One of the Council of Europe’s aims is the effective protection of economic and social rights and it achieves this through the implementation of the European Social Charter, a treaty that guarantees economic and social rights and complements the European Convention on Human Rights.

 The European Committee of Social Rights supervises how the Charter is implemented through a reporting procedure and a collective complaints procedure. National and international NGOs can engage with the Committee within these two monitoring procedures. They can also play a part in the follow-up procedures.

Following a 2022 decision from the Committee of Ministers, States Parties can now be asked to submit ad hoc reports for analysis or review by the European Committee of Social Rights. Such reports may be requested when new or critical issues arise with a broad or transversal scope or with a pan-European dimension. Follow-up should involve dialogue among the States Parties in association with relevant stakeholders such as the social partners and civil society. A dedicated web page explains the process in detail.

Under the reporting procedure, states covered by the Charter regularly submit a report on its implementation in law and in practice. The European Committee of Social Rights examines the national reports and any comments received from third parties, as well as any other information at its disposal. It then makes a legal assessment of the conformity of the situation and adopts “conclusions” for each of the Charter provisions and each of the States concerned. The Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter and the European Code of Social Security, which is composed of representatives of states who are party to the Charter and of observers representing European trade unions and employers’ organisations, is responsible for follow-up to conclusions and may make proposals for resolutions and recommendations to States in order to bring situations into conformity with the Charter. On the basis of such proposals, the Committee of Ministers may then address a resolution or a recommendation to a State asking it to change the situation in law and/or in practice. With the adoption of the reform package by the Committee of Ministers in September 2022, further emphasis is placed on recommendations as a way to engage further with States Parties in order to achieve compliance with the Charter. That may include, as appropriate, technical assistance and meetings, exchange of good practices as well as cooperation projects.

The collective complaints procedure was introduced by the 1995 Additional Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints allowing certain organisations including the international and national social partners and INGOs with participatory status with the Council of Europe, to bring complaints. Collective complaints can only be brought against states that have accepted the complaints procedure.

A complaint is examined by the European Committee of Social Rights which declares it admissible if the formal requirements have been met. The Committee then takes a decision on the merits of the complaint, which it transmits to the parties concerned and to the Committee of Ministers. The decision is made public within four months of this transmission.

With respect to reporting on follow-up to collective complaints, certain procedural adjustments were made pursuant to the above-mentioned 2022 reform package. In particular, in cases where the Committee of Ministers addressed recommendations to States Parties after the European Committee of Social Rights found that the Charter had not been applied in a satisfactory manner, States Parties will be asked to submit a single report on the follow-up undertaken two years after the recommendation. The assessment of the European Committee of Social Rights on the follow-up will then be transmitted to the Committee of Ministers. Depending on the assessment of the European Committee of Social Rights, the Committee of Ministers may:

• close the case with a resolution,
• renew the recommendation,
• before renewing the recommendation, it may refer the case to the Governmental Committee for further consultations. In the light of the outcome of these consultations, the Committee of Ministers decides whether to close the procedure or renew the recommendation.

There are a number of ways that NGOs can get involved in the Charter procedures.

Under the reporting procedure and the ad hoc reports procedure:

States who are party to the Charter are under an obligation to communicate copies of their national reports to trade unions affiliated to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and to national organisation that are members of Business Europe and of the International Organisation of Employers (OIE).

These organisations and, more generally, trade unions, employers’ organisations, NGOs and others may submit comments and information on state reports to the European Committee of Social Rights. The extent to which these comments are taken into account is within the discretion of that Committee.

Comments on national reports must be submitted to the secretariat of the Department of Social Rights before 30 June of the year during which the European Committee of Social Rights examines the national report concerned. This deadline has been set to allow states time to respond to comments if they so wish.

Under the collective complaints procedure:

Only certain organisations can bring collective complaints to the European Committee of Social Rights. In addition to the European social partners (ETUC, OIE and Business Europe), these include representative national trade unions and employers’ organisations and INGOs having participatory status with the Council of Europe and having been included on a list of international Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs).  States Parties may also declare that they accept complaints to be brought from national NGOs (only one State has done so, namely Finland). In any event, national NGOs or INGOs that are not on the list can work together with listed INGOs entitled to lodge collective complaints. Information can be found on the website of the European Social Charter and on the website of the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations of the Council of Europe.

Civil society (and other) organisations can provide input as “third parties” with regard to collective complaints brought by others. In this case, those organisations should indicate to the European Committee of Social Rights their interest in submitting information on a pending collective complaint. To do so, they are invited to contact the Secretariat of the Department of Social Rights at DGI-ESC-Collective-Complaints@coe.int