Rule 223 : Setting-up and duties of interparliamentary delegations

1.   On a proposal from the Conference of Presidents, Parliament shall set up standing interparliamentary delegations and decide on their nature and the number of their members in the light of their duties. The members shall be appointed by the political groups and the non-attached Members during the first or second part-session following the re-election of Parliament for the duration of the parliamentary term.

2.   The political groups shall ensure as far as possible that Member States, political views and gender are fairly represented. It shall not be permissible for more than one third of the members of a delegation to have the same nationality. Rule 209 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

3.   The bureaux of the delegations shall be constituted in accordance with the procedure laid down for the committee bureaux in Rule 213.

4.   Parliament shall determine the general powers of the individual delegations. It may at any time decide to increase or restrict those powers.

5.   The implementing provisions needed to enable the delegations to carry out their work shall be adopted by the Conference of Presidents on a proposal from the Conference of Delegation Chairs.

6.   The Chair of a delegation shall regularly report back to the committee responsible for foreign affairs on the activities of the delegation.

7.   The Chair of a delegation shall be given an opportunity to be heard by a committee when an item on the agenda touches on the delegation's area of responsibility. The same shall apply to the Chair or rapporteur of that committee in the case of meetings of the delegation.