Miscellaneous provisions
Rule 73Waiver
of the immunity of representatives and substitutes
73.1. The
members of the Assembly enjoy the privileges and immunities provided
for in the General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the
Council of Europe (of 2 September 1949) and its Additional Protocol
(of 6 November 1952). These immunities are granted in order to preserve
the integrity of the Assembly and to safeguard the independence
of its members in exercising their European office.
73.2. Any
request addressed to the President by a competent authority of a
member state for the waiver of immunity of a representative or substitute
as guaranteed under Article 15 of the General Agreement shall be
announced in a plenary sitting or Standing Committee meeting and then
referred to the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and
Institutional Affairs.
73.3. The
committee shall immediately consider the request. It may issue an
opinion on the competence of the requesting authority and on the
formal admissibility of this request. The committee shall not make
any examination of the merits of the case in question. In particular,
the committee shall not, under any circumstances, pronounce on the
guilt or otherwise of the member, or on whether or not the opinions
or acts attributed to him or her justify prosecution. At the earliest
opportunity, it shall hear the member concerned by the request,
or another member of the Assembly representing the former, who may
submit any document which he or she deems relevant. It may ask the
competent national authorities to provide it with any information
and details it considers necessary to determine whether or not immunity
should be waived. The report of the committee shall conclude with
a draft resolution for the retention or the waiver of immunity.
No amendment to that decision will be admissible.
73.4. The report shall be the first
item of business of the Assembly on the first sitting day after
the report has been tabled. The debate on the report shall be confined
to arguments for or against the waiver of immunity. In the event
of the request to waive immunity relating to more than one accusation,
each of these may be the subject of a separate decision.
73.5. The
President shall immediately communicate the decision of the Assembly
to the authority which submitted the request.
73.6. In the event of a member of
the Assembly being arrested or deprived of freedom of movement in
supposed violation of their privileges and immunities, the President
of the Assembly may take the initiative of confirming the privileges
and immunities of the member concerned, where applicable following
consultation of the competent Assembly bodies. A member or former
member may address a request to the President of the Assembly to
defend his or her immunity and privileges. At the request of the
President, the Bureau may, subject to ratification by the Assembly,
refer the case to the relevant committee.
73.7.a. When dealing with
requests for the waiver of the Council of Europe immunity, or with requests
to defend that immunity of an Assembly member, the competent Assembly organs
shall interpret Article 15.a of the General Agreement
on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe as follows.
Assembly representatives or substitutes are immune from prosecution
and arrest in the exercise of their functions as Assembly members
or when travelling on Assembly business, whether this is inside
or outside of their national territory. If they are not active within
this meaning or not travelling on Assembly business, the national
regime shall apply within their country.
73.7.b. The terms “in the exercise
of their functions” include all official duties discharged by Assembly
representatives and substitutes in the member states on the basis
of a decision by a competent Assembly body and with the consent
of the appropriate national authorities.
73.7.c. In case of doubt, the Bureau
of the Assembly shall decide if Assembly members’ activities took
place in the exercise of their functions.
73.7.d. The guidelines on the scope
of parliamentary immunities enjoyed by members of the Parliamentary
Assembly shall be appended to these Rules of Procedure as a complementary
text.