Access
to the Palais de l'Europe and use of offices
Access
to the Palais de l'Europe and use of offices
i.Rules on access
to and movement and security within the Council of Europe during sessions
of the Parliamentary Assembly and meetings of Assembly committees
and sub-committees
(adopted by the Bureau of the Assembly on 22 November
2018)
The following rules shall apply to all premises where Assembly
sessions and Assembly committee meetings are held, in particular
in the Palais de l’Europe and the Council of Europe Office in Paris,
unless otherwise specified.
I. Access
to the Council of Europe and movement within Council of Europe premises
1. Access to Council of Europe
premises and in particular to the Palais de l’Europe is governed
by general rules issued by the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe and the Director General of Administration. During Parliamentary
Assembly sessions, however, the specific rules below apply. The
same rules apply to other Council of Europe premises, in the case
of meetings of committees and sub-committees.
2. The general rules on security,
as well as subsidiary rules issued by the Secretary General of the
Council of Europe and the Director General of Administration, apply
to the control of access to Council of Europe premises and to movement
within those premises, and govern matters relating to the issuance
and wearing of access badges, security checks, restrictions on movement,
the carrying of weapons and the protection of personalities on official
visits.
3. Responsibility for enforcing
safety and security measures lies with the staff mandated to this
effect by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in accordance
with Rule No. 1388 of 21 February 2017 on the framework of accountability
in matters of security. During Assembly sessions, this duty will
be performed in close co-operation with the Secretary General of
the Parliamentary Assembly.
4. Access badges are issued
to members of the Assembly, members of observer, partner for democracy
and special guest delegations, secretaries of national delegations
and third parties in accordance with the rules laid down by the
Director General of Administration, in agreement with the Secretary
General of the Parliamentary Assembly. The wearing of badges is
compulsory.
5. Any request by a parliamentarian
to be accompanied by a bodyguard will be submitted to the President
of the Assembly. Such bodyguard will not, however, be allowed access
to the Chamber or the meeting rooms.
6. The carrying of weapons
and the presence of armed bodyguards within Assembly premises is prohibited.
Any request for an exemption, in exceptional circumstances, must
be submitted in writing to the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe, who decides in agreement with the President of the Parliamentary
Assembly.
Palais
de l’Europe
7. Areas of movement and right
of access to different places of work (Chamber, meeting rooms, offices
of national delegations, offices of Permanent Representations, etc.)
and other areas (cafeteria, restaurants, etc.) will be determined
by the issuing of distinctive badges for each category of people.
The badge must be used exclusively by the person to whom it has
been allocated, in strict respect of the areas to which it gives
access. The person concerned is solely responsible for the use of
the badge attributed to him/her.
8. All badge requests emanating
from a parliamentarian, a delegation, a political group or a committee
should be referred exclusively to the Secretary General of the Parliamentary
Assembly. The Council of Europe’s Protocol will not proceed with
any request for the issuance of a badge for Assembly members, their
families or their relatives.
9. No parliamentarian may invite
more than six people per day, irrespective of their capacity (family
members, friend or relative, voter from the parliamentarian’s constituency,
representative of an interest group). The parliamentarian concerned
shall assume full responsibility for their movements, behaviour
and for their departure from the building. Any requests for a bigger group
of visitors will be submitted to the Council of Europe Visitors’
Service.
10. When it comes to organising
events/side events, parliamentarians, national delegations, political
groups or committees may make badge requests. No more than 30 persons
can be invited to a side-event.
11. The maximum period for
which badges may be issued is one day, except in the case of parliamentary
assistants and national parliamentary officials drafted in as reinforcements
for parliamentary delegations and political groups, as well as the
Assembly honorary members and official guests of the political groups.
12. Requests should be submitted
by the Wednesday before the part-session, and in any case not later
than one working day before the desired date, by means of a form
indicating in particular the identity of the requestor, the identity
of the guest and his/her relationship with the requestor, and the
precise time at which access is to begin and end.
Office
of the Council of Europe in Paris
13. At the time of committee
and sub-committee meetings, access is granted to persons mentioned
in paragraph 20 below.
14. An access badge will be
issued to experts and persons invited by the chairperson of the committee
/ sub-committee (see below chapter IV) whose name will have been
communicated by the secretariat of the committee concerned to the
Paris Office one working day at least before the meeting. For a
meeting open to the public, in part or in full, the list of participants
should be communicated at least 72 hours before the meeting. Anyone
whose name has not been communicated in the forms and deadlines
provided will be denied access to the premises.
