The Rules of Procedure of the Assembly are modified as follows :
1. The Consultative Assembly shall hold once a year an Ordinary Session, which may be divided into several parts. The dates of the Session shall be fixed so as to avoid as far as possible overlapping with Parliamentary sessions ofMembers and with sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
The date of the opening or resumption of a Session shall be fixed by the Standing Committee in such a way that Representatives and Substitutes may be notified personally not less than six weeks beforehand.
The Consultative Assembly may be convened in Extraordinary Session upon the initiative either of the Committee of Ministers or of the President of the Assembly, after agreement between them, such agreement also to determine the date of the Session.
1. Ordinary Sessions of the Consultative Assembly shall be held at the Seat of the Council unless both the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers concur that they should be held elsewhere.
2. Extraordinary Sessions shall be held at such place as shall be decided by agreement between the Committee of Ministers and the President of the Assembly.
1. The period during which the Assembly shall meet in Ordinary Session shall not exceed a total of 31 days unless both the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers concur.
2. Extraordinary Sessions shall be terminated when the Agenda is exhausted.
1. At the beginning of each Ordinary Session the oldest Representative present shall discharge the duties of President until the election of the President has been announced.
2. No discussion may take place while the oldest Representative is in the Chair unless it is concerned with the electionof the President, or arises from the election or the report of the Credentials Committee.
1. The credentials of the Representatives and Substitutes shall be sent by the Members on a form which shall beforwarded to them by the Secretary-General of the Council and which should be returned to him, if possible, not lessthan eighth days before the opening of the Session.
2. A Committee of ten Representatives chosen by lot shall examine these credentials and shall at once report thereon tothe Assembly.
3. The Committee shall investigate any protests and shall contirm the validity of the appointments and their conformitywith the requirements of the Statute of the Council of Europe.
4. Any Representative or Substitute whose credentials are contested shall take his seat provisionally with the samerights as other Representatives or Substitutes until the Assembly has reached a decision in his case.
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1. The Bureau of the Assembly shall be the President and six Vice-presidents.
2. The Bureau shall be elected after the credentials of the Representatives and of the Substitutes have been verified inaccordance with the provisions of Rule 6 above.
1. No Representative may stand as a candidate for the offices of President or Vive-President unless the proposal for hiscandidature has been sponsored in writing by three or more Representatives.
2. The President and Vice-Presidents shall be elected by secret ballot. Two tellers chosen by lot shall count the votescast.
3. The President shall first be elected. If, after two ballots, no candidate has obtained an absolute majority of theRepresentatives of the Assembly, the candidate who on the third ballot receives the greatest number of votes shall bedeclared elected. In the event of a tie, the candidate senior in age shall be declared elected.
4. As soon as the President has been elected, the oldest Representative shall thereupon leave the Chair.
5. The six Vice-Presidents shall then be elected on the same ballot paper. Those who on the first ballot obtain anabsolute majority of the Representatives of the Assembly shall be declared elected. If the number of those elected isless than the number of vacancies to be filled, a second ballot for the candidates not elected shall be held, followingthe same procedure. If a third ballot is necessare those candidates who then receive the greatest number of votes castshall by declared elected to the vacancies still to be filled, and in the event of a tie, the candidates senior in age.
6. The Vice-Presidents shall take precedence in accordance with the order in which they have been elected, and, in theevent of a tie, by age.
7. The President and Vice-Presidents shall remain in office until the opening of the next Ordinary Session. Should it benecessary for one of them to be replaced, his successor shall be elected in accordance with the above provisions.
1. The duties of the President shall be :
2. The President shall neither speak in Debate nor vote ; his Substitute may sit, speak and vote in his place.
3. The President shall inform the Committee of Ministers of conclusions adopted by the Assembly in the form ofRecommendations.
1. If the President is absent or unable to discharge his duties, he shall be replaced by one of the Vice-Presidents.
2. The Substitute of the Vice-President who is acting as President may sit in the Assembly, speak and vote in hisplace.
1. The President shall call to Order any Representative who departs from it.
2. If the offence is repeated, the President shall again call the Representative to Order and cause the fact to be recordedin the Minutes of Proceedings.
3. In the event of a further offence, the President may exclude the offender from the Chamber for the remainder of theSitting.
4. In serious cases the President may propose that the Assembly pass a vote of censure, which shall involve immediateexclusion from the Chamber for a period of from two to five days. The Representative against whom a vote of censureis proposed shall always have the right to be heard.
