Venice Commission

The Venice Commission (European Commission for Democracy through Law ) is a Council of Europe institution that advises States Constitution. Own account, she played " a leading role when it comes to draft constitutions in Eastern Europe that meet the standards of European constitutional law acquis ".

Foundation

The Commission was founded shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall on 10 March 1990 by the Committee of Ministers.

Members

The Commission has 58 full members. It is based on an enhanced agreement of the Council of Europe, so that even states that do not belong to the Euro Europe can be full members. All 47 Member States of the Council are members of the Commission, also Algeria, Brazil, Chile, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Peru and Tunisia. Belarus is associated, Argentina, the Holy See, Japan, Canada, the U.S. and Uruguay are observers, South Africa and the Palestinian Authority have a special co-operation status.

The Commission members are experts in constitutional and international law, constitutional judges, members of national parliaments and senior officials. They are appointed by the Member States for a term of four years.

Activity

The activities of the Commission include:

• Examine national draft constitutions For example, Georgia, Albania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Hungary, the conflict over Transnistria and constitutional issues in Bosnia - Herzegovina,

Publications

Since 1993, the Commission publishes the periodical Bulletin on Constitutional Case- Law, which is published three times a year. It also runs a database of judgments of constitutional courts from around the world ( Codices ).