II. Access
to the Chamber
15. Rule 23.1.
of the Assembly Rules of Procedure shall
be applied in such a way as to permit access to the Chamber by the
following categories of individuals
:
i. Members of national
delegations
— representatives and substitutes from national delegations,
members of observer, partner for democracy and special guest delegations;
— members of delegations
of parliaments of Council of Europe non-member States covered by
an agreement of the Bureau;
— members of delegations
of parliaments which participate in the annual debates on OECD activities.
ii. Government
representatives and representatives of the Committee of Ministers (Rule
57 of the Rules of Procedure)
— representative to the Committee of Ministers and minister
of the government of a member State;
— Permanent Representatives
and their deputies;
— representatives of non-member
States who enjoy observer status with the Council of Europe or whose
parliaments enjoy observer, partner for democracy or special guest status
with the Parliamentary Assembly;
— representatives of non-member
States whose parliaments participate in the annual debates on OECD
activities.
iii. Secretariat
— Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly and staff
of the secretariat of the Assembly;
— Secretary General of the
Council of Europe and Deputy Secretary General; members of the Private
Office of the Secretary General;
— secretaries of national
delegations and of observer, partner for democracy and special guest
delegations;
— secretaries of political
groups;
— directors general and directors
of the Council of Europe;
— the Head of the Protocol
Department and his/her deputy;
— any other staff whose duties
require their presence there.
iv. Other persons
— personalities invited by the President or by the Secretary
General of the Parliamentary Assembly;
— the Commissioner for Human
Rights of the Council of Europe, the President of the Congress of
Local and Regional Authorities, the President of the European Court of
Human Rights, the President of the Conference of INGOs.
16. Requests for access should
be submitted to the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly.
He/she may grant other Council of Europe staff members access to
the Chamber upon request (Protocol staff, press officers from the
Directorate of Communication) or upon request for a specific debate
(members of the secretariat of the Committee of Ministers when the
communication from the Committee of Ministers is being delivered,
or members of the secretariat of the Commissioner for Human Rights
when the Commissioner is presenting the annual activity report).
The Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly may also grant
access to the Chamber to persons accompanying a personality invited
by the President of the Assembly or by himself/herself.
III. Access
to the Chamber gallery
17. Only persons wearing a
badge that has been duly issued for this purpose by the Safety and Security
Service of the Council of Europe will be admitted to the galleries.
Priority shall be given to access requests signed by the Secretary
General of the Parliamentary Assembly.
18. Members of the public who
are admitted to the galleries must be appropriately dressed, remain
seated and keep silent. Anyone expressing approval or disapproval
will be removed immediately by the security agents.
IV. Access
to the meeting rooms of committees
19. Rule 48
of
the Assembly Rules of Procedure shall be applied as follows:
— Committee meetings shall be held in private.
— A committee may decide,
at the latest at the time of adopting the meeting agenda, that part
of the meeting or a specific item will be open to the public, and
to divide the agenda into items that are open to the public and
others that are not; only items concerning a hearing or an exchange
of views with experts, ministers or members of a national parliament
or government, representatives of an international organisation
or representatives of civil society may be open to the public.
— A
committee may decide to hold all or part of a meeting in camera,
i.e. with only members of the committee or its secretariat being
present. The decision shall be taken by the Chair of the committee
and shall appear in the draft agenda sent to members, or by the
committee itself, at the latest at the time of adopting the agenda
for the meeting in question. Where appropriate, checks may be carried
out to ensure that only authorised persons are admitted to the meeting
room.
— The Monitoring Committee
and the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court
of Human Rights shall meet in camera, except in the case of joint meetings
with other committees or hearings or exchanges of views if the committee so
decides. Only their respective members shall take part.