5. The vote of censure shall be taken without debate, on a vote by sitting and standing.
6. It shall be forbidden to make use of words or expressions whose meaning bears an affront to the dignity of peoplesor their Governments, or which are otherwise contrary to the good conduct of debates. Without prejudice to his otherrights for the maintenance of order, the President may cause such words to be deleted from the Records of Sittings. Heshall have similar power as regards any intervention by a Representative who has not obtained prior permission tospeak.
1. No person shall enter the Chamber for any reason except Representatives, members of the Committee of Ministersand members of the staff whose duties require their presence there.
2. Only persons provided with a card of authority duly issued by the President or by the Secretary-General may beadmitted to the Galleries.
3. Members of the public admitted to the Galleries shall remain seated and in silence. Any person expressing approvalor disapproval shall be ejected at once by the ushers.
1. A preliminary list of questions to be included in the Agenda shall be communicated to Representatives and Substitutes at the same time as the notice mentioned in Rule 1 above. This list shall contain :
2. A supplementary list shall be published on the fourth day of the Session. It shall contain all questions whoseinclusion in the Agenda shall have been agreed after the publication of the preliminary list specified in paragraph 1 ofthis Rule.
3. The Bureau shall proceed to co-ordinate the various questions and to establish an order of priority for theirdiscussion. The Draft Agenda thus established shall be submitted to the Assembly, which may amend it.
4. The Assembly shall adopt or reject the Draft Agenda by an absolute majority of the votes cast.
1. Requests for the inclusion of a question in the Agenda shall contain only the title of the proposed question and thereasons in favour of its inclusion in the Agenda.
2. Such requests shall be supported in writing by ten or more Representatives.
3. Requests laid upon the Table for the inclusion of questions in the Agenda of the following Session or part of aSession shall be examined by the Assembly on the last day of the current Session or part of a Session.
Requests presented between Sessions shall be examined by the Standing Committee.
After the opening or resumption of a Session, requests for the inclusion of questions in the Agenda of that Session orpart of a Session may be tabled only during the first three days and shall be examined by the Assembly at the end ofthe third day of the Session, subject however to the provisions of Rules 16 and 44 below.
4. The inclusion of a question in the Agenda shall require a two-thirds majority of the votes cast comprising at leastone-third of the Representatives of the Assembly or of the members of the Standing Committee, as the case may be.
1. Once the Agenda has been adopted and without prejudice to the provisions of Rule 44 below, requests for themodification of any question included therein or for the addition of a new question must be signed by at least twentyRepresentatives.
2. The Bureau shall decide by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast whether to submit such requests to the Assemblyand, should it so decide, shall propose a date for their consideration.
3. The modification or addition shall require a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, comprising at least one-third ofthe Representatives of the Assembly.
1. The official languages of the Assembly shall be English and French.
2. All documents of the Assembly shall be drawn up in both official languages.
1. Speeches delivered in one of the official languages shall be simultaneously interpreted into the other.
2. Speeches may be made in a language other than the official languages. In such cases the speaker himself shall beresponsible for arranging for consecutive interpretation into one of the official languages, which shall besimultaneously interpreted into the other official language.
1. If an interpretation is required in Committee there shall only be consecutive interpretation from the one officiallanguage into the other.
2. Nevertheless, a Representative who cannot use one of the official languages may bring his own interpreter, who mayinterpret into one only of the official languages. There shall be an interpretation into the other official language only ifa member of the Committee specifically requires it.
The debates in the Assembly shall be public, unless the Assembly should decide otherwise.
1. The Minutes of Proceedings of each Sitting shall be distributed at least half an-hour before the opening of thefollowing Sitting.
2. At the beginning of each Sitting, the President shall lay before the Assembly the Minutes of Proceedings of thepreceding Sitting and if no objection is raised they shall be declared agreed to.
3. If the Minutes of Proceedings are challenged, the Assembly shall if necessary, vote on the changes requested.Should any such change be agreed to, mention shall be made thereof in the Minutes of Proceedings of the currentSitting.
4. The Minutes of Proceedings shall be printed, signed by the President and the Clerk and preserved in the archives ofthe Assembly.
1. A record of each Sitting shall be compiled, in each of the official languages, and distributed within as short a periodas possible. A speech delivered in one of the official languages shall be reproduced verbatim in the Record compiledin that language ; a Summary Record of its simultaneous interpretation shall be incorporated in the Record compiled inthe other official language. In the case of a speech delivered in a language other than one of the official languages, theconsecutive interpretation of such a speech shall be considered as an official text.
