The Chamber provides an opportunity for local officials to discuss common concerns, share their experiences and develop relevant policies.
The Chamber drafts reports, recommendations, resolutions and opinions on the issues of its concern and presents them to the Standing Committee of the Congress for adoption.
The first existence and idea of a body addressing with the issue local government was proposed in 1957 but the standing conference was not created until 1961.
According to the Congress' official website: "The Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by member states of the European Charter of Local Self-Government - Monitoring Committee - is responsible, in particular, for monitoring the application of the Charter as well as institutional developments in Europe’s regions, for preparing reports on the situation of local and regional democracy in Europe and for monitoring specific questions related to local and regional democracy in the member states."
"The Current Affairs Committee is responsible for studying the role of local and regional authorities with regard to the major challenges of our society and preparing work on thematic issues such as social cohesion, education, culture and sustainable development from the point of view of the Council of Europe's core values."