NB_CE

Strasbourg, 18 January 2013                                                             CDLR-Bu(2013)7

                   Item C.1 of the agenda

BUREAU OF THE

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEMOCRACY

(CDLR)

UPDATE ON DRAWING UP OF APPENDIX TO PROTOCOL 3

TO THE MADRID OUTLINE CONVENTION

Secretariat Memorandum

prepared by the

Directorate of Democratic Governance

Democratic Institutions and Governance Department


This document is public. It will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy.

Ce document est public. Il ne sera pas distribué en réunion. Prière de vous munir de cet exemplaire.

Introduction

According to its terms of reference, the CDLR “will … advise the Committee of Ministers on all questions within its area of competence. Taking due account of relevant transversal perspectives, the overall aim is to provide guidance and technical expertise relating to the policies and activities of governments in member states, and to act as a technical forum to facilitate the development of such policies and activities both for individual member states and for collective action by governments within the Council of Europe”. One of its expected results for 2012-2013 reads as follows: “Norms suitable for inclusion in the Appendix to Protocol No 3 to the Madrid Outline Convention are prepared”.

The preparation of these norms has been entrusted to a consultant – professor Yves Lejeune, of the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium – whose drafts for norms have been discussed with member states’ representatives meeting in the framework of open-ended working groups.

Two such meetings have been held so far, one in Brussels on 5 July 2012 and another in Strasbourg on 21 November 2012.

The draft norms prepared and examined so far cover such issues as the law applicable to the Euroregional Cooperation Grouping (ECG), the provisions concerning the establishment of an ECG, its management bodies and staff, its public law competencies and the amendments to the founding agreement. Provisions that remain to be drafted will cover the budgets and resources, budget management, audit and controls, liability and litigation. See the appendix for more details.

The third set or draft provisions will be ready in the next few weeks and be the subject of a third round of consultations planned to be held in Brussels, at the Benelux Union headquarters, in early March 2013.

The complete set of norms will subsequently be submitted to the CDLR for approval at its April meeting before it is sent to the Committee of Ministers which, according to article 13, paragraph 6 of Protocol No 3, will approve them for inclusion as an appendix to the Protocol.

Action required

The Bureau is invited to take note of the state of preparation of the appendix to protocol No 3 to the Madrid Outline Convention.

Appendix

TABLE MATCHING

THE PROVISIONS OF THE PROTOCOL WITH THOSE OF THE APPENDIX

The sections treated to date are highlighted in green (first series of provisions) or yellow (2nd series of provisions) in the right hand column of the table below.

Protocol

Subject

Appendix (sections)

Article 13

Scope and manner of using the appendix

I

Article 1er

et article 3, §§ 2 and 3

Right to establish or join an ECG

II

Article 2, §§ 1er and 3,

and article 5, § 3

Law applicable to the ECG

III

Article 2, §§ 1er and 2,

4 and 5

Legal personality and legal capacity of the ECG,

budgetary autonomy

IV

Article 3

Membership of the ECG

V

Article 2, § 3 ; article 4, §§ 1er, 3, 7 and 9

Agreement establishing the ECG

VI

Article 4, §§ 2 et 8

Procedure for establishing an ECG

VII

Article 4, § 3

Premises and headquarters of the ECG

VIII

Article 5

Statutes of the ECG

IX

Article 5, § 3

Procedure for the withdrawal or exclusion

of members of the ECG

X

Article 5, § 3

Management bodies of the ECG

XI

Article 5, § 3

General Assembly of the ECG: composition, functions, procedure

XII

Article 5, § 3

Board of Directors of the ECG: composition, functions, procedure

XIII

Article 5, § 3

(by implication)

Chairmanship and vice-chairmanship of the ECG

XIV

Article 5, § 3

(by implication)

Management of the ECG

XV

Article 5, § 3

General rules on the terms of office and deliberations of ECG bodies: terms of office of representatives within its organs, deliberations, working language(s), reports

XVI

Article 5, § 3

Transparency: information for members of the ECG, their representatives within its organs and stakeholders (access to documents)

XVII

Article 5, § 3

Budgetary and accounting rules applicable to the ECG

XVIII

Article 5, § 3

Material and financial resources of the ECG:

Property and equipment, members' contributions

XIX

Article 5, § 3

Staff of the ECG: categories and status,

applicable law in matters of employment relations,

taxation and social security

XX

Article 6

Amendments to the agreement establishing the ECG

and to its statutes

XXI

Article 6

(by implication)

Procedure for subsequent accessions to the ECG

XXII

Article 7, §§ 1er et 2

Tasks and scope of action of the ECG

XXIII

Article 7, § 2

Implementation of decisions of the ECG

XXIV

Article 7, §§ 3 et 4

Competence and powers of the ECG under public law

(see also Protocol 1, Article 5 § 2)

XXV

Article 7, § 3

(by implication)

Mandate, delegation and concession of public services

XXVI

Article 7, § 3

(by implication)

Public procurement contracts

XXVII

Article 8 and 11, § 5

Duration, prolongation, winding up and liquidation of the ECG

XXVIII

Article 9, § 1er

Financial liability of the ECG

XXIX

Article 9, §§ 1er, 2, 4, 5

Liability of the ECG

XXX

Article 9, § 2

Liability of the ECG's organs and staff

XXXI

Article 10, §§ 1er, 2, 4

and 5

Judicial settlement of disputes (legal remedies)

XXXII

Article 10, § 3

Arbitration

XXXIII

Article 11, §§ 1er à 4

Administrative review of legality

XXXIV

Article 11, § 5

Judicial review of legality

XXXV

Article 12

Financial supervision

XXXVI

Article 15

Applicability of existing treaty rules

XXXVII

Article 16, al. 1er

Exclusion from scope of application

XXXVIII

Article 18

Terms and definitions

XXXIX

Not mentioned

Transfer of the ECG's headquarters to the territory

of another Council of Europe member State

XL

Not mentioned

Transformation of an existing transfrontier

co-operation body into an ECG

XLI