2. Speakers are required to return the verbatim records of their Speeches to the Secretariat at the latest on the dayfollowing that on which the records were communicated to them.
3. After each Session or part of a Session the Records of Debates shall be published in full in both the officiallanguages.
1. The official Documents of the Assembly shall be published in distinctive form, numbered and marked with thewords « Official Assembly Document ».
2. The official documents of the Assembly are the following :
1. Unless the Assembly shall otherwise decide, morning Sittings shall be opened at 10 o'clock and closed not later thanone o'clock, and afternoon sittings shall be opened at 3 o'clock and closed not later than half-past six o'clock. Sittingsshall begin not later than five minutes after the appointed time.
2. At the end of each Sitting, the Assembly shall, on the proposal of the President, fix the date and the Orders of theDay of the next Sitting.
3. The Orders of the Day of such Sitting shall be established having regard to the priority of the questions included inthe Agenda of the Session, unless the Assembly applies urgent procedure in accordance with the provisions of Rule 44below.
Each Representative shall sign the register of attendance at each Sitting before taking his place.
Immediately after the adoption of the Minutes of Proceedings of the previous Sitting, and before passing to the Ordersof the Day, the President shall inform the Assembly of any communications which concern it.
1. Unless the Assembly decides otherwise, the examination of a question in Committee shall be preceded by a generaldebate.
2. The general debate shall deal only with the question at issue as a whole and with the principle involved.
3. At the end of the general debate, or after having decided not to hold such a debate, the Assembly shall refer to thecompetent Committee the texts laid on the table. Should the Assembly decide, after taking a vote by roll-call, that aquestion shall not be referred to Committee, consideration thereof shall lapse.
4. An examination of the text in detail shall take place on the Report of the Committee to which the question has beenreferred. It shall begin not less than one clear day after the distribution of the Report unless the Assembly applies theprovisions for urgent procedure contained in Rule 44 below.
5. When the examination of the text has been concluded, only explanations of vote may be made before the vote istaken on the text as a whole.
All motions for Recommendations or Resolutions must relate to a question previously included in the Agenda. The President shall judge if such motions are in order.
1. Any Representative may propose and argue amendments.
2. Amendments shall relate directly to the text which it is sought to modify. The President shall decide whether they are in order. Amendments should apply only to the substantive text ; they must be signed by their author and, unless proposed in the course of a debate, laid on the table so as to leave sufficient time for them to be printed and distributed before they are discussed.
3. Amendments shall have priority over the text to which they refer and shall be put to the vote before the text itself.
4. If two or more contradictory Amendments are tabled with reference to the same paragraph the Amendment which differs most from the text of the Committee's Report shall have priority over the others and shall be put first to the vote. If it is adopted the other Amendments shall be considered as having been thereby rejected ; if it is rejected the Amendment next in priority shall be put to the vote and similarly for each of the remaining Amendments. In case of doubt as to the degree of priority the President shall give a ruling.
5. Reference back to Committee may always be requested. The reference of an amendment to Committee shall not necessarily interrupt the dabate, but the Assembly may fix a time-limit within which the Committee shall report its conclusions on the amendments which have been referred to it.
1. Any Representatives may lay on the table of the Assembly motions for Orders to the Assembly which refer exclusively to questions of procedure or to questions connected with the organisation of the work of the Assembly. The President shall decide wheter such motions are in order.
2. Motions for Orders of the Assembly shall not be referred to Committee ; they shall be discussed by the Assembly, either at the end of the general debate with which they are connected, or after inclusion in the Orders of the Day of a Sitting in accordance with the provisions of Rule 24 above.
1. No Representative may speak unless called upon to do so by the President. Representatives shall speak from their places and shall address the Chair ; the President may request them to come to the tribune.
2. Representatives wishing to speak shall either enter their names before the opening of the Sitting in a register provided for the purpose or ask for the right to speak in the course of the Sitting. The President may, in the interests of the debate, depart from the order in which Representatives have entered their names or have asked to speak. As far as possible he shall endeavour to call alternately upon speakers for and against the question under discussion. Once begun, a speech may not be interrupted and resumed at the following Sitting.
3. A speaker may not be interrupted, except on a point of, order ; except that he may, with the permission of the President, give way during his speech, to allow another Representative to put to him a question on a matter arising out of his speech.
