16 December 1992

Doc. 6725

REPLY

from the Committee of Ministers

to Written Question No. 346

by Mr BEIX

on the ratification of the protocols to the

Council of Europe's Social Charter

I.       Question (12 October 1992, Doc. 6709)

      Mr BEIX,

      Recalling that too few member states have expressed their interest in ratifying these protocols, even though they have all embarked, together with the Secretary General and the Parliamentary Assembly, on the process of imparting new impetus to the Charter;

      Stressing that the only way to confirm such interest and provide a credible basis for relaunching the Charter is to ratify the said protocols,

      Asks the Committee of Ministers whether it envisages including on the agenda of a forthcoming meeting a timetable for ratification by member states of the additional protocol and amending protocol to the Council of Europe's Social Charter.

II.       Reply from the Committee of Ministers (7 December 1992)

      The Committee of Ministers wishes to assure the Honourable Member of the importance which it attaches to the process of imparting new impetus to the Council of Europe's Social Charter and the entry into force as soon as possible of the Additional Protocol to the Charter and the Protocol amending the Charter.

      As early as December 1991, shortly after the Ministerial Conference held in Turin, the Committee of Ministers invited the governments of member States to become Parties to these two instruments, in order that they might enter into force as soon as possible.

      It is true that the Protocol amending the Charter may not enter into force until it has been ratified by all Parties to the Charter and that to date it has only been ratified by two of them.

      On the other hand, as regards the Additional Protocol, the Committee of Ministers wishes to recall that its entry into force is subject to three ratifications. In this respect it draws the attention of the Honourable Member to the fact that, following the ratification of this instrument by the Netherlands on 5 August 1992, the Additional Protocol came into force on 4 September 1992 with regard to that country, along with Sweden and Finland which had ratified it earlier.

      At the meeting of the Ministers' Deputies in December 1992 the views of delegations present were sought with regard to the prospects for ratification by the States Parties to the Charter. In the light of this the Committee of Ministers is able to indicate to the Honourable Member that two Contracting Parties to the Charter have expressed the intention to ratify the Additional Protocol, one of them envisaging doing so in 1993 or 1994. Furthermore, three Contracting Parties to the Charter have expressed the intention to ratify the Amending Protocol, one of them envisaging doing so in 1993, and another in 1993 or 1994.

      The Committee of Ministers, at the same meeting, invited the governments of the States Parties to the Council of Europe's Social Charter to become Parties to the Protocol amending it, in order that it may enter into force as soon as possible.

      Lastly, the Committee of Ministers wishes to point out to the Honourable Member that it has just decided to examine the state of ratification of the two Protocols in question at regular intervals, the first of such examinations being due to take place in May 1993.