Modification of various provisions of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 8 April 2025 (13th sitting) (see Doc. 16137, report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities
and Institutional Affairs, rapporteur: Ms Yevheniia Kravchuk). Text adopted by the Assembly on
8 April 2025 (13th sitting).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly reiterates
that its actions and decisions shall be based on clear, consistent and
effective parliamentary rules and procedures. It observes that it
has regularly amended its rules in recent years in order to accommodate
changes in parliamentary practice, clarify the rules and procedures
where their application or interpretation has raised difficulties,
or address specific problems. It therefore intends to take due account
of proposals submitted by its members, national delegations, political
groups and committees, and make the necessary adjustments to its
Rules of Procedure.
2. Having regard to the above considerations and in order to
give effect to
Resolution
2553 (2024) “Strengthening the youth perspective in the
work of the Parliamentary Assembly” and, in particular, to enable the
establishment and full participation of youth rapporteurs in the
work of the Assembly, the Assembly decides to amend its Rules of
Procedure as follows:
2.1 in Rule
50, after paragraph 50.7, add the following paragraph:
“All general committees (other
than the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court
of Human Rights) may appoint one youth rapporteur, whose role is
to present a youth perspective, as relevant, in discussions on reports
for which that committee is seized for report. A youth rapporteur
for a given committee shall be appointed for a mandate of two years, renewable
a maximum of once for that committee. The appointment of a youth
rapporteur is subject to the same criteria for appointment as set
out in Rule 50.1, with the additional criterion of seeking to encourage
young members of the Assembly to take on such roles.”;
2.2 in Appendix III (Code of conduct for rapporteurs of the
Parliamentary Assembly), after paragraph 4, add the following paragraph:
“Application of this code to youth
rapporteurs:
– Paragraphs 1 and 4 of this code shall apply mutatis
mutandis to youth rapporteurs.
– A youth rapporteur shall recuse themselves from intervening
as a youth rapporteur in respect of any report in which they may
have a perceived, potential or actual conflict of interest that cannot
be adequately addressed through a declaration of interests or through
taking specific measures.”.
3. In order to simplify and harmonise the approach, the duration
of the mandate of general rapporteurs is amended to align it with
the approach taken to youth rapporteurs. The Assembly decides to
replace Rule 50.7 of the Rules of Procedure with the following text:
“Committees may appoint one or
more general rapporteurs whose terms of reference they shall determine
beforehand. The terms of reference shall be submitted to the Bureau
for approval and its decision shall be subject to ratification by
the Assembly. A general rapporteur shall be appointed for a mandate
of two years, renewable a maximum of once. The appointment of a
general rapporteur is subject to the criteria set out in Rule 50.1.”.
4. In order to give effect to
Resolution 2579 (2024) “Civil society
and the Parliamentary Assembly: towards greater transparency and
engagement”, the Assembly intends to continue its work, in order
to develop a code of conduct for “interest representatives” who
engage with the Assembly, once progress has been made on the framework
code of conduct for interest representatives applicable to the Council
of Europe as a whole. The Assembly notes that this work could additionally
include consideration of how to improve its engagement with civil
society as follow up to the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government
of the Council of Europe and the Secretary General’s Roadmap on
the Council of Europe’s engagement with civil society 2024-2027.
The Assembly would welcome the resumption of the briefing sessions
organised by the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations
of the Council of Europe for its members in the margins of the Assembly’s part-sessions.
5. The Assembly encourages committees to engage with a diverse
range of interlocutors, including civil society actors active in
their thematic areas. It notes that such exchanges can be conducted
within the context of hearings, exchanges of views, meetings with
rapporteurs and as part of a general exchange of views with civil
society to help inform the committee’s work programme. The Assembly
decides to revise its Rules of Procedure to clarify which meetings
are held in camera by adding, at the end of Rule 48.3, the following sentence:
“The Committee on Rules of Procedure,
Immunities and Institutional Affairs considers individual cases in
camera.”.
6. In order to promote gender equality in senior roles within
the Assembly, while simplifying the rules relating to the composition
of national delegations, the Assembly decides to replace the last
sentence of Rule 16.3 with the following sentence:
“For every three successive Vice-Presidents
proposed by a national delegation, at least one must be a woman
and one must be a man.”.
7. In order to ensure the effective functioning of the Assembly
and that there are sufficient numbers of eligible candidates for
roles in the bureaux of committees, the Assembly decides to replace
Rule 46.7 with the following text:
“–
The chairperson and the vice-chairpersons of a committee shall remain
in office until the opening of the next ordinary session of the
Assembly. They may be re-elected for one further term, consecutive
or not. A committee chairperson or vice-chairperson elected in the
course of a session for an incomplete term may be re-elected for
two further terms.
– A former chairperson of a committee may stand for the
office of chairperson or vice-chairperson of any committee on expiry
of a period of two years. A former vice-chairperson of a committee
may stand for the office of vice-chairperson of the same committee
on expiry of a period of two years.
– A chairperson or vice-chairperson of a committee who
has been dismissed from office pursuant to Rule 55 may not be a
candidate for the office of chairperson or vice-chairperson of a
committee or a sub-committee.”.
8. To ensure consistency in respect of sub-committees, the Assembly
decides to replace the sixth sentence of Rule 49.7 with the following
sentences:
“A former chairperson
of a sub-committee may stand for the office of chairperson or vice-chairperson
of the same sub-committee on expiry of a period of two years. A
former vice-chairperson of a sub-committee may stand for the office
of vice-chairperson of the same sub-committee on expiry of a period of
two years.”.
9. To ensure that the Rules of Procedure take due account of
networks, platforms and alliances, the Assembly decides to add,
at the end of Rule 49, the following paragraph:
“– The provisions of the Rules of Procedure applicable
to sub-committees and the members of their bureaux shall apply,
mutatis mutandis, to networks, platforms and alliances established
by the Assembly, unless otherwise provided.”.
10. Emphasising that it is not, in general, advisable to use the
urgent procedure for statutory opinions, the Assembly decides to
amend its Rules of Procedure as follows:
10.1 replace Rule 50.4 with the following text:
“The report of a committee shall
contain an explanatory memorandum by the rapporteur. A report prepared
under the urgent procedure shall contain an explanatory memorandum
only if it relates to a statutory opinion. The committee shall take
note of the explanatory memorandum. Any dissenting opinions expressed
in the committee shall be included therein at the request of their authors,
preferably in the body of the explanatory memorandum, but otherwise
in an appendix.”;
10.2 at the end of Rule 51.1, add the following two sentences
(noting that the provision relating to the complementary joint procedure
is not new as it is currently in the footnote to Rule 51.1):
“A motion
to initiate a complementary joint procedure between the Committee
of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly in response to a serious
violation by a member State of its statutory obligations cannot
be the subject of a request for urgent procedure. The urgent procedure
should not be used for a statutory opinion unless there are exceptional
circumstances justifying its use.”.
11. In order to properly align committee representation in the
European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)
and its Council for Democratic Elections with the thematic scope
of the concerned committee’s terms of reference, the Assembly decides
to replace, in part B of Appendix VIII to the Rules of Procedure,
“Specific terms of reference of Assembly Committees” (introduced
by
Resolution 1842 (2011),
as modified by
Resolution
2002 (2014)), in Chapter IX “Committee on the Honouring
of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of
Europe (Monitoring Committee)”, paragraph 8 with the following sentence:
“The committee shall share the
Assembly representation in the European Commission for Democracy through
Law (Venice Commission) and in its Council for Democratic Elections.”.
12. The Assembly decides that the amendments to the Rules of Procedure
set out in this Resolution shall enter into force upon their adoption.
