The European parliament is not comparable to any other parliament in the world, national or transnational, yet it does perform in all three core parliamentary businesses: legislation - control - representation. How it does this and to what avail, as well as how it has managed to transform itself from the mere "talking shop" it was referred to for decades into the fully fledged parliamentary institution it is seen as today has been comprehensively described in books. This guide does not seek to compete with or replace other publications but rather to offer some light on the inner workings and backroom facilities. The information set out in this Guide is drawn mainly from the EP's Rules of Procedure, the Statue for MEPs, the Handbook for Members as well as from information available on the EP's intranet and the public EP website. It also draws on material that colleagues throughout the EP secretariat, including several OPPD interns, have prepared specifically for presentations for study visit groups hosted by the OPPD.