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EXPLANATORY NOTES
Guidelines as recommended or optional
The distinction made in the 2000 Guidelines between Recommended and Optional has been eliminated. All guidelines should be considered to be recommended if applicable under the rules and procedures of the legislature. For example, if plenary voting is by party rather than by individual member, then a guideline about the voting records of individual members would not apply to that legislature.
Recommendations dealing with new technologies will focus on the value of testing and evaluation but will not propose implementation until there is more experience within the parliamentary community. Not all parliaments will have the interest or resources to carry out such evaluations, but those who do are encouraged to conducts assessments and share their results with others.
Regional networks may wish to suggest additions or modification to the guidelines as they apply to the legislatures in their areas. For example, they may wish to emphasize the importance of participating in a collaborative effort to develop shared software or adjust the proposed standard on official languages to reflect circumstances among their members.
Languages and the digital divide
Countries with multiple official languages, or languages used by large percentages of the population, face the risk of increasing the digital divide if the website is not translated into all languages. On the other hand, the need to translate into many languages can require significant resources. Each parliament will have to decide for itself what is possible. The guideline on this issue emphasizes the need to translate the website into as many official languages, or languages used by large percentages of citizens, as feasible. If only a partial version can be made available in some of the languages, the focus should be first on permanent information such as how parliament works, how to contact members, etc. A summary of current parliamentary activities should also be provided on a periodic basis.
How far back in time?
It is challenging to propose a guideline regarding how far back in time documents should be available in digital format. Ideally, every document for the entire history of the parliament should be accessible online. However, this can present enormous challenges to older legislative bodies from both a practical and a resource perspective. While these guidelines do not recommend a particular span of time, the intent is to encourage parliaments to make their documentation available as far back as possible. This objective is expressed in guideline 6.4.G, which recommends that parliamentary documentation be digitized and made accessible on the website for as many prior years as feasible. It is assumed that documentation that is already digitized will remain available on the website permanently.
Open document standards
Open document standards such as XML are one of the technology components that are essential to the sustained effectiveness of parliamentary websites. Open standards are critical to document exchange, preservation, searching, linking, output formatting, and display. Although implementation can be challenging, the sharing of knowledge and experiences among parliaments as well as collaborative development efforts are making it easier to employ open standards. Guideline 6.4.B recommends that open document standards, such as XML be used, or planned to be used, to prepare proposed legislation and other parliamentary documentation. Eventually all documentation and media should be made available using open standards.
Support for downloading
An increasing number of organizations outside the parliament are making use of parliamentary documentation in their own websites. Many of these websites, maintained by government agencies, civil societies, and the private sector, contribute to democracy and an informed citizenry. To ensure that those making such use of parliamentary documentation have access to authoritative versions, guidelines 6.4.I calls for systems that can support high speed downloading of parliamentary files.
Level of detail
For the most part the guidelines provide examples of the kinds of information and documentation recommended rather than suggesting lists of required items. This appears most often in the use of the phrase “such as”. Example: 1.6.E. Activities of individual members of parliament, such as legislative proposals, questions, interpellations, motions, political declarations, voting record, etc. This is done in part because not all the items in such lists will be relevant to all parliaments, and because it is difficult to know every item that might pertain to a specific category, in this example, member activities. The intent is to give concrete examples that will help parliament understand what is intended without suggesting that such items are mandatory
What documentation and information should websites include?
In this instance, the word “include” can mean residing on the parliament’s servers or linked from another website. It is assumed that parliaments would make their own documentation available on the website. There are also cases in which parliaments have found it necessary to obtain and reformat information from an outside source that was important to their work but was not presented in a manner that was useful or relevant. Some parliaments also include links to a variety of sources that provide information, news, and, in some cases, opinions about proposed legislation and government actions. Establishing such links can raise issues regarding balance, inclusiveness, and objectivity. These guidelines take a limited view and recommend parliamentary and relevant government documentation and information, but they are not intended to exclude a more expansive approach for parliaments that wish to include a wider range of sources. The guidelines assume that parliaments will decide for themselves the definition and scope of parliamentary and relevant government documentation to be included on their website.
Gender issues
Gender issues are important in some parliaments and an argument can be made that there should be a guideline highlighting the work of women who are members or deputies. The challenge in doing this is to determine what other groups in addition to women might merit special focus. This can vary considerably by country. Rather than suggesting one particular group for emphasis, these guidelines recommend links to websites of formal and informal groups if they exist and are recognized within the parliament. The guidelines also recommend statistics that show the percentage of women and other groups elected to the legislature.
Parliamentary versus presidential systems
These guidelines are intended to be applicable in both parliamentary as well as presidential systems and to systems that may have elements of both.
Role of the parliament: legislation, budget, oversight
Parliaments vary in the extent to which they engage in legislative, budget, and oversight activities. These guidelines are intended to fully encompass all three areas with the understanding that they may not be equally relevant to all parliaments.
Continuity with the IPU Guidelines
The IPU Guidelines were an important and useful document. They have been used to guide the development of a number of parliamentary websites and to carryout several studies. The approach taken here was to build on these guidelines, enhancing and updating where it was warranted, based on changes in technology and practices. The intent was one of continuity and extension rather than radical revision.