Strasbourg, France (Palais de l'Europe)

18 March 2015 - Meeting of International Administrative Tribunals
19-20 March 2015 - Colloquy "Common focus and autonomy of international administrative Tribunals"

To mark the 50th anniversary of its establishment, the Administrative Tribunal of the Council of Europe organised an international colloquy on 19-20 March 2015 at the Palais de l'Europe. The Colloquy entitled "Common focus and autonomy of International Administrative Tribunals" was devoted to different aspects of the activity of international administrative tribunals.

It brought together some 200 participants, judges and former judges, registrars, researchers and persons appearing before the administrative tribunals of international organisations based in Europe and worldwide.

Six working sessions were offered to participants:

  • The role and importance of administrative tribunals in international organisations
  • Fundamental rights and international organisations: subjective rights and procedural safeguards
  • Factors affecting the exercise of the right to appeal: access ratione personae, anonymity, mediation / conciliation, costs and legal aid
  • Effectiveness of decisions before judgment (stays of execution) and after judgment (enforcement measures). Appeals system.
  • The specific nature of international civil service law when compared with national law
  • Discretionary power and its review before tribunals in the various fields of human resources management

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, spoke at the opening of the colloquy, as well as Mr Christos Rozakis, Chair of the Administrative Tribunal and Mr Ali Bahadir, representative of the Staff Committee.

The Colloquy was preceded on Wednesday 18 March by a meeting of international administrative tribunals following the one held in Washington on 3 April 2014 at the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund. This in camera meeting enabled judges and registries’ staff of about twenty administrative tribunals of international organizations to address various issues, including the issue of collaboration between them.

A common search interface project to research in databases of the various administrative tribunals, conducted in collaboration with the Council of Europe Directorate of Information Technology, was also examined during this meeting, as well as projects proposed by other tribunals in order to encourage and strengthen cooperation between the administrative tribunals of international organisations.