The monitoring process is primarily intended to support the interested countries in developing or improving their policy and practice, in accordance with international standards. Moreover, it should facilitate international co-operation and transfer of relevant knowledge and experience between the countries.  Visits can also be of benefit to those countries organising major sport events and/or in the bidding process to host major sport events. The events which should be considered in this context are major multisport events as well as World and European championships in high risk sports (for Anti-Doping Convention) and European and World football championships (for the European Convention on Spectator Violence).  

The visits are prepared and carried out by the Monitoring Group (for the Anti-Doping Convention), the Committee on Safety and Security at Sports Events (for the Saint-Denis Convention), the Follow-up Committee (for the Macolin Convention) and by the EPAS Governing Board (for the Revised European Sport Charter or other recommendations), each of  which bears overall responsibility for the outcomes of a visit, in a spirit of peer review.

The Council of Europe has three main missions: standard setting (international law), monitoring mechanisms, including binding mechanisms (to ensure that standards are reached and maintained) and co-operation activities (to address shortcomings).

These missions are often referred to as the Council of Europe’s dynamic triangle, which is part of the unique added value of the Organisation.

Figure 1: Council of Europe strategic triangle

This triangle links together:

• the European standards for human rights, the rule of law and democracy which have been developed by the Council of Europe since 1949;
• the conclusions and recommendations of the Council of Europe’s monitoring bodies, which highlight the areas where improvements are needed, on the basis of the Organisation’s conventions;
• the co-operation programmes established largely on the basis of the monitoring conclusions in order to assist the beneficiaries in their efforts to apply Council of Europe standards.