Parliamentary Institute
Departments

The Department of General Analyses independently prepares or mediates information, analyses and comprehensive studies for the needs of the Chamber, its bodies, officials and Deputies,

• regularly issues information on the economic and social situation for the needs of Deputies,
• provides a consultancy and advisory service to the Chamber, its bodies, officials, Deputies as well as to the Office,
• cooperates with the Department of EU Affairs in the preparation of analyses on European Union policies,
• maintains contact with the professional services of foreign parliaments, especially with parliamentary science centres abroad, and mediates information processed by them,
• performs some of its tasks in cooperation with research institutes, universities and other institutions and experts, including foreign ones, and implements parliamentary development cooperation projects in cooperation with them,
• in cooperation with the Department of Communication and Education, it organises training for the Deputies on parliamentarism, the activities of the Office, the exercise of the mandate and other related activities.

The Department of General Analyses covers the following areas of expertise:

• constitutional law
• parliamentarism
• public law
• economy
• social policy
• foreign policy
• the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy

In addition, the Department of General Analyses focuses on parliamentary procedures and parliamentary research. In particular, it monitors modern methodology topics of parliamentary research in an international context and engages in international cooperation. The Department of General Analyses also provides its outputs to the Senate, its bodies and officials.

The Department of EU Affairs monitors EU legislation, the various EU policies and the activities of the EU institutions on an ongoing basis. It produces information, analyses and comprehensive studies on EU policy documents and legislation.

The Department’s task is to provide information services to Deputies when EU affairs are discussed. The Department provides expert support, in particular to the Committee on European Affairs, and, where appropriate, to the relevant committees and the plenum on questions relating to European Union law.

The Department:

• provides information, analyses and comprehensive studies on EU political documents, legislation and policies,
• prepares supporting materials for resolutions of the Committee on European Affairs, other relevant committees, or for resolutions of the Chamber of Deputies when scrutinising the Government’s approach in European Union affairs within the meaning of Section 109a of the Act on the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of Deputies,
• regularly compiles, in cooperation with the Committee on European Affairs, a Review of the European Union Documents and makes it available to the bodies of the Chamber, Deputies and the public,
• prepares documents for the Committee on European Affairs for preliminary consultations on the Government’s legislative proposals,
• assesses the compatibility of non-government bills with EU law,
• provides information on the activities of the European Parliament and other EU institutions through the Chamber’s Permanent Representative to the European Parliament. In cooperation with the Department of General Analyses, it maintains contact between parliaments on EU affairs,
• provides training in European affairs for Deputies and staff of the Office in cooperation with the Department of Communication and Education, the Department of General Analyses and the Human Resources Department of the Office.

The Department of Communication and Education opens up and presents the activities of the Chamber of Deputies to the general public. This is a trend that can be found in almost all European parliaments today.

The Department of Communication and Education has prepared a comprehensive series of printed information materials on the Parliament’s work in Czech, English, French, German and Russian. Other products include short films on the work and functions of the Parliament for different age groups of visitors to the Chamber of Deputies and an interactive electronic presentation of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic ‘Chamber for Education’. The materials can be viewed or obtained at the Visitors‘ Centre of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, which was opened in the Smiřický Palace at Malostranské náměstí, Prague, in 2006. The Visitors‘ Centre also acts as a contact point providing information about the Chamber of Deputies for the visiting public, schools and other visitors. Due to the pandemic and the necessary closure of the Chamber of Deputies Visitors’ Centre, a substantial part of the activities focused on educating the public was transferred online. The issues and problems of Czech parliamentarism were presented at online seminars (webinars) for teachers and students. Thousands of students were introduced to the Chamber through streamed online tours that allowed for the age or field of study of those interested to be taken into consideration. Short videos presenting the history of the Chamber of Deputies offered an expanded opportunity to explore the Chambers interiors.

Materials were continually added to a special section of the Visitors’ Centre website called the ‘Chamber of Education’, providing materials for online learning. A new animated film posted on YouTube had a high viewership at the time of the closure of schools. Thanks to these projects, ties with schools accustomed to visiting the Chamber of Deputies have not been severed, on the contrary, the numbers of followers who are getting familiar with parliamentary issues grew in all age groups.

The Department of Communication and Education:

• operates the Chamber of Deputies Visitors’ Centre
• develops the Chamber’s public communication concept in cooperation with other organisational units of the Office, submits an annual plan for the Chamber’s public communication concept, including a publication plan, to the Consultation Board and the Secretary General of the Chamber,
• carries out publication activity related to the Chamber and the Office; as part of this activity, it issues occasional publications, information and promotional materials related to the Chamber and its bodies, issues professional and study publications and materials related to the Chamber, its bodies or the Office; it carries out these activities in cooperation with the relevant organisational units of the Office,
• prepares documents and carries out tasks related to the convening, negotiations and adopted resolutions of the Consultation Board,
• provides information on the functioning of the Chamber and its bodies (e.g. procedures, legislative process, petitions, etc.),
• prepares and carries out tours of the Chamber for the public and the professional public, and keeps record of the tours,
• provides popular educational activities for the public and professionals (lectures, seminars, trainings, courses, professional excursions, informative videos on parliamentary themes),
• serves as the Chamber’s correspondent at the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD),
• operates the parliamentary shop at the Chamber of Deputies Visitors‘ Centre.

The staff of the Parliamentary Institute closely cooperate with similar parliamentary departments abroad and also cooperate with professional departments of the Czech Academy of Sciences, participate in domestic and foreign conferences, publish in professional journals in the Czech Republic and abroad and engage in lecturing activities. PI experts have authored or co-authored many professional publications, such as the first Czech commentary on EU primary law or a specialised publication on the Parliament of the Czech Republic.

All of the PI agenda can be performed in the required quality and by the required deadlines only due to the fact that all three departments closely cooperate and are interconnected in terms of personnel.