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Legal Opinions and Comments

  • Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Changes to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Moldova
    Amendments to the Electoral Code have been made necessary by the 4 March 2016 decision of the Constitutional Court. This decision declared unconstitutional the procedure of election of the President of Moldova by 3/5 of the Members of Parliament, as well as the related rules and laws. It also revived the constitutional provisions on the direct election of the President of the Republic, to be found in Articles 78 (1, 3, 4), 85 and 89 of the Constitution, in force until the adoption of the Law no. 1115—XIV of 5 July 2000, and the corresponding Electoral Code provisions for the election of the President by direct, secret and free vote of the citizens that were repealed by the above law. This decision was consulted in English, directly on the Constitutional Court’s website. All references to the original complaint (48b/2015) and the ruling by the Constitutional Court (Judgment No. 7 of 04.03.2016) are based on the translated documents. On 1 April 2016, the parliament of Moldova voted to hold the presidential election on 30 October 2016.
    Report
    13 June 2016
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  • Joint Opinion on the Draft Electoral Code of Armenia as of 18 April 2016
    This joint opinion follows the reform of the Constitution, which was subject to two opinions of the Venice Commission in 2015. The new Constitution entered into force after being endorsed by voters in a referendum on 6 December 2015. According to its Article 210, a new Electoral Code has to enter into force by 1 June 2016.
    Report
    13 June 2016
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  • Opinion on the Draft Amendments to the Law on Civil Service of Ukraine (10 May 2016)
    Overall, the Opinion welcomes the Draft Amendments to the Law on Civil Service of Ukraine, which aim to ensure the autonomy of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights to recruit his/her staff members. At the same time, the Draft Amendments would benefit from some changes to protect the institutional independence of the Commissioner from any interference from external bodies and ensure a pluralist staff composition at all levels.
    Report
    10 May 2016
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  • Joint Guidelines for Preventing and Responding to the Misuse of Administrative Resources During Electoral Processes
    The Guidelines follow the Venice Commission’s Report on the misuse of administrative resources during electoral processes and the conclusions of the 11th European Conference of Electoral Management Bodies that dealt with this topic on 26-27 June 2014 in Helsinki. In these conclusions, the participants to the Conference invited “the Council for Democratic Elections […] to consider developing guidelines aimed at preventing the misuse of administrative resources during electoral processes”. The guidelines also build upon the OSCE/ODIHR’s election observation findings and recommendations in respect of the misuse of administrative resources. The Guidelines are aimed at assisting national lawmakers and other authorities in adopting laws and initiating concrete measures to prevent and act against the misuse of administrative resources during electoral processes. Therefore, they are not intended as a set of hard rules.
    Report
    14 March 2016
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  • Joint Opinion on Amendments to the Election Code of Georgia as of 8 January 2016
    From 15 to 18 February 2016, a delegation made up of Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR experts participated in a working visit to Tbilisi. The delegation met with the Speaker of the Parliament, representatives from parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties, the Central Election Commission (CEC), the presidential administration, and civil society as well as international organisations working in the electoral field in Georgia. The scope of this joint opinion covers only the amendments submitted for review and analyses them against relevant international obligations and standards, in particular those of the Council of Europe, and OSCE commitments, as well as good practice from other OSCE participating States and Council of Europe member states. It also refers to the relevant recommendations made in previous OSCE/ODIHR and Venice Commission joint opinions and previous OSCE/ODIHR and Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly reports from observation missions to Georgia.
    Report
    14 March 2016
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  • Final Opinion on the Draft Act Amending the Act on the Commissioner for Human Rights of Poland
    The Opinion notes that the existing Polish legal framework fails to provide sufficient safeguards to protect the Commissioner for Human Rights of Poland and his or her staff from civil, administrative and criminal liability for all acts performed in good faith in their official capacities (“functional immunity”). Moreover, the Draft Act does not indicate with sufficient clarity the modalities and criteria to be taken into account by the Sejm (Polish Parliament) to ensure the fairness, transparency and impartiality of the procedure for lifting the Commissioner’s immunity in the context of criminal proceedings.
    Report
    17 February 2016
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  • Preliminary Opinion on the Draft Act Amending the Act on the Commissioner for Human Rights of Poland
    The scope of this Preliminary Opinion covers only the Draft Act submitted for review, which will also be reviewed within the framework of other provisions of the Act on the Commissioner for Human Rights, as appropriate and relevant. Thus limited, the Opinion does not, however, constitute a full and comprehensive review of the entire legal and institutional framework regulating the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Poland.
    Report
    27 January 2016
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  • Joint Interim Opinion on the Law of Ukraine on the Condemnation of the Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) Regimes and Prohibition of Propaganda of Their Symbols
    The scope of this Joint Opinion only covers Law no. 317-VIII, submitted for review by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It is therefore limited and does not constitute a full and comprehensive review of all the legal acts that were amended by Law no. 317-VIII. This Joint Opinion also does not address the other three laws, together with which Law no. 317-VIII formed a so-called “decommunisation package”, which is the term often applied to the process of dismantling communist legacies in post-communist States.
    Report
    21 December 2015
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