Representatives and substitutes
Representatives and substitutes
Rule 5Provisional
President
5.1. The longest-serving member
of the Assembly, that is the member who has held office in the Assembly
for the longest, shall open the ordinary session and shall preside
until the election of the President of the Assembly has been announced.
5.2. While the Provisional President
is in the Chair, no debate may take place unless concerned with
the examination of credentials or the election of the President
of the Assembly, and no speeches may be delivered. The Provisional
President may address the Assembly for not more than five minutes.
Rule 6Credentials
6.1. The
credentials of the representatives and substitutes, elected within
the national or federal parliament or appointed from among the members
of the national or federal parliament, shall be sent to the President
of the Assembly by the President (Speaker) of the national parliament
or the President (Speaker) of a national parliamentary chamber or
any person delegated by them. Each member state shall notify the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe of the competent authority
it has appointed for the purpose.
The credentials shall be transmitted,
if possible, not less than one week before the opening of the Session.
6.2.a. Insofar
as the number of their members allows, national delegations should
be composed so as to ensure a fair representation of the political
parties or groups in their parliaments.
Each parliament
shall inform the Assembly of the methods used to appoint seats on
the delegation and of the number of its women members.
6.2.b. Each national
delegation must include both women and men among its representatives. As
long as women are under-represented in the Assembly, each national
delegation shall include a percentage of women as members that is
at least equal to the percentage in its parliament or, if this is
more favourable to the representation of women, ensure gender representation
as follows:
- delegations with
2 seats (4 members) shall include at least one woman as representative;
- delegations with
3 seats (6 members) shall have a minimum of 2 women, including at
least one woman as representative;
- delegations with
4 seats (8 members) shall have a minimum of 3 women, including at
least one woman as representative;
- delegations with
5 seats (10 members) shall have a minimum of 3 women, including
at least 2 women as representatives;
- delegations with
6 seats (12 members) shall have a minimum of 4 women, including
at least 2 women as representatives;
- delegations with
7 seats (14 members) shall have a minimum of 5 women, including
at least 3 women as representatives;
- delegations with
10 seats (20 members) shall have a minimum of 7 women, including
at least 4 women as representatives;
- delegations with
12 seats (24 members) shall have a minimum of 8 women, including
at least 4 women as representatives;
- delegations with
18 seats (36 members) shall have a minimum of 12 women, including
at least 6 women as representatives.
6.2.c. Credentials
of members of a national delegation shall be accompanied by a signed
written statement by the individual members reading as follows:
“I, the undersigned, ..., hereby
affirm and state that I will subscribe to the aims and basic principles
of the Council of Europe, mentioned in the Preamble, in Article
1.a. and in Article 3 of the Statute of the Council of Europe. I
declare that I have read and understood the Code of conduct for
members of the Parliamentary Assembly and I undertake to abide by
its provisions.”
6.3. At
the beginning of each ordinary session these credentials shall be
submitted to the Assembly by the provisional President for ratification.
6.4. Credentials
presented at a later date shall be transmitted to the President
of the Assembly, if possible, not less than one week before the
first sitting of a part-session or a meeting of the Standing Committee,
for ratification.
Rule 7Challenge
of still unratified credentials on procedural grounds
7.1. Credentials
may be challenged by at least ten members of the Assembly present
in the Chamber, belonging to at least five national delegations,
on stated procedural grounds based upon:
7.1.a. one or more of
the relevant provisions of the Statute (in particular Articles 25
and 26);
7.1.b. the
conditions set out in Rule 6.2.a.
and
Rule 6.2.b.
;
7.1.c. the absence
of a solemn statement as mentioned in Rule 6.2.c.
.
The authors shall state the reasons for the challenge.
7.2. Credentials
challenged on procedural grounds at the opening of a part-session
or a meeting of the Standing Committee shall be referred without
debate to the Committee on Rules, Ethics and Immunities. They may
be referred for opinion to the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination,
where credentials are challenged in relation to the representation
of the sexes in the membership of the delegation concerned. The
committee shall report within twenty-four hours if possible. These
deadlines do not apply to the Standing Committee. If the Committee
concludes that the credentials should be ratified, it may submit
an opinion to the President of the Assembly, who shall read it out
in the plenary sitting of the Assembly or the Standing Committee,
without debate. If the Committee concludes that the credentials
should not be ratified or that they should be ratified but that
some rights of participation or representation should be denied
or suspended, the Committee’s report shall be placed on the agenda
for debate within the prescribed deadlines.
Rule 8Challenge
of still unratified credentials on substantive grounds
8.1. The
unratified credentials of a national delegation as a whole may be
challenged on the substantial grounds set out in paragraph 2 by:
8.1.a. at least thirty
members of the Assembly present in the Chamber, belonging to at
least five national delegations, or
8.1.b. a report of the
Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member
States (Monitoring Committee).
The authors shall state the reasons for the challenge.
8.2. The
substantive grounds on which credentials may be challenged are:
8.2.a. serious violation
of the basic principles of the Council of Europe mentioned in Article 3
of, and the Preamble
to,
the Statute; or
8.2.b. persistent failure
to honour obligations and commitments and lack of co-operation in the
Assembly’s monitoring procedure.
8.3. Credentials
which are challenged on substantive grounds at the opening of a
part-session or of a meeting of the Standing Committee shall be
referred without debate to the appropriate committee for report
and to the Committee on Rules, Ethics and Immunities for opinion. They
may also be referred, if necessary, to other committees
for opinion. The committee shall report within twenty-four hours
if possible and the Assembly shall consider it as soon as possible.
