Council of Europe’s Code for Civil Participation

The Ministers’ Deputies of the Council of Europe recently adopteda Codeof Good Practice for Civil Participation in the Decision-Making Process.  The Conference of INGOs [InternationalNon-Governmental Organizations] of the Council of Europe created the Code pursuantto a request by participants of the June 2007 Council of Europe Forum for theFuture of Democracy held in Sweden.

As stated in its introduction, the “Code offers a repertoireof good practices. It does not have a mandatory character, does not prescribe rules, or require enforcement mechanisms.”  The purpose of the Code is to provideguidelines for civil participation in decision making processes at the Europeanlevel.  The Code targets publicauthorities across all levels of public administration.

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