The following news item is posted on the ePractice.eu website. It can be found in the following address: http://www.epractice.eu/document/5251

CAHDE was established on 24 May 2006 by a decision of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. CAHDE’s mandate included “the examination of developments on e-democracy/e-participation at European and international level”, with particular consideration for the issues of measuring the effectiveness and impact of e-democracy initiatives and devices.

CAHDE started its work on 23 and 24 September 2006. Following 10 meetings, one symposium and six workshops, CAHDE held its fourth and last plenary meeting on 13 and 14 November 2008.

On the occasion of this last plenary meeting, CAHDE has adopted the following documents:

• Draft Recommendation Rec(2008)X of the Committee of Ministers to member states on e-democracy;
• Recommendations to the Committee of Ministers on possible further action in the field of e-democracy.

The concluding remarks by CAHDE’s chair, Dr. Thomas M. Buchsbaum, state that the Draft Recommendation on e-democracy is a comprehensive and quality text based on a transparent process, which “clearly reflects the wishes and expectations of the different stakeholders” (including politicians and civil society) as well as “the wishes and concerns of those who actively participated in CAHDE works”. According to the concluding remarks “This shows that engagement in international organisations, in international processes (politically) "pays"“.

CAHDE was primarily an intergovernmental body whose members were delegated by the 46 Member States of the Council of Europe, and by the relevant international bodies active in this field (e.g. European Commission, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe – OSCE - and DEMO-net, the eParticipation Network of Excellence).