Following the form for the reports to be submitted in pursuance of the Charter, national reports should give for each accepted provision of the Charter any pertinent information on measures adopted to ensure its application, mentioning in particular:

• the legal framework – any laws or regulations, collective agreements or other provisions that contribute to such application; as well as where relevant pertinent national case-law – relevant decisions by courts and other judicial bodies;
• the measures taken (administrative arrangements, programmes, action plans, projects, etc.) to implement the legal framework;
• any pertinent figures, statistics or any other relevant information enabling an evaluation of the extent to which these provisions are applied.
   

States parties reports should be accompanied by the principal laws and regulations on which the application of the accepted provisions of the Charter is based.
 

The reports should, wherever appropriate, specify explicitly:

• whether they are only concerned with the situation of nationals or whether they apply equally to the nationals of the other Parties;
• whether they are valid for the national territory in its entirety;
• whether they apply to all categories of persons included in the scope of the provision.
   

The information required, especially statistics, should, unless otherwise stated, be supplied for the period covered by the report. Where statistics are requested for any provision, it is understood that, if complete statistics are lacking, States parties may supply data or estimates based on ad hoc studies, specialised or sample surveys, or other scientifically valid methods, whenever they consider the information so collected to be useful and ensuring that the administrative effort required to collect data is in proportion with the desired acquisition of information.

The first State report following the entry into force of the Charter in respect of the State concerned should contain detailed information on all relevant aspects of the provision, whereas for subsequent reports it will suffice to up-date the information on the legal framework given in previous reports.

However, each report should contain appropriate explanations and/or information relating to developments of the situation in practice during the reference period.  In addition, it is recalled that each report, except the first report, shall contain replies to any questions raised by the European Committee of Social Rights in its conclusions, whether questions of a general nature addressed to all States (such questions appear in the “general introduction”) or specific questions contained in the conclusions proper in respect of each State for each provision.

•   Form for reports to be submitted in pursuance of the 1961 European Social Charter and the 1988 Additional Protocol
   
•   Form for reports to be submitted in pursuance of the Revised European Social Charter

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