Key Benefits:
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PROPOSED LAW NO. 185 /X
Exhibition of Motives
This Law comes to comply with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 45/2007,
of March 19. Thus, the Coordinating Board is reformulating, strengthening the
coordination and cooperation of all criminal police bodies and the sharing of
information among them second principles of necessity and competence. The proposal
also adapts the organization of the criminal investigation to the reforms of the Criminal Code and
of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Criminal Policy Framework Act and the Law on Politics
Criminal and, still, the new Organic Laws of Forces and Security Services. Finally,
this bill receives the lessons of law enforcement over the course of about seven years,
introducing the adjustments that have been shown to be necessary.
Several modifications constitute mere legislative updates, with a view to
harmonization of the Criminal Investigation Organization Act with the Criminal Codes and
of Criminal Procedure. Thus, they take into account the introduction of the communication deadline of the
crime news to the Public Prosecutor's Office for the Code of Criminal Procedure and the change of
designation of certain types of crimes under the Criminal Code.
On the other hand, the clarification of the concepts of generic competence is made,
specific and reserved. In this sense, the law continues to designate as police bodies
Criminal of generic competence the Police Judiciary, the Public Security Police and
the Republican National Guard, refers to as criminal police bodies of competence
specific all remaining and identifies as criminal police organs of
reserved competence those to whom the law confers exclusive competence for the
investigation of certain crimes-including expressly in this latter category a
Judicial Police.
To avoid overlaps, which not only imply waste of resources but also
cause serious damage to criminal investigation, introduce standards of resolution of
conflicts of competence. In this way, taking into account that the organs of criminal police
of generic competence and the criminal police bodies of specific competence
can today investigate the same crimes-the one that has already implicated the serious
inconvenience of the existence of parallel processes-, the principles of the
specialization and rationalization in the allocation of available resources. With identical
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objective, the proposal devotes solutions aimed at guaranteeing the apportionment of
competencies. Such solutions oblique the criminal police organs that receive the
news of crimes and are not competent for your research, to communicate
immediately such news to the competent criminal police bodies, by the head of them
only practice the necessary and urgent cautionary acts to ensure the means of
proof.
The Judiciary Police are tasked, in exclusivity, to investigate the criminal wrongdoing
more serious and complex. But presently, the Research Organization Act
Criminal allows certain crimes of the reserved jurisdiction of the Police Judiciary
are investigated by other criminal police bodies. This regime continues to
behold. However, a significant and nuclear part of the crimes included in the
reserve of jurisdiction of the Judicial Police, which is unceilable to be dewound to
any other criminal police body.
To ensure that the deferrals of competences comply with the principles of exemption and
objectivity, strengthen the powers of the Attorney General of the Republic. This organ of
top of the autonomous magistrate of the Public Prosecutor's Office, which is currently limited to
receive joint proposals from the interested criminal police bodies, passes
of the initiative. Thus, it is to the Attorney General of the Republic that it is up to us to defer the
competency for criminal investigation, after hearing the criminal police organs
involved. However, if the process is already in stage of instruction, its
transfer from one to another criminal police body-which only exceptionally if
admits for reasons of procedural necessity-it is the jurisdiction of the judge.
In addition, they densify the criteria presiding over the deferring of competences
by the Attorney General of the Republic: the existence of simple and evident evidence, the
verification of the assumptions of the special forms and more Celeres of the process, the
circumstance of dealing with crime on which to focus criminal policy guidelines
or the undemanding of special mobility of acting or of means of high
technical specialty for research. It is thus evicted that the Police Judiciary
lose operativity by dealing with processes of relatively diminished importance.
At the opposite pole, it also admits that the Attorney General of the Republic defrath to the
Judicial Police the investigation of crimes that do not fall within your reservation. This
possibility is already contemplated, but it is broadened, strengthening the competences of the
Judicial Police and ascribe to the cases of greater complexity, on the grounds of the
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multi-located character of the mains, the plurality of the agents or the victims, of the
highly organized form of the practice of facts, their transnational dimension or
international and the needs of high technical expertise for research.
