Almost a million UAH is allocated for keeping verbatim records of statements of MPs, which are not always kept

Grafit - VR12 speech recognition system secures keeping verbatim record of MP's statements during plenary sittings of the Parliament, meetings of Conciliation Board of parliamentary factions, Committees, temporary special and investigation commissions. State Administrative Office of the Verkhovna Rada has spent almost a million for this purpose. While verbatim records of plenary meetings and statements of MPs are being published on the official site of the Parliament, records of Committees and temporary investigation commissions are not fully available.

While verbatim records of plenary meetings and statements of MPs are being published on the official site of the Parliament, records of Committees and temporary investigation commissions are not fully available.

As long as most of verbatim records are not available, citizens and journalists are deprived of their right to access information on motives, subject matter, and procedure for the adoption of socially-important decisions, however, large sum of taxpayers' money were allocated for this very purpose.

In 2012, the State Administrative Office of the Verkhovna Rada spent almost 1.5 million UAH on equipment for parliamentary activities organization. Lion's share of the total amount, particularly 875 thousand UAH, was spent on Grafit - VR12 speech recognition system. This system was to be used for making verbatim records of MP's statements.

Obligation to keep verbatim records of MP's statements is determined by the law. According to the Law on Committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, "Minutes and verbatim record of the Committee are official documents, which prove the discussion process and decision making, opinion and recommendations of the Committee." The Law on the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine contains similar regulation. Speech recognition system should have secured verbatim record of plenary sittings of the Verkhovna Rada, as well as meetings of the Conciliation Board of parliamentary factions, Committees, temporary special and investigation commissions.

Technically, Grafit - VR12 speech recognition system consists of almost 30 automated workplaces, several servers, blocks, and network equipment. The most expensive part of the system is software, which had cost taxpayers 250 thousand UAH. It was developed by the RPE (Research and Production Enterprise) Omega LLC. This company had won the tender on updating the automated stenography system in the Verkhovna Rada. However, nobody else participated in the contest. The Grafit system was updated in 1994, 1999, and 2004.

According to the information provided by the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada in its official answer to information request sent by OPORA, 20 of 29 committees keep verbatim records of their meetings. The Law of Ukraine on Access to Public Information provides that documents which contain socially important data shall be published by government bodies on their official sites. Still, only the Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information and the Committee on Culture and Spirituality are regularly publishing verbatim records in Internet.

Temporary special and investigation commissions in the Parliament don't keep verbatim records of their meetings. Only one temporary investigation commission on reconsideration of voting results during 2012 Parliamentary elections was created by MPs of the current convocation. However, this body couldn't start working because MPs from the Party of Regions, which constitute the majority in this commission, are ignoring the meetings.

Analysis of adherence to legislative requirements regarding verbatim records of Committees of the Verkhovna Rada of VII convocation