October 2013 plenary session
All decisions of the October plenary
- paid tribute to the late Mr Peter Schieder, former President of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe;
- elected Mr Peter Paczolay, former member in respect of Hungary,
as Honorary President of the Venice Commission;
- adopted the
opinion on legislation pertaining to the Protection from
Defamation of Azerbaijan;
-
held an exchange of views with Ms Tinatin Khidasheli and with Mr Ako Minashvili, Members of Parliament of Georgia, and adopted the
opinion
on the draft constitutional laws amending two constitutional laws amending
the Constitution of Georgia;
- held an exchange of views with Mr Vitaliy Bilous, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, and with Mr Andriy Kozhemiakin, Head of the Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement of the Verkhovna Rada, and endorsed the joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the Directorate for Human Rights on the Law on the Public Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine;
-
held an exchange of views with Ms Inna Yemelyanova, First Deputy Minister of
Justice of Ukraine and adopted
the joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR
on draft
amendments to the law on the election of the People's Deputies and other
related laws of Ukraine;
- held an exchange of views with Mr Larbi Abid, Second Deputy Speaker of the
National Constituent Assembly of Tunisia, and with Mr Habib Kheder,
General Rapporteur, and adopted
the opinion on the final draft constitution
of Tunisia;
-
adopted the joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR
on the draft law amending the law on non-commercial organisations and other laws of
the Kyrgyz Republic;
- - endorsed the opinion on draft amendments to three constitutional provisions relating to the Constitutional Court, the Supreme State Prosecutor and the Judicial Council of Montenegro, previously transmitted to the national authorities;
the opinion on changes proposed by the Constitutional Assembly to the Constitution of Ukraine;
- adopted amendments to its Rules of Procedure and took decisions aimed at
improving its working methods;
- endorsed the compilations of Venice Commission of opinions concerning Freedom of
Religion and Belief and concerning Political Parties;
Selected opinions
By letter dated 2 August 2013, the Head of the Presidential
Administration of Ukraine, Mr Lyovochkin, requested an opinion on
the Draft Law on the Public Prosecutors Office of Ukraine
(CDL-REF(2013)041 and comparative table CDL-REF(2013)043,
hereinafter, the “Draft Law”) from the Venice Commission and the
Directorate General for Human Rights and the Rule of Law of the
Council of Europe. In view of the urgency of this matter, the Bureau
of the Venice Commission authorised the transmission of a draft of
this opinion to the Ukrainian authorities in advance of its
discussion at the October plenary session.
This
opinion first briefly reviews the concerns expressed in previous
opinions about the existing Law. It then outlines the significant
advances made by the Draft Law towards fulfilling the requirement of
Council of Europe standards and identifies the main aspects of the
draft Law that are still problematic in that regard. The opinion
then provides an article by article analysis of the draft Law,
dealing with those provisions that need amendment, clarification,
further consideration or deletion. It concludes with a summary of
the recommendations made and an overall assessment of the
acceptability of the draft Law.
By letter dated 3 June 2013, the Speaker of the National
Constituent Assembly of Tunisia, Mr Mustapha Ben Jaafer,
requested the opinion of the Venice Commission on the final
draft Constitution of Tunisia as soon as possible.
The Commission wishes to congratulate the Tunisian people on
their efforts to provide themselves with a democratic
Constitution, based on the universal principles of democracy and
human rights. In addition, it welcomes the commitment of the
National Constituent Assembly to submit to the Venice Commission
the text of the final draft Constitution, a
result of long negotiations and intense legal discussion.
In the opinion endorsed at the October 2013 session, the Commission has made a number of suggestions intended merely to provide assistance to the National Constituent Assembly. These suggestions in no way undermine the esteem held by the Commission for the outstanding work accomplished by the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly.
- Azerbaijan - protection from defamation
On 19 September 2012, the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan requested the assistance of the Venice Commission in drafting a Law on Defamation, as part of the National Programme for Action to Raise Effectiveness of Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms and of the execution of two judgments of the European Court of Human Rights against Azerbaijan, in which the Court found violations by Azerbaijan of Article 10 of the ECHR.
The Commission concluded that the
Draft Law on the Protection against Defamation was a positive first step in
devising comprehensive civil legislation in the relevant field.
It aims at providing efficient
guarantees for the protection of reputation, while safeguarding free enjoyment
of freedom of expression, including the right to receive and impart information
and uncensored and unhindered journalism.
However, in its current form, the Draft Law is, in many respects, not in line with the applicable ECHR principles and case law and fails to ensure adequate implementation of the country’s obligations in this field.
