European Committe for Social Rights

The Council of Europe was established in 1949 by 10 Countries. It has now 47 member States. The European Convention on Human Rights was signed in 1950 and entered into force in The European Court of Human Rights was established in 1952.

The European Social Charter (ESC) was adopted by the Council of Europe in 1961 and entered into force in 1965 (5 States should have ratify it). It contains Social Rights and establishes the European Committe of Social Rights (ECSR). 43 member States have ratified the ESC (all the 28 EU MS have ratified it). esentation/Overview_en.asp In 1996 the revised European Social Charter (ESC 1996) was adopted and it came into force in 1999 (19 EU MS have ratified it). esentation/Overview_en.asp

À la carte system The States must accept 6 of the following 9 provisions of the ESC: - the right to work - the right to organise - the right to bargain collectively - the right of children and young person to protection - the right to social security - the right to social and medical assistance - the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection - the right of migrant workers and their family to protection and assistance - the right to equal opportunities and equal treatment in matters of employment and occupation without discrimination on the grounds of sex. The States must as well choose a minimum of 16 articles or 63 numbered paragraphs from among the others provisions.

The ECSR is made up of 15 indipendent and impartial members, elected by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers for 6 years (renewable once). rter/ECSR/ECSRdefault_en.asp There are 7 sessions per year. Yearly activities reports. rter/Presentation/ActivityReportIndex_en.asp rter/ECSR/ECSRdefault_en.asp rter/Presentation/ActivityReportIndex_en.asp

National reports procedure The ECSR examines the National annual reports on the application of a number of the ESC articles (there are 4 thematic groups) and adopts conclusions. The Governmental Committee examines national situations that the ECSR considers not to be in conformity. It votes by a two-thirds majority on whether a proposal for recommendation should be submitted to the Committee of Ministers. The Committee of Ministers can issue recommendations to the States (it has happened very rarely) but they are not binding.

Collective complaints procedure (introduced by the additional protocol in 1998) 14 countries (all EU MS) have accepted the collectives complaints procedure. The organisations entitled to submit collective complaints are: international workers’ and employers’ organisations; workers’ and employers’ organisation in the countries concerned; international non-governmental organisations; national NGOs (only Finland has authorised national NGOs). onsEntitled/OrgEntitled_en.asp Individual cannot submit a complaint to the ECSR. It is not necessary to exhaust all domestic remedies. From 1998, there have been 119 collective complaints (7 in 2014; 15 in 2013; 10 in 2014; 6 in 2015). onsEntitled/OrgEntitled_en.asp

Collective complaints procedure The ECSR decides first if the complaint is admissible (few complaints only have been inadmissible). Then the ECSR invites the State to present written submissions, and INGO and workers’ or employers’ organisations to provide further evidence. Finally, ECSR takes a decision which it forwards to the Committee of Ministers. The Committee of Ministers shall adopt a resolution and, where the ECSR has found a violation of the ESC, a recommendation. Both of them do not bound the State.

EUROPEAN SOCIAL CHARTER AND EU A reference to the European Social Charter appeared in the preamble of the Treaty of Rome following the entry into force of the Single European Act but the Court of Justice refers to it sparingly, and the question of the accession of the EU to the Social Charter has been referred to only on rare occasions. In 1997, with the adoption of the Treaty of Amsterdam and the repatriation, within the EC Treaty, of the Agreement on Social Policy, was the European Social Charter again referred to in the current Art. 151 TFEU. When interpreting the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Court of Justice of the EU shall take into account the interpretation given to the European Social Charter by the European Committee of Social Rights

In Confédération générale du travail (CGT) v. France (2009) the European Committee on Social Rights refused to establish a presumption as regards compliance of EU Law with the European Social Charter: “neither the situation of social rights in the European Union legal order nor the process of elaboration of secondary legislation would justify a similar presumption – even rebuttable – of conformity of legal texts of the European Union with the European Social Charter”. EUROPEAN SOCIAL CHARTER AND EU