The above-mentioned changes to Article 45 of the Municipality Law and some other provisions had been introduced by Decree-Law N° 674 issued on 1 September 2016. Pursuant to Article 121, paragraph 3 of the Constitution in conjunction with Article 128 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Parliament, the decree laws should be decided upon (approved or rejected) by Parliament within 30 days at the latest. According to the Turkish authorities, Decree-Law N° 674 was immediately submitted to Parliament for approval, but was only approved on 10 November 2016, 70 days after its enactment. The Commission stated that this was “a matter of great concern”, as it “has allowed the Government to legislate through the emergency decree laws without any parliamentary control for a period of over two months.