Reporting schedule
Following a 2022 decision from the Committee of Ministers, which adopted the 2022 reform of the European Social Charter, the provisions the European Social Charter have been divided into two groups (no longer four), for the purposes of the reporting procedure.
The two groups are as follows:
Group 1: Article 1 - Article 2 - Article 3 - Article 4 - Article 5 - Article 6 - Article 8 - Article 9 - Article 10 - Article 18 - Article 19 - Article 20 - Article 21 - Article 22 - Article 24 - Article - 25 - Article 28 - Article 29.
Group 2: Article 7 - Article 11 - Article 12 - Article 13 - Article 14 - Article 15 - Article 16 - Article 17 - Article 23 - Article 26 - Article 27 - Article 30 - Article 31.
Questions
In order to make the procedure more focused and lighten the reporting burden on States, following the 2022 reform of the European Social Charter the European Committee of Social Rights and the Governmental Committee are to prepare so-called “targeted questions”. These questions are transmitted to States Parties at the beginning of the year reports fall due.
Submission of state reports
Reports due by States that have not accepted the collective complaints procedure
Following the 2022 reform, all States that have not accepted the collective complaints procedure must submit a report on the provisions contained in one of the two thematic groups outlined above, every two years. Consequently, all accepted Charter provisions are to be examined for each State every four years. The reports regarding this category, must be submitted by 31 December of the year concerned .
Reports due by States that have accepted the collective complaints procedure
Following the 2022 reform, all States that have accepted the collective complaints procedure must submit a report on the provisions contained in one of the two thematic groups outlined above, every four years. Consequently, all accepted Charter provisions are to be examined for each State every eight years. The reports regarding this category, must be submitted by 31 December of the year concerned .
Meetings
The European Committee of Social Rights may decide to organise meetings with representatives of a State, on its own initiative or at the request of the State concerned, to discuss the details of the national report. The international organisations of employers and international trade unions allowed to submit comments alongside national reports will, in certain cases, be invited to participate in these meetings and they can inform their national member organisations. National organisations of employers, national trade unions as well as national human rights institutions, national equality bodies and (I)NGOs may also be invited to participate in these meetings if the State concerned agrees (Rule 21).
Conclusions
The European Committee of Social Rights will examine all the reports and comments received during the procedure, as well as any information received in meetings. It will then adopt conclusions regarding the implementation of the European Social Charter by each of the States concerned. In recent years, the European Committee of Social Rights has adopted its conclusions in January and these have been published in March.
Follow up
The conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights must be respected by the State concerned. However, conclusions are not directly enforceable by the courts of the State concerned.
The implementation of the conclusions is supervised by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe through the follow up procedure (see below).
If the European Committee of Social Rights finds a breach of the European Social Charter in its conclusions, the State concerned must provide information on the measures taken to give effect to these conclusions when submitting its next national report. The follow up of conclusions is ensured by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, ensuing proposals made by the Governmental Committee (which comprises representatives of the States Parties to the Charter and observers representing European trade unions and employers’ organisations).
At the end of each supervision cycle, the Committee of Ministers will adopt a resolution based on the proposals made by the Governmental Committee, containing individual guidance for the State Party concerned. If the State Party concerned has failed to take action, the Committee of Ministers will then issue a recommendation, based on the proposals of the Governmental Committee, asking that the State changes the situation in law and/or in practice. As a result of the 2022 reform of the European Social Charter, further emphasis is placed on recommendations, which may include appropriate technical meetings, exchanges of good practices, and cooperation projects.
More information on the reporting procedure and on the follow up of the conclusions can be found on the website of the Council of Europe.