Welcome
	A. Arts	M. Melchior

Welcome to the website of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts. The website was created by the Court of Arbitration of Belgium, organizer of the XIIth Congress of this association.

The Conference of European Constitutional Courts was set up in 1972 by the constitutional courts of Germany, Austria, Italy and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Many other constitutional courts joined the Conference, particularly in the last decade. The association currently numbers 34 European constitutional courts and other similar European institutions exercising constitutional jurisdiction. The Conference owes its existence to the intention of the Presidents of constitutional courts to organize regular specialized conferences with a view to sharing experience as regards constitutional practice and jurisprudence in a general European context and to maintaining regular contacts between these courts and institutions, on the basis of mutual respect and with due regard to the principle of judicial independence.

The website is aimed chiefly and primarily at offering electronic access to the different national reports, the general report and the reports of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Communities that were prepared for the Congress. The Congress, which convenes every three years, is the body in which representatives of the full members (thirty-three constitutional courts) and of the associate members (one constitutional court) hold an academic debate on a theme connected with constitutional jurisdiction. In addition, observers and guests are invited to take part in the discussions. The theme of the Congress that will take place in Brussels from 14 to 16 May 2002 is "The relations between the Constitutional Courts and the other national courts, including the interference in this area of the action of the European courts".

Furthermore, the visitor to this website will find interesting information about the association itself. He can consult the Statute of the Conference in the official languages of the association (French, English, German and Russian) and in Dutch. Via the list of members of the Conference - not states but constitutional courts or other similar jurisdictional bodies of European states -, he can also access the websites of several constitutional courts by using the updated links that have been added.

This website is still under construction. Several documents can only be put on the website during or after the Congress in Brussels. This is particularly the case for the history of the Conference, for which we will use the speeches delivered at the official opening meeting on 14 May 2002, and for the list of administrative decisions and academic conclusions that will ensue from the Congress.

We hope that the website will contribute to a growing social and academic interest in constitutional jurisdiction, which unquestionably can be regarded as one of the most notable democratic and constitutional guarantees of the second half of the last century.