Created in 1990 as a Partial Agreement, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe was transformed into an Enlarged Agreement in 2002. Since then, several non-European countries became members of the Commission. The new statute and the financial support provided by the European Union and several member States of the Council of Europe made it possible to develop full-scale co-operation programmes with countries from Central Asia, Southern Mediterranean and Latin America.

 Central Asia

The Venice Commission was one of the first institutions that started targeted co-operation on democracy and rule of law issues with the countries of Central Asia, including preparation of opinions upon request from national authorities, carrying out regional projects funded by the European Union as well as some Council of Europe member States, and developing bilateral co-operation in the electoral field and constitutional justice.

 Southern Mediterranean

The Venice Commission co-operates with countries of the Southern Mediterranean region in areas such as democratic institutions and fundamental rights; constitutional justice and ordinary justice; elections, referendums and political parties.

The co-operation of the Commission with the countries of the Southern Mediterranean region includes legal opinions on draft legislation; contributions to or co-organisation of conferences, seminars, workshops, or other events; exchanges of views or contacts with authorities, institutions or independent bodies.

The co-operation activities of the Venice Commission in the Southern Mediterranean region have been mainly funded by the European Union, notably through the successive phases of the South Programme, a joint programme of the Council of Europe and the European Union, which aims to support democratic reforms in the region (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine* and Tunisia), as well as through voluntary contributions from several Council of Europe member States.

Useful links:

• Venice Commission documents available in Arabic language
• Joint Programmes of the Council of Europe and the European Union

 Latin America

Since 2002 when the Venice Commission became an enlarged agreement, the co-operation with the countries and regional organisations in the Americas has been stepped up. Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru joined the Commission as full members, and Argentina and Uruguay as observer states.

The Venice Commission has developed co-operation with countries from the region in such fields as democratic transition, constitution-building, constitutional justice, democratic institutions and electoral legislation and practice through its Sub-Commission on Latin America, which met in 2013 in Mexico City. The 2014, 2015 and 2016 meetings of the Sub-Commission were hosted respectively by Brazil, Chile and Peru. As a result of the growing interest in co-operation in Latin America, the Venice Commission adopted several opinions on draft legislation of Bolivia, Chile, Mexico and Peru. 

Active exchanges have been developed with regional organisations such as the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Interamerican Court of Human Rights, the Interamerican Union of the Electoral bodies (UNIORE) and the Ibero-American Conference of Constitutional Justice (CIJC). Some major standard-setting documents of the Commission have also been translated into Spanish with the support of its Latin American members and the Centre for Constitutional and Political Studies of the Kingdom of Spain (CEPC). The close co-operation between the Venice Commission and the Organisation of American States (OAS) has led to the Co-operation Agreement on advancement and realisation of exchange, co-operation and technical assistance actions related to the further development of the principles of rule of law and separation of powers in Latin America, which was signed in 2020.