These guidelines by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) offer a practical toolkit for legislators and practitioners responsible for implementing laws by drawing on good-practice examples from national legislations in European and OSCE participating States and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights to illustrate the various legislative options used to regulate issues pertaining to the freedom of assembly.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Council of Europe’s Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) have been providing legislative support to OSCE participating states and Council of Europe members to assist them in ensuring that their legislation on freedom of peaceful assembly complies with European and international standards and OSCE commitments. The development of these Guidelines is a cornerstone of this assistance, adding to ODIHR’s LegislatiOnline.org database, where lawmakers can obtain good examples from other countries’ legislation that can help them frame their own choices.

This document is the second, revised edition of the ODIHR-Venice Commission Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, which were first published in 2007.