4. If a speaker is irrelevant, the President may call him to order. If a speaker has already been called to order twice in the same debate, the President may, on the third occasion, forbid him to speak during the remainder of the debate on the same subject.
5. Members of the Committee of Ministers and rapporteurs on a question under discussion shall be allowed to speak whenever they wish.
6. A Representative who wishes to make a personal statement shall be heard, but only at the end of a Sitting.
7. No Representative may speak for more than five minutes on any of the following : explanations of vote, personal statements, comments on the minutes of proceedings of the preceding Sitting, establishment of the Orders of the Day of a Sitting and all questions of procedure.
1. A Representative shall have a prior right to speak if it is his intention
2. These shall take precedence over the main question, the discussion of which shall be suspended while they are being considered.
3. The following only shall be heard : the proposer of the motion, one speaker against the motion, the rapporteur or Chairman of the Committee or Committees concerned.
4. The Assembly shall vote on any such questions by sitting and standing.
1. The Bureau may at its discretion propose to the Assembly a programme and time-table for a specific debate.
2. The Assembly shall vote on such proposals without debate, by sitting and standing.
1. Normally the Assembly shall vote by show of hands.
2. If the result of the show of hands is doubtful, the Assembly shall proceed to vote by sitting and standing.
3. Whenever ten or more Representatives so desire, the vote shall be taken by roll-call, unless some other method of voting is expressly provided.
4. The vote on a Draft Recommendation or Resolution considered as a whole shall in all cases be taken by roll-call.
5. The roll shall be called in alphabetical order, beginning with the name of a Representative drawn by lot. Voting shall take place by word of mouth and shall be expressed by “ Yes ”, “ No ” or “ I abstain ”. Only affirmative and negative votes shall count in calculating the number of votes cast. The President shall be responsible for the counting of votes and shall announce the result. The result shall be recorded in the Minutes of Proceedings of the Sitting in the alphabetical order of Representatives' names.
6. In the case of appointments, voting shall take place by secret ballot. Only those ballot papers bearing the names of persons who have been duly entered as candidates shall be taken into account for the purpose of calculating the number of votes cast.
The majorities required are the following :
1. The Assembly shall not adopt any Recommendation or Resolution unless the majority of Representatives are present.
2. All votes other than votes by roll-call or votes on matters requiring the majorities laid down in paragraph 1 of Rule 35 shall be valid, whatever the number of Representatives present, unless, before the vote is taken, the President has been requested to ascertain the number of those present.
3. A vote by roll-call shall in no circumstances be valid, nor the result be made public, if the vote shows that a majority of Representatives was not present.
4. In the absence of a quorum, the vote shall be postponed until the next Sitting.
The right to vote is an individual one. Voting by proxy is prohibited. A Substitute authorised to sit in place of a Representative, absent or prevented from taking his seat, shall vote in his own name.
1. Any Representative prevented from attending a Sitting of the Assembly may arrange to be replaced by a Substitute of the same nationality as himself. He must give notice thereof to the President, who will in turn inform the Assembly.
2. Substitutes nominated in due form have the same rights as Representatives in the Assembly.
1. Before the close of an Ordinary Session, or, in the case of a Session which is divided into two or more parts, before the close of the first part, the Assembly shall appoint the members of its Standing Committee.
2. The Standing Committee shall consist of the President, the six Vice-Presidents, and the Chairmen of the General Committees who shall be members ex-officio, and of a number of members to be decided by the Assembly. The distribution of seats and the appointment of members shall be governed by the provisions of Rule 40 below.
3. The Committee shall be convened by the President of the Assembly whenever he deems it necessary and at least four times a year It may not, however, meet when the Assembly is itself in session.
4. The Standing Committee shall be responsible for ensuring the continuity of action of the Assembly, and, when the occasion arises, shall act on its behalf. It shall follow and co-ordinate the work of the Committees and, in case of urgency, may refer certain questions to them for consideration. It shall take the necessary steps to prepare, facilitate and expedite the work of the Assembly. It shall fix the date of the opening and resumption of Sessions.
5. The President of the Assembly, acting on behalf of the Standing Committee, may consult with the Committee of Ministers as to the advisibility of convening an extraordinary Session.
1. At the beginning of each Ordinary Session the Assembly shall establish the following general Committees :
2. The Assembly may also decide to set up special Committees for specific purposes.
3. The Assembly shall fix the total number of seats in each Committee and the number of seats to be allotted to each of the Members.
