Mission, Roles & Responsibilities

The European Commission for Democracy through Law - better known as the Venice Commission, is the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters. It is an enlarged agreement comprising 61 members – the 46 Council of Europe member States, plus 15 non European members. Its individual members act in their individual capacity and are independent. The role of the Venice Commission is to provide legal advice to its member States and to help states wishing to bring their legal and institutional structures in line with European standards in the field of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

The Venice Commission’s opinions provide the authorities of the relevant State (parliament, government) with recommendations on how to bring their constitutions and laws in conformity with the common constitutional heritage and how to make viable institutional or legal choices on the basis of a comparative analysis of the experience of the other member States of the Venice Commission. For country-specific opinions, the Venice Commission only acts upon request, by either the authorities of the State concerned, by one of the Council of Europe bodies (Parliamentary Assembly, Committee of Ministers, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities), by the Secretary General, by the European Union or one of the authorised international Organisations.

In order to pursue its dialogue with the authorities on pending or planned reforms, the Commission provides follow-up opinions which examine revised draft constitutions and laws or subsequent, additional sets of amendments in a global manner, in the light of the Commission’s recommendations on previous versions of such draft texts or of previous reforms. These follow-up Opinions are also designed to render more visible the impact which the Commission’s recommendations actually produce.

In addition, the Commission identifies and develops standards – through studies, general reports and guidelines and through scientific events – often jointly with other international Organisations in areas where national legislators would benefit from increased and more detailed guidance in devising legal texts in line with international standards.

The Secretariat of the Venice Commission is composed of a Central department and three divisions. The Central department is charged with the organisation of Venice Commission’s plenary sessions 4 times a year as well as administrative financial management and staff matters for the Commission.

Divisions I-III are responsible for preparing opinions and reports with respect to issues pertaining notably to constitutional reform, the functioning of the democratic institutions, the exercise of human rights and freedoms, the judiciary, elections, referendums and political parties, including amicus curiae briefs for Constitutional Courts. The work of these divisions includes the organisation of opinion-related country visits and the organisation of conferences and seminars on such topics.

In addition, Division I is responsible for the communications and visibility of the Venice Commission. Division II acts as the secretariat of the Council for Democratic Elections and organises the European Conferences of Electoral Management Bodies. It also ensures legal advice to the Parliamentary Assembly’s electoral observation missions. Division III makes various tools available to Constitutional Courts (including the Joint Council on Constitutional Justice (JCCJ), CODICES database, Bulletin on Constitutional Case-Law, Venice Forum), provides the Secretariat for the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ) and implements Joint EU/CoE programmes in Central Asia, and Latin America and the Southern Mediterranean.