Accession by non-member States to Council of Europe Conventions

Recommendation 510 (1968)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly Debate on 31st January 1968 (17th Sitting) (see Doc. 2327, report of the Legal Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 31st January 1968 (17th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Considering that certain of the Conventions of the Council of Europe are open not only to member States but also to other States which may accede to those Conventions ;

2. Considering that on the other hand it is open only to member States to accede to others of these Conventions ;

3. Considering also that the qualifications for accession by non-member States vary widely and that such variations are sometimes difficult to justify or may have become obsolete in course of time ;

4. Considering that the desirability of establishing closer links between member States and other States both within Europe and on the fringes of Europe might lead to the need to open more of such Conventions than are now open to non-member States ;

5. Believing that the extent to which such Conventions are open to non-members has been dictated mainly by the circumstances which existed when each such Convention was established and that such circumstances may in the meantime have altered ;

6. Further considering that it is often an unnecessary limitation to accessibility by non-member States that the initiative must be taken in practice by the State desiring to accede and that many Conventions do not enable this to be taken until the Convention is already in force,

7. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

a review all Conventions so far established and report back to the Assembly;

b take such steps as are necessary to secure the opening up of such Conventions to non-members to the extent now considered desirable ;

c consider whenever a Convention is established in the future the minimum qualifications which need to be imposed upon accessibility by non-member States generally ;

d in future as a matter of policy take the initiative in issuing invitations to non-member States to accede to Conventions; and further, whenever appropriate, frame Conventions so that such invitations may be issued as soon as the Conventions concerned are opened for signature by member States ;

e from time to time and regularly, review all established Conventions with a view to the widening of the scope of their accessibility to non-members.