20. The following persons have
access to committee meetings (unless the Rules of Procedure stipulate
otherwise)
:
— committee members and their substitutes;
— other members of the Assembly,
observers, partners for democracy, special guests and delegations
/ representations of parliaments of non-member states of the Council
of Europe with the agreement of the Bureau, in those committees
where they are allowed;
— secretaries of national
delegations, subject to a maximum of two secretaries per national
delegation, i.e. one maximum official for each constituent assembly
of the national parliament (for countries with bicameral parliaments),
or one secretary per observer, partner for democracy or special
guest delegation (whose name must appear in the Assembly list),
carers accompanying parliamentarians with reduced mobility, in those
committees where they are allowed;
— secretaries of political
groups, in those committees where they are allowed;
— members
of the Committee of Ministers or any other minister of the government
of a member State;
— Permanent Representatives/Ministers’
Deputies (including chargés d’affaires duly notified
to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe), or one of their
deputies, whose name will be, if possible, notified in advance to
the chairperson of the committee concerned; only Permanent Representations
of member States of the Council of Europe may be represented (no
access either for other representatives of diplomatic missions of
member or non-member states or for representatives of international
organisations, unless specifically authorised by the committee concerned);
— the Secretary General of
the Council of Europe and the Deputy Secretary General;
— the Secretary General of
the Parliamentary Assembly and the staff of the secretariat of the
committee concerned;
— other members of the staff
of the secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly (except in the
case of the Monitoring Committee, the Committee on Rules, Ethics
and Immunities and the Committee on the Election of Judges to the
European Court of Human Rights);
— at the invitation of the
Chair of the committee, for a specific agenda item, where appropriate:
directors general and directors of the Council of Europe; secretaries
of Council of Europe bodies (Committee of Ministers, Commissioner
for Human Rights, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, European
Court of Human Rights) and steering committees and expert committees
of the Council of Europe; the Private Office of the Secretary General;
permanent representatives or ambassadors of States which have observer,
partner for democracy or special guest delegations to the Assembly;
representatives of other international organisations with which
the Parliamentary Assembly has a co-operation agreement; representatives
of the Conference of INGOs; subject to a maximum of one person per
committee or body; guests and experts for a hearing.
21. Committee documents shall
be distributed to parliamentarians having access to the committee
concerned.
22. The above rules shall also
apply to Assembly committee meetings which are held at venues other
than the Council of Europe.
V. Parliamentarians’
Bar
23. During Assembly part-sessions,
the Parliamentarians’ Bar shall be reserved, as a matter of priority,
for parliamentarians, their guests and persons who have access to
the Chamber.
VI. Use
of electronic means of communication during sittings and meetings
24. Assembly members and individuals
attending or participating in sittings or meetings shall exercise
discretion when using mobile telephones and other electronic means
of communication and shall refrain from any behaviour that might
interfere with the smooth conduct of business. Anyone who fails
to comply with these instructions will be asked to leave the Chamber
or meeting room.
25. Committee meetings must
not be filmed or recorded, even partially, by those attending or participating
in the meetings.
VII. Press
and media
26. During Assembly sessions,
requests for press and media accreditation shall be handled by the
Directorate of Communication of the Council of Europe, in line with
the latter’s regulations. Journalists and representatives of the
press and media are required to comply strictly with the instructions
issued by the Directorate of Communication of the Council of Europe
and the Assembly’s Communication Division. The wearing of badges
is compulsory.
27. Media activities must not:
— compromise security
— interfere with the maintenance
of order, the proper conduct of activities or the free movement
of individuals
— compromise people’s dignity
and interfere with their privacy
— cause damage to physical
property and equipment
— hinder television recording
by the Assembly.
28. Journalists and representatives
of the press and media will not be allowed into the Assembly Chamber,
except for photographers accredited by the Directorate of Communication
of the Council of Europe.
29. All plenary debates and
speeches are recorded and broadcast by the Council of Europe's audiovisual
department. There shall be no filming in the Assembly Chamber. Filming
is permitted only from the galleries.
30. Photographs may be taken
and video or audio recordings made in a committee room only if the
meeting is open to the press. In the case of meetings which are
not open to the press, the committee chair may give permission for
such activities before the meeting starts or at the end of the meeting.
31. Interviews must not be
conducted either inside the Assembly Chamber or in the committee
meeting rooms.
32. Press briefings will be
held in the designated locations, as indicated by the Assembly’s Communication
Division. Only duly accredited journalists may attend.
33. Press conferences should
preferably be held at times other than during plenary sittings and committee
meetings. They should focus on subjects which fall within the Assembly’s
mandate or otherwise fall within the scope of Council of Europe
action. Authorisations are not given for press conferences where
the subject for discussion could impair the good name or prejudice
the impartiality of the Council of Europe, or otherwise run counter
to its fundamental objectives. Press conferences will take place
in the prescribed place, as indicated by the Assembly’s Communication
Division (usually Room 1 in the Palais de l’Europe when the Assembly
is in session). Only duly accredited journalists may ask questions.
34. Filming is permitted in
the context of the parliamentary business and activities of the
Assembly, except in areas duly indicated, in particular in the Parliamentarians’
Bar. Filming in the offices of a national delegation is subject
to prior approval by the delegation concerned.
