European Charter of Local Self-Government

The European Charter of Local Self-Government was adopted under the auspices of the Congress of the Council of Europe (not to be confused with the Council of the European Union) and was opened for signature by the Council of Europe's member states on 15 October 1985. Almost all Council of Europe member states are parties to the Charter - the exceptions are the micro-states of Monaco and San Marino. New member states of the Council of Europe are expected to ratify the Charter at the earliest opportunity.

The Charter commits the ratifying member states to guaranteeing the political, administrative and financial independence of local authorities. It provides that the principle of local self-government shall be recognised in domestic legislation and, where practicable, in the constitution. Local authorities are to be elected by universal suffrage, and it is the earliest legal instrument to set out the principle of subsidiarity.

Local authorities, acting within the limits of the law, are to be able to regulate and manage a substantial share of public affairs under their own responsibility in the interests of the local population. The Charter considers that public responsibilities should be exercised preferably by the authorities closest to the citizens, a higher level being considered only when the co-ordination or discharge of duties is impossible or less efficient at the level immediately below. To this end, the Charter sets out the principles concerning the protection of local authorities' boundaries, the existence of adequate administrative structures and resources for the carrying out of their tasks, the conditions under which responsibilities are to be exercised, the financial resources of local authorities and the legal protection of local self-government. It limits the administrative supervision of local authorities' activities to the verification of lawfulness only.

The principles of local self-government contained in the Charter apply to all categories of local authorities. Ratifying states undertake to consider themselves bound by at least twenty paragraphs of Part I of the Charter, including at least ten from among the following:

• Article 2,
• Article 3, paragraphs 1 and 2,
• Article 4, paragraphs 1, 2 and 4,
• Article 5,
• Article 7, paragraph 1,
• Article 8, paragraph 2,
• Article 9, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3,
• Article 10, paragraph 1,
• Article 11.

In 2009, a protocol to the Charter (on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority) was adopted. It will enter into force on June 1, 2012.