The World Trade Organization (WTO) website provides information on the work of the WTO, its history, structure and aims. It includes a dispute settlement gateway and a collection of WTO legal texts, such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Research reports, records of meetings, background papers and other documents are also provided. The site is available in English, Spanish and French.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the UN agency responsible for the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights worldwide and for the administration of multilateral IP treaties. Its website contains the full text of all the treaties administered by WIPO, with status information; arbitration decisions relating to domain names; a database of national IP laws (WIPO-Lex); and a patents database.
The African Union (AU) seeks to promote unity and solidarity in Africa. Its website provides information about member states and events, together with the organisation's treaties, statements, decisions, declarations, reports and other documents. Several journals and newsletters are also available, largely in French. The site is in English, French and Arabic.
Dec.Nat is a database of information about national courts' decisions relating to European Union law. Provided by the Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions of the European Union, it covers more than 20,000 decisions, from 1959 to the present. Each record gives details of the court, parties, case references, subject and legislation considered, together with law report citations. The full text of the decision is not included. Dec.Nat. is available in English and French.
The French Cour des Comptes (Court of Accounts) has jurisdiction over France's public finances. It conducts mandatory audits of the accounts of public bodies such as government departments and ministries and agencies, social security bodies, and non-departmental public bodies. The Court also has discretion to exercise jurisdiction over charities, organisations which receive funds from the EU, and private-sector companies with close links to the public sector.
The Conseil d'Etat is the highest administrative court in France, being the court of last resort in cases involving the State or official bodies, or individuals with official responsibilities. It acts as an appeal court for the administrative tribunals and courts in France. Its business includes municipal elections, the status of foreigners in France, health, public finances, the environment and other aspects of administrative law. The website of the Conseil d'Etat presents news, statistics, recent decisions and information on the administrative legal system in France.
Collection of legal texts adopted by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) and its forerunner, the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe. The Congress is an institution of the Council of Europe (CoE) and the texts are on the CoE website. The collection comprises: resolutions and opinions (1957- ); conventions and charters; recommendations (1994 - ); the Council of Ministers' replies to recommendations (2003 - ); and the final declarations adopted at the close of international conferences and meetings.
Council of Europe Publishing is the Council of Europe's official publisher and this website is its online bookshop. It provides a full catalogue of priced CoE publications, printed and electronic, from the last ten years. Titles are arranged under the following headings: Committee of Ministers, Parliamentary Assembly, Congress, Human Rights, Law, Health, Society, Environment, Population, Local and Regional Democracy, Education, Modern languages, Youth, Culture, Sport, Communication, European issues and Non-official languages. Basic and advanced search facilities are available.
GRECO is the Group of States Against Corruption, a body set up in 1999 by the Council of Europe to monitor the development, implementation and enforcement of anti-corruption legislation in its member states. The site publishes GRECO's Statute, Rules of Procedure and resolutions, as well as its activity reports and other documents. Information is provided about GRECO's history, structure, member states and current programmes. The site is available in English or French.
The website of the Swiss Data Protection Commissioner, in German, French, Italian or English. The English version includes basic information on data protection in Switzerland, an information sheet on unsolicited emails, selected Council of Europe texts, extracts from the Commissioner's annual report, and recent press releases. The full text of the Federal Law on Data Protection of 1992 is included. The German version contains all of these, as well as some recommendations of the Commissioner.