With this scheme it is ensured that the distribution of competences between the various organs
of criminal police fulfills its scope: recognizing the Judiciary Police as the organ of
criminal police for excellence, the security forces-PSP and GNR-as organs of
criminal police indispensable for the investigation of a vast number of crimes and
several other bodies as criminal police bodies vocationally to the
investigation of crimes enrolled in areas or human activities endowed with
remarkable specificities. The punctual changes introduced in respect of
distribution of skills result from hearing of major police bodies
Criminal-Republican National Guard, Public Security Police, Police
Judiciary and Foreign and Boundary Service-and incorporate the proposals by them
presented.
Enhancing the powers of the Attorney General of the Republic and facilitating the exercise of the
your assignments, it is possible that the deferris of skills will be carried out by
dispatch of a generic nature. Such a dispatch shall state the types of crimes, their
concrete circumstances or the limits of the penalties that are applicable to them.
The proposal enhances the duty of cooperation between criminal police bodies,
by regulating the terms of their collaboration within EUROPOL and INTERPOL. The
Judicial Police, given the accumulated experience and the vocation to investigate crimes
international and cross-border, continues to ensure the management of these offices,
allowing the access of the other criminal police organs to data that are necessary
to the exercise of their respective competences.
Enlightened, outrossim, that the integrated criminal information system, the creation of which
is planned, from the beginning, in the Criminal Investigation Organization Act, not
corresponds to a single data base. It is simply the sharing of
information between criminal police bodies, according to the needs and
competences of each of them and always with safeguarding the regimes of the secret of
justice and the secret of state. To the Secretary General of the Internal Security System
it is up to the good coordination, cooperation and sharing of information between the organs
of criminal police, without ever accessing prosecute-crimes or the constant elements
of these processes and of the databases themselves.
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On the Coordinating Board of the Criminal Police Bodies passes to be able to participate
all criminal police bodies-of generic, specific and reserved competence-
and not only, as until now succeeded, GNR, PSP and PJ. It has already been found that it is
impossible to coordinate the activity of criminal police organs in absentia. This
organ is chaired by the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Justice, giving
continuity to the current model.
Experience demonstrates that this body does not work regularly without an entity
which coadjuves the Ministers of the Internal and Justice Administration in the preparation and the
conduct of the meetings and ensure current cooperation, information sharing and
provision of means and services to the criminal police bodies. Therefore, it is anticipated
that the Secretary General of the Internal Security System is part of the Council and
perform such functions. However, it does not exercise intraprocedural skills, not
may intervene in concrete investigations or processes or access the respective
elements.
The Attorney General of the Republic continues to participate in the Coordinating Council of the
Criminal Police organs, either for their initiative or upon invitation. However, for
that your intervention is more effective, it is guaranteed to be informed in advance of the
date and order of proceedings of the meetings. It is further clarified that this participation in the
Council is without prejudice to the autonomy of the Public Prosecutor in the exercise of the
skills assigned to it by the Constitution and by the law.
These are the only innovations relating to the Coordinating Board of the Organs of
Criminal Police. It widens the composition of the organ, but its competences
coincide with those provided for since 2000.
Finally, to safeguard the principles of legality, the independence of the courts and
of the autonomy of the Public Prosecutor's Office, determines that neither the Coordinating Council
Organs of Criminal Police or the Secretary-General may issue directives,
instructions or orders about any given processes. These bodies promote
more effective coordination and closer cooperation between the police bodies
criminal, being in the service of the democratic rule of law.
Thus:
Under the terms of the paragraph d) of Article 197 (1) of the Constitution, the Government presents to the
Assembly of the Republic the following proposal for a law:
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CHAPTER I
Criminal investigation
Article 1.
Definition
The criminal investigation comprises the set of representations which, under the law
criminal procedural, if they are intended to ascertain the existence of a crime, determine its
agents and their responsibility and find out and collect the evidence, in the framework of the
process.
Article 2.
