenty days of its deposit, hears its promoters in committee and in plenary sitting, and votes upon it.
4. Where the Assembly rejects an initiative, adopts it in a form its promoters declare substantially altered, or fails to vote within the period, the initiative is submitted to referendum at the request of its promoters.
5. The Assembly may submit a counter-proposal to the same referendum, and the voters decide between the two texts and the existing law.
6. In no case may an initiative propose the reduction of a right of Title III, a measure contrary to the ecological budgets, a measure directed against a person or a determinate group, or a matter this Constitution reserves to Title IV, and the Constitutional Chamber verifies admissibility before the collection of signatures begins.

**Article 140. Referendum**
1. A referendum is held upon: an initiative under Article 139(4); the request of one third of the members of the Assembly; the request of one quarter of the communal councils; the request of one hundred thousand residents against a law within ninety days of its publication, which suspends its entry into force; a resolution of the Assembly; and in the cases this Constitution otherwise provides.
2. The question is put in terms that are clear, single and answerable, and the Constitutional Chamber verifies its formulation before the vote.
3. The result is determined by a majority of the votes cast, and in no case does the level of participation condition the validity of a referendum.
4. Public resources are furnished equally to the organised proponents and opponents of the question, and the organs of the Republic furnish an impartial statement of the effects of each outcome, published thirty days before the vote.
5. A referendum decides bindingly. A law approved by referendum is amended within four years only by a further referendum, and a law rejected by referendum is reintroduced within four years only by referendum.
6. Article 139(6) governs the admissible subject matter of every referendum.

**Article 141. Local decision**
1. Decision at the level of the locality belongs to the assembly of its residents, meeting in person, wherever the size of the population makes this practicable.
2. Where the population exceeds the figure fixed by organic law, or where the geography of the commune makes assembly impracticable, decision belongs to an elected communal council, which convenes assemblies of residents in its neighbourhoods and remains bound by the initiative and referendum of its residents.
3. Every commune, whether governed by assembly or by council, admits initiative by its residents, referendum upon its acts, and recall of the members of its council.
4. In no case does a threshold of participation condition the validity of a local decision.
5. Title VII establishes the competences of the communes and of the regions, their finance in resources, and the relation between them.

**Article 142. Deliberative bodies drawn by lot**
1. The Assembly, a region and a commune may convene a deliberative body whose members are drawn by lot from the residents, composed so as to reflect the population in age, gender, territory, occupation and condition.
2. Participation is voluntary, is contribution under Article 70(2), and carries provision for transport, care, accommodation and the release of the participant from other tasks.
3. Such a body hears evidence from persons of differing view, deliberates in conditions of publicity fixed by organic law, and adopts a report with the dissenting opinions of its members.
4. The organ that convened the body answers the report within ninety days, in writing, publicly, and article by article.
5. Deliberative bodies hold no power of decision, and in no case may their convening displace, postpone or condition the exercise of the initiative and referendum of Articles 139 and 140.

## Chapter 5: The Assembly and the Organs of Planning

**Article 143. Accountability of the planning organs**
1. The Assembly makes the laws and carries them out. The economic plan is made by the planning bodies established in Title IV. In no case is the National Planning Congress an independent organ.
2. The Congress answers to the regional economic councils, the branch federations, the user assemblies and the ecological interest that constitute it, each recalling the delegates it has designated under Article 96(3), and to the Assembly under this Article.
3. The Assembly receives the reports of the Congress, questions its delegates, requires documents, examines its account of each planning period, constitutes committees of inquiry under Article 132, and may direct the Congress to reconsider a decision, stating its reasons publicly.
4. A direction under paragraph 3 conforms to this Constitution, to the ecological budgets and to the priority of Article 91(2). In no case may the Assembly direct the Congress to breach a budget, to depart from the order of Article 91(2), to prefer a person, an enterprise, a group or a territory, or to set aside the rounds of negotiation of Article 97(1)(c).
5. In no case may the Assembly adopt the plan itself, amend it by legislation, or recall a delegate designated by another body.
6. In no case may the Congress adopt a text in the matters of Title III, of criminal law, of judicial organisation, of the electoral system, or of the competences of Title VII.
7. A law whose execution requires resources is transmitted to the Congress upon promulgation, and the Congress introduces it into the planning cycle of Article 97 at the following stage of negotiation.
8. Where the Congress finds that the resources a law requires cannot be furnished within the ecological budgets or without displacing a purpose ranked higher under Article 91(2), it publishes that finding with its reasons and the variants examined, and transmits it to the Assembly within sixty days. The Assembly may then amend the law, postpone its entry into force, or confirm it by a majority of three fifths, whereupon the Congress executes it and adjusts the plan under Article 99, except where execution would breach an ecological budget, in which case the law is void to the extent of the breach under Article 26(2).
9. The plan, and every decision of a planning body, is open to challenge before the Constitutional Court by any resident, cooperative, union, workplace assembly, user or neighbourhood assembly, branch federation, commune, sub-region or region, upon either of the following grounds:
   a) that the plan or the decision fails to satisfy the minimum core of Article 41, departs from the order of priority of Article 91(2), breaches an ecological budget, or leaves a registered essential need unmet without stating reasons;
   b) that the participation this Constitution requires has not taken place, comprising the rounds of Article 97(1)(c), the answers to objections required by Article 97(2), the publication required by Article 90(4) and Article 97(4), the accessibility of registration under Article 63(1), the convening of the assemblies of Articles 92 and 93, and the participation floors fixed by organic law.
10. Upon a ground under paragraph 9 the Court may annul the decision in whole or in part, order the stage of the cycle to be conducted afresh within a fixed period, order the extension of registration and of the periods of objection, and order the publication withheld. Pending compliance, essential provision continues on the quantities of the preceding period under Article 98(5).
11. A conflict of competence between the Assembly and the planning bodies is decided by the Constitutional Court at the instance of either, and the decision states the boundary in terms applicable to similar cases.

**Article 144. Control of execution**
1. Every member may address written and oral questions to an executive committee, which answers within the period fixed by the rules of procedure.
2. The Assembly may interpellate an executive committee upon its conduct of any matter, and the interpellation concludes with a resolution.
3. The constitution, the recall and the responsibility of the executive committees are governed by Title VI.
4. The Assembly examines the annual accounts of the administration upon the report of the Audit Office of Title IX, and the report is published with the answer of the Coordinating Bureau.

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# TITLE VI: EXECUTION AND THE ADMINISTRATION

*Interpretation. In every provision of this Constitution adopted before this Title, a reference to the Government reads as a reference to the Executive Council, and a reference to a minister reads as a reference to the competent executive committee.*

## Chapter 1: Representation of the Republic

**Article 145. Absence of a head of state**
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.

**Article 146. The Presiding Officer of the Assembly**
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.

## Chapter 2: The Executive Council

**Article 147. Nature**
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.

**Article 148. Constitution and composition of the committees**
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.

**Article 149. Chairs and the Coordinating Bureau**
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.

**Article 150. Recall, vacancy and continuity**
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.

**Article 151. Responsibility**
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.

**Article 152. Conditions and incompatibilities**
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.

**Article 153. Functions of the Executive Council**
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).

**Article 154. Limits of execution**
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.

## Chapter 3: Initiative of Producers and Users

**Article 155. Right of economic initiative**
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.

**Article 156. Duty of 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.

**Article 157. Subsidiarity in execution**
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.

## Chapter 4: The Administration

**Article 158. Principles**
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.

**Article 159. The career service**
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.

**Article 160.** *(Vacant. Political cabinets are abolished by Article 147(3). The number is reserved for renumbering at the drafting stage)*

**Article 161. Administrative procedure**
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.

**Article 162. Liability**
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.

**Article 163. Public functions inalienable**
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.

**Article 164. Public information systems**
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.

**Article 165. Account and audit**
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.

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# TITLE VII: COMMUNES, SUB-REGIONS AND REGIONS

## Chapter 1: Principles of Territorial Organisation

**Article 166. The tiers**
1. The Republic is organised in four governing tiers: the commune, the sub-region, the region and the Republic.
2. The commune is the village or the city with its territory. Sub-regions comprise the communes within them. The two regions comprise the sub-regions within them, nine in the western region and eleven in the eastern.
3. Each tier governs itself through organs elected or constituted under this Title, holds the competences this Title assigns to it, and receives resources under Chapter 6.
4. The Republic is unitary under Article 1(2). In no case does a tier have sovereignty, a right of secession, a constitution of its own, or a legal order separate from that of the Republic.
5. The two regions hold identical competences, and in no case is a competence conferred upon one region alone.

**Article 167. General competence and subsidiarity**
1. The commune holds general competence. It may act in any matter concerning the life of its territory and its inhabitants, except where this Constitution or an organic law assigns the matter exclusively to a higher tier.
2. The sub-region, the region and the Republic hold the competences enumerated in Articles 174, 176 and 177 alone. The residue belongs to the commune.
3. A higher tier acts only where the scale of the matter, the extent of its effects beyond one territory, or the equality this Constitution requires between territories places it beyond the reach of the tier below.
4. Doubt as to the tier competent in a matter is resolved in favour of the commune.
5. Assignment of a matter to a higher tier by organic law requires the reasons to be stated in the text, is reviewable under Article 189, and is revisable.

**Article 168. Equality between territories**
1. Every resident holds the rights of Title III and the provision of Articles 62 and 107 to the same standard in every territory of the Republic.
2. Self-government produces no inequality in the minimum core, and Article 91(3) governs allocation.
3. A commune, sub-region or region may exceed the general standard from resources it has saved or generated under Article 182, and in no case may it fall below it.

## Chapter 2: The Commune

**Article 169. Government of the commune**
1. The commune is governed by the assembly of its residents where Article 141(1) applies, and by an elected communal council where Article 141(2) applies.
2. Where the commune is governed by assembly, the assembly exercises the powers this Title confers upon the communal council, and elects an executive board of no fewer than three and no more than nine residents, recallable at any time.
3. Every resident of the commune who has attained the age of sixteen years participates in the assembly, votes for the council, and stands for it, under Article 60.

**Article 170. The communal council**
1. Members of the communal council are elected for four years by open list, by proportional representation computed within the commune.
2. The council elects a chair from among its members, who convenes it, directs its sittings and signs its acts, and who in no case decides a matter alone or against the council.
3. The council executes through committees composed of its members and apportioned among the lists in proportion to their seats, and Article 148(3) and (4) apply.
4. Sittings are public, records and votes by name are published within forty-eight hours, and the agenda is published in advance.
5. Members are recallable by the residents on the conditions of Article 128, the figures applying to the commune.
6. Members hold the seat for no more than three consecutive terms, receive the provision of every resident under Article 126(1) and (2), and hold the mandate as contribution under Article 70(2).

**Article 171. Competences of the commune**
1. The commune administers its territory under Article 167(1), and in particular: local provision of Articles 62 and 107 within its territory; housing, its allocation and its maintenance under Chapter 8; water supply and sanitation within its boundaries; local roads, paths and public space; waste collection, reuse and recovery; nursery, primary and communal education establishments; primary healthcare posts and communal care services; libraries of tools and of books under Article 107(4); cultural, sporting and holiday facilities; communal enterprises under Article 86; local ecological monitoring under Article 25(1)(c); civil protection at the local level; and the convening of the assemblies of Article 93.
2. The commune adopts local rules within its competence, which bind within its territory, conform to this Constitution, the laws and the ecological budgets, and are published in the public register.
3. A local rule stricter than a national one in ecological protection is valid under Article 25(5). A local rule weaker than a national standard is void.
4. The commune adopts its spatial plan under Article 184.

**Article 172. Neighbourhoods**
1. A commune divides its territory into neighbourhoods, each holding an assembly of its residents under Article 93.
2. Neighbourhood assemblies decide the matters the communal council devolves to them, dispose of the share of communal resources the council assigns, and hold the right to place any matter on the agenda of the council.
3. In no case may a communal council refuse to consider a matter transmitted by a neighbourhood assembly, and its answer is reasoned and public.

## Chapter 3: The Sub-Region

**Article 173. The sub-region and its council**
1. The sub-region is the intermediate tier between the commune and the region, and is the electoral district of Article 121.
2. The sub-regional council is composed of delegates elected by the communal councils and assemblies of the sub-region, apportioned among the communes in proportion to their resident population, with each commune holding no fewer than one delegate.
3. Delegates hold mandates from the bodies that elected them, are recallable by those bodies at any time, and serve for four years.
4. The council elects a chair and executes through committees composed under Article 170(3), and Article 170(4) governs its publicity.

**Article 174. Competences of the sub-region**
1. The sub-region holds the following competences alone: management of watersheds lying within it, under Article 28(2); the network of schools above the communal establishments; the network of clinics, hospitals of first reference and care institutions; local and inter-communal transport; roads connecting communes; supply of water and treatment of waste water where the works serve several communes; recovery and treatment of materials at a scale beyond one commune; fire and rescue services; the deconcentrated offices of the administration within its territory; and coordination of the spatial plans of its communes.
2. The sub-region exercises no competence of a commune, and in no case does it review, approve or annul an act of a commune, Article 189 governing conflicts.
3. Where a watershed crosses a sub-regional boundary, the councils concerned constitute a joint body under Article 186, and failing agreement the region acts under Article 176(1).

## Chapter 4: The Region

**Article 175. The region and its council**
1. Each region has a council composed of delegates elected by the sub-regional councils, apportioned in proportion to resident population, with each sub-region holding no fewer than two delegates.
2. Article 173(3) and (4) apply to the regional council and its delegates.

**Article 176. Competences of the region**
1. The region holds the following competences alone: infrastructure serving more than one sub-region, including trunk roads, railways, ports and the regional works of the energy, water and communication systems; watersheds crossing sub-regional boundaries; regional hospitals and specialised care; institutions of higher education and research within its territory; regional protected areas and habitat connectivity under Article 31(1); regional civil protection; the regional spatial plan; and the balance of provision among its sub-regions.
2. The region distributes among its sub-regions the resources apportioned to it under Article 180(4), and publishes the distribution with its reasons.
3. The region exercises no competence of a commune or of a sub-region.

## Chapter 5: The Republic

**Article 177. Competences of the Republic**
1. The Republic holds the following competences alone: this Constitution and its amendment; the rights of Title III and their protection; the ecological budgets of Title II; criminal law and criminal procedure; the organisation of the courts and the judiciary; civil, family, labour and cooperative law; the electoral system and the register of residence; citizenship and asylum; external relations, treaties and defence; the national systems of energy, communication, rail and water; the knowledge commons; the national plan and its organs; the currency question under Article 7(5) and the residual unit of account; the offices of Title IX; the standards of Article 178; and any matter concerning both regions.
2. The Republic acts in a matter concerning both regions where uniform treatment is required for the movement of persons, goods, vehicles and information across the territory, for the safety of persons, or for the equality of provision.
3. In no case does the Republic assume a competence of a lower tier outside Article 157(2) and Article 190.

**Article 178. Standards of general application**
1. The Republic fixes by law or by regulation of the competent executive committee the technical standards that must hold identically throughout the territory, including: dimensions, masses and loads of vehicles and their combinations, and the conditions of exceptional loads; construction, safety and accessibility of buildings and works; electrical, gas and network interconnection; sanitary and food standards; measurement, units and calibration; the specifications of durability, repair and recovery under Articles 33 and 110; the formats, protocols and interfaces of Article 109(6); and the signage and rules of the public way.
2. Standards are published in full, without charge, in open form, and are implementable and verifiable by any person.
3. A commune, sub-region or region may adopt a stricter standard within its territory where the matter concerns ecological protection, safety of persons, or accessibility, and where the stricter standard obstructs no movement lawfully undertaken from another territory.
4. Where the application of a standard to a particular case is disputed, the tier applying it decides in the first instance, gives written reasons, and the decision is reviewable under Article 161(4).

## Chapter 6: Resources

**Article 179. Principle of direct allocation**
1. There is no tax. Communes, sub-regions and regions receive their resources directly from the plan, in the physical units of Article 7(2).
2. Allocation reaches each commune directly, and in no case does it pass through the discretion of a higher tier, except for the regional distribution of Article 176(2), which follows the published formula alone.
3. In no case may a resource allocation be withheld, reduced, delayed or conditioned as a means of influencing the political conduct of a territory, and an act doing so is void and engages Article 43(4).

