Background

Article 13 of the Racial Equality Directive requires Member States to designate a body or bodies for the promotion of equal treatment of all persons without discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin. The competences of these bodies should include providing assistance to victims of discrimination in pursuing their complaints about discrimination, conducting independent surveys on discrimination, publishing independent reports and making recommendations on issues relating to discrimination.

Only in a small number of EU Member States does a body similar to the one required under Article 13 already exist. Among those that do exist, the characteristics and structure greatly differ. In order to explore how Article 13 of the Directive can best be implemented, it is essential to look at the experience of those existing bodies and identify their positive and negative aspects, and ultimately the type of body that is most effective. With this aim in mind, 7 equality bodies and MPG as international partner came together to promote co-operation between specialised bodies across Europe.

The project 'Towards the Uniform and Dynamic Implementation of EU Anti-discrimination Legislation: the Role of Specialised Bodies' ran from 2003 to 2004. The project was led by the Dutch Equal Treatment Commission and funded by the European Commission under the Community Action Programme to Combat Discrimination. 

The partners of the project were:

• Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism, Belgium
• Commission for Racial Equality, United Kingdom
• The Equality Authority, Ireland
• Equal Treatment Commission, Netherlands
• Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
• Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination, Sweden
• Ombud for Equal Opportunities, Austria
• Migration Policy Group, Brussels

In Spring 2004 the project learned that it would be funded for a further two years from December 2004.