These Guidelines were jointly prepared by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) and by the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and adopted by the Venice Commission at its 125th online Plenary Session (11–12 December 2020). 

The Guidelines offer advice and expertise to legislators tasked with drafting laws on political parties, with a view to facilitating their establishment, development and functioning in compliance with international human rights standards and OSCE Human Dimension commitments. They may also serve other public authorities, the judiciary, legal practitioners, human rights defenders, etc., concerned with political party regulation, including political parties themselves, their leadership and members. The Guidelines are intended not only to articulate a minimum baseline in relation to international standards, by marking a threshold that must be met by states in their regulation of political parties, but also as a reflection of legal developments at the international and domestic levels and of good practices.