The Congress,

Having been referred the proposal from the Chamber of Local Authorities,

1. Having regard to the new Statutory Resolution (2000) 1 adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 15 March and the new Charter of the Congress appended thereto;

2. Taking account of the proposals contained in Recommendation 56 (1999) of the Congress on the statutory reinforcement and the revision of the Congress Charter, particularly the provisions thereof which are not included in the texts approved by the Committee of Ministers but which supplement them;

3. Taking account of a number of improvements to the text of the Rules of Procedure based on the experience of six years' activity of the Congress;

Adopts the amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of Local Authorities which are appended to this resolution.

CLRAE

rules of procedure of the Chamber of Local Authorities (Amendments to be made in application of the Charter adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 15 March 2000 and following the decisions of the Bureau of the CLRAE of 10 April 2000)

Preliminary remarks:

1. For greater clarity, I would suggest that the word “chamber” should take a capital letter only when referring to the two Chambers of the Congress and that a lower case “c” be used for the chambers of the Standing Committee.

2. Likewise, it is suggested that "committee" be spelt with a capital "C" when referring to the statutory Committees or the Standing Committee and with a small "c" when referring to the committees of the Chambers.

3. The meanings of certain words need clarification: the terms "representative" and "substitute" refer to the status of the members of the Congress as notified by the national delegations, while the terms "full member" and "alternate" refer to the status of the members of the Congress on committees. Accordingly, when it is proposed that two alternates be appointed for each full member of a committee, it follows that representatives may be full members of one committee and alternates on another.

4. Sentences borrowed wholesale from the Charter or the Statutory Resolution, and which therefore cannot be amended, are printed in bold italics.

5. All references to rules in the Rules of Procedure of the Congress and the present Rules of Procedure are to be verified.

Chapter 1

– Title of this chapter: session to be put into the plural.

Rule 2

– first paragraph: before the words “transitional provision” replace the word “second” by “first”.

Rule 3

Rule 3.1

– The reference should be to Article 5 (rather than Article 4) of the Charter.

Rule 3.4

– second paragraph, first line, before the words “working groups of the Chamber”, insert the words “committees or”.

Rule 6

Rule 6.1

– second paragraph, last line, in the French text replace the word “exécutifs” by “consécutifs” (this was an error in the French text and does not apply to the English version)

Rule 6.2

– first line, after the word “Chamber” delete the words “of the Congress”. (Redundant)

– first line, after the word “Chamber” insert “having the status of representative”.

Rule 7

Rule 7.1

– Replace “six” by “seven”

Rule 7.2 (first paragraph)

– first line, after the words “voting paper” add a footnote(1).

– first line, replace “six” by “seven”.

– (Amendment on the penultimate line to the French text only)

– Penultimate line, replace “representative” by “member”.

(This is in order to avoid any ambiguity if substitutes continue to be able to be Vice-Chairs of a Chamber)

– Add footnote "1. For the practical arrangements for this election, see the appendix to these Rules of Procedure.”

Rule 8

– Change the initial letter of the word "Chamber" (of the Standing Committee) to lower case.

Rule 8.1

– Add the following words to this paragraph “but only during the plenary meetings of the Standing Committee.(2)”

– Footnote 2: “See Article 4.2 of Statutory Resolution (2000) 1”

Rule 9

Rule 9.1

– Replace “six” by “seven”.

Rule 9.3

– first line, before “set up” add the words “in exceptional cases”.

– The reference should now be to Article 10.1 (rather than 9.1) of the Charter.

Rule 9.4

– Insert the following sentence at the beginning of the paragraph:

“The Bureau of the Chamber of Local Authorities may meet only during the meetings of the Bureau of the Congress.1

– Footnote 1: “See Article 4.2 of Statutory Resolution (2000) 1."

Rule 13

– Change the initial letter of the word "Chamber" (of the Standing Committee) to lower case.

Rule 13.6

– After the words "referred to ", add "the relevant committee of the Chamber or".

Rule 14

Rule 14.2

– Replace “adoption” by “approval”.

(To be consistent with the terminology used in the Rules of Procedure of the Congress)

Rule 16

– Delete (1) since this rule comprises a single paragraph.

– a. Delete the words “the Congress or” (consequence of Article 9.2 of the Charter)

– b. Replace “appointments” by “elections”.

Introduce a Chapter X (new)

“Committees of the Chamber of Local Authorities”

Rule 18 (new) “Committees of the Chamber of Local Authorities”

“The rules of Procedure of the Congress on the statutory Committees shall apply mutatis mutandis to the committees of the Chamber of Local Authorities"

Rule 18 (existing version)

Rule 18.1

– The reference should be to Article 10.1 (rather than 9.1) of the Charter.

– Before the words “set up an ad hoc”, insert the words “in exceptional cases”.

Rule 18.4

– Delete this paragraph.

(Explanation: This paragraph, dealing with working groups common to both Chambers, has nothing to do with the Rules of Procedure of one of the Chambers)

Rule 19 (existing version)

– Delete the reference to Rule 32 paragraph 3 of the Rules of Procedure of the Congress as it itself has been deleted. The relevant paragraph of Rule 33 of the Rules of Procedure of the Congress is 8, rather than 9.

Rule 20 (existing version)

– The reference should be to Rule 38 (new) rather than Rule 34 of the Rules of Procedure of the Congress.

Rule 21 (existing version)

– Change the initial letter of the second occurrence of the word "Chamber" (of the Standing Committee) to lower case.

– After the words "Standing Committee", insert the following: "the committees of the Chamber".

Rule 22 (existing version)

– Change the initial letter of the word "Chamber" (of the Standing Committee) to lower case.

– After the words "Standing Committee or", insert the following: "of a committee of the Chamber".

Appendix to the Rules of Procedure

of the Chamber of Local Authorities

Practical arrangements for the election

of Vice-Presidents of the Chamber

1. Such elections shall be held in the following places:

– if the Chamber is meeting in the Assembly Chamber: in the area behind the President's rostrum;

– if the Chamber is meeting in a meeting room in the Palais de l'Europe: at the entrance to the room.

2. A specific time-limit shall be set for these elections, but:

– the meeting shall not be interrupted following the announcement of the start of the voting, after a possible brief presentation of the candidates and the appointment of two tellers by drawing of lots;

– the members of the Chamber shall not be called to vote individually, but rather shall place their ballot papers in the ballot box at any time within the specified time-limit.

3. The register of voters and the ballot box shall be placed on a table in one of the above-designated places; there shall be a second table on which members can fill out their ballot papers.

4. The members of the Chamber shall sign the register of voters in the presence of a member of the Secretariat.

5. In cases of doubt or dispute about a member's entitlement to vote, the matter shall, if necessary, be submitted to the President, who shall take the final decision; no points of order shall be permitted.

6. After verification that a member is entitled to vote, he or she shall be issued with a ballot paper.

7. Voters shall place their ballot papers in the ballot box.

8. On expiry of the specified time-limit, the President shall ask whether any more members wish to vote and, when all the votes have been cast, shall declare the voting closed.

9. Ballot papers shall be counted outside the meeting room directly after the vote, under the supervision of the two tellers assisted by the Secretariat.

10. The result shall be announced by the President, if possible before the close of the sitting or else at the opening of the following sitting.

11. The notices of proceedings shall contain detailed information on the running of the election.