Legal analysis on the criteria and procedures for the accession of the Republic of Kosovo to the Council of Europe conventions open for the non-member states

November 2022

This document's purpose is to analyze the legal perspectives and constitutional implications of Kosovo's accession to the Council of Europe's conventions open for non-member States. There are two main types of CoE conventions in general: conventions that are open exclusively to Council of Europe member States and other conventions that allow States which are not members of the CoE to become party either through full right participation (usually only to Council of Europe observer States or Parties to other related Conventions), or the possibility to be invited, upon request, to accede (with possible limitations in a few cases – for instance only to European non-members States).

In the first part of this legal analysis, the relevant constitutional norms of the 2008 Kosovo Constitution will be elaborated for accession to treaties, including CoE conventions. These constitutional norms regulate, on broader terms, the criteria and procedures for ratifying the treaties, which the Kosovo Law further details on International Agreements. The legal analysis, however, discusses constraints the Constitution had placed when reviewing international agreements in Kosovo. There is already a solid jurisprudence of the Kosovo Constitutional Court on matters involving the review of the compatibility of the ratified agreements with the Kosovo Constitution.

In the second part, the legal analysis examines the criteria and procedures for the accession of non-member states to the CoE conventions. As will be seen below, several CoE instruments are open for accession for the non-member States, and it is very important to assess these procedures and the criteria for accession at this very important moment of Kosovo's preparations for accession to the CoE.

Finally, the legal analysis will offer an overview of selected CoE conventions open for non-member States, whose ratification is considered to be very important for the Republic of Kosovo.