Direction of criminal investigation
1-A The direction of the investigation rests with the competent judicial authority at each stage of the
process.
2-A The judicial authority is assisted in the investigation by the criminal police bodies.
3-The organs of criminal police, as soon as they take notice of any crime,
communicate the fact to the Public Prosecutor's Office in the shortest term, which it cannot
exceed 10 days, without prejudice to, in the scope of the order of a generic nature
provided for in Article 270 (4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, should start from
immediate research and, in all cases, practice the necessary cautionary acts
and urgent to ensure the means of proof.
4-The criminal police bodies act in the process under the direction and in dependence
functional of the competent judicial authority, without prejudice to the respective
hierarchical organization.
5-Investigations and delegated acts by the judicial authorities are carried out
by the officials assigned by the criminal police authorities to the effect
competent, in the framework of the technical and tactical autonomy necessary to the effective exercise
of these tasks.
6-A The technical autonomy is based on the use of a set of knowledge and
methods of acting appropriate and tactical autonomy consists of the choice of time,
place and mode appropriate to the practice of acts corresponding to the exercise of the
legal assignments of the criminal police organs.
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7-The criminal police organs boost and develop, by themselves, the representations
legally permissible, without prejudice to the judicial authority power, to the whole
time, avocate the process, scrutinize your progress and legality and give instructions
specific about the realization of any acts.
CHAPTER II
Criminal police organs
Article 3.
Criminal police organs
1-Are criminal police organs of generic competence:
a) The Judicial Police;
b) The Republican National Guard;
c) The Public Security Police.
2-Have specific competence all remaining criminal police bodies.
3-A attribution of competence reserved to a criminal police body depends on
express legal prediction.
4-Compete to the organs of criminal police:
a) Supporting the judicial authorities in the investigation;
b) To develop the actions for the prevention and research of your competence or that
are committed to them by the competent judicial authorities.
Article 4.
Specific jurisdiction in criminal investigation
1-A assignment of specific competence shall comply with the principles of specialization and
rationalization in the allocation of available resources for criminal research.
2-Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 7 (4) and (7), the criminal police bodies
of generic competence abstain from initiating or pursuing investigations for crimes
that, in concrete, are being investigated by criminal police bodies of
specific competence.
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Article 5.
Incompetence in criminal investigation
1-Without prejudice to the cases of dewound competence, the criminal police body that
have news of the crime and are not competent for your research only may
practice the necessary and urgent cautionary acts to ensure the means of proof.
2-Without prejudice to the cases of dewound competence, if the ongoing investigation comes to
reveal connection to crimes that are not within the competence of the police body
criminal who has initiated the investigation, this remand, with knowledge to the
judicial authority, the process for the competent criminal police body, in the
shorter term, which cannot exceed 24 hours.
3-In the case provided for in the preceding paragraph, the competent judicial authority may
promote cooperation among the criminal police bodies involved, through the
forms deemed appropriate, if this would appear useful for the good progress of the
research.
Article 6.
Competency of the Republican National Guard and the Public Security Police
in the matter of criminal investigation
It is of the generic competence of the Republican National Guard and the Security Police
Public the investigation of the crimes whose competence is not reserved to other organs
of criminal police and still of the crimes whose investigation is committed to them by the
judicial authority competent for the direction of the proceedings, pursuant to Rule 8.
Article 7.
Jurisdiction of the Police Judiciary in criminal investigation
1-It is the jurisdiction of the Police Judiciary to investigate the crimes provided for in the
following numbers and the crimes whose research is committed to it by the authority
judicial officer competent for the direction of the proceedings, pursuant to Rule 8.
