Part III Tasks and Objectives, s.2 Securing and Enhancing the Rule of Law, 28 Establishing Common Standards and Securing the Rule of Law

Subject(s):

Democracy — Human rights remedies — Rule of law

This chapter considers standard setting under the rule of law ‘pillar’ of human rights. A certain degree of harmonisation of the Member States laws is among the tasks of the Council of Europe (CoE). Unlike the European Union, however, the CoE cannot enact secondary legislation in order to achieve harmonisation of laws. Article 15 (a) and (b) CoE Statute thus enumerates the instruments which are at the Council’s disposal: ‘conventions or agreements’ (a) and ‘recommendations’ (b). From here the chapter establishes the Council’s concept of the rule of law, before settling in to a more general discussion on the Council’s standard setting instruments. The chapter also offers some discussion on the institutional aspects relating to the above, before concluding with some final insights.