Council of Europe

Cooperation of the Venice Commission with the Commonwealth Courts

While there is no formal agreement between the Venice Commission and Commonwealth Courts, the then President of the Venice Commission, Mr Helgesen, extended an offer of co-operation also to apex courts in Commonwealth countries at the occasion of the 1st Congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice in Cape Town on 22–24 January 2009. 


Therefore, the highest Courts in independent Commonwealth countries were invited to all three Congresses of the World Conference and they are entitled to membership in the World Conference according to Articles 2 and 4 of the Statute.

The Commonwealth Courts are also invited to appoint liaison officers whose task it is to contribute to the Venice Commission’s CODICES database (www.CODICES.coe.int) and to exchange with other Courts via the Venice Forum (restricted).

As there is no formal group of Commonwealth Courts, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom or the Constitutional Court of Canada have participated in the Bureau of the World Conference in respect of these Courts.

CODICES

• CODICES database
• Guidelines for the drafting of précis
• Systematic Thesaurus version 22

Liaison officers

• Co-operation with Constitutional Courts participating in the Joint Council on Constitutional Justice of the Venice Commission - functions of liaison officers 
• Co-operation with Constitutional Courts in countries not part of the Venice Commission - Functions of Liaison Officers 
• Venice Forum (password required)