Rules of Procedure of the Assembly (January 2023)

(Resolution 1202 (1999) adopted on 4 November 1999) with subsequent modifications of the Rules of Procedure* 

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Representatives and substitutes

Rule 5 - Provisional 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 6 - Credentials

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 7 - Challenge 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 of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs. 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 8 - Challenge 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 of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs 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 of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs 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 of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs for opinion.

Rule 10 - Decision 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 11 - Duration 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 12 - Substitutes

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 13 - Code 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.