**Article 180. The formula**
1. Organic law fixes a public formula that determines the allocation of each commune, sub-region and region, computed upon: resident population and its composition by age and condition; the needs registered under Article 63 within the territory; the tasks assigned by Articles 171, 174 and 176; distance, dispersion of settlement and geography; the condition of existing works and their maintenance; ecological burdens borne and restoration owed; and the equalisation of Article 181.
2. The Planning Secretariat computes the allocations, publishes the formula, the code, the data and the result for every territory, and flags every departure from the computed figure.
3. Identified persons of the competent economic council decide the allocation, state reasons for any departure from the computed figure, and Articles 51(5) and 90(3) govern. In no case does a computation decide an allocation.
4. Allocations are published before the opening of each planning period, and a territory may object under Article 97(1)(c) and challenge under Article 43.

**Article 181. Equalisation**
1. Territories whose geography, settlement pattern, inherited works or ecological burden place the general standard of provision beyond the ordinary allocation receive an additional allocation sufficient to reach it.
2. Equalisation is computed by the formula, is published, and is owed as of right.
3. In no case does equalisation depend upon the assent of another territory or upon a negotiation between territories.

**Article 182. Local surplus and local initiative**
1. A territory that meets its assigned tasks below its allocation retains the surplus for the following period, applies it within its competences, and in no case suffers a reduction of its allocation by reason of the saving.
2. A territory may undertake works and provision beyond the general standard from a surplus so retained, from the voluntary contribution of its residents under Article 70, and from cooperation under Article 186.
3. Surplus retained is subject to the ecological budgets in every case, and in no case may it be applied to exceed a ceiling.
4. In no case may a territory borrow, pledge an asset, hold a reserve of the residual unit of account, or accept resources from a foreign economic entity.

## Chapter 7: Economic Councils and Political Control

**Article 183. Relation of the economic councils to the elected councils**
1. The communal economic council answers to the communal council, the sub-regional economic council to the sub-regional council, and the regional economic council to the regional council.
2. Each elected council receives the reports of its economic council, questions its delegates, requires documents, examines its account of each planning period, and may direct it to reconsider a decision, stating reasons publicly.
3. An elected council may recall the delegates it has itself designated to the economic council, and in no case may it recall a delegate designated by a workplace assembly, a user assembly, a branch federation or the ecological interest.
4. Direction under paragraph 2 conforms to this Constitution, to the ecological budgets and to the priority of Article 91(2). In no case may an elected council direct an economic council to breach a budget, to depart from the order of Article 91(2), or to prefer a person or a group.
5. A sub-regional economic council is constituted in each sub-region, composed of delegates of the communal economic councils, of the branch federations operating in the sub-region, of the user assemblies of sub-regional services, and of ecological interest. It reconciles what the communal economic councils have failed to reconcile among themselves, and it enters the cycle of Article 97(1)(c) between the communal and the regional stages.
6. Article 94(3) applies to the delegates of every economic council under this Article.

## Chapter 8: Spatial Planning, Land and Housing

**Article 184. Spatial planning**
1. Each commune adopts a spatial plan governing the use of land within its territory, in conformity with the ecological budgets, the sub-regional coordination of Article 174(1) and the regional plan of Article 176(1).
2. Spatial plans are adopted after public inquiry, hearing of the neighbourhood assemblies, and publication of the objections received with the answer given to each.
3. Habitat connectivity is a condition of validity under Article 31(1), and a plan breaching it is void under Article 26(2).
4. Persons and communities affected by a proposed installation, extraction or infrastructure are heard under Article 76(3), and their agreement is sought before the plan is adopted. Where agreement fails and the work serves a need that no alternative site can meet, the decision states the reasons, records the objections, and fixes the compensation of the burdens borne under Article 32(5).

**Article 185. Allocation and reallocation of housing**
1. The commune allocates the dwellings within its territory according to registered need under Articles 63 and 65(2), by published rules and a public register of applications.
2. Where a household falls below the size for which its dwelling was allocated, the commune records the change and offers an exchange for a dwelling corresponding to the household, situated within the same commune and, so far as practicable, within the same neighbourhood.
3. The offer is made no earlier than twelve months after the change. Where it is declined, the commune renews it at intervals of no less than six months, offering a different dwelling on each occasion.
4. Reallocation becomes obligatory thirty-six months after the change, and only upon the offer of a dwelling that meets the minimum core, corresponds to the household, lies within the same commune, and preserves access to work, care, education and transport under Article 65(1).
5. The commune bears the whole cost of removal, adaptation and reconnection, and the household suffers no interruption of provision.
6. Reallocation is decided by reasoned decision, is appealable with suspensive effect under Article 43, and takes effect only when the decision is final.
7. In no case does reallocation proceed where the household includes a person whose health, disability, age, care of another person or attachment to a place of long residence makes removal harmful. Organic law defines these grounds, and the commune states its finding upon each of them in the decision.
8. In no case does eviction into homelessness follow from this Article, and Article 65(3) governs.
9. The dwelling released returns to allocation under paragraph 1.

## Chapter 9: Cooperation, Boundaries and Communities

**Article 186. Cooperation and joint bodies**
1. Communes, sub-regions and regions may contract with one another for the joint exercise of their competences, for shared works and for mutual assistance.
2. They may constitute joint bodies, governed by delegates of the participating territories, publishing their acts and accounts, and holding no competence beyond the one conferred.
3. A joint body dissolves upon the withdrawal of the participants, and its assets return to them in the proportions of their contribution.
4. In no case does cooperation transfer a competence permanently, create a tier of government, or bind a territory that has not consented.

**Article 187. Boundaries, merger and division**
1. Boundaries of communes are altered, communes merged and communes divided only with the agreement of the residents of each territory affected, expressed by referendum under Article 140.
2. Boundaries of sub-regions and regions are altered by organic law, and only with the agreement of the residents of each territory affected, expressed by referendum.
3. A referendum under this Article is held upon the initiative of a communal council, of ten per cent of the residents of an affected territory, or of the Assembly.
4. Alteration of an electoral district follows Article 121(5), and in no case does an alteration under this Article take effect for an election already convened.
5. In no case may a boundary be altered to affect the outcome of an election, the composition of a council or the allocation of resources, and Article 121(5) governs the criteria.

**Article 188. Communities, languages and heritage**
1. Communities present in a territory hold the right to use their language in dealings with every tier of government, under Article 16(1).
2. Where a community forms a significant part of the population of a commune, the commune conducts its assemblies, publishes its acts and provides instruction in that language, on the conditions fixed by organic law, and Article 67(6) governs.
3. Communities govern the heritage that belongs to them under Article 73(4), and communes protect the material heritage within their territory.
4. Long-standing rules by which a community uses and maintains a commons resource are recognised under Article 83(4).

## Chapter 10: Conflict, Default and Protection

**Article 189. Conflicts of competence**
1. A conflict between tiers concerning competence is decided by the Constitutional Court at the instance of any territory concerned, of the Coordinating Bureau, or of any person affected by the act in dispute.
2. The Court states the boundary in terms applicable to similar cases, and Article 167(4) governs doubt.
3. Pending decision, the act in dispute continues in effect, except where the Court suspends it upon a showing of irreparable harm.
4. An act of a tier exceeding its competence is void to the extent of the excess.

**Article 190. Default and the commissioner**
1. Where a commune, sub-region or region persistently fails to furnish the minimum core within its territory, breaches an ecological budget, refuses to execute a final judgment, or leaves its offices unfilled, any resident, the competent economic council, a higher tier, the Ecological Budget Authority or the offices of Title IX may apply to the competent court.
2. The court hears the territory, establishes the default, and orders performance on a fixed timetable.
3. Where the order is not executed, the court appoints a commissioner, naming the specific tasks the commissioner performs, the resources placed at their disposal, and the date on which the appointment ends.
4. The elected council remains in office throughout, continues to exercise every competence outside the tasks named, sits, deliberates and publishes as before, and in no case is it suspended, dissolved or displaced.
5. The commissioner performs the named tasks alone, reports publicly at monthly intervals to the council and to the court, and answers to the court.
6. An appointment runs for twelve months at the most, is renewed once only, upon a fresh finding of continuing default, and lapses upon the removal of the default.
7. The commissioner is independent of the executive committees, is selected from a public roster established by organic law, and in no case is a member of the Assembly, of an executive committee or of a council of the territory concerned.
8. The commissioner exercises no power over the elected council, over elections in the territory, over the local rules in force, or over any matter outside the tasks named.
9. Where the default arises from an allocation insufficient to the tasks assigned, the court so finds, refers the matter under Article 99, and appoints no commissioner.
10. The decision appointing a commissioner is appealable, and the appeal is heard within thirty days.

**Article 191. Protection of self-government**
1. Communes, sub-regions and regions may bring an action before the Constitutional Court against any act infringing their competences, their resources or their organs.
2. In no case may a tier of government be abolished, suspended or deprived of its elected organs by an act of the Assembly, of an executive committee or of a higher tier.
3. In no case may an executive committee issue an instruction to a communal, sub-regional or regional council, and Article 157(2) governs the assumption of a task.
4. Residents of a territory may challenge under Article 43 any act depriving them of the self-government this Title guarantees.

---

# TITLE VIII: JUSTICE

## Chapter 1: Principles

**Article 192. The judicial function**
1. Justice is administered by the courts established by this Title, in the name of the people, and by no other body.
2. Courts decide disputes, try offences, review the acts of every organ of the Republic, and enforce the rights of Title III, the ecological budgets of Title II, and the distribution of functions established by Article 13.
3. Extraordinary tribunals are prohibited under Article 77(5). In no case may a body outside this Title exercise judicial power, determine individual liability, or impose a penalty.
4. In no case may a court be created for a particular case, a particular person or a particular period.
5. Judicial decisions bind every organ, and their execution is owed by every organ.

**Article 193. Independence**
1. Judges are independent and are subject to the Constitution and the law alone.
2. In no case may the Assembly, an executive committee, the Coordinating Bureau, a planning body, a council of a territory, a federation, a party or any person give an instruction to a judge, whether general or in a particular case.
3. In no case is a judge liable for the content of a decision, except in the case of an offence established by final judgment.
4. Judges hold security of position under Article 203, and their provision, their court and their jurisdiction are altered by no measure directed at their decisions.
5. The resources of the courts are fixed as a share of the plan by organic law, and in no case may they be reduced during the term of an Assembly.

**Article 194. Application and interpretation**
1. Judges apply this Constitution, the organic laws, the laws, the ratified treaties, the ecological budgets, the regulations of execution within their limits, and the local rules within their validity.
2. Judges interpret every norm in conformity with Title III under Article 39(3), and where two readings are open, the reading more favourable to the right prevails.
3. In no case does a judge create a rule of general application, decide by reference to a political programme, or set aside a law on grounds of its expediency.
4. Uniformity of interpretation is secured by the National Court under Article 200.

**Article 195. Reference to the Constitutional Chamber**
1. Where a court cannot decide a case without resolving a question of the conformity of a norm with this Constitution, and where conforming interpretation under Article 194(2) is impossible, the court stays the case and refers the question to the Constitutional Chamber.
2. A court refers on its own motion or upon the application of a party, and a refusal to refer states reasons and is appealable.
3. The reference states the question, the norm in issue, the facts on which it bears and the reasoning of the referring court, and is published.
4. The Chamber answers within ninety days. Its answer binds the referring court, binds every court in similar cases, and is published with reasons and with dissenting opinions.
5. In no case does a reference suspend the essential provision of Article 62 or the interim protection of Article 43(5).

**Article 196. Publicity of justice**
1. Hearings are public. A court may close a hearing in part by reasoned and published order, on the grounds of the protection of a child, of the private life of a party, or of the physical safety of a person, and on no other ground.
2. Judgments are published in full, in open and machine-readable form, free of charge, with the names of the judges deciding and the dissenting opinions, and with the redactions that Article 51 requires.
3. Journalists attend hearings by right, record and report them, and in no case is accreditation, licence or prior permission required. Article 54(6) protects their sources.
4. Case registers, timetables, assignment records and the statistics of every court are public.
5. The press reports upon the courts, upon the Judicial Council and upon the conduct of judges, and Article 53(4) protects that reporting.

## Chapter 2: The Courts

**Article 197. Structure**
1. The courts of the Republic are: the communal and sub-regional courts, which try at first instance; the regional courts, which hear appeals; the National Court; and the Constitutional Court.
2. Organic law establishes the courts, their seats and their territorial competence, and in no case may it abolish a court in order to remove a judge or to transfer a pending case.
3. Every person has access to a court within reasonable distance of their residence, and communes without a court are served by sittings held within them.

**Article 198. First instance and appeal**
1. Communal and sub-regional courts try civil, criminal, labour, cooperative, administrative and ecological matters at first instance, in the divisions organic law establishes.
2. Every judgment is open to appeal to the regional court on the facts and on the law.
3. The regional court decides finally, except for cassation to the National Court under Article 200(2).
4. Ecological actions under Article 19 may be brought at first instance before any competent court, and the Ecological Chamber of the Constitutional Court holds the jurisdiction of Article 27.

**Article 199. Specialised divisions**
1. Organic law may establish divisions for labour, for cooperative and planning disputes, for ecological matters, and for the review of administrative acts, within the courts of Article 197(1).
2. A division sits with assessors holding the technical knowledge the matter requires, who advise and hold no vote.
3. In no case does a division constitute a separate jurisdiction, and appeal lies as under Article 198.

**Article 200. The National Court**
1. The National Court secures the uniform interpretation of the law throughout the territory.
2. It hears cassation upon a question of law, upon a divergence between regional courts, and upon a manifest breach of procedure.
3. Its judgments in cassation bind the court to which the case is remitted, and its rulings upon divergence bind every court until the law changes or until the Court departs from them by reasoned and published decision in plenary.
4. In no case does the National Court decide a question of the conformity of a norm with this Constitution, which belongs to the Constitutional Chamber under Article 195.

**Article 201. Assignment of cases**
1. Cases are assigned to judges by lot, by a public procedure operating without human intervention upon the order of receipt.
2. The method, the code and the parameters of assignment are public under Article 109(5) and (6), the draw is verifiable by any person, and the result is published upon assignment.
3. Reassignment of a case after allocation is permitted only for recusal, disqualification, illness, absence or the closure of a division, and only by a written and published order stating the ground, made by a panel of three judges of the court, and recorded in the register.
4. In no case may the president of a court, the Judicial Council, or any other person select the judge who is to hear a case, direct a reassignment, or alter the composition of a panel after allocation.
5. Redistribution of workload between judges follows a published rule applying to classes of case, operates prospectively, and in no case touches a case already assigned.
6. An act contrary to this Article voids the assignment, and the case is drawn afresh.

## Chapter 3: Judges

**Article 202. Recruitment**
1. Judges are recruited by open competition, upon published criteria, conducted anonymously so far as the exercise permits, and administered by the Judicial Council.
2. The competition is open to every resident holding the qualification in law that organic law fixes, without condition of origin, of family, of connection, or of prior service.
3. Organic law secures routes into the judiciary from ordinary practice, from the service of communes and cooperatives, from teaching, and from legal assistance, and in no case may it confine recruitment to a single school, career or institution.
4. The results of the competition, the marks, the criteria applied and the composition of every examining board are published.
5. Refusal of a candidacy states reasons in writing and is appealable to the Constitutional Court.

**Article 203. Term and security**
1. Judges are appointed for a single term of twelve years, non-renewable, and in no case is reappointment to the same court permitted.
2. A judge may pass to a court of another level once during a career by a fresh competition, and the second term runs for the period remaining of the twelve years.
3. In the course of a term a judge is transferred, suspended or removed only by the procedure of Article 206.
4. Terms are staggered so that no more than one twelfth of the judiciary is renewed in any year.
5. Upon the expiry of a term a judge returns to a contribution under Article 70(6), retains the provision of every resident, and takes no function in a foreign economic entity for three years.

