Competence of the National Parliament

1. It is incumbent upon the National Parliament to make laws on basic issues of the country's domestic and foreign policy.

2. It is exclusively incumbent upon the National Parliament to make laws on:

a) The borders of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, in accordance with Section 4;

b) The limits of the territorial waters, of the exclusive economic area and of the rights of East Timor to the adjacent area and the continental shelf;

c) National symbols, in accordance with item 2 of Section 14;

d) Citizenship;

e) Rights, freedoms and guarantees;

f) The status and capacity of people, family law and descent law;

g) Territorial division;

h) The electoral law and the referendum system;

i) Political parties and associations;

j) The status of Members of the National Parliament;

k) The status of office holders in the organs of State;

l) The bases for the education system;

m) The bases for the health and social security system;

n) The suspension of constitutional guarantees and the declaration of the state of siege and the state of emergency;

o) The Defence and Security policy;

p) The tax policy;

q) The budget system.

3. It is also incumbent up on the National Parliament:

a) To ratify the appointment of the President of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the High Administrative, Tax and Audit Court;

b) To deliberate on progress reports submitted by the Government;

c) To elect one member for the Superior Council for the Judiciary and the Superior Council for the Public Persecution;

d) To deliberate on the State Plan and Budget and the execution report thereof;

e) To monitor the execution of the State budget;

f) To approve and denounce agreements and ratify international treaties and conventions;

g) To grant amnesty;

h) To give consent to trips by the President of the Republic on State visits;

i) To approve revisions of the Constitution by a majority of two-thirds of the Members of Parliament;

j) To authorise and confirm the declaration of the state of siege or the state of emergency;

k) To propose to the President of the Republic the submission to referendum of issues of national interest.

4. It is also incumbent upon the National Parliament:

a) To elect its Speaker and other members of the Chair;

b) To elect five members for the Council of State;

c) To prepare and approve its Rules of Procedure;

d) To set up the Standing Committee and establish the other parliamentary Committees.