A.     Guidelines

1.    Questions shall be admissible only where they

-    are concise and are drafted so as to permit a brief answer to be given;

-    fall within the competence and sphere of responsibility of the addressee and are of general interest;

-    concern in particular, in the case of specific questions to the Council, the exercise of its functions in defining, coordinating and implementing Union policies, or concern its powers relating to appointment procedures or the operation of the institutions, agencies and bodies of the European Union or a revision of the Treaties,

-    do not require extensive prior study or research by the institution concerned;

-    are clearly worded and relate to a specific matter;

-    do not contain assertions or opinions;

-    do not relate to strictly personal matters;

-    are not aimed at procuring documents or statistical information;

-    are interrogatory in form.

2.    A question shall be inadmissible if the agenda already provides for the subject to be discussed with the participation of the institution concerned, or if it relates to the exercise of the Council’s legislative and budgetary functions referred to in Article 16(1), first sentence, of the Treaty on European Union.

3.    A question shall be inadmissible if an identical or similar question has been put down and answered during the preceding three months, or to the extent that it merely seeks information on the follow-up to a specific resolution of Parliament of a kind which the Commission has already provided in a written follow-up communication, unless there are new developments or the author is seeking further information. In the first case a copy of the question and the answer shall be given to the author.

Supplementary questions

4.    Each Member may follow up the reply with a supplementary question to any question and may put in all two supplementary questions.

5.    Supplementary questions shall be subject to the rules of admissibility laid down in these Guidelines.

6.    The President shall rule on the admissibility of supplementary questions and shall limit their number so that each Member who has put down a question may receive an answer to it.

The President shall not be obliged to declare a supplementary question admissible, even if it satisfies the foregoing conditions of admissibility, if:

(a)    it is likely to upset the normal conduct of Question Time, or

(b)    the main question to which it relates has already been adequately covered by other supplementary questions, or

(c)    it has no direct bearing on the main question.

Answers to questions

7.    The institution concerned shall ensure that answers are concise and are relevant to the subject of the question.

8.    If the content of the questions concerned permits it, the President may decide, after consulting the questioners, that the institution concerned should answer them together.

9.    A question may be answered only if the questioner is present or has notified the President in writing, before Question Time begins, of the name of a substitute.

10.    If neither the questioner nor a substitute is present, the question shall lapse.

11.    If a Member tables a question, but neither that Member nor a substitute is present at Question Time, the President shall remind the Member in writing of his or her responsibility to be present or substituted. If the President has to send such a letter three times in the space of any twelve-month period, the Member concerned shall lose the right to table questions at Question Time for a six-month period.

12.    Questions that remain unanswered for lack of time shall be answered in accordance with Rule 117(4), first subparagraph, unless their authors request the application of Rule 117(3).

13.    The procedure for answers in writing shall be governed by Rule 117(3) and (5).

Time limits

14.    Questions shall be tabled at least one week before Question Time begins. Questions not tabled within this time limit may be taken during Question Time with the consent of the institution concerned.

Questions declared admissible shall be distributed to Members and forwarded to the institutions concerned.

B.     Recommendations

(extract from resolution of Parliament of 13 November 1986)

The European Parliament,

1.    Recommends stricter application of the guidelines for the conduct of Question Time under Rule 43 (1), and in particular of point 1 of those guidelines concerning admissibility;

2.    Recommends more frequent use of the power conferred on the President of the European Parliament by Rule 43(3) (2) to group questions for Question Time according to subject; considers, however, that only the questions falling within the first half of the list of questions tabled for a given part-session should be subject to such grouping;

3.    Recommends, as regards supplementary questions, that as a general rule the President should allow one supplementary question from the questioner and one or at most two supplementaries put by Members belonging preferably to a different political group and/or Member State from the author of the main question; recalls that supplementary questions must be concise and interrogatory in form and suggests that their duration should not exceed 30 seconds;

4.    Invites the Commission and the Council, pursuant to point 7 of the guidelines, to ensure that answers are concise and relevant to the subject of the question.