**Article 204. Duties and incompatibilities**
1. Judges decide within the periods fixed by law, state reasons, and treat every person under Article 38.
2. A judge withdraws from a case in which their impartiality may reasonably be doubted, and a party may seek disqualification by reasoned application decided by other judges.
3. The office is incompatible with a seat in the Assembly, with membership of an executive committee, with delegation to a planning body, with the offices of Title IX, with membership of the Ecological Budget Authority, with command in the forces, with office in a party, and with a management organ of an enterprise, a federation or a public establishment.
4. Judges declare publicly, on appointment and annually, their contributions under Article 70, the associations to which they belong, their property under Article 74, and every interest capable of affecting the office. The declarations are published and are verified by the Inspectorate.
5. In no respect is the provision of a judge distinguishable from that of any other resident, and Article 126(1) and (2) apply.
6. Judges may teach, write, research and take part in public debate upon questions of law, and in no case does this engage disciplinary liability.

**Article 205. Leadership posts**
1. Presidents of courts and heads of divisions are elected by the judges of the court concerned, by secret ballot, for a single term of three years.
2. In no case may a person hold consecutive terms in a leadership post, hold more than one leadership post at a time, or hold leadership posts for more than six years in the whole of a career.
3. Leadership posts carry the administration of the court alone, and in no case do they carry authority over the decisions of a judge, over the assignment of cases under Article 201, over promotion, or over discipline.
4. The holders of leadership posts, their terms and their acts of administration are published.
5. In no case may the holders of leadership posts constitute an association, a conference or a standing body exercising influence over appointments, over discipline or over the Judicial Council.

**Article 206. Discipline**
1. Disciplinary liability arises for a breach of the duties of Article 204, for a failure to decide within the periods fixed, for a breach of Article 201, for concealment of an interest, and for conduct incompatible with the office. In no case does it arise for the content of a decision, for its reversal on appeal, or for a legal opinion expressed.
2. Disciplinary proceedings are opened by the Inspectorate under Article 214, upon complaint by any person or on its own motion.
3. Proceedings are heard by a disciplinary panel of the Judicial Council, composed for each case by lot from its members, in which the members drawn by lot under Article 210 hold a majority.
4. The judge is heard, has access to the file, is assisted by counsel at public cost, and appeals to the Constitutional Court, which decides finally.
5. Hearings and decisions are public, with the redactions Article 51 requires for the protection of complainants.
6. Sanctions comprise warning, reprimand, transfer, suspension and removal, and are proportionate to the breach established.
7. Removal follows only for a grave breach established by the procedure of this Article or for conviction of an offence by final judgment.

## Chapter 4: The Judicial Council

**Article 207. Nature**
1. The Judicial Council administers the judiciary, and it is independent of the Assembly, of the executive committees, of the planning bodies and of the courts.
2. In no case does the Council decide a case, review a judgment, instruct a judge, or exercise influence over the outcome of any proceeding.

**Article 208. Functions**
1. The Council conducts the competitions of Article 202, appoints judges, confirms the justices drawn under Article 217, constitutes the disciplinary panels of Article 206(3), maintains the assignment system of Article 201, publishes the statistics of the courts, and proposes to the Assembly the resources the judiciary requires.
2. The Council appoints the head of the prosecution service under Article 224(2).
3. The Council reports annually to the Assembly and to the public, and its report is debated in public sitting.
4. In no case does the Council hold a competence beyond those enumerated in this Article and in organic law adopted under it.

**Article 209. Composition**
1. The Council consists of twenty-one members: thirteen residents drawn by lot, and eight judges elected by the judges of the Republic.
2. The members drawn by lot hold the majority in every formation of the Council, including its disciplinary panels and its appointment boards.
3. In no case may a member of the Assembly, a member of an executive committee, a delegate to a planning body, an officer of a party, a member of the Ecological Budget Authority, an officer of a federation or a person holding a management organ of an enterprise sit on the Council.

**Article 210. Members drawn by lot**
1. The thirteen resident members are drawn by lot from the residents of the Republic, by a public and verifiable procedure, composed so as to reflect the population in age, gender, territory, occupation and condition.
2. Participation is voluntary. A person declining is replaced by a fresh draw, and no reason need be given.
3. They serve for three years, non-renewable, and are replaced by thirds each year.
4. They receive training in the functions of the Council before taking part, provided by institutions independent of the courts and of the Council, and the training materials are public.
5. Service is contribution under Article 70(2), carries release from other tasks, and carries provision for transport, care and accommodation.
6. In no case is a resident member removable except by the Constitutional Court, for incapacity or for an interest concealed.

**Article 211. Judicial members**
1. The eight judicial members are elected by all judges of the Republic, by secret ballot, by proportional representation, with candidacy open to every judge and requiring no nomination by any body.
2. They comprise judges of the first instance, of the regional courts and of the National Court, and in no case do the judges of any one level hold more than three of the eight seats.
3. They serve for six years, non-renewable, staggered so that four are replaced every three years.
4. In no case may a president of a court or a head of a division sit on the Council during their leadership term or within three years after it.

**Article 212. Chair and rotation**
1. The Council elects its chair annually from among the members drawn by lot, and in no case may a person chair the Council twice.
2. The chair convenes the Council, directs its sittings and signs its acts, and in no case decides a matter alone or against the Council.
3. Formations, boards and panels of the Council are composed for each matter by lot from among its members, and in no case are they standing bodies.
4. Decisions are taken by a majority of the members present, by open vote recorded by name.

**Article 213. Publicity**
1. Sittings of the Council are public, are transmitted, and are open to journalists by right under Article 196(3).
2. Deliberations are recorded, and the record is published within seven days, together with the votes by name and the reasons of every member who dissents.
3. Files of appointment, of promotion and of discipline are public, with the redactions Article 51 requires.
4. In no case does the Council deliberate in secret, and a decision taken in a sitting closed to the public is void.
5. Every person may address the Council, and the Council answers in writing and publicly.
6. Where the Council closes a part of a sitting for the protection of a complainant, it states the ground, publishes the order, and publishes the record upon the expiry of the period the order fixes.

## Chapter 5: Inspection and Audit

**Article 214. The Judicial Inspectorate**
1. The Judicial Inspectorate examines the conduct of judges, the operation of the courts, the working of the assignment system, and compliance with the declarations of Article 204(4).
2. The Inspectorate is independent of the Judicial Council. Its head is appointed by the Constitutional Court in plenary for a single term of seven years, non-renewable, from among candidates presented by open competition.
3. In no case may the Judicial Council appoint, instruct, remunerate, discipline or remove the Inspectorate or its members.
4. The Inspectorate opens proceedings under Article 206(2), and in no case does it decide them.
5. Its reports are public, and it reports annually to the Assembly, to the Council and to the public.
6. In no case does the Inspectorate examine the content of a decision, and an inspection touching the reasoning of a judgment is void.

**Article 215. External audit**
1. The Audit Office of Title IX audits annually the resources of the judiciary, the operation of the assignment system, the conduct of the competitions of Article 202, and the records of the Judicial Council.
2. The audit is published in full.
3. The Ecological Budget Authority verifies the ecological accounts of the courts under Article 100(3).
4. An independent body designated by organic law verifies annually that the draws of Articles 201, 210 and 217 were conducted as published, and its report is public.

## Chapter 6: The Constitutional Court

**Article 216. Constitution and jurisdiction**
1. The Constitutional Court consists of fifteen justices and sits in plenary, in the Constitutional Chamber under Article 137, and in the Ecological Chamber under Article 27.
2. It decides: the conformity of texts before promulgation under Article 137; references under Article 195; challenges to promulgated laws and to acts of every organ, brought by any person under Article 43; actions against the plan and the planning bodies under Article 143(9); conflicts of competence under Articles 143(11) and 189; the restriction and dissolution of political associations under Article 12(3); appeals in discipline under Article 206(4); the removal of members of the Ecological Budget Authority under Article 24(3); and the matters this Constitution otherwise assigns to it.
3. Its decisions are final, bind every organ, and are published with reasons and with dissenting opinions.

**Article 217. Appointment by lot**
1. Justices are drawn by lot from the pool of Article 218, in public session, by a verifiable procedure whose method and code are published.
2. The Judicial Council confirms each person drawn. It may refuse only upon a finding of incapacity, of a disqualification under Article 218(3), or of an interest incompatible with the office, by reasoned and public decision, whereupon a fresh draw is held.
3. In no case may the Council refuse more than two persons in respect of any one vacancy, and the third person drawn takes office by operation of law.
4. In no case does the Assembly, an executive committee, a planning body, a party, a federation or a court take part in the selection or confirmation of a justice.
5. Vacancies are filled within ninety days, and in no case may the Court sit with fewer than eleven justices for longer than that period.

**Article 218. The pool**
1. The pool consists of residents who hold the qualification in law that organic law fixes, who have practised, judged, prosecuted, taught or conducted legal research for no fewer than fifteen years, and who have entered their names in a public register.
2. Entry into the register is open to every person satisfying paragraph 1, is verified by the Judicial Council upon published criteria alone, and refusal is appealable to the Court in plenary.
3. Disqualified from the pool are: members of the Assembly, members of executive committees, delegates to planning bodies, officers of a party, members of the Ecological Budget Authority, officers of a federation and holders of a management organ of an enterprise, in each case during office and for four years afterwards.
4. The register is public and states, for each person, the qualification, the experience and the declarations of Article 204(4).

**Article 219. Term and status**
1. Justices serve a single term of twelve years, non-renewable, and in no case may a person serve twice.
2. Terms are staggered so that five justices are replaced every four years.
3. Justices hold the independence, the duties, the incompatibilities and the provision established by Articles 193, 204 and 126(1) and (2).
4. A justice is removed only by the Court in plenary, upon a majority of two thirds, for incapacity or for a grave breach established after a public hearing, and the decision is published with reasons.
5. Upon the expiry of a term, Article 203(5) applies.

**Article 220. The Constitutional Chamber**
1. The Constitutional Chamber conducts the preventive review of Article 137 and answers the references of Article 195.
2. It is composed for each matter by lot from among the justices, in panels of seven, and in no case is it a standing formation.
3. It may remit a matter to the plenary, and the plenary decides where the question concerns the distribution of functions under Article 13 or the amendment procedure of Title XII.

**Article 221. The Ecological Chamber**
1. The Ecological Chamber holds the jurisdiction of Article 27 and hears the actions of Article 19.
2. It is composed for each matter by lot from among the justices, in panels of five, and sits with scientific assessors designated from the institutions named by organic law, who advise and hold no vote.
3. It may require any measurement, sample, model or access from any organ, enterprise or licensed entity, and Article 24(5) applies.

**Article 222. Declaration of incompatibility and cure**
1. Where the Court finds a law of the Assembly incompatible with this Constitution, it declares the incompatibility, states the provisions affected, states what would cure them, and fixes the period within which the Assembly is to act.
2. The period runs for twelve months at the most. The Court may extend it once, for six months at the most, upon reasoned application by the Assembly showing that the cure is under way.
3. During the period the provision remains in force, except that the Court suspends it where its application would breach the minimum core of Article 41, would violate a right from which Article 42(2) permits no derogation, or would breach an ecological budget.
4. Where the Assembly has not cured the incompatibility at the expiry of the period, the provision lapses by operation of law, and the lapse is recorded in the public register.
5. The Assembly may cure an incompatibility by amending the provision, by repealing it, or by amending this Constitution under Title XII.
6. In no case does a declaration under this Article apply to the plan, to a decision of a planning body, to an administrative act, to a regulation, or to an act of a territory, which are void to the extent of their conflict under Articles 4(4), 26(2), 154(3) and 189(4).
7. A person whose right the incompatible provision violated obtains the remedy of Article 43 without awaiting the expiry of the period.

**Article 223. Entrenchment**
1. The number of justices, the duration and staggering of their terms, the appointment by lot, the composition of the pool, the jurisdiction of the Court and the composition of the Judicial Council are fixed by this Constitution and by organic law adopted under it.
2. An organic law altering any matter in paragraph 1 takes effect only after the first ordinary election of the Assembly following its promulgation, and in no case does it apply to a justice, a judge or a member of the Council in office.
3. In no case may the term of a sitting justice, judge or member of the Council be shortened, their court abolished, their jurisdiction removed, or a retirement age introduced or lowered so as to end a term in progress.
4. In no case may the jurisdiction of the Court under Article 216(2) be removed, restricted, or transferred to another body.
5. The resources of the Court and of the Judicial Council are fixed as a share of the plan, and in no case may they be reduced during the term of an Assembly.

## Chapter 7: Prosecution

**Article 224. The prosecution service**
1. The prosecution service investigates offences, brings prosecutions, and represents the public interest in the cases organic law names.
2. Its head is appointed by the Judicial Council, by open competition upon published criteria, for a single term of seven years, non-renewable, and is removed only by the procedure of Article 206.
3. Prosecutors are recruited, hold their term and are disciplined under Chapter 3, which applies to them.

**Article 225. Independence and instruction**
1. In no case may the Assembly, an executive committee, the Coordinating Bureau, a planning body, a council of a territory, a party or any person instruct the prosecution service in an individual case.
2. General instructions upon the priorities of prosecution are given in writing by the head of the service alone, are published, and in no case do they name a person, an enterprise or a case.
3. Every instruction given within the service is in writing, is placed on the file of the case, and is disclosed to the parties.
4. A prosecutor may refuse an instruction they consider unlawful, states the refusal in writing on the file, and Article 61(3) protects them.

**Article 226. Decisions to prosecute**
1. The prosecution service acts upon the principle of legality, and its decisions state reasons.
2. A decision not to prosecute is notified to the injured person, states its reasons, and is reviewable by a court at the instance of that person.
3. Where the person under investigation holds a public office, the file, the decision and the reasons are published upon the conclusion of the case.
4. Investigations touching a member of the Assembly, a member of an executive committee, a delegate to a planning body, a judge or a justice are reported in aggregate to the public at annual intervals.

## Chapter 8: Criminal Justice and Restoration

**Article 227. Restorative panels**
1. Restorative procedures under Article 80(3) are conducted before panels of residents drawn by lot from the commune concerned, trained for the function, and facilitated by a person independent of the parties.
2. Participation is voluntary for the injured person and for the responsible person, and in no case does a refusal aggravate a penalty, affect provision under Article 62, or count against either of them.
3. A panel may agree reparation, restoration, labour for the injured person or the community, apology, and measures preventing repetition. In no case may it impose deprivation of liberty, a reduction of provision, or a measure touching a right of Title III.
4. Agreements are recorded, are approved by a judge who verifies their voluntary character and their conformity with this Constitution, and are published in anonymised form.
5. Service on a panel is contribution under Article 70(2), and Article 210(5) applies.
6. Where a restorative procedure resolves a matter, the court records it and closes the case, and in no case does a subsequent prosecution follow for the same act.

**Article 228. Execution of penalties**
1. Execution of penalties is supervised by a judge, who reviews deprivation of liberty at intervals fixed by organic law under Article 80(5).
2. Places of detention are administered by public establishments under Article 87, and in no case is their administration, or any part of it, conferred upon another body under Article 163(3).
3. Persons deprived of liberty address the courts directly, and Article 49(5) admits of no suspension.
4. Article 47(4) governs inspection, and the reports of the inspecting body are public.

**Article 229. Offences against the constitutional order**
1. Usurpation under Article 3(3), ecocide under Article 20(5), falsification of ecological or planning data under Articles 35(3) and 100(5), breach of Article 201, and the appropriation of public resources are tried by the ordinary courts under this Title.
2. In no case does an office, a mandate or an instruction from a superior exonerate the author of an act under paragraph 1, and Articles 43(4) and 162(3) govern.
3. Prosecution of usurpation is subject to no limitation of time under Article 3(3).

## Chapter 9: Guardianship of the Distribution of Functions

**Article 230. Guardianship**
1. The Constitutional Court guards the distribution of functions established by Article 13, and enforces the limits this Constitution places upon the Assembly, upon the executive committees, upon the planning bodies, upon the territories and upon itself.
2. The union of legislative and executive functions in the Assembly enlarges the powers of neither under Article 154(6), and the Court determines whether an act of the Assembly or of a committee has exceeded them.
3. In no case may the Court exercise a legislative, executive or planning function, direct the content of a law, or substitute its own decision for a decision this Constitution assigns to another organ, except where Articles 143(10), 190 and 222 provide.

