Conference of European Constitutional Courts
shall take steps to enhance the independence of constitutional courts as an essential factor in guaranteeing and implementing democracy and the rule of law, in particular with a view to securing the protection of human rights.
More informationDear Visitors,
The Conference of European Constitutional Courts (CECC) is an international association for judicial cooperation that brings together European constitutional courts or similar judicial institutions carrying out constitutional review. Every three years, the presiding constitutional court organizes a pan-European Congress to discuss key doctrinal and conceptual issues. The President of the Court that hosts the next Congress presides over the Circle of Presidents, which is the decision-making and executive body of the CECC and holds at least one meeting between the Congress dates and, in principle, on the day preceding the opening of the Congress.
This website, administered by the Permanent Office of the CECC, provides comprehensive information about CECC’s activities to date. It documents past Congresses and meetings of the Circle of Presidents. It serves not only an informative role but also as institutional memory.
Given the broad membership of the CECC, which includes constitutional courts and analogous institutions from the vast majority of European countries, these pages are a gateway to the European Constitutional Judiciary. Do not hesitate to enter and browse. You are warmly welcomed.
About the History of the CECC
The first Conference took place in Dubrovnik, 1972, at the initiative of the presidents of the constitutional courts from Germany, Austria, Italy and the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Essentially, it was meant to provide a regular basis for the exchange of experience in constitutional practice and jurisprudence in a Europe-wide context, with due regard for the principle of judicial independence. Even in the absence of a formal statute, such regular meetings continued under the aegis of the āConference of the European Constitutional Courtsā, being hosted by other constitutional courts once they had acceded.
Considering the many organizational, but also technical questions posed by the enlargement of the membership, it became all the more necessary to establish a formalized framework and statutory rules for the Conference to attain its objectives. At present the CECC running is based on a Statute (adopted at the XIth Congress in Warsaw in 1999) and Regulations (adopted at the XIIth Congress in Brussels in 2002).
1972
Year of the CECC Establishment
40
Number of Member Constitutional Courts
2025
Year of the Next Meeting of the Circle of Presidents
2027
Year of the Next Congress of the CECC
Members
