DECISION 551
Creation of the Andean Electoral Council

THE ANDEAN COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS,

HAVING SEEN: Articles 6, 16, 20, 43 and 48 of the Cartagena Agreement and article 4 of the Additional Protocol to the Treaty establishing the Andean Parliament on the Direct and Universal Election of its Representatives; and

WHEREAS: The Cartagena Agreement establishes the means to be used to advance Andean Integration;

The Additional Protocol to the Cartagena Agreement, “The Andean Community Commitment to Democracy,” signed on October 17, 1998 in Oporto, Portugal, states that the Andean Community is a community of democratic nations that ever since the establishment of the integration process have shown a permanent will to promote democratic life and the constitutional state, in both the Andean subregion and Latin America and the Caribbean;

The Andean Presidential Council has reiterated on several occasions that the organized participation of civil society is needed in the Andean Community decision-making process, to boost the sustainability of the programs and projects on the multidimensional agenda of the Andean integration process and contribute to the strengthening of democratic principles, values and practices in the subregion;

The Additional Protocol to the Cartagena Agreement, “The Andean Community Commitment to Democracy,” reaffirmed that the aim of the Andean Community’s political action and common foreign policy is to develop, perfect and consolidate democracy and the constitutional state and that the full effectiveness of democratic institutions and the constitutional state are essential to political cooperation and economic, social and cultural integration in the context of the Cartagena Agreement and the other instruments of the Andean Integration System;

The Andean Parliament, during its Twentieth Regular Session on April 3 and 4, 2002, and through its Decision 963, approved the draft By-laws of the Andean Electoral Council, prepared and submitted by the Andean Electoral Council, and appealed to the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers to institutionalize the Andean Electoral Council within the Andean Integration System;

The General Secretariat has presented Proposal 101/Rev. 1, creating the Andean Electoral Council and a body of the Andean Integration System, on the basis of the text drawn up during the meeting of Presidents of the Andean Community Electoral Bodies, held in Lima, Peru on June 6, 2003;

DECIDES:

Article 1.- The Andean Electoral Council (CEA) is hereby created as a body of the Andean Integration System, which shall be comprised of the heads of the electoral bodies of the Andean Community Member Countries.

Article 2.- The terms of reference of the Andean Electoral Council are the following:

a) To express its opinion to the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers and to the Andean Community General Secretariat on matters within its sphere of competence when asked to do so;

b) To draw up and recommend the approval of the Andean Electoral By-laws and their amendments;

c) To sponsor mechanisms for horizontal cooperation and technical assistance among the electoral bodies of the region;

d) To oversee and observe the direct election of Andean Parliamentarians;

e) To suggest measures to perfect domestic electoral legislation concerning the election of Andean Parliamentarians in each Member Country;

f) To propose the modernization and automation of the electoral systems in the region and in each of the Member Countries;

g) To issue its own Regulations; and

h) Any others that may be decided upon by common agreement.

Article 3.- The Andean Electoral Council (CEA) shall be comprised of a titular and an alternate representative from each of the Member Countries. Each Member Country shall appoint its representatives and its respective Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall accredit them to the Andean Community General Secretariat.

Article 4.- This Decision shall enter into effect as of the date of its publication in the Official Gazette of the Cartagena Agreement. .

TEMPORARY PROVISION

Sole.- The Andean Electoral Council shall adopt its Regulations no later than 90 days after this Decision becomes effective.

Signed in the Quirama Recinto, Departament of Antioquia, of the Republic of Colombia, on the twenty-fifth of June of two thousand three.