**Article 231. Standing**
1. Any resident may bring an action before the Court under Article 43, without showing a personal interest where the action concerns the distribution of functions, the ecological budgets, the rights of Title III, or the participation this Constitution requires.
2. Article 19 governs standing in the name of a natural entity, and Article 143(9) governs standing against the plan.
3. Communes, sub-regions, regions, cooperatives, federations, unions, workplace assemblies, user and neighbourhood assemblies, the Ecological Budget Authority and the offices of Title IX hold standing within their fields.
4. Court fees, security for costs and adverse costs orders are excluded in actions under this Article, except where the Court finds the action vexatious.

**Article 232. Protection of the judiciary**
1. In no case may an organ of the Republic refuse, delay or condition the execution of a judgment, and a refusal is an offence under Article 229.
2. In no case may a measure be adopted that removes a pending case from the court seised of it, that alters the composition of a court in order to affect a pending case, or that annuls a judgment by legislation.
3. Where an organ fails to execute a judgment, the Court orders execution, appoints a person to accomplish it at the expense of the organ in default, and declares the personal liability of the officers responsible under Article 43(4).
4. Judges, justices, prosecutors, members of the Judicial Council and members of the Inspectorate are protected against reprisal in their provision, their contribution and their person, and Article 61(3) applies to any of them who discloses an attempt to influence the administration of justice.
5. Every person may report publicly an attempt to influence a judicial decision, an appointment, a disciplinary file or the assignment of a case, and Articles 53(4) and 54(6) protect the report and its sources.

---

# TITLE IX: OVERSIGHT OFFICES AND THE LIMITS OF POWER

## Chapter 1: Common Provisions

**Article 233. The offices**
1. The oversight offices of the Republic are: the Electoral Commission, the Audit Office, the Defender of Rights, the Commissioner for Future Generations, and the Office of Democratic Integrity.
2. The offices hold the competences this Title assigns to them and no others, and in no case may organic law confer upon an office a power this Title does not name.
3. The Ecological Budget Authority is constituted under Article 24 and is governed by Title II. The Judicial Inspectorate is constituted under Article 214 and is governed by Title VIII.
4. In no case may an office be created, merged, renamed or abolished except by organic law taking effect after the first ordinary election of the Assembly following its promulgation, and Article 223(2) governs by analogy.

**Article 234. Independence**
1. The offices are independent of the Assembly, of the executive committees, of the Coordinating Bureau, of the planning bodies, of the councils of the territories, of the courts and of one another.
2. In no case may any organ or person instruct an office, direct an inquiry, require the withdrawal of a finding, or alter a report before its publication.
3. Office holders are subject to this Constitution and the law alone, and answer for their conduct under Article 239 and Article 242.
4. In no case is an office holder liable for an opinion expressed or a finding published in the exercise of the office, except in the case of an offence established by final judgment.

**Article 235. Appointment by lot**
1. The head of each office is drawn by lot, in public session, from the pool constituted for that office under Article 236, by a verifiable procedure whose method and code are published under Article 109(5) and (6).
2. Each office is directed by a college of five members, drawn by the same procedure, of whom the head is one.
3. Draws are conducted separately for each vacancy, and the result is published upon the draw together with the composition of the pool from which it was made.
4. In no case does the Assembly, an executive committee, a planning body, a party, a federation or a council of a territory take part in the drawing or the confirmation of an office holder.
5. Article 215(4) governs the annual verification that the draws were conducted as published.

**Article 236. Pools**
1. Organic law constitutes for each office a public register of persons eligible to be drawn, and fixes for each the qualification and the experience the function requires.
2. Entry into a register is open to every resident satisfying the published conditions, is verified upon those conditions alone, and refusal is appealable to the Constitutional Court.
3. Disqualified from every pool are: members of the Assembly, members of executive committees, delegates to planning bodies, officers of a party, officers of a federation, members of the Ecological Budget Authority, members of the Judicial Council and holders of a management organ of an enterprise, in each case during office and for four years afterwards.
4. Each register is public and states, for every person entered, the qualification, the experience and the declarations of Article 238(4).
5. A register holding fewer than thirty persons is reopened, and organic law provides for the recruitment of candidates by public call.

**Article 237. Confirmation**
1. The Judicial Council confirms every person drawn under Article 235.
2. The Council may refuse only upon a finding of incapacity, of a disqualification under Article 236(3), or of an interest incompatible with the office, by reasoned and public decision, whereupon a fresh draw is held.
3. In no case may the Council refuse more than two persons in respect of any one vacancy, and the third person drawn takes office by operation of law.
4. In no case does confirmation extend to the merits, the opinions or the expected conduct of the person drawn.
5. Confirmation proceeds in public sitting under Article 213, and the decision is published with the votes by name.
6. Vacancies are filled within ninety days.

**Article 238. Term, incompatibilities and status**
1. Members of an office serve a single term of seven years, non-renewable, and in no case may a person serve in more than one office in the whole of a career.
2. Terms are staggered so that no more than two members of a college are replaced in any year.
3. The office is incompatible with the offices listed in Article 204(3), with membership of another oversight office, with membership of the Judicial Council, and with any function in a foreign economic entity.
4. Members declare publicly, on taking office and annually, their contributions under Article 70, the associations to which they belong, their property under Article 74, and every interest capable of affecting the office.
5. In no respect is the provision of a member distinguishable from that of any other resident, and Article 126(1) and (2) apply.
6. Service in an office is contribution under Article 70(2). Upon the expiry of a term, Article 203(5) applies.

**Article 239. Removal**
1. A member of an office is removed only by the Constitutional Court, upon application by the Judicial Council or by the college of the office, for incapacity, for a grave breach of duty established after a public hearing, for a concealed interest, or upon conviction of an offence by final judgment.
2. In no case is a member removed for the content of a finding, a report or an opinion.
3. The decision is published with reasons and with dissenting opinions, and the vacancy is filled under Article 235.

**Article 240. Resources**
1. The resources of each office are fixed as a share of the plan by organic law, upon the estimate the office itself publishes.
2. In no case may the resources of an office be reduced during the term of an Assembly, withheld, delayed, or conditioned upon the content of its findings.
3. Each office recruits its own staff by open competition under Article 159, and in no case does another organ appoint, transfer or remove them.
4. The premises, systems and archives of an office are inviolable, and access to them by another organ requires judicial authorisation on the conditions of Article 50(2).

**Article 241. Powers of information**
1. Each office may require, within its competence, from any organ of the Republic, any territory, any planning body, any cooperative, public establishment or federation, and any licensed foreign entity: documents, records, data, access to premises and systems, and the attendance and testimony of any person holding a public or delegated function.
2. Commercial confidentiality is in no case a ground of refusal, and Article 61(2) governs.
3. Refusal to furnish what an office requires is an offence, and the office reports the refusal publicly and applies to the competent court for an order.
4. In no case may an office require the reasoning of a judgment, and Article 214(6) governs by analogy.

**Article 242. Publicity and reporting**
1. Findings, reports, audits and recommendations of every office are published in full, in open and machine-readable form, free of charge, with the redactions Article 51 requires and with the dissenting opinions of members.
2. In no case is a report communicated to any organ before its publication, and in no case does an organ receive an opportunity to alter it.
3. Each office reports annually to the Assembly and to the public, and the report is debated in public sitting.
4. An organ named in a finding answers publicly within sixty days, in writing, and upon each point. A failure to answer is recorded in the following report.
5. Journalists attend the public sittings of every office by right, and Articles 53(4) and 54(6) protect their reporting and their sources.
6. Every person may address an office, and receives a reasoned answer within the period fixed by organic law.

**Article 243. Protection of persons who assist**
Article 61(3) and (4) protect any person who furnishes information to an office, and reprisal against such a person is void, grounds for reinstatement and reparation, and an offence.

## Chapter 2: The Electoral Commission

**Article 244. Function**
1. The Electoral Commission conducts the elections and referendums of the Republic, of the regions, of the sub-regions and of the communes, and the recalls of Articles 128, 170(5) and 141(3).
2. It maintains the electoral list under Article 60(3), registers lists and candidacies under Article 122, allocates the campaign resources of Article 122(5), proclaims results, and publishes the record of every operation.
3. It conducts the draws by lot required by Articles 142, 210, 217, 227 and 235, except where this Constitution assigns a draw to another body.
4. The Commission develops and maintains, together with the communes and the cooperatives, the means by which residents take part in the procedures of self-government, extends direct participation so far as Article 267(2) requires, and publishes annually the participation attained and the obstacles encountered.

**Article 245. Conduct of the ballot**
1. Elections to the Assembly, referendums of the Republic and recalls under Article 128 are conducted by paper ballot, counted by hand, in public, in the place where the votes were cast, and the count of each polling station is published before the ballots leave it.
2. In no case may a vote in a procedure under paragraph 1 be cast, recorded, stored or counted by electronic means. Electronic aids may assist the tabulation of station results already published on paper, and the aggregation remains reproducible by hand.
3. Elections, referendums, initiatives and recalls of a commune, a sub-region or a region, and the participatory procedures of Articles 92, 93, 97, 141 and 172, may in addition be conducted by electronic means under paragraphs 4 to 11.
4. Electronic voting is lawful only where all of the following hold:
   a) the application, the systems that receive and count the votes, and every component of either are free and open software belonging to the knowledge commons under Article 10, whose source, build procedure, specification and operating configuration are public;
   b) the build is reproducible, and the checksum of the official binary is published in advance;
   c) any person, and in particular the specialists of the Republic, of the communes, of the cooperatives and of the branch federations, may obtain, examine, build, test and attack the software, and publish criticism of it, without authorisation and without liability;
   d) the ballot is secret, and the system discloses to no person how any resident voted;
   e) the resident may verify that their vote was recorded and counted as cast, without disclosing its content to any other person and without acquiring any means of proving it to another;
   f) results are published by district in open form, and the computation is reproducible by any person;
   g) an audit conducted by the division of Article 254 and by an independent body precedes each use and is published with its findings.
5. Only the official binary takes part in a procedure. A binary whose checksum departs from the published checksum is refused by the procedure, and a version built by any other person, however faithfully, takes part in no procedure.
6. The Republic distributes the application from its own source, free of charge, in a form installable without an account and without connection to any other service. In no case does the Republic pay a proprietary distribution platform, contract with one, accept its conditions, or require a resident to hold an account with one.
7. A resident couples the application to the commune of their residence, and the application takes part in no procedure under paragraph 1.
8. Cooperatives producing devices under Article 108 offer preinstallation of the application at the choice of the person ordering, under Article 108(7). A person holding a device produced outside the Republic, or a device on which the application was not preinstalled, obtains the application from the source of paragraph 6, and Article 109(7) secures the installation.
9. Paper voting remains available in every procedure. In no case is a resident required to hold a device, to install an application, or to vote by electronic means, and in no case does the availability of electronic voting reduce the number, the distribution or the accessibility of polling stations.
10. Where the integrity of an electronic procedure is in doubt, the Commission annuls it and conducts the procedure on paper, and the doubt need not be resolved before the annulment.
11. Organic law may extend electronic means to further participatory procedures upon the conditions of paragraph 4, and in no case to a procedure under paragraph 1.
12. Any resident may observe every operation of an election, and lists, associations and journalists attend by right.
13. Polling stations are placed within reach of every resident, including in places of detention under Article 60(4), in hospitals and in care institutions.
14. The list, the station results, the aggregation and the computation of Article 120(2) are published in open form, and the computation is reproducible by any person.

**Article 246. Registration and refusal**
1. Registration of a list or a candidacy is refused only for want of a condition fixed by this Constitution or by organic law, is stated in writing with reasons, and is appealable to the Constitutional Court within seven days under Article 122(4).
2. In no case may the Commission examine, classify or assess the programme, the ideology or the opinions of a list, and Articles 12(4) and 53(5) govern.
3. In no case does a finding of the Office of Democratic Integrity affect the registration of a list or a candidacy.

**Article 247. The Boundary Division**
1. The independent commission of Article 121(5) is a division of the Electoral Commission, composed for each apportionment by lot from the pool of Article 236, and comprising no member of the college of the Commission.
2. The Division draws boundaries by the criteria of Article 121(5), upon a public procedure with hearings in the affected localities, and publishes its reasoning, its data and the alternatives it considered.
3. Article 121(6) governs the effect of its proposal.

**Article 248. Electoral disputes**
1. Disputes concerning the list, the conduct of the ballot, the count, the computation or the proclamation are decided by the Commission in the first instance, upon reasoned and published decision, and are appealable to the Constitutional Court.
2. Any resident may bring a dispute, and Article 231(4) governs costs.
3. An irregularity annuls an election only where it was capable of affecting the result, and the Court states the finding on which the annulment rests.

## Chapter 3: The Audit Office

**Article 249. Function**
1. The Audit Office audits the use of resources by every organ of the Republic, every territory, every planning body, every public establishment, every federation, and every cooperative in respect of its use of common resources.
2. Audit is conducted in the physical units of Article 7(2) and in the ecological accounts of Title II, and examines whether resources reached the purposes the plan assigned, whether the ceilings of Article 100 were observed, and whether the accounts were kept truthfully.
3. The Office audits the resources of the judiciary under Article 215, the offices of this Title, and its own accounts through an external auditor appointed by the Constitutional Court.

**Article 250. Powers**
1. Article 241 governs the powers of the Office to obtain information.
2. The Office conducts audits on its own initiative, upon a resolution of the Assembly, upon the request of a council of a territory, upon the request of a branch federation, and upon the petition of ten thousand residents.
3. The Office may audit at any stage, and in no case is an audit confined to a period after the completion of a programme.

**Article 251. Reports and consequences**
1. Reports are published under Article 242 and state the findings, the sums and quantities involved, the persons responsible and the remedies proposed.
2. Where an audit discloses an offence, the Office transmits the file to the prosecution service, which decides under Article 226 and publishes its decision.
3. Where an audit discloses a departure from the plan or from a ceiling, the Office transmits the finding to the National Planning Congress, which answers under Article 242(4).
4. Where an audit discloses conduct engaging Article 43(4), the Office states the finding, and any person may act upon it before the courts.

## Chapter 4: The Defender of Rights

**Article 252. Function**
1. The Defender of Rights receives complaints from any person concerning the violation of a right of Title III by any organ of the Republic, any territory, any planning body, any public establishment, any cooperative, any federation, or any licensed foreign entity.
2. The Defender assists complainants, investigates, publishes findings, proposes remedies, and brings proceedings before the courts in its own name or in support of a complainant.
3. The Defender holds standing under Article 231(3) and may intervene in any proceeding concerning a right of Title III.

**Article 253. Complaints and remedies**
1. A complaint may be made by any person, in any language of record, in writing, orally, or through the public information system, free of charge, and without exhausting any other remedy.
2. The Defender answers every complaint with reasons, and refusal to investigate is stated in writing and is reviewable.
3. Where a violation is found, the Defender proposes the remedy, and the organ concerned answers publicly within sixty days under Article 242(4).
4. Where the organ fails to remedy, the Defender applies to the competent court, and Article 43 governs.
5. The identity of a complainant is protected, and Article 243 applies.

**Article 254. Division for data and automated systems**
1. A division of the Defender supervises the processing of personal data under Article 51 and the use of automated systems by every organ and undertaking.
2. The division maintains a public register of every automated system used in administration, in planning, in allocation and in provision, stating its purpose, its inputs, its logic and the person accountable for each decision it assists.
3. The division verifies compliance with Article 51(5), (6) and (7), orders the cessation of a prohibited system, and in no case may its order be set aside by any organ except a court.
4. The division audits the assignment system of Article 201 jointly with the Audit Office under Article 215(1), and conducts the audits required by Article 245(4)(g).

**Article 255. Inspection of places of detention**
1. The independent body of Article 47(4) is a division of the Defender.
2. The division visits without announcement every place where a person is deprived of liberty, speaks with any detained person in private, examines every register, and publishes its reports under Article 228(4).
3. In no case may a visit be refused, delayed or conditioned, and refusal is an offence.

## Chapter 5: The Commissioner for Future Generations

**Article 256. Function**
1. The Commissioner for Future Generations represents the interests of persons not yet born in the deliberations of the Republic, and holds the trust declared by Article 5(5).
2. The Commissioner examines whether the acts, plans and programmes of every organ transfer depletion, contamination, disrepair, obligation or risk to succeeding generations, and publishes findings under Article 242.

