The Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments is an international association which associates the top civil servants of National Parliaments of over 150 countries in the world. Membership is destined to the secretaries general and clerks and the deputy secretaries general and deputy clerks of (Houses of) Parliaments (

Upper House An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

and

Lower House A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

). The association, founded in 1939, is a consultative mechanism of the

Interparliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; , UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing g ...

in accordance with Section VIII, Article 27 of the Statutes of the Union. It aims: * to facilitate personal contacts between its members * in conjunction with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, to cooperate with those parliaments which request legal and technical assistance and support * to study the law, practice and procedure of Parliament * to propose measures for improving the working methods of the different parliaments * to secure co-operation between the services of different parliaments Members of the association publish communications which deal with constitutional, legal, organisational, financial, communicative and administrative aspects of the work of Parliaments, and theoretical and practical aspects of democracy and

the rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". According to ''En ...

. These publications are accessible on the association' website.

External links

* http://www.asgp.co * http://www.ipu.org/english/home.htm * http://www.ipu.org/asgp-e/rules.htm
Parliamentary Archives, Papers of the Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments
{{Authority control International professional associations