TREATY OFFICE

July 2022
COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONVENTION ON ACCESS TO OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS of18 June 2009
(CETS No. 205, entered into force on 1 December 2020)

I. Participation in the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents is not
exclusively limited to member States of the Council of Europe. The Convention is also openfor accession by other non-member States and international organisations, provided that they
have been formally invited to accede by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
The relevant provision of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents Article 17, paragraph 1 - reads as follows:“After the entry into force of this Convention, the Committee of Ministers of the Council ofEurope may, after consulting the Parties to this Convention and obtaining theirunanimous consent, invite any State which is not a member of the Council of Europe or
any international organisation to accede to this Convention. The decision shall be takenby the majority provided for in Article 20.d of the Statute of the Council of Europe and by
unanimous vote of the representatives of the Parties entitled to sit on the Committee ofMinisters.”
Procedure for the accession by States which are not member States of the Council ofEurope and by international organisations
II. The procedure for the accession of a State which is not a member of the Council of Europe
or of an international organisation may be summarised as follows:
1. In principle, the Committee of Ministers may take the initiative of inviting a non-member
State or an international organisation to accede to a specific Convention. It is neverthelesscustomary for the non-member State or for the international organisation to request accession
in a letter addressed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. The letter should besigned by the Minister for Foreign Affairs or a diplomatic representative acting upon
instructions of his or her government (see Model application for accession to a treaty) or by
the authorised representative of the international organisation.
2. In accordance with the Council of Europe's practice and before formally inscribing thepoint on the agenda of the Committee of Ministers, the Secretariat consults at the same time
all member States of the Council of Europe, whether they are Parties or not to theConvention, and Parties to this Convention that are not member States, on the request ofinvitation.
3. Requests for accession to a Council of Europe convention are examined by theCommittee of Ministers’ Rapporteur Group on Legal Co-operation (GR-J) and, then, by theCommittee of Ministers. In the case of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to
Official Documents, the decision on whether or not to issue an invitation has to beTel ►+33 (0)3 90 21 43 18
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Mail ► treaty.office@coe.int
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unanimously agreed by those Council of Europe members which have ratified theConvention. This decision is usually taken at the level of the Ministers’ Deputies. Then, aninvitation to accede to the Convention is notified to the State concerned by the Secretariat
General.
4. It must be noted that the Committee of Ministers decided, in April 2013, to limit the validityof invitations of non-member States to accede to conventions to a period of five years.
5. The instrument of accession is deposited at the seat of the Council of Europe inStrasbourg, in the presence of a representative of the acceding State or internationalorganisation and of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe or his Deputy. Therepresentative of the acceding State or international organisation brings with him or her theinstrument of accession and a procès-verbal of deposit is signed by both parties. Should it
prove difficult for the acceding State or international organisation to send a representative toStrasbourg, the instrument of accession may be sent by diplomatic courier. Deposit of theinstrument of accession is notified to all concerned accordingly to Article 22 of theConvention.
6. Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official
Documents provides that the Convention shall enter into force on the first day of the monthfollowing the expiration of a period of three months after the date of deposit of the instrumentof accession with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
7. The instrument of accession and any reservation or declaration appended to it shall beaccompanied by a translation into one of the official languages of the Council of Europe(English or French). It is important to stress that, subject to the applicable provisions of eachtreaty (see Article 20 of this Convention) and in line with the 1969 Vienna Convention on theLaw of Treaties, any reservations or declarations are to be made when depositing theinstrument of accession. For reasons of legal certainty and in order to ensure the uniform
implementation of conventions, reservations may not be made at any later date.
Financial contribution to the Convention's monitoring mechanism
III. On 6 April 2022, the Committee of Ministers adopted Resolution CM/Res(2022)6
concerning financial arrangements for the participation of the European Union and nonmember States in Council of Europe conventions. Any non-member State of the Council ofEurope which becomes a Contracting Party to the Council of Europe Convention on Accessto Official Documents after 6 April 2022 must contribute financially to the monitoringmechanism of the Convention in accordance with the provisions of Resolution
CM/Res(2022)6.
III. The text of the Convention, its explanatory report, the chart of signatures and ratifications
and all declarations and reservations made with regard to it can be consulted on the websiteof the Council of Europe's Treaty Office on https://conventions.coe.int.
For any further information, please contact the Treaty Office:Treaty OfficeDirectorate of Legal Adviceand Public International Law (DLAPIL)
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex (France)
E-mail : treaty.office@coe.int

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