**Article 257. Powers**
1. Article 241 governs the powers of the Commissioner to obtain information.
2. The Commissioner is heard by right before the Assembly, before its committees, before the National Planning Congress at every stage of the cycle of Article 97, and before the councils of the territories.
3. The Commissioner holds standing under Articles 19(2) and 231(3), and may bring an action before the Ecological Chamber under Article 27.
4. The Commissioner may require the reconsideration of an act on the ground of long-term effect, whereupon the organ concerned reconsiders in public sitting and answers under Article 242(4). The reconsideration in no way binds the outcome.
5. The Commissioner participates in the procedure of Article 25(1) and submits evidence to the Ecological Budget Authority.

**Article 258. Long-term impact statements**
1. Every bill under Article 134(1), every draft plan under Article 97(1)(b), every spatial plan under Article 184 and every proposal for an installation whose effects extend beyond thirty years carries a statement of its effect upon succeeding generations, computed over the periods organic law fixes and published with the draft.
2. The Commissioner examines the statement, publishes an opinion, and a draft proceeding without a statement or against an unanswered adverse opinion is recorded as such in the register.
3. Custody of nuclear waste under Article 32(6), the retirement of installations, the restoration owed under Article 23(1)(j), and the maintenance of works are examined by the Commissioner at intervals of no more than five years.

## Chapter 6: The Office of Democratic Integrity

**Article 259. Function**
1. The Office of Democratic Integrity monitors the conditions of participatory democracy and of social ownership, verifies the declarations of interest this Constitution requires, and investigates the appropriation of public resources.
2. The Office publishes its findings and refers matters to the Constitutional Court and to the prosecution service, and holds no other power.

**Article 260. Declarations and integrity**
1. The Office receives, verifies and publishes the declarations required by Articles 125(3), 152(4), 204(4) and 238(4), and by organic law.
2. The Office verifies the consistency of a declaration with the personal property of the declarant under Article 74, and publishes any discrepancy.
3. The Office investigates the appropriation of public resources, the preference prohibited by Article 113(3), the conduct prohibited by Article 125(4), and the transactions void under Article 114, and transmits files to the prosecution service under Article 226.
4. The Office verifies compliance with Articles 152(6) and 203(5) concerning functions taken after leaving office.

**Article 261. Monitoring**
1. The Office monitors and reports annually upon: the concentration of the means of communication against the ceilings of Article 54(4); the independence and resources of media organisations under Article 54(3) and (5); the observance of the participation this Constitution requires, in the terms of Article 143(9)(b); the accessibility of registration under Article 63(1); the operation of the assemblies of Articles 92, 93, 141 and 172; the equality of provision between territories under Article 91(3); the resources of the courts and of the offices under Articles 193(5) and 240(2); and the acts prohibited by Article 265.
2. The Office publishes indicators, methods and data for each of these matters, in open form, and its methods are open to public criticism and to revision upon reasoned objection.
3. Findings are addressed to acts, to measurements and to conditions. In no case does the Office attribute an ideology, a doctrine, an intention or an affiliation to any person or association.

**Article 262. Referral**
1. Where the Office finds an act within Article 265, or a course of conduct within Article 266, it publishes the finding and refers the matter to the Constitutional Court under Article 231.
2. Where the Office finds conduct within Article 12(3), it publishes the finding and refers the matter to the Constitutional Court, which alone decides under that Article.
3. Where the Office finds an offence, it transmits the file to the prosecution service.
4. A referral states the acts found, the evidence, and the provision engaged, and is published with the answer of the organ or person concerned.

**Article 263. Limits of the Office**
1. In no case may the Office classify a person, a party, a list or an association by ideology, opinion, doctrine or programme, and Articles 12(4), 51(7) and 53(5) govern.
2. In no case may the Office ban, dissolve, suspend or restrict an association, refuse or annul a candidacy, exclude a person from office, attach an electoral consequence to a finding, or impose any sanction.
3. In no case does a finding of the Office bind a court, and the Court decides upon the evidence before it.
4. In no case may the Office maintain a register of persons by opinion, conduct surveillance, or acquire information otherwise than under Article 241.
5. A measure adopted in breach of this Article is void, and Article 43(4) governs.

## Chapter 7: Limits Upon Every Power

**Article 264. Purpose**
The limits of this Chapter bind every organ of the Republic, every territory, every planning body and every majority, and they exist so that the guarantees of this Constitution survive the intentions of those who hold power under it.

**Article 265. Acts void in every case**
1. The following acts are void, whoever adopts them, by whatever majority and by whatever procedure:
   a) alienation, transfer, pledge or grant in exclusive right of a commons resource, contrary to Articles 9(2) and 83(2);
   b) the reintroduction of capital markets, of tradable claims on productive assets, of enterprises operating for profit, of lending at interest, or of the employment of persons for the appropriation of their surplus labour, contrary to Articles 6(4) and 88(3);
   c) the letting for gain of a dwelling, of land, of tools or of a productive asset, contrary to Articles 65(6) and 88(3);
   d) the grant of an exclusive right over knowledge, including a patent, contrary to Article 10(2);
   e) the abolition of essential provision, its reduction below the minimum core, or its conditioning upon contribution, conduct, status, document, debt or behaviour, contrary to Article 62(2) and (3);
   f) the introduction of a charge for a good or service falling within Articles 62 and 107;
   g) concentration of the means of communication beyond the ceilings of Article 54(4), the establishment of a monopoly of information, or the allocation of resources to media organisations by reference to the content published;
   h) the suspension, postponement or cancellation of an election outside Article 123(4), the extension of the term of the Assembly by its own decision, or the alteration of an electoral district for a purpose prohibited by Article 187(5);
   i) the removal, restriction or transfer of the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court under Article 216(2), the shortening of a term protected by Article 223(3), or the exclusion of any act of public power from judicial review;
   j) a state of emergency without a terminal date, its renewal without a fresh finding, or derogation from a right listed in Article 42(2);
   k) indiscriminate collection, retention or analysis of the communications, movements or associations of the population, contrary to Article 50(3);
   l) deprivation of citizenship, contrary to Article 58(4);
   m) the registration, classification or scoring of persons or associations by opinion or by ideology, contrary to Articles 12(4), 51(7) and 53(5);
   n) the conferral of a function named in Article 163(3) upon a body outside Article 163(1);
   o) the contracting of external debt, the pledging of the common heritage or of a productive asset, or submission to external financial conditionality, contrary to Article 117(5);
   p) the raising of an ecological ceiling otherwise than under Article 25(6), or the discharge of a domestic ceiling by an offset acquired outside the territory, contrary to Article 23(2);
   q) compulsion to labour outside Article 48(3), and the conditioning of provision upon labour, contrary to Articles 48(2) and 70(4).
2. An act within paragraph 1 produces no legal effect, confers no right, and requires the obedience of no person.
3. Any person may plead the nullity before any court at any time, and Article 231(1) governs standing and costs.
4. Persons who proposed, adopted or executed an act within paragraph 1 are personally liable under Article 43(4), and Article 229(2) governs.
5. Title XII places the matters of this Article beyond the amending power.

**Article 266. Attainment by indirection**
1. A measure that attains in substance a result prohibited by Article 265 is void, whatever its form, its designation or its stated purpose.
2. A series of measures that attains such a result cumulatively is void from the measure at which the result is reached, and the Constitutional Court examines them together.
3. Void in the same manner are: the withdrawal of resources from an office, a court or a territory so as to disable a function this Constitution guarantees; the transfer of a function to a body outside the reach of the guarantees attaching to it; the creation of a category of person to whom a guarantee does not apply; and delay employed so that a right expires before it can be exercised.
4. The Office of Democratic Integrity reports upon courses of conduct within this Article under Article 261(1), and refers them under Article 262(1).

**Article 267. Direction of development**
1. The Republic develops toward wider participation, toward provision furnished free at the point of use, and toward the reduction of every relation of subordination among persons.
2. Provision attained is retained under Article 41(4). Participation attained is retained, and a measure narrowing the participation this Constitution guarantees is presumed unconstitutional, the authority adopting it bearing the burden of demonstrating necessity.
3. Movement of goods into general provision under Article 106(2), abolition of the residual unit under Article 111(6), reduction of working time under Article 72(2), and elimination of arduous tasks under Article 116(1) are standing objectives, and each organ reports annually upon the progress made.
4. In no case does this Article confer a power upon any organ, and it furnishes a standard of interpretation and a criterion of review.

---

# TITLE X: DEFENCE, PUBLIC ORDER AND EMERGENCY

## Chapter 1: Principles

**Article 268. Renunciation and purpose**
1. The Republic renounces war as an instrument of policy and settles its disputes by peaceful means.
2. Armed force is employed only to repel an attack upon the territory, and in the cases of Article 277.
3. In no case may the Republic occupy foreign territory, annex territory, impose an administration upon another people, participate in an operation of regime change, or place its forces at the disposal of an operation pursuing any of these.
4. Preparation, planning and command of an act prohibited by paragraph 3 are offences under Article 229, and Article 229(2) governs.
5. Article 8(2) prohibits foreign military installations, and paragraph 3 of this Article prohibits installations of the Republic abroad.

**Article 269. Civilian direction**
1. The forces, the communal police and every body authorised to use coercion are directed by civilians, are subordinate to this Constitution and the law, and hold no autonomous authority.
2. In no case may a person holding command in the forces or in a police body sit in the Assembly, sit on an executive committee, hold delegation to a planning body, hold an oversight office, hold judicial office, or hold office in a party.
3. In no case may a member of the forces or of a police body be deployed against an assembly protected by Article 55, against a strike or occupation protected by Article 55(6), or against a body of the Republic exercising a constitutional function.
4. Obedience is not owed to any order to commit an act prohibited by this Constitution, and refusal of such an order is a duty protected by Articles 61(3) and 81(4).
5. Members of the forces and of police bodies retain the rights of Title III, including association and expression, subject to Article 40 alone.

**Article 270. Weapons**
1. Manufacture, holding and use of weapons are governed by organic law, and every weapon held by a public body is entered in a public register stating its type, its location and the body responsible.
2. In no case may the Republic produce, acquire, hold, station or transport nuclear, biological, chemical or incendiary weapons designed for use against persons, weapons whose effects cannot be confined to a military objective, or autonomous systems selecting or engaging a target without a human decision.
3. In no case may the Republic export a weapon, a component of a weapon, or a technique of surveillance or coercion, and in no case may it license a foreign economic entity to produce any of these within the territory.
4. Article 10 does not apply to weapons design, which is withheld from the knowledge commons and from publication.

## Chapter 2: Territorial Defence

**Article 271. The Territorial Defence**
1. The armed force of the Republic is the Territorial Defence, a militia of residents who serve voluntarily.
2. There is no standing army. Organic law fixes the permanent cadre required for training, maintenance, logistics and command, which in no case exceeds the proportion of residents it states.
3. Conscription is prohibited. In no case may service be required of any person, and Article 48 governs.
4. The Territorial Defence is organised by commune and by sub-region, trains within the territory of its members, and is commanded by officers elected by the units they command for limited terms, confirmed by the competent executive committee.
5. Its doctrine, its equipment and its training are directed to the defence of the territory, and organic law publishes them so far as this does not disclose an operational disposition.

**Article 272. Membership and conditions**
1. Any resident who has attained the age of eighteen years may enrol, and enrolment is refused on no ground listed in Article 38(2).
2. Members may leave at any time, except during the period of an attack under Article 276.
3. Service is contribution under Article 70(2), carries the provision of every resident, and the provision of a member is not distinguishable by rank.
4. Conscientious objection is guaranteed under Article 52(4), and in no case does refusal to enrol or to bear arms carry any consequence for provision, contribution, office or standing.
5. Members remain subject to the ordinary courts under Title VIII. In no case is a separate military jurisdiction established, and Article 77(5) governs.

**Article 273. Direction and control**
1. The executive committee competent in defence directs the Territorial Defence under Article 153(1), and the Coordinating Bureau coordinates it with civil protection.
2. The Assembly authorises the strength, the equipment and the resources of the Territorial Defence by law, examines its conduct annually in public sitting, and may constitute a committee of inquiry into it under Article 132.
3. The Audit Office audits it under Article 249, and the Defender of Rights receives complaints against it under Article 252.
4. Its resources are allocated by the plan under Title IV and are counted against the ecological budgets under Article 26.
5. In no case does the Territorial Defence conduct intelligence upon residents, and Chapter 7 governs.

## Chapter 3: Public Order

**Article 274. Communal police**
1. Policing belongs to the commune, which constitutes a police service answerable to its council or to its assembly under Article 169.
2. Officers are recruited from the residents of the commune by open competition under Article 159, are trained in the rights of Title III, in de-escalation and in restorative procedure, and serve limited terms fixed by organic law.
3. Officers are unarmed. They carry no firearm, no kinetic projectile weapon and no chemical agent in the ordinary exercise of their function.
4. Firearms are held in secured communal armouries, are issued only for a named operation upon judicial authorisation stating the ground and the duration, and every issue, every return and every use is recorded and published.
5. Organic law may constitute one specialised unit for situations of armed threat, deployed only upon the authorisation of paragraph 4, and in no case stationed within a commune in the ordinary course.
6. Officers are individually identifiable at all times under Article 55(5), wear a number visible from every side, and record their interventions by means whose recordings belong to the person concerned and to the Defender of Rights.
7. In no case may an officer conceal their face or their identification, and concealment voids any act performed and is a disciplinary offence.

**Article 275. Use of force and accountability**
1. Force is used only where strictly unavoidable, only to the degree necessary, and only for a purpose this Constitution permits.
2. Article 45(3) governs any killing by an agent of the Republic, and Article 55(4) prohibits the means there named against assemblies.
3. Every use of force is reported within twenty-four hours to the communal council and to the Defender of Rights, and the report is public.
4. Complaints against officers are investigated by the Defender of Rights under Article 252, and in no case by the service complained of.
5. An officer who exceeds the limits of this Article is personally liable under Article 43(4), and the commune answers under Article 162(1).
6. Communes may agree common services under Article 186 for matters exceeding one commune, and a national investigative service is constituted by organic law for offences under Article 229, holding no power of patrol, no armed unit and no presence in a commune except upon the request of its council or upon judicial order.

## Chapter 4: Armed Attack

**Article 276. Defence of the territory**
1. Upon an armed attack upon the territory, the Territorial Defence acts to repel it, and its action requires no prior decision of any organ.
2. The Coordinating Bureau informs the Assembly at once, and the Assembly meets within twenty-four hours and sits in permanent session.
3. The Assembly determines by law the conduct of the defence, and may at any time order its cessation by a majority of its members.
4. In no case does an attack suspend this Constitution, the rights of Title III except as Article 281 permits, the jurisdiction of the courts, the mandate of the Assembly, or the elections of Title V except under Article 123(4).
5. Action of the forces is confined to the territory as defined by Article 8(1). In no case may a unit cross a frontier under this Article.

**Article 277. Action beyond the territory**
1. The forces of the Republic act beyond the territory only for the rescue of persons in distress, including the assistance owed at sea under Article 57(5), for relief after a disaster, and for participation in a mission of international peace under Article 278.
2. Rescue and relief require the authorisation of the Assembly by a majority of its members, are limited in object and in duration, and carry no combat mandate.
3. Every other action beyond the territory requires, in addition to a law adopted by two thirds of the members of the Assembly, the approval of a referendum held under Article 140.
4. In no case may a referendum authorise an action prohibited by Article 268(3), and the Constitutional Chamber verifies the question under Article 140(2) before the vote.
5. The question put states the object, the territory, the number of persons, the duration, the rules governing the use of force, and the date on which the mandate expires.
6. A mandate expires on the date stated, and its renewal follows the whole procedure afresh.

**Article 278. Missions of international peace**
1. The Republic may contribute to a mission of peace established by an international body of which it is a member, on the conditions of Article 277(3).
2. The contribution is confined to interposition, protection of civilians, clearance of munitions, medical service, engineering and logistics.
3. Members serve voluntarily, and Article 272(3) applies.
4. Members remain subject to the criminal law of the Republic and to the ordinary courts, and in no case does the Republic accept an immunity from the jurisdiction of the courts of the territory in which the mission takes place.
5. The Assembly examines every mission annually in public sitting, and any resident may challenge the conformity of its conduct under Article 43.

