OPINION N° 6[1]

on the principles which should govern relations between the Council of Europe and non-governmental organisations

The Assembly,

Having received the request of the Committee of Ministers for an Opinion concerning the principles which should govern relations between the Council of Europe and international non-governmental organisations, Doc. 141 ;

Having given careful consideration to the Memorandum prepared by the Secretariat-General and transmitted by the Committee of Ministers on the subject of relations with the above-mentioned organisations,

Considers that the establishment of official relations with non-governmental organisations may be of assistance to the Council of Europe in achioving the aims set out in Article 1 of the Statute ;

Agrees, in particular, that flexibility is necessary in the arrangements for granting consultative status to non-governmental organisations and that the proposed arrangements should be as simple as possible ; and

Approves the proposals contained in the Memorandum of the Secretariat-General subject to the following proposed amendments :

1. Chapter 2, paragraph (a), sub-paragraph 3

The Assembly is not agreed that the words " inter-governmental organisation " are the most suitable for describing the Council of Europe. It therefore requests that the word " other " be deleted and the words " a number of " be inserted instead thereof.

2. Chapter 2, paragraph (a), sub-paragraph 3

Contrary to the view expressed in the memorandum, the Assembly is in need of, and welcomes, any technical advice and information which may bo tendered to it. It is therefore recommended that this paragraph be re-drafted.

3. Chapter 2, paragraph (b), sub-paragraph (v)

The Assembly considers that the wording of this sub-paragraph is not sufficiently clear and that it should be improved to rend as follows ;

“ The organisation shall have an established headquarters with an Executive Officer. It shall have a conference, convention or other policy-making body. The organisation shall have authority to apeak for its members. Evidence of this authority shall be presented, if required ”.

4. Chapter 2, paragraph (c)

The Assembly wishes to make some objections to this paragraph. Having recognised that, owing to the character of the Council of Europe, non-governmental organisations would " act principally as consultants of the Assembly itself through the intermediary of its Committees ", (see Chapter 2, paragraph (a), sub-paragraph 5), the Memorandum proceeds to assign to the Committee of Ministers the function of determining who shall be the Assembly's consultants. The Committee of Ministers proposes that it should first investigate an application by a non-governmental organisation for consultative status. In the case of a favourable decision the relevant documents would be transmitted to the Assembly for an opinion. In the case of an unfavourable opinion, the Assembly would be informed and given reasons. The Assembly considers that it must be placed on an equal footing with the Committee of Ministers in any decision to establish relations with non-governmental organisations. It therefore proposes the following procedure, which is in accordance with the general pattern of relations between the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers.

The Secretary-General would assemble the necessary documents and submit them simultancously to the Assembly and to the Committee of Ministers. The Assembly, on the basis of a report of its appropriate committee or committees, would send a recommendation to the Committee of Ministers proposing either the acceptance or the rejection of the application for consultative status, as the case might be. In case of disagreement, the matter would be referred, as suggested in the memorandum of the Secretariat-General, to the Joint Committee before any final decision was taken.

5. Chapter 3, paragraph (b), sub-paragraph (1) (Categories A, B, and C)

The Assembly does not think it justified to encourage representatives of non-governmental organisations to attend the sessions of the Assembly, in so far as the subjects under discussion are not of immediate interest to their organisations.

The Assembly considers that it is sufficient to provide that a non-governmental organisation may be consulted in writing by the Assembly Committees and that, if necessary, it may be invited to make a brief oral statement of its views to this or that Committee.

The Assembly therefore requests the deletion of sub-paragraph (i) of paragraph (b) of Chapter 3.

[1]. This Opinion was adopted hy the Assembly at its twenty-second Sitting, on 24th September, 1953 (see Doc, 203, Report of the Committee on Legal and Administrative Questions).