The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, convened the Fourth Sitting of the First Regular Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in 2010, for Wednesday, 5 May 2010, starting at 2 p.m.

The National Assembly adopted the following agenda:

1. The Bill on Preventing Harassment at Work, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia,

2. The Bill on Volunteer Work, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia,

3. The Bill amending and modifying the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia,

4. The Bill amending and modifying the Law on Decorations of the Republic of Serbia, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia,

5. The Bill amending and modifying the Law on the State Audit Institution, submitted by deputies Milan Vuckovic, Branislav Jovanovic, Zoran Kasalovic, Branka Ljiljak, Balint Pasztor, Zarko Pivac and Mihailo Puric,

6. The Bill on the Confirmation of the Financial Agreement (Research and development in the public sector) between the Republic of Serbia and the European Investment Bank, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia,

7. The Bill on the Confirmation of the Donation Agreement (Relief for infrastructure projects for the local framework) part of IPA 2008 multi-beneficiary programme between the European Investment Bank and the Republic of Serbia and the City of Belgrade, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia,

8. The Bill on the Confirmation of the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Serbia and EFTA States, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia,

9. The Bill on the Confirmation of the Convention on the Grant of European Patents (European Patent Convention) of 5 October 1973, with amendments to Article 63 of the European Patent Convention of 17 December 1991 and as amended on 29 November 2000, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia,

10. The Bill on the Confirmation of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, the Rulebook on the Implementation of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks and the Resolution by the Diplomatic Conference Supplementary to the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks and the Rulebook on the Implementation of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia,

11. The Bill on the Confirmation of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Institutional Framework of the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Initiative for South-Eastern Europe, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia,

12. The Bill on the Confirmation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Croatia on inland waterways navigation and technical maintenance, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

By a majority of deputy votes, the National Assembly decided to conduct a joint discussion in principle on items 1 and 2 on the agenda; joint discussion in principle on items 3 and 4 on the agenda and a joint unified discussion on items 6 through 12 on the agenda for the sitting.

On the second day of work, 11 May, before moving on to the agenda, deputies Milos Aligrudic, Dragan Todorovic, Aleksandra Jankovic and Slobodan Maras exercised their right under article 235 of the Rules of Procedure and requested information and explanations from various governmental institutions.

The National Assembly continued the session with a joint discussion in principle on the Bill on Preventing Harassment at Work and Bill on Volunteer Work. The Bills were presented to the deputies by Minister of Labour and Social Policy Rasim Ljajic. By the end of the day, the National Assembly had completed the joint discussion in principle on the Bills.

On the third day of work, 12 May, the National Assembly conducted a joint discussion in principle on the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Decorations of the Republic of Serbia.

The proposed amendment of the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance was elaborated by the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Markovic.

The National Assembly concluded the joint discussion in principle on the two Bills before recess.

In the continuation, the National Assembly conducted a discussion in principle on the Bill amending and modifying the Law on the State Audit Institution.

On the fourth day of work, 13 May, the National Assembly concluded the discussion in principle on the Bill amending and modifying the Law on the State Audit Institution.

At the beginning of the proceedings, the heads i.e. authorised representatives of the Deputy Groups Radojko Obradovic, Zika Gojkovic and Dragan Todorovic exercised their right to pose questions i.e. request information or explanations, under article 235 of the Rules of Procedure.

National Assembly Speaker Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic informed the deputies that part of the sitting was being viewed from the gallery of the Great Hall by a group of students of the 34^th class of the Belgrade Military Grammar School, their superiors and non-commissioned officers.

In the continuation, the National Assembly commenced a joint unified discussion on items 6 through 12 on the agenda. The discussion on the confirmation of the seven international documents was postponed as the invited ministers were unable to attend the National Assembly sitting.

On the fifth day of work, 18 May, before moving on to the agenda, deputies Radojko Obradovic, Dragan Todorovic, Nada Kolundzija and Ivan Andric exercised their right under article 235 of the Rules of Procedure and requested information and explanations from various governmental institutions.

The National Assembly continued the session by a joint unified discussion on items 6 through 12 on the agenda. On the behalf of the submitters the sitting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Science and Technological Development Bozidar Djelic.

In the morning part of the proceedings, the National Assembly concluded the joint unified discussion on the Bills on the Confirmation of the Financial Agreement (Research and development in the public sector) between the Republic of Serbia and the European Investment Bank; on the Confirmation of the Donation Agreement (Relief for infrastructure projects for the local framework) part of IPA 2008 multi-beneficiary programme between the European Investment Bank and the Republic of Serbia and the City of Belgrade; on the Confirmation of the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Serbia and EFTA States; on the Confirmation of the Convention on the Grant of European Patents (European Patent Convention) of 5 October 1973, with amendments to Article 63 of the European Patent Convention of 17 December 1991 and as amended on 29 November 2000; on the Confirmation of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, the Rulebook on the Implementation of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks and the Resolution by the Diplomatic Conference Supplementary to the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks and the Rulebook on the Implementation of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks; on the Confirmation of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Institutional Framework of the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Initiative for South-Eastern Europe and on the Confirmation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Croatia on inland waterways navigation and technical maintenance.

