The new amendments stipulate that that Seimas sittings, participation of Seimas members and decision-making on matters under consideration take place remotely in real time on secure teleconferencing platforms tested and recognized as such by the National Cyber Security Centre. Seimas members are obliged personally exercise their rights and duties of Members of the Seimas on matters considered at remote sittings.
It is deemed that a Seimas member has attended a Seimas sitting, if he/she registered at more than half of votings on adoption of a legal act, which had been scheduled in advance and held at the scheduled time, as well as registered in all Seimas sittings of that day. It is also deemed that a Member of the Seimas has attended a Seimas committee or Seimas commission meeting if he/she registered against his/her signature in the annex to the minutes of the meeting, except for the cases specified in Article 53(8) and Article 18613(1) of the Statute.
The use of information technologies at a remote sitting should be coupled with ensuring of the following conditions:
Identity of the participating members of the Seimas is determined by means established in Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014;
Sittings are recorded;
Sittings are streamed live in video and audio format via the Seimas website, recorded and archived;
For voting, Seimas members are additionally identified through registration and immediate photo identification at the moment of voting, which allows to ascertain that they have voted in person and the voting clearly expresses their genuine will; for voting on legislation and other regulations of the Seimas, additional identification procedure under the rules established in Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 applies.
The President of the Republic, his authorised representatives, members of the Government, Prosecutor General, Auditor General, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, other stakeholders attending a sitting of the Seimas, and persons invited to the sitting are given access, through secure electronic means, to remote sittings held on secure teleconferencing platforms.
The provisions regulating remote work of the Seimas do not apply to the following sittings: closed sittings; the first sitting of a newly elected Seimas; a sitting where an oath of office is administered to the President elect of the Republic of Lithuania, Prime Minister, members of the Government (ministers), judges of the Constitutional Court, judges of the Supreme Court, Auditor General, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, and other state officials appointed by the Seimas.
Remote engagement is prohibited in the following cases: closed meetings of the Board of the Seimas and any Seimas committee, commission, or subcommittee; closed committee hearings, especially meetings and hearings involving the consideration of classified information specified in the Law on State Secrets and Official Secrets; voting by secret ballot as provided for in the Statute; and sittings involving voting on a law amending the Constitution or a draft constitutional law.
After the consideration, the draft law was approved by 125 votes in favour, with 2 votes against and 2 abstentions.