These deadlines do not apply to the Standing Committee.
8.4. Any report
of the Monitoring Committee calling into question the unratified
credentials of a national delegation shall be placed on the agenda
for a part-session, or the agenda of a meeting of the Standing Committee,
to be debated not later than twenty-four hours after the opening
of the part-session or as one of the first items on the agenda of
the Standing Committee.
Rule 9 Reconsideration
of previously ratified credentials on substantive grounds
9.1. The Assembly
may reconsider ratified credentials of a national delegation as
a whole in the course of the same ordinary session either:
9.1.a. on a motion for
a resolution to annul ratification based on the grounds set out
in Rule
, or
9.1.b. on the basis of
a report by the Monitoring Committee containing a text which recommends
that the credentials be reconsidered.
9.2. A motion
for a resolution to annul ratification shall be tabled by at least
fifty representatives or substitutes, belonging to at least two
political groups and five national delegations, and be distributed
at least
two weeks before the opening of a part-session or a meeting of the
Standing Committee. The list of signatories may not include more
members of a delegation than the number of seats held by that delegation
in the Assembly. The motion for a resolution shall state the reasons
for it. Once tabled, a motion cannot be withdrawn by its authors
and no signature may be withdrawn or added to it. It shall be referred
without debate to the appropriate committee for report and to the
Committee on Rules, Ethics and Immunities for opinion. It may be
referred, if necessary, to other committees for opinion. The committee
shall report within twenty-four hours if possible and the Assembly
shall consider it as soon as possible. These deadlines do not apply
to the Standing Committee.
9.3. The
Monitoring Committee may, in a report foreseen on the agenda of
the Assembly or on the agenda of the Standing Committee, call into
question the credentials of a national delegation. Such a report
shall, before being discussed by the Assembly or the Standing Committee,
be referred to the Committee on Rules, Ethics and Immunities for
opinion.
Rule 10Decision
of the Assembly on a challenge or reconsideration of credentials
10.1. Reports
submitted to the Assembly or the Standing Committee under Rules 7.
, 8.3.
, 8.4.
, 9.2.
and 9.3.
shall contain a draft resolution proposing
in its operative part one of the following three options:
10.1.a. ratification of
the credentials, or confirmation of ratification of the credentials;
10.1.b. non-ratification
of the credentials, or annulment of ratification of the credentials;
10.1.c. ratification of
the credentials, or confirmation of ratification of the credentials
together with depriving or suspending the exercise of some of the
rights of participation or representation of members of the delegation
concerned in the activities of the Assembly and its bodies.
The members’ rights to vote, to speak and to be represented
in the Assembly and its bodies shall not be suspended or withdrawn
in the context of a challenge to or reconsideration of credentials.
10.2. The provisions
on amendments (Rule 34
) shall apply. Any amendments to the
operative part of the draft resolution may propose only one of the
three options above.
10.3. The
members of a national delegation whose credentials are challenged
may sit provisionally with the same rights as other Assembly members
until the Assembly, or the Standing Committee acting on behalf of
the Assembly, has reached a decision. However, those members shall
not vote in any proceedings relating to the examination of credentials
which concern them.
Rule 11Duration
of term of office of representatives and substitutes
11.1. The
term of office of representatives and substitutes shall begin when
their credentials are ratified.
11.2. Subject to the provisions
of paragraphs 3 and 4, the term of office of representatives and
substitutes shall expire at the opening of the next ordinary session.
11.3. Following
parliamentary elections, the national parliament concerned or other
competent authority shall make appointments to the Assembly within
six months of the election. If the national parliament cannot make
all such appointments in time for the opening of a new ordinary
session of the Assembly, it may decide, for a period of not more
than six months after the election, to be represented in the Assembly
by members of the existing delegation. The credentials of the existing
delegation shall expire at the opening of the first sitting of the
Assembly or meeting of the Standing Committee following the appointment
of the new delegation by the national parliament or competent authority
or following the expiry of the six months’ period after the election
date.
11.4. If
a seat becomes vacant through death or resignation, it may be provisionally
filled in the Assembly by a substitute, and in a committee by another
representative or substitute, of the same nationality, pending a
new appointment by the national delegation concerned.
Rule 12Substitutes
12.1. A representative
prevented from attending a sitting of the Assembly may arrange to
be replaced by a substitute of the same nationality duly designated
by the national delegation.
12.2. Each
representative or, in his or her absence, each substitute duly designated
by the national delegation, shall sign the register of attendance
before entering the Chamber for a sitting.
The
register of attendance shall be made public.
12.3. By
signing the register in place of a representative, his or her substitute
shall prevent that representative from voting and shall also exclude
this representative from acting as an ad hoc substitute
for other absent representatives.
12.4. A
substitute who has signed the register shall have the same rights
and the same obligations in the Assembly as a representative for
the duration of that sitting.
12.5. A
substitute who is a committee chairperson or rapporteur may speak
in that capacity, even if he or she is not sitting in place of a
representative. In that case, however, he or she shall not be entitled
to vote.
Rule 13Code
of conduct for members of the Assembly
13.1. In the exercise of their duties,
the members of the Assembly shall undertake to comply with the principles
and rules set out in the Code of conduct for members of the Parliamentary Assembly
and other ethical regulations, appended to these Rules of Procedure
as complementary texts.