## Chapter 5: Emergency

**Article 279. Declaration**
1. A state of emergency may be declared only upon a natural disaster, an epidemic, a failure of an essential system, or a comparable event that endangers the life or health of the population and that the ordinary powers cannot meet.
2. The Coordinating Bureau, acting with the executive committee competent in the matter, declares the state of emergency, defining the territory it covers, the danger it meets, the measures it authorises and the date on which it expires.
3. The declaration is published at once with its reasons and the evidence relied upon, and is transmitted immediately to the Assembly, to the Constitutional Court, to the Defender of Rights and to the councils of the territories covered.
4. The declaration takes effect on publication and lapses after seven days unless the Assembly confirms it.
5. Confirmation requires a majority of two thirds of the members of the Assembly, and a fresh finding by the Constitutional Court that the grounds of paragraph 1 exist. The Court decides within seventy-two hours.
6. A confirmed state of emergency runs for thirty days.
7. In no case may a state of emergency be declared upon a strike, an assembly, an occupation, a political demand, an electoral result, an economic difficulty, a shortage arising from the plan, or the conduct of an association.

**Article 280. Renewal and outer limit**
1. Renewal requires a fresh declaration under Article 279(2), a fresh confirmation by two thirds of the members of the Assembly, and a fresh finding by the Constitutional Court, and runs for thirty days.
2. In no case does a state of emergency, together with its renewals, exceed six months in any period of twenty-four months, whether the danger continues or not.
3. At the expiry of six months every measure taken under the state of emergency lapses by operation of law, and the danger is met thereafter by the ordinary powers, by legislation adopted under Title V, and by the adjustment of the plan under Article 99.
4. In no case may a fresh state of emergency be declared upon the same danger within the same period of twenty-four months.
5. A declaration or renewal exceeding this Article is void under Article 265(1)(j), requires the obedience of no person, and engages Article 43(4).

**Article 281. Powers**
1. A state of emergency authorises no measure beyond the following: restriction of movement into, out of and within the territory covered; restriction of the use of premises and of gatherings in enclosed spaces where the danger requires it; requisition of goods, premises, equipment and vehicles against compensation in provision; direction of the resources of the plan to meeting the danger under Article 99; suspension of periods and formalities in administrative procedure; and restriction of assembly under paragraph 3.
2. Each measure states the danger it meets, the territory and the persons it affects, the period for which it runs, and the reasons for which no lesser measure suffices.
3. Restriction of assembly is permitted only where gathering itself propagates the danger, is the least restriction that meets it, is limited to the territory and the period in which the danger exists, and leaves open a means by which residents may assemble, demonstrate and communicate. In no case may an assembly be restricted by reference to its purpose, its organisers or its opinions.
4. In no case does a state of emergency authorise: derogation from a right listed in Article 42(2); dissolution of the Assembly, of a council or of an assembly of residents; suspension of an election except under Article 123(4); suspension of the courts, of the remedy of Article 49(5), or of the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court; interference with the oversight offices of Title IX; censorship, closure of a media organisation, or interruption of the network; indiscriminate surveillance under Article 50(3); detention outside Article 49; compulsion to labour outside Article 48(3); reduction of essential provision under Article 62; or alteration of the ecological budgets.
5. Every measure is published on adoption, with its reasons, in every language of record.
6. Every measure lapses with the state of emergency, and in no case does a measure survive it.

**Article 282. Review**
1. Every measure taken under a state of emergency is reviewable by the Constitutional Court at the instance of any person, without delay and without cost, and the Court decides within seven days.
2. Review extends to the existence of the danger, to the necessity of the measure, to its proportion, to its territory and to its duration.
3. Interim relief is granted where a credible risk of irreparable harm is shown, and Article 43(5) governs.
4. The Defender of Rights supervises the operation of every measure and publishes findings at intervals of no more than seven days.
5. The Assembly may revoke a state of emergency, or any measure taken under it, at any time by a majority of the votes cast.
6. Within ninety days of the end of a state of emergency, the Assembly examines its conduct in public sitting upon the reports of the Constitutional Court, of the Defender of Rights and of the Audit Office, and the examination is published.
7. Persons who ordered or executed a measure exceeding this Chapter are personally liable under Article 43(4), and reparation is owed to those affected.

## Chapter 6: Ecological Emergency and Civil Protection

**Article 283. Relation to ecological emergency**
1. The ecological emergency of Article 36 is declared by the Ecological Budget Authority and is governed by Title II.
2. A state of emergency under this Title may run concurrently with an ecological emergency, and neither extends the powers of the other.
3. In no case may a state of emergency under this Title suspend, restrict or override a measure taken under Article 36.

**Article 284. Civil protection**
1. Civil protection is organised by the communes, coordinated by the sub-regions and the regions, and supported by the Republic, and it operates without a state of emergency.
2. Residents may enrol voluntarily in civil protection, and service is contribution under Article 70(2).
3. The plan holds within the reserve of Article 105 the resources required for disaster, and their allocation requires no declaration under this Title.
4. Communes maintain plans for foreseeable dangers, publish them, and exercise them at intervals fixed by organic law.

## Chapter 7: Intelligence

**Article 285. Limits**
1. The Republic maintains no service conducting surveillance upon residents.
2. Collection of information concerning an external threat is conducted by a service constituted by organic law, whose existence, budget, structure and head are public.
3. In no case may that service operate within the territory against residents, hold a power of arrest, conduct a covert operation affecting political life, or acquire information otherwise than under Article 50(2) upon prior judicial authorisation.
4. Article 50(3) prohibits indiscriminate collection, retention and analysis in every circumstance, including a state of emergency and an armed attack.
5. The service is supervised by a division of the Defender of Rights holding full access to its files and systems, reporting annually in public, and Article 241 applies.
6. In no case may the Republic receive from a foreign body information that it could not lawfully have collected itself, nor furnish information that would expose a person to a treatment described in Article 47(2).
7. Information obtained in breach of this Article is inadmissible in every proceeding, and Article 79(3) governs.

---

# TITLE XI: EXTERNAL RELATIONS AND SOLIDARITY

## Chapter 1: Principles

**Article 286. Conduct of external relations**
1. The Republic conducts its external relations upon the sovereign equality of peoples, the peaceful settlement of disputes, non-intervention in the internal affairs of others, and solidarity with those subjected to domination or want.
2. Article 268 governs the renunciation of war and the limits upon armed force.
3. The Republic supports the self-determination of peoples, the reparation of colonial and ecological debt, and the reform of international bodies toward the equal weight of peoples within them.
4. In no case may the Republic recognise a territorial acquisition obtained by force, participate in a blockade that deprives a population of food, water, medicine or energy, or apply a measure whose effect falls upon a population instead of upon those governing it.
5. External relations are conducted publicly. Secret agreements, secret annexes, secret understandings and undisclosed commitments produce no effect and do not bind the Republic.

**Article 287. Competence and conduct**
1. The executive committee competent in external relations conducts them under Article 153(1) and (3), and answers to the Assembly under Articles 144 and 151.
2. The Assembly determines the general orientation of external relations by law, examines their conduct annually in public sitting, and may constitute a committee of inquiry under Article 132.
3. Negotiating mandates, positions taken and the texts under negotiation are published, and the Assembly, the National Planning Congress, the Ecological Budget Authority, the councils of the territories and the branch federations are heard before a mandate is adopted.
4. Publication may be deferred during a negotiation only where the counterparty requires it, only for the duration of the negotiation, and only by reasoned decision published at the time it is taken, and in no case is the text withheld once the negotiation concludes.

**Article 288. Life-limiting regimes**
1. A state is life-limiting for the purposes of this Constitution where it does any of the following: practises or tolerates a treatment described in Article 47; holds persons in slavery, servitude or forced labour; denies to its population the minimum core of food, water, healthcare or shelter while possessing the means to furnish it; suppresses assembly, expression, association or the free formation of political will; persecutes persons upon a ground listed in Article 38(2); holds elections that determine no outcome, or holds none; imprisons persons for opinion; or conducts a war of aggression or an occupation.
2. The finding rests upon acts established by evidence, is made by the Assembly by law upon a public and reasoned procedure, is reviewed at intervals of no more than three years, and is reviewable by the Constitutional Court at the instance of any person.
3. In no case does a finding rest upon the doctrine, the ideology, the declared programme or the name of a regime, and a state calling itself socialist, communist, republican or democratic is examined upon its acts alone.
4. A finding attaches to the government of a state and never to its people, and in no case does it affect the rights that persons from that state hold under Title III, Article 59 or Article 289.

**Article 289. Defectors and persons in flight**
1. A person who leaves a state found life-limiting under Article 288, or who leaves any state in flight from an act described in Article 288(1), acquires citizenship of the Republic upon recognition of that fact, without the residence required by Article 58(1), without examination, fee, oath or discretionary decision.
2. Recognition is made by the ordinary asylum procedure of Article 59, is decided within ninety days, and refusal states reasons and is appealable with suspensive effect.
3. From arrival the person holds every right of Title III in full, including provision under Chapter 5 of that Title, and Article 59(3) governs pending recognition.
4. In no case is such a person returned, expelled, extradited or surrendered, and Article 47(2) governs absolutely.
5. Renunciation of a former nationality is in no case required, and Article 58(4) governs.
6. Persons who assisted the flight of another, and members of the household of a person recognised, are recognised upon the same footing.
7. In no case does an agreement with another state, a request for extradition, or a listing by a foreign or international body displace this Article.

## Chapter 2: Treaties

**Article 290. Negotiation, signature and ratification**
1. Treaties are negotiated and signed by the committee competent in external relations, upon a mandate adopted under Article 287(3).
2. Ratification is made by law adopted by a majority of two thirds of the members of the Assembly, and the Presiding Officer signs the instrument under Article 146(3).
3. A treaty establishing, amending or terminating membership of a union, and a treaty opening or closing a frontier to the free movement of persons, requires in addition the approval of a referendum under Article 140.
4. Every treaty is submitted to the Constitutional Chamber before ratification, which verifies its conformity with this Constitution within sixty days, and a treaty declared contrary to this Constitution is in no case ratified.
5. Treaties are published in full before the vote of the Assembly, together with every annex, protocol, exchange of letters and interpretative declaration, and Article 286(5) governs anything withheld.
6. Article 15 governs the rank of a ratified treaty, and in no case may a treaty diminish the rights of Title III or the ecological budgets of Title II.

**Article 291. Prohibited commitments**
1. In no case may the Republic conclude a treaty that: submits it to a foreign or arbitral jurisdiction in a dispute with an economic entity, contrary to Article 21(6); requires the opening of a sector to enterprises operating for profit; requires the recognition or grant of an exclusive right over knowledge, contrary to Article 10(2); requires the alienation, lease or pledge of a commons resource; permits a foreign military installation, contrary to Article 8(2); creates external debt or accepts financial conditionality, contrary to Article 117(5); obliges the Republic to a measure prohibited by Article 265; or restricts the amendment of this Constitution.
2. A commitment within paragraph 1 is void, produces no effect, and requires the obedience of no organ or person.
3. Where an existing obligation conflicts with this Constitution, Article 15(3) governs, and the committee competent in external relations seeks its revision or the withdrawal of the Republic from it, reporting to the Assembly every six months until the conflict ends.

**Article 292. Withdrawal**
1. Withdrawal from a treaty follows the procedure by which it was ratified, and withdrawal from a treaty approved by referendum requires a referendum.
2. Withdrawal is immediate, by decision of the Assembly by a majority of its members, where continued participation would require an act void under Article 265 or a commitment within Article 291(1).

## Chapter 3: The Union

**Article 293. Membership**
1. The Republic is a member of the Democratic Socialist Bloc, a union of states founded upon social ownership of the means of production, ecological limits, democratic self-government and the equality of its members.
2. Membership is open to any state satisfying those conditions, and in no case is it conditioned upon the size, the wealth, the location or the alignment of a state.
3. The Republic joins no union whose constituting instrument requires the existence of a market in the means of production, in labour, in land, in dwellings, in health, in education or in knowledge, and in no case does it accept such a requirement as a condition of any benefit.
4. The Republic remains a member of no union that ceases to satisfy paragraph 1, and Article 292(2) governs.

**Article 294. Effect of union acts**
1. The Republic agrees common standards within the union in ecological limits, in conditions of labour, in the safety and durability of goods, in health, in the recognition of qualifications, in the movement of persons, and in the matters the constituting instrument names.
2. A common standard takes effect within the Republic only through a law of the Assembly or a regulation adopted under it. In no case does an act of the union, of its organs or of its officers apply within the territory of its own force, bind a court of the Republic directly, or confer a right or an obligation upon any person until the Assembly has enacted it.
3. Where the Assembly enacts a common standard, it is a law of the Republic and is interpreted, applied and reviewed as such, and Article 137 and Article 195 govern.
4. Where the Assembly declines to enact a common standard, it states its reasons publicly, and the consequences within the union are those the constituting instrument provides.
5. In no case may the Republic transfer a competence of the Assembly, of the planning bodies, of the courts, of the offices of Title IX or of the territories to a union organ.
6. The Republic adopts a common standard stricter than its own, and in no case adopts a common standard weaker than its own, Article 25(5) governing by analogy.

**Article 295. Union settlement and currency**
1. Exchange within the union is settled in goods, in labour, in technique and in knowledge, recorded in the physical units of Article 7(2), through the single external account of Article 117(1).
2. The Republic may agree with the union or with any state a clearing arrangement in which obligations are set off in kind, and it uses a unit of settlement only where a counterparty requires one and only for the computation of the balance.
3. A unit of settlement in no case circulates within the territory, is held by no resident, and is neither a store of value, nor an instrument of accumulation, nor a claim upon labour, Articles 7(5) and 114(5) governing.
4. The Republic pursues, within the union and beyond it, the settlement of exchange without currency, and Article 267 governs the direction.
5. In no case may the Republic accept a common currency, a common monetary authority, or an obligation to maintain a rate, a reserve or a convertibility.

## Chapter 4: Frontiers and Movement

**Article 296. Open frontiers**
1. The Republic pursues the free movement of persons across every frontier, and holds the removal of barriers to human movement to be a standing objective of its external policy.
2. Frontiers within the union are open, and residents of member states enter, remain, work, study and receive care upon the footing of residents of the Republic.
3. The Republic seeks agreements opening a frontier with any state, upon reciprocity, and concludes such an agreement where it imposes no obligation contrary to Titles II, III or IV.
4. An agreement under paragraph 3 requires a referendum under Article 290(3).
5. In no case may an agreement oblige the Republic to prevent departure from another state, to detain persons on behalf of another state, to conduct an asylum or removal procedure in the territory of another state, or to return a person contrary to Article 47(2), and Article 57(6) governs.
6. The Republic funds, equips or trains no foreign body whose function is the prevention of movement, and in no case does it contribute to a mechanism whose effect is the interception of persons in flight.

**Article 297. Rescue and assistance**
1. Assistance and rescue are owed to any person in distress at sea or at a frontier under Article 57(5), and the Republic maintains the means to furnish them.
2. The Republic assists rescue conducted by others, and in no case does it obstruct, penalise, detain or prosecute a person or a vessel engaged in rescue.
3. A person rescued is brought to the nearest place of safety, and a place governed by Article 47(2) is in no case a place of safety.

## Chapter 5: Trade, Imports and Technological Sovereignty

**Article 298. Order of supply**
1. Need is met, in the following order: from the production of the Republic; by exchange within the union; by exchange with other states not found life-limiting under Article 288; and by exchange under Article 300.
2. Before an import is authorised, the planning bodies establish that the need cannot be met from domestic capacity within the ecological budgets, and they publish the finding with the capacity examined.
3. Where domestic capacity exists and is unused, the plan develops it, and the import is authorised only for the period the development requires. Land, water, buildings and equipment capable of meeting a need are brought into use under Titles IV and VII before an import replaces them, and Article 29(2) governs land held unused.
4. Development under paragraph 3 conforms to Articles 22, 23 and 29, and in no case does the reduction of imports justify exceeding an ecological ceiling, converting primary habitat, or degrading soil.
5. Article 117 governs external exchange in every case, and Article 23(2) counts embodied materials and energy against the budgets of the Republic.

