The European Committee of Social Rights is the monitoring body of the European Social Charter. It is composed of 15 independent, impartial members which are elected by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers for a period of six years, renewable once.

 The European Committee of Social Rights rules on the conformity of the situation in States with the Charter under two complementary mechanisms: through collective complaints lodged by the social partners and governmental organisations (collective complaints procedure), and through national reports drawn up by the States Parties (reporting procedure).

 States Parties have an obligation to cooperate with the Committee and its jurisprudence (both “decisions” in complaints and “conclusions” on the basis of national reports). This obligation arises from the application of the principle of good faith to the observance of all treaty obligations. For States Parties to ignore or not take into account the Committee’s decisions and conclusions would be to fail to show good faith in implementing their Charter-based obligations.