Uses of the Venice Commission’s Rule of Law Checklist in the UK

Overview

This paper considers what use has been made in the UK of the Venice Commission's Rule of Law Checklist, an important and detailed set of rule of law standards from the Council of Europe. Adopted in 2016, the Rule of Law Checklist is now under review and this paper aims to inform the Venice Commission's work to update this useful framework, by providing information on how the existing Checklist has been used in the UK.

The Checklist is described as "a tool for a variety of actors" including "Parliaments and other State authorities when addressing the need and content of legislative reform, civil society and international organisations, including regional ones - notably the Council of Europe and the European Union". In this respect, since 2020, the EU has published an annual Rule of Law Report which is central to its Rule of Law Mechanism. The assessment in the Rule of Law Mechanism is carried out by the European Commission against EU law requirements and European standards, and it is noted in the methodology that a list of relevant standards can also be found in the standards section of the Venice Commission's Rule of Law Checklist.

The UK's departure from the EU means that it is not subject to this annual review, however this does not alter the significance of the Venice Commission's Checklist as the UK remains a member of the Council of Europe. It has been a difficult period for the rule of law in the UK, and so the question arises whether the Checklist has been used in public debate.

Our research shows that the Checklist has been cited by UK state authorities on only a few occasions (most notably by peers in the House of Lords and by the current Attorney General) and more frequently by civil society organisations, in particular by the Bingham Centre itself which accounts for almost 90% of the civil society references that we found.