. There was a perception that Parliament is treated as a rubber stamp in treaty-making processes. There was a need to be informed of the treaty processes before the stage of approval for ratification or otherwise. . Often departments made late submissions of international agreements/treaties for consideration by Parliament. . Parliament was not afforded enough time to duly scrutinise and consider treaties tabled, especially those that require approval of Parliament before they bind the Republic. . The Rules of Parliament were silent (National Assembly Rule 307) on the tabling period for treaties that require approval of Parliament. Such a period would allow Members of Parliament time to debate a treaty, while requiring departments to observe a waiting period of a minimum number of days needed for a tabled treaty to be considered in Parliament. . There was no definition of what constituted 'reasonable time' within which the Executive should be compelled to table agreements that do not require Parliament's approval (Rule 308 ibid). These would be agreements tabled for information (section 231(3) of the Constitution). . Parliament itself has no framework or common approach for dealing with treaties. It has an uncoordinated system where each committee deals with relevant treaties the way it deemed fit. . Parliament could not make changes to a negotiated treaty; could only note concerns; it was limited to reservations whose effect was not even clear. . Each agreement relinquished policy space. . There was no analysis as to which laws would be affected or impacted upon by a treaty to be entered into. . The currently used Explanatory Memorandum did not give all the necessary information; it lacked a National Interest Analysis (NIA). . There was inadequate capacity to deal with treaties in Parliament. The institution was slowly building potential capacity in the form of Content Advisers and Researchers to assist committees in these matters. . Oversight by committees of Parliament over the implementation of international obligations as created by treaties was regarded still weak.