Venice Commission

The Venice Commission, formally the European Commission for Democracy through Law, is an advisory body of the Council of Europe composed of independent experts in constitutional and international law. It was established in 1990 in the wake of the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, and takes its informal name from its plenary meeting venue in Venice, Italy.

Its core mandate is to assist states in bringing their legal and institutional structures into line with European standards on democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. It does this primarily by issuing opinions on draft or existing legislation — most commonly constitutions, constitutional amendments, electoral codes, laws on the judiciary, and laws on referendums — at the request of a member state, a Council of Europe organ, or certain international organizations.

Membership has expanded well beyond Europe. All 46 Council of Europe member states participate, and non-European states including states from North Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia have joined as full members. Each member appoints one expert, typically a senior judge, law professor, or former official, who serves in a personal capacity rather than as a government representative.

Key outputs include:

• Country-specific opinions on draft laws (for example, repeated opinions on Hungarian and Polish judicial reforms during the 2010s and on Turkey's 2017 constitutional referendum).
• Compendia and codes of good practice, notably the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters (2002), widely cited by OSCE/ODIHR and the European Court of Human Rights.
• Amicus curiae briefs at the request of constitutional courts.

Its opinions are formally non-binding, but they carry significant political and legal weight: they are routinely invoked by the European Court of Human Rights, the European Union institutions in rule-of-law proceedings, and domestic constitutional courts. Refusal to follow a Venice Commission opinion has, in several cases, contributed to Article 7 TEU procedures or Council of Europe monitoring action.