561st meeting - 14 March 1996

Item 9.3

9.3

ON MONITORING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

EUROPEAN CHARTER OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

(CM/Del/Dec(96)558/9.2, CM(96)8 Addendum revised)

Decision

The Deputies adopted the following reply to Recommendation 2 (1994) of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE):

"With reference to Recommendation 2 (1994) of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) on monitoring the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, the Committee of Ministers wishes to inform the Congress that it examined the Recommendation as soon as it was forwarded to it and decided to transmit it (in particular paragraph 8) to Governments of member States. In this connection, the Committee of Ministers decided to invite the Governments of member States, which might not yet have done so, to translate the European Charter on Local Self-Government into their national language(s) and to ensure its distribution to interested groups.

Furthermore, the Committee of Ministers decided to ask the Steering Committee on Local and Regional Authorities (CDLR) to provide it with the necessary information to give a reply to Recommendation 2 (1994) on monitoring the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. To this end, the Committee of Ministers asked the CDLR to study the questions set out in paragraph 7 of the Recommendation and to inform the CLRAE on the existence of:

a) judicial remedies to verify whether or not an internal piece of legislation would be in conformity with the Charter in States which have ratified the Charter and where it has been incorporated into domestic law;

b) procedures of which local authorities could avail themselves to verify the conformity of an internal piece of legislation with the Charter in countries which have ratified the Charter and where it has not been incorporated into domestic law.

The report prepared by the CDLR containing the information transmitted by 21 national delegations to the above two questions is set out in the appended document (CM(96)8 Addendum revised).

Item 9.3 (cont'd)

Moreover, the Committee of Ministers believes that the holding, within the framework of the Danish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers and the CLRAE, of a Conference in Copenhagen, on 17 and 18 April 1996, on "Local Self-Government in Europe: The Charter as a Democratic Mechanism to Promote Subsidiarity" will provide another opportunity for highlighting the importance of the Charter. The Conference which is organised to mark the tenth anniversary of the European Charter of Local Self-Government will focus on the implementation of the Charter in the member States which have ratified it as well as on the response to the principles established in the Charter by the States which have not ratified it.".