35. During periods when the
Assembly is not in session, especially in the case of meetings of the
Standing Committee and other Assembly committees which are held
in venues other than the Palais de l’Europe, the Assembly’s Communication
Division will determine the specific rules governing access and
activities of journalists and representatives of the press and the
media.
VIII. Enforcement
measures
36. Any persons who are found
or are observed to be without good reason in an area which they
were not authorised to enter, or whose behaviour compromises the
smooth conduct of Assembly business, may, at the request of the
President of the Parliamentary Assembly or the Secretary General
of the Assembly, be removed and permanently prohibited from entering
the Council of Europe, including the Palais de l'Europe.
37. The President of the Parliamentary
Assembly or the Secretary General of the Assembly may ask the Directorate
General of Administration/Directorate of General Services to deny
access to the Palais de l'Europe or any other Council of Europe
building, in particular the Council of Europe Office in Paris, to
any individuals in respect of whom he/she has been informed or has
good reason to believe that their behaviour is liable to disrupt
the activities of the Assembly or its committees.
38. Guidance on all matters
covered by these rules and situations which may arise from their application
may be sought from the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly.
ii. Use
of the Chamber and meeting rooms
Rules and criteria approved by the Bureau of the Assembly
on 13 December 1968
1. ChamberThe Chamber shall not be used without
the consent of the President. In giving his consent, the President
shall bear in mind the following criteria which are not binding
but should help him in taking his decision:
— use of the Chamber
is granted only for meetings (not for lectures); during inter-sessions,
visitors may be allowed into the Chamber if accompanied by a member
of the Secretariat;
— these meetings
must have an international and in particular a European character;
— preference is
given:
a. to organisations
having consultative status with the Council of Europe;
b. to meetings where
the subject for discussion is on the Assembly’s register or otherwise
falls within the scope of the Council of Europe;
— use of the Chamber
is not granted for meetings where the subject for discussion could
impair the good name or prejudice the impartiality of the Council
of Europe or otherwise run counter to its fundamental objectives;
— no meetings of
a commercial nature may be held in the Chamber.
2. Committee
and other meeting rooms (including the facilities of the
Directorate of Communication)
Between sessions, committee rooms are
made available by the Secretary General, in accordance with the
needs of the various organs of the Council of Europe.
During sessions, two categories of
meetings should be distinguished:
— Official meetings
The
Secretary General of the Assembly meets as a matter of routine –
subject only to the availability of the accommodation – any request
for a committee room emanating from either the President of the
Assembly, Committee Chairmen, Chairmen of Sub-Committees, Chairmen
of Political Groups, Leaders of National Delegations or the Council
of Europe Secretariat, provided the request concerns the official
meeting of a recognised organ of the Council.
Priority is given to meetings of Assembly
bodies, though such bodies may not meet concurrently with a sitting
of the Assembly without the express approval of the President.
— Unofficial
meetings
The
above-mentioned persons as well as any individual member of the
Assembly can ask for a committee room in order to hold an unofficial
meeting, provided its purpose is clearly stated. The responsibility
for agreeing to such requests rests with the President of the Assembly
who delegates his powers to the Secretary General of the Assembly,
it being understood that the latter will refer to him personally
in case of doubt
.
The President or the Secretary General
of the Assembly will agree to such requests on the basis of the
criteria already given under paragraph I, points 2, 3 and 4, and
of the general rule that such meetings should not be held concurrently
with a sitting of the Assembly.
These criteria are not binding but
designed to help the President and the Secretary General of the
Assembly in taking a decision.
If, after examining the situation in
the light of the above criteria, the President or the Secretary General
of the Assembly decide to agree to a request from an individual
member of the Assembly or a group of members, it shall be clearly
understood that the member or members concerned bear the sole responsibility
for all the proceedings of the meeting, and that the Council of
Europe as such incurs no liability.
3. Financial
implicationsThe financial regulations governing
the use of the Chamber and of committee rooms are the responsibility
of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe who decides what
charges are to be made in accordance with the principles agreed
by the Committee of Ministers.
These rules and criteria should not be regarded as in any
way affecting either the special arrangements made with certain
organisations, such as the European Parliament and the Western European
Union, or existing practice with regard to the use of the Council
Chamber of the Committee of Ministers.
iii.Use of the offices of political groups
by third parties
(Decision of the Bureau of the Assembly on 17 March
1977)
Political groups can place their offices
at the disposal of third parties only if at least one member of
the group attends the meeting and assumes responsibility for it.