2-It is the reserved competence of the Police Judiciary, and may not be deinjured to others
organs of criminal police, the investigation of the following crimes:
a) Felonies doled or aggravated by the result, when it is element of type a
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death of a person;
b) Slavery, kidnapping, abduction and taking of hostages;
c) Against the cultural identity and personal integrity and those provided for in the Criminal Law
on Violations of International Humanitarian Law;
d) Counterfeit currency, credit securities, stamped values, stamps and other
equated values or the respective passage;
e) Capture or attack on the safety of transport by air, water, rail
or of road transport to which it corresponds, in the abstract, equal penalty or
greater than eight years in prison;
f) Participation in armed riot;
g) Criminal association;
h) Against the security of the state, with the exception of those respecting the process
electoral;
i) Bleaching;
j) Trafficking in influence, corruption, embezzling and economic participation in
business;
l) Terrorist organizations and terrorism;
m) Practiced against the President of the Republic, the President of the Assembly of
Republic, the Prime Minister, the presidents of the higher courts and the
Prosecutor-General of the Republic, in the performance of his duties or because of
of them;
n) Prevarication and abuse of powers practiced by holders of political office;
o) Fraud in obtaining or deviating from subsidy or grant and fraud in obtaining
of bonified credit;
p) Theft in credit institutions, repartitions of the Public Farm and post office;
q) Related to the crimes referred to in points d) , j) and o) .
3-It is still the reserved competence of the Police Judiciary the investigation of the following
crimes, without prejudice to the provisions of the following article:
a) Against the freedom and sexual self-determination of minors or incapable or the
to correspond, in the abstract, sentence greater than five years in prison;
b) Theft, damage, theft or receptation of mobile thing that:
i) Posits important scientific, artistic or historical value and find yourself in
public or private collections or in place accessible to the public;
ii) Posits important significance for technological development or
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economic;
iii) Belonging to cultural heritage, being legally ranked or in
pathways of classification; or
iv) By its nature, it is highly dangerous substance;
c) Burla punishable with a prison sentence of more than five years;
d) Doleful insolvency and danish administration;
e) Falsification or counterfeiting of driving licences, booklets and registration titles
of ownership of motor vehicles and registration certificates, of
certificates of literary and document qualifications of identification or of
travel;
f) Fire, explosion, release of toxic gases or asphyxiants or substances
radioactive, provided that, in any case, the fact is attributable to the title of
dolo;
g) Pollution with common danger;
h) Executed with pumps, grenades, materials or explosive devices, weapons
of fire and trappinged objects, nuclear, chemical or radioactive weapons;
i) Relating to the trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances,
typified in Articles 21, 22, 23, 27 and 28 of the Decree-Law No. 15/93, of
January 22, and of the rest provided for in this diploma to be attended to you
or that it collates news;
j) Economic-financial;
l) Tributaries of higher value to (euro) 1,000,000;
m) Informatics and practiced with recourse to computer technology;
n) Trafficking and addictions of vehicles and trafficking in arms;
o) Related to the crimes referred to in points d) , j) and m) .
4-Compete also to the Police Judiciary, without prejudice to the skills of the Service of
Foreigners and Borders and the Securities Market Commission, the
investigation of the following crimes:
a) Aid for illegal immigration and association of illegal immigration aid;
b) Trafficking in persons;
c) Falsification or counterfeiting of identification or travel document,
falsesage of testimony, forensics, interpretation or translation, related to the
crimes referred to in points a) and b) ;
d) Relative to the securities market.
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5-In the cases provided for in the preceding paragraph, the criminal investigation is developed by the
criminal police body that has initiated it, for having acquired the news of the crime or
by determination of the competent judicial authority.
6-Ressalva of the provisions of this article the reserved competence of the Police
Military Judiciary in criminal investigation, in the terms of the respective
Statute, the mechanism of which is provided for in Article 8 (3), being applicable.
Article 8.
Competence dewound for criminal investigation
1-At the stage of the inquiry, the Attorney General of the Republic, heard the police bodies
criminal involved, defers the investigation of a crime referred to in Article 3 of the article
previous to another criminal police body, as long as this appears, in concrete,
more appropriate to the good progress of the research and, specifically, when:
a) There is simple and evident evidence within the meaning of the Code of Criminal Procedure;
b) The assumptions of the special forms of process are verified, in the
terms of the Code of Criminal Procedure;
c) If it deals with crime on which to focus guidelines on the small
criminality, pursuant to the Criminal Policy Act in force; or
d) Research does not require special mobility of performance or means of high
technical specialty.