**Article 299. Costly imports and project licences**
1. An import whose materials, energy or embodied labour exceed the threshold fixed by organic law, or which the Republic would depend upon for an essential provision, requires a project licence.
2. The National Planning Congress grants the licence, upon a published test comprising: the need served and its rank under Article 91(2); the domestic capacity examined under Article 298(2) and (3); the quantity, the duration and the terminal date of the import; the effect upon the ecological budgets; the dependence created and the plan for ending it; and the alternatives considered.
3. The Ecological Budget Authority is heard upon every application, and may refuse the licence where the import would exceed a budget or would foreclose the attainment of one. Its refusal is final and is reviewable only under Article 27.
4. Licences are published in full, are limited in time, state the date on which the dependence is to end, and are examined annually by the Congress and by the Commissioner for Future Generations under Article 257.
5. A licence may authorise an import for the construction of an installation that reduces future imports, including intensive cultivation under cover, upon a demonstration that the installation returns the materials and energy it consumes within the period the licence states.
6. In no case does a licence authorise an import from a source prohibited by Article 117(3) or by Article 300.

**Article 300. Exchange with life-limiting regimes**
1. Exchange with a state found life-limiting under Article 288 is prohibited, except under this Article.
2. Exchange is permitted only where the good is a material or component that exists in no state not so found, is required for a purpose ranked under Article 91(2), and cannot be substituted, recovered from existing stock or produced within the Republic.
3. Each transaction requires a licence of the National Planning Congress, granted upon the published test of Article 299(2) together with a statement of the searches made for an alternative source, and the Ecological Budget Authority is heard under Article 299(3).
4. Every licence, every quantity, every counterparty and every consideration is published before the transaction and is reported annually to the Assembly, which may revoke a licence by a majority of its members.
5. The Assembly may determine by law that no exchange whatever is conducted with a particular state, permitting humanitarian assistance and rescue alone, and that determination is reviewed at intervals of no more than three years.
6. Humanitarian assistance, rescue, medical supply, and the reception of persons under Article 289 are permitted with every state without exception, and in no case does a prohibition under this Article extend to them.
7. In no case does exchange under this Article include a weapon, a component of a weapon, a technique of surveillance or coercion under Article 270(3), or anything applied to the acts described in Article 288(1).

**Article 301. Technological sovereignty**
1. The public information systems, the planning apparatus, the systems of essential and general provision, the electoral systems of Article 245, and the systems of the courts and of the offices of Title IX operate upon software the Republic can obtain, examine, build, modify, maintain and run without the consent, the licence, the account, the service or the continued existence of any foreign supplier.
2. Articles 109(5) and (6) and 164(1) and (4) apply to every such system, and in no case is one of them acquired under an exclusive licence or made dependent upon a single supplier.
3. Energy, water, communication, transport and the systems on which they depend are operated by the Republic, its territories and its cooperatives, and in no case is any of them placed under the control of a foreign economic entity, Article 21 governing.
4. Where a component, a technique or a body of knowledge is obtained from abroad, the plan provides for its documentation, for the training of persons able to maintain it, and for its replacement by domestic capacity, and Article 21(3) requires the transfer of technique to the knowledge commons as a condition of licence.
5. The Republic maintains a public inventory of every external dependence in the matters of paragraphs 1 and 3, states for each the risk and the plan for ending it, and reviews it annually. The Office of Democratic Integrity reports upon it under Article 261.
6. A foreign economic entity holds no licence in the matters of paragraph 1, and Article 163(3) governs the functions that are delegated to no body.

## Chapter 6: Solidarity

**Article 302. Obligation of solidarity**
1. The Republic furnishes solidarity to peoples subjected to want, to domination, to occupation, to disaster or to ecological harm.
2. Solidarity is furnished in goods, in labour, in technique, in knowledge, in training and in the reception of persons, is recorded in physical units, and is counted within the plan and the ecological budgets under Article 118.
3. In no case does a transfer create a claim, a debt or an obligation upon the receiving people, nor carry a condition touching their internal affairs, their form of government, their economy or their alignment.
4. Transfers of knowledge pass through the knowledge commons under Article 10, without exclusive right and without restriction upon use.

**Article 303. The floor**
1. The plan devotes to solidarity no less than one hundredth of the aggregate resources it allocates in each period, computed in the physical units of Article 7(2) upon the method organic law publishes.
2. The National Planning Congress may exceed the floor, and states its reasons publicly.
3. In no case may the floor be reduced, suspended or deferred, including during a state of emergency, an armed attack or an ecological emergency, and a measure doing so is void under Article 265(1) and Article 266.
4. The floor is met after the minimum core of Article 41 and the restoration of Article 23(1)(j), and before every purpose ranked below them in Article 91(2).
5. Solidarity furnished is published in full each period, by recipient, by category and by quantity.

**Article 304. Direction and refusal**
1. Solidarity is directed to peoples, and it reaches them through their own organisations, cooperatives, communes, unions and public bodies wherever these exist.
2. The Republic furnishes no resource that would sustain an act described in Article 288(1), strengthen an apparatus of coercion, or reach a government to the exclusion of its people, and it states publicly when it refuses on this ground.
3. Refusal under paragraph 2 extends in no case to food, water, medicine, shelter, energy for households, or assistance after a disaster, which are furnished to a population without regard to the government it lives under.
4. Recipients are consulted upon what is furnished and upon how it is furnished, and in no case does the Republic determine the use to which a transfer is put.
5. The Commissioner for Future Generations and the Audit Office examine solidarity transfers under Articles 257 and 249, and their reports are published.

**Article 305. Ecological and colonial reparation**
1. The Republic accounts the ecological debt it owes for materials and energy drawn historically from other territories, publishes the account, and discharges it through the transfers of this Chapter.
2. Objects, remains and records taken from another people are returned upon request, without condition and without charge, and in no case does a museum, an establishment or a collection of the Republic retain them.
3. The Republic supports the claims of other peoples to reparation, and in no case does it obstruct, delay or dilute such a claim in an international body.

---

# TITLE XII: CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE, ACCESSIBILITY AND REVISION

## Chapter 1: The Amending Power

**Article 306. Nature of the amending power**
1. This Constitution is amended only by the procedures of this Title.
2. The amending power is constituted by this Constitution and is limited by it. In no case does it extend to the core of Article 310.
3. An act purporting to amend this Constitution otherwise than under this Title produces no effect, requires the obedience of no person, and is usurpation under Article 3(3).
4. In no case may this Constitution be amended, suspended or displaced during a state of emergency under Title X, during an armed attack under Article 276, during an ecological emergency under Article 36, or while an election has been postponed under Article 123(4).
5. In no case may an amendment be adopted by an organ acting for itself, by decree, by regulation, by treaty, by act of a union organ, or by any instrument other than the one this Title prescribes.

**Article 307. Initiative**
1. An amendment may be proposed by:
   a) one third of the members of the Assembly;
   b) one hundred thousand residents, or three per cent of the residents registered, whichever is the lesser;
   c) one third of the communal councils, representing together no less than one fifth of the residents of the Republic;
   d) both regional councils acting jointly.
2. A proposal states the text to be inserted, amended or repealed, in the words proposed, and states the reasons.
3. Every proposal is published on deposit, together with its authors, its text and its reasons.
4. Signatures under paragraph 1(b) are collected within twelve months, are verifiable and revocable, and may be given in writing and through the public information system.
5. In no case is the exercise of an initiative under this Article conditioned upon the approval of any organ.

**Article 308. Procedure**
1. Upon deposit, the proposal is transmitted to the Constitutional Chamber, which verifies within sixty days that it lies outside Article 310 and states its reasons publicly. A proposal touching the core proceeds no further.
2. The proposal is published for public examination for one hundred and eighty days, during which the Assembly, the communal and regional councils, the National Planning Congress, the Ecological Budget Authority, the offices of Title IX and any resident may submit observations, and every substantiated objection receives a written and public answer.
3. A deliberative body drawn by lot under Article 142 examines every proposal, hears evidence from persons of differing view, and publishes a report with dissenting opinions. The report is published no less than sixty days before the vote of the Assembly.
4. The Assembly debates the proposal in three readings under Article 135 and votes upon it by a majority of its members, in a vote by name.
5. Adoption by the Assembly submits the proposal to referendum. Rejection by the Assembly submits it to referendum where its authors so require within thirty days, and where the initiative arose under Article 307(1)(b), (c) or (d) the referendum is held in every case.
6. The Assembly may submit a counter-proposal to the same referendum, and the voters decide between the two texts and the existing provision.
7. The referendum is held no earlier than ninety days and no later than one hundred and eighty days after the vote of the Assembly.

**Article 309. Referendum and entry into force**
1. Every amendment to this Constitution is adopted by referendum, and in no case does an amendment take effect without one.
2. The amendment is adopted where a majority of the votes cast approves it, and in no case does the level of participation condition the validity of the referendum.
3. Public resources are furnished equally to the organised proponents and opponents, and the organs of the Republic publish an impartial statement of the effects of each outcome thirty days before the vote, together with the report of Article 308(3).
4. The question states the text proposed, the provision it replaces, and the consequences of each outcome, and the Constitutional Chamber verifies its formulation under Article 140(2).
5. An amendment adopted takes effect ninety days after the proclamation of the result, or upon the later date the text appoints, and is published in the consolidated version under Article 314.
6. A proposal rejected by referendum is reintroduced in the same terms no earlier than four years after the vote.
7. Article 137 applies to no amendment adopted under this Title, and the conformity of an amendment with Article 310 is examined under Article 308(1) and under Article 311.

## Chapter 2: The Core

**Article 310. Beyond the amending power**
1. The following lie beyond the amending power, and in no case may they be amended, repealed, suspended, restricted or evaded by any procedure, by any majority, or by the replacement of this Constitution under Chapter 3:
   a) human dignity, and its inviolability under Article 2;
   b) the republican form, and the sovereignty of the people under Article 3;
   c) the obligation to sustain the ecological conditions of life under Article 5(1), and the binding force of the ecological budgets under Article 26(1) and (2);
   d) the social ownership of the means of production under Article 6(1) and (2), the abolition of income from the bare holding of productive assets under Article 6(3), and the prohibitions of Article 6(4);
   e) the constitution of the Republic as a participatory democracy under Article 1(1), the universal, equal, free and secret suffrage of Article 60(1) and (2), and the periodic election of the Assembly;
   f) the rights from which Article 42(2) permits no derogation;
   g) the guarantee of essential provision under Article 62(2) and (3);
   h) the equality of persons under Article 38(1) and (2), and the extension of the rights of Title III to every resident under Article 37(2);
   i) the independence of the courts under Article 193, and the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court under Article 216(2);
   j) the acts declared void by Article 265, and the rule against attainment by indirection in Article 266;
   k) this Article.
2. The core binds the amending power, the constituent power exercised under Chapter 3, the Assembly, the planning bodies, the territories, every majority and every referendum.
3. In no case does a referendum, however large its majority, authorise a measure touching the core, and Article 139(6) governs by analogy.
4. Provisions of Titles I, II and III outside the core are amended under Chapter 1 like any other provision of this Constitution.

**Article 311. Guardianship of the core**
1. The Constitutional Chamber verifies every proposal under Article 308(1), and the plenary of the Constitutional Court decides where the question is contested.
2. Where a proposal is declared to touch the core, it proceeds no further, and the declaration states which limb of Article 310(1) it touches and why.
3. Where an amendment has been adopted and is afterwards found to touch the core, the Court declares it void from the beginning, at the instance of any person under Article 231(1), and Article 4(4) governs.
4. A series of amendments attaining cumulatively a result the core forbids is void from the amendment at which the result is reached, and Article 266(2) governs.
5. Decisions under this Article are published with reasons and with dissenting opinions.

## Chapter 3: Replacement of the Constitution

**Article 312. The Constitutional Convention**
1. This Constitution may be replaced in its entirety only by a Constitutional Convention elected for that purpose, and the text it produces takes effect only upon approval by referendum.
2. A Convention is convened where a referendum so decides, held upon the request of two thirds of the members of the Assembly, of two hundred thousand residents, or of half the communal councils.
3. The Convention consists of two hundred members elected by the residents under the system of Article 120, in the districts of Article 121, and Articles 122, 124, 126 and 127 apply to its members.
4. Membership of the Convention is incompatible with a seat in the Assembly, with membership of an executive committee, with delegation to a planning body, with judicial office and with an office of Title IX.
5. The Convention sits in public, publishes its records, its votes by name and its drafts, convenes deliberative bodies drawn by lot under Article 142, and admits observations from any resident, which it answers publicly.
6. The Convention completes its work within eighteen months, extensible once by six months upon a public and reasoned decision, and dissolves upon the referendum whatever its outcome.
7. The Convention adopts its draft by a majority of two thirds of its members.

**Article 313. Limits and continuity**
1. The core of Article 310 survives the replacement of this Constitution and binds the Convention, the draft it produces, and the text that succeeds this one.
2. The Constitutional Chamber examines the draft against Article 310 before the referendum, and a provision touching the core is in no case submitted to the vote.
3. Convening a Convention suspends nothing. The Assembly, the executive committees, the planning bodies, the courts, the offices of Title IX and the councils of the territories continue in office and in function, this Constitution remains in force, and elections are held as they fall due.
4. In no case may a Convention legislate, plan, allocate resources, exercise any power of another organ, or extend its own term beyond Article 312(6).
5. Where the referendum rejects the draft, this Constitution continues in force, and a fresh Convention is convened no earlier than four years afterwards.
6. Where the referendum approves the draft, the new text enters into force on the date it appoints, and provides for the continuity of provision, of the plan, of judicial proceedings and of the rights acquired under this Constitution.

## Chapter 4: Accessibility

**Article 314. Consolidation and publication**
1. A consolidated version of this Constitution, incorporating every amendment in force, is published in the public register, without charge, in open and machine-readable form, and in every language of record.
2. Consolidation is completed within thirty days of the entry into force of an amendment, and the superseded versions remain published with the dates between which each was in force.
3. Publication includes an index, a table of every cross-reference, and a record of the amendment history of each article.
4. In no case is any version, edition, translation or format made subject to a charge, a licence, a registration or an account.

**Article 315. The official summary**
1. An official summary is published of this Constitution as a whole and of every article within it, stating in plain and direct language what the provision does, whom it binds and what it requires.
2. The summary is drafted by the Office of Constitutional Revision under Article 317, is examined by a deliberative body drawn by lot under Article 142 for intelligibility, and is revised upon the observations that body records.
3. The summary carries no legal force. In no case does it create, extend, restrict or interpret a right, an obligation or a competence, and in no case does a court decide a case upon it.
4. Any person may report a divergence between the summary and the article it summarises. The Office answers within sixty days, publicly and with reasons.
5. Where the Office, a court or the Constitutional Court finds that the summary misstates an article, the Office corrects it within ninety days, publishes the correction with the date and the reason, and records the divergence in its annual report.
6. Where a divergence has caused a person to act to their detriment, the fact of the divergence is taken into account under Article 43 in assessing the remedy, and paragraph 3 governs the interpretation of the article itself.
7. The summary is published together with the text in every edition, format and version issued under Articles 314 and 316.

**Article 316. Distribution**
1. A printed copy of this Constitution, with the official summary, is furnished free of charge to every dwelling in the Republic, and to every person upon request.
2. It is general provision under Article 107, is durable, and is produced within the ecological budgets under Article 33.
3. Copies are held and lent by every library, every school, every place of detention, every place of care and every communal office.
4. Editions are published in every language of record, in large print, in braille, in audio, in easy-read form, and in the formats accessibility requires, and Article 130(5) governs by analogy.
5. A fresh distribution follows every amendment adopted under Chapter 1 and every replacement under Chapter 3.
6. Education in this Constitution, in the rights it guarantees and in the procedures by which residents exercise them is part of the common curriculum under Article 67(2).