4. Candidatures for membership of the Committees shall be addressed to the Bureau, which shall submit to the Assembly proposals for their composition. In the case of disputes, the Assembly shall decide by secret ballot.
5. The Bureau of each Committee shall be composed of a Chairman and two Vice-Chairmen.
1. Committees shall be responsible for examining such questions as are referred to them either by the Assembly or by the Standing Committee.
2. Should a Committe declare itself to be incompetent to consider a question, or should a conflict arise as to the competence of two or more Committees, the question of competence shall be submitted to the Assembly or alternatively to the Standing Committee.
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1. The Committees shall appoint a rapporteur for each subject, who shall be responsible for the preparation of the report of the Committee and for introducing it to the Assembly. The report of the Committee's conclusions shall comprise an explanatory memorandum and a substantive text.
2. The explanatory memorandum shall, in particular, mention the result of the vote taken in committee on the report considered as a whole, and where the Committee's opinion is not unanimous, it must also state the opinion of the minority.
3. Only the substantive text is voted upon by the Assembly ; it must be presented In the form of a draft Recommendation or Opinion addressed to the Committee of Ministers, a draft Resolution or, as the case may be, a draft Order of the Assembly.
1. Urgent procedure may be requested either by the Committee of Ministers, or by the competent Committee, or by ten or more Representatives, for the discussion of any question on the Agenda of the Session or any fresh question which has not been proposed for inclusion in the Agenda in accordance with the provisions of Rule 15 above.
2. The Bureau shall decide by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast whether the request shall be submitted to the Assembly, and, if it decides favourably, shall propose a date for the examination of the request concerned.
3. In connection with a request for urgent procedure, the following only shall be heard : the author of the request, one speaker against the request and the Chairman of the Committee concerned.
4. The adoption of urgent procedure shall require a two-thirds majority of the votes cast.
5. In the event of urgent procedure being adopted, the debate shall be opened on a date fixed by the Assembly. Should the question be referred to a Committee, the Assembly shall, when so doing, fix the dates for the tabling and examination of the report of that Committee.
The representatives on the Committee of Ministers and their alternates shall have the right of access to the Assembly and its Committees. They shall be given the right to speak whenever they wish. They may not vote.
1. The Joint Committee shall consist of not more than seven Representatives of the Committee of Ministers and seven Representatives of the Assembly. For any special meeting, the number of Representatives may, however, be increased, by agreement between the Bureau and the Committee of Ministers.
2. The representatives of the Assembly shall consist of the President, ex-officio member of the Joint Committee, who shall assume the duties of Chairman. The other representatives shall be appointed by the Standing Committee from among its members.
Progress Reports communicated by the Committee of Ministers to the Assembly, in pursuance of Article 19 of the Statute, shall be included in the Agenda, in accordance with Rule 14 above. At the conclusion of the relevant debate the Assembly shall vote on the text of a reply summarising its observations.
Questions submitted to the Assembly by the Committee of Ministers for an opinion or further consideration shall be included in the agenda in accordance with Rule 14 above. The texts relating thereto which have been laid on the Table shall be referred to the competent Committee in accordance with paragraph 3 of Rule 27.
Representatives may, through the President, whether the Assembly is in Session or not, address to the Committee of Ministers written questions bearing on items which are or which have been on the Agenda of the Assembly. Questions and answers shall be published by the Secretariat-General.
1. Petitions must be addressed to the President.
2. In order to be entertained they must
(a) show the names, attributes and domicile of petitioners. The petitioners must cause their signatures to be authenticated in accordance with the internal legislation of the State in which they reside.
(b) bear on questions which fall within the competence of the Council of Europe.
3. The Bureau of the Assembly shall examine the eligibility of petitions with the Secretary-General.
4. Petitions which may be entertained shall be referred :
The service of the Assembly shall be undertaken by a Clerk, with the rank of Deputy Secretary-General, appointed by the Assembly and under the authority of the Secretary-General.
... adopted by a separate ResolutionNote...............................
1. Motions to amend the Rules of Procedure must be supported by ten or more Representatives. They shall be referred without debate to the competent Committee which shall report on them, as provided by Rule 43 above.
2. The examination of the Report of the Committee shall be included in the Orders of the Day in accordance with the provisions of Rule 24 above.
3. The debate shall be concerned only with the relevant texts.