2-No. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply when:
a) Research takes special complexity by force of character
plurilocalized from the mains or the plurality of the agents or victims;
b) The facts have been committed in a highly organised manner or take over
transnational character or international dimension; or
c) The research requires, in a constant manner, knowledge or means of
high technical specialty.
3-At the stage of the inquiry, the Attorney General of the Republic, heard the police bodies
criminal involved, defers to the Police Judicial the investigation of unforeseen crime
in the preceding article when any of the circumstances referred to in points are found in the paragraphs
of the previous number.
4-The deferrals referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3 may be carried out by dispatching of
generic nature of the Attorney General of the Republic indicating the types of crimes,
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their concrete circumstances or the limits of the penalties that are applicable to them.
5-In cases provided for in paragraphs 4 and 5 of the preceding article, the Attorney General of the
Republic, ears the criminal police bodies involved, defers probe to
criminal police organ other than the one that has initiated it, from among those referred to in the
n. 4 of the same article, when such appears in concrete most suitable to the good
progress of the investigation.
6-By delegation of the Attorney General of the Republic, the Attorneys General district
may, on a case-by-case case, proceed to the deinjury provided for in paragraphs 1, 3 and 5.
7-At the stage of the instruction, it is competent for the criminal police organ that has assured the
research at the stage of inquiry, unless the judge understands that this does not appear,
in concrete, the most appropriate to the good progress of the investigation.
Article 9.
Negative conflicts of competence in criminal investigation
If two or more criminal police bodies consider themselves to be incompetent for the
criminal investigation of the same crime, the conflict is addressed by the judicial authority
competent at each stage of the process.
Article 10.
Duty of cooperation
1-The criminal police bodies cooperate each other in the exercise of their
attributions.
2-Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 5, the organs of criminal police shall
communicating to the competent entity, in the shortest term, which may not exceed 24
hours, the facts of which they have knowledge relating to the preparation and execution of
crimes for whose research they are not competent, only may practice, up to the
your intervention, the cautionary and urgent acts to obster to your consummation and
ensure the means of proof.
3-The unique identification number of the process is assigned by the police body
criminal competent for the investigation.
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Article 11.
Integrated criminal information system
1-The duty of cooperation provided for in the preceding Article shall be guaranteed, in particular, by
an integrated criminal information system that ensures the sharing of information
between the criminal police organs, in accordance with the principles of necessity and the
competence, without prejudice to the legal regimes of the secret of justice and the secret of
State.
2-Access to information through the integrated criminal information system is
regulated by access levels, within the framework of each criminal police body.
3-A The sharing and access to information provided for in the previous figures are regulated
by decree-law.
Article 12.
International cooperation
1-Compete to the Police Judiciary to ensure the operation of the National Unity
EUROPOL and the INTERPOL National Office.
2-A Republican National Guard, the Public Security Police and the Service of
Foreigners and Borders integrate, through permanent liaison officers, the
unit and the cabinet provided for in the preceding paragraph.
3-A Judicial Police, the Republican National Guard, the Security Police
Public and the Service of Foreign and Border integrate, through officers of
permanent connection, the National Liaison Offices to be operated with the
EUROPOL and INTERPOL.
4-All criminal police bodies have access to the information made available by the
EUROPOL National Unit, by the INTERPOL National Office and by the
National Liaison Offices to be operated together of EUROPOL and INTERPOL,
within the framework of their respective competences.
CHAPTER III
Coordination of the criminal police bodies
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Article 13.
Council Coordinator
1-The Coordinating Council of the Criminal Police Bodies is chaired by the
members of the Government responsible for the areas of Justice and Administration
Internal and of it are part of:
a) The Secretary-General of the Integrated Homeland Security System;
b) The Commander-General of the Republican National Guard and the Directors
Nationals of the Public Security Police, the Judiciary and the Service
of foreigners and Borders;
c) The maximum leaders of criminal police bodies of competence
specific;
d) The Director-General of Prisonal Services.