## Chapter 5: Revision and Review

**Article 317. The Office of Constitutional Revision**
1. The Office of Constitutional Revision maintains the consolidated version, drafts and corrects the official summary, maintains the table of cross-references, and reports upon the coherence of this Constitution.
2. The Office is constituted as an oversight office under Title IX, and Articles 234 to 243 apply to it, its pool comprising persons qualified in law, in drafting, in translation and in plain language.
3. The Office reports annually and publicly upon: contradictions between provisions; cross-references that have failed; provisions that have never been applied; provisions that courts have found unintelligible; duplication; and passages that the deliberative body of Article 315(2) found unclear.
4. The Office proposes simplifications, consolidations and repeals, drafted as amendments, and publishes them with its reasoning.
5. A proposal of the Office is transmitted to the Assembly, which examines it in public sitting within one hundred and eighty days and states publicly its reasons for acting or declining.
6. In no case does the Office amend this Constitution, alter a text, resolve a contradiction by its own act, or hold any power beyond drafting, reporting and proposing.

**Article 318. Periodic review**
1. Every ten years, the Assembly convenes a deliberative body drawn by lot under Article 142 to examine whether this Constitution serves the persons bound by it.
2. The body examines, upon evidence and upon the reports of the Office of Constitutional Revision, of the courts and of the offices of Title IX: whether the guarantees of Title III are attained in fact; whether residents can find, read and use the text; whether the procedures of participation operate; whether the length and complexity of the text obstruct its use; and which provisions might be simplified, consolidated or repealed.
3. The body publishes a report with dissenting opinions, and the Assembly answers it in public sitting within one hundred and eighty days, article by article.
4. The report may propose amendments, which proceed under Chapter 1, and may propose the convening of a Convention, which proceeds under Chapter 3.
5. The review binds no organ to a result, and in no case does it suspend, delay or condition the exercise of any right or procedure of this Constitution.

**Article 319. Duty of intelligibility**
1. Provisions of this Constitution, of organic laws and of laws are drafted in language as direct and as short as the subject admits.
2. Length is justified only by the protection it furnishes. Where a guarantee can be secured in fewer words without weakening it, the shorter form is adopted.
3. In no case does the complexity of this Constitution, of a law, or of a procedure furnish a ground for denying a right, refusing a remedy, or dismissing a claim, and Articles 39(3), 77(2) and 43(1) govern.
4. Where a person has failed in a procedural requirement because the requirement was unclear, the organ concerned assists them to comply and treats the requirement as satisfied on compliance.
5. This Article furnishes a standard of drafting and of interpretation, and in no case does it confer a power upon any organ or ground the invalidity of a provision.

---

# TITLE XIII: TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

## Chapter 1: Adoption and Entry into Force

**Article 320. Adoption**
1. This Constitution is adopted by the residents of the Republic of Fluid, voting in referendum, and it derives its authority from that act alone.
2. The referendum is decided by a majority of the votes cast, and in no case does the level of participation condition its validity.
3. The result is proclaimed by the body conducting the referendum and is published with the count of every polling station.

**Article 321. Entry into force**
1. This Constitution enters into force on the thirtieth day after the proclamation of the result, and that day is the day of commencement.
2. Titles I, II, III, XII and this Title enter into force in full on the day of commencement.
3. The following enter into force on the day of commencement, subject to the phasing of Chapter 3: Titles V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X and XI.
4. Title IV enters into force on the day of commencement, and Articles 97 to 99, 106 to 113 and 115 to 116 apply from the opening of the first planning period constituted under Article 331.
5. A provision phased under Chapter 3 binds every organ from the day of commencement as a standard of conduct and of interpretation, and its procedures apply from the date that Chapter appoints.
6. In no case does phasing suspend Title III, the ecological budgets once established, the jurisdiction of the courts, or the guarantee of Article 62 as furnished on the day of commencement.

**Article 322. Repeal**
1. The Constitution of the Republic of Fluid adopted in 2024 is repealed on the day of commencement.
2. The Constitution of the First National Council of the Republic of Fluid, adopted on 15 December 1890, and every constitutional instrument preceding this one, are repealed so far as any part of them remained in force.
3. The repealed texts are preserved in the public register in their integral form, with the dates between which each was in force, are published free of charge under Article 314(4), and are held in the archive of the Republic.
4. A repealed text may be cited as history, as evidence of the intention of its makers, and as a record of the development of the Republic. In no case is a repealed text cited as authority, invoked as a source of right or obligation, or applied by any court or organ.

**Article 323. Continuity of laws**
1. Laws, organic laws, regulations, local rules, licences, permits and administrative acts in force on the day of commencement continue in force.
2. A provision conflicting with this Constitution is void from the day of commencement, to the extent of the conflict, and Article 4(4) governs.
3. Where a provision can be read in conformity with this Constitution, it is so read, and Article 39(3) governs.
4. Every organ examines the instruments within its competence, publishes within one hundred and eighty days a list of the provisions it considers void or in need of conformity, and brings the remainder into conformity within three years of the day of commencement.
5. The Office of Constitutional Revision publishes a consolidated list of the provisions declared void, maintains it, and reports annually upon the progress of conformity.
6. Failure to bring a provision into conformity within three years causes it to lapse, and in no case does the lapse of a provision reduce the provision furnished under Article 62.
7. Nothing in this Article delays the direct effect of Title III under Article 39(1), and any person may plead the nullity of a conflicting provision from the day of commencement.

**Article 324. Continuity of acts, rights and proceedings**
1. Acts lawfully done before the day of commencement remain valid, and rights acquired under them are protected.
2. Judicial and administrative proceedings pending on the day of commencement continue before the organs then seised, and the procedural guarantees of Title III apply to them from that day.
3. Sentences and measures in execution are brought into conformity with Articles 80 and 228 within one year, and a person held under a penalty this Constitution prohibits is released or has the penalty adjusted within ninety days.
4. Treaties in force continue, and Article 291(3) governs any conflict.
5. Provision furnished on the day of commencement continues without interruption, and in no case does any transitional measure reduce it.

## Chapter 2: Constitution of the New Organs

**Article 325. The Judicial Council**
1. The Judicial Council of Article 209 is constituted first, and it is constituted within one hundred and twenty days of the day of commencement.
2. The thirteen resident members are drawn by lot under Article 210 from the residents of the Republic, by the body then conducting elections, in public session and by a verifiable procedure, and their confirmation is required by no organ.
3. The eight judicial members are elected under Article 211 by the judges holding office on the day of commencement, by secret ballot, and Article 211(2) applies so far as the courts then existing permit.
4. The Council so constituted holds the full competences of Article 208 from the day it convenes.
5. By way of exception to Article 210(3) and Article 211(3), the first resident members serve one, two and three years by lot among them, and the first judicial members serve three and six years by lot among them, so that the staggering of those Articles is established.
6. Article 237 does not apply to the Council itself, and in no case is the first Council confirmed, approved or vetted by any organ.

**Article 326. The Constitutional Court**
1. Within ninety days of convening, the Judicial Council opens the register of Article 218 and verifies entries upon the published conditions alone.
2. The first fifteen justices are drawn under Article 217 within two hundred and forty days of the day of commencement, and Article 217(2) and (3) apply.
3. By way of exception to Article 219(2), the first justices serve four, eight and twelve years by lot among them, in equal groups of five, so that the staggering of that Article is established.
4. Until the Court is constituted, the highest court then existing exercises the jurisdiction of Article 216(2), applies this Constitution directly under Article 4(3), and its decisions in that period stand until the Court decides otherwise.
5. The Court appoints the Judicial Inspectorate under Article 214 within one hundred and twenty days of its constitution.

**Article 327. Judges and prosecution**
1. Judges holding office on the day of commencement continue in office, and their terms are treated as having begun on that day for the purposes of Article 203(1), counting toward the twelve years the service already performed in judicial office, up to a maximum of six years.
2. Presidents of courts and heads of divisions holding office on the day of commencement remain until elections under Article 205(1), held within one year, and the time already served counts toward the limits of Article 205(2).
3. The Judicial Council conducts the first competitions under Article 202 within one year, and the assignment system of Article 201 operates within eighteen months of the day of commencement.
4. The head of the prosecution service is appointed under Article 224(2) within one year, and the service continues under its existing direction until then.

**Article 328. The oversight offices**
1. The Electoral Commission, the Audit Office, the Defender of Rights, the Commissioner for Future Generations, the Office of Democratic Integrity and the Office of Constitutional Revision are constituted within one year of the day of commencement.
2. Organic law constitutes the pools of Article 236 within one hundred and eighty days, and the Judicial Council verifies entries and confirms those drawn under Article 237.
3. By way of exception to Article 238(2), the first members of each college serve terms of three, four, five, six and seven years by lot among them, so that the staggering of that Article is established.
4. Until the Electoral Commission is constituted, the body then conducting elections performs its functions, conducts the draws required by Articles 325 and 326, and is bound by Articles 244 to 248.
5. Until the Defender of Rights is constituted, complaints are received by the courts under Article 43, and the period of limitation for any complaint is extended by the delay.

**Article 329. The Ecological Budget Authority and the first budgets**
1. The Ecological Budget Authority is constituted under Article 24 within one hundred and eighty days of the day of commencement.
2. The Authority publishes within one year a provisional measurement of the throughput of energy and materials of the Republic, and within two years the first ecological budgets under Article 23, following the procedure of Article 25.
3. The safe level of Article 22(1) is determined with the first budgets, and where measured throughput exceeds it, the schedule of reduction under Article 22(2) is published with them.
4. From the day of commencement until the first budgets take effect, no organ, territory, enterprise or licensed entity increases its throughput of energy or materials above the level of the year preceding commencement, and Article 26(2) applies to any act doing so.
5. The prohibition of Article 32(2) upon the extraction of fossil fuels takes effect on the day of commencement. The schedule for phasing out their combustion is published within one year.

## Chapter 3: Transition of the Assembly, Execution and the Plan

**Article 330. The Assembly and the executive committees**
1. The National Council in office on the day of commencement continues, exercising the competences of the Assembly under this Constitution, until the first Assembly convenes.
2. The first election under Articles 120 and 121 is held within one year of the day of commencement, and the calendar of Article 123(2) begins with the first ordinary election following it.
3. Organic law establishes the twenty sub-regional districts and apportions the two hundred seats under Article 121 within one hundred and eighty days of the day of commencement, and the Boundary Division of Article 247 conducts the first apportionment under Article 121(5) once the Electoral Commission is constituted.
4. The National Council constitutes no executive committee. Articles 147 to 154 apply from the convening of the first Assembly, which constitutes the executive committees within thirty days under Article 148(2).
5. The Government, ministries and offices of execution existing on the day of commencement continue their functions until the executive committees are constituted, and Article 154 binds them from the day of commencement.
6. The Presiding Officer of Article 146 is elected by the first Assembly at its first sitting.

**Article 331. The planning bodies and the first plan**
1. The plan in force on the day of commencement continues until the first plan under Article 97 is adopted.
2. The workplace, user and neighbourhood assemblies of Articles 92 and 93 are convened within one hundred and eighty days of the day of commencement, and the register of needs under Article 63 opens within the same period.
3. The communal, sub-regional and regional economic councils of Articles 94, 95 and 183(5) are constituted within one year, and the National Planning Congress and the Planning Secretariat under Article 96 within eighteen months.
4. The first planning cycle under Article 97 opens within two years of the day of commencement, and the first plan takes effect at the opening of the planning period following its adoption.
5. Until the first plan takes effect, allocation follows the plan continued under paragraph 1, adjusted under Article 99, and the priority of Article 91(2) binds every adjustment from the day of commencement.
6. The reserve of Article 105(1) and the solidarity floor of Article 303(1) apply from the first plan adopted under Article 97.
7. The formula of Article 180 is published within eighteen months, and until it operates, communes, sub-regions and regions receive allocations no lower in real terms than those they received in the year preceding commencement.

**Article 332. Territories**
1. The communes existing on the day of commencement continue, and their councils remain in office until elections under Article 170(1), held within eighteen months.
2. Organic law establishes the nine sub-regions of the western region and the eleven of the eastern within one hundred and eighty days, with their names and boundaries, and the sub-regional councils of Article 173 are constituted within one year.
3. The regional councils of Article 175 are constituted within eighteen months.
4. Communes determine within one year whether Article 141(1) or Article 141(2) applies to them, upon the figure organic law fixes, and publish the determination.
5. Communal police services are brought into conformity with Article 274 within two years, and paragraph 3 of that Article takes effect on the day of commencement.

**Article 333. Provision, housing and devices**
1. The minimum core of Article 41(5) is specified by organic law within one year of the day of commencement, and until it is specified, the level of provision furnished in the year preceding commencement operates as the minimum core.
2. The catalogue of general provision under Article 107(2) is published within eighteen months.
3. Article 185 applies to a household whose size fell before the day of commencement only from the date of the first offer under Article 185(2), which is made no earlier than one year after commencement, and the periods of Article 185(3) and (4) run from that offer.
4. Articles 108 and 109 apply to devices produced or ordered after the day of commencement. Devices already in service continue, and repair parts are furnished for them so far as they exist.
5. Article 109(5) is satisfied by every public system within three years of the day of commencement, and the inventory of Article 301(5) is first published within one year.

**Article 334. Working time and contribution**
1. Article 72(1) takes effect on the day of commencement, and where a task cannot be reorganised at once, the executive committee competent publishes a schedule bringing it into conformity within two years.
2. Article 70 takes effect on the day of commencement in full, and in no case does any transitional measure condition provision upon contribution.

**Article 335. Electronic voting**
1. Article 245(3) to (11) applies from the date on which the Electoral Commission certifies that the conditions of Article 245(4) are satisfied, and in no case earlier than two years after the day of commencement.
2. Until that date, every procedure is conducted on paper under Article 245(1) and (2).

**Article 336. Union and external relations**
1. Membership of the Democratic Socialist Bloc continues, and the Republic seeks within two years the amendment of its constituting instrument to conform with Articles 293 and 294.
2. Findings under Article 288 are made within two years of the day of commencement, and until a finding is made, exchange proceeds under Articles 117 and 298.
3. Article 289 applies from the day of commencement, and a person who would qualify under it and who resides in the Republic on that day acquires citizenship upon application.
4. The floor of Article 303 applies as Article 331(6) provides, and until it applies, solidarity continues at no less than the level of the year preceding commencement.

## Chapter 4: Final Provisions

**Article 337. First distribution and summary**
1. The official summary of Article 315 is published within one year of the day of commencement.
2. The distribution of Article 316 is completed within eighteen months, and until it is completed, copies are available free of charge at every communal office, library and school.
3. The first periodic review under Article 318 is convened in the tenth year after the day of commencement.

**Article 338. Reservation of the amending power**
1. Nothing in this Title extends the amending power, and Article 310 binds every measure taken under it.
2. Provisions of this Title expire when the transitions they govern are complete, and the Office of Constitutional Revision records the expiry of each in the consolidated version.
3. In no case may a period fixed by this Title be extended, except by amendment under Title XII.

**Article 339. Authorship and method**
1. This Constitution was drafted by the people of the Republic of Fluid through their deliberative bodies, in part with the assistance of artificial reasoning systems, under human direction and human decision at every stage, and adopted by the residents under Article 320.
2. The record of the drafting, including the questions put, the choices made, the alternatives rejected and the reasons given, is published in the public register and is preserved in the archive of the Republic.
3. The use of such assistance in the drafting confers upon it no authority, no interpretive weight and no standing, and in no case is a machine cited as a source of meaning in the interpretation of this text.
4. Article 51(5) binds every organ constituted by this Constitution. Decisions under this Constitution are taken by persons who are identified and accountable, and in no case by a system.
5. This Article records a fact of provenance and is not a rule of construction, except as paragraph 3 provides.

**Article 340. Text and languages**
1. The text of this Constitution in the languages of record is equally authentic, and where the versions diverge, the reading more favourable to the right in issue prevails under Article 39(3).
2. Titles, chapter headings, article headings, the index and the table of cross-references are aids to navigation and form no part of the operative text.
3. The official summary under Article 315 forms no part of the operative text, and Article 315(3) governs.
4. The preamble states the purposes for which this Constitution was adopted and is used in interpreting it under Article 39(3). In no case does the preamble create, extend or restrict a right, an obligation or a competence, and in no case is a claim founded upon it alone.