Ratification of Council of Europe conventions

Recommendation 268 (1960)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 29th September 1960 (20th Sitting) (see Doc. 1184, Report of the Legal Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 29th September 1960 (20th Sitting).

The Assembly,

Considering that more than twenty conventions have now been concluded in the framework of the Council of Europe;

Considering that the state of ratification of a number of these conventions is far from satisfactory;

Noting that the procedure for ratification laid down by the Committee of Ministers in its "statutory resolution" of May 1951 has been inadequately applied;

Noting the report of its Legal Committee (Doc. 1184) which examines the procedure in force in the International Labour Organisation and attempts to draw lessons therefrom for the Council of Europe -a report which the Assembly recommends to the attention of the Committee of Ministers;

Believing that it is necessary to institute a new procedure which will secure more satisfactory results;

Recommends to the Committee of Ministers :

that it should keep under constant review the state of ratification of the conventions concluded in the framework of the Council of Europe; and

that, for this purpose, it should adopt a further "statutory resolution" providing that:

2.1 the procedure agreed on in 1951 will be applied;

2.2 each member State will submit an annual report to the Committee of Ministers giving particulars of :

a the European conventions it has ratified;

b the steps it has taken towards the ratification of other European conventions;

c the reasons why it has not taken steps to ratify any European conventions not included under (a) or (b);

2.3 the Committee of Ministers (or an appropriate committee of experts) will examine these reports at a fixed time each year and consider what further action may be necessary in order to secure additional ratifications;

2.4 the Committee of Ministers will communicate to the Assembly once a year in the Report provided for in Article 19 of the Statute the information received from member Governments, as required by para. 2 above, and any conclusions which the Committee of Ministers or its committee of experts has reached in accordance with para. 3 above;

2.5 the Assembly will examine these communications in public debate and formulate its conclusions in the form of recommendations to the Committee of Ministers.