Non-Governmental Organisations entitled to lodge collective complaints

Further to social partners, only International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) holding participatory status with the Council of Europe (see the dedicated webpage of the Conference of INGO's of the Council of Europe) are entitled to lodge collective complaints.

First request for entitlement

INGOs holding participatory status with the Council of Europe must submit an application letter duly signed by the person entitled to represent the INGO, stating his or her title and functions, preferably by electronic mail, to the following address: [email protected]
Postal address:
Department of Social Rights
Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex

including the following information: headquarters of the INGO; telephone; fax; e-mail; web site; the date the INGO was granted participatory status with the Council of Europe, and indicating that the INGO fulfils the conditions stated in paragraph 20 of the Explanatory Report to the Additional Protocol providing for a system of collective complaints.

To this end, the INGO may refer to the following documents:

Constitution/Statute of the INGO;
rules of procedure;
composition of its Administrative Council;
composition of its Executive Board, if any;
latest activity report;
its participation in meetings of INGO bodies of the Council of Europe (meetings and dates);
any other relevant document.

Upon receipt, applications by INGOs are submitted for approval to the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter and the European Code of Social Security at its twice-yearly meetings, which draws up the list of INGOs entitled to lodge collective complaints for a four-year period. Each INGO is duly informed of the Governmental Committee’s decision.

Renewal of entitlement

INGOs wishing to renew their entitlement should forward their request duly signed by the person entitled to represent the INGO, stating his or her title and functions, to the above-mentioned postal and e-mail addresses.

Conditions to be fulfilled for entitlement of INGOs

The Governmental Committee draws up the above-mentioned list, on the basis of the following principles:

INGOs which hold participatory status with the Council of Europe and consider themselves particularly competent in any of the matters governed by the Charter are invited to express their wish to be included on a special list of INGOs entitled to submit complaints;
each application must be supported by detailed and accurate documentation aiming to show in particular that the INGO has access to authoritative sources of information and is able to carry out the necessary verifications, to obtain appropriate legal opinions, etc., in order to draw up reliable and complete complaint files;
all applications are transmitted to the Governmental Committee, accompanied by an opinion of the Secretary General which reflects the degree of interest and participation shown by the INGO in its normal dealings with the Council of Europe;
an application is considered accepted by the Governmental Committee unless it is rejected in a ballot by a simple majority of votes cast;
inclusion on the special list is valid for a period of four years, after which it lapses unless the organisation applies for renewal in the six-month period preceding the expiry date. The procedure described above applies to renewal applications.

The European Social Charter
a guardian of our social rights

Committee of Social Rights

Indietro The European Committee of Social Rights publishes its Conclusions on Labour Rights

The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) today published its Conclusions 2022 in respect of 33 States on the articles of the European Social Charter relating to Labour Rights.

In the framework of the reporting procedure, the ECSR adopted 611 conclusions: 255 conclusions of conformity with the Charter and 245 conclusions of non-conformity. In 111 cases, the ECSR was unable to assess the situation due to insufficient information ("deferrals").

In the framework of the right to just conditions of work the ECSR found that in some countries the law does not guarantee the right to reasonable weekly working hours for certain categories of workers and noted that in some jobs the working day may exceed 16 hours and even be as long as 24 hours.

In many countries, the ECSR concluded that the work performed on a public holiday is not adequately compensated and that the right of all workers to public holidays with pay is not guaranteed. Also in some countries workers who suffer from illness or injury while on holiday are not entitled to take the days lost at another time.

The information provided to the ECSR on fair remuneration revealed that in a number of countries, the statutory minimum wage or the lowest wages fixed by collective agreements were too low in comparison with the average wage and did not ensure a decent standard of living.

With respect to the obligation by States to promote joint consultation between workers and employers, the ECSR noted the insufficient promotion of collective bargaining and the restrictions on the right to collective bargaining on behalf of a certain category of workers.

The ECSR found, in some cases, that workers are not granted an effective right to participate in the decision-making process within the undertaking about working conditions, work organisation and the working environment, and legal remedies are not available to workers in the event of infringements of their right to take part in the determination and improvement of working conditions and the working environment.

In several countries, the ECSR noted the lack of appropriate and effective redress (compensation and reinstatement) in cases of sexual harassment, and the absence of adequate prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace

The ECSR concluded that, in several countries, preventive measures aimed at ensuring that redundancies do not take effect before employers’ obligation to inform and to consult has been fulfilled (such as recourse to administrative and judicial proceedings) do not exist, as well as the effective sanctions applicable in cases where employers fail to fulfil their obligations, under the Charter, of information and consultation in collective redundance procedures.

Nevertheless, the ECSR noted with satisfaction positive developments in some countries concerning restrictions on the right to strike, and legislative measures concerning the definition and prohibition of harassment and sexual harassment at work.

Also amendments to the labour codes of several countries have introduced regulations aimed at ensuring that person(s) exercising worker’s representation functions do not suffer discrimination or other negative consequences due to their role.

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands Curaçao, the Netherlands Caribbean part, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Tϋrkiye and the United Kingdom.