The National Assembly Speaker informed the deputies that part of the sitting was being viewed from the gallery of the Great Hall of the National Assembly House by a group of students of the Belgrade University.

In the afternoon part of the proceedings, the National Assembly commenced a discussion on the particulars on the Bill on Preventing Harassment at Work.

On the sixth day of work, 19 May, the National Assembly concluded the discussion on the particulars on the Bill on Preventing Harassment at Work.

At the end of the discussion, Minister of Labour and Social Policy Rasim Ljajic said that, out of the 76 amendments submitted to the Bill, the Government accepted 14 amendments submitted by the deputies and 10 amendments by the Committee on Labour, Ex-Servicemen’s and Social Issues.

In the morning part of the proceedings, the National Assembly conducted and concluded the discussion on the particulars on the Bill on Volunteer Work.

In the continuation, the National Assembly completed the discussion on the particulars on the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Decorations of the Republic of Serbia.

On the seventh day of work, 20 May, the National Assembly completed a discussion on the particulars on the Bill amending and modifying the Law on the State Audit Institution.

Before moving onto the agenda, deputies Vladimir Milentijevic, Dragan Todorovic and Nada Kolundzija exercised their right under article 235, paragraph 2 of the Rules of Procedure, and requested information and explanations from competent institutions.

On the eighth day of the session, 26 May, in line with article 165 paragraphs 3 and 5 of the Rules of Procedure, the National Assembly ruled to include into the agenda, under urgent procedure, the Proposal of the Decision amending and modifying the Decision on the election of members of the Committees of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, submitted by the Democratic Party of Serbia – Vojislav Kostunica Deputy Group, then the Proposal of the Decision amending the Decision on the election of members of the Committees of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, submitted by the G17 Plus Deputy Group and the Proposal of the Decision amending the Decision determining the composition of standing delegations of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to international parliamentary institutions, submitted by the National Assembly Speaker Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, so these proposals became items 13, 14 and 15 on the agenda.

In the continuation, the National Assembly completed a unified discussion on each of the three decision proposals. Since the National Assembly had completed the discussion on all the items on the agenda, National Assembly Speaker Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic scheduled the Voting Day on the items on the agenda for the Fourth Sitting of the First Regular Session of the National Assembly in 2010, to start immediately after the discussion.

Voting Day

On Voting Day, the National Assembly adopted the Bill on Preventing Harassment at Work.

The National Assembly Speaker informed the deputies that part of the sitting was being viewed from the gallery of the Great Hall of the National Assembly House by a group of pupils of Mileva Maric technical school and pupils of 22 October high-school from Zabalj, as well as representatives of the Union of High-School Parliaments from the Municipality of Vrsac.

In the continuation, the Assembly adopted the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, Bill amending and modifying the Law on Decorations of the Republic of Serbia and the Bill amending and modifying the Law on the State Audit Institution.

On voting day the deputies also adopted the Bill on the Confirmation of the Financial Agreement (Research and development in the public sector) between the Republic of Serbia and the European Investment Bank, Bill on the Confirmation of the Donation Agreement (Relief for infrastructure projects for the local framework) part of IPA 2008 multi-beneficiary programme between the European Investment Bank and the Republic of Serbia and the City of Belgrade, Bill on the Confirmation of the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Serbia and EFTA States, Bill on the Confirmation of the Convention on the Grant of European Patents (European Patent Convention) of 5 October 1973, with amendments to Article 63 of the European Patent Convention of 17 December 1991 and as amended on 29 November 2000, Bill on the Confirmation of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, the Rulebook on the Implementation of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks and the Resolution by the Diplomatic Conference Supplementary to the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks and the Rulebook on the Implementation of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, Bill on the Confirmation of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Institutional Framework of the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Initiative for South-Eastern Europe and the Bill on the Confirmation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Croatia on inland waterways navigation and technical maintenance. The Proposal of the Decision amending and modifying the Decision on the election of members of the Committees of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Proposal of the Decision amending the Decision on the election of members of the Committees of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, and the Proposal of the Decision amending the Decision determining the composition of standing delegations of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to international parliamentary institutions were adopted as well.

The National Assembly also ruled on the violations of the Rules of Procedure the deputies complained of during the sitting and decided that the Rules of Procedure had not been violated in any of the cases.

Since the National Assembly had completed the discussion on all the items on the agenda and ruled on them, the National Assembly Speaker concluded the Fourth Sitting of the First Regular Session of the National Assembly in 2010.