2-The council may meet with the participation of the members referred to in points a ), b)
and d) of the preceding paragraph or, where the nature of the subjects justifies it, too
with the participation of the remaining.
3-The Secretary General of the Internal Security System co-adjuts the Chair in the
preparation and conduct of meetings.
4-Participates in the meetings of the council the member of the Government responsible for the
coordination of drug policy whenever they are agendata subjects
related to this area.
5-On their own initiative, whenever they understand it, or at the invitation of the presidency, they may
participate in the meetings of the council the President of the Board of Governors of the
Magistrate and the Attorney General of Republica.
6-For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, the President of the Superior Council of Magistrate
and the Prosecutor General of the Republic are informed of the dates of achievement of the
meetings as well as their respective orders of work.
7-A The participation of the Attorney General of the Republic in the council is without prejudice to the
autonomy of the Public Prosecutor's Office in the exercise of the skills that are
assigned by the Constitution and the law.
8-A Chair, when considering it convenient, may invite to participate in the
meetings other entities with special responsibilities in prevention and repression
of crime or in the research and production of information relevant to the
internal security.
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Article 14.
Competencies of the Coordinating Council
1-Compete to the Coordinating Council of the Criminal Police Bodies:
a) Give generic guidelines to ensure the articulation between the organs of
criminal police;
b) Ensure the appropriate coadjuvation of the judicial authorities by the
organs of criminal police;
c) Informing the Superior Council of the Magistrature on likely deliberations
of reliefs for the exercise of the competences of this;
d) Request to the Attorney General of the Republic for adoption, within the framework of
respective skills, from the arrangements that prove appropriate to a
effective action of crime prevention and research;
e) Regularly appreciate statistical information on prevention actions and
criminal investigation;
f) Define work methodologies and management actions that favour a
better coordination and more effective action of the criminal police bodies in the
multiple hierarchical levels.
2-The Coordinating Board may not issue directives, instructions or orders on
determined processes.
Article 15.
System of coordination
1-A The coordination of the criminal police bodies is ensured by the Secretary-General of the
Internal Security System, in accordance with the generic guidelines issued by the
The Coordinating Council of the Criminal Police Bodies and without prejudice to the
competencies of the Public Ministry.
2-Compete to the Secretary-General, in the framework of the coordination provided for in the number
previous and heard the maximum leaders of the criminal police bodies or, in the
different hierarchical levels or territorial units, the authorities or agents of
criminal police that these uneven:
a) Ensure compliance with the division of competences between police bodies
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criminal, so as to avoid conflict;
b) Ensure the sharing of backgrounds and support services, according to the
needs of each criminal police body;
c) Ensuring the functioning and access of all criminal police bodies
to the integrated criminal information system, according to its
needs and competences.
3-The Secretary-General may not issue directives, instructions or orders on proceedings
determined.
4-The Secretary-General cannot access concrete processes, the elements of them
constants or the information of the integrated criminal information system.
CHAPTER IV
Final provisions
Article 16.
Pending processes
The new rules of apportionment of competences for criminal research among the
criminal police organs do not apply to the pending proceedings at the date of entry into
vigour of this Law.
Article 17.
Own personal schemes
The status, skills and form of recruitment of the governing staff and the chefias of the
bodies of criminal police of generic competence are those defined in the respective
organic diplomas.
Article 18.
Decree-Law No. 81/95, of April 22
The statuary in this Law shall be without prejudice to the provisions of the Decree-Law No. 81/95, 22 of
April.
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Article 19.
Abrogation standard
It is repealed Law No. 21/2000 of August 10, amended by Decree-Law No. 305/2002,
of December 13.
Article 20.
Entry into force
This Law shall come into force 30 days after the date of its publication.
Seen and approved in Council of Ministers of March 6, 2008
The Prime Minister
The Minister of the Presidency
The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs