Report | Doc. 12524 | 21 February 2011
Code of conduct for rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly
Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs
Summary
Parliamentarians might be exposed during their term of office to conflicts of interest or corruption. The nature of rapporteurs’ duties leaves them more heavily exposed to political, economic or financial pressures, which may emanate from public authorities or private interests. The Parliamentary Assembly may therefore justifiably expect its rapporteurs to comply with certain rules of ethical behaviour and professional conduct in the exercise of their duties.
The Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs proposes to introduce in the Rules of Procedure a provision stipulating that Assembly rapporteurs shall comply with the rules set forth in a code of conduct in the exercise of their duties.
A. Draft resolution
(open)“In the exercise of their duties, the rapporteurs shall comply with the rules set forth in the code of conduct for rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly.”;
Code of conduct for rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly
Should a rapporteur fail to honour one or more undertakings, the committee may withdraw his or her mandate and replace him or her;
B. Explanatory memorandum by Mr Mignon, rapporteur
(open)1. Introduction
2. Matters for consideration
2.1. Brief presentation of the code of conduct for co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee
2.2. The Parliamentary Assembly’s regulatory and para-regulatory provisions
“… For the appointment of rapporteurs, the committees shall take into consideration the following criteria by order of priority: competence and availability, fair representation of political groups (based on the D’Hondt system), gender-balanced representation, geographical and national balance.”
2.3. References
- in several national parliaments, the function of committee rapporteur simply does not exist;
- the function of rapporteur in the Parliamentary Assembly, as defined in Rule 48 of the Rules of Procedure, is in essence very different from that of committee rapporteur in a national parliament, who is responsible – in some cases – for gathering the information needed for the preparation of a report and – above all – for presenting the committee’s position and conclusions on a piece of draft legislation in the plenary assembly;
- in those national parliaments where a committee appoints a rapporteur to consider a question which has been referred to it and to draft a report, in the absence of a specific code or rules, rapporteurs are bound by the general ethical rules applicable to all members of the parliament (in particular, obligation to avoid conflicts of interest or to declare interests; obligation to act in accordance with the law and the rules of procedure; obligation to behave in a dignified, responsible, honest and courteous manner; ban on using inappropriate and undignified language, uttering insults or threats, making personal attacks, committing assault, etc.).
3. Proposals
a. Rules of conduct for rapporteurs:
principle of neutrality, impartiality and objectivity, including in particular:
- undertaking not to have any economic, commercial, financial or other interests, on a professional, personal or family level, connected with the subject of the report, and obligation to declare any relevant interests;
- undertaking not to seek or accept instructions from any government or governmental or non-governmental organisation, pressure group or individual;
- undertaking not to accept any reward, honorary distinction, decoration, favour, substantial gift or remuneration from a government or governmental or non-governmental organisation, a pressure group or an individual in connection with activities carried out in the exercise of their duties;
- undertaking to refrain from any act which may cast doubt on their neutrality;
obligation of discretion, in particular an undertaking not to make personal use of information acquired in the course of their duties;
undertaking of availability, in particular:
- undertaking to attend meetings of the committee, Assembly sessions and Standing Committee meetings in connection with their duties;
- undertaking to report to the committee;
- undertaking to carry out all necessary fact-finding visits;
undertaking to present a timetable of action to the committee in keeping with the terms of reference, together with a deadline for submitting their draft report (in line with Rule 25.3 of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure);
undertaking to respect the values of the Council of Europe;
b. Rules applicable to the conduct of fact-finding missions:
undertaking that any fact-finding mission should be consistent with and take place within the framework of the rapporteur’s mandate;
undertaking to act in a manner respectful of the laws and regulations of the country in which the fact-finding mission takes place.
c. Penalty for breach of the rules:
Should a rapporteur fail to honour one or more undertakings, the committee may withdraw his or her mandate and replace him or her.
Appendix – Code of conduct for co-rapporteurs on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe
(open)The code of conduct hereafter has been elaborated by the Chairperson of the Monitoring Committee on the basis of the related provisions laid down in Resolutions 1115 (1997) and 1155 (1998), as well as of experience acquired over four years of practice. The code of conduct was approved by the committee at its meeting on 6 September 2001.
A. Criteria for the appointment of co-rapporteurs
Resolutions 1115 and 1155
- the Monitoring Committee shall appoint two co-rapporteurs among its members in respect of each member state for which a monitoring procedure is initiated (paragraphs 9 and 11 Resolution 1115);
- the appointment of co-rapporteurs shall aim at ensuring a political and regional balance (paragraph 9 Resolution 1115 and paragraph 2 Resolution 1155);
Further criteria (decision by the committee on 25 April 1997)
- no co-rapporteur should deal with more than one state at the time;
- no co-rapporteur should belong to a neighbouring state or to one with a special relationship with the state being monitored;
- the two co-rapporteurs should come from different countries and belong to different political groups.
Criteria stemming from monitoring practice
- account should be taken as much as possible of a linguistic criterion: the co-rapporteurs should preferably be able to share the same language in order to facilitate communication with each other;
- co-rapporteurs shall commit themselves to be available: to monitor a member state requires that the co-rapporteurs be largely available to get familiar with the file, to make fact-finding visits, to observe elections, to draft and discuss reports, and to attend committee meetings and Assembly sessions;
- at the start of a procedure, it is no doubt an advantage that the co-rapporteurs are already familiar with the situation of the state concerned and the developments there since the state’s admission to the Council of Europe, for example by earlier visits, observation of elections, etc.
Ethics of co-rapporteurs during the monitoring procedure
B. Neutrality
- co-rapporteurs must be totally independent and objective in respect of the state of which they monitor the honouring of obligations and commitments; this implies in particular that:
. they should not have any interests – political, commercial, financial or other – in that state at personal, professional or family level;
. they should not accept any instruction from the authorities of that state;
. they should not accept any reward or honorary distinction from the authorities of that state;
. they should abstain from any act, political or other, which might cast doubt, or be used to cast doubt, on their strict neutrality, in particular signing motions or written declarations concerning the state which they monitor.
Discretion
- co-rapporteurs should be aware that their task of monitoring obligations and commitments necessarily implies an obligation of discretion; consequently they should not in any way make public any of their conclusions, at least not before the authorities of the state concerned have had a fair opportunity to comment on them.
Availability
- when co-rapporteurs are engaged in monitoring a particular country, they shall remain members of the committee until the Assembly takes a decision on the relevant report, provided they are still members of the Assembly (paragraph 11 Resolution 1115);
- however, the committee may invite a co-rapporteur to step down should a serious reason jeopardise the monitoring process;
- co-rapporteurs should be ready to make the number of fact-finding visits which the Committee defines as adequate for each state being monitored; depending on the developments in the state concerned, any state should be visited at least once every six months;
- co-rapporteurs should undertake all activities together; to the extent possible, fact-finding visits should be made by both co-rapporteurs.
Obligation to report to the committee and the Assembly
- co-rapporteurs should report to the committee on each fact-finding visit, either by presenting a minute or a preliminary draft report, or by updating an existing draft report;
- co-rapporteurs commit themselves to respect the deadlines mentioned in Resolution 1115 (paragraph 13) according to which the committee must report at least once every two years on each country being monitored;
- co-rapporteurs should endeavour to present to the committee a common point of view.
Monitoring deadlines
- co-rapporteurs should establish, in agreement with the authorities of the state being monitored, deadlines for compliance with the respective obligations and commitments and include these in the texts submitted to the committee.