Executive Council “Takes Note” of PAP’s Aligned Rules: What It Means and Why It Matters

By Olu Ibekwe

At its 46th Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa (February 2025), the Executive Council reviewed a slate of PRC‑prepared reports and adopted several far‑reaching decisions. Among them was the Pan‑African Parliament’s latest Activity Report. In its outcome document EX.CL/Dec.1288(XLVI), the Council “took note” of the report—a seemingly routine formula that in AU parlance signifies formal recognition. Because the report included PAP’s 12 November 2024 resolution aligning its Rules of Procedure with the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to the Pan‑African Parliament (PAP Protocol), the Council’s acknowledgment effectively confers policy legitimacy on PAP’s Rules of Procedure and moves the alignment agenda decisively forward.

The same decision also “took note of the outcome of a working group”—made up of the AU Commission, PAP, and the Ambassador of the Republic of the Congo—whose mandate was to identify lingering inconsistencies between the Protocol and PAP’s Rules, especially around Bureau mandates.  That extra clause does not change the legal status of the 12 November 2024 Rules; instead, it clarifies why the Council asked the PRC Sub‑Committee for a final review and what that review should target.

What “Taking Note” Means in AU Practice

In AU jargon, taking note is a formal acknowledgment. It does not amend, suspend, or reopen the text it refers to; it simply records that another AU organ—here, the Pan‑African Parliament—has acted within its treaty‑based authority under Article 11.8 of the PAP Protocol. By entering that acknowledgment in its outcome document, the Council:

1. Confirms legitimacy. It recognizes that PAP followed its own procedures and possessed the power to revise its Rules.
2. Adds the decision to the Union’s archive. The resolution becomes part of the AU’s official record without further alteration.

Because taking note is only an acknowledgment, the Council:

• Does not reopen debate. The text stands exactly as PAP adopted it.
• Leaves the rules in force. The November 2024 Rules remain operative unless PAP, using Article 11.8, decides to amend them again.

How We Got Here—Four Phases from Controversy to Alignment

The path from the contentious 2022 amendments to the November 2024 alignment resolution can be traced through four clear phases:

Phase 1 – Amendment and Controversy: In November 2022 the PAP Plenary introduced a broad package of amendments to its Rules of Procedure. The most contentious clause was Rule 16(14), which imposed a fixed, non‑renewable three‑year term on the Bureau. Almost immediately, concerns surfaced that this “fixed tenure” conflicted with Articles 5.3 and 12.3 of the PAP Protocol, both of which tie a Bureau member’s PAP tenure to the duration of their national‑parliament mandate rather than a preset calendar date.

Phase 2 – OLC Review and Suspension: Responding to a formal complaint, the Office of the Legal Counsel (OLC) issued Legal Opinion BC/OLC/23.18/13795.23 on 4 October 2023. The opinion upheld the Protocol‑based objections, declaring Rule 16(14) and related wording incompatible with PAP’s founding treaty. Acting on that advice, the Chairperson of the AU Commission suspended the amended Rules. The Executive Council endorsed this action in Decision EX.CL/Dec.1242(XLIV) (February 2024), and instructed the PAP Plenary to revisit only the provisions flagged by the OLC.

Phase 3 – Internal Reconciliation: In line with the Executive Council’s directive, it’s Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline worked clause‑by‑clause to expunge any wording that conflicted with the Protocol. After its review, the Committee tabled a report. On 12 November 2024 the Plenary adopted a resolution formally aligning the Rules of Procedure with the PAP Protocol, deleting Rule 16(14) and every other clause flagged by the OLC.

Phase 4 – Executive Council Acknowledgment: When PAP presented its Activity Report at the Council’s February 2025 Ordinary Session, the Council “took note” of the November 2024 alignment resolution, thereby recording that PAP had complied with Decision 1242. At the same time the Council mandated the PRC Sub‑Committee, working with the PAP Bureau and the AU Commission, to undertake a final legal polish and report back by July 2025. The Council also granted a seven‑month administrative extension (from 1 July 2025) to recover time lost while the Bureau was inoperative in 2023–24.

By February 2025, the Pan‑African Parliament’s Rules of Procedure were once again fully aligned with the Protocol. The Executive Council’s decision to “take note” of the November 2024 alignment resolution effectively confirmed that this revised rulebook is now the Parliament’s authoritative text.

Practical Implications of the Council’s Action

The 12 November 2024 Rules Are in Force

Because the Executive Council neither suspended nor amended the revised rules, they should now govern every aspect of current PAP business. The 2022 text—shelved in 2023—no longer carries any legal weight. Day‑to‑day operations in Midrand should therefore proceed under the November 2024 Rules; the old 2022 version is firmly a thing of the past.

The Aligned Rules Remain “Provisional” Pending July 2025 Review

The Executive Council also instructed the PRC Sub‑Committee—in collaboration with the Commission and PAP— “to finalize the alignment of the Rules of Procedure with the PAP Protocol regarding the mandate and reiterate the principle of rotation and to present a report to the Executive Council in July 2025”. This does not reopen the November 2024 Rules wholesale; rather, it allows a limited clean‑up exercise for any minor textual mismatches. Once the Sub‑Committee tables its report, the PAP Plenary can adopt any remaining fine‑tuning and lodge a fully reconciled Rules text for the Union’s records.

Vacancy‑Driven, Rotation‑Sensitive Elections Remain the Law

The aligned Rules do not introduce a new fixed term for Bureau members. Under Article 12.3, each officer’s tenure continues until their national‑parliament mandate ends or another Article 12.8 vacancy event occurs. Article 12.4 then rotates the vacated seat to the next region. Any election timetable—including the February 2026 guideline that emerged from the Council—must respect these vacancy‑driven and rotation‑guided principles.

Bottom Line

By taking note of PAP’s alignment resolution—and of the working‑group’s residual‑issues report—the Executive Council has:

1. Validated the November 2024 Rules as the Parliament’s operative text.
2. Mapped a narrow legal clean‑up, to be completed by July 2025, without reopening the whole rules.
3. Confirmed that PAP remains governed by a vacancy‑driven, rotation‑respecting tenure system.

The Executive Council’s inconspicuous “took note” nonetheless gives full legal effect to Parliament’s 12 November 2024 alignment, confirming it as both valid and operative. With that assurance, the PAP can continue its core business—debating issues, adopting resolutions, and articulating Africans’ interests—while the PRC Sub‑Committee on Rules, Standards, and Verification of Credentials and Procedures, in concert with the Commission and the PAP, completes the remaining fine‑tuning. The process therefore proceeds deliberately and without disruption, culminating in resilient rules that meet every Protocol requirement.